Clinicians' opinions on the clinical relevance of anatomy education at Stellenbosch University

Anatomical science is a fundamental element of undergraduate medical education; thus, it is imperative that the course serves future medical professionals when entering clinical practice. However, anatomical education has faced challenges in recent years including decreased allocated time, increased class sizes and over-stretched staff. Technological advancements in anatomical education may provide relief to these issues. Therefore, exploring clinicians' perspective on the clinical relevance and efficacy of anatomical education, within an African context, can inform its future. This study used a qualitative research approach within an interpretive paradigm. Eight semi-structured one-on-one interviews were conducted with clinicians associated with Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data, creating themes and codes. Trust worthiness of the data was ensured through peer debriefing and member checking. Results reveal that clinicians find clinically relevant anatomy valuable to students. However, some feel that this is not delivered effectively at present. Clinicians see potential for the incorporation of clinical technologies into anatomical pedagogy. Although clinicians are hopeful for new technological developments in anatomical education, concerns were reported about its autonomous nature. This study concludes that although clinically relevant anatomical education is beneficial to students, the time and the resources via which it is delivered should be considered. There is optimism for the future of anatomical education with the advancements of technologically based educational resources, however, new resources should be incorporated with planning and supervision.     

University libraries as a model for the determination of the need for information specialists in knowledge industries? An exploratory analysis of the information sector in Austria

In our paper we present an experimental study which investigated the possibility to project the need for information specialists serving knowledge workers in knowledge industries on the basis of an average university library serving their counterparts at a university. Information management functions, i.e. functions and processes related to information evaluation, acquisition, metadata creation, etc., performed in an average university library are the starting point of this investigation. The fundamental assumption is that these functions do not only occur in libraries but also in other contexts like, for instance, in knowledge industries. As a consequence, we try to estimate the need for information professionals in knowledge industries by means of quantitative methods from library and information science (Library Planning Model) and economics (input output analysis, occupational analysis). Our study confirms the validity of our assumption. Accordingly, the number of information specialists projected on the basis of university libraries is consistent with their actual number reported in national statistics. However, in order to attain a close fit, we had to revise the original research model by dismissing the split-up of information specialists into reader services and technical services staff.     

Responsiveness to mathematical problem-solving instruction: comparing students at risk of mathematics disability with and without risk of reading disability

This study assessed responsiveness to a 16-week mathematical problem-solving treatment as a function of students' risk for disability. Among 301 third graders, TerraNova scores were used to categorize students as at risk for both reading and mathematics disability (MDR/RDR; 20 control and 12 experimental), at risk for mathematics disability only (MDR-only; 5 and 8), at risk for reading disability only (RDR-only; 12 and 15), or not at risk (NDR; 60 and 69). Interactions among at-risk status, treatment, and time showed that as a function of treatment, MDR/RDR, MDR-only, and RDR-only students improved less than NDR students on computation and labeling, and MDR/RDR students improved less than all other groups on conceptual underpinnings. Exploratory regressions suggested that MDR/RDR students' math deficits or their underlying mechanisms explained a greater proportion of variance in responsiveness to problem-solving treatment than reading deficits or their underlying mechanisms.     

Digital Age Document Delivery Librarianship

This paper points out some significant areas in which document delivery librarians may contribute to the current academic climate in which disintermediation has impacted our usual roles.     

Measuring self-efficacy,aptitude to participate and functioning in students with and without impairments

Including vulnerable groups of students such as students with learning disabilities in mainstream school research, require ethical considerations and questionnaire adaptation. These students are often excluded, due to low understanding or methodologies generating inadequate data. Students with disability need be studied as a separate group and provided accessible questionnaires. This pilot study aims at developing and evaluating student self-reported measures, rating aspects of student experiences of school-based Physical Education (PE). Instrument design, reliability and validity were examined in Swedish secondary school students (n = 47) including students, aged 13, with intellectual disability (n = 5) and without impairment and test–retested on 28 of these students. Psychometric results from the small pilot-study sample were confirmed in analyses based on replies from the first wave of data collection in the main study (n = 450). Results show adequate internal consistency, factor structure and relations between measures. In conclusion, reliability and validity were satisfactory in scales to measure self-efficacy in general, in PE, and aptitude to participate. Adapting proxy ratings for functioning into self-reports indicated problems. Adequacy of adjustments made were confirmed and a dichotomous scale for typical/atypical function is suggested for further analyses.     

The relation between tools used in action research and the zone of proximal development

This article describes a national school improvement project involving five compulsory schools for hard‐of‐hearing pupils, located in different parts of Sweden. Using action research, the teachers tried to change the communication patterns among the pupils by changing their own classroom practices, In this process the teachers tested and used different tools, such as writing, shadowing and facilitating each other, over a three‐year period. The purpose of this article is to examine how tools used in action research can be used to promote learning in relation to the concept of the zone of proximal development. The theoretical framework of the study is based on action research, as a collaborative way of creating knowledge, and on sociocultural learning theories. The basic assumption is that teachers, by using different tools, also challenge each other’s learning. The results show the importance of internalising tools that become owned by individuals or communities of practise. To be able to assume an active role in the zone of proximal development, and to produce knowledge collaboratively, a meaning‐making process was needed. It was found that this could be realised if the participants had an awareness of how to function as a critical friend among colleagues. Furthermore, the results revealed that, by using different tools, different voices can be heard. Three categories of voices were identified.     

Understanding of the Earth in the presence of a satellite photo: A threefold enterprise

To acknowledge both conceptual and situational factors, children’s understanding of the Earth was considered from three angles: 1, the perspective as the physical point or direction from which something is seen or depicted; 2. conceptual frameworks; 3. the relevance of explanations in a situation. Fourteen children were interviewed individually in front of a poster of a satellite photo of the Earth. The interviews were semi-structured and focused on what the children understood was depicted in the poster and if they had seen the Earth. The effect of choice of perspective was demonstrated by children who only talked about how the Earth could be seen from space. The need to relate different conceptual frameworks became apparent with children, who meant that the Earth was situated in the direction of the sky. Different understandings of the relevance of an explanation were detected when the interviewer talked from the perspective in the room, but children talked about the perspective in the present poster. The results indicate that not only both conceptual frameworks and understanding of perspectives play a part when students encounter questions related to the concept of Earth, but also the students’ judgments of the relevance of different explanations in a situation.     

Accelerometer responsiveness to change between structured and unstructured physical activity in children and adolescents

This study examined if accelerometer-based assessments of physical activity were responsive to changes in physical activity level commensurate with performing structured versus unstructured activity in youth. Youth (6–16 years; N = 206) participated in a simulated after-school program that included structured and unstructured games on four occasions over a 3-year period. Recruitment occurred in 2007/2008 and data collection ended in 2011. Participants wore an Actigraph GT1M accelerometer on the hip. The Evenson cut-points were used to determine the time spent in each physical activity intensity, and standardized response means (SRM) were calculated and converted to standard effect sizes to be interpreted according to Cohen’s guidelines. SRMs ranged from trivial (0.16) to high (2.07), with the majority (75%) being classified as moderate or high. Our findings suggest that accelerometry was sensitive to differences in physical activity associated with structured compared to unstructured play, supporting the utility of accelerometry in evaluating activity-promoting interventions.