Retrospective conversion: a survey of UNYOC/MLA members

The Upstate New York and Ontario MLA surveyed its members to determine which libraries are conducting retrospective conversion projects and their reasons and methods. All academic and medical school libraries that responded are converting, but only 16 of 39 hospital libraries and 14 of 23 other libraries have such plans. The majority of respondents intend to do the work themselves instead of contracting with a vendor. They highly recommend that a written plan be drawn up before proceeding with retrospective conversion.     

Reach to Teach ICT: Issues and Compromises

This paper outlines some implications for pupils’ learning and for teachers of information and communication technology (ICT) in primary or elementary education of using complete ‘reach and teach’ resource and lesson plan solutions to support a national scheme of work. The example resources referenced in the paper are ‘The LCP ICT Resource Files for Schools’, designed to enable teachers to deliver the ICT National Curriculum requirements for England and are structured to closely follow the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) scheme of work. The authors of the LCP ICT Resource Files became aware that there was a widespread takeup of their materials and that, therefore, the resources had potentially a substantial impact upon practice in many schools.Models of curriculum provision are presented and characteristics of good practice are adduced which the author recommends to those who write, review or evaluate complete teaching solutions for ICT.     

Embodied experiences: Critical insights from Dewey for contemporary education

ABSTRACT

Background: Reflecting increased cross-disciplinary interest in the significance of the body in education, this paper considers that a greater appreciation of John Dewey’s conceptualisations of experience and habit would benefit contemporary theory- and practice-related concerns.

Sources of evidence and main argument: The paper draws upon pragmatist-informed epistemological insights into the nature of experience and the habitual body from John Dewey. In doing so, the paper highlights how embodied experiences could become more central to realising a diverse range of educational goals. These include contexts where students appreciate that embodied learning practices can play a reconstructive part in shaping their identity, as well as the culture and school environments they share with others.

Conclusion: The paper concludes by exemplifying and critiquing some conceptual possibilities which recognise the benefits of intensifying bodily experiences and cultivating related habits in everyday contemporary schooling.     

How business students view corruption,and why this should concern us: insights from Lebanon,Romania and the United States

Tertiary Education and Management - When seeking to understand corruption in its ongoing temporal context, it is useful to consider business students. Because of their high numbers and the kinds of...     

Notes on Contributors

Place is material, conceptual and symbolic. Physically, the Library at Townsville College of Advanced Education was central, visible and distinctive. Internally, it provided a dramatically different environment from other college buildings. It functioned as the (metaphorical) ‘hub’ of the external studies programme and, when the college was under threat, it formed a symbolic rallying point.     

Occupational Outcomes for Bachelor of Science Graduates in Australia and Implications for Undergraduate Science Curricula

Recent national reports have highlighted the contribution that the sciences make to the Australian economy. Many developed economies report perceived shortages of STEM qualified workers, and at the same time, many science graduates have difficulty in finding work, especially work in their discipline. Rational education design dictates that science curricula at all levels should be based on a realistic representation of the actual practice of science graduates. So where do Australian science graduates go postgraduation? Using the Australian national census data set, we present a focussed investigation into the occupational status of Australian science bachelor graduates, how this status varies with graduate age and gender, how this status varies between science degree specialisms and how this status compares to a range of other disciplines. We consider the implications of these findings for undergraduate science degree curriculum design. We find that Australian science bachelor graduates work in a wide range of occupations, and even immediately postgraduation, only a minority of science bachelor graduates are working in traditional science occupations. Occupational outcomes vary significantly between science degree specialisms. For a contemporary undergraduate science curriculum to reflect the occupational outcomes of science bachelor graduates, there is a balance required to ensure adequate technical preparation for those students who pursue a career in their discipline as science professionals and to also address the broader knowledge, skills and attitudes that will equip the majority of graduates from Australian science programs for successful employment, further education and active participation in their communities, using their science knowledge.     

New methods for an old debate: Utilizing reader response to investigate the relationship between collaboration and quality in academic journal articles

There has been a longstanding debate about the merits of collaborative research, with most studies focusing on the citation advantage of such research. However, citation studies provide only one lens on the issues. New methods of inquiry are necessary to incorporate other audiences of scholarly literature. Reader response surveys were used to evaluate the quality of collaborative versus single-authored research. Graduate students in three sections of the same library and information science course during the 2010 academic year used surveys to rate each week's assigned readings according to overall quality, usefulness for class discussion, and enjoyability. Students voted whether to keep each article in the reading list for the following semester. Data were analyzed to compare results for single-author versus multi-author works. Multi-author works were favored over single-author. These findings provide another layer of empirical support for the benefits of collaborative research and inform both scientometricians and educators.     

The exercise of the object: issues in resource reusability and reuse

What is to be captured and how it is to be reused are issues that currently dominate a learning object discourse constructed around the potential for technology to enable learning resource management through the collection and reuse and learning objects. Efficiency and quality gains are promised for institutions that engage with the learning object economy. This account of the issues surrounding current conceptions of the reusability and reuse of learning resources questions whether object‐based resource reuse can simultaneously achieve gains in both areas, and whether a learning object economy will sustain institutional development and diversity for those HEIs that participate in it.     

Perception,communication and educational research: A transactional view

Summary We have not presented a transactional theory, since, so far as we know, there is no one such theory to present. Instead, we have outlined some transactional viewpoints which we consider potentially useful in audiovisual communication, learning resources development, and research in these areas. We have suggested some implications and advantages of transactional assumptions.