Examining Factors Related to Academic Success of Military-Connected Students at Community Colleges

The number of military-connected students enrolling in community colleges has increased dramatically in the past decade, and this trend is expected to continue. This research focused on examining factors that contribute to the academic success of community college students. Specifically, the purpose of this quantitative study was to identify the demographic characteristics; campus relationships; and financial, academic and personal experiences that are associated with grade point average (GPA) and intent to return for military-connected students at seven community colleges. Identifying as a Student of Color (any race or ethnicity other than White) and experience meeting professors’ academic expectations were negatively associated with cumulative GPA, and feeling academically prepared to enter the institution was significantly and positively associated with intent to return. The results provide further evidence of the relationships among demographic and academic experiences and academic success. The authors offer recommendations for serving military-connected students at community colleges.     

Developing pre-professional identity in undergraduates through work-integrated learning

Pre-professional identity is a complex phenomenon spanning awareness of and connection with the skills, qualities, behaviours, values and standards of a student’s chosen profession, as well as one’s understanding of professional self in relation to the broader general self. It is an important, yet under-explored, aspect of graduate employability and can influence academic success, well-being and productivity. This study investigates the role of Work-Integrated Learning (WIL), more specifically work placements, in developing pre-professional identity among undergraduates. It uses qualitative data, in the form of structured reflections, gathered over two time periods from 105 business students in a Western Australian university. Findings indicate that work placements can offer a valuable platform for fostering identity construction. Students use the experience to make sense of their intended profession through observing, questioning and interacting with seasoned professionals. Appraising and reflecting on their experience, through learning activities and assessment, are highlighted as important elements of placement design and critical for students to question and make sense of what they observed and learned. Strategies are presented for industry and education practitioners to enhance pre-professional identity development among undergraduates. The study underlines the important role of work placements in preparing students for graduate-level employment, beyond the traditional focus on non-technical skill development and the application of disciplinary knowledge.     

Preparing teachers for inclusive education in Latin America

This article analyzes the current challenges facing inclusive education in Latin America and explores some possible solutions. The author suggests that teachers play a key role in providing education that is inclusive for all. In Latin America, today, however, inclusive education often does not respond to the needs of children and young people, and teachers often finish their professional training without acquiring the skills they need to work with children and young people living in difficult circumstances. Teachers also need incentives to work in remote or difficult geographical areas, and they benefit from national efforts to improve their status, including awards for innovative work. Much remains to be done, but the training of teachers for a more inclusive education system is gradually being incorporated as part of the educational policy agenda in Latin America.     

Are abusive fractures in young children becoming less common? Changes over 24 years

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the proportion of fractures rated as abusive in children <36 months of age evaluated at a regional pediatric hospital increased over a 24-year period from 1979 to 2002. Fractures were chosen as an example of serious injuries in young children. METHODS: Medical records were abstracted for all children <36 months of age who were seen at a single pediatric hospital with a fracture during three time periods: 1979-1983, 1991-1994, and 1999-2002. After reviewing the abstracted and radiographic information, two clinicians (one an expert on child abuse) and two pediatric radiologists each rated the likelihood of abuse using explicit criteria and a seven-point scale from definite abuse to definite unintentional injury. Ratings were done independently; when disagreements occurred, the case was discussed, and a joint rating was agreed upon, if possible. The proportions of cases rated as abuse were compared over the three time periods, and logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted odds ratios (OR). RESULTS: In the early, middle, and late samples, there were 200, 240, and 232 children, respectively, with fractures. The proportion of cases rated as abuse decreased from 22.5% in the early period to 10.0% in the middle period and was 10.8% in the late period (p<.001). When comparing the odds of abuse in the middle and late groups to the odds of abuse in the early group (controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, type of medical insurance, and site of pediatric care), the adjusted ORs were .31 (95% CI=.15, .62) for the middle group and .45 (95% CI=.23, .86) for the late group. Thus, the odds of a given case being rated as abuse decreased by over 50% from the early period to the middle and late time periods. No statistically significant difference was found when comparing the odds of abuse for the middle group to those of the late group, OR: 1.46 (95% CI=.69, 3.08). CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of abusive fractures in young children decreased substantially from 1979-1983 to 1991-1994 and 1999-2002 at a major pediatric hospital. We speculate that this decrease may reflect early recognition of less serious forms of maltreatment and the availability of services to high-risk families.     

e-Authentication for online assessment: A mixed-method study

Authenticating the students’ identity and authenticity of their work is increasingly important to reduce academic malpractices and for quality assurance purposes in Education. There is a growing body of research about technological innovations to combat cheating and plagiarism. However, the literature is very limited on the impact of e-authentication systems across distinctive end-users because it is not a widespread practice at the moment. A considerable gap is to understand whether the use of e-authentication systems would increase trust on e-assessment, and to extend, whether students’ acceptance would vary across gender, age and previous experiences. This study aims to shed light on this area by examining the attitudes and experiences of 328 students who used an authentication system known as adaptive trust-based e-assessment system for learning (TeSLA). Evidence from mixed-method analysis suggests a broadly positive acceptance of these e-authentication technologies by distance education students. However, significant differences in the students’ responses indicated, for instance, that men were less concerned about providing personal data than women; middle-aged participants were more aware of the nuances of cheating and plagiarism; while younger students were more likely to reject e-authentication, considerably due to data privacy and security and students with disabilities due to concerns about their special needs.     

Let's Circulate: A Report on the 1st Annual New Jersey Access Services Meeting

In 2014, access services librarians and professional staff from various institutions all over New Jersey came together at The College of New Jersey, in Ewing Township, to discuss regional trends and issues in access services. Library staff at these institutions face many of the same issues from managing student assistants, to dealing with stacks management, and handling building security. The goal of the daylong meeting was to build bonds between access services staff at the different institutions, and to learn from one another's experiences during a series of roundtable discussions, and informal conversations over coffee and lunch. It was the first meeting of its kind in New Jersey and the organizers plan to make it an annual occurrence under the name Let's Circulate. This article is a summary of the first meeting.     

Climate Change Research Across Disciplines: The Value and Uses of Multidisciplinary Research Reviews for Technical Communication

The authors performed an interdisciplinary literature review of research on communication and climate change. The authors reviewed STEM, social science, and risk analysis journals to synthesize recent publications on climate change communication which could support research in technical communication. Several applications are proposed for technical communication research, including using this review to contextualize local qualitative work, to spur interdisciplinary projects and address gaps in multidisciplinary literature, and reconsider a role for advocacy in technical communication.     

Talking and thinking together at Key Stage 1

In this paper, we describe an innovative approach to promoting effective classroom‐based groupwork and the development of children's speaking and listening at Key Stage 1. This approach, known as Thinking Together, was initially developed for use with Key Stage 2 children. The work reported here explains how this approach has now been applied to the teaching of speaking and listening at Key Stage 1. The approach is founded on contemporary sociocultural theory and research. At the heart of the Thinking Together approach is a concern to help children build and develop their knowledge and understanding together, through enabling them to practise and develop ways of reasoning with language.