Higher Degree Programs Research Articles

Fixing the leaky pipe: increasing recruitment of underrepresented groups in ecology

I would describe my graduate career in ecol ogy as serendipitous. As a daughter of Latino parents who grew up in challenging environments with limited access to education, I was lucky to graduate from college, let alone pursue a PhD. I was also fortunate to meet a men tor who introduced me to ecology and graduate school. Unfortunately, many students from underrepresented groups lack adequate opportunities and mentorship as they head through the pipeline to graduate school. Despite the need for unique perspectives in collaborative scientific research, ethnic minority students continue to leak from the system. According to demographic projec tions, over 50% of the US population will be composed of individuals from underrepresented groups by the year 2050 (US Department of Commerce 1996). At present, how ever, these groups constitute only 6.5% of students enrolled in higher degree programs in ecology (NSF 2007). What can we do to remedy this? Exposure, oppor tunity, and access appear to be key. Here, I present some points for consideration for academic professionals (including educators, administrators, and program man agers), based on the first-hand experiences of successful minority scientists I have interviewed or who have pub lished on the subject. Introduce ecology early and supply access to research and career opportunities. It is important to publicize research, internship, and graduate program opportunities and pro vide financial support. The Ecological Society of America's (ESAs) Strategies for Ecology Education, Development, and Sustainability (SEEDS) program has effectively intro duced minority scientists to ecology by providing fellow ships and field trips, as well as travel awards to ESA's annual meetings (www.esa.org/seeds/). Create programs that facilitate the transition of minority students from one level of academia to the next. Summer courses, orientation programs, intemships, research experiences, and cultural events all teach stu dents about the academic and social expectations of uni versities. For example, the Meyerhoff Scholars Program at the University of Maryland (UMD) has offered scholar ships, summer bridge programs, and intemships, as well as engaged students' families, and provided faculty and peer mentoring in an effort to recruit and retain minorities in science. As a result, minority participation in the sciences at UMD has increased 18%; in addition, UMD has recently introduced a graduate fellows program (Summers and Hrabowski 2006; WebTables 1 and 2). Build a sense of community through the creation of outreach

Overview and Summary: Professional Pathways in Nursing: Options to Seek, Start, and Sustain a Career

Citation: Donley, R., & Flaherty, M.J. (September 30, 2008) and Summary: Professional Pathways in Nursing: Options to Seek, Start and Sustain a Career OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing Vol 13 No 3, Overview and Summary. Available: www.NursingWorld.org//MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/vol132008/No3Sept08/Overview.aspx This OJIN topic looks at the varied career patterns in nursing education and practice across time and across cultures. If readers of OJIN were to Google 'career ladders, they would find websites describing a multitude of workplace and career advancement programs, and, in the case of nursing careers, programs such as clinical ladders. These programs of upper mobility are now used as recruitment strategies in nursing. Raines and Taglareni give a snapshot of contemporary entry points into professional nursing in an era where further articulation is a fact of career planning and academic life. Their article presents a detailed and comprehensive discussion of the many entry gates and progression modes that are currently available in the United States (US). It provides an overview of the various nursing programs from beginning levels of practice to advanced practice models. Raines and Taglareni discuss the use of creative approaches to recruit more nurses as one strategy to address the nursing shortage. They suggest that improved status, and especially increased salaries, make baccalaureate and higher degree programs very attractive to diploma and Associate Degree in Nursing graduates, and to persons whose degrees are in other fields. Moving onward from first professional degree programs, Donley and Flaherty chronicle the development of articulation patterns which began in the US in the early 1960s and continue into the millennium. This article provides a summary of the historical evolution of career ladders in nursing in the US. It describes this evolution in three phases of development that have responded to the political, social, economic, and professional demands of the healthcare milieu during the past forty years. In phase one, academic career ladders were spiral staircases, poorly articulated entry and exit pathways. Phase two expressed the maturation of career ladders across all levels of nursing education and practice. In phase three, career ladders were built upon theoretical perspectives that enriched academic programs and clinical practice. The article concludes with a discussion of the value of clinical experience in educational programs and the value of clinical experience prior to graduate education, calling for more research and dialogue about the amount, type, and measurement of clinical experience to better inform legislation, accreditation, and healthcare outcomes. Penn, Wilson, and Rosseter discuss a new career pathway for clinicians as classroom teachers, researchers, and/or clinical instructors. This article, designed to help experienced professional nurses transition into faculty roles, presents a very detailed, comprehensive description of academic nursing. In this article Penn, Rosseter, and Wilson identify the skills and the educational preparation needed for teaching roles and outline the responsibilities of teachers. The authors discuss the various types of faculty appointments available to experienced nurses ranging from clinical to non-tenure-track to tenure-track appointments. The material is presented in an informal manner and the reader is given steps to be taken in order to be successful in the attainment and enactment of their new educator role. The authors present a detailed chart of the attributes deans and chairs of nursing education programs look for as they search for new faculty; this chart provides a blueprint for success for all faculty. An Eastern view of career mobility and educational advancement is presented by Chiang-Hanisko, Ross, Boonyanurak, Ozawa, and Ling-Chun Chiang. …

Expectation and experience: dissonances between novice and expert perceptions in medical education research

There is both qualitative and quantitative variation in the research methods training provided for Masters and doctoral students on medical education programmes across the UK. Unlike other higher-degree programmes, there are no requirements for higher-degree medical education students to have studied the subject at degree level or for their supervisors to have training in social science research methods. This study explores the ways in which a panel of experts responded to novices' presentations of their research in progress. This qualitative, case-based study of a 1-day education research consortium generated data in two phases. The author collected detailed field notes as a non-participant observer and subsequently analysed the data they contained. A second set of data was generated from written reflexive accounts of the day e-mailed to the author by all participants 1 month after the event and was subsequently analysed. Thematic coding revealed wide degrees of variance between the research experiences and abilities of the novices and the expectations of the experts. These levels of dissonance are ascribed to the limited amounts of research training undertaken by students and the variable guidance provided by research supervisors, some of whom were themselves novices in this area. If medical education research is to thrive, it requires a properly developed infrastructure with training and support for research supervisors and students alike. Communities of practice need to be fostered to enable researchers to collaborate and disseminate good practice. This will ensure that medical education research practitioners can produce theoretically sound, rigorously designed and executed studies that can contribute to the evidence base for medical education.

Teaching opens new doors

There’s a crisis in nursing. For some time now we've known about the shortage of nurses; however, we've been paying less attention to another crisis: the shortage of nurse educators. According to the National League for Nursing (NLN), approximately 1,390 budgeted, vacant, full-time faculty positions exist nationwide. Since 2002, the vacancy rate in baccalaureate and higher degree programs has increased 32% (soaring to a 7.9% vacancy rate) and 10% for associate degree programs (growing to a 5.6% vacancy rate).1 The faculty shortage has profoundly impacted the general nursing shortage. Without nurse educators, our ability to reverse the shortage of practicing nurses is severely compromised. Therefore, it's timely to undertake a discussion of the educator shortage's origins, the benefits of becoming a nurse educator, and the types of career development opportunities that are available.

The implementation of the Bologna Process

This study identifies the responsibilities of the bodies and institutions involved in the implementation of the Bologna Process. They include the levels of Europe, nations, higher education institutions, departments, degree programmes, teachers and students. The future planning is analysed using the Balanced Scorecard approach designed for the communication and implementation of the strategy. The approach is used to analyse the objectives of European education policy from the different perspectives. Strategic planning and quality assurance are most efficient when they are transformed into action at the closest possible point to teaching and learning.

Imagining an interdisciplinary doctoral pedagogy

There has been a great deal of discussion about the need for interdisciplinary, applied research to service the needs of the knowledge economy and to solve the broader complex theoretical problems of the twenty-first century. This is known as ‘Mode 2’ knowledge production. Yet, university research higher degree programs continue to be largely disciplinary-based. While there has been a rise in the number of research students working on industry-related, applied projects, very few research students gain exposure to interdisciplinary research processes. This paper explores several examples of interdisciplinary doctoral programs based in North America and Australia and seeks to draw upon examples of undergraduate interdisciplinary learning and epistemology. In reviewing this theoretical work and a number of strategies implemented at an Australian university, the paper begins to imagine an interdisciplinary doctoral pedagogy.

Changing as a person: the experience of learning to research in the social sciences

In this study of learning to research on a higher degree programme in Education, half the sample of 18 students reported that the experience of learning changed them as people. The lived experience of learning of these students was analysed using an approach based on a Variation Theory of learning. The critical aspects of this object of learning and the relevance structure and dimensions of variation related to this change were identified and are illustrated in individual cases of learning. The critical aspects relate to epistemological stance, perception of others’ perspectives, the (relational) nature of learning, interpretation (reflexivity) and perception of professional practice. It is contended that change in relation to these aspects of a person’s world is related to change in one’s own person, and that learning to research on a professional doctorate is congruent with this object of learning.

The National Professional Qualification for Headship: Perceptions of the providers of taught higher degrees in educational management in England and Wales

The introduction of the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) has created both 'opportunities and dilemmas' (Bolam 1997: 278) for the providers of taught higher degrees in educational management. It can be argued that a series of inherent tensions exist between the emerging traditions of education management training and development articulated in the national qualification and taught higher degree programmes. This study seeks to define, explore and analyse some of these tensions as evidenced in the emerging literature on the topic; to elicit attitudes of course leaders/tutors of taught higher degrees in education management to the introduction of the qualification; and to discover some of the potential effects of the introduction of the NPQH on higher degree programmes in England and Wales.

Responses of baccalaureate and graduate programs to the emergence of choice in nursing accreditation.

Specialized accreditation in nursing is a widely recognized and respected hallmark of program quality. The advent of a second specialized accrediting agency for baccalaureate and higher degree programs in nursing prompted a survey of these programs to determine their choice of nursing accreditation agency, factors influencing their choice, their perceptions of the value added by nursing accreditation, and the difficulties encountered with the accreditation process. These study variables and the relationships between choice of accrediting agency and types of degree-granting nursing education programs offered by the institution, agency membership in the National League of Nursing (NLN) or the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), expected date of next accreditation visit, geographic region, public versus private status, and type of institution (Carnegie classification) were analyzed. Findings revealed that nearly a quarter (24%) of respondents intend to continue with the NLN Accrediting Commission (NLNAC), whereas 30% indicated they have already switched to the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) or intend to do so prior to their next accreditation cycle. However, nearly a quarter (24%) of respondents said they plan to be accredited by both agencies for the immediate future, and 21% indicated they are still undecided. Study findings suggest an end to single-source accreditation, and the beginning of a new market-oriented approach.

Evaluating critical thinking skills of baccalaureate nursing students.

This study evaluates the critical thinking skills of students enrolled in a baccalaureate nursing program, using the WGCTA, for the classes of 1993 through 1996. Scores were obtained at entry and at end of junior and senior years. The mean entry WGCTA score was 56 for all four classes; however, the 1995 and 1996 classes had significantly higher scores than the class of 1994. Critical thinking scores were higher at entry for older students and students who had completed another education degree; however, critical thinking scores were lower for students who had previous nursing experience. After adapting for age, previous degree, and nursing experience, no significant differences in the WGCTA scores from entry to end of junior and senior years emerged for the classes of 1993, 1994, 1995. Critical thinking skills have become the hallmark of education. The National Education Goal Panel has advocated for an increase in the ability to think critically, communicate effectively and solve problems (Banta, 1993). In turn, the nursing profession has incorporated these goals of higher education into its educational programs. The National League for Nursing (NLN) includes the measurement of critical thinking as a required outcome in the evaluation and accreditation of baccalaureate and higher degree programs in nursing. This critical thinking outcome must reflect the student's skill in analysis, reasoning, research, or decision making as these skills relate to the nursing discipline (National League for Nursing, 1992). To meet the NLN's critical thinking outcome criterion, nursing programs must have a method of evaluating this skill. Many programs use the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA), which is a standardized instrument. The College of Nursing at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) adopted this instrument to evaluate the critical thinking skills of students in the baccalaureate nursing program.

Critical Thinking as an Educational Outcome

Critical thinking, an outcome criterion of the National League for Nursing and the Council of Baccalaureate and Higher Degree Programs, is an abstract skill difficult to measure. The authors provide a comprehensive review of four instruments designed to measure critical thinking and summarize research in which the tools were used. Analysis of this information will empower nursing faculty members to select a critical-thinking instrument that is individualized to the needs of their respective nursing programs.

Measuring the leadership styles and scholarly productivity of nursing department chairpersons.

Self-perceived leadership styles of nursing department chairpersons were correlated with their scholarly productivity. The sample consisted of the 106 nursing department chairpersons from National League for Nursing (NLN)-accredited baccalaureate and higher-degree programs in 10 midwestern states. Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership Model was used as the conceptual framework. Their LEAD-Self instrument was used to measure leadership styles, range, and adaptability. In addition, the Scholarly Productivity Index (SPI) was used to measure the nursing chairpersons' involvement in prepublication and research, publication, editorial, and other scholarly activities. College size and status (public or private) were among the variables examined to assess a relationship or group differences. A majority of nursing department chairpersons viewed themselves as having a "participating" leadership style. Most of the remaining chairpersons viewed themselves as having a "selling" leadership style. Study participants viewed their backup leadership styles to be in a reverse order from their primary leadership styles with the "selling" leadership style the most frequently used backup style and "participating" the second most frequently used style. Chairpersons from public nursing schools reported significantly greater numbers of scholarly activities than did chairpersons from private nursing schools. Chairpersons who had held their positions for less than 5 years tended to have a "participating" leadership style. A majority of nursing department chairpersons in the study reported that they felt institutional pressure to engage in scholarly activities.

Attitudes of nurse-faculty toward post-tenure performance evaluations.

While non-tenured faculty receive feedback on their work in their annual evaluations for reappointment, many tenured faculty do not receive evaluations and feedback except when seeking merit award or promotion. Recent literature suggests that feedback on work at fixed time intervals, through post-tenure evaluations, can positively enhance faculty productivity. This survey study examined the attitudes of faculty teaching in baccalaureate and higher degree programs in nursing toward post-tenure performance evaluations. A random, nationwide sample of 248 nurse-faculty participated in this study. Data analysis showed that attitude toward post-tenure evaluation was not significantly related to such variables as tenure status, perceived productivity in teaching, service, scholarship, internal motivation, age, teaching experience, sex, educational preparation, or rank. Faculty clearly stated that they desire feedback on their work, an opportunity to define future objectives, and a post-tenure evaluation system in their own schools.

Educating for the future: a national survey of nursing deans about need and demand for nurse researchers.

If nursing doctoral programs are to meet the profession's need for research, they must produce scholars with the specific research foci and skills capable of meeting the profession's unique research demands. A national survey of deans and directors of schools of nursing was conducted to determine their opinions about the differing research foci that graduates of nursing doctoral programs should possess. A mail survey instrument was returned by 434 deans and directors of baccalaureate and higher degree programs who were queried about current and future need, contribution, and funding capability of researchers prepared with five different foci: psychosocial processes, biophysical processes, health care delivery systems and administration, education, and methodology and instrumentation. Deans recommended diverse research foci for both current and future researchers and indicated optimism about future funding for research. Although deans rated current and future professional contributions of researchers in the psychosocial domain most highly, they indicated that they believed current and future funding potential was greatest for biophysical researchers. These deans predicted that all types of nursing research endeavors will become increasingly important to the profession and the development of its theory base.

Nursing education administrators: level of career development and mentoring.

The focus of this study was to analyze the influence of mentoring on the level of career development of nursing education administrators. Other variables that may influence the level of career development of nursing education administrators also were examined. These included early life influences, academic preparation, supporting factors, constraining factors, and career stage. Relationships among these variables are depicted in the conceptual Model of Career Development in Academic Administration. Survey research methods were used in this correlational, retrospective study. A questionnaire developed by the investigators was mailed to a randomly selected national sample of 600 nursing education administrators in National League for Nursing-accredited baccalaureate and higher degree programs. A response rate of 71 per cent yielded 427 completed questionnaires. Multiple regression techniques were used to examine the relationships between dependent variables and independent variables in the conceptual model. Nine variables explained 59 per cent of the variance in level of career development scores. This variance was explained by highest degree earned, number of years since completion of the highest degree, number of years as an academic administrator, the scholarly difficulty index, the work commitment index, mentoring relationships, number of months of nonemployment, number of children, and type of institution where highest degree was earned. Mentoring contributed significantly to the prediction of level of career development of nursing education administrators and therefore should be encouraged and fostered.

Consumer evaluation of a part-time teacher education programme in a Nigerian College of Education

A prominent feature of the Nigerian educational scene today is the proliferation of parttime programmes in both professional and non-professional courses by tertiary institutions. In the area of teacher education, part-time/sandwich programmes have become a topical issue which has generated a lot of debate among both professional educators and the general public. There is the general notion that the proliferation of sandwich and part-time programmes for serving teachers run by various colleges of education and universities in the country is likely to lead to a fall in the standard of teacher education. However, the debate on the apparent crisis in the quality of teacher education in the country remains to a large extent a speculative issue without any empirical support. Part-time and sandwich programmes are indeed a welcome development in the country's educational culture since it is only through a vigorous and determined effort by the training institutions that the problem of poor quality of teaching personnel can be realistically addressed. Obviously these programmes afford wonderful opportunities to serving teachers who cannot abandon their jobs to participate in full-time studies necessary for the improvement of their professional knowledge and skills. As a deliberate policy to improve the quality of teaching personnel serving in the public school system, the Federal Government of Nigeria has made the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) a minimum teaching qualification in primary schools by the year 2000. The sandwich and part-time programmes offered by colleges of education and universities include certificate courses like the Associate Certificate in Education (ACE), the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE), post-graduate courses B.Ed. and higher degree programmes. However a cursory examination of these programmes easily reveals the diversity they exhibit in terms of entry qualifications, duration, organisation and content. It is possible that the lack of a common framework for the organisation of teacher training programmes has contributed to the barrage of criticisms to which these programmes have recently been subjected. We also observe that the uncritical consumers of these programmes are often satisfied with anything that goes on in the programmes provided their efforts will be blessed with a at the end of the programme. The education industry seems to be perverted by certificate consciousness or, by what Ronald Dore (1976) has aptly described as diploma disease. One way of addressing the problem of poor quality of teacher education programmes is for teacher training institutions to undertake regular and systematic evaluation of their training programmes to determine to what extent they are achieving their objectives. It is through such well planned formative evaluations that programme quality can be effectively monitored and problems of implementation identified and tackled. It is against this background that this consumer evaluation of the Part-Time teacher education programme of the Rivers State College of Education was carried out.

Social Work Education in the Asia-Pacific Region

This article identifies 5 trends in social work and social work education in the Asia Pacific region: limited role of social work and the challenge it presents, urban focus in a predominantly rural Asia, limited foci of social work education restricted mainly to casework and community work to the neglect of social policy, articulation between levels of practice, and indigenisation of social work education for consistency of relevance to its cultural contexts. Suggestions for development of social work in the region include social work research, regional workshops, joint coursework higher degree programmes, documenting experience of practitioners, encouraging appropriate research higher degrees and research programmes across schools of social work.

SfAA Committee on Departmental Support

Editor's note.—The Departmental Support Committee of SfAA, chaired by Eleanor Bauwens, Dean of the College of Nursing at Arizona State University, is concerned with professional advancement of practitioners in academic departments as well as academic training programs in applied anthropology. Accordingly, the committee is developing two sets of guidelines, the first to assist anthropologists who may be called upon to participate in departmental program reviews, the second to help practitioners develop a personal portfolio to document accomplishments for tenure and promotion. The committee is indebted to NLN, Council of Baccalaureate and Higher Degree Programs for program review guidelines. and to Mary E. Conway, medical College of Georgia, School of Nursing, for portfolio preparation guidelines.

Nurses with doctoral degrees: education and employment characteristics.

Selected education and employment characteristics of nurses with doctorates were examined. Data were obtained in late 1979 and 1980 about three time periods in the 1,964 respondents' careers: (a) doctoral study, (b) first position, and (c) current position if different from first position. Of the nurses studied, 76% completed doctoral programs in the 1970s. Education was the major field of study most frequently reported, followed by social/behavioral sciences and nursing; federal monies were the major source of financial support. Nurses with doctorates were hired in their first position primarily for teaching in baccalaureate and higher degree programs in nursing with a sizable shift to administrative roles in academia among those reporting current positions different from first positions, Only 6% to 8% of doctorally prepared nurses were hired primarily for the conduct of research in either first or current position.

European Survey of Master's and Doctoral Dissertions in Science Education

Editorial comment and summaries English Drs Kjollerstrom and Lybeck present here a brief report of their European survey of master's and doctoral dissertations in science education, undertaken subsequently to a workshop on Research in Science Education in Europe held at Malente, FR Germany in 1976. The full report of their survey has recently been published by the Institute for Science Education (IPN), Kiel, FR Germany. The article published here reports on the distribution, size and organization of science education research groups, their areas of research interest and higher degree programmes. It also surveys the main areas of science education research at master's and doctoral level undertaken during the period 1971‐1976, and the employment taken up by master's and doctoral students upon completion of their studies.