Some Thoughts on Framing the Work on the Commission and the National Dialog (1)

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/89323/1/2005_Spelings_Commission_Framing_Paper.pd

Working Draft of the Quality Subcommittee of the Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/88432/1/2006_NCFHE_Quality_Strawman5.pd

The important factors of English Program administration responsive to the ASEAN community for schools in the border provinces of southern Thailand

AbstractThe purpose of this research was to determine the important factors utilizing the key principles of the Input-Process-Output (IPO) framework in the administration of English Programs for schools in the border provinces of southern Thailand in response to the protocols and agenda of the ASEAN community in its education platforms. The research explored various methods that involved analysis and interpretation of the quantitative and qualitative data obtained from the prepared 5-point rating scale questionnaire, interviews, and observation, target group discussion, and consultation with experts. The respondents selected as the sample group were English Program administrators, teachers, students, and parents from 5 selected English Program schools in the border provinces of southern Thailand for the academic 2013 year.Based on results gathered from both qualitative and quantitative methods, the important factors under the concept of the IPO framework consisted of 21 factors:Support-resource input consisted of 3 factors: integrating the curriculum with ASEAN community content, using technology as an effective teaching aid, and maximizing various learning resources. Personnel-resource input contained 2 factors: having a school director with a strong vision and understanding of bilingual education, and investing in qualified and professional teachers. School-management process highlighted 8 key factors: management structure, policy/vision, community involvement, school-networks, utilization of modern technology and classroom management for self-access learning, staff development, cultivation of the culture of research in the academy and student-centered activities that promote competence and quality assurance. Learning-management process consisted of 3 factors: learning patterns in the use of English and Thai as media of instruction, learning-management style, and measurement and evaluation. Output or educational quality entailed 5 determinants: learning achievement, attainment of the desirable characteristics of the learners, educational roles in society and culture, achievement of English skills among target groups in aspects of communication and research, and knowledge of the ASEAN community

A Test of Leadership: charting the future of U.S. Higher education

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/88865/1/2006_Spellings_Commission_Report.pd

Criminalising violence against women: feminism, penality, and rights in post neoliberal Ecuador

This thesis asks how penality, understood as the whole of the penal complex, with its laws, procedures, and sanctions, has become central to feminist strategies to counteract violence against women (VAW) in Ecuador. A new penal code came into force in 2014, criminalising some forms of domestic VAW, which had thus far been treated as misdemeanours, and introducing the new crime of "femicide". The thesis argues that human rights discourses have played a crucial role in bolstering penality by presenting criminalisation as an essential component of human rights protection. Feminist networks resort to a "rights-based penality" to legitimise criminalisation processes and to frame VAW as a human rights issue to which penalisation is the self-evident response. While Western literature has associated penal expansion with neoliberal globalisation, and the emergence of a "carceral feminism" with the side-lining of social redistribution in feminist agendas, Ecuador's 2008 Constitution explicitly challenges neoliberal approaches to wellbeing and development, and incorporates indigenous relational conceptions of justice. In view of this, considering that socio-legal research is limited in the country, this thesis employs a multi-method qualitative approach, including analyses of discourses within historical and current legal documents, and interviews of Ecuadorian feminists who participated in penal reform processes. The findings show that rights-based penality has become a universalised field of intelligibility to interpret and express the wrongness of VAW. Human rights mask the colonial continuities that travel through penal discourses, displacing indigenous understandings of justice and subjectivity, which have a potential to disrupt hegemonic approaches to gender. Rights-based penality also reframes feminist politicised conceptualisations of VAW and narrows our possibilities to imagine gender justice outside penality. In addition, by complicating legal procedures, the penal system is hindering access to justice for violence survivors on the ground, particularly marginalised women. Feminist strategies are constrained by dynamics whereby legal achievements come at the cost of tolerating exclusionary representations of gender, race, and the family, while the legal protection obtained in return is limited. More broadly, this thesis shows that challenging neoliberalism and implementing a redistributive programme has not sufficed to displace penality and coloniality, exposing how representations of human rights can remain reliant on penal expansion beyond neoliberal policies. Interrogating the universality of human rights, acknowledging the colonial legacy of penal institutions, and recognising the effects of penality on women's access to justice could enable an exploration of indigenous cosmovisions to propose non-hegemonic strategies to counteract gendered violence

Participation in boys and girls clubs: motivation and stage environment fit

This article presents the results of semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with 54 youth attending six elementary school-based and middle school-based Boys and Girls Clubs in two low-income communities. The first goal of this study was to examine why youth choose to participate in these clubs. The most commonly reported motives include fun activities, opportunities to be with friends, parent has to work, and getting help with homework. The second goal was to examine youths' perceptions of staff, peers, activities, and the extent to which clubs are organized in a way to support the need for relatedness, competence, and autonomy. Variations in youths' perceptions of the quality of relationships with staff and peers, level of interest and challenge, and opportunities for decision making, by developmental level (elementary versus middle school) are discussed. Implications of our findings for sustaining youths' interest and continued involvement in out-of-school youth development programs are highlighted. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69176/1/20369_ftp.pd

Barriers and attitudes influencing non-engagement in a peer feedback model to inform evidence for GP appraisal

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The UK general practitioner (GP) appraisal system is deemed to be an inadequate source of performance evidence to inform a future medical revalidation process. A long-running voluntary model of external peer review in the west of Scotland provides feedback by trained peers on the standard of GP colleagues' core appraisal activities and may 'add value' in strengthening the robustness of the current system in support of revalidation. A significant minority of GPs has participated in the peer feedback model, but a clear majority has yet to engage with it. We aimed to explore the views of non-participants to identify barriers to engagement and attitudes to external peer review as a means to inform the current appraisal system.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We conducted semi-structured interviews with a sample of west of Scotland GPs who had yet to participate in the peer review model. A thematic analysis of the interview transcriptions was conducted using a constant comparative approach.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>13 GPs were interviewed of whom nine were males. Four core themes were identified in relation to the perceived and experienced 'value' placed on the topics discussed and their relevance to routine clinical practice and professional appraisal: 1. Value of the appraisal improvement activity. 2. Value of external peer review. 3. Value of the external peer review model and host organisation and 4. Attitudes to external peer review.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>GPs in this study questioned the 'value' of participation in the external peer review model and the national appraisal system over the standard of internal feedback received from immediate work colleagues. There was a limited understanding of the concept, context and purpose of external peer review and some distrust of the host educational provider. Future engagement with the model by these GPs is likely to be influenced by policy to improve the standard of appraisal and contractual related activities, rather than a self-directed recognition of learning needs.</p

NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGIC STUDIES OF MARIJUANA: SOME SYNTHETIC AND NATURAL THC DERIVATIVES IN ANIMALS AND MAN *

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74859/1/j.1749-6632.1971.tb13996.x.pd