Establishing a Relationship with Distant Learners: Can it be done? 

Disponible en français dans EDUQ.info sous le titre "Établir une relation pédagogique à distance... Est-ce possible?"In a distance-learning context, where, by definition, teaching and learning are isolated, what kinds of teacher-student relationships exist? What impact can such relationships have on education? The author explores the particular features of the educational relationship in an asynchronous distance-learning context, examining the former from a theoretical perspective and describing how it is manifested. Lastly, she discusses the implicit causal link that frequently exists between the teacher-student relationship and academic success

High Performance Classrooms for Women? Applying a Relational Frame to Management/OB Courses

With the increasingly diverse U.S. workforce, accelerating rate of change, and growing reliance on work teams to address increasingly complex business issues, the traditional command and control management style is no longer effective in many organizational settings (Drucker, 1992, 1997; Mohr- man, Cohen, & Mohrman, 1995; Rosener, 1995). Evolving high-performance work practices include self-managed work teams, decentralization, reduction of status differences, and information sharing (Dessler, 1999). In recent research, relational skills, including empathy, authenticity, empowering others, and facilitating teamwork, heretofore utilized predominantly in the private domain (and used primarily by women) have been shown to be effective in the workplace (Fletcher, 1998; Weisinger, 1998). Many of these concepts and practices are captured in a theory called relational psychology, a theory developed based on the experiences of women (Miller, 1987, 1991; Miller & Stiver, 1997). By the year 2008, women are projected to constitute 47.5% of the U.S. workforce (Fullerton, 1999). Women are increasingly moving into mid- and upper levels of management. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Wootton, 1997), women held 43% of managerial positions in 1995. Therefore, providing a climate in business schools that fosters the development of women as well as men is critical. However, Bilimoria (1999) points out that management education fails to meet the needs of many women. She states, “management education is itself mired in the same gendered constructions prevalent in the larger corporate/business environment. In this sense, the institutional and pedagogical structures and practices of management education mirror the prevailing gender biases of our larger society” (1999, p. 120). MacLellan and Dobson (1997) conclude that behavioral assumptions that underlie business education have a male moral bias, which may create a chilling environment for female students. A recent Catalyst (2000) survey of MBA graduates of prestigious U.S. business schools provided empirical support. The Catalyst study reported that almost one third of female respondents found the business school culture to be overly aggressive and competitive. More than half of the women surveyed reported that they could not relate to protagonists in case studies and nearly 40% said they did not have adequate opportunities to work with female professors. Research indicates that men and women have different needs and concerns in learning environments. For women, learning tends to be highly personal (Gallos, 1993). Women learn by integrating different perspectives. In the learning process, women relate theory to their own and other’s experiences, rather than thinking primarily in the abstract as men often do. Women more regularly think contextually and holistically than do men (Fisher, 1999). As women learn, they integrate, generalize, and synthesize (Helgesen, 1990; Rosener,1995). Women’s learning also involves connecting affectively as well as cognitively with the subject matter (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule, 1986). They tend to define learning and self-development as their ability to develop and express their own “voice” (Belenky, 1986; Gallos, 1993), reflecting their own experiences and identity as women. For women, communication is a means of seeking and providing confirmation and support. Women seek consensus and connection in interactions with others rather than establishing hierarchy and status as is common in interactions among men (Tannen, 1990). As I look at the ways we have conducted and taught our classes in business schools, I ask whether the ways we conduct our classes are consistent with (a) the changing gender composition of the work force, (b) the recognition that women and men approach the learning experience with some different concerns and needs, and (c) the evolving philosophy and practices of many of today’s high-performance business organizations. To what extent do we recognize these transitions not only in the content we cover in the course but also in the ways that we teach organizational behavior (OB)? This article looks at the process of teaching in the OB classroom using a relational lens. To that end, I would like to briefly present relational theory, review several reports on the use of relational practice in organizations, and summarize articles published in the Journal of Management Education over the past 9 years that are relational in nature. Then I will present some thoughts about the application of relational practice in management and OB classrooms

The Role Of The Campus Professional As A Moral Mentor

No Abstrac

Communication, Affect, & Learning in the Classroom

The purpose of the handbook was to synthesize the first three decades of research in instructional communication into a single volume that could help both researchers and instructors understand the value of communication in the instructional process.Preface1.Teaching As a Communication Process The Instructional Communication Process The Teacher The Content The Instructional Strategy The Student The Feedback/Evaluation The Learning Environment/Instructional Context Kibler’s Model of Instruction The ADDIE Model of Instructional Design2.Communicating With Instructional Objectives Why Some Teachers Resent Objectives The Value of Objectives What Objectives Should Communicate3.Instructional Communication Strategies The Teacher As a Speaker The Teacher As a Moderator The Teacher As a Trainer The Teacher As a Manager The Teacher As a Coordinator & Innovator4.Communication, Affect, and Student Needs Measuring Student Affect Basic Academic Needs of Students Traditional Interpersonal Need Models Outcomes of Meeting Student Needs5.Learning Styles What is Learning Style? Dimensions of Learning Style and Their Assessment Matching, Bridging, and Style-Flexing6.Classroom Anxieties and Fears Communication Apprehension Receiver Apprehension Writing Apprehension Fear of Teacher Evaluation Apprehension Classroom Anxiety Probable Causes of Classroom Anxiety Communication Strategies for Reducing Classroom Anxiety7.Communication And Student Self-Concept Student Self-Concept: Some Definitions Characteristics of the Self Development of Student Self-Concept Dimensions of Student Self-Concept Self-Concept and Academic Achievement Effects of Self-Concept on Achievement Poker Chip Theory of Learning Communication Strategies for Nurturing and Building Realistic Student Self-Concept8.Instructional Assessment:Feedback,Grading, and Affect Defining the Assessment Process Evaluative Feedback Descriptive Feedback Assessment and Affect Competition and Cooperation in Learning Environments9.Traditional and Mastery Learning Systems Traditional Education Systems Mastery Learning Modified Mastery Learning10.Student Misbehavior and Classroom Management Why Students Misbehave Categories of Student Behaviors Students’ Effects on Affect in the Classroom Communication, Affect, and Classroom Management Communication Techniques for Increasing or Decreasing Student Behavior11.Teacher Misbehaviors and Communication Why Teachers Misbehave Common Teacher Misbehaviors Implications for the Educational Systems12.Teacher Self-Concept and Communication Dimensions of Teacher Self-Concept Development of Teacher Self-Concept Strategies for Increasing Teacher Self-Concept13.Increasing Classroom Affect Through Teacher Communication Style Communicator Style Concept Types of Communicator Styles Teacher Communication Style Teacher Communicator Behaviors That Build Affect14.Teacher Temperament in the Classroom Four Personality Types Popular Sanguine Perfect Melancholy Powerful Choleric Peaceful Phlegmatic Personality Blends15.Teacher Communication: Performance and Burnout Teaching: A Multifaceted Job Roles of an Instructional Manager Teacher Burnout Symptoms of Teacher Burnout Causes of Teacher Burnout Methods for Avoiding Burnout Mentoring to Prevent BurnoutAppendix A To Mrs. Russell: Without You This Never Would Have HappenedGlossaryInde

The GREAT Reading Project (Gifted Readers Enhance Academic Talent): a gifted-on-gifted, cross-age tutoring and mentoring intervention

The GREAT (Gifted Readers Enhance Academic Talent) Reading Project is a quasi-experimental, between-group study that evaluated a 13-week before-school student tutoring/mentoring reading and literacy program. The study examined the effects of the intervention on reading achievement for each group involved, including high-ability gifted fifth grade mentors, high-ability gifted first grade protégés, and above-average first grade “Scholastic Academy” protégés. Its primary goal was to improve academic achievement for above-average students in order to help them formally qualify for gifted services. The secondary goal was to promote and assess academic growth for high-ability students already in the gifted program. Mentor/protégé pairs met 3-4 times per week under the monitoring and supervision of certified elementary school teachers. Student pairs interacted as necessary to accomplish learning tasks such as decoding, fluency, and critical reading skills that promote reading comprehension. Pairs read and discussed picture books, chapter books, children’s magazines, and/or assigned books or stories. Some flexibility existed in the program, based on student interest and materials available. Control groups received traditional reading instruction instead of tutoring. The subjects included above-average and high-ability first and fifth grade students. The treatment group consisted of approximately 20 first graders and 20 fifth graders. First graders and fifth graders were paired for compatibility. A similar sized control group was chosen from other gifted sites. Criterion sampling (qualification to participate in the gifted/talented program in the local public school system) was used to select the treatment and control groups. The Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests, Fourth Edition, a standardized, norm-referenced instrument used to assess reading achievement, was used as a pre- and posttest to assess growth in reading. One-way (for the fifth graders) and Two-way ANOVA (for the 1st graders) was used to determine the effectiveness of the intervention for each group of participants. Surveys were administered to each grade level of the treatment group to evaluate the social validity of the intervention, in an attempt to determine the social significance or importance of the goals, the social appropriateness of the procedures, and the social importance of the effects or outcomes (the personal benefit) for the participants

Capacity Building To Leadership Development: An Experiential Journey

In this article, the researchers discuss how they utilised experiential learning techniques to transform a tutor training program into a leadership development opportunity. Through active research and narrative analysis, the researchers were able to reflect on how the tutor training program they initially developed from an operational need evolved into a leadership development program aimed at encouraging participants to reflect on their own teaching practice and develop an individual teaching philosophy that has its foundations in constructivist learning and experiential learning. The particular leadership skills that the participants developed during the training include planning and strategic thinking, organisational skills, collaboration and team work, effective communication and listening skills, emotional intelligence, and the appropriate display of emotional labour cues while facilitating tutorials. True leadership requires that the leader sets an example to followers. A follower will buy into an idea if the leader can inspire the follower to believe what he believes

An Analysis of the Co-Constructed Learning Process among Mathematics Grounding Activity-Designers

The “Just Do Math (JDM)” project, initiated in 2014, aimed to build the ground that would promote students’ learning mathematical interest and achievement and cultivate “Mathematics Grounding Activity (MGA)-designers” and “MGA-teachers” for designing and implementing MGA modules.  Consequently, this study aimed to explore module designers’ role perceptions and its developmental processes in the JDM Project.  An exploratory qualitative approach was employed to reach the objectives.  Data were gathered through observations, interviews, and various kinds of documents, and then qualitatively analyzed by the editing and immersion analytic techniques.  Findings were reported as followings: First, MTEs claimed that the four-element PD model (i.e. goals, contexts, theories, and structure) was employed in the JDM project for conceptualizing the MGA-designers’ PD programs.  Grounded on this argument, MGA-designers’ PD process was correspondingly analyzed and portrayed consistent with the four elements: Goals—Building grounds by doing mathematics and solving problems; Theories—Emerging into design-based PD process; Structure—Co-constructed learning and symmetrical roles of MTEs and MGA-designers; Context—Analogous and interactive learning process.  Secondly, within the whole co-constructed and designed-based PD activities, MGA-designers endeavored to simultaneously learn how to design and exercise the design task of MGA modules.  Thus, MGA-designer A’s designing process was used to illustrate these MGA-designers’ learning process within the PD program, where two contrary cases were presented to compare and contrast his designing processes.  In these two cases, the three-phase “problem-solving” model (i.e. entry, attack, and review) was employed for describing the learning context, where the four-element PD model is embedded correspondingly

ENHANCING LEARNER TRANSFORMATION THROUGH HOLISTIC QUALITY EDUCATION BY INTEGRATING EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN CURRICULUM IN LEARNING INSTITUTIONS IN KENYA

Since the coining of the term emotional intelligence (EI) in the late 1990s by Goleman with a claim that emotional intelligence is more important than IQ, educators and researchers have realized the need to develop students' emotional intelligence (EI), and this has increased interest in studying the concept in relation to its impact on education. EI is considered to be one of the key components of emotional adjustment, personal well-being, life success, and interpersonal relationships in different contexts of everyday life. However, although research supports the relevance of EI to indicators for personal and school success such as interpersonal relationships, academic achievement, and personal and social adjustment, the findings on promoting EI in schools have been inconsistent. In addition, education across the globe has until the end the 20th century emphasised intellectual and academic aspects of students and neglected emotional and social aspects. The 21st century education emphasizes the need to develop students with skills that enhance their personal and professional skills. Developing students with these components could transform them into empowered ethical citizens who are capable of contributing to the welfare of the society. This study reviews literature on EI with a view to making recommendations on how learning institutions in Kenya could integrate EI in the curriculum in order to enhance students’ emotional health and well‐being, academic achievement, and other adaptive outcomes.  Article visualizations