Professional development

About: Professional development is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 81108 publications have been published within this topic receiving 1316681 citations.

Pathways towards sustainability through higher education

Abstract: Purpose – The aim of this paper is to contribute to aligning higher education towards meeting the challenge of global sustainability.Design/methodology/approach – The barriers to sustainability are juxtaposed against the resources, responsibilities and potential of higher education. Ideas from several models and from within several disciplines are integrated to construct a framework through the challenges can be examined and then translated into learning outcomes, expressed as graduate attributes.Findings – The focus of education for global sustainability has been on encouraging consumers to modify patterns of resource consumption and waste management. However, there are some significant limitations to relying on consumer action. Future professionals, involved in managing resources or designing options from which consumers make choices, are in a much better position for influencing how social, cultural and environmental resources are used. To actualise this potential requires that higher education curricu...

Teacher STEM Perception and Preparation: Inquiry-Based STEM Professional Development for Elementary Teachers

Abstract: Student foundational knowledge of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is formed in their elementary education. Paradoxically, many elementary teachers have constrained background knowledge, confidence, and efficacy for teaching STEM that may hamper student STEM learning. The association between teacher preparation to teach STEM and student achievement in STEM motivated the authors' professional development program. The authors created and implemented a professional development program to address K–5 teacher confidence for, attitudes toward, knowledge of, and efficacy for teaching inquiry-based STEM. Using data from 2 independent cohorts the authors found significant and consistent increases in pre- to postinstitute assessments of teacher confidence, efficacy, and perceptions of STEM. Further, they found increased participant attention toward linking STEM curriculum and instruction to learning standards. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Medical ethics education: Coming of age.

Abstract: Medical ethics education is instruction that endeavors to teach the examination of the role of values in the doctor's relationship with patients, colleagues, and society. It is one front of a broad curricular effort to develop physicians' values, social perspectives, and interpersonal skills for the practice of medicine. The authors define medical ethics education as more clinically centered than human values education and more inclusive of philosophical, social, and legal issues than is interpersonal skills training. The authors review the history of the emergence of medical ethics education over the last 20 years, examine the areas of consensus that have emerged concerning the general objectives and premises for designing medical ethics programs, and describe teaching objectives and methods, course content, and program evaluation used in such programs on both preclinical and clinical levels. The four interrelated requirements for successful institutionalization of medical ethics education programs are defined and discussed, and the paper ends with an overview of the uncertain future of medical ethics education, an accepted but still not fully mature part of physician training in the United States. An extensive reference list accompanies the article.

Faculty development in assessment: the missing link in competency-based medical education.

Abstract: As the medical education community celebrates the 100th anniversary of the seminal Flexner Report, medical education is once again experiencing significant pressure to transform. Multiple reports from many of medicine's specialties and external stakeholders highlight the inadequacies of current training models to prepare a physician workforce to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse and aging population. This transformation, driven by competency-based medical education (CBME) principles that emphasize the outcomes, will require more effective evaluation and feedback by faculty.Substantial evidence suggests, however, that current faculty are insufficiently prepared for this task across both the traditional competencies of medical knowledge, clinical skills, and professionalism and the newer competencies of evidence-based practice, quality improvement, interdisciplinary teamwork, and systems. The implication of these observations is that the medical education enterprise urgently needs an international initiative of faculty development around CBME and assessment. In this article, the authors outline the current challenges and provide suggestions on where faculty development efforts should be focused and how such an initiative might be accomplished. The public, patients, and trainees need the medical education enterprise to improve training and outcomes now.

Special Education Teachers' Views of Research-Based Practices:

Abstract: Focus groups with teachers of students with learning disabilities (n = 30) and teachers of students with emotional/behavior disorders (n = 19) were conducted to examine the the teachers' perspectives about educational research and the extent to which they found research findings to be useful. The study further addressed the ways in which new practices were introduced within target teachers' schools and their reaction to the appropriateness of these practices for students with special needs. Findings revealed that most teachers were not pressed to use practices supported by their school or district. Furthermore, the notion of “research-based” was not important as a criterion for selection. Teachers sought instructional practices that were feasible, were appropriate for their students, were accompanied by all necessary materials and professional development support, and could be individualized for multilevel classrooms.