The DDC and OCLC

ABSTRACT

This article highlights key events in the relationship between OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. and the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system. The formal relationship started with OCLC's acquisition of Forest Press and the rights to the DDC from the Lake Placid Education Foundation in 1988, but OCLC's research interests in the DDC predated that acquisition and have remained strong during the relationship. Under OCLC's leadership, the DDC's value proposition has been enhanced by the continuous updating of the system itself, development of interoperable translations, mappings to other schemes, and new forms of representation of the underlying data. The amount of categorized content associated with the system in WorldCat and elsewhere has grown, as has worldwide use of the system. Emerging technologies are creating new opportunities for publishing, linking, and sharing DDC data.     

Who's next? Research predicts museum leadership gap

A brief commentary from the Museum Association of New York (MANY) on the unprecedented gap posed by baby-boomer retirement. Based, in part, on MANY's white paper, “Who's Next? Questioning the Future of Museum Leadership in New York State,” this essay deals with questions of succession, leadership and general differences in New York's museum community.     

Teacher perspectives on factors facilitating implementation of whole school approaches for resolving conflict

While social–emotional learning programmes in schools often have positive outcomes, many such initiatives are not well implemented and maintained. This paper reports on teacher reflections on the process of planning and implementing a whole school social–emotional learning (SEL) programme with a conflict resolution focus, called Enhancing Relationships in School Communities (ERIS). Ten primary schools participated in an 18‐month professional development programme offered by the researchers to assist schools to develop a whole school approach to handling interpersonal issues using a cooperative problem‐solving approach. Implementation (core) teams of three to five members, including principal or assistant principal and relevant teachers, attended workshops and managed the change process. In individual interviews, 29 core team members described the most significant changes that had taken place, what factors facilitated those changes and what assisted in overcoming barriers. A synthesised model of facilitators of implementation was developed on the basis of these interviews. The major components of the model included ensuring a whole school vision and process; pre‐programme engagement confirming commitment and alignment of researcher and teachers' visions; facilitative programme structure and processes such as linking the current programme to existing programmes and processes in the school; leadership and support for staff in the change process, for example, through the implementation team; the nature of the programme content; and monitoring and feedback processes to sustain motivation and inform on needs and outcomes.     

Advice to doctoral guidance committees from alumni at two universities

This investigation provided a comparative analysis of results of follow-up studies of graduates of doctoral programs at Ohio State and Michigan State universities. The same questionnaire survey and similar sampling procedures were used in both settings. The survey considered alumni perceptions of guidance committee activities, course work, comprehensive examinations, and dissertations. Most findings were consistent across both institutions (e.g., about one-fifth of the graduates from both universities wish they had taken more course work in research methodology). However, some striking contrasts were also found (e.g., the proportion of graduates who published articles based on their dissertations was 40% at one university and 23% at the other). The report offers recommendations for doctoral guidance committees suggested by the findings.     

Teacher Education Reforms in Albania

Albania is a society undergoing many changes as it moves from the former communist system of strong centralised control towards a more democratic system with more autonomy for institutions. Drawing on insights gained from teacher educators and government representatives in Albania, the paper examines the process of change and the types of reform-modernisation, structural and systemic. The paper also discusses the initial implementation in Albania of one of the reforms, that directed at the balance and role of school experience and analyses differences in its implementation for primary and secondary teacher training. L'Albanie est une société qui subit de nombreux changements à mesure qu'elle se transforme d'un ancien système communiste avec un puissant contrôle centralisé vers un système plus démocratique avec davantage d'autonomie pour ses institutions. A partir des observations des formateurs d'enseignants et des représentants du gouvernement en Albanie, cet article examine le processus d'évolution et des types de réforme-la modernisation structurelle et systémique. Cet article considère la mise en place initiale en Albanie de l'une des réformes, celle qui concerne l'équilibre et le rôle des stages pratiques dans les écoles. Enfin il analyse aussi les différences concernant sa mise en place dans le primaire et le secondaire. Albania es una sociedad que está sufriendo muchos cambios, al pasar de un sistema comunista caracterizado por un fuerte control centralizado, hacia un sistema democra ´tico con más autonomía institucional. Basándose en observaciones de educadores y funcionarios en Albania, este artículo examina el proceso de cambio y los tipos de reforma como la modernización tanto de las estructuras como del sistema. Este artículo trata igualmente de la ejecución de una de las reformas aquella que busca poner en práctica un equilibrio entre el papel y la experiencia de la escuela, y analiza los distintos impactos de la implementación de la reforma para la formación del docente tanto de primaria como de secundaria. Aufgrund der Umwandlung von einem stark zentralisierten, kommunistischen System in ein demokratischeres System, in dem Institutionen mehr Autonomie besitzen, finden in der albanischen Gesellschaft viele Veränderungen statt. Der Artikel stützt sich auf die Erfahrungen sowohl von Lehrausbildern als auch von Vertretern der albanischen Regierung und untersucht den Umwandlungsprozeß und die verschiedenen Reformversuche, das heißt strukturelle und systemische Modernisierung. Der Artikel befaßt sich mit dem Anfangsstadium einer der Reformen in Albanien, durch die die Länge und Bedeutung des Lehrpraktikums bestimmt werden soll. In der Analyse werden unter anderem Unterschiede in der Durchführung der Ausbildung für Grundschullehrer und Oberschullehrer aufgezeigt.     

Critical intercultural conversations: using activity systems analysis as a tool for educational ethnography

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the tensions that exist between the recognition of the importance of ethnicity and culture for individual and group identities without essentilisation, by reframing conceptualisations of multi- and interculturalism. Drawing from our ongoing ethnography conducted with a research community of Alaska Native PhD candidates involved in participatory action research, we examine how situated and multiple positionalities enacted through participation in Engeström’s concept of an ‘activity system’ can: (a) contribute to the ‘doing’ of ethnography and provide an analytic framework for ethnographic research; and, (b) contribute to understandings of multi- and intercultural education that promote the questioning of hierarchical power structures through dialogue aimed toward equity and social justice.     

Young Children, Questions and Nonfiction Books

This article discusses the use of nonfiction as a powerful antecedent for success in the types of reading required later on in the intermediate grades. Recent trends in informational (nonfiction) books, values of bringing together young children, and informational books and criteria for selecting high quality informational books are identified. Several question types are highlighted and incorporated into three strategies for bringing together young children, informational books, and questions. Also, a bibliography of high quality informational books is provided.     

Enjoying A Good Story: Why We Use Children’s Literature When Teaching Adults

Early childhood teacher educators frequently enhance their teaching by reading children’s books to their adult students. It is not unusual for faculty outside of early childhood to question devoting precious class time to read-alouds which they may consider a curious, if not frivolous, instructional strategy. Quality children’s literature can, however, enhance students’ experiences in the college classroom, contribute to their understanding of course content, promote their personal growth and self-understanding, increase their appreciation for quality children’s literature, and enhance their ability to integrate storybooks into their own teaching. Children’s books often capture a child’s point of view. They have the potential to provide historical or cultural perspectives on children and families. They also can lead to the examination of universal truths and can facilitate the discussion of sensitive or emotional issues A list of books with suggested uses is included.     

The effects of prior information upon perceptions of exceptional children

Students in a university special education course were shown three identical videotapes of children in a school setting. The subjects were randomly divided into three groups, each receiving different written background information (“positive,” “neutral,” or “negative”) prior to viewing the videotapes. It was found that the variations in written information had significant effects upon the subjects' perceptions of the children's behavior, and upon the degree to which the children were regarded as able to function successfully in a regular classroom. These findings suggest that attitudes toward exceptional children are influenced by the way in which prior information, such as that contained in a child's educational records, is presented. Teacher and peer acceptance of exceptional children can be increased if information is presented in a realistic and positive manner.     

Linkages between higher education and the labour market: lessons from redemocratized Hungary

This research examines how higher education graduates in redemocratized countries, such as Hungary, receive information from multinational corporations regarding employment opportunities. It also assesses how the information exchange between higher education and the labour market, i.e. multinational corporations, shapes new relationships between these two entities. The findings from this study seem to suggest that multinational corporations have influenced Hungarian higher education institutions in several profound ways: (1) the redefinition of graduate recruitment procedures, (2) the shift in employee characteristics that employers value, (3) the implications for curricular design and teaching styles, and (4) the ranking and prestige of universities. The results of this study are not only useful for countries in transition to a market economy but for other countries as well.