Intro to Archival Science: Developing an Undergraduate Archival Elective Outside of a LIS Program

Abstract

This case study describes the development and implementation of a three-credit undergraduate archival science course at Mount St. Mary’s University. Offered through the university’s Department of History, this course was designed to prepare students for positions in archives-related careers, unlike most research-based undergraduate archival electives. Benefits of the course to both students and the archivist profession will be discussed.     

‘To go boldly’: teaching science fiction to first-year engineering students in a South African context

This paper reflects on the teaching of science fiction texts to first-year engineering students at the University of the Witwatersrand as part of a Critical Thinking course that uses literature as a vehicle through which to develop competence in critical literacy and communication. This course aims to equip engineering students, as future intermediaries between science and society, with the ability to fulfil this role in both the contemporary global world and South Africa more specifically through the imaginative inhabitation of divergent subject positions afforded by literary texts. Science fiction encourages students to engage imaginatively with various societal ideas, constructs and possibilities. One of the principles of the course is that reading facilitates empathic responses, challenging readers to inhabit unfamiliar subject positions. In this way, the teaching of science fiction aims to develop self-reflective and critical learning practices, wherein engineering students grapple with the ethical ramifications of extrapolated known science in a South African context.     

Digital writing practices: a close look at one grade three author

This paper reports on the digital writing practices of a Grade Three primary school student as he used an iPad to plan, produce and share digital texts. The case study acknowledges that writing is undergoing a period of great change in many classrooms and works to show how a student author has interpreted and produced digital texts with new technologies. In particular, the specific practices, digital materials and literacy concepts will be explicated through analyses of two digital texts created by this author. This focus acknowledges the ways texts can be planned, produced and shared using multiple modes and media. These social practices and the wider learning opportunities afforded through the flexible and recursive ways students produce text have yet to be fully explored. This paper also extends current understandings about digital writing practices through its examination of the connections between and among multiple apps as an author crafts digital text.     

Mobile and Online Learning Journal: Effects on Apprentices’ Reflection in Vocational Education and Training

While learning journals (LJs) have been shown to support self-regulated learning strategies, reflection and learning outcomes in academic contexts, few studies have investigated their relevance in vocational education. A mobile and online learning journal (MOLJ) was developed to support reflection on workplace experiences. However, acceptance of the mobile and online learning journal by apprentices and supervisors is not trivial. This study investigated how apprentices use the mobile and online learning journal and why they use it that way. The mobile and online learning journal was developed for apprentices in the field of bakery and contains a recipe book, a smartphone app to take pictures of workplace experiences, and a learning journal for reflection. Apprentices’ workplace supervisors have access to the mobile and online learning journal to provide support and feedback. A mixed method study was conducted with 16 apprentices. Indicators of their use of the mobile and online learning journal were recorded, while reasons for use were studied by questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Four kinds of users of the mobile and online learning journal were identified: Multifunction users, picture takers, learning journal users, and overall low users. The most determining factors for the acceptance and use of the mobile and online learning journal by apprentices were their interest in the use of a smartphone at the workplace, their acceptance of reflection on workplace experiences through the mobile and online learning journal, and supervisors’ participation and provision of feedback. Promoting the use of learning journals by apprentices requires strong guidance in the design of the learning journal as well as support and feedback from supervisors. Taking pictures from the workplace proves useful for learning and sharing experience in vocational training.     

Democracy-Appealing Partisanship: A Situated Ideal of Citizenship

This study develops a context-grounded ideal about how citizens ought to communicate in legislative hearings about contentious issues. We begin with an overview of the dominant model of good citizen discourse, democratic deliberation, and argue why it is an inappropriate norm for public hearings in state legislative bodies. After overviewing grounded practical theory (GPT), the meta-theoretical approach used, and providing background on the demands of public meetings, we describe the public hearing that is the focal data. That hearing was the 18-hour, 2009 Hawaii hearing on a bill that proposed to recognize committed relationships of same-sex couples through civil unions. The analysis of citizen testimony evidences a discourse strategy, democracy-appealing partisanship, which speakers on both sides of the issue used to manage the challenges they confronted in speaking out. This strategy involved advocating strongly for one viewpoint as an appeal to either majority rule or minority rights and/or either freedom of religion or separation of church and state were made. In concluding, we describe the problem to which this strategy is responsive, justify the norm of democracy-appealing partisanship, and offer implications for future studies using GPT.     

Index of mechanical efficiency in competitive and recreational long distance runners

The purpose of this investigation was to compare external work and net energy expenditure during a bout of repetitive stretch-shortening cycles between competitive and recreational long-distance runners. Participants were divided into either competitive or recreational runners based on their maximal oxygen consumption and self-reported 1600 m times. The stretch-shortening cycle involved a repetitive hopping protocol on a force plate while measuring oxygen consumption and lactate accumulation for a total of 10 min. External work and net energy expenditure were calculated for 3 min after steady state was achieved and the ratio between these variables was utilised as an index of mechanical efficiency. Lower extremity stiffness was calculated during this interval as well. Net energy expenditure was significantly lower in competitive runners (152.6 ± 33.3 kJ) in comparison to recreational runners (200.6 ± 41.4 kJ) (P = 0.02) given similar amounts of external work performed in both groups (competitive runners = 65.6 ± 20.1 kJ, recreational runners = 68.8 ± 12.1 kJ) (P = 0.67). Index of mechanical efficiency was significantly different between competitive runners (43.2 ± 9.0%) and recreational runners (34.8 ± 5.3%) (P = 0.03). No significant differences were found in lower extremity stiffness (P = 0.64). Competitive distance runners can perform similar levels of external work with lower net energy expenditure and thus a higher index of mechanical efficiency during repetitive stretch-shortening cycles in comparison to recreational runners with similar values of lower extremity stiffness. This ability could possibly be due differences in muscle–tendon length changes, muscle pre-activation, cross-bridge potentiation and short-latency reflex responses as a result of training which should be considered for future investigation.     

The association between and development of school enjoyment and general knowledge

Learning environments can support the development of foundational knowledge and promote children's attitudes toward learning and school. This study explores the relation between school enjoyment and general knowledge from preschool (2016–2017) to kindergarten (2017–2018) in 1359 children (M_age = 55, 61 months, female = 50%; 58.5% Hispanic, 17% Black, 10% Asian, 10% White, 5% multiracial/other; linguistically diverse). Cross-lagged panel models showed significant bidirectional associations between preschool enjoyment and change in general knowledge from preschool to kindergarten with a standardized coefficient of β = .21 (p < .001) and associations between preschool general knowledge and change in enjoyment, β = .09 (p = .015). Exploratory analyses with teacher characteristics and demographic subgroup comparisons are discussed. These associations suggest the potential intervention strategy of promoting early school enjoyment to support broader academic development.