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"Students"

Background and Objectives: This study was designed to determine whether medical school graduates who completed undergraduate degrees in particular college majors were more likely to enter primary care residencies. John L. Holland's theory of vocational personalities and work environments was used to cluster undergraduate disciplines sharing distinctive qualities. These clusters were evaluated to determine if graduates from similar fields were more likely to pursue residencies in family practice, general internal medicine, or general pediatrics. Methods: students who graduated from US and Puerto Rican medical schools in 1987 were eligible for the study; college majors of 2,661 graduates entering primary care specialties were analyzed. Results: students completing undergraduate studies in the following majors selected primary care residencies by a twofold difference over the expected frequency: agriculture, black studies, civil engineering, general studies, literature, occupational therapy, and speech. Chi-square tests revealed no differences across Holland types in the frequency with which science and nonscience students selected primary care residencies. Conclusions: Primary care specialties tend to accommodate students from varied academic backgrounds and appear to be tolerant of individuals who have completed undergraduate course work in either bioscientific or biosocial nonscience disciplines.

This article describes a principled approach to the design of computer-based tools for use in collaborative instruction. We argue that a project should progress through four steps: (a) making explicit the instructional requirements that serve as design goals for the project; (b) performing a detailed study of current educational practice with regard to these goals; (c) developing a specification based on the identified requirements/limitations of the instructional setting and the known capabilities of the technology; and (d) producing an implementation that allows for local adaptation to instructional practice. We propose six principles of effective learning and instruction, which we view to be the critical features of learning in complex and ill-structured fields. Next, a detailed case study is presented based on the preclinical training given to medical students in the first 2 years of medical school. The problems of providing adequate instruction in the preclinical years are described, as is an instructional method known as problem-based learning (PBL) that has been introduced to redress some of these problems. The product of this design process is a set of specifications for technical augmentations that we believe will serve not only the needs of PBL but also those of other methods of instruction that depend on collaborative, case-based, or student-centered learning. © 1994, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

This paper describes the results of the program-development phase of the Vocational Training Facility (VTF) taking place at the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Medical Center Rehabilitation Research and Development Center. The VTF staff has developed a self-paced, multimedia curriculum comprised of adapted training packages, interactive videos, and additional training and testing materials designed to teach entry-level desktop publishing and reasonable accommodation skills to individuals with spinal cord injuries. The curriculum is taught via the Macintosh computer to allow independent, “hands-oif” access to training materials. Each student is given an integrated workstation that is equipped with the Desktop Vocational Assistant Robot (De VAR); a set of low-and high-technology assistive hardware, software, and devices; and ergonomic furniture and adaptations customized to fit individual learning and access needs. Each student completes a 12-week, full-time training program followed by a 3-month internship with a local corporate sponsor. This paper summarizes the evaluation results of the VTF program by the first nine students, with spinal cord injuries ranging paraplegia to high-level quadriplegia, who have completed the program. © 1994 Butterworth-Heinemann.

A certain period of work experience is required in most programmes of teacher preparation before individuals are certified as vocational teachers. students who do not meet this requirement prior to enrolling in degree programmes do so before graduation through a cooperative work experience programme. For such students, earning an income while meeting a college requirement is an incentive for active participation. However, given Nigeria's present economic crisis, most employers are unwilling to provide paid work experience to students. This study investigated the outcomes of an unpaid work experience programme. The results showed that positive outcomes were achievable, in spite of the absence of income and the problems associated with it. Implications for more effective work experience programmes are discussed. © 1994 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

This paper discusses modular strategies for integrating academic and vocational education, such as those advocated in proposals for a unified system of post-compulsory education and training. It focuses on the 'aggregative' strategy, which allows students to combine 'academic' and 'vocational' modules flexibly in programmes designed to match their individual needs and circumstances. No pure example of a fully unified national modular system yet exists; to gain empirical evidence of how such a system might work we must analyse incompletely unified systems. This paper examines the recent experience of the Scottish system, which has some but not all of the characteristics of a fully unified modular system. It identifies three sets of practical issues which the modular strategy for overcoming academic/vocational divisions must face. These respectively concern the potential limitations of modular curricula, the coherence of institutionally diverse systems and the need to avoid 'academic drift'. © 1994 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

The quality of instruction provided through the post‐secondary technical institutes reflects the capabilities of the instructors. It would be ideal ifinstructors were trained through traditional teacher education programs. However, instructors inpost‐secon‐dary technical education generally have few collegiate programs in teacher preparation available to them.The Georgia Instructor Academy is responsible for delivering in‐service training to both new and experienced instructors. The academy is divided into three specific divisions: the Technical Training Division, the Instructor Training Institute (ITI), and the Professional Development Division.Technical Training provides instructors with opportunities to advance their occupational expertise. Training is delivered through classes, workshops, seminars, and industry‐based practicums and internships.The ITI delivers pedagogical development. It provides new instructors with the basic pedagogical skills needed to become effective teachers. The ITI is broken into three hierarchical phases.Professional Development provides experienced instructors with activities that enhance their professional lives. Classes, seminars, and workshops offer instructors opportunities to serve themselves, their home institutes, and professional organizations.Educationally, the Georgia Instructor Academy provides various opportunities to develop and enhance the quality of Georgia's postsecondary technical teachers. By addressing these three important areas of teacher education this comprehensive program will benefit both students and, ultimately, the State of Georgia. © 1993 Taylor and Francis.

Pedagogical alternatives for preparing students to make the transition from school to work are examined and synthesized into six key components needed for successful school-to-work transition programs. These key components include coordinated, nonfragmented services; strong education-business partnerships resulting in paid work experiences; relevance in the learning process through linkage of instruction and work; early and continuing career counseling and guidance; program accountability to students and community; and a wide range of career/employment options available upon completion of transition services. Four desired outcomes for participants of transition programs are also described and include connecting theory with practice, developing personal and career maturity, gaining personal awareness, and attaining professional insight. © 1993, SAGE Periodicals Press. All rights reserved.

This article reports a study of students' experiences in a community college vocational program in banking and finance and the jobs the students got and lost in the data center of a bank. The study is situated in current concerns about the presumed literacy problems of North American workers and the relationship between skills and competitiveness in the global economy. The discontinuities between such concerns and the situations of the vocational students in this study are discussed, as are calls for “functional context” and “critical” literacy programs. An argument is made for the educational, social, and political importance of studies of work in juxtaposition to studies of schooling. 1993 American Anthropological Association

Recent developments in British higher education have included taking a close look at work-based learning, in particular its assessment (and its integration within academic programmes of study). However, two questions which are still continuously being asked are (a) to what extent are assessments of work-based learning valid and reliable, and (b) can they count towards the award of university degrees and diplomas? These questions are becoming increasingly important as there seems to be a growing trend for students to assess their own learning at the workplace (through reflection and analysis and the use of diaries and self-development journals). This article addresses the above issues by drawing on classical test theory (for an understanding of the fundamentals of validity and reliability) and by examining how the different notions of validity and realiability may be applied in the context of assessments (and self-assessments) in the workplace. The article concludes that, under certain stated conditions, it is indeed possible to determine whether assessments (and self-assessments) of work-based learning are valid, reliable—and comparable. © 1993, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Only one third of the applicants for training in pediatric surgery obtain a position through the pediatric surgery matching program. In order to identify factors that contribute to a successful outcome, we conducted a retrospective survey of all participants in the matching process for positions during the years 1983 to 1991. This survey was designed to identify characteristics associated with success in the match through comparison of successful and unsuccessful applicants. Significant factors associated with a successful match included: a greater incidence of residency-supported research (P = .012) with a greater number of publications (P = .003) and national presentations (P = .014), specifically at the annual meetings of the American Pediatric Surgical Association (P = .05) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (P = .05). In addition, successful candidates had more contact with (P = .004) and letters of recommendation from (P = .015) well-known pediatric surgeons involved in the general surgical residency program. This information should be invaluable to those counseling medical students and residents interested in a career in pediatric surgery. © 1992.