Three articles address various issues concerning staff development. Topics discussed include challenges facing professional development in higher education; who has responsibility for staff development; and implications for staff development based on a survey of Non-Advanced Further Education (NAFE) in England and Wales. (LRW)

Just as young children learn about the world around them by playing its scripts, teachers learn about teaching and learning by playing a teacher's script, observing what happens, and discussing all of the possibilities with other teachers. This book applies a constructivist model to staff development, describing staff development activities that…

The Institute for Personal and Career Development of Central Michigan University has been administering graduate external degree programs for eight years. A survey of graduates is discussed that reveals: satisfaction with program, personal and career development, and accomplishment of educational goals and objectives of program. (Author/MLW)

Outlines self-enrichment activities for faculty, administrators, and students that can improve working conditions and promotion opportunities, e.g., getting a personal business card, developing a contacts list, examining the institution, conducting research on classroom and business trends, joining "power organizations," and making a master…

The nine narratives in this book document the experiences and insights of women academics as they relate to the personal choices, trade-offs, risks, and chances they faced at various career stages. The contributions of the early career women focus primarily on issues relating to completing their dissertations and landing their first job, and…

This paper explores the role of self discovery in the early stages of caregiver professional development, with a focus on the array of choices available to university students. The assumption is that many people do not know their repertoire of skills until asked to complete a project requiring those skills; thus, "the heart of becoming a…

This personal narrative recounts the experiences of a group of adult learners six months after they completed a graduate diploma in adult education. They speak of their discovery that empowerment, in terms of enabling and energizing, involved a seeming contradictory sense of vulnerability in terms of "the paradox of empowerment." The…

The 16 conference papers in this collection describe various ways in which counselling is used in distance education in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Thailand, the United Kingdom, West Germany, and Zambia. Following an introduction by Alan Tait, the following papers are presented: (1) "Counselling in the Open University of the…

The theory that there are stages in teachers' professional development suggests that those who aim to stimulate or support that growth must be sensitive to the stage each teacher is in. Three stages of development are described: the survival or beginning teacher stage; the middle stage, characterized by an increasing sense of comfort in the…

A study explored reasons chosen by adults for returning to college and their perceptions of their attainment by reviewing the literature and surveying graduates of an off-campus degree program. Review of prior studies led to the expectation that there would be two main groups of reasons: job-related and personal enrichment. Baccalaureate degree in…

It is proposed that in considering teachers' professional development, emphasis should be placed on teacher assessment as an intergral part of the developmental process, encompassing the total career of the teacher. An overview of the history of teacher evaluation is provided, as well as a review of background literature on professional…

A program at Brandeis University uses literature to help professionals confront career dilemmas and work-related moral issues. Program participants say literature provides a "non-threatening" way to discuss difficult subjects. Doctors, legislators, corporate executives, public-school teachers, etc. have participated. (MLW)

Recounts a one-month period in the professional and family life of Joyce Tsunoda, the Chancellor of the University of Hawaii Community Colleges. Focuses on the observations and experiences of a Japanese-American woman born, raised, and immersed in a multicultural setting, learning and developing as an American and as an academic administrator and…

When surveyed about a one-way video and two-way audio distance learning system, distance education faculty at Old Dominion University (Virginia) said they liked the personal and professional growth afforded by teaching on television, but disliked the lack of interactivity and other limitations. Faculty involvement in policymaking and integrating…

Information about the experiences successful leaders perceive as vital to their development can be helpful to one's understanding of resiliency. Such information can also offer insights into the ways successful leaders use positive and negative situations as learning opportunities and the strategies they implement in addressing adversity. The…