The measurement and impact of university teacher development programs

Los programas de desarrollo de maestros han formado parte del panorama de la educación superior de habla inglesa durante más de cuarenta años. En la actualidad existe un acuerdo general sobre el impacto positivo que tienen los programas de desarrollo de profesores en los maestros y estudiantes; sin embargo, el alcance y la duración de su impacto en la cultura de la disciplina y las instituciones están más bien poco documentados y evidenciados. Existe una clara necesidad de una investigación rigurosa sobre el impacto de los programas de desarrollo de los maestros, que se ve más profundamente y más allá de los profesores que participan en los programas. El objetivo de este trabajo es hacer uso de la investigación y la literatura inglesa para identificar el impacto y la eficacia de los programas y actividades de desarrollo de maestros y proponer un marco para la medición sistemática y la recopilación de información sobre la eficacia de estos programas. Se argumenta que estas medidas e indicadores tienen que pasar del paradigma de investigación al paradigma de evaluación para que puedan informar a los programas de desarrollo y mejora docente actuales y futuros. Deben diseñarse programas en la etapa de planificación para construir una base de evidencia que permita a investigadores y profesionales hacer preguntas más complejas sobre dónde y sobre quién tienen impacto los programas y por qué.Teacher development programs have been part of the English speaking higher education landscape for over 40 years. There is now general agreement that teacher development programs have a positive impact on teachers and students, yet the extent and longevity of their impact on the culture of the discipline and the institutions are less well researched and evidenced. There is clearly a need for ongoing and rigorous research on the impact of teacher development programs that looks deeper and beyond the teachers who participate in the programs. The focus of this paper is to draw on the English research and literature to identify the impact and effectiveness of teacher development programs and activities and propose a framework for the systematic measurement and collection of information on the effectiveness of these programs. It is argued that these measures and indicators need to move from the research paradigm to the evaluation paradigm so that they can inform ongoing and future teacher development programs and enhancement. Programs from the planning stage should be designed to build an evidence base that will enable researchers and practitioners to ask more complex questions on where and on whom the programs have an impact, and why they have impact.Els programes de desenvolupament de mestres han format part del panorama de l'educació superior de parla anglesa durant més de quaranta anys. En l'actualitat existeix un acord general sobre l'impacte positiu que tenen els programes de desenvolupament de professors en els mestres i estudiants, però l'abast i la durada del seu impacte en la cultura de la disciplina i les institucions estan més aviat poc documentats i evidenciats. Hi ha una clara necessitat d'una investigació rigorosa sobre l'impacte dels programes de desenvolupament dels mestres que miri més profundament i més enllà dels professors que participen en els programes. L'objectiu d'aquest treball és fer ús de la investigació i la literatura anglesa per identificar l'impacte i l'eficàcia dels programes i activitats de desenvolupament de mestres i proposar un marc per a la mesura sistemàtica i la recopilació d'informació sobre l'eficàcia d'aquests programes. S'argumenta que aquestes mesures i indicadors han de passar del paradigma d'investigació al paradigma d'avaluació perquè puguin informar els programes de desenvolupament i millora docent actuals i futurs. S'han de dissenyar programes en l'etapa de planificació per construir una base d'evidència que permeti a investigadors i professionals fer preguntes més complexes sobre on i sobre qui tenen impacte els programes, i per què

Robert George Cameron : the First Professor of Education, at UWA 1927-1954

There has been much debate about the status of Education as a field of study within universities. In many circumstances the evidence suggests that there was hostility towards the inclusion of Education within the university curriculum. The fact that ‘teacher training was never accepted at the Universities of Sydney or Melbourne in the same manner as the professional training courses such as Medicine, Law or Engineering’ (Bessant and Holbrook, 1995. p.266) was a legacy of the association of teaching with the public service and apprenticeship training

Stochastic Turing Patterns on a Network

The process of stochastic Turing instability on a network is discussed for a specific case study, the stochastic Brusselator model. The system is shown to spontaneously differentiate into activator-rich and activator-poor nodes, outside the region of parameters classically deputed to the deterministic Turing instability. This phenomenon, as revealed by direct stochastic simulations, is explained analytically, and eventually traced back to the finite size corrections stemming from the inherent graininess of the scrutinized medium.Comment: The movies referred to in the paper are provided upon request. Please send your requests to Duccio Fanelli ([email protected]) or Francesca Di Patti ([email protected]

Non-Gaussian fluctuations in stochastic models with absorbing barriers

The dynamics of a one-dimensional stochastic model is studied in presence of an absorbing boundary. The distribution of fluctuations is analytically characterized within the generalized van Kampen expansion, accounting for higher order corrections beyond the conventional Gaussian approximation. The theory is shown to successfully capture the non Gaussian traits of the sought distribution returning an excellent agreement with the simulations, for {\it all times} and arbitrarily {\it close} to the absorbing barrier. At large times, a compact analytical solution for the distribution of fluctuations is also obtained, bridging the gap with previous investigations, within the van Kampen picture and without resorting to alternative strategies, as elsewhere hypothesized.Comment: 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Entanglement evolution in a cascaded system with losses

The dynamics of a cascaded system that consists of two atom-cavity subsystems is studied by using the quantum trajectory method. Unwanted losses are included, such as photon absorption and scattering by the cavity mirrors and spontaneous emission of the atoms. Considering an initially excited two-level atom in the source subsystem, analytical solutions are obtained. The entanglement evolution is studied for the two atoms and for the two intracavity fields.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

The Construction Of Education as an Area of Study at Murdoch University: 1974-2003

This paper is concerned with the extent to which both structural and agency factors were at play in the establishment and maintenance of an innovative model of Education Studies at Murdoch University in Western Australia, from the mid 1970s to 2003. Regarding structural factors, the fact that the University was established as one of a number of ‘new’ universities on the national scene, with a brief to break out of the curricular traditions of the established universities, meant that there was latitude for the adoption of new curriculum structures in outlining the parameters of Education Studies. However, it required the agency of Brian Hill, the Foundation Professor of Education, to make this happen. The paper outlines how the nature of the model that eventuated was largely a transfer of models which Hill witnessed both in North America and within Australia and which he adapted to local conditions, seeking in the process to bring about what he considered to be an improved composite version based on his professional experience in a number of universities

Can a microscopic stochastic model explain the emergence of pain cycles in patients?

A stochastic model is here introduced to investigate the molecular mechanisms which trigger the perception of pain. The action of analgesic drug compounds is discussed in a dynamical context, where the competition with inactive species is explicitly accounted for. Finite size effects inevitably perturb the mean-field dynamics: Oscillations in the amount of bound receptors spontaneously manifest, driven by the noise which is intrinsic to the system under scrutiny. These effects are investigated both numerically, via stochastic simulations and analytically, through a large-size expansion. The claim that our findings could provide a consistent interpretative framework to explain the emergence of cyclic behaviors in response to analgesic treatments, is substantiated.Comment: J. Stat. Mech. (Proceedings UPON2008

Tunable pulse delay and advancement in a coupled nanomechanical resonator-superconducting microwave cavity system

We theoretically study the transmission of a weak probe field under the influence of a strong pump field in a coupled nanomechanical resonator-superconducting microwave cavity system. Using the standard input-output theory, we find that both pulse delay (slow light effect) and advancement (fast light effect) of the probe field can appear in this coupled system provided that we choose the suitable detuning of the pump field from cavity resonance. The magnitude of the delay (advancement) can be tuned continuously by adjusting the power of the pump field. This technique demonstrates great potential in applications including microwave phase shifter and delay line.Comment: 12pages, 3 figure

Optomechanically induced transparency in membrane-in-the-middle setup at room temperature

We demonstrate the analogue of electromagnetically induced transparency in a room temperature cavity optomechanics setup formed by a thin semitransparent membrane within a Fabry-P\'erot cavity. Due to destructive interference, a weak probe field is completely reflected by the cavity when the pump beam is resonant with the motional red sideband of the cavity. Under this condition we infer a significant slowing down of light of hundreds of microseconds, which is easily tuned by shifting the membrane along the cavity axis. We also observe the associated phenomenon of electromagnetically induced amplification which occurs due to constructive interference when the pump is resonant with the blue sideband.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

The measurement and impact of university teacher development programs

Abstract Teacher development programs have been part of the English speaking higher education landscape for over 40 years. There is now general agreement that teacher development pro grams have a positive impact on teachers and students, yet the extent and longevity of their impact on the culture of the discipline and the institutions are less well researched and evi denced. There is clearly a need for ongoing and rigorous research on the impact of teacher development programs that looks deeper and beyond the teachers who participate in the programs. The focus of this paper is to draw on the English research and literature to iden tify the impact and effectiveness of teacher development programs and activities and propose a framework for the systematic measurement and collection of information on the effective ness of these programs. It is argued that these measures and indicators need to move from the research paradigm to the evaluation paradigm so that they can inform ongoing and future teacher development programs and enhancement. Programs from the planning stage should be designed to build an evidence base that will enable researchers and practitioners to ask more complex questions on where and on whom the programs have an impact, and why they have impact. Keywords: teacher development programs; evaluation and monitoring; impact; measuring effectiveness; university. Resum. L'avaluació i l'impacte dels programes de desenvolupament de professors universitaris Els programes de desenvolupament de mestres han format part del panorama de l'edu cació superior de parla anglesa durant més de quaranta anys. En l'actualitat existeix un acord general sobre l'impacte positiu que tenen els programes de desenvolupament de professors en els mestres i estudiants, però l'abast i la durada del seu impacte en la cultu ra de la disciplina i les institucions estan més aviat poc documentats i evidenciats. Hi ha una clara necessitat d'una investigació rigorosa sobre l'impacte dels programes de desen volupament dels mestres que miri més profundament i més enllà dels professors que participen en els programes. L'objectiu d'aquest treball és fer ús de la investigació i la literatura anglesa per identificar l'impacte i l'eficàcia dels programes i activitats de desen volupament de mestres i proposar un marc per a la mesura sistemàtica i la recopilació d'in formació sobre l'eficàcia d'aquests programes. S'argumenta que aquestes mesures i indicadors han de passar del paradigma d'investigació al paradigma d'avaluació perquè puguin informar els programes de desenvolupament i millora docent actuals i futurs. Resumen. La medición y el impacto de los programas de desarrollo de profesores universitarios Los programas de desarrollo de maestros han formado parte del panorama de la educación superior de habla inglesa durante más de cuarenta años. En la actualidad existe un acuerdo general sobre el impacto positivo que tienen los programas de desarrollo de profesores en los maestros y estudiantes; sin embargo, el alcance y la duración de su impacto en la cultu ra de la disciplina y las instituciones están más bien poco documentados y evidenciados. Existe una clara necesidad de una investigación rigurosa sobre el impacto de los programas de desarrollo de los maestros, que se ve más profundamente y más allá de los profesores que participan en los programas. El objetivo de este trabajo es hacer uso de la investigación y la literatura inglesa para identificar el impacto y la eficacia de los programas y actividades de desarrollo de maestros y proponer un marco para la medición sistemática y la recopila ción de información sobre la eficacia de estos programas. Se argumenta que estas medidas e indicadores tienen que pasar del paradigma de investigación al paradigma de evaluación para que puedan informar a los programas de desarrollo y mejora docente actuales y futu ros. Deben diseñarse programas en la etapa de planificación para construir una base de evidencia que permita a investigadores y profesionales hacer preguntas más complejas sobre dónde y sobre quién tienen impacto los programas y por qué. Palabras clave: programas de desarrollo docente; evaluación y seguimiento; impacto; medi ción de la eficacia; universidad