Demystifying the publication process – a structured writing program to facilitate dissemination of teaching and learning scholarship

This paper reports on a writing program to support academic staff to publish in peer-refereed journals. Nine participants completed a 12-week program, which involved regular meetings, set writing tasks, and peer feedback on drafts. A pre- and post-survey and follow-up interviews were used to gather feedback. Participants especially valued the discipline of weekly sessions and peer feedback. They reported increased skills and confidence in their writing, greater knowledge of the publication process, and intention to continue writing. Although five papers were published, a 12-month follow-up revealed that original writing intentions were not sustained. Thus, while a structured writing program can be effective, the pressures academic staff experience trying to meet conflicting requirements of teaching, administration, and research, must also be addressed.     

Mental aerobics: The half-sheet response

Mental aerobics is the process of stimulating the mind through wellplanned, specific, and direct exercise routines. The half-sheet response, one type of mental aerobics, has many uses. Also, it encourages inclusion, expression, understanding, thinking, feedback, insight, and comparison. It serves as a form of entertainment, a way to test, and a means for taking attendance. Weaknesses include the possibility that it will be viewed as a gimmick, used just for attendance, or used without feedback. With enough time to write, avoidance of overuse, and substantial planning, it can stimulate and motivate students, and it can form an important bond between instructor and students.     

Faculty dynamation: Guided empowerment

Dynamation is the integrative process whereby the sum total of all learning, knowledge, experiences, and feelings are brought to bear on productive, creative action and problem solving. In this paper, we describe some of the benefits of dynamation, outline a general approach to it-including the importance of friendship (the core of the empowerment process)- and explain several key incentives that will encourage faculty, through dynamation, to engage in growth activities. Throughout the article we discuss ten techniques developers can use. Our focus is on informal facilitator-enhanced (guided) empowerment. That is, we look at growth that is likely to result when developers work with faculty with the goal of growth, change, and development.Richard L. Weaver II is a professor in the Department of Interpersonal and Public Communication at Bowling Green State University. Darrell Mullins is an assistant professor in the Communication Department at the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater. Howard W. Cotrell is an associate professor in the Instructional Media Center at Bowling Green State University. Thomas A. Michel is an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Business at Fordham University, Bronx, New York.     

Value transfer in concurrent-schedule discriminations by pigeons

When pigeons are trained on a discrete-trial simultaneous discrimination, some of the value associated with the positive stimulus appears to transfer to the negative stimulus (Zentall & Sherburne, 1994). Pigeons preferred a negative stimulus that had been discriminated from an always-positive stimulus (S+) over a negative stimulus that had been discriminated from a sometimes-positive stimulus (S±). A very different finding (suggestive of transitivity of preference or contrast) was reported by Belke (1992). On concurrent probe tests of stimuli associated with equal variable interval (VI) schedules but originally trained in alternative concurrent pairs (one with a richer schedule, the other with a poorer schedule—VI 20 sec vs. VI 40 sec and VI 40 sec vs. VI 80 sec), the stimulus originally paired with the poorer schedule was preferred. But Belke’s results may have been obtained because the pigeons had been trained to peck the VI 40 sec paired with the poorer schedule and they had been trained not to peck the VI 40 sec paired with the richer schedule. In the present experiment, we avoided this bias by training pigeons on two concurrent schedules in which the tested stimuli both had been associated with the poorer schedule of the pair [A(VI 20 sec) vs. B(VI 80 sec) and C(VI 40 sec) vs. D(VI 80 sec)]. Evidence for value transfer was demonstrated when on probe trials pigeons preferred B over D.     

Strategic Marketing of Library Resources and Services

The development of marketing activities for an academic library as an outgrowth of an overall library strategic plan can assist in clarifying which key resources and services should be promoted and in developing the optimal activities for communicating their benefits. Marketing as an ancillary process to strategic planning can increase awareness and use of library resources and services among targeted user groups and can present a clear, consistent image to students, faculty, and administration as to what the library offers to the life of the university community and validate its continued funding. A permanent library marketing committee is the best means for coordinating library marketing activities.     

Communication apprehension and the type‐a personality

Do Type‐A individuals experience communication apprehension? Consistent with theoretical expectations, the data at hand suggest the answer is a qualified “no.” Individuals evidencing a Type‐A personality reported significantly less CA than their Type‐B counterparts. This pattern of findings was strongest for apprehension about communicating in “collective” contexts (e.g., public, group, meeting) but diminished for CA in more “intimate” circumstances (e.g., interpersonal).     

A Meta-Analytical Review of Selective Exposure to and the Enjoyment of Media Violence

A primary argument for the widespread production of media violence is that audiences want to watch violent content. This assumption is examined in this meta-analytic review of existing research on both selective exposure to and enjoyment of violence. The results show that violence has a significant effect on both selective exposure and enjoyment, but in different directions. Specifically, violence increases selective exposure but decreases enjoyment of content. Potential explanations for these effects and moderators that could influence the results (e.g., sex, aggressive personality traits, type of content) are considered, and the practical implications of these findings are discussed.