Part-time Course Research Articles

A history of the Department of Information Science of The City University

A review is presented of the developments from the found ing of the original course in 'Collecting and Communicating Scientific Knowledge' for the Certificate of the Institute of Information Scientists in 1961, to the work of the present day Department of Information Science of The City University which now runs five postgraduate courses. The expansion of the teaching includes not only scientific and technical informa tion but also courses on biomedical and pharmaceutical infor mation, business information, legal and community informa tion and research and development in information systems. The latter topic has given rise to a new part-time postgraduate course in Information Systems and Technology. A wide rang ing research programme includes work on information retrieval systems and the user interface and information flow and dissemination. It is concluded that further progress of the Department will depend on policy developments.

The provision of part-time first degree courses in the United Kingdom

ABSTRACT Though full-time provision remains dominant, part-time undergraduate student numbers have been increasing in both absolute and relative importance over the last 15 years, notably in the public sector institutions and through the development of the Open University. For the 1985/86 academic year 615 separate part-time first degree courses have been identified. These courses are examined in terms of the types of institutions offering them, their accreditation, timing, mode of provision, subject, entry and exit arrangements, and location. The current pattern of provision is shown to be biased towards certain locations, subjects and modes.

Group Embedded Figures Test: Normative Data for Male Automotive Mechanical Apprentice Tradesmen

The Group Embedded Figures Test was administered to 274 male students enrolled in a part-time automotive mechanical apprenticeship course. Distribution characteristics and the resultant norms are compared to earlier normative data reported in the literature and the test manual. The present sample was similar to the preliminary normative group in field-dependence/independence. A number of questions are raised regarding theoretical assumptions underlying current use of the test.

De Nieuwe Part-Time Opleiding Tot Leraar Mvt

In the Netherlands, one of the ways of getting a teaching qualification is via a variety of evening courses, named LO, MO-A and -B, which were meant originally for career-minded primary-school teachers· This part-time curriculum takes the student at least 3+2+4=9 years, and will bring him a third, second or first degree of qualification. The third degree enables him to teach in the lower secondary schools (LBO, MAVO), the second degree in the lower grades of the higher secondary schools, the first degree, equivalent to the qualification obtainable at universities, in all the forms of secondary schools. The programmes in these courses, some of which are as much as a hundred years old, had a reputation of solid traditionalism. In the early seventies new institutes for teacher training (NLO-institutes) were created, which allow the student in full-time courses to get a second and third degree in two different subjects. These institutes were based on a new educational philosophy and were more oriented towards the teaching profession than the traditional part-time courses. In 1978, the minister of Education allowed the old MO-institutes to renew themselves in order to become up-to-date training institutes. This article describes the operation that this decision implied-The restructuring of the LO-MO-A had to take place according to the so-called Y-model. After a first preparatory year the student passes a preparatory exam which has a diagnostic function, both for him and the Institute. After two years of study the student has to choose between two options: the general education option and the teacher training option. In the modern language field the general option leeds to careers in which a thorough knowledge of a specific foreign language and foreign-language culture is required, such as in journalism or in industry. The article, however, limits itself to the teaching option for modern languages. If one compares the new situation with the old one, one finds the following more or less fundamental differences: - Whereas vast differences could be observed in the nature of the curricula for the respective languages in the old situation, the objectives for the new curricula were defined along the same lines which allows for a maximum of comparability. - In the new situation the student gets a third degree after three years, and a second degree after one more year· - Great importance is attached to oral and written skills, much less to grammar and translation. - Unlike the situation of old, every element in the curriculum should be legitimized to a large extent by its relevance to teaching. - Foreign language culture is taught with an emphasis on today's political, social and cultural manifestations. - The most profound break with the past is that 25 per cent of the curriculum is devoted to general didactics and language pedagogy.

Some problems and pleasures of teaching part-time management students

ABSTRACT This paper presents the main results of an interview survey of 50 teachers of part-time Management courses in 15 higher education institutions, conducted as part of a project on student perceptions of their learning environments in these courses. Staff felt part-time teaching was consistently undervalued by their institutions. Management teachers seemed particularly enthusiastic and committed to classroom practice, in ways directly to do with their practical experience of management itself. Major problems of academic freedom existed in some courses, and of fitting syllabus structure to the part-time mode in others. In addition, there were pervasive problems of staff and students' sense of cognitive dissonance between college and work. Staff perceptions of student problems did not match well with the students' own perceptions. Differences between types of institution, between levels of course, and between individual teachers were examined.

Preparing nurse teachers by means of a part-time course

AN INNOVATION in the method of preparation of new nurse teachers is under way in the counties of Devon and Cornwall. The scheme is proving effective and is economical of money and other resources. The preparation has its foundation in the existing course for the Certificate in Education (Further Education) of the Council for National Academic Awards. To that course is added an extra syllabus specially written for intending nurse teachers. The course for the Certificate in Education (FE) ('the basic course') is a part-time day-release and block course. The students are lecturers in Further Education and other parts of the public sector including nurses. They are in Colleges for a total of 90 days over 2 years. 'The extra course' which covers the extra syllabus for nurses only, is achieved by half-day release for an additional 80 half-days over the 2 years of the course. The scheme has been devised by the providing Colleges, Plymouth Polytechnic and Cornwall Technical College, in close co-operation with the Schools of Nursing in Devon and Cornwall at Exeter, Plymouth, Torbay, and Truro. The General Nursing Council for England and Wales validates the course and sponsors the students, who are usually staff members of the four Schools of Nursing. Six nurses are sponsored for each year of the course. The scheme permits the registration as nurse tutors of applicants as soon as they have successfully completed the courses. Before the scheme existed, the General Nursing Council required of most students that, after gaining the CNAA's Certificate in Education (FE), they should spend a 'probationary' year of work experience in a School of Nursing. The belief developed that the unspecified experience during that year was not providing a very valuable extra dimension to the new teacher's abilities. During the year the teacher, though employed as a member of a team in the School of Nursing, was not fully deployable while yet unregistered. Without altering the contents and structure of the

Part-time business studies degree graduates—Some background results

Abstract The decade of the 1970's saw a significant development in the provision of part-time business studies degree courses in the public sector of higher education so that by 1980 sixteen such courses were in operation. This paper is concerned with the background characteristics of the graduates of these courses. It reports the results of a questionnaire study of the 121 students who graduated from the first one (at Middlesex Polytechnic) between 1973 and 1979. Information is presented on the following: age at time of graduating, sex, domestic circumstances, occupational mobility, family background, graduates' perceptions of the contribution of their degrees in terms of both obtaining employment and job performance, relative degree classification and subsequent studies.

Adults and Continuing Education

A recurring image of adult education is that of a group of earnest students, middle aged, middle brow, middle class and mainly female watching a set of not very well focussed slides in a remote primary school-room--cooling, the chairs uncomfortably small, with the caretaker ringing bells at exactly his appointed hour, irrespective of how well discussion is proceeding. Bells apart, such a scene bears no resemblance to these present seminars, except that I shall use a few view-foil illustrations to back up a simple proposition-that is just as the past twenty years have been for universities (though not for the other parts of further and higher education) the period of expansion of full-time study, the next twenty years must see a great expansion of part-time courses for adults. I shall call such study of all kinds 'adult and continuing education' as a neutral descriptive phrase-instead of using 'recurrent education', 'lifelong learning' or 'education permanente' all of which, to the cognoscenti, connote slightly different objectives. The pressures which will lead to this re-orientation for universities seem, naturally to me as an economist, to be highly economic and almost make a useful acronym: DEFER (Demographic and Economic; Financial; social Engineering; Relevance). Let us take them in turn, and then examine some counter arguments which I have fancifully, with an onset of end-of-term skittishness, made into another acronym: RAT (Residence; level and Assessment; credit Transfer).

Mid-career training. A part-time MSc course could be the answer

Mid-career training. A part-time MSc course could be the answer

Dramatherapy in the Training of Psychiatric Nurses

Dorothy Langley is Tutor-in-Charge of the second year part-time Dramatherapy Course at South Devon Technical College, Torquay. She is qualified and has extensive experience in drama, dramatherapy and psychodrama and is currently on the Executive of the B.A.D.Th.

I. The United Kingdom

The evolution of information science in response to the demand for scientific information is discussed as a back ground to the development of part-time and full-time courses in the United Kingdom to provide a formal education for information scientists. The work of the Institute of Informa tion Scientists in evaluating courses and maintaining a high standard of entry to the profession is also treated.

The `Alternative Route' Reconsidered: Part-Time Further Education and Social Mobility in England and Wales

Part-time further education has been described as an `alternative route' for those from less favourable educational and social backgrounds. The concept of the `alternative route' is examined critically, and two interpretations of it are tested on data collected from a sample of adult males in England and Wales interviewed in 1972. Men from middle class backgrounds, or with high (but not the highest) school attainments, have been most likely to enter part-time courses. As influences on entry, class background and school attainment interact, suggesting that part-time education has been more of an alternative route in educational terms for the middle class than for the working class. Analysis of occupations later entered by part-time students, however, suggests that part-time education was most strongly associated with occupational achievement among those with poor school attainments. This, and the interactive patterns of recruitment in terms of class background and school attainment, produced a positive association between part-time education and net upward intergenerational occupational mobility that was strongest among those from working class backgrounds.

Factors influencing attitudes to technology in schools

he conventional wisdom of this period in regard to national prosperity and education for a technological society is to be found in the i945 report of the Percy Committee on Higher Technological Education. Incorporated in the one text are the ideas that Britain would be short of technologists for industry; that Universities should emphasize the science aspect and technical colleges the art aspect of technological education but that existing part-time courses for the Higher National Certificate were wholly inadequate in respect of their provision in the fundamental sciences and that in any case industry required a new type of high level technologist. Of the 1500 trained engineers which the Committee expected the technical colleges to produce it was anticipated that about I50 would work for external degrees of the University of London, iooo would train as in the past while the remaining 350 would undergo courses to produce the new type of technologist. They would require continuous full-time study over substantial periods which would be interwoven with planned courses of works practice. Such courses' 'should be directed to the development to the highest level of the teaching of the art of technology, based on sufficient scientific foundation. These courses should have a status in no way inferior to the University type of course . . .' but they should be awarded a diploma. 'Even in such a well-established technology as engineering what is chiefly required of Technical Colleges is adaptability to changing techniques and to new combinations of techniques.' The history of subsequent events has been well documented.2 By 1955 it had been decided to create the National Council for Technological Awards and the I956 white paper on Technical Educations heralded a four-tier system of technical colleges with the Colleges of Advanced Technology at the apex. The Diploma in Technology was given charter status and the idea of sandwich courses promoted. The Robbins Committee accepted that both the Diploma and Colleges '37

The tutorial-tape-document learning package

Summary The development and practical application of a learning system based on the use of tutorials, cassette tapes and printed material are described. The system has been applied to full-time HND and Degree courses and is probably applicable to both full-time and part-time courses in which cognitive objectives predominate.

THE MASTER'S COURSE IN CLINICAL PHARMACY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE

Summary The background and philosophy of the two-year part-time course in clinical pharmacy leading to the degree of Master Science which was instituted in the University of Strathclyde in 1975 is given. A brief outline of course content and objectives is included, with examples of the types of project undertaken by the studies.

Transit Industry Educational Interests

In recent years, much emphasis has been placed on the role of mass transit in urban America. In order to facilitate communications between transit industry and academic institutions, a questionnaire was distributed to representatives of the transit industry in order to define the types of educational background and broad areas of program emphasis felt to be most desirable. As preparation to enter the transit industry, a majority of transit operators felt a 4-year college education was suitable. Stress was placed on having the educational background span a broad interdisciplinary mix with emphasis in program areas such as management, business administration, public policy, economics, and engineering. The present nature of involvement between educational institutions and transit operations centers on research and providing continuing education through part-time studies, seminars, and short courses. The questionnaire indicated that during the past 5 years, much has been accomplished in fostering closer liaison between institutions of higher learning and the transit industry.

Cartography at the Canberra College of Advanced Education

Abstract The years of 1973 and 1974 must rank as two outstanding years of widespread activity in the advancement of cartographic education within this country. Last year, at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, fifteen cartography students initiated a new full-time associate diploma course and, in the same year, an associate diploma programme was introduced at Sydney Technical College. At the Institutes of Technology of Queensland and South Australia, cartographic certificate courses are in the process of being replaced, and an associate diploma programme is now available at Wembley Technical College in Western Australia. At the current time, close to one thousand students throughout Australia are engaged in full-time or part-time courses that provide at least a basic training in cartographic and associated techniques. In every Division of the Institute there has been an extensive reassessment and revision of both the nature and content of syllabi as a response to the increasingly more specific demands of cartographic employment. The national trend has been to discard the broadly based drafting certificates in favour of programmes which provide more relevant experience with higher entry standards.

Part-Time Courses in Criminology at Manchester

Evening courses in Criminology have been among the leading factors in interesting police officers in University education. The University of Manchester was early in the field and the following article describes the latest developments in its courses.

A Pilot Project for MLT Using the Career Ladder Concept

Robert). Frost, M.D., Program Director, St. Anthony Hospital, Michigan City, Ind., is Vice President of ASCP; Ellen Firme, MT(ASCP), is Educational Coordinator, St. Anthony Hospital; Lynn Arbogast, M.D., is Director of Allied Health Programs, Indiana University, Indianapolis; and Vern Broertjes, Ph.D., is Director of Institutional Programs, Indiana University. were going on with some part-time college courses, while five percent were going into full-time college work leading to a Bachelor's Degree in Medical Technology.

The human costs of part-time day release

Four cohorts of “unqualified” school leavers, starting in part-time day release engineering courses in local technical colleges between 1950 and 1960 were the subjects of four studies during their first three years at college. 35% (714) of them replied to a questionnaire sent out in 1966. The enquiry covered their achievement at college, their careers in industry and the relationship between the two. Response rates were biased in favour of the more successful in the early years at college. This paper is concerned with the 110 respondents (17%) who had obtained a Higher National Certificate by 1966. The percentages varied with time from about 40% for those starting in 1950 down to 9% for the 1960 cohort. The evidence presented suggests that despite an inbuilt failure rate on the part-time National Certificate courses some students persisted against the odds for as long as twelve years in order to achieve professional qualifications by this route. This heavy price in terms of human endeavour is contrasted with the cost-benefit analyses of the economists which show that the production of qualified manpower by the HNC route provides higher rates of return to society than full-time University courses. In answer to the question about their plans for the education of their own children 59% of all respondents and 77% of those who had achieved the higher qualification wanted longer schooling, University degree and other full-time courses. It seems unlikely that those who have themselves struggled for years along the “cheap”, “hard way” will readily accept economic arguments for the continuation of these conditions for the next generation.