Contextual gaps: privacy issues on Facebook

Social networking sites like Facebook are rapidly gaining in popularity. At the same time, they seem to present significant privacy issues for their users. We analyze two of Facebooks’s more recent features, Applications and News Feed, from the perspective enabled by Helen Nissenbaum’s treatment of privacy as “contextual integrity.” Offline, privacy is mediated by highly granular social contexts. Online contexts, including social networking sites, lack much of this granularity. These contextual gaps are at the root of many of the sites’ privacy issues. Applications, which nearly invisibly shares not just a users’, but a user’s friends’ information with third parties, clearly violates standard norms of information flow. News Feed is a more complex case, because it involves not just questions of privacy, but also of program interface and of the meaning of “friendship” online. In both cases, many of the privacy issues on Facebook are primarily design issues, which could be ameliorated by an interface that made the flows of information more transparent to users.     

The Effects of a Comprehensive Early Literacy Project on Preschoolers’ Language and Literacy Skills

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a federally funded early literacy project that aimed to promote the school readiness skills of preschool-age children from low income families. Through daily, explicit, and systematic instruction, the project targeted to improve preschoolers’ oral language skills, phonological awareness, print awareness, and alphabet knowledge that aligned with the existing curriculum of the local school district. Data were collected through multiple sources at the individual child level, classroom level, and from the family/home environment. Significant gains were found between pre- and post-tests in child outcomes, classroom environments, instructional practices, parent attitudes toward early literacy, and family involvement in literacy activities. Additionally, classroom organization was identified as a significant predictor for children’s receptive language skills. Limitations of the current study and implications for future research as well as instructional practices were discussed.     

Relooking Assessment: A Study on Assessing Developmental Learning Outcomes in Toddlers

In most countries the funding for early childhood education has increased and governments in some countries have taken serious steps to bring about positive change in the profession. However, the increase in funding by governments and other funding organisations around the world has, understandably, attracted increased accountability as these organisations need to know that their financial investments are achieving desired outcomes. To seek evidence that positive learning outcomes have indeed been achieved through these investments is a reasonable request, and there is a shared responsibility and accountability for professionals to provide appropriate evidence. The downside, however, can be the request for standardised test information, as if performance on such tests provides proof of all desired outcomes. More than ever before, it is important for early childhood educators to be able to provide accurate, objective information about children’s assessment in ways other than by standardised testing, which may not reflect the complex reality of children’s lives. This paper reports on a research study in Singapore that investigated curriculum effectiveness using developmental learning outcomes as a means of assessing children. The research was devised to examine if eight specified broad developmental learning outcomes could measure the effectiveness of the curriculum by assessing children’s learning as shown in qualitative data. Practical examples showed evidence of children’s learning and the role of the educator in facilitating and documenting developmental learning outcomes.     

Case Study: Improving Customer Satisfaction,Quality, and Performance Using Performance‐Centered Solutions at ADDS Communications

A team of performance consultants looks closely at the operations of a cable services provider to identify existing performance gaps, barriers to performance, declining customer satisfaction ratings, and increased call volumes. The team used performance‐centered design (PCD) solutions in order to overcome technical support challenges through increased first‐call resolution. This article summarizes the root cause analysis, process, and the application of PCD solutions to close performance gaps, along with lessons learned from this case study.     

Anatomy integration blueprint: A fourth‐year musculoskeletal anatomy elective model

Current undergraduate medical school curricular trends focus on both vertical integration of clinical knowledge into the traditionally basic science‐dedicated curricula and increasing basic science education in the clinical years. This latter type of integration is more difficult and less reported on than the former. Here, we present an outline of a course wherein the primary learning and teaching objective is to integrate basic science anatomy knowledge with clinical education. The course was developed through collaboration by a multi‐specialist course development team (composed of both basic scientists and physicians) and was founded in current adult learning theories. The course was designed to be widely applicable to multiple future specialties, using current published reports regarding the topics and clinical care areas relying heavily on anatomical knowledge regardless of specialist focus. To this end, the course focuses on the role of anatomy in the diagnosis and treatment of frequently encountered musculoskeletal conditions. Our iterative implementation and action research approach to this course development has yielded a curricular template for anatomy integration into clinical years. Key components for successful implementation of these types of courses, including content topic sequence, the faculty development team, learning approaches, and hidden curricula, were developed. We also report preliminary feedback from course stakeholders and lessons learned through the process. The purpose of this report is to enhance the current literature regarding basic science integration in the clinical years of medical school. Anat Sci Educ 7: 379–388. © 2014 American Association of Anatomists.     

Promoting Inquiry-Based Teaching in Laboratory Courses: Are We Meeting the Grade?

Over the past decade, repeated calls have been made to incorporate more active teaching and learning in undergraduate biology courses. The emphasis on inquiry-based teaching is especially important in laboratory courses, as these are the courses in which students are applying the process of science. To determine the current state of research on inquiry-based teaching in undergraduate biology laboratory courses, we reviewed the recent published literature on inquiry-based exercises. The majority of studies in our data set were in the subdisciplines of biochemistry, cell biology, developmental biology, genetics, and molecular biology. In addition, most exercises were guided inquiry, rather than open ended or research based. Almost 75% of the studies included assessment data, with two-thirds of these studies including multiple types of assessment data. However, few exercises were assessed in multiple courses or at multiple institutions. Furthermore, assessments were rarely based on published instruments. Although the results of the studies in our data set show a positive effect of inquiry-based teaching in biology laboratory courses on student learning gains, research that uses the same instrument across a range of courses and institutions is needed to determine whether these results can be generalized.     

Multiple Copies of Bestsellers in Public Libraries: How Much Is Enough?

How do public libraries develop their collections of high-demand materials for the “I want it now” generation? Ten public libraries’ holdings of fiction and nonfiction bestseller titles were observed over a four-week period. The number of copies rose fairly consistently, with the five fiction titles having roughly about twice the number of copies as the five nonfiction titles. The ratio of holds to copies averaged 2.7:1 and ranged from 0.8:1 to 6.5:1. Demand for e-books was consistently higher than the number of copies available, averaging more than 4:1 across all libraries.     

Refutational texts and the change process

The purposes of this chapter are to examine the persuasive qualities of refutational text and explore the role of refutational text in educational settings that have competing agendas. As educators, we should understand the competing agendas existing in education and find ways to meet those agendas effectively. The use of refutation to aid learning fits into one agenda. The teaching of refutation as a persuasive rhetorical device fits into another.