Educational leadership in culturally and linguistically diverse and complex international schools

Maxwell 2022 Educational leadership in culturally and linguistically diverse and complex international schools The complexities of the culturally and linguistically diverse and complex international school context of leadership contribute to the high turnover of international school principals with the average tenure reported as being 3.7 years. This study sought to understand the leadership practices of successful international school principals who have demonstrated a capacity to sustain tenure beyond the average of 3.7 years by asking the research question: Why are some international school principals able to successfully navigate culturally and linguistically diverse and complex international school contexts and experience tenure beyond 3.7 years? Guided by this question, this study was conducted within a constructionist epistemology and guided by an interpretivist, symbolic interactionist theoretical framework using a case study methodology. The study was situated within the international school context. Participants were experienced international educational leaders who have worked in international schools as system leaders (2), school leaders (8), and school middle leaders (18). Data was collected from the international school system leaders and school leaders through conceptual interview and member checking methods. Data was collected from the international school middle leaders through an online questionnaire. All data were analysed using the Saldana coding cycles and strategies and the NVivo coding program. The new understandings which have been identified through these analyses of data collected through this study indicate that successful international school principals make meaning of the culturally and linguistically diverse and complex international school context through the lens of international school principal leadership attributes. Further, the new understandings indicate that the successful international school principal, again through the lens of the international school principal leadership attributes, intentionally enacts vision centred leadership in specific areas with others who are in the context of leadership. Recommendations arising from this study addresses two key aspects of the role of an international school principalship. The first key aspect includes recommendations that focus on international educational organisations. These recommendations provide suggestions as to how to explore and develop programmes and policies which will facilitate and support successful and sustainable leadership in culturally and linguistically diverse and complex international school contexts. The second key aspect offers recommendations focussing on future research inviting the exploration of the characteristics of successful international school leadership and aspects which support and facilitate this success

Relationship Between the Extent of Endolymphatic Hydrops and the Severity and Fluctuation of Audiovestibular Symptoms in Patients With Meniere's Disease and MRI Evidence of Hydrops

Objective:To characterize the short-, middle-, and long-term occurrence of vertigo attacks in a large population of Meniere's disease (MD) and to investigate the relationship between the extent of endolymphatic hydrops (ELH) and the severity of audiovestibular symptoms. Study Design:Prospective observational study. Methods:One hundred ninety-two patients with clinically definite MD participated in this study. The degree of ELH was visualized by locally enhanced inner ear magnetic resonance imaging. The occurrence and intensity of vertigo attacks, hearing loss, tinnitus, and aural fullness were documented in patient diaries. Results:There was no significant correlation between the extent of cochlear or vestibular hydrops and the number of definite vertigo days, neither with regard to a short-term nor with regard to a middle-term time period. There was also no correlation between the extent of ELH and the intensity or activity of the coexisting aural symptoms hearing loss, tinnitus, and aural fullness. The duration of the disease significantly correlated with the extent of both cochlear and vestibular hydrops, but not with the number of definite vertigo days. Conclusion:The ELH was progressive in the long-term course of the disease in this large population of definite MD patients, but short-term and middle-term fluctuations of the symptom severity did not involve measurable variations of the ELH. Furthermore, the symptom severity did not decrease with increasing disease duration

Transnational student engagement : the invisible students?

Transnational education initiatives are on the rise across the globe as universities seek to further their internationalisation strategies. In Scotland, student engagement is at the heart of the higher education system, be that in the classroom or through quality enhancement practices at the institutional level. The focus of this research is in the area of student engagement and transnational education. In essence, this thesis sets out with the aim to find out how student engage at transnational initiatives of Scottish higher education institutions (HEIs). A conceptual framework is introduced with the most common student ‘identities’: consumers, citizens, co-creators and partners. The research approach adopted in this thesis includes in-depth interviews with eighteen transnational students through phenomenological lenses. The findings from this research provide evidence that transnational student engagement mostly occurs at course-level, and that the majority of the respondents define student engagement as staff-led, as opposed to student-led. The main conclusion drawn from this research is that transnational student engagement is low. Finally, recommendations are offered in the form of an action plan to help improve transnational student engagement

Online lives?: Personal diaries on the web

Online diaries and journals have been in widespread use since 1995 and now there are millions of online diarists sharing their thoughts, feelings, and opinions with the world as well as interacting with others through these online diaries. The online diary offers incredible potential for self-expression but also communication with others through the online diary audience. We sought to understand the preferences and practices of the online diary writer by administering an online survey posted to online journals and online journal communities. Our methods were grounded in Uses and Gratifications research which seeks to understand users’ motives for using media as well as self-presentation and self-esteem theory and relational dialectics theory. Survey questions assessed online diarists’ uses, gratifications, and functions of online diaries; the structure, elements, and writing process; the diarists’ orientation towards self or the audience; levels of development in online relationships made through online diaries, and online diarists’ level of self-esteem. Online diarists identified several uses, gratifications, and functions of their online diaries. Diarists saw their writing as reflecting on life, as enabling them to keep in touch with others, as helping them feel included, and helping them develop their opinions. They also used their diaries to vent emotions, to archive self-experiences, and to receive responses from others. Online diarists most identified their online diaries with confessionals, autobiographies, and memoirs, and identified their online diaries least as promotional or creative forms of expression. The participants were also likely to include personal information, such as real name, introspective biography, and personal disclosures on their online diary and indicated that they write out of habit and think about their online diary before and after writing in it. Responses for self-audience orientation questions indicated that online diarists construct their identity through writing but responses from the audience were also important to them. Questions assessing the levels of development in online relationships indicated that relationships are taking place through online diaries and these relationships are characterized by high levels of breadth, depth, and understanding. Differences across different scales for self-esteem and age were also found. Generally, respondents with low self-esteem indicated that they use their online diary for identity construction and to feel included or liked. Respondents with low self-esteem were also more likely to hide their offline identity in cyberspace and included personal information with less frequency than those with high self-esteem. Those with higher self-esteem were more oriented towards their community of readers, had larger networks of readers, shared their online diary with people offline, and said they understood their readers more. Older online diarists tended to use their diaries for more personal functions, like gaining self-efficacy, while those who are younger were more likely to use their online journal to keep in touch or get advice from others. Additionally, those who are older constructed their identity more through writing and those who are younger are more focused on their readers and a perceived audience community. The younger online diarists were more likely to change or adapt their online diary content for their readers, and their relationships with their readers were characterized with more breadth and understanding. The online diary seems to act as a management tool for satisfying needs for connection and autonomy that are normally in tension. The online diarist also said that they have developed relationships through online diaries, indicating that communication through online diaries is not superficial or based on anonymity. The online diary is evidence that there can be developed relationships as well as personal expression through Computer-Mediated Communication.Arts and Sciences Honors Program, Ohio State Universit

English Learners in California Schools: Unequal resources, 'Unequal outcomes

The Williams vs the State of California class action suit on behalf of poor children in that state argues that California provides a fundamentally inequitable education to students based on wealth and language status. This article, an earlier version of which was prepared as background to that case, reviews the conditions of schooling for English learners in the state with the largest population of such students, totaling nearly 1.6 million in 2003, and comprising about 40 percent of nation’s English learners. We argue, with evidence, that there are seven aspects of the schooling of English language learners where students receive an education that is demonstrably inferior to that of English speakers. For example, these students are assigned to less qualified teachers, are provided with inferior curriculum and less time to cover it, are housed in inferior facilities where they are often segregated from English speaking peers, and are assessed by invalid instruments that provide little, if any, information about their actual achievement. We end with suggestions for ways in which teachers, administrators, and policymakers can begin to address these inequities, even while legal remedies may remain in the distant future

Using GIS to Create Hazard Maps and Assess Evacuation Routes around “The Gate to Hell”; Masaya Volcano, Nicaragua

Volcán Masaya in Nicaragua is made of a series of calderas and craters that lies 7 km from the city of Masaya with a population of over 100,000. Masaya is part of the Central American Volcanic Arc (CAVA) which contains hundreds of volcanoes. While many of the volcanoes of the arc produce small, quiescent eruptions, some are capable of large explosive events. The recent cycle of volcanism at Masaya began 7000 years ago. Initial eruptions were primarily lava, small ash flows, ashfalls, and degassing events which eventually gave way to climactic Vulcanian eruptions. The hazards presented from this system affect not only larger cities, but many underdeveloped communities surrounding Volcán Masaya. These communities require a simple map and action plan to use during an evacuation. While government-issued routes are in place, there are no known secondary options. The communities surrounding Masaya lack the education they need for having such a fierce geologic feature right in their backyard to base their own opinions on when and if to evacuate the area on their own accord. We visited the study area to gather data for the creation of an evacuation route and hazard map to help prepare the surrounding communities. By consolidating our research and field data, the maps we created give the communities surrounding Masaya more insight as to the behavior of the eruptions. This research gives the local population options for evacuation and more knowledge about their environment

Controllable vapor microbubbles for use in bioparticle actuation

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2003.Includes bibliographical references (p. 129-132).In this thesis, we present guidelines for using thermally formed microbubbles as a means of fluidic actuation. The use of microbubbles is attractive due to the simple fabrication and operation of such devices, however, prior work in this area was hindered by several issues inherent to vapor bubble formation that severely limited the reliability of bubble-based devices. It has been shown in this thesis that it is possible to control the location at which bubbles form and the size of the bubbles, as well as to achieve repeatable and reduced bubble formation temperature, and to create bubbles that collapse completely in less than 10 seconds. The achievement of controllable microbubbles makes possible many microfluidic applications, one of which we will demonstrate in this work. We have built a device that is capable of capturing, holding, and selectively releasing single bioparticles using microbubble actuation. This bioparticle actuator could be scaled into an array for the analysis of a large population of individual cells.by Rebecca Braff Maxwell.Ph.D

Multimodal signalling in the North American barn swallow: a phenotype network approach

Complex signals, involving multiple components within and across modal- ities, are common in animal communication. However, decomposing complex signals into traits and their interactions remains a fundamental challenge for studies of phenotype evolution. We apply a novel phenotype network approach for studying complex signal evolution in the North American barn swallow (Hirundo rustica erythrogaster). We integrate model testing with correlation-based phenotype networks to infer the contributions of female mate choice and male–male competition to the evolution of barn swallow communication. Overall, the best predictors of mate choice were distinct from those for competition, while moderate functional overlap suggests males and females use some of the same traits to assess potential mates and rivals. We interpret model results in the context of a network of traits, and suggest this approach allows researchers a more nuanced view of trait clustering patterns that informs new hypotheses about the evolution of communication systems. 3 supplemental files attached below