Dimensions of pedagogical quality in preschool

Four dimensions of pedagogical quality focusing on children's opportunities for learning and development in preschool are suggested. This article explores how they are constituted and how they can be used for evaluation to discern pedagogical quality as a whole and part of a whole and to understand how quality is experienced and valued from different perspectives. The four dimensions are: those of society, the child, the teacher and the learning context. This approach to evaluation has evolved from a meta‐analysis of the results of four empirical studies. The object of research in this article was children's possibilities for participation and influence in preschool. When the four dimensions of quality were used for evaluation, a broader and deeper picture of influence and participation as a pedagogical quality emerged. The results highlight the complexity of pedagogical quality and how it is constituted in the interaction between various dimensions and aspects of human and material resources. It shows that, in order to grasp the complexity of pedagogical quality, it is necessary to study the same aspect, phenomenon and situation from more than one perspective at one and the same time.     

When tactics collide: Counter effects between an adjunct map and prequestions

Eighty-five undergraduates read a 1,399-word story using computer programs that differed in the types of learning aids provided: either prequestions only (PO) viewed prior to the reading, a related map that was first reviewed feature by feature (MR), prequestions plus an unreviewed map (PM), or prequestions with a reviewed map (PMR). During reading, subjects accessed the map as desired by depressing the mouse button, at which time the computer recorded how often they viewed the display and for how long. Analyses of scores on a 20-item constructed-response test on the story showed significantly higher recall by PO and PM groups compared to subjects receiving only a map. The MR group accessed the map significantly more often than did the PM group, while subjects given a reviewed map (MR and PMR groups) rated it significantly more useful for learning the story than did those who received both prequestions and a map that was not reviewed. All three groups receiving prequestions rated the text itself more useful than did the map-only group. These findings provide partial evidence that graphic and verbally based instructional tactics can, in certain circumstances, “collide” with one another when used concurrently. Because both adjunct displays and adjunct questions rely on mental rehearsal during initial processing, they potentially compete for the limited resources of working memory leading to, in some cases, attenuation of their benefits during learning.     

Data teams for school improvement

The use of data for educational decision making has never been more prevalent. However, teachers and school leaders need support in data use. Support can be provided by means of professional development in the form of “data teams”. This study followed the functioning of 4 data teams over a period of 2 years, applying a qualitative case study design. The findings show that data use is not a linear process, and that teams go through different feedback loops to reach higher levels of depth of inquiry. The data team procedure is a promising way of enhancing data-based decision making in schools.     

Understanding collaborative learning processes in new learning environments

Trying to understand the complexity of computer-mediated problem-based learning environments is not easy. Sociocultural theory provides a theoretical framework for understanding such environments because it emphasizes the socially situated nature of learning and the critical role of tools in mediating learning. To examine how different aspects of discourse relate to each other, as well as to the tools being used in the collaborative learning process, it is important to understand how collaborative knowledge building unfolds and how these processes are mediated. This requires going beyond coding individual speech acts. The use of Chronologically-Ordered Representations of Discourse and Tool-Related Activity (CORDTRA) diagrams is one way of achieving this understanding. We use this to study contrasting cases of more and less successful groups using the STELLAR learning environment. STELLAR is an integrated online PBL environment for preservice teachers, containing a learning sciences hypermedia, a library of videocases, and online personal and collaborative spaces. Our analyses suggest that an important locus of differences is how students use resources and engage in different kinds of metacognitive talk and knowledge transforming activities, sometimes to the group’s detriment. Frequency analyses provided an easily interpreted snapshot of each group’s activity. The CORDTRA analyses provide a more dynamic view that helps researchers and teachers better understand how collaborative learning unfolds. Such analyses have implications for understanding new learning environments as well as helping identify where interventions might be needed.     

Giving Patrons What They Want: An Analysis of a Thesis and Dissertation Purchase-on-Demand Project at East Carolina University

Joyner Library's Interlibrary Loan Department has been purchasing theses and dissertations that it could neither borrow from other libraries nor find freely available online to fulfill patron requests. Purchased documents are reviewed by Collection Development for possible accession after the patron has finished consulting the works. The background, interlibrary loan process, collection development process, and technical services process are discussed. Summary data and analysis are presented.     

Authors and open access publishing

Surveys were carried out to learn more about authors and open access publishing. Awareness of open access journals among those who had not published in them was quite high; awareness of ‘self‐archiving’ was less. For open access journal authors the most important reason for publishing in that way was the principle of free access; their main concerns were grants and impact. Authors who had not published in an open access journal attributed that to unfamiliarity with such journals. Forty per cent of authors have self‐archived their traditional journal articles and almost twice as many say they would do so if required to.     

Sustainability of Branch Libraries: Successfully Converting an Architecture Branch into a Professional Library

This column examines advances in public services internal and external to libraries. The focus is on how public services, such as instruction and education, programming, research consulting, and circulation evolve and impact users. The strength of the column is its broad, international focus and contributors are encouraged to explore issues and recent advances in public services relevant to their geographical region, as well as the larger, global audience. Interested authors are invited to submit proposals and articles to the column editor at andrea.falcone@ucdenver.edu     

Do pediatric chief residents recognize details of prepubertal female genital anatomy: a national survey

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate how well a group of recently trained pediatric chief residents could label anatomic structures on two different photographs of female prepubertal genitalia. Additionally, the study sought to explore aspects of pediatric training in sexual abuse and clinical practice issues surrounding the routine genital examination. METHOD: A 38-item questionnaire was mailed to pediatric chief residents at all of the officially listed pediatric residency-training programs in the continental US. Comparisons were made between this study and the responses to two previous surveys, which asked a more heterogeneous group of physicians to label one of the photographs used in the study. The second photograph was added because of its improved clarity of each anatomic structure when compared to the first photograph used in the previous studies. The study also asked about clinical practice issues surrounding the prepubertal genital examination. RESULTS: An overall response rate of 73% was achieved and analysis was done on 139 respondents. One-half of chief residents thought that their training during residency on sexual abuse was inadequate for practice. Sixty-four percent of chief residents correctly labeled the hymen on the photograph used in the previous studies, which was not significantly different from the 62% and 59% of physicians who correctly labeled the hymen in the previous surveys. In the second photograph, which more clearly displayed the various anatomic structures, 71% correctly labeled the hymen. CONCLUSION: Pediatric chief residents reported variable amounts of training on issues pertaining to child sexual abuse during residency, think that this time was inadequate, and, while doing slightly better than a more diverse group of previously studied physicians, did not achieve 100% accuracy in identifying basic genital structures correctly on two different photographs.