Intentional Informationists: Re-envisioning Information Literacy and Re-designing Instructional Programs Around Faculty Librarians' Strengths as Campus Connectors,Information Professionals,and Course Designers

This article adds to the recent literature that questions, and hopes to redefine, the information literacy notions and practices in academic libraries and their institutions. The authors draw on research in the area of social justice to express the need for academic libraries to explore new avenues to insure their institution's graduates are not merely competent consumers of information. The authors put forward the notion of the intentional informationist, who they define as having the contextual, reflective and informational skills to identify information opportunities, tackle complex information problems and pitfalls, and provide solutions or considerations that do not just meet her individual needs. In addition, they pose questions and detail opportunities, partnerships, and examples of curricular and co-curricular integration to engage students beyond the library, instruction sessions, a single course, or graduation requirement.     

Escape-from-fear performance as affected by handling method and an additional CS-shock treatment

Experiment 1 demonstrated that hurdle-jumping, escape-from-fear (EFF) performance was affected deleteriously when the handling of the rats was by the tail rather than the body and was facilitated by the administration, just prior to EFF training, of one additional CS-shock pairing along with the opportunity to jump the hurdle. Additional experiments elucidated the basis for the effect of these two variables. Experiment 2 indicated that tail handling degraded performance by decreasing reinforcement. In Experiment 3, the facilitatory effect of the extra CS-shock treatment was found to result from the occurrence of a response at the termination of the pairing and not from the CS-shock pairing per se.     

Towards a collegiate approach to curriculum management in primary and middle schools

Informed professionals in the education service have put forward a model of good management practice in primary and middle schools, with particular emphasis on the curriculum. Tensions within the model contribute to a gap which exists between the model and actual practice in many schools. A management development approach may help with implementing this model of collegiate management.     

Teacher/pupil perspectives on computer-augmented physics lessons on measurement in kenyan secondary schools

The application of computers in Kenya is relatively uncommon, and the facilities and stage of professional and organisational development in Kenya appear to reflect this. This article describes the views of a group of pupils and their teacher regarding the impact of a computer-based instruction (CBI) programme that involved the collaborative learning of a physics course on measurement. Three secondary schools and a total of 118 pupils were studied in three classrooms, one class acting as a comparison. The same teacher taught the same physics content to all three classes using one of two teaching methods, namely: (1) the traditional mode and (2) the CBI mode. Selected students and their teacher were observed and interviewed. The qualitative data analysis methods of comparison and clustering were used to identify pattern and themes within the interview data. Results of the study indicate significant improvements in pupils' learning of physics as well as in the development of positive effects and/or socialisation skills. Accounts by the teacher, as well as those by the students, indicate a perception of the potential of CBI to enhance their learning of measurement concepts and methods. For instance, the study revealed that, apart from its positive influence on the pupils' classroom interaction patterns, the pupils in the treatment groups learned the concepts and methods better than their counterparts in the true control group. Furthermore, the experience influenced the teacher's belief about teaching using CBI to augment physics instruction.     

FOREWORD

ABSTRACT

The study reported in this paper examined the types of professional-development activities, support systems, and organizational structures necessary for community college faculty to make transitions from traditional teaching to Web-based teaching. Results indicate that (a) instructional change can by initiated through sustained professional development; (b) change is more meaningful and effective when it occurs in context over a sustained period of time; (c) faculty can embrace innovations when supported by knowledgeable professionals and their peers; and (d) students welcome the use of Web-based components in course work. The implications for practice may be useful to those wishing to increase faculty's online instructional competence.