August 2004 — Exclusive
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Database-Facilitated Mentoring Drives the Effective Placement of Student Teachers
School-related data is relatively static compared to student data because students come and go in cohorts from year to year. As such, accumulated school information can be carried over and accumulated into invaluable information that is reusable. On the other hand, student data may be archived and used to compile a data warehouse to analyze trends in student performance and student outcomes that informs departmental decision-making such as curriculum design, student recruitment, staff recruitment and budgeting.A Look to the Future
In the future, the database will be developed into a data warehouse that can generate a comprehensive set of information regarding particular schools and student-teacher placements. The fundamental concept of a data warehouse is the distinction between data and information. Data is composed of individual facts, whereas information is data that is summarized into a report which can assist informed decision-making. Additional query functions also will be written to further enhance this ability in the current database. This includes converting data into useful and relevant information and knowledge to facilitate efficient student-teacher field placement, as well as to follow up on their level of success and satisfaction regarding the placement. In terms of technical development, the first step will be to standardize the database and data collection terms that are used. Second, accumulated data will be organized to facilitate new queries. Third, new types and sources of useful data need to be identified. And finally, more faculty staff will be recruited to contribute to the data-collection process as well as to give suggestions for continued relevant improvements.
The database will be continually upgraded and altered according to the changing needs of the PSP committee; the current version 1.0 will be freely distributed. The database contains information on all of the secondary schools in Hong Kong, which is publicly available, sourced from official school Web pages and published documents.
* For a free copy of the PSP Database version 1.0, please write or e-mail to:
Ms. Ivy Loivylo@hkbu.edu.hk
Room RL2 - 116
University Road Campus
Hong Kong Baptist University
Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
References
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Dantonio, M. 2001. Collegial Coaching: Inquiry into the Teaching Self. Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa.
Malderez, A. and B. Bodoczky. 1999. Mentor Courses: A Resource Book for Trainer-Trainers. Cambridge, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.
McKenzie, B.C. 1995. Friends in High Places: How to Achieve Your Ambitions, Goals and Potential With the Help of a Mentor. Chatswood, New South Wales (Australia): Business & Professional Publishing.
Torrance, E.P. 1984. Mentor Relationships: How They Aid Creative Achievement, Endure, Change and Die. Buffalo, N.Y.: Bearly Ltd.
Udelhofen, S. and K. Larson. 2003. The Mentoring Year: A Step-by-Step Program for Professional Development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Zachary, L.J. 2000. The Mentor's Guide: Facilitating Effective Learning Relationships. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
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