Academic Digital Libraries of the Future: An Environment Scan

Libraries are attempting to face a future in which almost every fixed point has disappeared. Users are changing; content is changing; research is taking new forms. Indeed the very need for libraries is being questioned in some quarters. This paper explores the nature of the changes and challenges facing higher education libraries and suggests key areas of strength and core activities which should be exploited to secure their future.     

Qualitative Differences Between Learning Environments Using Videos in Small Groups and Whole Class Discussions: A Preliminary Study in Physics

Interactivity, group learning and student engagement are accepted as key features of social constructivist learning theories. The challenge is to understand the interplay between such features in different learning environments. This study focused on the qualitative differences between two interventions—small-groups and whole-class discussions. In both interventions, three short video slices on the abstract topic ‘the physics of superconductivity’ were interspersed with the different discussion styles. The video slices are based on the Bruner stages. Twenty-nine first year university physics students completed a pre-test, underwent the intervention and completed a post-test. The remainder of the data were collected from student drawings, video recordings, observer notes and facilitator feedback. Results indicate that the use of the video slices in both interventions were successful in changing students’ understandings of superconductivity. However, the small groups treatment tended to facilitate questioning, meaning-making and subsequent changes of ideas more so than the whole class discussions. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Popular Music

Brad Benedict and Linda Barton's Phonographics: Contemporary Album Cover Art and Design (New York: Collier Books/Macmillan Publishing, 1977—$9.95, paper)

George McCue, ed. Music in American Society, 1776-1976: From Puritan Hymn to Synthesizer (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Inc., 1977—$14.95/3.95)

Dean Tudor and Andrew D. Armitage, comps. Popular Music Periodicals Index, 1975 (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1976—$15.00)

Derek Jewell, Duke: A Portrait of Duke Ellington (New York: Norton, 1977—$9.95)

Stanley Dance, The World of Earl Hines (New York: Scribner's, 1977—$14.95/7.95     

The Poverty of Constructivism

Constructivism claims to be a postepistemology that replaces 'traditional' concepts of knowledge. Supporters of constructivism have argued that progress requires that pre-service teachers be weaned off traditional approaches and that they should adopt constructivist views of knowledge. Constructivism appears to be gaining ground rapidly and should no longer be viewed as an exercise in radical thinking primarily aimed at generating innovative teaching. It has become an integral part of the pedagogic mainstream. Close examination of the theoretical foundations of constructivism, however, reveals that the basic assumptions of constructivism are flawed. Far from being a postepistemology, constructivism simply regresses to a pre-Renaissance mindset with theology replaced with a psychologism. Constructivists should be aware that the implications of constructivism for future generations may be both profound and non-benign.     

The transfer of U.S. technology abroad

The causes of the transfer of technology between countries is now seen as an important dimension of the diffusion of new products and processes. Despite its obvious importance, there has been little empirical research investigating the international transfer of technology, although the work of Schiffel and Kitti (Research Policy 7 (1978)) provides a useful foundation on which to build. The research reported below tests the hypothesis that the transfer of technology between countries, as measured by the movement of patented invention, is influenced by both supply side and demand side factors. The principal variables are: patenting activity in the country of origin; the size of the recepient economy; international trade in goods and services; and the operations of multinational producing enterprises. These vaiables explain most of the variation across countries in the transfer of U.S. technology abroad. The worldwide distribution of U.S. based multinational enterprises appear to play an important part in explaining U.S. technology tranfer. On the other hand, the remaining international differences in patent law do not seem to significantly affect patent flows between countries.