The Use of Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) Software to Create a Database of Librarian-Mediated Literature Searches

Expert-mediated literature searching, a keystone service in biomedical librarianship, would benefit significantly from regular methodical review. This article describes the novel use of Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) software to create a database of literature searches conducted at a large academic health sciences library. An archive of paper search requests was entered into REDCap, and librarians now prospectively enter records for current searches. Having search data readily available allows librarians to reuse search strategies and track their workload. In aggregate, this data can help guide practice and determine priorities by identifying users’ needs, tracking librarian effort, and focusing librarians’ continuing education.     

Using NLM Exhibits and Events to Engage Library Users and Reach the Community

In an effort to reach out to library users and make the library a more relevant, welcoming place, the University of Florida's Health Science Center Library hosted exhibits from the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) Traveling Exhibition Program. From 2010 through 2012, the library hosted four NLM exhibits and created event series for each. Through reflection and use of a participant survey, lessons were learned concerning creating relevant programs, marketing events, and forming new partnerships. Each successive exhibit added events and activities to address different audiences. A survey of libraries that have hosted NLM exhibits highlights lessons learned at those institutions.     

Changing Teachers – Teachers Changing Schools: assessing a graduate program in technology education

ABSTRACT

Innovative uses of technology may require a revision of educational policy and practice if technology is going to have an impact on the educational system. In 1993 the University of New Mexico College of Education began a four semester in‐service graduate program to develop teacher knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors that might assist the teacher to confront today's challenges without being restricted by past patterns. During the second year of its implementation, a comprehensive research study was instituted to assess the impact of the program. This paper presents findings relevant to the outcomes of the program. The results reveal that significant shifts occurred among participants in the frequency of use of technology and student‐oriented strategies and that participants were increasingly concerned with assuming leadership roles in their schools and school districts. Four dimensions of the program were central in achieving these results: its cohort nature, the fact that it was graduate, the use of telecommunications, and the incorporation of group activities by faculty that modeled frameworks and practices under study. The program was effective in helping participants to examine their educational beliefs and assumptions, to turn their perceptions into practices, and to shift their concerns from personal impacts and insecurities to global and system‐wide impacts and potentials. Graduate study for these educators has become a process of change with already discernible consequences for New Mexico schools.     

Experiencing and Managing Uncertainty about Climate Change

This paper joins uncertainty management and problematic integration literatures to better understand how people experience and manage uncertainty about climate change. Interviews with 235 stakeholders from private, public, and non-profit organizations in the state of Washington indicate an interesting disparity of certainty and the role of climate-related information. A majority of participants (n=137) were certain that energy use and climate change are related, and far fewer (n=13) were certain that they are not related. Our interpretive analysis indicates notable differences regarding the way people experience and management uncertainty.     

MATHEMATICS IN MIND,BRAIN, AND EDUCATION: A NEO-PIAGETIAN APPROACH

Because of their focus on psychological structures and operations, neo-Piagetian approaches to learning lend themselves to neurological hypotheses. Recent advances in neural imaging and educational technology now make it possible to test some of these claims. Here, we take a neo-Piagetian approach to mathematical learning in order to frame two studies involving the use of electroencephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging imaging, as well as the use of iOS-based apps designed to elicit particular ways of operating with mathematics. Results could inform theories of mathematical learning and effective educational game design.