What Is It All For? : The Intentions and Priorities for Study Abroad in Canadian Teacher Education

Within the research literature and in public discourse on higher education, attention has focused on the need for new graduates to develop 21st century skills for success in an increasingly globalized world. Calls for institutions of higher education to support student mobility abound, with intentions that some have categorized as neoliberal and others ascribe to notions of global citizenship. In this paper, we bring together literature from the fields of internationalization, teacher education, and study abroad to provide a conceptual framing and response to an inquiry into the following research question: In what ways does a study abroad experience support the development of preservice teachers? Through a multi-phase, multiple-perspective case study approach, we draw on qualitative interview data to illuminate how faculties of education and their students conceptualize the role of study abroad in the development of preservice teachers. The intentions for these programs cluster under four themes: global citizenship, personal growth, professional development, and employability. The concept of structured encounters with difference emerges out of these themes as a conceptual frame for future study abroad initiatives

How Vulnerable Am I? An Experiential Discussion of Tenure Rhetoric for New Faculty

Attaining tenure is a significant stress and source of motivation for tenure-track new faculty. A process that is misconstrued. misrepresented, and rife with rumour. To make matters worse, the process varies with institution, candidate, and year. This article uses a narrative-auto-ethnographic approach to unpack the concerns and questions about tenure that I, as a tenuretrack new faculty member, have experienced. The literature is used to contextualize these issues within the experiences of other new faculty reported in the research - seeking the truth behind the stories. The article concludes with focused reflections on White's (2008) list of strategies to help navigate the complexities of the tenure process, as well as recommendations for how to approach the tenure-track process

Using Criteria of Significance to Make Sense of Data: Implications for Qualitative Research

For many qualitative researchers, the task of dealing with huge amounts of data can be overwhelming. In many qualitative research methodologies, procedures for making sense of large amounts of data are often intentionally unclear and open to interpretation due to the wide range of variability of data and research context. This can be problematic for novice and experienced researchers alike as they consider what parts of their data to feature, exemplify and draw conclusions from. This article puts forth a construct that makes explicit the logics of two researchers using what they label as “criteria of significance” to make sense of their qualitative data. The Criteria of Significance (CoS) serves as a defensible set of criteria by which data is given increased or decreased value regarding its use in the final analysis and conclusions drawn from a study. This paper examines two qualitative studies (Hirschkorn, 2008; Morrison, 2018) and explores how CoS was used to differentiate the data used in their findings

Student Teachers’ Perceptions of Success: A Tale of Two Universities

This article is primarily focused on a recent group (tale 2) experiencing a seriesof embedded and interactive field based experiences (field learning); thediscussion is benchmarked to a previous study (tale 1) of student teachershaving had a more traditional semester practicum as part of their field-basedexperience. It is within this context that the authors’ show support for rarelynoted findings (knowledge) supporting the efficacy of university campus programs:novice teachers linking their success in field-based teaching to theiruniversity campus program (campus learning). We contend this is importantevidence supporting the link between theory and practice that has the potentialto better inform educational management decisions

The Reform of Teacher Education at the University of New Brunswick: Why and How?

<div>In the fall of 2008, the Faculty of Education at the University of New Brunswick implemented its &lsquo;new&rsquo; Bachelor of Education program. This was precipitated by a number of factors including pressure from the education community in New Brunswick, streamlining due to declining faculty numbers, and a drive to incorporate recommendations drawn from recent teacher education literature. Two of the changes made were: (a) the program is now completed in 1 year (formerly 2 years); (b) education students complete a one year practical component at the same time they complete their on campus components. The article concludes with some implications for faculty at other institutions who may be asking themselves &ndash; are they ready to make changes in their programs?</div

Tregs control the development of symptomatic West Nile virus infection in humans and mice

West Nile virus (WNV) causes asymptomatic infection in most humans, but for undefined reasons, approximately 20% of immunocompetent individuals develop West Nile fever, a potentially debilitating febrile illness, and approximately 1% develop neuroinvasive disease syndromes. Notably, since its emergence in 1999, WNV has become the leading cause of epidemic viral encephalitis in North America. We hypothesized that CD4+ Tregs might be differentially regulated in subjects with symptomatic compared with those with asymptomatic WNV infection. Here, we show that in 32 blood donors with acute WNV infection, Tregs expanded significantly in the 3 months after index (RNA+) donations in all subjects. Symptomatic donors exhibited lower Treg frequencies from 2 weeks through 1 year after index donation yet did not show differences in systemic T cell or generalized inflammatory responses. In parallel prospective experimental studies, symptomatic WNV-infected mice also developed lower Treg frequencies compared with asymptomatic mice at 2 weeks after infection. Moreover, Treg-deficient mice developed lethal WNV infection at a higher rate than controls. Together, these results suggest that higher levels of peripheral Tregs after infection protect against severe WNV disease in immunocompetent animals and humans