The information exchange groups experiment

From 1961 through 1966, the National Institutes of Health operated a facility for the rapid distribution of unevaluated preprints to research workers—an obvious precursor of many of the activities taking place today on the Internet. The experiment began with 32 researchers in a single Information Exchange Group (IEG). It grew to seven IEGs with total membership over 3600. During 1966, more than 1.5 million copies of preprints were produced and distributed. Considerable enthusiasm was generated among researchers who valued the speed of dissemination. Critics charged that the quality of the average preprint deteriorated with increased participation. They also noted that the unplanned burdens on production had often delayed receipt of the preprints until after they had appeared as formally reviewed journal papers. During this period, the Atomic Energy Commission had mounted a similar experimental program of “written informal communications” that was limited to theoretical high energy physics. Note: The NIH experiment ended as described by this summary, which was published inScience (154:843, 18 Nov. 1966). Obviously, no one wished to pay for it any longer. Despite the efforts of librarians at NIH, National Library of Medicine, and National Technical Information Services, we have not been able to locate the promised final report—A.H.     

Metacognitive scaffolds improve self-judgments of accuracy in a medical intelligent tutoring system

In this study, we examined the effect of two metacognitive scaffolds on the accuracy of confidence judgments made while diagnosing dermatopathology slides in SlideTutor. Thirty-one (N = 31) first- to fourth-year pathology and dermatology residents were randomly assigned to one of the two scaffolding conditions. The cases used in this study were selected from the domain of nodular and diffuse dermatitides. Both groups worked with a version of SlideTutor that provided immediate feedback on their actions for 2 h before proceeding to solve cases in either the Considering Alternatives or Playback condition. No immediate feedback was provided on actions performed by participants in the scaffolding mode. Measurements included learning gains (pre-test and post-test), as well as metacognitive performance, including Goodman–Kruskal Gamma correlation, bias, and discrimination. Results showed that participants in both conditions improved significantly in terms of their diagnostic scores from pre-test to post-test. More importantly, participants in the Considering Alternatives condition outperformed those in the Playback condition in the accuracy of their confidence judgments and the discrimination of the correctness of their assertions while solving cases. The results suggested that presenting participants with their diagnostic decision paths and highlighting correct and incorrect paths helps them to become more metacognitively accurate in their confidence judgments.     

General Communication

Eugene Garfield, Essays of an Information Scientist, Volume 3, 1977-78 (Philadelphia: ISI Press, 1980—$15.00)

The Information Society: An International Journal (Crane, Russak, 3 East 44th St., New York, N.Y. 10017– $48.00/quarterly)

M. Thomas Inge, ed. Handbook of American Popular Culture, Volume 2 (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1980 —$29.95)

Information Resources: Knowledge and Power in the 21st Century by Anthony G. Oettinger (Incidental Paper 1-80-4, 10 pp. —$15.00)

Changes in the Information Industries– Their Strategic Implications for Newspapers by John C.Gates (Incidental Paper 1-80-5, 20 pp.—$15.00)

Economics and Postal Pricing Policy by Bruce Owen and Robert Willig (Publication P-81-2, 36 pp.—$30.00)

Factors Influencing Media Consumption: A Survey of the Literature by Christine Urban (Research Draft not yet for sale, March 1981, 107 pp.)

The Continuing Revolution in Communications Technology: Implications for the Broadcasting Business by Richard Rosenbloom (Incidental Paper 1-81-4, June 1981, 30 pp.—$15.00)

Information Resources Policy Viewed by an OutskIrten by Per Ongstad (Incidental Paper 1-81-5, July 1981, 53 pp.—$15.00)

Philip Hills, ed. The Future of the Printed Word: The Impact and Implications of the New Communications Technology (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1981—$25.00)

Ronald J. Matlon, comp. Index to Journals in Communication Studies Through 1979 (Speech Communication Association, 5105 Backlick Rd., Annandale, Va. 22003—price not given, paper)     

Telecommunications Technology

COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY: THE NEW MEDIA IN SOCIETY by Everett M. Rogers (New York: Free Press, 1986—price not given, cloth and paper)

BEYOND THE GUTENBERG GALAXY: MICROCOMPUTERS AND THE EMERGENCE OF POST-TYPOGRAPHIC CULTURE by Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. (New York: Columbia University/Teachers College Press, 1986—$8.95, paper)

UNDERSTANDING THE NEW TECHNOLOGIES OF THE MASS MEDIA by George E. Whitehouse (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1986—$14.95, paper)

TELECOMMUNICATIONS IN THE INFORMATION AGE by Loy A. Singleton (Cambridge, MA: Ballinger, 1986—$19.95)

TELECOMMUTING: THE FUTURE TECHNOLOGY OF WORK by Thomas B. Cross and Marjorie Raizman (Homewood, IL: Dow Jones-Irwin, 1986—$25.00)

TELECOMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY by R.L. Brewster (Chichester: Ellis Horwood Ltd./New York: John Wiley, 1986—price not given)

SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS by Timothy Pratt and Charles W. Bostian (New York: John Wiley, 1986—$42.95)

UNDERSTANDING SATELLITE TELEVISION RECEPTION by S.E. Sutphin (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1986—price not given

1986 INTERNATIONAL SATELLITE DIRECTORY (Design Publishers, 369 Redwood Ave., Corte Madera, CA 94925—price not given, paper)

COMPUTERS AND COMMUNICATIONS: A VISION OF C&C by Koji Kobayashi (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1986—$16.95)

DICTIONARY OF DATA COMMUNICATIONS edited by Charles J. Sippl (New York: Halstead Press/John Wiley, 1985—price not given, paper)     

EXISTING STATUS OF BUILDING COMMUNITIES’ RECOMMENDATIONS: A DEAN AND DIVISION CHAIRPERSON COMPARISON

The purpose of this study was to assess the existing status of Building Communities’ recommendations. The recommendations were transformed and written as goal statements. Fifty‐nine deans and 98 division chairpersons were asked whether these goals had been implemented. Fifty‐three deans and 84 chairpeople returned usable questionnaires.

Chi‐square tests of independence (p < .05) were used to compare deans’ and chairpersons’ responses on existing goal status. Deans and chairpeople agree on the existing status of 32 of the 38 goal statements and share the same beliefs on the existing status of a vast majority of the goal statements.

Significant differences were identified, however, between deans and chairpeople regarding the existing status of (1) outreaching to disadvantaged students, (2) outreach‐ing to different adult populations, (3) renewing faculty, (4) ensuring that full‐time faculty teach the majority of credit‐bearing courses, (5) using computer technology to integrate educational and administrative applications, and (6) placing ill‐prepared students in developmental education programs. Deans were more likely than chairpeople to view the six goals that lacked agreement as having been implemented.     

Results From the Quality Early Childhood Training Program

High-quality child care is related to children's positive developmental outcomes. One way to increase quality of care is to provide training to child care providers. This study used assessment-based training to determine if overall quality of care in center-based preschools could be enhanced. Participants were recruited from six center-based child care programs serving preschool-age children and included program administrators, teachers, teacher aides, and enrolled children. Program administrators (N?=?6) were assessed with the Program Administration Scale (Talan & Bloom, 2004), classrooms (N?=?14) with the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale Revised (ECERS-R; Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 2005) and the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation—Research Edition (ELLCO; Smith & Dickinson, 2002), teachers (N?=?24) with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS; Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2007), and children (N?=?135) with an author-created measurement designed to assess typical skills across five child domains. Assessments were administered at two time points and individualized targeted training was provided in between. Results demonstrated that after 7 months of intervention, the largest effect sizes were seen at the program administration and classroom levels and that smaller effect sizes were found at the teacher and child levels.     

Mind the gap: Chinese diploma student views of bridges and barriers to transferring into a Canadian university

One common modality of transnational higher education partnerships is programme articulations. These agreements typically include 1?+?3 or 2?+?2 or 3?+?2 arrangements, whereby students study in their home institution first, and then transfer to complete their degree studies in a partner host institution. In this type of programme articulation agreement, the transfer of students from the home institution to the host institution is not necessarily guaranteed, with many steps and challenges in the students’ decision-making process. While there may be an expectation of articulation between countries and institutions when an agreement is signed, relationships, information and communication to support student transfer from home to host institution can be underestimated. This quantitative study examines a programme articulation arrangement between a Chinese polytechnic and a Canadian university, specifically through a student view. Findings identify barriers to articulation and also the information Chinese students identify as necessary to support their decision-making on whether to progress from a diploma (China) to a degree (Canada), and what types and frequencies of communication are expected.