Social justice and career guidance in the Age of Talent

The practice of career guidance is heavily influenced by changes in the workplace impacted by globalization and fluctuating economies. In the current era, known as the Age of Talent, people are increasingly viewed as commodities to fulfill labor market needs. There are controversies and inequities about who has access to meaningful employment and what resources are made available to support people’s career development. Career guidance practitioners need to be responsive to current labor market demands while also considering the implications of their roles and practices for social justice.     

Student Learning about Biomolecular Self-Assembly Using Two Different External Representations

Self-assembly is the fundamental but counterintuitive principle that explains how ordered biomolecular complexes form spontaneously in the cell. This study investigated the impact of using two external representations of virus self-assembly, an interactive tangible three-dimensional model and a static two-dimensional image, on student learning about the process of self-assembly in a group exercise. A conceptual analysis of self-assembly into a set of facets was performed to support study design and analysis. Written responses were collected in a pretest/posttest experimental design with 32 Swedish university students. A quantitative analysis of close-ended items indicated that the students improved their scores between pretest and posttest, with no significant difference between the conditions (tangible model/image). A qualitative analysis of an open-ended item indicated students were unfamiliar with self-assembly prior to the study. Students in the tangible model condition used the facets of self-assembly in their open-ended posttest responses more frequently than students in the image condition. In particular, it appears that the dynamic properties of the tangible model may support student understanding of self-assembly in terms of the random and reversible nature of molecular interactions. A tentative difference was observed in response complexity, with more multifaceted responses in the tangible model condition.     

Some Thoughts on Teaching Method

Student teaching evaluations (STEs) are increasingly used in the process of determining promotion and tenure. While most research has focused on career consequences, there has been little inquiry into the remarks students write at the end of the evaluation form. The structure of the collection process, involving emotional arousal and anonymity in a group situation, may induce a state of deindividuation, which allows students to write cruel remarks and morally disengage from the consequences of their actions. Such behavior may also reflect more general student attitudes toward their education—specifically, the current cultural student-as-consumer metaphor. This paper describes a small pilot study examining such cruel remarks and proposes some changes in the process of collection of these ratings. Theoretical and empirical perspectives from disciplines such as behavioral economics, psychology and sociology, education, rhetoric and composition, ethics, and public policy may be helpful in further understanding this phenomenon.     

The effects of social status and social dialect on listener responses

The findings of this experimental study indicate that the response to the dialect speech of another is not unidimensional and that dialect is more likely a determinant of speaker ethos for middle social status persons than for high or low social status persons.     

Henry Highland Garnet: Black revolution in sheep's vestments

This article explores the development of Henry Highland Garnet as a revolutionary abolitionist and then concentrates on his most important insurrection speech. A preacher by profession, Garnet was also a militant abolitionist who saw black insurrection as the only solution to bondage in slavery.     

The book collections of British university libraries an American reaction

This study summarizes a survey conducted to discover the extent to which professional librarians in Nigerian university libraries have achieved academic/faculty status. The survey revealed that: (1) almost all professional librarians (16 or 80%) in Nigerian universities have full faculty status, coupled with mandatory research and publication for promotion, in 17 (85%) of the libraries; (2) publications in subject-fields and in library/information science carry equal ratings; and (3) academic librarians in Nigeria are entitled to the same rights, privileges and responsibilities as their teaching counterparts. This paper urges the Nigerian Library Association and the Committee of University Librarians to set standards for the attainment of faculty/academic status for professional librarians in Nigerian universities and colleges.