Embedded Library Services: From Cooperation to Collaboration to Enhance Student Learning in Asynchronous Online Course

The online environment presents a unique challenge to higher education. Shifting from the face- to-face format to online not only involves rethinking course design, but requires careful consideration of when and how to teach students, how to find and evaluate information needed to successfully complete coursework. One solution is faculty teaming with subject librarians to design and build in teachable moments. This case study discusses one such successful partnership from designing the course to choosing and embedding library resources and finally to the learning outcome of the online course.     

Lessons From an Urban School Readiness Initiative: Including Family,Friend, and Neighbor Care Providers

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: Using a structured qualitative case study method, this study examined one urban school readiness initiative's efforts to identify and engage family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) care providers to promote school readiness in underserved and immigrant communities. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with 23 FFN providers, 14 parent leaders, and 35 community partners in five urban neighborhoods. Results show that 1) a community-organizing approach was the primary method of engaging FFN providers, 2) FFN providers self-reported positive impacts of their engagement for both themselves and the children in their care, and 3) the inclusion of FFN providers elicited many strong feelings among partners about potential benefits and liabilities of supporting FFN care, which in some cases acted as a barrier to successful engagement of FFN providers. Practice and policy: Results highlight key strategies and potential benefits of engaging FFN providers in comprehensive school readiness systems. The tensions that arose regarding the engagement of FFN providers point to the importance of addressing misconceptions of FFN care and its value to children, families, and communities in order to ensure a shared commitment and understanding of the value and possible benefits of such a strategy.     

Social and Technological Motivations for Online Photo Sharing

The popularity of social media sites for posting pictures has given rise to a new form of mediated communication: online photo sharing. This article explores motivations for sharing photos online, using the 2-step procedure common in Uses and Gratifications research. Focus groups revealed 42 motivations which were rated in importance by survey respondents (N = 460). Factor analysis revealed 4 classes of gratifications: seeking and showcasing experiences, technological affordances, social connection, and reaching out. These results suggest that photo sharing is driven by social needs and facilitated by interface features, with important implications for theories of technology and user psychology.     

Combating low completion rates in Nordic welfare states: policy design in Norway and Sweden

ABSTRACT

Low completion rate in upper secondary education is seen as a big problem in the Nordic countries. School failure has shown to dramatically increase the risks for unemployment and labour market exclusion with severe consequences for both society and the young person. This paper analyses national policy measures to combat low upper secondary education completion rates in Norway and Sweden, often regarded as representing a social democratic welfare model and a universalistic transition regime. The analysis demonstrates that although this issue has received extensive political attention, the two countries display somewhat different policy designs. The Norwegian approach is proactive and targeted while the Swedish policy is more general and directed towards reforming organisational structures in upper-secondary education. In sum, our analysis demonstrates that national governance structures shape and influence policy design in the context of an increasingly diversified Nordic social democratic welfare state regime.     

Questions people ask about the role of phonological processes in learning to read

A growing reliance on research to guidedecisions about reading instruction hasresulted in a swing toward approaches thatemphasize phoneme awareness and the relationsbetween speech and alphabetic writing. Becausethis is a time of innovation andexperimentation in the schools, and because thenew emphasis has not won universal acceptance,there is a need to address recurring questionsabout the role of phonology in readingacquisition. These questions concern: (1) therelevance of phoneme awareness instructionto reading; (2) the consequences of thecomplexity of English spelling for decisionsabout explicit instruction in the alphabeticcode; and (3) the causes and symptoms of readingdifficulties and implications for remediation. In this paper, we offer our answers to suchquestions and discuss the research bases forthem.     

Perfect presence: What does this mean for the design of virtual learning environments?

One of the advantages of building a virtual reality system is that it allows students to enter new worlds which in these instances include trips to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, a field visit to an Oak Wood and a close encounter in a 3D maze. In all these environments the factors affecting a sense of being there or presence was investigated. Enhanced audio feedback increased a subjective sense of presence but did not increase students' conceptual learning scores. We have also found that a sense of social presence enhanced the notion of being there together with measures of collaboration. However being there can take its toll on students and our findings suggest it imposes a cognitive overload. Where students have a choice, they try and reduce this overload by asking for conceptual tools to assist them in their learning tasks. The studies reported in this paper provide some benchmark data about these issues which deserve further investigation if we are to design effective virtual environments for conceptual learning.     

Perceptions of Parents of Handicapped Children About School and Parent‐Teacher Partnership

This study examined the perceptions of parents of exceptional students concerning their child's problems and the educational services provided; the nature and extent of their involvement in school; levels of satisfaction; needs and recommendations. Three hundred and twenty‐five parents of five categories of exceptional students responded to a 30‐item questionnaire; findings revealed that while parents tended to have an accurate perception of both their child's problems and the services provided, they perceived themselves as having low levels of involvement in school, including IEP meetings. Nevertheless, the majority were very satisfied with the child's education. Information and training needs were identified, together with parent recommendations. Some significant differences by type of exceptionality were found. The article concludes with discussion of training needs for both parents and educators.