The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of brokerage as a vehicle for integrating research and practice within the mentor role in the Practitioner Research: Older…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of brokerage as a vehicle for integrating research and practice within the mentor role in the Practitioner Research: Older People Programme.
Design/methodology/approach
The main component is a reflective analysis of the experience of mentoring three practitioners working within an NHS acute hospital environment.
Findings
Mentors played a key role integrating research into the practitioner ' s work environment as well as supporting achievement of the programme objectives. Personal reflection highlighted four components: being a research advisor; supporting the practitioner; quality assuring the process; and championing practitioner-research. A key element linking each of these components was that of being a knowledge broker, which accorded with the concept of “boundary-spanning”, whereby the practitioners fulfilled a new role of being both practitioners and researchers. Mentors adopted different approaches, which were partly influenced by geographical proximity and their relative position in the partner organisation.
Practical implications
Mentors fulfil a crucial role brokering the worlds of research and practice and need to be able to tailor their support to individual needs.
Originality/value
The notion of brokerage as a way of integrating the practitioner-researcher role is a useful way to conceptualise the mentor role.
Details
Keywords
Learning to teach subject matter topics that emerge as challenging for culturally and linguistically diverse students remains a key goal for prospective teachers. Teacher…
Abstract
Learning to teach subject matter topics that emerge as challenging for culturally and linguistically diverse students remains a key goal for prospective teachers. Teacher education needs multiple ways to guide preservice teachers (PSTs) for this work. One context for such teacher development is classroom-based teacher inquiry. I describe an innovation in teacher inquiry pedagogy that mentors PSTs in (a) mining multiple sources of knowledge for teaching challenging areas of content learning, (b) systematically analyzing knowledge gleaned from these sources, and (c) mediating through visual representations the overlapping, reinforcing, and sometimes conflicting ideas gleaned from sources, in order to advance conceptions and practice in content-based learning for diverse youth. I describe the pedagogy in practice, then use a case of one PST to illustrate how her knowledge evolved in learning to teach persuasive writing to early adolescent English language learners. It was in the knowledge sources interface, mediated by visual representations and written reflections, that this PST’s developing knowledge gained texture and depth.
Details
Keywords
In the face of increasing resource insecurity, environmental degradation and climate change, more governments and businesses are now embracing the concept of the circular economy…
Abstract
In the face of increasing resource insecurity, environmental degradation and climate change, more governments and businesses are now embracing the concept of the circular economy. This chapter presents some historical background to the concept, with particular attention paid to its assumed opposite, the ‘linear’ or growth economy. While the origins of the circular economy concept are to be found in 1960s environmentalism, the chapter draws attention to the influence of the then ‘new’ sciences of ecology and ‘cybernetics’ in shaping the public environmental discourse of the period. It also draws attention to the background of the present linear economy in postwar policies that encouraged reconstruction and a social and economic democratisation across the West, including an expansion of mass-consumption. It emphasises the role of the 1960s counterculture in generating a popular reaction against this expansionary growth-based agenda, and its influence in shaping subsequent environmentalism, including the ‘metabolic’ and ecological economic understanding of the environmental crisis that informs the concept of the circular economy. Reflecting upon this historical preamble, the chapter concludes that more attention should be paid to the economic, cultural and social contexts of consumption, now more clearly the main driver of our global environmental crisis. Without now engaging more directly with the ‘consumption problem’, the chapter argues, it seems unlikely that the goals of the circular economy can be met.
Details
Keywords
We give more space than usual to the Conference of the Library Association, but, even so, our correspondent has attempted impressions rather than factual accounts of the papers…
Abstract
We give more space than usual to the Conference of the Library Association, but, even so, our correspondent has attempted impressions rather than factual accounts of the papers read. Good as those papers were, the main effect of our conferences is to provide for every type of librarian a sense of community and of unity with librarianship in general. This was achieved in a large measure at Edinburgh. Moreover, as our correspondent suggests, there was interest in problems that do not affect, at least at present, many who participated. Nearly every session, general or special, was so well attended, that we can infer that the vitality of interest in library matters is as great as it ever has been; indeed, it is possibly greater.
In most countries, the more favourable the political climate towards labour, the greater the degree of labour organisation. However, a favourable political climate does not appear…
Abstract
In most countries, the more favourable the political climate towards labour, the greater the degree of labour organisation. However, a favourable political climate does not appear to equate womens participation and leadership in trade unions with that of mens.
The classics will circulate wrote a public librarian several years ago. She found that new, attractive, prominently displayed editions of literary classics would indeed find a…
Abstract
The classics will circulate wrote a public librarian several years ago. She found that new, attractive, prominently displayed editions of literary classics would indeed find a substantial audience among public library patrons.
Charles Margerison and Barry Smith
Managers as Actors Those of us who manage are playing on an organisational stage every day. We enter early every morning to take up our roles, whether it is as chief executive…
Abstract
Managers as Actors Those of us who manage are playing on an organisational stage every day. We enter early every morning to take up our roles, whether it is as chief executive, marketing manager, personnel adviser, production executive or any of the numerous other roles that have to be performed if work is to be done effectively.
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the literature on digital games designed or adapted for information literacy instruction, as well as practical design…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the literature on digital games designed or adapted for information literacy instruction, as well as practical design recommendations.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents an analysis of a compiled set of peer-reviewed articles on games in the provision of information literacy instruction published between 2013 and 2018, categorized by game mechanics utilized.
Findings
Application of the inclusion criteria led to 12 papers considered relevant. Synthesis of the papers suggests that although studies indicate positive outcomes for information literacy games, such games continue to rely on transcription of declarative tasks to digital environments.
Originality/value
While previous literature reviews provide summaries on information literacy digital games, this paper not only presents an up-to-date review but also provides step-by-step instructions and worked examples for aligning information literacy learning mechanics with game mechanics.