Librarians Use of Web 2.0 in UK Medical Schools: Outcomes of A National Survey

Using the results of an Email survey, this paper reviews the use of Web 2.0 technologies by librarians working in UK Medical Schools. Web 2.0 has been hailed as an innovation for facilitation of two way communication on the net, and it is, therefore, timely to measure how effectively librarians are capturing this opportunity for increased student engagement. The social nature of Web 2.0 can be particularly appropriate for undergraduate medical students who fit their studies around the unsocial hours and geographical isolation of clinical placements. This paper will investigate library use of blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. Consideration will also be given as to whether they facilitate a more collabroative library service or if they leave undergraduate medical students swamped with yet more information to manage.     

Beyond Usability: The Study of Functionality of the 2.0 Online Catalogue (OPAC)

A usability test of Copac was carried out to inform developments in both its usability and functionality. Participants were assigned tasks, using specific system features, and their actions and thoughts were collected through think aloud to reveal potential issues with the system. Retrospective thinking and subsequent reflection were gathered in a focus group to provide greater insight into perceived functionality (current and potential) of the system. The study demonstrated the importance of the application of usability principles in the interface design. Many of the issues associated with search, records display, and use of specific features related to the attributes of ease of use, appearance, navigation, and terminology and provided the evidence base for re-design. The study also highlighted the importance of the users’ perceptions and expectations of functionality in the specific usage contexts. Continued user testing is recommended to inform further development of functionality in the broader contexts of information use to ensure the value and use of the system features are evident in the system design and meet the expectations of its users.     

Curricular and Instructional Factors which Facilitate Mathematical Learning

The problem was to investigate basic curriculum factors apart from instructional factors and evaluate heir relative effects upon the learning of mathematics at various cognitive levels, in different mathematical reas and on different mathematical topics by sixth graders. Multivariate analysis of variance and covariance vere used to analyze the data. The findings suggest (a) curriculum characteristics of organization do differentially affect the mathematical learning of sixth graders at the knowledge and evaluation levels of cognition and vithin the area of number theory, and (b) the inductive mode of presentation better facilitates the learning of perations while a deductive mode better facilitates the learning of properties.     

Statistics poster challenge for schools

The analysis and interpretation of data are important life skills. A poster challenge for schoolchildren provides an innovative outlet for these skills and demonstrates their relevance to daily life. We discuss our Statistics Poster Challenge and the lessons we have learned.     

Revisiting Susan Isaacs – a modern educator for the twenty‐first century

Susan Sutherland Isaacs (1885–1948) was arguably the most influential child psychologist and educator of her British generation. Her work was studied by eminent contemporary academics, psychologists, philosophers and politicians. Her influence was international. She reached across the world to a generation of teacher educators who passed on her ideas to succeeding generations of primary teachers throughout the latter half of the twentieth century. She was a thoughtful and immensely erudite woman whose deep understanding of children’s thinking has been admired and discussed for nearly one hundred years. Her advice, under the pseudonym Ursula Wise, was much sought after by parents and nannies in the advice columns of the British magazine Nursery World. Susan Isaacs synthesised the work of earlier European and American educators into a particularly English package, suited to the practical bent of the English educator. Her work pre‐figures that of Piaget (whose early work she reviewed) and Vygotsky (whose work was translated from the Russian after her death). And always, at the heart of her work, lay the belief that deep observation was the key to understanding the complex and unique realities of individual children.     

Exploring the orientations of international students in Mexico: differences by region of origin

This study examined the dispositions, experiences, and expectations of international students in a developing country to understand the increasing phenomenon of reverse student flows and the role of the political economy in international student mobility. Students’ dispositions, experiences and expectations—referred here collectively as “orientations”—served as the guiding framework for this study. Data were drawn from survey responses from 279 international students at universities throughout Mexico and analyzed to explore the orientations among students from Europe, Latin America and North America. Findings showed significant differences among international students’ dispositions, experiences, and expectations by these geographical regions of origin. In a broader context, this research addressed the important role of developing countries as not only senders but also receivers of international students. This research also demonstrated the ways that the political economy shape the orientations of students studying abroad.     

Using Clicker 5 to Enhance Emergent Literacy in Young Learners

Best practices in emergent literacy instruction for young children acknowledge and facilitate the smooth progression between children’s early engagement with print materials and subsequent fuller literacy mastery. In so doing, model programs target five key emergent literacy skills. The rapid rise in the breadth and depth of educational technology, including computer software, is offering early childhood education professionals new and powerful tools in teaching early literacy. This paper offers a brief review of best practices in emergent literacy, notes the growth of technology in this instruction, and examines the potential contributions of one specific software program, Clicker 5, in helping diverse emergent literacy learners acquire and practice initial reading and writing skills.