Books on Broadcasting

Eric Reade's Australian Silent Films: A Pictorial History, 1896-1929 (Melbourne: Lansdowne, 1970—$6.20)

Andrew Bergman's We're in the Money: Depression America and Its Films (New York: New York University Press, 1971—$7.95)

James Robert Parish's The Fox Girls (New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1971—$14.95)

Peter Cowie The Concise History of the Cinema: Volume II, After 1940 (Cranbury, N.J.: A.S. Barnes, 1971—$3.50, paper)

Louis M. Sarary and J. Paul Carrico Contemporary Film and the New Generation. (New York: Association Press, 1971—$2.95, paper)

Richard Rudisill, Mirror Image: The Influence of the Daguerreotype on American Society (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1971—$30.00)     

An Adaptive Blended Learning Model for the Implementation of an Integrated Medical Neuroscience Course During the Covid-19 Pandemic

The implementation of an integrated medical neuroscience course by technologically pivoting an in-person neuroscience course to online using an adaptive blended method may provide a unique approach for teaching a medical neuroscience course during the Covid-19 pandemic. An adaptive blended learning method was developed in response to the requirements necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic. This model combined pedagogical needs with digital technology using online learning activities to implement student learning in a medical neuroscience course for year one medical students. This approach provided medical students with an individually customized learning opportunity in medical neuroscience. The students had the complete choice to engage the learning system synchronously or asynchronously and learn neuroscience materials at different locations and times in response to the demands required to deal with the pandemic. Students' performance in summative and formative examinations of the adaptive blended learning activities were compared with the previous performance obtained the previous year when the contents of the medical neuroscience course were implemented using the conventional “face-to-face” learning approach. While the cohort of our students in 2019 and 2020 changed, the contents, sessions, volume of material, and assessment were constant. This enabled us to compare the results of the 2019 and 2020 classes. Overall, students' performance was not significantly different between the adaptive blended learning and the in-person approach. More students scored between 70% and 79% during the adaptive blended learning compared with in-class teaching, while more students scored between 80% and 89% during the in-person learning than during the adaptive blended learning. Finally, the percentage of students that scored >90% was not significantly different for both Years 2019 and 2020. The adaptive blended learning approach was effective in enhancing academic performance for high-performing medical students. It also permitted the early identification of underachieving students, thereby serving as an early warning sign to permit timely intervention.     

A Founding Father Reflects

This paper, written by a member of the UGC and its 'New Universities Committee' in the early 1960s, follows some of the arguments of the time surrounding the expansion of the university system. It sets out the author's reflections on the experiences and aspirations of those who were central to the foundation of the new University of Sussex .