Charles Ellis and Kathryn Castle
Teacher research (inquiry) has been characterized as practice improvement, professional development and action research, among numerous names and descriptions. The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Teacher research (inquiry) has been characterized as practice improvement, professional development and action research, among numerous names and descriptions. The purpose of this paper is to support the case that teacher research is also a form of quality improvement known as continuous process improvement (CPI).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper outlines the underlying characteristics, processes and sub‐processes employed by teacher researchers. Next, the same approach is applied to the underlying characteristics, processes and sub‐processes of CPI. Lastly, an analysis is performed to identify parallels between teacher research methodology and the methodology employed in CPI to support the case that teacher research is a form of CPI.
Findings
It is believed that a defensible analytical case has been built that where teacher research is conducted, the teacher's practice and the education of the students is undergoing CPI.
Practical implications
Schools and school administrators searching for techniques to improve the learning that takes place in their school should strongly consider and support teacher research as an effective means of quality improvement.
Originality/value
The paper presents a different perspective and view of teacher research in the context of CPI, which was once considered the domain of businesses and corporations.
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David Birnbaum, Kathryn Gretsinger and Ursula Ellis
The aim of this paper is to describe the experience and educational benefits of a course that has several unique educational design features.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to describe the experience and educational benefits of a course that has several unique educational design features.
Design/methodology/approach
This includes narrative description of faculty and student experience from participants in a flipped-instructional-design inter-professional education course.
Findings
“Improving Public Health – An Interprofessional Approach to Designing and Implementing Effective Interventions” is an undergraduate public health course open to students regardless of background. Its student activities mirror the real-life tasks and challenges of working in a public health agency, including team-building and leadership; problem and project definition and prioritization; evidence-finding and critical appraisal; written and oral presentation; and press interviews. Students successfully developed project proposals to address real problems in a wide range of communities and settings and refined those proposals through interaction with professionals from population and public health, journalism and library sciences.
Practical implications
Undergraduate public health education is a relatively new endeavor, and experience with this new approach may be of value to other educators.
Originality/value
Students in this course, journalism graduate students who conducted mock interviews with them and instructors who oversaw the course all describe unique aspects and related personal benefit from this novel approach.
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Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to explore a number of tensions arising in the presentation of autoethnographical research.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore a number of tensions arising in the presentation of autoethnographical research.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper provides a reflexive autoethnographical account of undertaking and publically presenting autoethnographical research.
Findings
The paper problematises the extent and form of disclosure; the voice and representation of the researcher; the difficulties in dealing with sensitive subjects; conflicts between public and private domains; questions of validity; the extent and form of theorisation of autoethnographical narratives; and emotion and performativity in presenting autoethnographical research.
Originality/value
The paper provides an analysis of the potential of autoethnography, while exploring the presentational and performative context of academia.
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Louise A. Ellis, Kathryn McCabe, Tracey Davenport, Jane M. Burns, Kitty Rahilly, Mariesa Nicholas and Ian B Hickie
This paper aims to describe the development of WorkOut, an Internet-based program designed to help young men overcome the barriers towards help-seeking and to build the skills…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe the development of WorkOut, an Internet-based program designed to help young men overcome the barriers towards help-seeking and to build the skills they need to understand and manage their own mental health. Information and communication technologies (ICT) hold great potential to significantly improve mental health outcomes for hard-to-reach and traditionally underserved groups. Internet-based programs and mobile phone applications may be particularly appealing to young men due to their convenience, accessibility and privacy and they also address the strong desire for independence and autonomy held by most men.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, we describe the design process itself, and the strategies used for multi-disciplinary collaboration. The initial evaluation process and results are also described which consisted of three distinct phases: website statistics; one-on-one user testing; and pilot interviews.
Findings
The results suggest that WorkOut has the potential to attract young men. However, further work is needed to ensure that users remain engaged with the program.
Originality/value
The difficulties encountered and lessons learned provide an insight into the factors that should be considered in the design and evaluation of future ICT-based strategies within the mental health domain, as well as their potential applicability to clinical and educational settings.
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Kathryn Haynes and Anne Fearfull
The aim of this paper is to examine gendered identities of women academics by exploring the interplay and exploitation of internal and external, personal and academic, identities…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to examine gendered identities of women academics by exploring the interplay and exploitation of internal and external, personal and academic, identities. The paper also considers the relative prioritisation of the three main academic activities of teaching, research, and administration, in which an enhanced emphasis on research performance, as opposed to teaching and administration, is what is often deemed to represent “success” in academia.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on autoethnographical detail, the paper reflects on the complexities of identities as they are constructed, developed, experienced and understood both by themselves and by others. By presenting several short autobiographical vignettes, the paper examines perceptions of the gendered identity of women in academia as caring, “motherly” and nurturing, and demonstrates attempts to exploit so‐called “natural” feminine, mothering traits as a means of fulfilling the pastoral and administrative components of universities.
Findings
In considering such stereotypes, the paper addresses examples of their self‐fulfilment, whilst considering how academic structures and practices also impose such distinctions, in a context where academic “success” is often typified by research, publications and academic networking.
Originality/value
The paper considers both possibilities for resistance and the negative implications for the career success of women academics, arguing that, until these gendered stereotypes are challenged, women academics will continue to be disadvantaged within academic institutions.
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Kathryn Whymark and Steve Ellis
Much of the literature on career management in the 1990s has been based on the assumption that a significant consequence of company restructuring has been the diminution of…
Abstract
Much of the literature on career management in the 1990s has been based on the assumption that a significant consequence of company restructuring has been the diminution of management career opportunities. Many human resource commentators are suggesting that the responsibility for managing and developing careers has become much more a personal quest and much less of an organisational one. This article examines the issues involved in managing careers from both perspectives and it uses primary research to illustrate and evaluate the range of activities currently being undertaken.