Ethical Numbers: Ethics Training in U.S. Graduate Statistics Programs, 2013–2014

As important members of research teams, statisticians bear an ethical responsibility to analyze, interpret, and report data honestly and objectively. One way of reinforcing ethical responsibilities is through required courses covering a variety of ethics-related topics at the graduate level. We assessed ethics requirements for graduate-level statistics training programs in the United States for the 2013–2014 academic year using the websites of 88 universities, examining 103 biostatistics programs, and 136 statistics degree programs. We categorized programs’ ethics training requirements as required or not required. Thirty-one (35.1%) universities required an ethics course for at least some degree students. Sixty-two (25.5%) degree programs required an ethics course for at least some students. The majority (77.4%) of required courses were worth 0 or 1 credit. Of the 177 programs without an ethics requirement, 19 (10.7%) listed an ethics elective. Although a single ethics course is insufficient for instilling an ethical approach to science, degree programs that model expectations through coursework point to the value of ethics in science. More training programs should prepare statisticians to consider the ethical dimensions of their work through required coursework. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.     

Education CREATIVE THINKING AND INNOVATIVE EDUCATION IN THE DECISION SCIENCES

Creative problem solving is seldom addressed directly in the decision sciences literature. The first half of this paper reviews current thinking about creativity and its educational importance. The remainder addresses creative problem-solving processes and, in particular, the process developed by Parnes, Noller and Biondi [24] and Osborn [23]. This process has been integrated into an OR/MS problem-solving course which is described. Conclusions and implications for decision sciences education and practice in general are discussed.     

Integrating Analysis and Communication Skills into the Decision Science Curriculum*

The teaching of decision sciences presupposes that careful attention is directed toward improving students' critical thinking and analytical skills. This paper presents an approach to teaching quantitative methods classes that focuses on developing student skills in the areas of analytical and critical thinking through written and oral communication. The approach requires very little additional instructor preparation time and does not require the instructor to make major changes in either the content or organization of the course. While the instructor's investment is minimal, the benefits to the students appear to be substantial.     

INSTRUCTING OPERATIONS DESIGN: AN EXPERIENTIAL APPROACH

Teaching an operations design course has major pedagogical challenges. (1) The design topics—output, process, facility, and work design—are necessarily taught sequentially, yet the decisions are integrative. (2) Instruction must be generic to service or product producers. (3) Discussing output design is difficult since students typically have had no exposure to the “product language” of engineering graphics. (4) No text is available which examines in sufficient depth all the operations design decisions. (5) Cases necessarily depict historical situations—process technologies and economic data—while operations managers must plan future directions for their productive systems. (6) While the commercial world contains fresh information and data, students are inexperienced in obtaining knowledge from the real world. (7) While the course presents an operations management perspective, students must recognize the information, data, and cooperation necessary from the other functional areas to successfully complete the operations design. To help overcome these seven pedagogical challenges, the students in the undergraduate and graduate operation design courses complete a comprehensive feasibility study for a new product or service and the entire productive system.     

从教育学角度培养大学生协作精神

大学是青年的人生重要阶段,协作精神作为一种大学生必备的品质对大学生今后的工作和学习都具有重要的现实意义,从教育学角度来讲应该重点培养和塑造。要正确理解大学生协作精神的涵义及内容,分析它的状况及影响因素,采取有针对性地措施加大培养教育力度。     

困境与突破:论中国教育学的范式

中国教育学的范式是指新中国成立以来中国教育学者在思考、研究、构建教育学问题时所遵循、秉持的基本思想方法,这种思想方法导引了他们研究教育学的路向、构建教育学的方式以及解决教育学问题的思维框架,进而形成中国教育学的类同研究传统 ,并规定着教育学的发展方向.建国以来我们经历了来自苏联和西方国家的范式熏陶,并一直受到"西方范式"和"苏联范式"的禁锢和困扰,长期没有形成属于自我独立的教育学范式.中国教育学发展过程中存在的范式危机,已经严重阻碍了中国教育学的健康发展.中国教育学范式的创建需从创建主体--教育学者和创建客体--"范式系统"入手.教育学范式的创建与构建将有助于中国教育学学派的创生和中国教育学的生成.     

Evaluations of Social Work Education: A Critical Review

Since the introduction in England of the social work degree in 2002, there have been a number of significant changes to social work education culminating with the implementation of the Social Work Reform Board's innovations in 2013. This article critically explores the role of evaluations of changes in social work education and their implications for social work pedagogy. Evaluations can be linked to wider trends in society such as modernity, reflexive modernity, and the audit society. These wider influences affect the use of evaluations. A way forward for social work is proposed. Social work education needs to develop a critical pedagogy of hope to transform the profession's relationship not only to evaluations but to practise as well. The key message of this article is that evaluation studies of social work education mirror the underlying tensions of late modernity. Therefore, social work education needs to adopt a critical pedagogic approach to the use of evaluation research.     

Social Work Field Educators' Views on Student Specific Learning Needs

Each year a significant proportion of students withdraw from placement in time to avoid penalty, while others fail. This article reports on a small field education research project that identified common learning issues for first placement students. Eighteen experienced supervising field educators (FEs), participated in semi structured focus groups, and identified repeat areas of difficulty in student learning that they had managed as supervisors. They also identified strategies that had been efficacious in supporting student learning. The research undertaken in 2010–2011 identified three specific themes relating to difficulties in student learning: specific student characteristics that required additional support; the university/FE partnership; student proficiency in using supervision. The findings suggest that a students' right to privacy must be considered in the provision of educational support, and that support is most effective when there is a strong partnership between the FE and university. In addition, further development of field education pedagogy may be needed to embed theory and skills related to the use of supervision and reflective learning.     

The Struggle for the Soul of Social Work in England

There is a debate or struggle for the nature and future of social work in England. This tension is between a narrow or limited type of practice and a broader and emancipatory social work, grounded in the International Federation of Social Work and the wider conception of the profession in other European states. The limited model of social work seems to provide a dominant paradigm, which may result in the loss of a more visionary and humane social work. This is a qualitative study of an undergraduate social work programme in England. There were 48 participants, comprised of academics, students, service users and practice educators. Interviews and focus groups were used and a thematic analysis was undertaken. The key finding of this study is that the paradigm of state or statutory social work in England threatens to replace a broad conception of social work as understood in such definitions as the International Federation of Social Work and social work in other European states.     

教育学的“个性”与培养刍议

教育学的"个性",是指个体在生理素质和心理特征的基础上,通过教育的影响及主体社会实践活动,在身心、才智、品性、技能等方面所形成的比较稳固而持久的独特特征的总和.而教育学个性培养的定位"促使个体思想道德素质、健康素质和科学文化素质协调发展,使个体在身心、才智、品性、技能等方面所形成的特点总和,利于自身及社会的可持续发展",决定了个性培养,要实现个体社会化与个性化的有机融合.