Designing spatial visual tasks for research: the case of the filling task

This article focuses on the development and problematization of a task designed to foster spatial visual sense in prospective and practicing elementary and middle school teachers. We describe and analyse the cyclical stages of developing, testing, and modifying several “task drafts” related to ideas around dilation and proportion. Challenged by participant non-actions and non-responses, we as task designers identified and anticipated sources of difficulties, which motivated repeated modification of the task to further the intended learning goals. The task in its present form incorporates numerous considerations including choices around materials, wording of questions and prompts, and sequencing of experiences. It also reflects our enriched understanding of exploration strategies and the roles of manipulatives and technology in spatial visual tasks designed for adult learners.     

Honouring the incomparable: honours in Australian universities

The Honours undergraduate degree in Australia is unlike that in most other countries. It has taken on a particular significance as a qualification, as a pathway to and a pre-requisite for direct entry into doctoral programs. This paper explores the outcomes of a study that suggests that the aims, outcomes, curriculum, pedagogical practices, purposes and enrolment patterns of Honours vary substantially across disciplines and university types. It addresses the questions about the diverse nature of Honours programs and questions what this diversity means for Australian higher education in the context where global standardisation of awards is rapidly occurring. Honours is seen variously as a qualification, an experience, or a program. These variations are discussed and it is demonstrated that Honours globally has not one, but many meanings. These meanings are often poorly understood within, and outside the academy. These multiple meanings create confusion about what Honours stands for and inhibit communication about the role and purpose of Honours both within Australia and in a global context.     

Sharing research with academia and beyond: Insights from early career researchers in Australia and Japan

Quality scholarly research outputs, such as peer reviewed journal articles published in reputable journals, are essential for early career researchers' (ECRs) vocational success while also offering benefits for their institutions. Research outputs destined for audiences beyond academia are also increasingly valued by funders, end users, and tertiary institutions. While there is an expectation that ECRs may create diverse research outputs for an array of audiences, the kinds of research output texts produced by ECRs for varied audiences warrants further investigation. In addition, the routes of dissemination that ECRs use to share their academic research outputs to secure impact beyond academia are not well understood. Drawing on semi‐structured interviews of 30 respondents in Australia and Japan, we explore the research‐sharing practices of ECRs, finding that ECRs may potentially create a wide range of research‐informed texts for end users beyond academia, using an array of methods for dissemination. The examples of the output text types and dissemination routes we provide in this paper can be used to inspire ECRs and also more senior academics to share their research more broadly, and perhaps more effectively, and can be used by publishers to improve research impact and support ECRs' research translation.     

MRSQ Informatics Education columns: past, present and future

This is the last Informatics Education column under the current editors. The outgoing editors identify six key themes that reflect the changes in informatics education over their seven-year tenure. The themes are picked from the 29 previous columns published under their editorship. The first and key theme is technology, and this one theme is the basis for the other five. The incoming editors project what they expect to see as key themes for future columns. Together, this column looks at the past, present, and future state of informatics education in the United States.     

Antenatal education as perceived by health professionals

This article aims to identify the learning needs of expectant and new parents for antenatal education as perceived by health professionals. In Australia, antenatal education programs are predominantly designed by health professionals, and recent research has challenged the efficacy of this approach. The data collected from 73 health professionals, reported here, demonstrates that their perceptions of the concerns and interests of expectant and new parents were divided into three interrelated categories: "need to know...what's happening," "they won't listen," and "balanced information." The health professional ideas for improving antenatal education were limited and identified a reluctance to change practice.     

Evaluating a Public Library Makerspace

ABSTRACT

This study explores how one public library assesses the outcomes of a makerspace and examines whether the approaches taken can be justified as appropriate. An increasing number of public libraries throughout the world are establishing makerspaces, and to date there is little literature on how outcomes of these services are assessed. This study explores the methods that are being used, making comparisons to best practice revealed in the literature. The project is a case-study of the Central City Library makerspace (Auckland Libraries, New Zealand). The study collected evidence from documents, archival records, and interviewees. The findings revealed that while efforts are being made to assess the outcomes of makerspaces, methods and techniques are primarily informal. Current formal reporting relies upon quantitative measurement, such as visitor or participant numbers, which fails to capture the effects of the service on users. The implication is that staff may develop more structured and formalized approaches to assessing the outcomes of makerspaces. Further research could include the design of a prototypical outcomes assessment model that is then tested on a public library makerspace to determine the practicality of the approach.     

Analyzing archives and finding facts: use and users of digital data records

This article focuses on use and users of data from the NARA (National Archives and Records Administration), U.S. Who is using archival electronic records, and why are they using them? It describes the changes in use and consequently user groups over the last 30 years. The changes in use are related to the evolution of reference services for electronic records at NARA, as well as to growth in the types of electronic records accessioned by NARA. The first user group consisted mainly of researchers with a social science background, who usually expected to handle the data themselves. The user community expanded when electronic records with personal value, like casualty records, were transferred to NARA, and broadened yet again when a selection of NARA’s electronic records became available online. Archivists trying to develop user services for electronic records will find that the needs and expectations of fact or information seeking data users are different from those of researchers using and analyzing data files.     

Determinants of PhD student satisfaction: the roles of supervisor,department, and peer qualities

Understanding the determinants of PhD student satisfaction is likely to become increasingly vital for universities as student satisfaction rankings already ubiquitous at undergraduate and master degree levels extend more broadly to the PhD level. Moreover, as PhD student populations and university competition become increasingly transnational, there is a growing need to understand cross-nationally common determinants of satisfaction. Building on prior research into PhD student satisfaction, and drawing upon relevant conceptual and metrical refinements in the measurement of satisfaction from cognate domains of psychology, we use cross-sectional data (N?=?409) from PhD candidates across the sciences, social sciences and humanities in 63 universities from 20 countries to examine how overall PhD student satisfaction is determined by, respectively and in combination, supervisor, department and peer-group, in terms of both their academic qualities and supportiveness. Taken together, we find that supervisor supportiveness is the greatest predictor of PhD student satisfaction, but that supervisor academic qualities have no significant effect. However, both the academic qualities and supportiveness of departments significantly predict PhD student satisfaction, suggesting university departments and PhD supervisors would ideally work jointly, and perhaps more closely than many currently do, to achieve competitive levels of PhD student satisfaction.     

Developmental Outcomes for Children at High Risk of Dyslexia and Children With Developmental Language Disorder

We followed children at family risk of dyslexia and children with preschool language difficulties from age 3½, comparing them with controls (N = 234). At age 8, children were classified as having dyslexia or Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and compared at earlier time points with controls. Children with dyslexia have specific difficulties with phonology and emergent reading skills in the preschool period, whereas children with DLD, with or without dyslexia, show a wider range of impairments including significant problems with executive and motor tasks. For children with both dyslexia and DLD, difficulties with phonology are generally more severe than those observed in children with dyslexia or DLD alone. Findings confirm that poor phonology is the major cognitive risk factor for dyslexia.