A Level after Tomlinson

This article looks at the way the recommendations of the Tomlinson Report have been largely set aside but may still influence attempts to provide a more balanced assessment system in the future. This leads to a consideration of ways in which English examinations (particularly those post‐16) might be made more relevant to the reading and language study which interest students in the twenty‐first century.     

Resurrecting Old–Fashioned Foundationalism

Book reviewed in this article:
M DePaul (ed), Resurrecting Old–Fashioned Foundationalism     

Learning to Lead: Challenges and Resources for The New Public Library Director

Library directors are part of the infrastructure of information management, but how well do they manage their institutional knowledge for succession planning? Our study looked at strategies to ease managerial transitions between libraries, focusing on knowledge management, communities of practice, and mentorship. Our survey found that succession planning was dictated by local practice and size of library. The results of this paper inform knowledge of succession planning and reveal existing gaps between informal transfer of knowledge and structured knowledge management (KM), as well as librarians' resourcefulness. Library directors use KM strategies, mentoring, and involvement with communities of practice to foster innovation.     

A Neurotic Extrovert Who is Open to New Experiences? Understanding How Personality Traits May Impact the Commenting Behaviors of Online News Readers

This article develops a theoretical context for the influence of personality traits on commenting behaviors on online news Web sites. Drawing on the literature of personality, and online behaviors, we examine how personality traits may influence which individuals make contributions on news Web sites. Additionally the article focuses on how the commenting “landscape,” in particular moderation policies and user interfaces, may impact those who contribute.     

Initial Characteristics and Mentoring Satisfaction of College Women Mentoring Youth: Implications for Training

Being a youth mentor is popular among college students, yet little is known about how their initial characteristics are related to mentoring satisfaction. Survey data from college women enrolled in a youth mentoring program (n = 158) and a comparison group (n = 136) were analyzed to determine how initial characteristics of youth mentors (a) differ from comparisons and (b) are associated with mentors’ satisfaction. Mentors reported higher autonomy, cultural sensitivity, and lower depression pre-participation than the comparison group, and their pre-participation GPA, cognitive empathy, and depression predicted post-participation mentoring satisfaction. Implications for mentor training are discussed.     

Was Hochschuldozierende aus Lehrevaluations-Rückmeldungen lernen k?nnen

The extent to which students profit from a university course depends on the lecturers?? approach to teaching, with a student-focused approach being more supportive for student gains in competences than a teacher-focused approach. Little is known, however, about how to foster a student-focused approach to teaching. In this paper, we want to investigate how to frame the feedback lecturers obtain from students?? course evaluations in such a manner that a student-focused approach to teaching is encouraged. In two studies using either a qualitative or a quantitative methodology it can be shown that providing lecturers with a feedback on students?? subjective gain in competences (output-focused teaching evaluation) is more effective in promoting a student-focused approach to teaching than a feedback on how satisfied students were with the lecturer (process-focused teaching evaluation). Results are discussed in the context of the Bologna reforms which demand a continuous evaluation of all university courses.