Self-study Process Research Articles

COMPUTER SIMULATION AS A SUPPORT OF INDEPENDENT WORK OF STUDENTS IN STUDING THEORETICAL PHYSICS

The article reveals advantages of the process of self-study with use of computer didactic means, distinguishes didactic facilities of computer educational programs as to modeling of physical processes on the example of tasks in electrodynamics for self study of students with applying of the program «Component». It is offered examples of tasks for self study in electrodynamics for students with applying of the program «Component».

Testing a Site Visit Approach for the Next Accreditation System

Testing a Site Visit Approach for the Next Accreditation System

LA GUÍA DIDÁCTICA, UN MATERIAL EDUCATIVO PARA PROMOVER EL APRENDIZAJE AUTÓNOMO. EVALUACIÓN Y MEJORAMIENTO DE SU CALIDAD EN LA MODALIDAD ABIERTA Y A DISTANCIA DE LA UTPL

One of the important changes that the UTPL´s Open and Distance System pedagogical model (1998-1999) introduces is that instead of the texts (compilations) done by the tutors of each subject, conventional books are chosen. However, even though they are updated and the best that can be found on the market, they are not designed for distance teaching and learning. This is why the Didactic Guide becomes a key component for our model, because it brings the study material close to students, making the best use of its positive attributes and overcoming its limitations. The Didactic Guide is a valuable tool complementing and making the basic text more dynamic. It is done using creative didactic strategies that simulate the presence of the tutor and generate a dialogue in order to offer students different possibilities to improve their understanding and the self-study process.

PDS Collaboration as Third Space: An analysis of the quality of learning experiences in a PDS partnership

This article documents the self-study processes and findings of a collaborative research group that examined a professional development school (PDS) partnership. Drawing on the scholarship of self-study of teacher education practices and theoretical perspectives consistent with third space, we conceived our collaborative study group as a learning community aimed at uncovering the complexities of school–university partnerships while seeking new directions for an effective partnership. Data were collected from a variety of sources. Themes were developed based on some identified areas of focus consistent with the group's objectives, which included deciphering the state of our PDS collaboration, our preservice teachers' learning experiences, and insight into faculty as learners in professional relationship. The study revealed that experiential disparity existed within and among faculty and students in various PDS sites as a result of poor communication as well as divergent models of collaboration and philosophical goals between faculty and mentor teachers. Disparity in the learning experiences among the preservice teachers was attributed to the quality and scope of the partnership. This study resulted in better understanding of our roles as hybrid educators and recognition of mentor teachers as critical bridges in a PDS partnership.

Concept Maps as Expressions of Teachers’ Meaning–Making while Beginning to Teach Semiconductors

The challenge of teaching new subject matter is a familiar one for most teachers. This paper investigates the content knowledge gains made by seven teachers as they learn to teach the topic of semiconductors through a process of self-study. ‘Semiconductors’ is a new topic in the curriculum which looks at the sub-microscopic properties of materials used in electronics and is important because of its applications in modern technology. We present a phenomenographic analysis of 21 concept maps produced by seven teachers at various stages of their self-study project. Four categories of description emerged in the analysis, viz. no meaning, orientation to understanding of subject matter (SMK), a pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) context focus, and a PCK strategy focus. The last category proved to be the most interesting as it suggested that the teacher saw the learning of SMK and learning to teach the SMK as a single process. This finding was considered as important in understanding how teachers learn new SMK for teaching. We found that experienced teachers make sense of their new SMK in different ways. There is a variation of orientation in their learning and sense-making. The data also showed progression of teachers’ understanding of the topic through the self-study process. The findings suggest that learning SMK for the purposes of teaching is different to learning for fulfilling the requirements of a study programme.

Incorporating a Continuous Quality Improvement Process into Pharmacy Accreditation for Well-Established Programs

Incorporating a Continuous Quality Improvement Process into Pharmacy Accreditation for Well-Established Programs

Collaborative Approach: The Self-Study Process And Writing The Report

When conducting a self-study within an educational organization, there should be a collaborative effort by members of the organization regarding the process and writing the report. In order to create a culture of self-study and to make the process clear to all stakeholders (faculty, staff, students leaders, administrators and support partners), there should be frequency in evaluation and assessing the progress of the organization. The self-study should be conducted for “self” and to prepare for the accreditation association’s visit every five years generally. The major purpose of the self-study is not only to comply with wishes of the accreditation association’s standards, but to comprehensively evaluate how the stakeholders or educators are doing within the organization. The self-study should show how the educational organization has evolved and improved its services and commitment over the past several years by addressing strengths and areas recommended for improvement. In preparation for articulation for the growth of the organization, each department within the organization should have in place a common formatted template for writing up the self-study report based on the standards set by the accrediting agency. The standards stated/written by the accrediting agency will help to guide the writing process. In essence, the template will help the writing groups to know who, what, when, where, and why to address needed information. These group writers should know how to address information needed in a precise manner and to the point when writing the report. The writing groups should use information, materials and resources that the educational organization already has on hand to write the report. The available and use of data within the organization should be collected and analyzed by groups and committees of individuals, with expertise, to be shared with others and write the self-study report. All written information for the self-study report should be supported by evidence of physical and electronic documents for review by stakeholders and the visiting accreditation association team. When writing the self-study report in preparation for the accreditation association visit, this is the general format to follow: introduction, degree programs and objectives, general education, resources/materials, outcome assessment, specific recommendation for improvement, a comprehensive look at graduate programs, summary evaluation and optional information about success stories i.e. using photos or graphics.

Identifying high-quality centre-based childcare using quantitative data-sets: what the numbers do and don't tell us

Quantitative approaches to defining and measuring quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC) have provided a key platform for policy development. Yet their strengths and limitations as informants of high-quality ECEC have not been tested. In this study we examine two sources of quantitative data collected over a five-year period for 74 long day care centres: (1) the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised and Infant-Toddler Environment Rating Scale instruments which are well-established observational measures; and (2) Australia's nationally administered Quality Improvement and Accreditation System which involves a self-study and validation process. Correspondence over time and across measures was more consistent for the centres identified as providing lower quality ECEC. Variability in ratings of quality was more evident in lower quality centres, whereas high-quality centres showed less variability over time. High quality, however, was less consistently identified across measures. Discussion focuses on the strengths and limitations of these measures of quality, and the implications these have for policy development and future research.

Shaping Opportunity for Individuals

Shaping Opportunity for Individuals Charles B. Lowry, Guest Editor (bio) In the spring of 1974, Dean Ed Holley encouraged those of us taking his seminar in academic libraries at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill to read a recently published volume about the Columbia University Libraries study.1 He thought it was a pretty important milestone for the management of academic research libraries. Ed was seldom wrong, and I read it closely. A year later, Joe Boykin, then director of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Library (UNCC), where I had taken my first job as a librarian, informed the staff and library faculty that we were being considered for the development of a new ARL program. The Academic Library Development Program (ALDP) would provide a self-study process for smaller academic libraries that scaled and shaped the methods used in the Management Review Analysis Program (MRAP), which was designed for large academic libraries. MRAP was developed by the Association of Research Libraries' Office of Management Studies (OMS) and grew out of Duane's work with Booz, Allen & Hamilton in the Columbia study. I knew the connection and excitedly entered into a year's work, which brought a rich opportunity and growth experience for a beginner. In the course of that time, I met Duane Webster for the first time, and the experience of working with him and Grady Morein, the on-site OMS consultant for the Academic Library Development Program, deepened my understanding of organization and management of academic libraries in a way that no other single experience could.2 Indeed, all the staff at UNCC were enriched and, admittedly, challenged by the experience. A few short years later in 1978, I had my second opportunity to experience directly the expansive impact that ARL's establishment of OMS had on the profession and to learn from Duane and his colleagues Deanna Marcum and Jeff Gardner. This was in the Consultant Training Program, which OMS created and managed. The program was well designed to give grounding in an array of skills for the participants, but it was focused principally on facilitation strategies in which the consultant is a catalyst to problem solving by library staff and management.3 [End Page 305] These early experiences with the innovative and critical offerings of ARL were simply the first of many for me that have continued to this day. What I learned gave me a toolkit of skills and knowledge that I have used and built on through over 30 years and six administrative jobs, five as a library dean or director. The point is that I was one of many such individuals who benefitted from OMS' work and Duane's leadership and skills. The pages of this issue give a complete sense of the astonishing scope of what was accomplished at ARL/OMS in the creation of programs, their variety, impact, and richness. The benefits to our profession grew as Duane became executive director of ARL in 1988. In that role, he was able to build larger strategies of collaboration that involved institutional allies for ARL members (indeed for all academic libraries). He created a synergy with other higher education institutions that is lasting and profoundly important. Programs like the Coalition for Networked Information and the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition offered new venues for collaboration and individual development and learning. Similarly, the Research Library Leadership Fellows Program was designed to offer grounding for mid-level library managers in the skills and experiences needed for senior level leadership in research libraries.4 The point I would make is that Duane's career seeded academic librarianship with a large number of individuals who were grounded in the principles of organizational development and the management and leadership skills needed to run these complex organizations called academic and research libraries. There is probably a game we could play like the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" that would illustrate the pervasive impact that Duane's career has had, but there would be, at most, "Two Degrees of Duane Webster" separation.5 I am—we all are—indebted. [End Page 306] Charles B. Lowry Charles B. Lowry is executive director of the Association of...

Intercultural competence through cultural self-study: A strategy for adult learners

The author presents a strategy for increasing adult intercultural sensitivity and effectiveness that has emerged from cumulative lessons of twelve years teaching cross-cultural psychology to undergraduates. Following a tightly structured protocol, learners complete a rigorous process of utilizing concepts of culture in a self-study exercise. Subsequently they are vastly more fluent in applying these concepts in research and in intercultural situations. Students internalize concepts of culture in a way that they comprehend the power of culture, through recognition, both cognitively and emotionally, of how they are the vehicles for the expression of culture. The author presents an explanation of processes that mediate this learning, and a set of five propositions for further exploring the connection between cultural self-study and intercultural competence. Offered are a detailed example of a self-study protocol and practical advice about pedagogical factors that can facilitate or restrain reflexive cultural learning. Throughout, students’ writings are used to illustrate the feasibility and emotional power of the self-study process. This report is presented in the hope of stimulating exchange among teachers and trainers using cultural self-study with various populations, in different settings, for multiple purposes. Future studies of outcome, in terms of both knowledge and intercultural skill, are needed to advance development of the method.

The Self-Study as an Information Literacy Program Assessment Tool

ABSTRACT The J. Paul Leonard Library at San Francisco State University is engaged in a number of information literacy efforts. The library's new information literacy coordinators had many questions about the library's current activities and how to further develop its information literacy program. In the 2006–2007 academic year, the Library Education Committee obtained a more accurate understanding of the library's information literacy efforts through a self-study process. A survey instrument was created and distributed to all teaching librarians. The results of this study were contrasted with the Association of College and Research Libraries' (ACRL) Characteristics of Programs of Information Literacy That Illustrate Best Practices: A Guideline in order to facilitate program assessment and long-term planning.

2008 Rho Chi Lecture: One Easy Piece

of the classic movies of modern film making, Five Easy Pieces, starred the incomparable Jack Nicholson as counterculture hero cum pianist. Using the piano as a metaphor for rebellion against societal barriers to individual freedom and honest expression, Mr. Nicholson's character embarked on a quixotic pursuit to play 5 classic works on the piano. Mastering these pieces was intended to demonstrate, symbolically at least, that his version of reality was superior to the version embraced by mainstream America. In the end, of course, exactly the opposite occurred, as his deranged view of reality proved to be incompatible with any version of normal or with the tolerance levels of modern society. And so stand before you offering my version of reality to mainstream pharmacy under the title One Easy Piece. You will judge whether my piece is melodic or deranged, but be assured, am deeply honored to be the 2008 Rho Chi Lecture Award recipient and for your consideration of my remarks. Rho Chi is an academic organization, indeed the academic organization in pharmacy. Our motto is rooted in Rene' Descartes' proof that the world we perceive is factual, not chimeric, and is expressed as I think, therefore am. In that tradition am asking us to revisit our Cartesian roots and think about the reality of our lives as pharmacy educators, to ask What is an academic program in pharmacy? To most of us the immediate response will be familiar: an academic program in pharmacy is a collection of coursework, facilities, faculty, administrative policies, budget, operating procedures, and other resources organized into a curriculum for pharmacy students. To assure minimum quality, these resources must be structured to meet standards and guidelines of an accrediting body, the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education (ACPE). We are all well aware of that periodic exercise to assure minimum quality, ie, the self-study process followed by site-visit report and Council thumbs up or thumbs down. As a survivor of 6 self-study exercises while a faculty member and/or dean at a school of pharmacy, as an occasional site-visit team member representing ACPE, and as a participant in accreditation matters for other health professions, have reluctantly concluded that we have lost our way in assuring minimum standards in pharmacy education. Let me put it in the starkest possible terms: our approach to defining an academic program is fatally flawed. base my conclusion in equal parts upon the current (2007) Standards for Accreditation of Doctor of Pharmacy Programs and the recent experience of accrediting new academic programs. It is clear to me the current approach causes us to focus excessively, if not exclusively, on individual elements of the curriculum while ignoring the all-important context in which that curriculum is delivered. In summary believe our approach is fundamentally flawed because we have come to view an academic program in pharmacy as simply a delivery system for curriculum elements. Our current system of ambiguous standards and piecemeal check-offs constitute the error in logic known as reductio ad absurdum, ie, we have reduced all the curriculum pieces into an irreducible minimum, but in the process we have lost sight of a unifying goal. In a previously published commentary observed that the current (2007) PharmD accreditation standards deleted pharmaceutical care as the foundation of pharmacy practice and education. (1) In place of pharmaceutical care, an institution is now invited to advance its preferred philosophy of practice and education, and lacking any enforceable boundaries on practice philosophy, almost any approach is acceptable. Not surprisingly this leads to a circumstance where almost any curriculum is acceptable. Economists have described this condition by the phrase bad money drives out good money. Briefly, this means when gold coins and counterfeit (eg, copper) coins are mingled in the marketplace, gold coins will disappear in preference to counterfeits because people will understandably horde gold but exchange copper. …

AACP Pharmacy Education Assessment Services: Outcomes, Assessment, Accountability

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently described a battle raging in higher education.1 The players are the Department of Education, accreditors, including specialty and regional bodies, and us – the US higher education establishment. The battleground is a fairly simple but incredibly important question: Who has the upper hand in establishing the outcome measures that demonstrate our education programs and processes accomplish what we say they do? How can those measures be adequately assessed for the accountability that is increasingly being called for by the government and society in general? The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), along with each school and college of pharmacy, embraces the accountability movement within higher education. Students, employers, and patients demand that pharmacists entering the profession demonstrate the requisite skills, knowledge, and aptitude necessary to ensure both safe and effective use of medications. Similarly, schools and colleges are challenged to demonstrate the outcomes of their programs. Such programmatic assessment includes definition of desired outcomes and the development of metrics and assessment processes for each of our missions: teaching, scholarship (including original research), patient care, and public service. The maturing of programmatic assessment which builds upon ongoing individual student assessment offers an opportunity for pharmacy education. This opportunity is embraced by AACP. AACP is taking bold action to help you meet this challenge. AACP's Pharmacy Education Assessment Services Program (PEAS), is under construction! The vision is the creation of an umbrella of diverse services and tools that will be integral to our programmatic assessment programs. AACP leadership, with insight of the Institutional Research and Assessment Committee, developed the vision for PEAS. This vision is now being translated into a number of new initiatives. It is also integrating current AACP services and tools. This melding of old, revised, and new tools will result in a comprehensive menu-driven support of schools' and colleges' assessment programs. A good example of tool development is the 4 new surveys, currently being subjected to psychometric analysis, to collect information from students, alumni, faculty, and preceptors. One area in critical need of tool development is experiential education. Our preceptors, serving an average of 2.5 schools/colleges, are asking for standardized evaluation tools to help them consistently evaluate our students. Likewise, as already exemplified by the work of the Academic Practice Partnership Initiative and the CRYSTAL APPLE Awards program, schools can use nationally developed tools to train and evaluate their preceptors. The PEAS vision also includes a process whereby AACP will peer review assessment tools developed by AACP members and public/private partners. Such tools will likely include student and faculty portfolio systems, peer teaching evaluations tools, and tools for curricular mapping and mapping of curricular competencies to outcomes. Central to PEAS will be an online desktop Self-Study Management System. This system will enable faculty and administrators to collect and analyze the longitudinal data needed to meet the annual reporting requirements of the Accreditation Council of Pharmacy Education (ACPE), as well as complete the more comprehensive self-study process. Clearly, the “bolus” approach to self-study and accreditation accountability occurring every 6 years is past. The vision is for the full complement of AACP institutional research data, including the financial and faculty salary data, to be managed each year through PEAS. Likewise, the ACPE-mandated surveys of faculty, alumni, preceptors, and graduating students will be accessed and traced through PEAS. An important component of this new commitment to assessment is the further maturation of a learning community where those with responsibility for building and leading the academy's assessment efforts can share experiences, tools, and strategies integral to the review and continuous improvement of our programs. Blogs, podcasts, webinars, live programming, institutes, seminars, and consultants will convene in cyberspace and in person to advance our programs. Such advances are best developed through AACP achieving efficiency in manpower and technology costs. Even more importantly, through AACP we can harness the collective experience of our schools and colleges to identify those best practices and metrics which provide evidence of quality pharmaceutical education. Assessment. outcomes: 2 words that strike at the heart of every faculty member and administrative leader's responsibility. We seek your input, guidance, and feedback as PEAS evolves.

Evaluation, Assessment, and Outcomes in Pharmacy Education: The 2007 AACP Institute

Evaluation, Assessment, and Outcomes in Pharmacy Education: The 2007 AACP Institute

Using Poetic Representation to Support the Development of Teachers' Knowledge

This article reports the influence of school-integrated teacher education (SITE) courses on student teachers' initial experiences of learning how to teach. We analyse data from five student teachers who reflect back on their experiences of learning to teach through the integrated teaching and learning experiences of SITE courses. The article presents their collective voices in poetic form to capture how they articulated their growth as teachers and their subsequent confidence in the role of teacher. We report insights into how the poem influenced 28 beginning student teachers upon entering SITE courses in their teacher education program. We analyze how this poetic representation of research findings enabled a self-study process to develop for the participants and how the poem passed on a theory of teacher development that reassures and prepares the student teachers who follow.

The Alternative to CSWE's Traditional Reaffirmation Process: One Small BSW Program's Experience

The Council on Social Work Education's Commission on Accreditation approved a policy in 2004 that allows well-established social work programs the option to complete an alternative to the traditional self-study process. This alternative consists of the completion of a reaffirmation compliance audit and special project that is significant to social work or the program's specific goals and objectives. This article describes how one small BSW program successfully implemented the alternative process by completing a modified self-study, a new site visit protocol, and a threephased project including a needs assessment, a seminar on conducting agency evaluations, and a collaboration with a local mentoring agency. Outcomes for community stakeholders, faculty, and students were positive; although requiring extensive resources, the alternative process was worthwhile. Based on their experience, the authors share suggestions for programs considering this option.

An online learning objectives database to map a curriculum

The rank ordering of this list by students and faculty brought several mismatches to light. The correlation between student and faculty ratings was only moderate (r 1⁄4 0AE49). Although both groups rated skill building as the most important objective, students found being exposed to new experiences as important as skill building, whereas faculty considered this far less important. Furthermore, faculty ranked !awareness and understanding of health disparities much lower than students did. Instead, they gave more weight to more general objectives, such as !strengthen confidence and self-efficacy. Students, by contrast, found the latter the least important of all objectives. As a result of this self-study process, several programme changes have been made, including the provision of more clinical experiences for students. In conclusion, as the programme continues to evolve, students and faculty members may reach more closely matched expectations, espouse congruent goals, and collaborate to create an environment in which learning experience can be refined.

A Project Management Approach to an ACPE Accreditation Self-study

In preparation for an on-site evaluation and accreditation by the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education (ACPE), the Albany College of Pharmacy employed project management techniques to complete a comprehensive self-study. A project lifecycle approach, including planning, production, and turnover phases, was used by the project's Self-Study Steering Committee. This approach, with minimal disruption to college operations, resulted in the completion of the self-study process on schedule. Throughout the project, the Steering Committee maintained a log of functions that either were executed successfully or in hindsight, could have been improved. To assess the effectiveness of the project management approach to the the self-study process, feedback was obtained from the College community through a poststudy survey. This feedback, coupled with the Steering Committee's data on possible improvements, form the basis for the lessons learned during this self-study process.

Caught in the Current: A Self-Study of State-Mandated Compliance in a Teacher Education Program

Background/Context The nationwide preoccupation with accountability continues to grow, with teacher credentialing programs facing growing scrutiny through state-mandated accountability systems. In response to Senate Bill 2042 passed by the California state legislature in 1998, the California Commission for Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) established new standards to which all credentialing institutions in the state must comply. Implementing credential programs aligned to the new standards could have an enormous impact on teacher education in California. The way we use language in particular contexts not only represents perspectives, but creates them as well. Therefore, California's new teacher education standards, replete with their highly prescriptive language, could conceivably result in a new standardization of the way teacher educators conceptualize and implement programs throughout the state. Focus of Study The authors examine the impact of California's state-mandated revision of teacher education programs on their department's—as well as on individual faculty members'— approach to teacher education. They explore the extent to which faculty were able to uphold their department's ideals of a progressive, learner-centered teacher education program—in spite of the state's stringent new requirements. Setting The research took place in the secondary teacher education department at a California State University. Participants The participants were all ten full-time faculty members in the department at the time of the program revision. Research Design In this qualitative self-study, the authors conducted and analyzed interviews with department members, and analyzed discussions in department meetings, program documents, and conversations (formal and informal) among the authors themselves. Drawing from critical discourse theory, the authors investigate the ways that the discursive practices in state regulations governing teacher education variously positioned members of the department, making particular teacher educator subjectivities available, and examine how faculty members both adopted and resisted these subjectivities as the department developed and implemented the new state-required program. Findings In spite of claims by faculty that the standardization process had little impact on their approach to teaching, the authors’ analysis of interview and conversational data and documents suggests otherwise. Faculty members’ increased use of technocratic language and terminology reflecting compliance with the new state standards reveals a substantive shift in the ways they think about what they do. Conclusions The authors argue that no one should assume he or she is immune to the effects of top-down standardization; but they note that this type of self-study process can enable faculty to realign their actions with their beliefs, to regain control of their discourse and of their identities as teacher educators.

Do Jamaican Members Of Parliament Have The Right Stuff?

Good leaders are made not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never-ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience. To inspire your people into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain things you must be, know, and, do. These do not come naturally, but are acquired through continual work and study. The best leaders are continually working and studying to improve their leadership skills. Do Jamaican Members of Parliament have the right stuff?