Information technologies and the development of professional knowledge and identity in teacher education

This paper addresses the preparation in ICT of preservice mathematics teachers. We describe the aims, assumptions, and work carried out in a course offered at the University of Lisbon and briefly discuss the processes involved in the development of professional knowledge and the formation of professional identities. Using a qualitative methodology, based on the administration of free-response questionnaires to the student teachers enrolled in the course in 1999-2000, we analyze their general perspectives about ICT, the implications of the use of ICT in their view of teaching methodologies, and their development of a professional identity. This work provides suggestions for teacher education practice and for further research

The Professional Identity of Counseling Students in Master\u27s Level CACREP Accredited Programs

This study examined the professional identity of master\u27s level students enrolled in a CACREP accredited training program. Professional identity was assessed through two instruments: the Beliefs about Counseling Scale and the Professional Identity and Engagement Scale which was developed for this study. The constructs of professional identity represented in the scales included belief in the acquisition of licensure and credentialing, the distinctiveness of professional counseling among other mental health professionals, pride in the counseling profession, agreement with the counseling philosophy, and behaviors exhibiting professional engagement. Participants were 1,011 students enrolled in 79 CACREP accredited master\u27s level training programs. The student participants provided demographic information used for this study. Information on student level (beginning, intermediate, or advanced), enrollment status (full-time or part-time), years of paid professional counseling-related experience, and whether a student was attending a program that also offered a doctoral program or was in a master\u27s only program was gathered. Results indicated a strong agreement with the counseling philosophy and a presence of professional engagement behaviors. Additionally, participants expressed a high degree of agreement with the other criteria represented in the Beliefs about Counseling Scale. Further findings revealed that some of the conceptualized components of professional identity were being uniformly presented across the counseling training programs

On the edge: ICT and the transformation of professional legal education

Information and communications technology in professional legal education courses is perceived as problematic for teachers and course designers. It is so not because technology is inherently difficult or strange, but because at a deep level it can threaten the practice and identity of teachers. However the contextual challenges of their position, caught between academy and practice, may actually enable professional legal educators to take account of new technologies. The article discusses this proposal, using the example of the incremental development of a discussion forum. It suggests that the tools of pragmatist and transformative meta-theory may point the way forward for professional legal educators to create their own community of practice in the use of ICT in professional legal learning

Mathematics teachers’ professional development and identity in a distance education setting

This paper discusses the influence of an in-service distance education course in the construction of mathematics teachers’ professional identity, especially regarding their views and practices of reflection and collaboration and their relation with information and communication technology. The course was based in open-learning pedagogy and focused on conducting exploratory and investigative work in the mathematics classroom. Evaluation results show that the perspectives and involvement of the participant teachers depend very much on their previous professional experience and relationship with the Internet. Teachers that use e-mail for collaborative work found this a very stimulating experience whereas those with less professional involvement had some difficulty in assuming the roles and values required for this kind of activity

Analysis of occupational therapy students’ pedagogical practices for the forging of professional identity and development of professional intelligence: a scoping review

Review[Abstract] Pedagogical practices contribute to enhancing professional intelligence which is an indicator of maturity and development of professional identity. The research guiding question was: What are the pedagogical practices involved in occupational therapy students' professional identity formation? A scoping review using a six-stage methodological framework was used to capture a variety of evidence describing how professional identity has been conceptualised and integrated into the occupational therapy curriculum while noticing a link to professional intelligence. Databases included were: Ovid MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ProQuest ERIC, Scopus, Web of Science, CSIC, Dialnet, PubMed, Pubmed Central, OTDBASE and Scielo. Qualitative content analysis was used to categorise learning outcomes into five components of professional identity that were associated with the pedagogical practices identified in the studies. n = 58 peer-reviewed journal articles were recorded. The articles were classified as intervention studies (n = 31; 53.4%), reviews (n = 12; 20.7%) and theoretical articles (n = 15; 25.9%). To ensure the feasibility of collecting and reporting results, we narrowed the focus to n = 31 intervention studies that provided information on pedagogical practices and learning outcomes on professional identity forging in students. This scoping review illustrates the variety of contexts in which students learn, the multiple dimensions of identity establishment, and the variety of pedagogical practices. These findings can be used to adapt and design focused formative curricula that support the development of professional identity

Professional Identity and Career mobility as determinant of Librarians’ Job Satisfaction in Nigerian Universities

AbstractPurpose: At present, the library and information science profession is experiencing an ever-changing role; therefore, the purpose of this study is to highlight the need for professional identity and career mobility of academic librarians in university libraries in Nigeria. The study also intends investigate academic librarians' job satisfaction can be influenced by their professional identity and career mobility.Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted the survey research design. The questionnaire was distributed to the librarians in both public and private academic libraries, in South-West, Nigeria in order to obtain comprehensive information about the population's characteristics, attitudes, perceptions, and actions of librarians.Findings: The result shows that what constitutes professional identity, career mobility and job satisfaction formulated for this study. In addition, the findings revealed that many librarians in university disagreed that their pay is comparable with other professional; they agreed that compared with other professionals, though they have achieved both professional and personal growth, they are not satisfied with some aspect of their jobs.Originality/ Value: Much has been written about academic librarians’ job satisfaction; however, there is a dearth of literature as it relates to the combined effect of professional identity and career mobility. This work attempts to show the relationship between these variables and how it affects librarians’ job satisfactio

A Seat at the Table: Information Literacy Assessment and Professional Legitimacy

This qualitative study explores academic librarians’ perceptions of and experiences with information literacy assessment, focusing primarily on issues of professional identity, agency, and power. Findings from in-depth interviews reveal that instruction librarians view teaching as integral to their professional identity and use assessment to legitimize that identity, both personally and at the institutional level. While this suggests that assessment has the potential to elevate the status of librarians on campus, the interviews also highlight ongoing professional and organizational tensions that hinder assessment efforts and inhibit librarian agency. The authors recommend more transparent communication, among other strategies, to address these challenges

Investigation and analysis of psychological stress and professional identity of nursing students during COVID-19 pandemic

426-432Certain diseases or infections affect large number of people in short span of time. A local endemic disease can outbreak into an epidemic affecting the whole population or region which at times extend to other countries and continents and become pandemic. Pandemics results in loss of life as well as economy. Pooled efforts and resources, effective sharing of data, parallel multiple approaches as well as physical and mental state of front line staff influence management of pandemics. The coronavirus disease COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 started in December 2019 from Wuhan in China, is now a worldwide public health emergency affecting millions of people. It affects many frontline healthcare workers too. Here, we studied psychological stress and professional identity of nursing students for possible correlations, if any, and analyze influencing factors. We used purposive sampling technique with 415 nursing students in Nanjing, China through a general information questionnaire, perceived stress scale and nursing professional identity questionnaire. Students' origin, monthly living expenses and their knowledge on epidemic prevention and treatment have shown a significant impact on their psychological stress (P <0.01). Similarly, students' gender, origin, clinical practices and knowledge of prevention and treatment, and whether they actively learn such knowledge impact significantly on their professional identity (P <0.01). The overall score of psychological stress was (24.47±7.35) and professional identity had 72.47±8.07. The stress condition exhibited negative correlation with the degree of professional identity (P <0.01，r = -0.457). Increased psychological stress, had lower sense of professional identity. Overall, analysis of data on perceived stress and professional identity pandemic suggests that stress levels are inversely proportional to knowledge in effective ways of handling the pandemic. Students with clinical practice fared better in terms of professional identity. The study suggests nursing students to stay focused on studies, clinical practice and counselling, if required

Sojourners in this place: An explanatory sequential mixed-methods study examining foreign-born and immigrant experiences of acculturation and professional identity development in counseling

There are 42 million foreign-born individuals residing in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2013), making up a total of 13% of the population. Within the counseling profession, the latest demographic information (Data USA, 2017) reports that Caucasians make up 70.4% of counselors in the United States while African Americans make up 19.5%, Asians 3.4%, and shared ethnicity is 3 %. American Indians make up 0.6%, Hawaiian 0.1%, and the remainder (2.8%) are identified as “other.” The immigration experience is marked by a sense of loss and a process of acculturation. However, there is scant literature that discusses the adjustment experiences of immigrant counselors (Kissil, Niño, & Davey, 2013), particularly examining acculturation and professional identity development. The purpose of this study was to provide insights on whether acculturation impacts professional identity and explore the overall acculturative and professional identity development experiences of foreign-born individuals in the counseling profession. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was used. The quantitative portion of the study was completed by 60 online participants. From those who participated, 37 fully completed the survey (N = 37). Professional identity was measured using the Professional Identity Scale in Counseling (Woo, 2013) and acculturation was measured using the American International Relations Scale (Sodowsky & Plake, 1991). Follow up phone interviews were conducted with 6 participants. Quantitative findings for this study suggest that while no significant correlation exists between overall acculturation scores as measured by the American International Relations Scale (AIRS) and professional identity scores as measured by the Professional Identity Scale in Counseling (PISC), several significant relationships were found between demographic variables. Thematic findings from the interviews are discussed and provide a rich understanding of acculturation being a dynamic process as well as the simultaneous nature of professional identity development and acculturation. Limitations are examined in detail with recommendations for future direction. Implications specific to counselor education were sorted into five categories: Continuous acculturation, foreigner imposter syndrome, boxed identity, western training philosophy, and promoting and diversifying the counseling field