The Status of Genetics Curriculum in Higher Education in the United States: Goals and Assessment

We review the state of genetics instruction in the United States through the lens of backward design, with particular attention to the goals and assessments that inform curricular practice. An analysis of syllabi and leading textbooks indicates that genetics instruction focuses most strongly on foundations of DNA and Mendelian genetics. At the same time, a survey of faculty indicates that other concepts, such as the application of genetics to society or the environment, are viewed as equally or even more important than foundation concepts. This disconnect suggests a need for more explicit goal setting prior to curriculum development. We also review the relationship between concept inventories, multiple-choice tests measuring conceptual understanding, and curricular goals. Existing concept inventories offer a strong foundation on which to build community-developed concept assessments of genetics knowledge. Concept assessments such as these would allow the genetics education community to test hypotheses of curricular change.     

Toward a Theory of Simulated Atonement: A Case Study of President George W. Bush's Response to the Abu Ghraib Torture Scandal

In response to the Abu Ghraib torture scandal, President Bush delivered an apology that was widely criticized by domestic and international audiences. Nevertheless, the apology succeeded in allowing the President to stop the momentum of negative public opinion following news of the crimes, and to avoid accountability for his role in the crisis. In this essay, I argue that Bush's success stemmed partly from his use of a special subgenre of apologia, simulated atonement. After explaining the strategy in detail, I describe some of the conditions in which it will likely be effective and apply the theory to Bush's statements.     

Gross Intrusions

This essay closely analyzes the 1936 British film Sensation, directed by the eccentric queer filmmaker Brian Desmond Hurst. The film participated in an extensive and heated debate about intrusive and ‘sensational’ press practices that erupted in the 1930s. In his cinematic version of events, Hurst made sensational journalism seem like an exciting, if morally dubious, part of modern life—a news form that satisfied a basic human desire to learn about the private lives and hidden secrets of other people. This essay shows how Sensation, in its ambivalent relationship to this fraught cultural issue, reveals some of the complexities of interpreting queer filmmaking before the advent of a self-aware and politicized ‘queer film.’ It argues that intrusive journalism was of interest to Hurst precisely because it engaged with issues at the core of queer identity—exposure, revelation, privacy, and criminality—before the decriminalization of homosexual acts.     

Making Paper Maps Relevant in a Digital Age

Special Libraries, Special Challenges is a column dedicated to exploring the unique public services challenges that arise in libraries that specialize in a particular subject, such as law, medicine, business, and so forth. In each column, the author will discuss public service dilemmas and solutions that arise specifically in given subject libraries, while drawing links to how such issues affect librarianship in general. Special or subject-matter librarians interested in authoring a piece for this column are invited to contact Melissa K. Aho at aho@umn.edu

Ryan Mattke is head of the John R. Borchert Map Library at the University of Minnesota where he has worked since 2007. When he is not poring over maps he can be found reading, writing, paddling, hiking, gardening or building canoes. He holds a B.A. in English (Creative Writing) from the University of Minnesota and can be reached at matt0089@umn.edu.     

The impact of library instruction: do first-year medical students use library resources specifically highlighted during instructional sessions?

Objectives:

The research sought to determine if first-year medical students consulted and cited resources specifically highlighted during library instructional sessions.

Methods:

Students attended a library resources instructional session. Resources that pertained to the students'' assignment were demonstrated and discussed. The students created a report including citations from relevant literature. The citations were analyzed and categorized as: a resource discussed at the instructional session, a resource found on the course LibGuide, a library resource, course material, or some other resource. All citations were subcategorized as print or electronic.

Results:

Three years (2008–2011) of data analyzing 2,983 citations showed that 49.55% of all citations were from resources discussed during library instructional sessions; 21.86% came from resources with links on the course LibGuide; 77.51% were from library resources; and 90.68% came from electronic resources.

Conclusion:

Students cited resources specifically highlighted during library instructional sessions for their assignments. The percentage of all citations coming from resources highlighted during the instructional sessions or found on the course LibGuide indicates that library instruction had an impact on the students'' work.

Highlights

• Review of the literature shows that instruction about library resources accompanied by clear guidelines on scholarly research methods and resources provided by course instructors have the biggest impact on the quality of cited materials in student bibliographies.
• Graduate medical students cited library resources more frequently than nonlibrary resources for their assigned coursework.
• Graduate medical students cited materials and resources specifically highlighted during library instructional sessions for their assigned coursework.

Implications

• Instruction about library resources tailored to medical students'' assignments impacts the resources that the students consult and cite for their assignments.
• Using the information gathered from citation analysis to modify teaching plans can impact the effectiveness of library instructional sessions.