Pre-professional Courses Research Articles

A New Higher Education Model in Nation-Building: The Republic of Vietnam’s Liberal Arts Education and Its Performances during the Vietnam War (1965–1975)

ABSTRACT This study examines liberal arts education model influences in Vietnam’s higher education throughout the Vietnam War (1965–1975). Liberal arts education advanced due to the necessity to match market norms and unite qualified people to oppose communism, as well as US specialists. This research article uses source materials from the former Republic of Vietnam and previous studies to identify two major elements of national liberal arts education. First, South Vietnamese educators stressed academic independence, which allowed students to critically think about varied views and widen their worldview. Second, community colleges combined liberal arts and pre-professional courses to stress educational practicality and social duty. South Vietnamese students were civically responsible and dedicated to research and innovation. However, the Vietnamese Civil War, declining financial backing and international recognition, and internal discord concerning this paradigm hampered the collective attempt to embody the Republic of Vietnam’s liberal arts education during the war.

The Rise and Fall of Torah U’Madda*

Abstract Rabbi Norman Lamm, who assumed the presidency of Yeshiva University in 1976, sought to clarify the mission of the institution by using as its tagline the phrase Torah U'’Madda–denoting the dual aim of providing traditional Jewish study (Torah) along with a standard college curriculum (Madda, meaning knowledge). It would replace the word “Synthesis,” which generations of students, including Lamm himself, had found vague and confusing. Lamm launched what he called the Torah U'Madda Project, which ultimately included a campus lecture series, an annual journal, and a book entitled: Torah Umadda: The Encounter of Religious Learning and Worldly Knowledge in the Jewish Tradition. While denying any intention to construct a hard-and-fast institutional philosophy on how to integrate Orthodox Judaism and secular higher education, Lamm insisted that serious exposure to both Torah knowledge and the arts and sciences fulfilled the Torah's mandate to understand and appreciate all aspects of God's world. Lamm's initiative failed, however, because economic conditions induced many students to forsake the liberal arts for vocational and pre-professional courses, and the trend to the right in American Orthodoxy–expressed by rabbis at Yeshiva itself and abetted by the year or more spent at Israeli yeshivot before college–stressed single–minded concentration on Torah study and justified secular education only for the purpose of making a living.

A influência das amizades no comportamento e na saúde dos adolescentes

Objetivo: Identificar como os adolescentes interpretam e reagem diante de suas relações de amizade e quais suas repercussões no bem-estar e saúde nesta fase da vida. Método: Trata-se de um estudo transversal de abordagem qualitativa, exploratório e descritivo realizado no período de junho a julho de 2019. O cenário da pesquisa foi uma escola localizada em município do extremo sul do estado do Rio Grande do Sul, que se dedica a oferta de cursos pré-profissionalizantes a estudantes adolescentes em situação de vulnerabilidade social, econômica e ambiental. Resultados: Participaram do estudo 30 adolescentes. Após análise dos temas originados nas entrevistas emergiram as seguintes categorias: Relações de amizade saudáveis e promotoras de afeto, empatia e confiança; Confiança: a necessidade de uma base segura nas interações e Amizades disfuncionais: um risco para a saúde do adolescente. Considerações Finais: As relações interpessoais durante a adolescência são permeadas de singularidades e sutilezas e os indivíduos estão mais sensíveis a críticas e desaprovação por seus pares. Atitudes negativas como rejeição e negligência têm caráter de maior exposição a comportamentos que comprometem sobremaneira seu desenvolvimento saudável.

Interprofessional Education through a Novel Peer-Assisted Learning Model

Interprofessional Education (IPE) may be challenging program components to incorporate into the competency-rich Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT) curriculum. Models of IPE are varied but they all have, at their foundation, two or more professions learning about, from, and with each other to enable effective collaboration to optimize healthcare processes and patient outcomes. Furthermore, studies have demonstrated a strong positive relationship between inclusion of IPE in health education curricula and success in entry-level careers. Incorporating IPE into the curriculum, without loss of other key competencies, requires creativity and necessitates collaboration with content experts from other healthcare fields. This presentation summaries the process and preliminary results of a pilot project involving MLT students as part of an interprofessional team of peer-assisted learning (PAL) tutors, reinforcing physiological processes and clinical diagnostic procedures through laboratory activities in a freshman undergraduate Anatomy and Physiology course. Drawing on this innovative PAL model, as well as other IPE strategies, two new MLT programs in Virginia are implementing learning techniques to meet IPE expectations using collaborative models. In addition, this approach to early IPE strives to promote a culture of interprofessionalism which is introduced in pre-professional courses, reinforced in program curricula, and ultimately mastered throughout the professional career.

Putting Theory into Practice: Incorporating a Community Engagement Model into Online Pre-professional Courses in Legal Studies and Human Resources Management

As part of community-engaged educational partnerships, students are paired with community members in instructor-focused activities linked to an academic curriculum. Scholars widely agree that this type of approach can significantly improve the learning experience for students while simultaneously having a positive impact on the community. As faculty in higher education implement this pedagogical tool, it is a natural progression for it to expand into online classrooms. In particular, while there is a growing body of research related to community engagement in online healthcare and science-related fields, less research exists on the incorporation of community engagement in other types of online pre-professional courses. This paper explores student perceptions in online pre-professional undergraduate courses in the legal studies and human resources fields in which community engagement projects were utilized. These experiences should lead to a deeper understanding of the benefits and challenges of community-engaged online classrooms and give guidance for developing future projects.

Problems With Evidencing Reflective Practice (And Their Possible Resolution)

Reflective practice is the hallmark of a professional, and the reflective practitioner paradigm is still very much mainstream in both professional practice and in the preparation for that practice. In fact, it has become almost a rule on pre-professional courses that students are required to evidence their ‘reflective practice’ by writing a reflection upon an incident or encounter, or producing a written reflective commentary, or reflecting (in writing) upon their experience, etc.

The Integrated Cohort Program: An Evaluation of a Preprofessional Course of Study

(2003). The Integrated Cohort Program: An Evaluation of a Preprofessional Course of Study. The Educational Forum: Vol. 67, No. 4, pp. 354-363.

Improving the Quality of Writing in the Workplace

Despite the increased emphasis on teaching writing skills in both preprofessional courses and in-house seminars, practicing professionals still have difficulty conveying their ideas clearly and concisely to others in writing. To identify ways in which managers can develop and reinforce sound writing practices in the workplace, the practices used by a school district's central office were analyzed. The findings suggest that managers can improve the quality of writing in the workplace by creating an open communication environment and by developing a corporate culture that establishes sound writing practices as the norm. Establishing such a norm requires skill development, leadership commitment, modeling behavior, feedback, and recognition and reward. Managers can also improve quality by reducing the quantity of the writing both they and their subordinates do. The findings suggest that a top-down process of training may be more effective than the bottom-up system currently used for training in writing.

The Effect of Academic Preparation on Achievement in Professional Courses and on Certification Examinations

This study was designed to investigate the effect of various configurations of preprofessional science courses on student achievement in professional courses and on a national certification examination. The sample consisted of 180 graduates of a university-based 2 + 2 medical technology program. Preprofessional courses were categorized to form configurations for comparison with percentage grades earned in professional courses and categorical scores achieved on a national certification examination. Data were analyzed using a two-way analysis of variance with repeated measures on one factor. Results showed no significant difference between course configurations and professional course or examination grades. A significant interaction, however, was identified between students selecting either a physiological chemistry or organic plus biochemistry option and achievement on a certification examination.

Predicting optometry school grades from intellectual and nonintellectual admission variables.

Intellectual achievement, assessed over time by grades in preprofessional courses and standardized by scores on the Optometry College Admission Test (OCAT), is typically used to judge an applicant's potential for academic achievement in optometry school. In this study both intellectual and nonintellectual admission variables were tested as predictors of optometry grade point average (GPA). GPA at the end of two years was strongly and efficiently predicted by the following combination of intellectual and nonintellectual variables: preoptometry GPA, scores on the physics section of the OCAT, and a score based on the applicant's California Psychological Inventory (CPI) profile. The multiple correlation coefficient between this three-variable combination and GPA was 0.66; cross-validated r = 0.56. Scores on the quantitative section of the OCAT were the best single predictor of first year grades; when preoptometry GPA scores on the physics section of the OCAT and the personality inventory score were added, a predictive validity coefficient of 0.61 was obtained. It is concluded that the prediction of grades in optometry school, and indeed all professional schools, will derive from these three factors: preprofessional grades, standardized achievement test scores, and a quantitative measure of personal traits which relate to academic achievement. Whereas the exact weighting of each variable in a predictive equation depends upon the individual school, maximum predictive validity will be based on these three factors.

Course Entry Affect and Its Relationship to Course Grade in Music Education and Music Therapy Classes

The relationship of affective entry characteristics to final course grade and the effects on these of professional or preprofessional courses, student grade point average, and the students' major were studied. Analyses of 563 data sets of students enrolled in 35 music education and music therapy courses suggest that final course grade has little relationship to students' initial course-affective perceptions. Overall, professional courses and students simultaneously pursuing both music education and music therapy degrees produced higher affect scores and the greatest amount of perceived career relevance in the courses. The music education majors indicated less positive affect and career relevance toward their courses than other majors. In all majors, students desired lecture-presentation formats less in professional courses.

Affective Course Entry Perceptions of Music Therapy Students in Professional and Preprofessional Courses

Affective Course Entry Perceptions of Music Therapy Students in Professional and Preprofessional Courses

Humanities and the world of work: A call for integration

fools go where angels fear tread, then surely a philosopher may be excused for venturing down hall his colleagues in more practical, career-oriented disciplines. Unfortunately, it often appears today that distance between those of us in liberal arts/humanities and those involved in formulation and development of career/vocational programs is as much conceptual as it is physical. And I am most concerned with conceptual schism between two. In recent years, vocational and/or career considerations have been injected into educational life such a degree that they now seem have assumed status as ultimate criterion of correct curriculum. Students at all levels apparently select courses and majors with a view whether they can market their skills upon graduation. As one of my students asked me, If it won't help me get a job, why should I take it? Administrators and faculty, too, have moved in recent years develop new vocationally-oriented programs and retailor old programs fit career needs. Finally U.S. Office of Education, under rubric Career Education and Preparation, has stepped up efforts to synchronize world of work more closely with schools and colleges. ' T. H. Bell, U. S. Commissioner of Education, reports that ten task forces have been set up find ways of ending traditional isolation of education from field of work.2 Indeed, Commissioner Bell has gone so far as claim that the individual must be offered maximum opportunity for discovery, development, and direction of his or her potential for making a social contribution through world of work-not only as an inherent right, but as a necessity for a democratic society.3 Typically these career goals have been translated into career/vocational programs intended insure that upon completion of program student will be equipped with skills necessary begin his chosen career. To achieve this goal it is thought desirable and even necessary track student through an increasingly large set of professional and pre-professional courses with content custom-designed fit career program needs. Since many careers apparently demand an ability handle technologically sophisticated and specialized information, career programs must provide it. Accordingly, curriculum of such programs consists in a set of technologically sophisticated and highly specialized courses, each viewed as

The Annamalai University Agricultural College

The rural set up of the University and the rich facilities readily available in the campus led to the starting of a Department of Agriculture in 1951 to teach agriculture as a science subject at the under-graduate level in Intermediate, B. A., and B. Sc. classes. In 1958, the Pre-Professional course in Agriculture was started and the professional B. Sc. (Ag.) course was inaugurated on July 27, 1959 with 24 students. The strength has now increased to a total of 300, in the four classes of the B. Sc. (Ag.) course. Already four batches have passed out and in all 145 students have completed the B. Sc. (Ag.) course. Thanks to the grants received from the State and Central Governments, the required facilities by way of buildings, experimental farm, laboratory equipments etc., have been mostly provided.

Co-operation in Mathematics and Science

One of the most interesting developments of modern science has been its widespread demand for mathematical assistance. Biology, medicine, finance, economics and many others are calling on mathematics for help in solving their problems. Pre-professional courses in our colleges show a continuously increasing demand for it directly and through physics and chemistry. The student who can not use his arithmetic and elementary algebra easily and well has little or no chance to succeed in them.