How Do We Train Our Future Faculty to Teach? A Multidisciplinary Comparison of Graduate-Level Pedagogy Courses Offered at a Large Midwestern University

This study examines and documents graduate pedagogy courses offered at a large Midwestern research university. Thirty-three graduate pedagogy course instructors from 32 departments (a majority of those offering courses) completed an online survey. We report on enrollment demographics, preparation of faculty to teach such a course, and how a statement of teaching philosophy is presented to the class. This research connects the analyses of individual pedagogy courses with the few national studies on teacher training, outlines assumptions about an emerging field, and lays groundwork for a comprehensive study of the landscape and outcomes of graduate pedagogy courses nationwide.     

Accountability,evaluation of teaching and expertise in higher education

Increasingly universities are being asked to demonstrate accountability through implementation of quality improvement procedures that include student evaluation questionnaires and peer observation. However, a review of research suggests that these procedures, in themselves, do not necessarily lead to improvement. Excellence in modern universities may be more effectively promoted by focusing on facilitating academics' growth in teaching expertise, perhaps first by encouraging staff to demonstrate accountability as part of a systematic programme of teacher education. Academic or staff developers can play an important role in implementing a teacher education programme, and encouraging and supporting a culture of academic leadership.     

Shutting Down a Consortial Digital Repository Service

ABSTRACT

This column examines the lifecycle of one consortial digital repository service, the Alliance Digital Repository. Though the consortial service provided important infrastructure for members, the nature of digital repository work made it difficult to realize economies of scale. After eight years, members discontinued the shared service and replaced it with single-institution repositories that they could more readily support with the resources available to them. Based on my experiences helping members transition from shared to single-institution repositories, I offer advice for administrators planning or participating in consortial digital repository services.     

Uncertainty and previvors’ cancer risk management: understanding the decision-making process

Women who test positive for a BRCA genetic mutation, but who have not been diagnosed, or 'previvors,' experience intense, chronological risk-related uncertainty. Women’s risk management medical decisions can be a way to manage their uncertainty, but little is known about how uncertainty informs their decision or how uncertainty is impacted by these medical decisions. Using an uncertainty management theoretical lens, we interviewed 46 previvors about their decision-making process. A thematic analysis revealed two uncertainty management (i.e., risk-reducing) decision-making pathways (preventive surgery and increased surveillance) with each pathway encompassing a three-part process of 1) uncertainty appraisal, 2) medical decision (i.e., uncertainty management strategy), and 3) outcomes. The findings advance theoretical thinking about uncertainty and risk management as an ongoing, distressful chronic experience, and highlight the importance of life-span phenomena in women’s decision-making process. Based on the findings, we constructed a translational tool to aid genetic counselors and previvors facing these medical decisions.     

Foreign Systems of Communication

Gunnel Rikardsson's The Middle East Conflict in the Swedish Press: A Content Analysis of Three Daily Newspapers 1948-1973 (Stockholm: Esselte Studium, 1978—price not given, paper)

Ron Sanders' Broadcasting in Guyana (London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978-13.95 or$9.50, paper)

Charlotte Brunsdon and David Morley's Everyday Television: 'Nationwide' (94 pp.)

Revue Francaise de Communication (CEEPP 38, rue de Bassano, 75008 Paris, France—various rates from different regions: about $38.00 to the USA/quarterly)

A Comparison of Commercial Television in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, Japan and Australia (Australian Broadcasting Tribunal, 153 Walker St., North Sydney, NSW 2060, Australia—apparently free on request, paper with spiral binding)

Dean T. Jamison and Emile G. McAnany's Radio for Education and Development (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1978—$15.95/7.95)     

Tenure Metrics: Bibliometric Education and Services for Academic Faculty

Bibliometric indicators can assist biomedical researchers in determining the nature of their influence and impact of their research. In recent years, demands by academic faculty for bibliometric analyses have risen considerably at the University at Buffalo (UB). Consequently, library staff at the Health Sciences Library (HSL) began to offer bibliometric services, a series of workshops and consultations to meet faculty requests. This column highlights the implementation, assessment, and challenges of UB HSL's “Tenure Metrics” program.     

Exploring Perceptions and Usage Patterns of Digital Video Recorder Owners

The present research combines in-depth interviews and in-home observations to explore usage patterns and perceptions of television viewers in digital video recorder (DVR) households. Innovativeness, Use Diffusion, and Continuity-Discontinuity are employed to characterize DVR use and conceptualize DVR viewing in the home. Findings indicate that the DVR is an important, interactive technology that can help transform the way television is used by some consumers in their movement to proactive media decision makers.     

‘Africa's Tournament'? The Branding Legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™

In 2010, South Africa became the first country on the African continent to host the FIFA World Cup. Crucially the hosting of such a prestigious tournament was seen as a chance to prove that this developing nation could host an event of this magnitude as efficiently as the developed economies who had hosted the previous editions of the event, such as Germany in 2006 and Korea and Japan in 2002. Significantly though, this flagship event was also promoted by FIFA as ‘Africa's Tournament' with South Africa encouraged to share the identity and success of 2010 with the entire African continent. Based on the findings from in-depth interviews conducted with event and destination stakeholders from national and regional South African Government departments, this article explores the 2010 tournament as a branding opportunity that was used to promote both the continent of Africa as well as the South African nation. Expanding upon previous studies in this area the challenges and successes of hosting the 2010 World Cup are examined as is the role of mega-events such as the 2010 FIFA World Cup in generating a nation and continent-wide branding legacy. Stakeholders specialising in sport event management, tourism, operations and communications reflect on the branding and exposure for both Africa and South Africa achieved as a result of the event and the degree to which this was coordinated and co-created between various stakeholders. Insights are also given as to the degree to which the branding gains achieved during the event have been leveraged post-2010. As such, this article offers an original socio-historic perspective on existing studies examining the impact of the 2010 tournament.     

Relationship between Motor Performance and Arousal

Abstract

Forty male subjects were tested on a motor learning task called a stabilometer. Skin conductance was taken prior to the introduction of the task and immediately after each of the learning trials. Subjects were then dichotomized on the basis of initial conductance, final conductance, total change in conductance, conductance after trial one, and changes in conductance from rest to trial one. There was no difference in performance between groups when subjects were divided on the basis of initial conductance, but for all other measures performance was significantly better for the group with higher conductance. These results lend support to the concept of an arousal continuum as proposed by Duffy and Malmo.