FULL-TIME NON-TENURE TRACK FACULTY: IDENTITY AND DEPARTMENTAL PERSPECTIVES

This study examines perceptions of 12 full-time non-tenure track faculty members about their professional and academic selves in a research-intensive university. A phenomenological approach is used to gain insight into the complexities of the experience of being a full-time faculty member, off the tenure-track, whose primary responsibility is teaching within a research-intensive institution. The notion of tenurestream as the only desired path to being an academic is challenged by these faculty members’ understanding of their identities. This researcher considers how professional identities may be understood and suggests that the meanings and values these faculty members attach to their professional roles may be embedded in their perceptions of how their role fits within the department. Throughout this qualitative inquiry, the perspectives of these faculty members are positioned as a primary source of data about the experience of being a full-time non-tenure track faculty member. By using a phenomenological approach and taking a constructivist perspective this researcher finds that extant theories that view this population through a deficit model are inaccurate. Additionally, essentialist and homogenizing descriptions of this population are also found to be insufficient. A qualitative analysis suggests the viability of an alternative description of this population, one which reflects the nuanced view of professional identity these participants expressed. Based on structural categories adapted from Martin’s (2002) three perspective view of organizational culture, their perceptions are categorized according to the congruence expressed between their social identity and their professional role. Perceptions shared about their departmental culture are similarly categorized which provides insight about the influence of policies, practices, and collegial interactions on professional lives

Values in education policy-making with special reference to the FE Teachers' salaries structure and to the MacFarlane review of 16-19 provision

In the period covered by the thesis (1945-87), teachers' salaries were negotiated between representatives of the local authorities and the teachers' associations in the Burnham Committees. This study explores how far the results of those negotiations, the Burnham Reports, have shaped 16-f education provision by reference to the 1950-51 Further Education negotiations on the one hand and the 1979-80 Macfarlane Review of 16-19 provision on the other. A contribution is made to the debate on the theory of policy-making, based on the observed influence of the values of policy-makers on the final outcomes within those two studies. The thesis is organised into four main parts. Part I introduces the work as a whole; Parts II and III present and analyse original empirical data; Part IV provides the theoretical underpinning. First, the context for the research is outlined. The methodology is described at the outset, since it explains why the two major studies were selected as providing the best sources for the work. The major developments affecting 16-f provision since 1945 are then summarised. The second part sets out the detail of the negotiations leading to the 1951 Burnham (FE) Report, the source of the current FE salary structure, and gives a commentary on their implications. Part III explores the issues raised in the Macfarlane Review. The theoretical section of the study is developed in Part IV, where the new, distinctive contribution of this study to the theory of policy-making is presented. The thesis provides new data on two areas of policy-making of great interest to contemporary education policy-makers. Additionally, in its conclusion it makes a contribution to the theory of policy-making, suggesting that the values of individual policy-makers and contingent factors - including, particularly and principally, the dimension of time - have the greatest impact on policy outcomes

NAFTA, motor carriers and highway safety

The signing of the NAFTA agreement signaled the beginning of increased efforts to harmonize trade between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Unfortunately the harmonization of transportation links is lagging far behind proposed implementation dates. This narrative describes the highway safety, and concerns expressed by highway safety advocates and Teamsters union representatives, and documented by the GAO. The authors propose a market based alternative to restricting transborder traffic to the narrow commercial zone presently in place

Labour Market Outcomes in Regional Australia

Labour market outcomes in regional areas of Australia have followed broadly similar trends to those in capital cities over the past two decades. The range of unemployment rates across the regions narrowed through the 2000s, as the benefits of economic growth were spread broadly across the country. Nonetheless, there are still some notable differences between labour market outcomes in certain regions, partly reflecting the variation in industry structure across regional areas of Australia.labour market; unemployment; participation; regional; capital cities

Purpose-first Programming: A Programming Learning Approach for Learners Who Care Most About What Code Achieves

Introductory programming courses typically focus on building generalizable programming knowledge by focusing on a language’s syntax and semantics. Assignments often involve “code tracing” problems, where students perform close tracking of code’s execution, typically in the context of ‘toy’ problems. “Reading-first” approaches propose that code tracing should be taught early to novice programmers, even before they have the opportunity to write code. However, many learners do not perform code tracing, even in situations when it is helpful for other students. To learn more, I talked to novice programmers about their decisions to trace and not trace code. Through these studies, I identified both cognitive and affective factors related to learners’ motivation to trace. My research found that tracing activities can create a “perfect storm” for discouraging learners from completing them: they require high cognitive load, leading to a low expectation of success, while also being disconnected from meaningful code, resulting in low value for the task. These findings suggest that a new learning approach, where novices quickly and easily create or understand useful code without the need for deep knowledge of semantics, may lead to higher engagement. Many learners may not care about exactly how a programming language works, but they do care about what code can achieve for them. I drew on cognitive science and theories of motivation to describe a “purpose-first” programming pedagogy that supports novices in learning common code patterns in a particular domain. I developed a proof-of-concept ”purpose-first” programming curriculum using this method and evaluated it with non-major novice programmers who had a variety of future goals. Participants were able to complete scaffolded code writing, debugging, and explanation activities in a new domain (web scraping with BeautifulSoup) after a half hour of instruction. An analysis of the participants’ thinkalouds provided evidence the learners were thinking in terms of the patterns and goals that they learned with in the purpose-first curriculum. Overall, I found that these novices were motivated to continue learning with purpose-first programming. I found that these novices felt successful during purpose-first programming because they could understand and complete tasks. Novices perceived a lower cognitive load on purpose-first programming activities than many other typical learning activities, because, in their view, plans helped them apply knowledge and focus only on the most relevant information. Participants felt that what they were learning was applicable, and that the curriculum provided conceptual, high-level knowledge. For some participants, particularly conversational programmers who didn’t plan to program in their careers, this information was sufficient for their needs. Other participants felt that purpose-first programming was a starting point, from which they could move forward to gain a deeper understanding of how code works.PHDInformationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167912/1/kicunn_1.pd

Proteinase-activated receptors (PARs) as targets for antiplatelet therapy

Since the identification of the proteinase-activated receptor (PAR) family as mediators of serine protease activity in the 1990s, there has been tremendous progress in the elucidation of their pathophysiological roles. The development of drugs that target PARs has been the focus of many laboratories for the potential treatment of thrombosis, cancer and other inflammatory diseases. Understanding the mechanisms of PAR activation and G protein signalling pathways evoked in response to the growing list of endogenous proteases has yielded great insight into receptor regulation at the molecular level. This has led to the development of new selective modulators of PAR activity, particularly PAR1. The mixed success of targeting PARs has been best exemplified in the context of inhibiting PAR1 as a new antiplatelet therapy. The development of the competitive PAR1 antagonist, vorapaxar (Zontivity), has clearly shown the value in targeting PAR1 in acute coronary syndrome (ACS); however the severity of associated bleeding with this drug has limited its use in the clinic. Due to the efficacy of thrombin acting via PAR1, strategies to selectively inhibit specific PAR1-mediated G protein signalling pathways or to target the second thrombin platelet receptor, PAR4, are being devised. The rationale behind these alternative approaches is to bias downstream thrombin activity via PARs to allow for inhibition of pro-thrombotic pathways but maintain other pathways that may preserve haemostatic balance and improve bleeding profiles for widespread clinical use. This review summarizes the structural determinants that regulate PARs and the modulators of PAR activity developed to date

Working by Committee: Formal and Informal Assessment Collaborations--Assessment Committees and Beyond

During this panel discussion, three very different academic libraries will provide perspectives about the role of an assessment committee and the assessment librarian in library strategic planning. Topics discussed will include: The creation of the Assessment Committee (AC) and the role of the Assessment Librarian within the committee Strategic planning for the committee as well how assessment projects are chosen for the committee and for the library The current and past projects of the AC As time permits, the panel will also discuss: How librarians outside of the committee use the AC and Assessment or U/X Librarian Ways in which libraries can get assessment projects started including small scale training and initiatives Working with the Office of Research (OIR) within the University The Lib-Value initiative and the need to demonstrate library value How assessment provides evidence for overall strategic planning for the librar

Intervention goals for preschoolers with language difficulties and disorders A scoping review using the ICF framework

Purpose: The primary aim of this scoping review was to categorize language therapy goals reported in intervention studies for preschoolers (i.e., children from 0 to 5;0 years old) with language difficulties and disorders within the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework. A secondary aim was to determine whether different therapy goals were reported for different language difficulty/disorder subtypes (i.e., comparing language difficulty/disorder associated with a biomedical condition to those without an associated biomedical condition). Method: The scoping review followed Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) guidelines. Articles were retrieved from speechBITE, with age (under 5), intervention area (language), and study design (all but systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines) specified as inclusion criteria. Language goals were extracted and categorized into the ICF components. From there, the distributions of these ICF components were compared between intervention studies for different language difficulty/disorder subtype. Results: A total of 287 articles were identified; 140 met inclusion criteria. Of the 293 goals extracted, 48% aligned with the Activities component of the ICF framework, followed by Participation (26%), Environmental Factors (20%), Body Functions and Structures (3%) and Personal Factors (3%). Most participation-focused goals were reported from intervention studies of preschoolers with a language difficulty/disorder associated with a biomedical condition. Conclusions: Few participation-focused goals were reported in intervention studies for preschoolers with language difficulty/disorder without an associated condition. Future work is needed to support integrating the ICF framework in goal setting for both research and practice

'Joined up' thinking? Unsupported 'fast-track' transitions in the context of parental substance use

The extended dependence of many young adults on their parents, in a socioeconomic climate which disadvantages unsupported young people who leave education early, has been the focus of much research (Jones et al. 2006; Furlong et al. 2003). Some of this work has posited a polarisation in young adulthood between those whose extended transitions to adulthood are supported by their parents, and those negotiating unsupported or ‘fast-track’ transitions (Bynner 2001; Jones 2002) associated with higher levels of risk (Jones et al. 2006). Since 1997, in each of the constituent nations of the UK, the links between such ‘fast-track’ or unsupported transitions and social exclusion have come under a certain policy spotlight. Notably, the importance of difficulties associated with the transition from school to work has been highlighted, and, as discussed in this paper, particular concern, in Scotland and the UK as a whole, has centred on those who are ‘not in education, employment or training’ (‘NEET’) (Scottish Executive (SE) 1999, 2005a, 2005b, 2006b, National Assembly for Wales 2000, Social Exclusion Office (SEU) 2004, 2005, Cabinet Office 2006). Several aspects of this policy focus have been criticised, however. Notably, Yates and Payne point out that the emphasis on young people who are ‘NEET’ not only disguises the heterogeneity of this group, but also diverts attention away from others who, while not ‘NEET’, may also be living in very fragile circumstances (2006) or tracing ‘non-linear’ pathways between education and work (te Riele 2004). In addition, focusing on young people’s ‘occupational’ status may also implicitly disguise the critical importance of family support at this age and the vulnerability of those who lack family or other, including service, supports (Bell & Jones 2002; Jones et al. 2006; Walther et al. 2005)