College Chemistry: how a textbook can reveal the values embedded in chemistry

This paper explores the norms, values and ethical attitudes that Linus Pauling wanted to convey to his students in his famous textbook College Chemistry. In this classic textbook, Pauling aimed to introduce beginners into the world of chemistry by presenting chemistry as a systematic science based on a collection of empirical data and a recent theoretical framework. In doing so, he expressed his epistemic and didactic choices clearly. College Chemistry therefore offers an ideal opportunity to examine some of the norms at the core of chemistry's 'moral economy'.     

Here is something you can't understand: the suffocating whiteness of communication studies

ABSTRACT

The authors utilize a modernity-coloniality framework to highlight practices of whiteness and white dominance within the academy and the field of communication studies in particular. The article grounds its framework in personal experience and theories in the flesh to build comradery with feminist of color scholarly forebears and to share with those who struggle to create spaces of change within the academy today and in the future. The authors advocate for an active consciousness of “included exclusion” as the first step toward decolonization. Decolonizing discursive and embodied knowledges creates avenues for social justice and change within the academy and beyond.     

Photovoice as a research method for higher education research

ABSTRACT

Higher education (HE) research often draws on a range of qualitative research approaches. However, some methods developed in other fields are underutilised in HE research, even though they could be of great use for answering particular kinds of research questions, or for involving students more actively in the research process. In this article, we draw on a study that piloted different methodological approaches to explore students’ conceptions of good teaching and effective learning at university. The participants in our study included 33 high achieving international, Māori, Pacific Island, and (other) local students enrolled in Humanities subjects. Our study used photovoice as a visual data collection approach in conjunction with more traditional methods of data collection: open-ended focus group questions and critical incident technique. In this article, we review the photovoice literature, which is mostly from outside HE. Then, we describe our study, discussing the students’ responses to photovoice, and the different kinds of data it elicited. We note that, while most students expressed appreciation of the photovoice approach, some also found it restrictive and challenging in some respects. We conclude, photovoice offers a useful methodological addition to HE research, while noting, as with all data collection approaches, researchers need to be mindful of its limitations.     

Qualifications and Skills of Subject Librarians in Selected African Countries

Although subject librarians are found in many academic libraries worldwide, not enough has been written about the profession on the African continent. A study was, therefore, conducted, with the aim of adding to the knowledge about subject librarianship as it is practised in selected southern African countries. This article reports on the findings related to one of the main objectives of the study, which was to determine the qualifications and skills of subject librarians. The survey method was used to collect data from study participants. Semi-structured questionnaires were sent to 279 subject/learning support librarians, and semi-structured telephonic interviews were conducted with selected library managers from selected institutions included in the survey. The study revealed that most respondents held degrees and/or postgraduate qualifications in library and information science, that more than half of them also held qualifications in other disciplines at various levels, and that many of them felt that they needed to acquire more information and communication technology skills.     

Effekte videobasierter Trainings zur Förderung der Selbstwirksamkeitsüberzeugungen über Klassenführung im Grundschulunterricht

Self-efficacy in classroom management and knowledge on classroom management are important teacher resources regarding their health. Fostering student teachers in their self-efficacy in classroom management and situated knowledge on classroom management is a promising approach for reducing reality shock at the beginning of in-service teaching. Thus, the present quasi-experimental pre-post control group study investigates whether video-based and practice-oriented coursework in teacher education can promote self-efficacy in classroom management and the professional vision of classroom management. Analyzing own classroom videos as well as analyzing videos from other teachers lead to a significantly higher latent increase in self-efficacy and professional vision than that of a control group. This was only the case for professional vision in a course with own teaching elements but without video analysis.