Reframing professional development through understanding authentic professional learning

Continuing to learn is universally accepted and expected by professionals and other stakeholders across all professions. However, despite changes in response to research findings about how professionals learn, many professional development practices still focus on delivering content rather than enhancing learning. In exploring reasons for the continuation of didactic practices in professional development, this article critiques the usual conceptualization of professional development through a review of recent literature across professions. An alternative conceptualization is proposed, based on philosophical assumptions congruent with evidence about professional learning from seminal educational research of the past two decades. An argument is presented for a shift in discourse and focus from delivering and evaluating professional development programs to understanding and supporting authentic professional learning

The concentration of carbon monoxide in the breathing areas of workers during logging operations at the motor-manual level

Objectives: This article compares 2 variants of logging technologies at the motor-manual level: variant A – cutting and delimbing by means of a petrol chainsaw, skidding with the use of a cable winch mounted on a tractor (67–74 kW); variant B – cutting by means of a petrol chainsaw, skidding, debranching and cutting to length by means of a processor aggregated with a farm tractor (61 kW). Material and Methods: Direct dosimetry and non-parametric (moving block bootstrap) methods were used in order to specify the characteristics of the collected sets. Results: Bootstrap average values show that the average CO concentration at a skidding tractor operator’s station during early thinning was 2.54 mg×m–3. At processor operator’s station it amounted to 10.35 mg×m–3. Such results allow to conclude that a higher CO concentration at the above-mentioned 2 work stations was observed during early thinning. In the case of a petrol chainsaw operator, it was observed that the permissible exposure limit (23 mg×m–3) was exceeded and the short-term permissible exposure limit (117 mg×m–3) was not. The average concentration value for a chainsaw operator working individually during late thinning interventions was substantially lower (15.01 mg×m–3), which results from the lack of technological pressure that can be observed while cooperating with a processor operator. Conclusions: The risk increases along with conditions that generate the concentration of exhaust produced by 2-stroke petrol chainsaw engines