Stimulators and barriers towards social innovations in public libraries: Qualitative research study

Public libraries have a huge potential to be creators and facilitators of social innovation in communities and society. Qualitative research based on interviews with 27 librarians showed that social innovation in libraries can take the form of educational and cultural activities, leisure and networking activities and social support services. The main goal of the research was to find out what factors support and make these innovations difficult in public libraries. A four-layer model of barriers and stimulators for social innovation is presented, which includes structural, local, organizational and personnel levels. The model could serve to inform librarians, their stakeholders and governments about all levels of barriers and stimulators connected to innovation of library services and social re-positioning of public libraries in the future.     

Posture,Musculoskeletal Activities,and Possible Musculoskeletal Discomfort Among Children Using Laptops or Tablet Computers for Educational Purposes: A Literature Review

Educational ergonomics focuses on the interaction between educational performance and educational design. By improving the design or pointing out the possible problems, educational ergonomics can be utilized to have positive impacts on the student performance and thus on education process. Laptops and tablet computers are becoming widely used by school children and beginning to be used effectively for educational purposes. As the latest generation of laptops and tablet computers are mobile and lightweight compared to conventional personal computers, they support student-centred interaction-based learning. However, these technologies have been introduced into schools with minimal adaptations to furniture or attention to ergonomics. There are increasing reports of an association between increased musculoskeletal (MSK) problems in children and use of such technologies. Although children are among the users of laptops and tablet computers both in their everyday lives and at schools, the literature investigating MSK activities and possible MSK discomfort regarding children using portable technologies is limited. This study reviews the literature to identify published studies that investigated posture, MSK activities, and possible MSK discomfort among children using mobile technologies (laptops or tablet computers) for educational purposes. An electronic search of the literature published in English between January 1994 and January 2014 was performed in several databases. The literature search terms were identified and combined to search the databases. The search results that the resources investigating MSK outcomes of laptop or tablet use of children are very scarce. This review points out the research gaps in this field, and identifying areas for future studies.     

Listening to Students: Examining Underlying Mechanisms That Contribute to the AVID Program's Effectiveness

This study used a mixed-methods approach to examine the effects of the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program from the student perspective, specifically focusing on factors associated with student resilience. The AVID program aims to close the achievement gap among predominantly minority and low-income students without a family history of college attendance. Qualitative focus groups were conducted to better understand student perceptions of the program and quantitative survey results were used to compare scores on measures of school support, school engagement, and resilience among AVID and non-AVID students. Both qualitative and quantitative results provided evidence suggesting that the AVID program improved school support and engagement, as well as in the development of individual resilience factors, such as self-awareness, problem-solving ability, and self-esteem. Qualitative results also highlight the importance of providing consistency for students in the learning environment. Future directions and recommendations are provided.     

Do Latino Youth Really Want to Get Pregnant?: Assessing Pregnancy Wantedness

Despite recent declines, Latinas bear a disproportionate burden of teen births. Understanding social, cultural, and demographic factors underlying pregnancy desire among Latino adolescents is needed to design effective teen pregnancy prevention interventions.

A questionnaire was completed by 794 Latino youth including a “pregnancy wantedness scale” (PWS) to assess attitudes toward an early pregnancy and socio-demographic variables. Regression analyses examined the association between these variables and PWS score. PWS scores for all groups were below but near the midpoint, suggesting ambivalence toward an early pregnancy. Being female, older, acculturated, using hormonal contraception, living with parents, and having an educated mother were significantly associated with lower PWS scores, but impacted youth differently depending on their sex and sexual experience. Multi-component Latino teen pregnancy prevention strategies should address behavioral and attitudinal differences based on sex and sexual experience and acknowledge the contribution of social determinants on pregnancy intentions.     

Academic Engagement and Achievement Among Latina/o and Non-Latina/o Adolescents

This article presents an exploratory study of the relation between academic engagement and academic achievement for Latina/o and non-Latina/o adolescents attending a predominantly low-income, Latina/o urban middle school in Southern California. A sample of 61 students (37 Latinas/os and 24 non-Latinas/os) participated in the study. The Latina/o students’ mean grade point average was lower than the non-Latina/o students’ mean grade point average. The study results revealed a significant interaction between academic engagement and grade point average for Latina/o students but not for non-Latina/o students. Findings are discussed in regard to the promotion of Latina/o adolescent achievement through increased levels of academic engagement.     

Teachers' beliefs about standardised testing and test-based accountability: Comparing the perceptions and experiences of teachers in Chile and Norway

The global popularity of test-based accountability appears to signal political trust in standardised assessments as valid and relevant measures of education quality. Nonetheless, research shows that educators' perceptions of standardised testing and test-based accountability can vary significantly, as do their responses to accountability demands. Considering the key influence of teachers' beliefs on the way in which they respond to education reforms, in this article we examine teachers' beliefs and opinions about standardised tests and test-based accountability. We analyse a comparative study on interpretations and experiences of standardised testing and test-based accountability demands of compulsory education teachers in Chile and Norway. These cases were selected following a most-different-systems design approach. The data was derived from an electronic survey (n = 2,531) and in-depth interviews (n = 41). The analysis shows how in both contexts, teachers are relatively critical about the validity, usefulness and fairness of standardised tests. This indicates lacking teacher trust in standardised testing and test-based accountability. Still, despite similar trends, some key differences in the beliefs of Chilean and Norwegian teachers are found, which highlight the influence of the sociocultural context in shaping teachers' beliefs. By illuminating how teachers in different contexts make sense of test-based accountability, our analysis contributes to the understanding of why the often-reported mismatch between policy expectations and policy outcomes might occur.     

Applying the technology acceptance model to a Spanish City Hall

This paper examines the relative importance and significance of the four technology enablers introduced by Davis (1989) in the technology acceptance model (TAM) (perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitude towards using and behavioural intention) for use on four different levels of citizen engagement in e-government (null, publish, interact and transact). An extended technology acceptance model (TAM) is developed to test citizen engagement towards online e-government services from a sample of 307 citizens who used the benefits advisor tool within a Spanish City Hall. Although the proposed model follows TAM and explains the intention towards the actual use of e-government by postulating four direct determinants, “A, PU, PEOU and BI” have been considered as parallel processes, meaning that each can have separate influence in different levels of citizen engagement. To achieve this goal, a multinomial logistic regression is developed and tested to confirm the explanatory power of the four technology enablers on the four different levels of e-government. Our findings further suggest that in order to implement e-government, some of the enablers matter more than others to move from one level of citizen engagement to another. The main contribution of the paper is to question the use of existing models which seek to represent the relationship between technology enablers and the adoption of e-government services without considering their impacts on citizens’ engagement. The implications of the findings are discussed and useful insights are provided in relation to policy recommendations geared to create appropriate conditions to build citizens’ engagement intent of use of e-government services.     

Determinants of the Web accessibility of European banks

This paper aims at identifying the factors influencing the implementation of Web accessibility (WA) by European banks. We studied a database made up of 49 European banks whose shares are included in the Dow Jones EURO STOXX® TMI Banks [8300] Index. Regarding the factors for the implementation, we considered three feasible reasons. Firstly, WA adoption can be motivated by operational factors, as WA can aid in increasing operational efficiency. Secondly, we expect large banks to have higher WA levels, as small firms face competitive disadvantages with regard to technology adoption. Lastly, WA can also be understood as a part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy, so, the more committed a bank is to CSR, the more prone it will be to implement WA. Our results indicate that neither the operational factors nor the firm size seem to have exerted a significant influence on WA adoption. Regarding CSR commitment, results indicate a significant influence on WA adoption. However, the effect of the influence is contrary to that hypothesized, since more CSR-committed banks have less accessible Web sites. A possible reason for this result is that banks not included in the CSR indexes try to overcome this drawback by engaging in alternative CSR activities such as WA.