Search Results for
"Teaching"

The University of Ulster places a strong emphasis on vocational education and work-based learning. Furthermore, the Faculty of Informatics has recognised achievements in technology transfer and industrial collaboration. This paper outlines how the industrial partnerships forged and experiences gained through these ventures have been utilised in the design, delivery and assessment of an undergraduate module in entrepreneurship. Different models for incorporating entrepreneurial skills will be explored including: Classroom based teaching, learning and assessment; Support for students in industrial placement through the use of a Virtual Learning Environment (WebCT); Development of a portfolio of professional competencies; highlighting the merits and problems associated with each.

The vocational education system in Germany is challenged by the wide range of societal demands made on it. The current organizational structure of the ‘Dual System’ of vocational education is too rigid. teaching in vocational schools and the parallel company apprenticeships are too isolated from each other. Educational provision thus follows the systemic logic of this separation: there is inadequate and only superficial cooperation between school and firm. This paper recommends a change in approach from cooperation to networking. Based on the theoretical instrument of a ‘reflection step model’, an approach for bringing the two sectors together is developed. Examples are given of two research projects that indicate the potential of this approach. © 2002, © 2002 SAGE Publications.

Current health policies emphasize partnership between professional groups, between agencies and with users, to ensure more integrated health and social care services. However, a number of reasons have been consistently identified as inhibiting interprofessional working. Among the many factors identified are poor communication, conflicting power relations and role confusion, and these present immense challenges to those who wish to offer interprofessional education and training opportunities. East Gloucestershire NHS Trust worked in partnership with the University of Gloucestershire (formerly the Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education) to overcome these problems and deliver an important postqualifying interprofessional training for those working with people with serious mental illness - the Thorn-based 'Diploma in Integrated Approaches to Serious Mental Illness'. This collaborative initiative represents a good model by which practitioners of all disciplines can be trained to a high standard and meet the requirements of the National Service Framework for Mental Health. This paper describes the initiative and identifies the extent to which the course has, by mirroring the practice it is seeking to generate, 'pulled together' to ensure interprofessional, intersectoral and professional/user collaboration. The key challenges associated with interprofessional working (with people with serious mental illness and with others) and with course implementation and how these were met are discussed and further opportunities are identified.

[No abstract available]

An action research study using a series of staged focus groups with senior house officers (SHOs) and educational supervisors (ES) was used to identify the perceptions of the strengths and challenges in the SHO training programme and to indicate areas for improvement. The basic findings were not entirely surprising, with SHOs wanting more detailed feedback from educational supervisors and educational supervisors challenged (by time constraints and competing clinical and research responsibilities) in meeting the expectations of the SHOs. However the novel approach of using staged focus groups enhanced the educational supervisors' perception of the SHOs' view of their training and the SHOs' perception of the challenges faced by educational supervisors. Thus a culture of dialogue was created which supported change and innovation. This process was able to directly inform and influence the development of a new induction programme for SHOs and provide valuable insight into the use of the portfolio of learning and the provision of study opportunities. These findings may only be of local interest, however the method employed can be transferred to other contexts to support a grass roots approach to change. Indeed, since this study has been completed, the method has been replicated in a medical setting.

[No abstract available]

This paper describes the Cascade Communication Skills teaching Project, which is a programme of facilitator training enabling communication skills teaching in the consultation to general practitioners to be cascaded throughout the former East Anglia Deanery. The paper also explores the project's educational and organizational effectiveness. The programme is based on an ongoing training programme for a cohort of around 30 district-based communication skills facilitators, and was set up in the autumn of 1995. These facilitators are now able to act as a resource to cascade high-quality communication skills teaching into vocational training schemes, trainer education and the continuing professional development of established general practitioners throughout each district in the region. The project has now been extended into medical student teaching, specialist teaching at junior and senior level, and multidisciplinary teaching.

The past few years have seen an increase in the amount of attention focused on invention and design education at the college and K-12 levels. Given these efforts, the dearth of research on students' preexisting conceptions of invention is surprising. Knowledge of invention beliefs and attitudes will inform educational efforts by allowing educators to target the curriculum and accompanying activities more effectively than is possible without this knowledge. In this study, 55 sixth-grade students completed open-ended survey questions related to their conceptions of"invention." Results suggest that students have few or simplistic conceptions of the invention and patent processes. Prior exposure to invention instruction or previous experience with inventing did not appear to have an impact on students' conceptions of invention. In order to dispel these superficial implicit theories, educators involved with invention programs should consider the use of active, situated teaching techniques such as project- and problem-based learning. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

This article analyses the impact of e-learning on the higher education skills agenda. The main question addressed in the article is whether the e-learning environment meets the learning needs of the student to enable skill development to take place. Analysis is provided of face-toface versus on-line teaching of Edexcel common skills and Qualification Curriculum Authority (QCA) Key Skills and challenges the view that soft skills are difficult to develop on line. The conclusions highlight that the dismissal of e-learning from the skills agenda would be a mistake. The challenge to higher education is to utilise the advantages of e-learning to skills development in ways that balance on-line learning with face-to-face learning. © 2002 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

This article investigates a tension in mentoring in secondary Initial Teacher Training (ITT) in England and Wales. Neither the ITT Standards nor the literature clarify which mentor strategies can be effective in the particular domain of the post-16 classroom. A case study was conducted on a sample of distance learning Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) students and their mentors as the former learned to teach post-16. Five research instruments were developed and used iteratively to generate qualitative data. This revealed that ITT mentoring is inconsistent in relation to post-16 teaching. While some mentor support was given, opportunities presented for challenge were not taken up. The results illuminate the need for more effective models of post-16 mentoring in ITT, including the use of challenge alongside support. The conclusions have implications for mentors in secondary ITT, and will be a source of help for student teachers. © 2002, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.