Faculty and Instructor Perceptions of Open Educational Resources in Engineering

As open education initiatives aiming to lower the cost of course materials appeared at two universities, librarians became involved in identifying open educational resources (OERs) for university courses. However, when considering a number of subject areas—particularly in colleges focused on upper-division instruction—librarians encountered problems related to the availability of resources and materials selection processes. For this project, librarians selected one prominent subject area at their respective institutions—engineering—and worked to identify best practices for introducing OERs into courses. They surveyed engineering faculty and instructors to better understand their perceptions and needs related to OERs and, based on this work, they suggest best practices for liaison librarians in specialized fields who wish to incorporate OERs into their outreach work with a focus on upper-division courses.     

Map and Geospatial Research and Reference Services at a Large Public Library: An Overview of the Leventhal Map Center

The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center (LMC) is a non-profit organization that provides stewardship of the Boston Public Library's (BPL) cartographic collections. The LMC moved into a new space in 2011 that displays rotating exhibitions and opens the collection for public inquiry, increasing awareness of reference services and research within the collection. In-person research numbers have declined slightly since 2012 as the LMC grows their digital collections. The LMC has made additional efforts to address increasing interest from tech-enabled researchers through the creation of a new digital collections website, by use of personas to inform design and providing workshops aimed at lowering the bar for entry into using GIS, and creating digital spatial indexes to supplement paper map indexes.     

The big breach: An experiential learning exercise in mindful crisis communication

Courses: Advanced organizational communication, crisis communication, public relations.

Objectives: The objectives for this unit activity are to define and explain mindfulness, reflect on the relationship between mindfulness and crisis communication, and evaluate the effectiveness of crisis responses according to students’ generation of new categories and different routines, and consideration of multiple perspectives.     

The effects of simultaneous communication on production and perception of speech

This article reviews experiments completed over the past decade at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and the State University of New York at Geneseo concerning speech produced during simultaneous communication (SC) and synthesizes the empirical evidence concerning the acoustical and perceptual characteristics of speech in SC. Comparisons are drawn between SC and other modes of rate-altered speech that have been used successfully to enhance communication effectiveness. Of particular importance are conclusions regarding the appropriateness of speech produced during SC for communication between hearing and hearing-impaired speakers and listeners and the appropriateness of SC use by parents and teachers for speech development of children with hearing impairment. This program of systematic basic research adds value to the discussion about the use of SC by focusing on the specific implications of empirical results regarding speech production and perception.     

Effects of a minimalist shoe on running economy and 5-km running performance

The purpose of this study was to determine if minimalist shoes improve time trial performance of trained distance runners and if changes in running economy, shoe mass, stride length, stride rate and footfall pattern were related to any difference in performance. Twenty-six trained runners performed three 6-min sub-maximal treadmill runs at 11, 13 and 15 km·h^?1 in minimalist and conventional shoes while running economy, stride length, stride rate and footfall pattern were assessed. They then performed a 5-km time trial. In the minimalist shoe, runners completed the trial in less time (effect size 0.20 ± 0.12), were more economical during sub-maximal running (effect size 0.33 ± 0.14) and decreased stride length (effect size 0.22 ± 0.10) and increased stride rate (effect size 0.22 ± 0.11). All but one runner ran with a rearfoot footfall in the minimalist shoe. Improvements in time trial performance were associated with improvements in running economy at 15 km·h^?1 (r = 0.58), with 79% of the improved economy accounted for by reduced shoe mass (P < 0.05). The results suggest that running in minimalist shoes improves running economy and 5-km running performance.