Adapting an Embedded Model of Librarianship,College by College

Librarians are increasingly moving out of the library and into the wider university setting as patrons spend more time seeking information online and less time visiting the library. The move to embed librarians in colleges, departments, or customer groups has been going on for some time but has recently received more attention as libraries work to find new ways to reach patrons that no longer need to come to the physical library. Few universities have attempted to embed all their librarians. This case study describes how one group of health sciences librarians dispersed its professional staff throughout its campuses and medical centers.     

Literature Searching in Medical Education: Online Tutorial Development from Idea to Creation

The medical education literature is growing, and the result is not only greater knowledge, but an increasing complexity in locating quality evidence-based information. In 2008, eight librarians partnered with the Association of American Medical Colleges to research, conceptualize, and build an online module to develop medical educators’ search skills. Developing an online instructional module is a time-consuming, multi-stage process requiring the expertise of content, technical, and design specialists working in concert. Many lessons were learned, including the power of collaborative tools; the benefits of including specialists, such as graphic designers; the benefit of thoroughly surveying existing resources; and the importance of choosing technology wisely.     

Social capitalism and educational policy: democracy,professionalism and social justice under New Labour

Here we examine New Labour’s education policy concerning social justice and the organisation of educational provision with reference to social capital as policy vocabulary. The central focus is on policy discourses and practices in relation to networking between schools and other partners. We identify three policy phases for reducing inequalities and social exclusion, while supporting human capital formation: (1) EAZs in the late 1990s; (2) refocusing on specialisation and beaconisation, 2000–2003; and (3) transformations signalled by the diversity and choice agenda of the White Paper 2005, academies and trusts. We detect a drift in policy targets and aspirations from the early idealised ‘new and exciting’ kinds of educational participation and democracy, returning to more traditional professionalist arrangements in specialisation/beaconisation, and currently moving in the direction of post‐democratic governance in the academies programme, while doing little to challenge processes of stratification of educational institutions or outcomes. We develop the argument concerning the ‘post‐democratic’ turn in education policy by exploring the possibilities and limitations of policy‐making which deploys social capital vocabulary and mechanisms, ending with the paradox of social capital as a theory of democracy articulating with ‘post‐democratic’ educational structures.     

Music theatre: at the crest of music education's third wave

In the United Kingdom, curricular music education has seen two main waves of development and is in the process of shaping a third. Ideas from the second wave have maintained theoretical dominance to the present day, despite the concerns expressed by some about their practical implementation. This paper suggests that problems with the implementation of second-wave ideas have been caused by hermeneutic complexities inherent to the word ‘music’ as well as by an ongoing ideological debate about the proper purpose of music education. It is proposed here that by approaching musical learning in the emergent third wave through the sub-discipline of ‘music theatre’ – and by conceiving that term in its broadest sense – this interpretive difficulty can be avoided whilst many practical advantages may be reaped. The notion of music theatre as a key component of music education's third wave is explored alongside its theoretical prerequisites, and a number of questions are identified for further consideration.     

Educational Accountability and Market Ideology: some socio‐legal considerations

ABSTRACT

Sociology of education, particularly in Britain and to a limited extent the USA, is examined in its relations to law and socio‐legal discourse. It is argued that in order to develop our understanding of educational accountability a fuller exploration of the institutional interface between law and education will be required. Several lines of scholarship and empirical inquiry are suggested, particularly with respect to the functions of law professionals and legal institutions in the contexts of ’public choice’, ‘juridification’ and the institutionalisation of irresponsibility in education.     

Item-Response Changes on Multiple-Choice Tests as a Function of Test Anxiety

Item-response changing as a function of test anxiety was investigated. Seventy graduate students completed the Test Anxiety Scale and 73 multiple-choice items during the quarter. The data supported the hypothesis that high test-anxious students make more item-response changes than low test-anxious students. Results also suggested that both high- and low-anxious students profit to a similar extent proportionally from answer changing. It was further found that more responses were changed on difficult than on easy items for both high- and low-anxious students. Test anxiety is suggested as a factor forming test-taking style.     

Development of the Efficacy Beliefs for Conceptual Change Learning Questionnaire

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to assess college students’ efficacy beliefs for conceptual change and to examine the psychometric properties of the instrument. Participants were 692 students. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis supported the hypothesized single factor structure of Efficacy Beliefs for Conceptual Change Learning Questionnaire providing evidence for the construct validity. Evidence for concurrent validity also is provided. On the basis of the evidence provided in this study, the questionnaire appears to produce valid and reliable scores for college students. With the use of the questionnaire, conceptual change researchers might be able to better assess the relationship between students’ efficacy beliefs and the change in their conceptual understandings of various science concepts.     

Toward Young Children as Active Researchers: A Critical Review of the Methodologies and Methods in Early Childhood Environmental Education

This review critically examined the theories, methodologies, and methods that have been used in early childhood environmental education research over the past 10 years (2004–2014). Of the 36 studies identified, one-third were informed by research on children approaches, positioning children as objects of research. Trends revealed that EE researchers are moving toward research with children frameworks, embracing methods that honor children's perspectives. Yet a lack of congruency was also identified between participatory methodologies and the methods employed. Although researchers advocated for children's agency, adults were still positioned in the primary role of data collectors, analyzers, and interpreters. Findings are useful for EE scholars pursuing research with the very young, providing insight regarding ethical practices, child positioning, and participatory methods.     

Promoting assessment efficacy through an integrated system for online clinical assessment of practical skills

This paper presents evaluation outcomes from an externally funded research project involving the online clinical assessment of practical skills (eCAPS) using web-based video technologies within a university medical programme. eCAPS was implemented to trial this web-based approach for promoting the efficacy of practical skills assessment in knee joint examinations for a pre-clinical cohort of second year medical students. eCAPS involves a progressive organisation of online video experiences and task expectations for formative and summative assessments of selected competencies. Data are presented from semi-structured interviews with the medical students (N?=?40). eCAPS successfully supported students’ skill development in knee joint examinations on fellow students and allowed remote assessment of candidates’ performances by clinicians experienced in musculoskeletal examinations. An ‘indicative standard’ paradigm, involving formative assessment of one randomly selected performance from the submission of all students’ responses within a small group, offered an efficient and efficacious avenue for providing consolidated feedback to students and promoted desirable learning behaviours. Overall, there was evidence of reciprocal learning benefits to the ‘blending’ of an online learning and assessment approach with an existing face-to-face environment. The medical students were able to successfully engage online with high quality and consistent practical skill-based materials in a flexible, independent and individual manner.