Interactive Whiteboards and English Teaching: A consideration of typical practice

This article considers the affordances of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) for English teachers by reflecting on the typical use of IWBs by a number of secondary English teachers who use them routinely within their teaching. Drawing on a PhD study, it looks at the practice of these teachers and considers when the technology is used within lessons, in terms of lesson timing and the stage of teaching. It also draws attention to two particular areas: the most commonly used programmes observed and the use of handwriting on the IWBs. From the patterns of practice that emerge, it is clear that teachers require continuing professional development in order to understand and use the technology effectively.     

A Controlled Evaluation of a High School Biomedical Pipeline Program: Design and Methods

Given limited funding for school-based science education, non-school-based programs have been developed at colleges and universities to increase the number of students entering science- and health-related careers and address critical workforce needs. However, few evaluations of such programs have been conducted. We report the design and methods of a controlled trial to evaluate the Stanford Medical Youth Science Program’s Summer Residential Program (SRP), a 25-year-old university-based biomedical pipeline program. This 5-year matched cohort study uses an annual survey to assess educational and career outcomes among four cohorts of students who participate in the SRP and a matched comparison group of applicants who were not chosen to participate in the SRP. Matching on sociodemographic and academic background allows control for potential confounding. This design enables the testing of whether the SRP has an independent effect on educational- and career-related outcomes above and beyond the effects of other factors such as gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic background, and pre-intervention academic preparation. The results will help determine which curriculum components contribute most to successful outcomes and which students benefit most. After 4 years of follow-up, the results demonstrate high response rates from SRP participants and the comparison group with completion rates near 90 %, similar response rates by gender and ethnicity, and little attrition with each additional year of follow-up. This design and methods can potentially be replicated to evaluate and improve other biomedical pipeline programs, which are increasingly important for equipping more students for science- and health-related careers.     

Balancing between two goods: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and ethical compliancy considerations for privacy-sensitive materials in health sciences archival and historical special collections

Objective:

The investigation provides recommendations for establishing institutional collection guidelines and policies that protect the integrity of the historical record, while upholding the privacy and confidentiality of those who are protected by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) or professional ethical standards.

Methods:

The authors completed a systematic historical investigation of the concepts of collection integrity, privacy, and confidentiality in the formal and informal legal and professional ethics literature and applied these standards to create best practices for institutional policies in these areas.

Results:

Through an in-depth examination of the historical concepts of privacy and confidentiality in the legal and professional ethics literature, the authors were able to create recommendations that would allow institutions to provide access to important, yet sensitive, materials, while complying with the standards set by HIPAA regulations and professional ethical expectations.

Conclusion:

With thoughtful planning, it is possible to balance the integrity of and access to the historical record of sensitive documents, while supporting the privacy protections of HIPAA and professional ethical standards. Although it is theorized that collection development polices of institutions have changed due to HIPAA legislation, additional research is suggested to see how various legal interpretations have affected the integrity of the historical record in actuality.

Highlights

• Ethical standards call upon special collections professionals to collect and provide access openly, while protecting individual privacy.
• A systematic historical investigation of legal and professional ethics literature can lead to standard best practices that address issues of privacy and access.

Implications

• Special collections professionals can establish guidelines that preserve the historical record and maintain collection integrity and access, while adhering to privacy legislation and ethical concerns.
• The framework suggested here can be used to write a collection development and access policy that complies with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
• Librarians who interact regularly with hospital administrators or researchers using patient data need to be aware of the ethical and legal issues involved in patient data retention.