Who's next? Research predicts museum leadership gap

A brief commentary from the Museum Association of New York (MANY) on the unprecedented gap posed by baby-boomer retirement. Based, in part, on MANY's white paper, “Who's Next? Questioning the Future of Museum Leadership in New York State,” this essay deals with questions of succession, leadership and general differences in New York's museum community.     

The Metamorphosis of Industrial Designers from Novices to Experts

Professional training for designers is crucial in the field of design studies. The characteristics of novices versus those of expert designers have been identified in the literature; however, studies exploring the issue of professional training processes in the actual workplace are not well developed. Our study addresses the topic by using qualitative research methods along with flexible design. Collected data from the interviewees with different work experience were analysed by open, axial and selective coding. Herein, we argue that the processes by which a designer transforms from a novice into an expert in the industry are constructed through the interaction of several complicated factors. The re‐learning inherent in design professions is implemented through knowledge transfer gained from participation in design projects, particularly regarding tacit knowledge. Also, the novice's process of learning and training yields the characteristics and skills that companies and firms require of designers; this process involves a series of disciplinary sub‐processes, from destructive to reconstructive, implemented by employers. In these sub‐processes, the subjectivity of designers is neglected, leading to the suppression of imaginative expression and feelings of alienation among these workers.     

Making the most of the mosaic: facilitating post-school transitions to higher education of disadvantaged students

Research studies of post-school education and training conducted in Australia and internationally have revealed a mosaic of students’ education and employment experiences, with a multiplicity of nonlinear pathways. These tend to be more fragmentary for disadvantaged students, especially those of low socio-economic background, rural students, and mature aged students seeking a ‘second chance’ education. Challenges faced by students in their transitions to higher education are made more complex because of the intersection of vertical stratification created by institutional and sectoral status hierarchies and segmentation, especially relating to ‘academic’ and ‘vocational’ education and training, and the horizontal stratification of regional, rural and remote locations in which students live. If we are to achieve the equity goals set by the Bradley Review (Bradley et al., Review of Australian Higher Education Final Report, 2008) we need to acknowledge and work with the complex realities of disadvantaged students’ situations, starting at the school level. Interrelated factors at the individual, community and institutional level which continue to inhibit student take-up of higher education places are discussed in the context of discursive constructions of ‘disadvantage’ and ‘choice’ in late modernity. Research highlights the need to facilitate students’ post-school transitions by developing student resilience, institutional responsiveness and policy reflexivity through transformative education.     

Guiding Low Spatial Ability Individuals through Visual Cueing: The Dual Importance of Where and When to Look

Research suggests that spatial ability may predict success in complex disciplines including anatomy, where mastery requires a firm understanding of the intricate relationships occurring along the course of veins, arteries, and nerves, as they traverse through and around bones, muscles, and organs. Debate exists on the malleability of spatial ability, and some suggest that spatial ability can be enhanced through training. It is hypothesized that spatial ability can be trained in low-performing individuals through visual guidance. To address this, training was completed through a visual guidance protocol. This protocol was based on eye-movement patterns of high-performing individuals, collected via eye-tracking as they completed an Electronic Mental Rotations Test (EMRT). The effects of guidance were evaluated using 33 individuals with low mental rotation ability, in a counterbalanced crossover design. Individuals were placed in one of two treatment groups (late or early guidance) and completed both a guided, and an unguided EMRT. A third group (no guidance/control) completed two unguided EMRTs. All groups demonstrated an increase in EMRT scores on their second test (P < 0.001); however, an interaction was observed between treatment and test iteration (P = 0.024). The effect of guidance on scores was contingent on when the guidance was applied. When guidance was applied early, scores were significantly greater than expected (P = 0.028). These findings suggest that by guiding individuals with low mental rotation ability “where” to look early in training, better search approaches may be adopted, yielding improvements in spatial reasoning scores. It is proposed that visual guidance may be applied in spatial fields, such as STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine), surgery, and anatomy to improve student's interpretation of visual content. Anat Sci Educ. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.     

Effect of the look-up line on the gaze and head orientation of elite ice hockey players

Abstract

A “look-up line” (LUL) has been proposed for ice hockey, which is an orange 1?m (40′) warning line (WL) painted on the ice at the base of the boards. The LUL purports to provide an early warning to players to keep their head up prior to and as they are being checked. We determined if players looked up more on a rink with the LUL compared to a traditional Control rink. Elite offensive (O) and defensive (D) players competed 1 vs. 1, while wearing an eye tracker that recorded their quiet eye (QE) and fixation and tracking (F-T) and an electrogoniometer that measured head angle. External cameras recorded skate duration during four skate phases: P1 preparation, P2 decision-making, P3 cut to boards, P4 contact. The QE was the final fixation prior to contact between O and D as they skated towards and across the WL during P3 and P4. Skate phase durations (%) did not differ by rink or rink by position. More QE and F-T occurred on the WL on the LUL rink than on the Control. The expected increase in head angle on the LUL rink did not occur during P3 or P4. Post-hoc results also showed O and D skated further from the boards on the LUL rink, suggesting the players preferred to control the puck on white ice, rather than the orange colour of the LUL rink. More research is needed to determine if these results apply to the competitive setting.     

How We Used to Build the Future: 30 Years of Collection Development Trends

This session highlighted trends in continuing resource collections and collection management throughout the 30-year period from 1985 through 2015. Electronic resources became available in the 1990s and grew in prevalence from the 2000s through the present, changing the make-up of library collections and also how libraries measure collections and collection usage. Two librarians and two vendors shared their perspectives on these changes in collection development, describing how library collections now contain a combination of older formats and older ways of collecting data, and new, electronic content and automated ways of collecting and disseminating data about collections.