Exploring the Professional Learning Experiences of Adjunct Faculty in an Educational Leadership Preparation Program

The aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of adjunct faculty to understand their roles and means for professional collaboration. The study examined how adjuncts engage and collaborate, professionally and informally, and what vehicles influence their growth. Finally, the study addressed how educational leadership preparation programs might be enhanced for relevant, continuous learning in order to improve instructional practices and the experiences of aspiring school leaders. Using a phenomenological methodology, 27 adjuncts were interviewed from a university-based educational leadership preparation program in the southeast region of the United States. These in-depth interviews were transcribed and analyzed, using coding, bracketing, and memoing methods to glean concepts and their relationships. From this, three overarching categories emerged—culture, systems, and empowerment. The findings from this study revealed that adjuncts engaged in collaborative learning activities through multiple modes to interact with one another, and with full-time faculty, resulting in networked learning communities, or, communities of practice, that expand beyond the university’s instructional personnel, the preparation program, and the educational leadership department. Serving in part-time capacities created challenges related to availability due to time constraints, university proximity, personal priorities, and other factors. The department examined in this study acknowledged these potential pitfalls, focusing on ways to invest in the adjuncts that would foster collaborative practices. The adjuncts felt connected, resulting in engagement. They grew professionally and integrated the learned skills into their instructional practices and practitioner roles. The study concludes that professional collaboration can be established in complex contexts. Findings revealed the need for university-based leadership preparation programs to enhance their methods for delivering knowledge and passing information. The graduate program director was credited and revered for leading, prioritizing, and addressing stakeholders’ needs, purposefully and effectively. Community developed, allowing the instructional personnel to regularly interact and establish trust in order to discuss and resolve problems of practice. Lastly, leadership preparation programs must ensure that adjuncts are adequately equipped to teach courses by providing them with appropriate supports to grow. In an era of high-stakes accountability and demands for quality candidates entering the workforce, the need is critical to invest in adjunct faculty

Vibrational Feshbach Resonances Mediated by Nondipole Positron-Molecule Interactions

Measurements of energy-resolved positron-molecule annihilation show the existence of positron binding and vibrational Feshbach resonances. The existing theory describes this phenomenon successfully for the case of infrared-active vibrational modes which allow dipole coupling between the incident positron and the vibrational motion. Presented here are measurements of positron-molecule annihilation made using a recently developed cryogenic positron beam capable of significantly improved energy resolution. The results provide evidence of resonances associated with infrared-inactive vibrational modes, indicating that positron-molecule bound states may be populated by nondipole interactions. The anticipated ingredients for a theoretical description of such interactions are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett. (in press

Photic zone changes in the north-west Pacific Ocean from MIS 4–5e

In comparison to other sectors of the marine system, the palaeoceanography of the subarctic North Pacific Ocean is poorly constrained. New diatom isotope records of δ13C, δ18O δ30Si (δ13Cdiatom, δ18Odiatom and δ30Sidiatom) are presented alongside existing geochemical and isotope records to document changes in photic zone conditions, including nutrient supply and the efficiency of the soft-tissue biological pump, between Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4 and MIS 5e. Peaks in opal productivity in MIS 5b/c and MIS 5e are both associated with the breakdown of the regional halocline stratification and increased nutrient supply to the photic zone. Whereas the MIS 5e peak is associated with low rates of nutrient utilisation, the MIS 5b/c peak is associated with significantly higher rates of nutrient utilisation. Both peaks, together with other smaller increases in productivity in MIS 4 and 5a, culminate with a significant increase in freshwater input which strengthens/re-establishes the halocline and limits further upwelling of sub-surface waters to the photic zone. Whilst δ30Sidiatom and previously published records of diatom δ15N (δ15Ndiatom) (Brunelle et al., 2007, 2010) show similar trends until the latter half of MIS 5a, the records become anti-correlated after this juncture and into MIS 4, suggesting a possible change in photic zone state such as may occur with a shift to iron or silicon limitation

Holonomy groups of pseudo-quaternionic-K\"ahlerian manifolds of non-zero scalar curvature

The holonomy group $G$ of a pseudo-quaternionic-K\"ahlerian manifold of signature $(4r,4s)$ with non-zero scalar curvature is contained in \Sp(1)\cdot\Sp(r,s) and it contains \Sp(1). It is proved that either $G$ is irreducible, or $s=r$ and $G$ preserves an isotropic subspace of dimension $4r$, in the last case, there are only two possibilities for the connected component of the identity of such $G$. This gives the classification of possible connected holonomy groups of pseudo-quaternionic-K\"ahlerian manifolds of non-zero scalar curvature.Comment: 7 pages; Dedicated to Dmitri Vladimirovich Alekseevsky at the occasion of his 70th birthda

BALANCING RESOURCES AND VALUE IN DISTANCE EDUCATION COURSE REVIEWS: A CASE STUDY AT A MID-SIZED PUBLIC UNIVERSITY

This study examines the development and implementation of a distance education course review process at a mid-sized public university. Four primary goals were set for the process:  to provide substantive feedback, to cultivate engagement between DE faculty and staff, to provide support to course developers and reviewers, and to establish an effective balance between faculty resources and the value of feedback generated through the process. Feedback was collected through a survey of participating developers and reviewers (n=52). Responses broadly supported achievement of the four primary goals. Those who participated in multiple roles gave stronger ratings on all survey questions than those who participated through a single role. Based on qualitative and quantitative feedback, strengths, weaknesses, and possible adjustments to the process are discussed