The use of Loansome Doc to meet the needs of unaffiliated health professionals

Objective: This study was undertaken in order to determine how health sciences libraries in a ten-state region are using Loansome Doc, with an emphasis on whether this tool continues to be used to serve unaffiliated health professionals. Methods: Usage data were examined and health sciences libraries were administered a survey to determine how they are using this tool. Results: Loansome Doc usage across libraries is low and declining, and a number of libraries do not serve unaffiliated health professionals with this tool. Conclusions: Use of Loansome Doc is low and declining, in part, due to license restrictions, declining interlibrary loan, and the prevalence of alternatives, such as OCLC's ILLiad, for document delivery to affiliated users.     

Strengths-based blended personalized learning: An impact study using virtual comparison group

Abstract

This study describes a strengths-based blended personalized learning model, the implementation of the model over a 4-year period, and the results of an impact study focused on measuring its effectiveness. The model includes many commonly-used features of personalized learning, including (a) competency-based progressions, (b) flexible learning environments, (c) personal learning paths, (d) frequently updated student profiles, and (e) frequent informal and formal measurement. However, it differs from other personalized learning models by including a focus on strengths-based learning. Strengths-based learning identifies and builds upon students’ strengths, supporting their ability to make informed decisions when setting goals and choosing and implementing learning experiences. The longitudinal study took place in a diverse mid-size pre-K to Grade 8 school district in California. The findings suggest that the strengths-based blended personalized learning model is effective in supporting student learning in the academic areas of mathematics, reading, and language usage. Over the 3-year period in which the intervention was gradually implemented, and one year of full implementation, students significantly outpaced their matched student counterparts in all subject areas. The results of the current study further the growing literature in the field of personalized learning by contributing learnings and evidence related to a successful personalized learning model.     

Boys,girls, and microcomputing

In an attempt better to understand why, on the whole, girls are not very interested in computers, we have tried to investigate social representations of technical interest attributed to one or the other gender in primary and junior-high school. The results of the impressions formation test and those of a survey indicate that primary-school pupils consider boys and girls to be equally involved in technical fields and a girl «computer enthusiast» is perceived as a very atractive person. At the junior-high level, students no longer perceive this equality of gender in technical interests and they judge a girl «computer enthusiast» negatively. Moreover, girls themselves consider that too keen an interest in computers is evidence of loneliness and problems with sexual identity. A boy’s involvement with computers does not change his image, whatever the gender or the age of the subjects. Thus, the influence of the normative model of feminine identity can explain in part the drop in interest for computers observed in secondary-school girls.     

College Students with Disabilities: Factors Influencing Growth in Academic Ability and Confidence

Research in Higher Education - Using large-scale longitudinal data, this study sought to examine factors influencing two important student development outcomes in students with disabilities...     

Higher education: core skills in a learning society

This paper is based on the initial findings of the ESRC study on the acquisition and development of core skills in higher education and employment. The context for the study is provided by contested notions of a learning society apparent in the mismatch between the skills and knowledge that universities currently provide and what employers state that they want. The paper takes the form of a series of propositions and questions relating to the perspectives of those in higher education. It discusses the multiple interpretations, and lack of clarity, of the vocabulary of skills, and the difficulties for higher education in meeting the demands of a learning society. It is suggested that changes must be grounded in a more developed approach to the conceptualization of student provision and an enhanced understanding of how students learn.     

Illustrating the Impact of Performance Measurement Systems on Organizational Performance: The Blue‐Green Game

Business students are thoroughly schooled about the importance of measurement systems that, by their very nature, are designed to accurately measure the past performance of organizations, departments, and individuals. This article describes a team‐based, active‐learning exercise that clearly illustrates an additional important and often underemphasized aspect of performance measurement systems—their influence on individuals’ future behaviors and organizations’ future performance.     

Instructional Experiences of Graduate Assistants Implementing Explicit and Reflective Introductory Biology Laboratories

Science education reform documents identify nature of science (NOS) as a critical component of scientific literacy and call for universities, colleges, and K-12 schools to explicitly integrate NOS learning into science curricula. In response to these calls, this study investigated the classroom practices of nine graduate assistants (GAs) who taught expository and inquiry laboratories that implemented an explicit and reflective (ER) pedagogy to teach NOS. The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand the experiences that enabled or inhibited GA implementation of an ER strategy in a college setting. The findings revealed that achieving quality implementation in this setting was very difficult. Factors such as GAs' ability to foster meaningful classroom discussions, laboratory logistics (e.g. lack of time and supplies), and the value undergraduates and GAs saw in learning about NOS were identified by GAs and observed by the researchers as barriers to the technique maximizing its potential. Thus, for meaningful infusion of NOS into science curricula, pedagogical support for GAs to manage meaningful classroom discussions in support of NOS or other complex topics is recommended for an ER approach to NOS learning to be successful in college settings.