Why the “Big Deal” Continues to Persist

The advantages of bundling e-journals together into publisher collections include increased access to information for the subscribing institution's clients, purchasing cost-effectiveness, and streamlined workflows. Although cataloging a consortial e-journal collection has its advantages, there are also various pitfalls and the author outlines efforts by the CAUL (Council of Australian University Libraries) Consortium libraries to further streamline this process, working in conjunction with major publishers. Despite the advantages that publisher collections provide, pressures to unbundle existing packages continue to build, fueled by an ever-increasing selection of available electronic resources; decreases in, and competing demands on, library budgets; the impact of currency fluctuations; and poor usage for an alarmingly high proportion of collection titles. Consortial perspectives on bundling and unbundling titles are discussed, including options for managing the addition of new titles to the bundle and why customizing consortial collections currently does not work. Unbundling analyses carried out at Queensland University of Technology from 2006 to 2008, prior to the renewal of several major publisher collections, are presented as further case studies that illustrate why the “Big Deal” continues to persist.     

Framing the Work of Art: Spirituality and Career Discourse in the Nonprofit Arts Sector

Based on qualitative data from participant interviews, this study explores how nonprofit arts managers construct the notion of career, and more specifically, how they frame the nature of their work and career choices. Findings revealed that participants employed a spiritual framework of calling, service, sacrifice, and personal rewards to socially construct, understand, and legitimate their nonprofit careers. These framing devices provided the language for participants to make sense of their career decisions and to define their career successes in terms of their own values instead of traditional measures of extrinsic rewards. As contemporary workers place increasing importance on meaningful work, spiritually centered discourse has implications for career theory and organizational practices in both for-profit and nonprofit sectors.     

Cataloging and Archiving State Government Publications

The academic libraries in Alabama have been hampered in their ability to provide government information to researchers by the lack of a functioning state depository system. Digital publishing can make timely distribution and widespread accessibility of state government information possible if these online documents can be captured and archived before they are removed from agency Web sites. This article describes a year-long project to capture, archive, and catalog government publications by a catalog unit.     

Teaching and Learning in the Mixed-Reality Science Classroom

As emerging technologies become increasingly inexpensive and robust, there is an exciting opportunity to move beyond general purpose computing platforms to realize a new generation of K-12 technology-based learning environments. Mixed-reality technologies integrate real world components with interactive digital media to offer new potential to combine best practices in traditional science learning with the powerful affordances of audio/visual simulations. This paper introduces the realization of a learning environment called SMALLab, the Situated Multimedia Arts Learning Laboratory. We present a recent teaching experiment for high school chemistry students. A mix of qualitative and quantitative research documents the efficacy of this approach for students and teachers. We conclude that mixed-reality learning is viable in mainstream high school classrooms and that students can achieve significant learning gains when this technology is co-designed with educators.     

A primer for effective organization of professional conferences

The challenge of organizing a successful conference is a tremendous commitment requiring extensive preparation and teamwork. It is tempting but dangerous to underestimate the details needed to coordinate an outstanding event. Conferences follow a natural life cycle from proposal, gaining administrative support, planning, implementing, and then finally evaluating outcomes. These guidelines identify the tasks and areas of responsibilities required including setting objectives, budgeting, selecting a venue, publicity, programming, and working with vendors.     

Teacher beliefs about the cognitive diagnostic information of classroom‐ versus large‐scale tests: implications for assessment literacy

Classroom teachers are in the front line of introducing students to formal learning, including assessments, which can be assumed to continue for students should they extend their schooling past the expected mandatory 12 years. The purpose of the present investigation was to survey secondary teachers’ beliefs of classroom and large‐scale tests for (a) providing information about students’ learning processes, (b) influencing meaningful student learning, and (c) eliciting learning or test‐taking strategies for successful test performance. Secondary teachers were surveyed because a majority of large‐scale tests are developed for secondary students (e.g., PISA, TIMSS). Results suggested that in comparison to large‐scale tests teachers believe classroom tests provide more information about student learning processes, are more likely to influence meaningful student learning, and are more likely to require learning over test‐taking strategies. The implications of these results for assessment literacy are explored.     

Examining the influence of teacher behavior and curriculum-based movement breaks

Little research has explored the impact of teacher behavior in the relationship between classroom movement breaks and student outcomes. The authors' primary purpose was to explore teacher behavior during classroom movement breaks to determine if teacher behavior served as a moderating variable in the relationship between physical activity and student achievement. The second major aim was to examine these relationships across two different types of movement breaks: (a) academic-content movement breaks and (b) aerobic-based movement breaks. Children (n = 466) in Grades 3–5 from four elementary schools served as participants in the study. Results found that teachers who encouraged students to move and teachers who moved themselves did not necessary have students with higher activity levels during the movement breaks. However, significant differences across the type of movement break provided were found. Implications and limitations are discussed.     

Classroom Management and Socioemotional Functioning of Burmese Refugee Students in Malaysia

ABSTRACT

Access to Malaysian government schools is prohibited for refugee children, and hidden refugee schools only reach a minority of Burmese students in Malaysia. This study used a participatory culture-specific consultation (PCSC) approach to examine the perspectives of Burmese refugee teachers on Burmese refugee student socioemotional issues and classroom management using interviews, observations, a preliminary refugee teacher focus group (N = 10: 4 men, 6 women; M age = 26 years), and a primary focus group with refugee teachers who were Burmese refugees (N = 9: 6 men, 3 women; M age = 30 years). First, themes suggested that societal pressures have an effect on the classroom environment. Second, refugee student behavior and emotions ranged from externalizing to internalizing. Third, refugee teachers relied on traditional Burmese methods for managing serious misbehavior. Fourth, with mild misbehaviors, teachers employed more “modern,” student-centered methods. Results inform culture-specific consultation designed to meet refugee education needs.     

The nature of maternal postnatal pain

This study identifies the location and intensity of pain in a sample of 75 women during the first 4 days postpartum. The emphasis on normal processes and shortened hospital stays may decrease attention to maternal postnatal pain. Individual women's variations of pain in both location and intensity from day to day suggest that the reality of postnatal pain needs to become a more important aspect of perinatal education and postnatal care.