Education & Pedagogy

Physician education has followed relatively rigid guidelines since the Flexner report of 1910. Medical education has been largely didactic with time-based progression and certifying exams, and with variable degrees of autonomy and supervision in graduate (post MD/DO degree) medical education programs. Innovative educational approaches now incorporate adult learning theories, encompass broader skill-sets, and utilize competency-based milestones rather than temporal based objectives to gauge progress. Human resource development (HRD) is more synergistic with evolving innovative medical education approaches than traditional approaches, and it can foster a healthy teaching system. In this article, we explore HRD strategies for medical education, including clinical simulation, workflow and educational redesign, and ongoing competency evaluation.

The challenges facing higher education continue to mount. The shifting of the U.S. ethnic and racial demographics, the proliferation of advanced digital technologies and data, and the move from traditional degrees to continuous learning platforms have created an unstable environment to which Christian higher education must adapt in order to remain viable and ultimately to thrive. Courageous leadership is needed to confront a mindset of scarcity and address the resistance created by a tendency to protect the status quo. By challenging existing assumptions and searching for deep, adaptive solutions, Christian colleges and universities can maintain their unique distinctive as they reimagine their approach to education. This article ends with an imaginative look at the future of faith-based higher education.

This article considers potential problems concerning Religious Education in public (state-funded) secondary schools in England in order to inform ongoing debates about religion in public education in the United States and elsewhere. Findings of empirical studies conducted in England are discussed in relation to arguments that critique Religious Education. It is argued that Religious Education as it is currently conceived and practised in England may be problematic for religious believers because it can misrepresent and critique religions, particularly Christianity. It is also suggested that the subject may be confused in its aims and purpose because it is not based upon any theological or religious authority. It is suggested that these problems may present challenges to religious identity formation among adolescents and therefore may be a cause of concern for religious communities.

Competency-based medical education stresses the attainment of competencies rather than the completion of fixed time in rotations. This sometimes leads to the interpretation that quantitative features of a program are of less importance, such as procedures practiced and weeks or months spent in clinical practice. An educational philosophy like "We don't require numbers of procedures completed but focus on competencies" suggests a dichotomy of "either" competency-based "or" time and procedures based education. The author argues that this dichotomy is not useful, and may even compromise education, as long as valid assessment of all relevant competencies is not possible or feasible. Requiring quantities of experiences of learners is not in contrast with competency-based education.

Australia has a state-based educational system. In some of these states, outdoor education exists as part of the formal accredited secondary school curriculum. In this paper I analyse the content of these senior secondary school outdoor courses as a means to help delineate and describe the body of knowledge of outdoor education. I suggest outdoor education's body of knowledge reflected in these courses fall into six different content categories or areas. Only two of these areas, outdoor pursuits knowledge and skill, and journey based knowledge and skill are common to all courses reviewed. The remaining four content categories each provide a pathway to extend outdoor education into the conceptually more rigorous realms of senior schooling. I conclude with reflective comment on these four pathways and the future of outdoor education in senior schooling.

This is a research paper describing the impact of globalisation on the provision of preservice teacher education in Western Australia. The author utilises a range of research methodologies to gather and analyse current data, finally a range of possible futuristic scenarios are presented. The paper has significance for those concerned with future policy and planning in the area of preservice teacher education yet has a broader impact for all educational planners. It is written from the perspective of a concerned tertiary educator with over twenty-five years experience in education. The author currently co-ordinates a post-graduate course in preservice teacher education at a university in Western Australia.

This paper summarizes the results of a literacy content knowledge survey and assessment administered to adult education providers in Kentucky (n=520). This descriptive study focused on two main goals: 1) to obtain a description of Kentucky adult education programs including instructors' backgrounds, professional preparation, and teaching experience; and 2) to determine literacy content knowledge levels related to effective literacy instruction. Results show the majority of adult education providers performed highest on questions related to fluency instruction. Participants had the most difficulty with informal assessments of vocabulary development, alphabetics instruction, and emergent literacy skills.

Given the current climate of accountability, teachers must collaborate across disciplines to meet the diverse needs of students. Few, however, are prepared to collaborate in school settings upon completing teacher preparation programs. In this article, a participatory action research study undertaken by teacher educators who approached the lack of cross-disciplinary collaborations in two teacher preparation programs by developing and implementing a co-taught course on collaboration for general and special education teachers is presented. The described process was informed by interviews, observations, and analysis of course materials. Results contribute to the development of a framework for educator collaborations in higher education.

This article studies a community-based Indigenous teacher education program in Northwestern Ontario in Canada. This program, the result of a partnership between the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council and Brock University, was designed to prepare Nishnawbe Aski teachers able to teacher through a Two Worlds Orientation: unique Indigenous understandings combined with Western educational principles. The program characteristics and structure are outlined. The strengths of the program, as identified by teacher candidates and teacher educators, are explored. Impediments to success are also considered.

Military social work is a specialized field of practice spanning the micro-macro continuum and requiring advanced social work knowledge and skills. The complex behavioral health problems and service needs of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans highlight the need for highly trained social work professionals who can provide militarily relevant and culturally responsive evidence-informed services. Responding to the military behavioral health workforce and service needs of recently returned veterans presents both opportunities and challenges for military social work education. This article discusses the rationale for a military social work specialization, the need for military social work education, and opportunities and challenges for social work education. An integrated model of intellectual capital is proposed to guide strategic planning for future military social work education.

General education is at the forefront of the challenges facing faculty and administrators as they develop initiatives to address the nationwide trend focused on college completion programs. Attempts to trim core requirements and shift courses to online environments could be one answer for providing greater course access, for improving enrollments, and for increasing completion rates; however, choosing appropriate online environments needs careful planning and implementation. Massive open online courses have been promoted as one possible online model. Based on the author's experience of teaching first-year writing as a massive open online course, this article offers observations, reflections, and suggestions for considering the application of innovative technologies in general education courses.

The article deals with the comparative analysis of the issues of the economic sector specialists' professional training at higher education institutions of the Republic of Poland and Ukraine. The essence of the concept of "economic sector specialists' professional training" has been revealed. The component structure of the economic sector specialists' professional training has been determined. The criteria of comparison of the economic sector specialists' professional training at higher education institutions of the Republic of Poland and Ukraine have been highlighted, namely: institutional-network; organizational-step; substantive-procedural. The results of the comparative analysis have been described.

In this article, I advocate for critical environmental education that is responsive to power inequities and use standpoint theory to help explain why environmental education has been slow to become race-conscious/responsive. Standpoint theory provides theoretical support for the multiplicity of stories and views surrounding the environment and environmental issues with respect to continuing racial divisions within the US. I argue that environmental perspectives of people of color in the US are sociohistorically situated and inattention to them has led to the growth of and tension between different paths in environmental movements within the US. I conclude with a consideration of implications and recommendations for the research and practice of environmental education.

Universal Design for Learning is not widely used in postsecondary STEM education. The purpose of this literature review is to synthesize the empirical literature using Universal Design for Learning in postsecondary STEM education for all learners. The criteria for this review are (a) empirical literature in (b) peer reviewed journals (c) published after 2006. Keywords used were STEM, UDL/UDI/Universal Design, and postsecondary/university/college/higher education. This review identified four studies and three literature reviews that met the search criteria; the analysis of the identified literature provides a model for how Universal Design for Learning can impact postsecondary STEM instruction, including an increase in inclusive teaching methods and self-advocacy from students with disabilities, and leads to recommendations for additional research.

This article examines the monitoring of third-party education agents employed in international student recruitment. Agency theory identifies comprehensive monitoring as one way to ensure that agents work in the principal's best interest. By analyzing best practice guidelines, this article investigates the monitoring mechanisms proposed for education providers to mitigate information asymmetry in their education agent relationships. The findings from the analysis suggest that following the existing guidelines would only allow client institutions to partially observe the behavior of their agents. Hence, education providers should be not only guided toward more intensive use of the existing techniques but also encouraged to adopt new techniques, such as mystery shopping, to better determine education agents' true behavior.