Pharmacists’ online information literacy: an assessment of their use of Internet‐based medicines information

Introduction: Pharmacists need effective skills in accessing and using Internet‐based medicines information (IBMI) for themselves and their consumers. However, there is limited information regarding how pharmacists use the Internet. Objectives: To develop and use a research instrument to measure pharmacists’ Internet knowledge, search skills, evaluation of and opinions about using IBMI. Methods: A structured questionnaire examining general Internet knowledge, ability to search for and select pertinent IBMI, evaluation of IBMI, opinions about using IBMI and current Internet use was developed. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to analyse IBMI evaluation. Results: 208 pharmacists responded (response rate 20.6%). There was a large variation in pharmacists’ scores. Mean scores were low for General Internet Knowledge (mean 7.91 ± 3.62; scale 0–16), Search and Selection of IBMI (4.98 ± 2.91; 0–10) and Opinions on IBMI (44.51 ± 9.61; 0–80). Four factors [Professionalism of website (4 items; factor loading 0.62–0.87; Cronbach’s α 0.84), Disclosure (5; 0.37–0.79; 0.73), Appropriateness of content (5; 0.32–0.50; 0.65), Standard of information (6; 0.31–0.48; 0.58)] were extracted from the evaluation scale, explaining 36.89% of the total variance. Conclusions: A tool was developed to evaluate pharmacists’ skills and opinions in using IBMI. A wide range of skills and opinions highlighted the need for training in online information literacy.     

Get the cite right: Design and evaluation of a high-quality online citation tutorial

As part of a library initiative to foster information literacy, promote academic integrity, and prevent inadvertent plagiarism, a high-quality online tutorial was designed to teach students to cite sources properly. The development of this tutorial, APA Exposed: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About APA Format but Were Afraid to Ask, was a collaborative endeavor among research and instruction librarians, learning technology specialists, and an instructor. This study employs a mixed-methods research approach that combines the use of multiple data sources – an online survey, website visitor-tracking software, e-mail correspondence, and a Google search – to evaluate the quality and efficacy of the tutorial. Analyses of online survey data indicate 98% of survey respondents found the tutorial useful or very useful. All of the respondents reported the tutorial improved their understanding of APA style. In addition, 93% of respondents said they planned to use this tutorial as a reference resource in the future and 99% said they would recommend the tutorial to others. The online tutorial received an average of 1055 visits per month. The findings of this study indicate that there is a need for high-quality online citation instruction and that the tutorial meets this need. Providing effective citation instruction online not only benefits tutorial participants but also research and instruction librarians as they can now allocate limited library resources to areas of instruction other then proper citation techniques.     

Intra-limb coordinative adaptations in cycling

This study aimed to establish the nature of lower extremity intra-limb coordination variability in cycling and to investigate the coordinative adaptations that occur in response to changes in cadence and work rate. Six trained and six untrained males performed nine pedalling bouts on a cycle ergometer at various cadences and work rates (60, 90, and 120 revolutions per minute (rpm) at 120, 210, and 300W). Three-dimensional kinematic data were collected and flexion/extension angles of the ankle, knee, and hip joints were subsequently calculated. These data were used to determine two intra-limb joint couplings [hip flexion/extension-knee flexion/extension (HK) and knee flexion/extension-ankle plantar-flexion/dorsi-flexion (KA)], which were analysed using continuous relative phase analysis. Trained participants displayed significantly (p < 0.05) lower coordination variability (6.6 +/- 4.0 degrees) than untrained participants (9.2 +/- 4.7 degrees). For the trained subjects, the KA coupling displayed significantly more in-phase motion in the 120 rpm (19.2 +/- 12.3 degrees) than the 60 (30 +/- 7.1 degrees) or 90 rpm (33.1 +/- 7.4 degrees) trials and the HK coupling displayed significantly more in-phase motion in the 90 (33.3 +/- 3.4 degrees) and 120 rpm (27.9 +/- 13.6 degrees) than in the 60 rpm trial (36.4 +/- 3.5 degrees). The results of this study suggest that variability may be detrimental to performance and that a higher cadence is beneficial. However, further study of on-road cycling is necessary before any recommendations can be made.     

The influence of social interaction on meaning construction in a virtual community

As proposed by social constructive theorists, meaningful learning and individual development were achieved through social interaction. To foster social interaction among students, this study formed an online learning community in which they played multiple roles as writers, editors and commentators. In playing different roles, they read peers' texts, edited peers' errors, evaluated peer editors' corrections and finally reconstructed their own texts. Results of this study showed that the multiple roles they played allowed them to have opportunities to view their own texts from others' perspectives. Based on these perspectives, they were more willing to acquire information from and contribute information to peers. All of this extensive information acquisition and contribution resulted in meaning construction of texts as active students improved their final drafts in both local revision (grammatical correction) and global revision (the style, organisation and development of a text) after receiving and evaluating feedback from peer editors. Their final drafts were very different from those of passive students whose first and final drafts were almost the same despite some grammatical revisions. This study suggests that, rather than relying only on an examination of students' final drafts, there may be benefits in teachers encouraging students to actively participate in social interaction by reading peers' texts, editing peers' errors and evaluating peer editors' corrections during text revisions.     

The impact of individual differences on e‐learning system satisfaction: A contingency approach

This study investigated the impact of contingent variables on the relationship between four predictors and students' satisfaction with e‐learning. Five hundred and twenty‐two university students from 10 intact classes engaging in online instruction were asked to answer questionnaires about their learning styles, perceptions of the quality of the proposed predictors and satisfaction with e‐learning systems. The results of analysis of variance and structural equation modelling analyses showed that two contingent variables, gender and job status, significantly influenced the perceptions of predictors and students' satisfaction with the e‐learning system. This study also found a statistically significant moderating effect of two contingent variables, student job status and learning styles, on the relationship between predictors and e‐learning system satisfaction. The results suggest that a serious consideration of contingent variables is crucial for improving e‐learning system satisfaction. The implications of these results for the management of e‐learning systems are discussed.     

Stability and correlates of student evaluations of teaching at a Chinese university

This paper examines the stability and validity of a student evaluations of teaching (SET) instrument used by the administration at a university in the PR China. The SET scores for two semesters of courses taught by 435 teachers were collected. Total 388 teachers (170 males and 218 females) were also invited to fill out the 60‐item NEO Five‐Factor Inventory together with a demographic information questionnaire. The SET responses were found to have very high internal consistency and confirmatory factor analysis supported a one‐factor solution. The SET re‐test correlations were .62 for both the teachers who taught the same course (n = 234) and those who taught a different course in the second semester (n = 201). Linguistics teachers received higher SET scores than either social science or humanities or science and technology teachers. Student ratings were significantly related to Neuroticism and Extraversion. Regression results showed that the Big‐Five personality traits as a group explained only 2.6% of the total variance of student ratings and academic discipline explained 12.7% of the total variance of student ratings. Overall the stability and validity of SET was supported and future uses of SET scores in the PR China are discussed.     

Connecting high school physics experiences,outcome expectations,physics identity,and physics career choice: A gender study

This study explores how students' physics identities are shaped by their experiences in high school physics classes and by their career outcome expectations. The theoretical framework focuses on physics identity and includes the dimensions of student performance, competence, recognition by others, and interest. Drawing data from the Persistence Research in Science and Engineering (PRiSE) project, which surveyed college English students nationally about their backgrounds, high school science experiences, and science attitudes, the study uses multiple regression to examine the responses of 3,829 students from 34 randomly selected US colleges/universities. Confirming the salience of the identity dimension for young persons' occupational plans, the measure for students' physics identity used in this study was found to strongly predict their intended choice of a physics career. Physics identity, in turn, was found to correlate positively with a desire for an intrinsically fulfilling career and negatively with a desire for personal/family time and opportunities to work with others. Physics identity was also positively predicted by several high school physics characteristics/experiences such as a focus on conceptual understanding, real‐world/contextual connections, students answering questions or making comments, students teaching classmates, and having an encouraging teacher. Even though equally beneficial for both genders, females reported experiencing a conceptual focus and real‐world/contextual connections less frequently. The explicit discussion of under‐representation of women in science was positively related to physics identity for female students but had no impact for male students. Surprisingly, several experiences that were hypothesized to be important for females' physics identity were found to be non‐significant including having female scientist guest speakers, discussion of women scientists' work, and the frequency of group work. This study exemplifies a useful theoretical framework based on identity, which can be employed to further examine persistence in science, and illustrates possible avenues for change in high school physics teaching. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 978–1003, 2010