Undercounting File Downloads from Institutional Repositories

ABSTRACT

A primary impact metric for institutional repositories (IR) is the number of file downloads, which are commonly measured through third-party Web analytics software. Google Analytics, a free service used by most academic libraries, relies on HTML page tagging to log visitor activity on Google's servers. However, Web aggregators such as Google Scholar link directly to high value content (usually PDF files), bypassing the HTML page and failing to register these direct access events. This article presents evidence of a study of four institutions demonstrating that the majority of IR activity is not counted by page tagging Web analytics software, and proposes a practical solution for significantly improving the reporting relevancy and accuracy of IR performance metrics using Google Analytics.     

The Nature of and Factors Related to Reading Difficulties Among Adolescents in a Transparent Orthography

We examined the nature of and factors related to adolescents’ reading difficulties in a highly transparent orthography. We compared word, pseudoword, and text reading speed and accuracy, rapid naming (RAN) and phonological processing between poor readers (n?=?80) and normally developing readers (n?=?189). Reading problems were manifested in reading speed and in timed pseudoword reading accuracy. RAN predicted speed, and phonological processing predicted accuracy of reading in both groups. Among poor readers, RAN also explained reading accuracy. For the normally developing sample, phonological processing also predicted reading speed.     

Do Counselor Education Programs Promote Wellness in Their Students?

It is widely accepted that counselor impairment presents a problem in the counseling profession (M. E. Young & G. W. Lambie, 2007). Wellness as a unifying philosophy in counselor education may be a way to prevent impairment and burnout in students and professionals. Although counselor educators strive to promote a wellness philosophy in students, their efforts may be largely unsuccessful. This study examines the influence of counselor education programs on counselor wellness by investigating broad trends in levels of wellness among students at 3 points in their training and offers insights into the influence of wellness in the training of today's counselors.     

Child abuse in an urban centre in Malaysia

This study was undertaken to determine the incidence and other factors associated with child abuse in an urban population in Malaysia. Nineteen cases of child abuse (16 physical and 3 sexual abuse) were diagnosed during a prospective 2-year study with a service-orientated project conducted at the University Hospital in Kuala Lumpur. Girls outnumbered boys by more than 3:1. Ten of the children were less than 3 years old while five were between 6 and 13 years of age. A significant number (4) were children of mixed parentage, while equally significant was the 45% incidence in nuclear families. There was one death and two cases of permanent brain damage. Apart from parents, who were the main abusers, the other abusers in this series were baby-minders and employers. Multiple stress factors were identified and their prevalence in the 19 cases are discussed. All 19 cases were managed using a modified form of the case conference system. It is believed that these 19 cases represent only a fraction of the true incidence of child abuse in the area served by the University Hospital. Possible reasons for the low rate of identification of cases are discussed and measures to remedy the deficiencies suggested.     

Preservice special educators’ perceptions of collaboration and co-teaching during university fieldwork: implications for personnel preparation

Abstract

Special education teachers today must demonstrate effective skills in collaboration and often engage in co-teaching with general education colleagues to meet the needs of students with disabilities. In this study, we describe a university-based early fieldwork in which university students seeking teaching licensure in special education taught children from the local urban community, thus developing their collaboration and co-teaching skills under the supervision of university faculty. Although citing challenges such as time constraints and overcoming personality differences, the majority of these preservice special educators reported growth in their teaching skills as the main outcome of this fieldwork in co-planning and co-instructing lessons to meet the diverse learning needs of children from the local community. These preservice special educators’ perceptions of this co-teaching fieldwork experience highlight the importance of special education teacher preparation programs that explicitly train students in collaboration and co-teaching skills.     

What Makes One Able? The formation of pupils' conceptions of academic ability Qu'est-ce que fait capable? La formation,chez les élèves,de concepts quant à la capacité scolaire Qué es lo que hace capable? La formación,en los alumnos,de conceptos sobre la capacidad escolar

By comparing the reasons given for the peer assessments of children at different grade levels, the study set out to examine how children acquire the criteria of the conception of ability represented by the school. A sample of pre-school children, pupils (ages 6-10) of the first, second, third, and fourth grade (N = 112), were presented two tasks. In the free classification task, the children were asked to group their classmates on the basis of similarity; in the team selection task, they were requested to name those classmates whom they would like to have on their team for different academic contests and as playmates. In both tasks, the children were asked to give reasons for their responses. The findings from the team selection task indicated that, by the fourth grade, children have acquired the elements of the school's conception of ability in a fairly clear form. They begin to use comparative criteria and the correctness and speed of performance in the assessment of theoretical skills in particular. In the free classification task, references to academic skills made a clear appearance only as late as the fourth grade, suggesting that the influence of the school extends to the domain of non-academic peer assessment as well. En comparant les justifications fournies par des élèves de différents degrés d'études qui ont essayé d'évaluer leurs camarades de classe, cette étude a voulu mettre au clair de quelle facon les enfants s'attribuent-ils des critères de la conception de la capacité représentée par l'école. Deux tâches ont été donnés aux élèves préscolaires ainsi qu'aux élèves de première, seconde, troisième et quatrième année scolaire (N = 112). Dans un premier exercice de libre classification, on a demandé aux enfants de grouper leurs camarades selon la ressemblance de ceux-ci; dans un deuxième exercice de sélection d'équipes, les enfants ont dû choisir ceux de leurs camarades qu'ils voudraient avoir dans leur équipe pour participer à des concours scolaires les plus divers et ceux qu'ils voudraient avoir comme compagnons de jeux. Dans ces deux tâches les enfants ont dû également justifier leurs choix. Les résultats de l'exercice de sélection d'équipes ont prouvé que, avant de commencer la quatrième année scolaire, les enfants se sont attribués clairement des éléments des conceptions quant à la capacité qui sont celles de l'école même. Les enfants commencent à employer des critères comparatifs, ainsi que la correction et la rapidité de l'acte, pour évaluer surtout des capacités théoriques. Dans l'exercice de libre classification, les allusions aux capacités scolaires ne se sont présentées de facon nette qu'au cours de la quatrième année scolaire. Ce résultat semble indiquer que l'influence de l'école s'étend aussi dans le domaine de l'évaluation non-scolaire de camarades. Comparando las justificaciones dadas por alumnos de diferentes niveles escolares que han tratado de evaluar sus compañeros de clase, este estudio ha querido aclarar de qué manera los niños adoptan criterios del concepto de capacidad representado por la escuela. Se dieron dos tareas a alumnos preescolares y a alumnos del primer, segundo, tercer y cuarto año escolar (N = 112). En un primer ejercicio de libre clasificación, los alumnos tuvieron que agrupar sus compañeros según la semejanza de éstos; en un segundo ejercicio de selección de equipos, los alumnos tuvieron que elegir aquellos de sus compañeros que querían tener en su equipo para participar en diversos concursos escolares y aquellos que querían tener como compañeros de juego. En ambos ejercicios los alumnos también tuvieron que justificar sus preferencias. Los resultados en cuanto al ejercicio de selección de equipos mostraron que, antes de comenzar el cuarto año escolar, los niños han adoptado claramente elementos de los conceptos de la escuela sobre la capacidad. Los alumnos empiezan a servirse de criterios comparativos, de la corrección y la rapidez del acto para evaluar sobre todo capacidades teóricas. En el ejercicio de libre clasificación, las alusiones a las capacidades escolares aparecieron con claridad sólo durante el cuarto año escolar. Este resultado parece indicar que la influencia de la escuela se extiende también al campo de la evaluación no-escolar de compañeros.     

Becoming a Design Thinker: Assessing the Learning Process of Students in a Secondary Level Design Thinking Course

Design thinking is a collaborative problem solving and human‐centric approach that fosters innovation by elevating participants’ creative thinking abilities. Design thinking techniques and practices have been implemented into different curricula in secondary and post‐secondary education to address the need for new skills to be learned for the twenty‐first century. However, little work has been conducted to clarify how to evaluate the students’ design thinking skills gained in these courses. This study reports on a successful evaluation of an interaction design thinking curriculum in secondary level education. Several types of data sources, including participant observation, open‐ended questions and document analysis were employed to gather extensive data on students’ skills gained during the course. The results of the study inform design thinking researchers about how to evaluate design thinking skills of students in a secondary level design thinking course.     

Can we encourage girls’ mobility towards science-related careers? Disconfirming stereotype belief through expert influence

A study was conducted to explore expert influence as a possible way to encourage girls’ mobility towards math- and science-related careers. High school students were exposed to an expert source presenting “scientific evidence” that contrary to stereotype, girls are better than boys in all subject domains. Beliefs related to stereotype content, self-evaluations and intentions to engage in math- and science-related careers were assessed before and after exposure to influence. While most participants were influenced at the level of stereotype content, only girls who did not personally believe the stereotype prior to influence, and boys who did, increased their intentions to engage in math/science-related careers. Implications of the findings are discussed, with an emphasis on the possible ways to influence girls who firmly believe in the stereotype.     

FOUR GENERATIONS OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE LEADERSHIP

Four generations of community college presidents are identified and described: the founding fathers, the good managers, the collaborators, and the millenium generation. Using the framework developed by Bolman and Deal (1991), the leadership styles of these four groups are compared, with particular attention given to the current and emerging generations. A shift in style is predicted from the participatory approach preferred by presidents in the 1990s to one that allows for just-in-time responses to workforce training needs and dramatic changes in higher education resulting from globalization and the technology explosion.