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In recent years, the importance of developing student learning communities in post-secondary settings has received considerable attention. This has led many researchers to investigate the perspectives that students have of participating in such cohort groupings. Much of collected understanding has, from the student perspective, been supportive of such learning experiences. However, comparatively little understanding has been gained of the perspectives of the instructional staff members that work with these student learning groups. Therefore, in order to complete the circle of understanding that encompasses the perspectives of both students and instructors, gathering the perspectives of instructional staff can enhance the overall insight of this type of learning experience. This paper describes a research project that, through the utilization of action research methodology, systematically investigated, gathered information about, and attempted to improve ways of operation with instructional staff in a cohort learning community experience. The findings from the data indicated that the participants valued their experiences of working with a cohort learning group and believed that both they and students benefitted from the experience. From the data, three major themes were identified that indicated the need for instructional staff to: understand the importance of developing the potential of the cohort learning community; foster opportunities for communication between instructors; and, recognize themselves as their own cohort community.

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Teachers of physical education (PE) have the responsibility to develop and teach programs that physically educate primary school children. How teachers achieve this aim is a critical consideration. Issues such as planning, delivery, and evaluation are constant themes of consideration; however, other areas of preparedness such as personal presentation are not often investigated. The purpose of this research study was to determine whether a primary school teacher's choice of clothing in PE impacted children's perceptions toward that teacher and the PE lesson. Primary school-aged children from six northern Alberta, Canada schools participated in the study. Quantitative data was collected through the use of a specificallydesigned Mannequin Clothing Assessment Questionnaire (MCAQ); while focus group interviews were employed to collect qualitative data. Both quantitative and qualitative data illustrated that teacher clothing is perceived by children to be important in PE lessons. Running shoes, athletic-style pants, and a golf shirt were perceived to be the most effective clothing choices for the ability to demonstrate, role modeling, safety, comfort, and mobility when teaching PE. This information may prove to be beneficial to the literature on effective teaching, teacher as a role model, and the symbolism of teacher clothing.

Background: The value of mentoring is recognized in many fields, including pharmacy, as a means for one person (mentor) to help another person (protegé) enhance his or her growth, knowledge and skills. The University of Alberta Faculty of Pharmacy and the Pharmacy Alumni Association conducted an 8-month mentorship pilot project involving pharmacy undergraduate students and alumni pharmacists. The focus was to assist students transitioning into the pharmacy workforce by providing guidance and advice from pharmacist mentors. Methods: A prototype mentorship model was developed. The model consisted of recruitment and matching processes and multiple structured and unstructured communication sessions (education and relationship-building). Seven student protegés and 7 licensed Alberta pharmacists participated in the pilot throughout the 2007–08 academic year. The formal evaluation was based on document reviews and participant interviews. Results: The key findings included: participants were very positive about the pilot program activities; both protegés and mentors would recommend participation to colleagues; the ideal year for participation was the third year in the pharmacy undergraduate program; the most beneficial pieces of advice were about change associated with early career development; 5 of 7 mentor/protegé pairs planned to continue or were actually continuing communications; e-mail was the most efficient communication; finding the time to communicate was the major barrier. Discussion: The results from the pilot provided preliminary evidence that pharmacy students have similar mentorship needs as students in other disciplines and that a formal mentorship model can address these needs. The students had career-related and personal questions and interests that were addressed by the alumni pharmacist mentors. The mentorship model had sufficient processes and structure to build and maintain relationships and to satisfy mentorship needs. Conclusion: The pilot demonstrated that a pharmacy mentorship model can be successfully established and be of benefit to participants and potentially to pharmacy practice. Based on the findings, an expanded version of the program was implemented in the fall 2009 academic term.