Organizational Learning Is Essential to Achieving and Sustaining Change in Higher Education

Organizational change is often temporary or unsuccessful. This literature review of organizational change in higher education explores research in higher education, sociology, and organizational studies focusing on the problem of sustaining successful change. Indicators of successful change are distilled from the recent research. Establishing conditions for continued organizational learning in a college or university is identified as an essential aspect of sustaining successful organizational change.     

How Much for Whom? Lessons From an Efficacy Study of Modest Professional Development for Child Care Providers

Research Findings: Examining the effects of professional development of the early childhood workforce that fit within the constraints of government policy is crucial for identifying types and amounts of effective training and informing child care policy. The present study used a cluster-randomized trial to evaluate the effects of a professional development program for child care providers designed to meet the criteria for 2 state-level policies: (a) that child care providers working in licensed centers engage in 10 hr of professional development annually and (b) that all licensed child care settings provide 30 min of developmentally appropriate literacy activity daily. Results indicated that 10 hr of professional development focused on literacy was effective for significantly improving the literacy practices and knowledge of child care providers. However, it was not effective in eliciting substantial growth in child literacy outcomes, at least in the short term. The lack of child outcomes illustrates the importance of measuring professional development effects at both the provider and child levels. Practice or Policy: This study illustrates the importance of critically questioning and analyzing state policy, particularly dosage. In practice, dosage is an influential factor in how professional development is selected by programs and providers, because most policies only specify a required number of hours to be completed. The design of policy, which can influence both provider practice and child outcomes, relies upon alignment between early childhood research and policy.     

Visions of value: Leading the development of a view of the University Library in the 21st century

Over the course of 2018 the University of Sheffield Library conducted a series of interviews and workshops with stakeholders as part of a strategic project to reflect on the value of the university library in the 21st century. Using a mixed methodology, participants were asked to reflect upon the future Higher Education (HE) environment for the university and, for academic participants, their discipline. In this context participants were also asked to reflect upon the future value of the University Library in a series of questions designed to elicit value statements using a tool which the project group have called the ‘Wheel of Value’. The resulting reflections upon the future environment have been grouped into four categories reflecting the drivers for change; Digitalisation, Student Experience, Diversification and Collaboration recognizing that there is considerable overlap and interconnection between these. The reflections on the future value of the library are presented by Wheel of Value higher order categorization. This approach proved useful in eliciting responses from participants in the face of recognized difficulty in getting beyond current views of the library and the approach is recommended to other universities looking to carry out a similar project. The results of this research will be used to inform the development of a view of the library for the purpose of engaging with our university community and key partners.     

“Everybody’s hard times are different”: country as a political investment in white masculine precarity

Recognizing the complex interplay between country music, lifestyle, and identity, and the disparate nature of these texts and their producers, we center our analysis of the politics of contemporary “country” in the accounts of country music listeners. Through this lens, “country” foregrounds a portrait of precarious labor and white rural economies. Precarity is held up as aspirational, facilitated by the relative structural support of whiteness and masculinity that simultaneously leverages economic hardship to obfuscate these privileged positions. “Country” elides experiences of class marginalization, white rurality, and masculinized labor with mythologized narratives that position simplicity and work as “the good life.”     

Assessing journal author guidelines for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: findings from an institutional sample

Objectives:Systematic reviews and meta-analyses (SRs/MAs) are designed to be rigorous research methodologies that synthesize information and inform practice. An increase in their publication runs parallel to quality concerns and a movement toward standards to improve reporting and methodology. With the goal of informing the guidance librarians provide to SR/MA teams, this study assesses online journal author guidelines from an institutional sample to determine whether these author guidelines address SR/MA methodological quality.Methods:A Web of Science Core Collection (Clarivate) search identified SRs/MAs published in 2014–2019 by authors affiliated with a single institution. The AMSTAR 2 checklist was used to develop an assessment tool of closed questions specific to measures for SR/MA methodological quality in author guidelines, with questions added about author guidelines in general. Multiple reviewers completed the assessment.Results:The author guidelines of 141 journals were evaluated. Less than 20% addressed at least one of the assessed measures specific to SR/MA methodological quality. There was wide variation in author guidelines between journals from the same publisher apart from the American Medical Association, which consistently offered in-depth author guidelines. Normalized Eigenfactor and Article Influence Scores did not indicate author guideline breadth.Conclusions:Most author guidelines in the institutional sample did not address SR/MA methodological quality. When consulting with teams embarking on SRs/MAs, librarians should not expect author guidelines to provide details about the requirements of the target journals. Librarians should advise teams to follow established SR/MA standards, contact journal staff, and review SRs/MAs previously published in the journal.     

A six‐month report on the personality development of a thirteen‐year‐old stuttering boy

THE PROSPECT OF RHETORIC. Edited by Lloyd F. Bitzer and Edwin Black. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice‐Hall, 1971; pp. xii+244. $7.95.     

Commonwealth Communications

George Boyce, James Curran, and Pauline Wingate, eds. Newspaper History from the 17th Century to the Present Day (London: Constable Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage, 1978—$20.00/10.95)

Frank W. Peers' The Public Eye: Television and the Politics of Canadian Broadcasting, 1952-1968 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1979—price not given)

K. Watson, et al. "A Financial Analysis of the Private Radio Broadcasting Sector in Canada and the United States" (Ottawa: Department of Communications, Social Policy and Programs Branch, 1978—no price given, paper)

Outcomes from the Telecom 2000 Report (Australian Government Publishing Service, P.O. Box 94, Canberra, A.C.T. 2600 Australia—price not given, paper)

Australian Broadcasting Commission: 46th Annual Report (1977-78) (ABC, 145-153 Elizabeth St., Sydney NSW 2001, Australia—apparently free on request, paper)

Media Centre Papers series (Centre for the Study of Educational Communication and Media, School of Education, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia—about A$2.50 each plus postage, paper)     

Models and Areas for CS Education Research

A suite of five short papers which aim to provide an overview of several aspects of CS education research, especially: previous work of interest, current projects and results; suggestions and resources for getting started in CS education research, and for forming and entering research communities.