This study sought to understand how individuals come to be educational developers, specifically, their individual and collective journeys toward entry to the profession, the drivers and conditions that shape developer pathways, a sense of how practitioners characterize their developer role and conceive the field overall, and, finally, the point at which they come to associate with the field and identify with what they do. To explore and examine these questions, a qualitative study was undertaken with a subset of the development community. Eighteen Canadian university educational developers, all formally associated with a campus-wide or discipline-based teaching and learning unit, were invited to share their stories. Drawing upon the metaphor of journey to conceptualize the research and storytelling process, and framing the analysis and discussion from a career development and community of practice perspective, the process of becoming an educational developer was revealed. Two trajectories to educational development were identified: (1) those coming from outside higher education and (2) those transitioning from within their academic institution. Various conditions, situational factors, social encounters, or drivers, often serendipitous in form, influenced their journeys, with some participants experiencing more direct paths to the profession and others encountering more twists and turns. Select types of individuals (gatekeepers, distractors, mentors, enablers) also significantly impacted their pathways. Participants characterized their developer role broadly (facilitator, connector, consultant, champion, change agent) and conceived educational development along service, professional, and academic lines. Commitment to the profession and their role solidified within two to four years upon entry. Currently, the field of educational development operates without any formalized career structures to guide entry to or facilitate advancement within the profession. As the community continues to grow and situate itself within the higher education landscape, identifying what attracts developers to the field, their individual pathways, as well as how and when they come to associate with the profession, especially in the absence of socialization and induction strategies, is crucial. With limited research examining the process of becoming a developer and the attraction of working in the field, this study provides a basis from which to continue to examine questions associated with growing and sustaining an emergent profession.

This study sought to understand how individuals come to be educational developers, specifically, their individual and collective journeys toward entry to the profession, the drivers and conditions that shape developer pathways, a sense of how practitioners characterize their developer role and conceive the field overall, and, finally, the point at which they come to associate with the field and identify with what they do. To explore and examine these questions, a qualitative study was undertaken with a subset of the development community. Eighteen Canadian university educational developers, all formally associated with a campus-wide or discipline-based teaching and learning unit, were invited to share their stories. Drawing upon the metaphor of journey to conceptualize the research and storytelling process, and framing the analysis and discussion from a career development and community of practice perspective, the process of becoming an educational developer was revealed. Two trajectories to educational development were identified: (1) those coming from outside higher education and (2) those transitioning from within their academic institution. Various conditions, situational factors, social encounters, or drivers, often serendipitous in form, influenced their journeys, with some participants experiencing more direct paths to the profession and others encountering more twists and turns. Select types of individuals (gatekeepers, distractors, mentors, enablers) also significantly impacted their pathways. Participants characterized their developer role broadly (facilitator, connector, consultant, champion, change agent) and conceived educational development along service, professional, and academic lines. Commitment to the profession and their role solidified within two to four years upon entry. Currently, the field of educational development operates without any formalized career structures to guide entry to or facilitate advancement within the profession. As the community continues to grow and situate itself within the higher education landscape, identifying what attracts developers to the field, their individual pathways, as well as how and when they come to associate with the profession, especially in the absence of socialization and induction strategies, is crucial. With limited research examining the process of becoming a developer and the attraction of working in the field, this study provides a basis from which to continue to examine questions associated with growing and sustaining an emergent profession.

No description available.

The aim of this study is to examine nine texts used as teaching material in the reading project A Reading Class in terms of three different text-analytical structures. The texts analysed are non-fiction texts intended for grades 1–3. The analysis focuses on the similarities and differences in the textual, ideational and interpersonal structure of the texts and how the progression in the texts is revealed.   The result of the analysis shows that there are considerably more similarities than differences between the texts as regards the analysed structures. The analysis cannot find any clear progression between the texts in certain respects, although the analysed material is intended for pupils in different grades, while in other respects it is possible to see some notion of progression. The result also shows that the concept of progression is problematic to apply in a text analysis alone, since it is affected by how teachers work in practice with the material in the classroom.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Runx2 is a transcription factor required for bone formation and osteoblastic differentiation during normal development and is implicated in metastatic disease during breast cancer progression. Runx2 is highly expressed in many metastatic breast cancers and breast cancer cell lines Knockdown of Runx2 in various breast cancer cell lines restores epithelial characteristics and reduces proliferation, migration, and invasion. However, the role of Runx2 in breast cancer progression from early to late stages is not well understood. The MCF10A derived breast cancer progression model provides the opportunity to study the role of Runx2 in a series of cell lines that progress from nearly normal, with low Runx2 levels, to highly metastatic and aggressive, with much higher Runx2 levels. To address if removal of Runx2 affects gene expression and what pathways it may influence, specifically focused on breast cancer progression, we knocked down Runx2 using an shRNA lentivirus. Depletion of Runx2 inhibits the expression of mesenchymal markers including N-cadherin, Fibronectin, and Vimentin. Despite this finding, functional characteristics including proliferation, migration, and invasion were minimally affected. Possible reasons for the difference in results compared to other cell systems are discussed. As an alternative approach, we have generated stable, inducible cell lines using CRISPRi dCas9-KRAB to target Runx2 and in the future will investigate the effects of Runx2 knockdown in these cells.