Reflective pedagogy: the integration of methodology and subject-matter content in a graduate-level course

This article presents a critical reflection on how we, instructors of a graduate-level course in higher education administration, sought to integrate theoretical and subject-matter content and research methodology. Our reflection, guided by autoethnography and teacher reflection, challenged both our assumptions about curriculum design and our process of designing and teaching the redesigned course. We found that our efforts to integrate course content and methodology differed from students’ prior experiences and resulted in a disconnection between their experience and the intended course learning objectives. Recommendations include understanding the degree program culture and students’ course expectations, using assignments that facilitate learning of both theory and methods, and balancing classroom discussion among theory, methodology, and the integration of the two.     

Comparing Student Performance and Growth in 2- and 4-Year Institutions

This study examines the organizational characteristics of 51 higher education institutions in relationship to student performance and growth. The study first finds that organizational measures of mission, size, wealth, complexity, and selectivity are statistically represented by the 2-year versus 4-year college mission. Findings indicate that 2-year and 4-year campuses indeed do exert significantly different influences on undergraduate GPA and self-reported intellectual growth. Next, the study uses both OLS regression and HLM to examine these influences. High school percentile rank and college classroom experiences are better predictors of Cum GPA at 4-year institutions, while student effort is a better predictor of GPA at 2-year institutions. Whereas the most important predictors of Cum GPA include precollege measures such as high school percentile rank and SAT score, the most influential predictors of student intellectual growth are campus experiences including classroom vitality, peer support, student effort, commitment, and involvement. Controlling for all other variables, students at 2-year institutions receive higher grades, and students at 4-year campuses experience more growth.     

Mapping teacher status and career-long professional learning: the Place Model

This paper engages with key contemporary debates about teaching and teacher education through proposing an innovative, interdisciplinary model, the Place Model, which uses two senses of ‘place’ to provide comparative lenses for a timely, a-priori examination of the place of the teacher: place in the humanistic geography tradition as a process – a cumulative, career-long professional learning journey – and, also, place in the sociological sense of teacher status. This article considers a range of international literature before speculatively ‘populating’ the model with a range of examples in a way which raises important questions about conceptions of teachers across the globe, and provides an alternative and original vision of the profession.     

Librarians collaborate successfully with nursing faculty and a writing centre to support nursing students doing professional doctorates

This study explores how a three‐way collaboration between a University library, writing centre and faculty created avenues of training and support for students within a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program in an American University. The role of each partner involved in the collaboration is discussed alongside the profile of the DNP students. Lesson planning and classroom techniques for DNP information literacy classes are described and feedback from the partners and the students are discussed. The study confirms that collaboration is effective in improving research and writing skills. D.I.     

Developmental trends for object and spatial working memory: a psychophysiological analysis

This study examined developmental trends in object and spatial working memory (WM) using heart rate (HR) to provide an index of covert cognitive processes. Participants in 4 age groups (6-7, 9-10, 11-12, 18-26, n=20 each) performed object and spatial WM tasks, in which each trial was followed by feedback. Spatial WM task performance reached adult levels before object WM task performance. The differential developmental trends for object and spatial WM found in this study are taken to suggest that these WM components are separable. Negative performance feedback elicited HR slowing that was more pronounced for adults than for children. The development of performance monitoring as indexed by covert HR slowing following performance feedback contributes to WM performance.     

Brief Report on PROSPER Academic Outcomes: Extended Model of Crossover Effects on Young Adult College Success

This study examines crossover effects of adolescent substance misuse preventive interventions on academic success in college. It evaluates pathways of influence on college grades, via effects on school engagement, problem-solving skills, and substance misuse in high school. Data were collected as part of an Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) evaluating a multicomponent intervention conducted in 28 school districts with middle school students. At age 19, study participants (N = 1,488) enrolled in college reported on college grades. The model fit the data, supporting hypothesized pathways of intervention impacts. Inclusion of a significant direct effect on college grades further improved model fit. Results support the potential for universal substance misuse preventive interventions delivered by community partnerships during middle school to yield effects on long-term academic success.     

Creating a more inclusive journal: the Journal of the Medical Library Association's evolving process for selecting editorial board members

The Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) selects new editorial board members every year. In the spring of 2021, JMLA used a new process for reviewing and selecting applicants for the limited number of open editorial board positions. This reevaluation of the selection process was spurred by a desire to create a more diverse and representative board. Changes to the procedures for selecting new editorial board members included having an open call for editorial board members, creating an application form, creating a selection committee to screen applicants, creating a form for the selection committee to extract data from applications, and creating a two-step process for screening and then selecting board members. As part of construction of this new process, areas for continued improvement were also identified, such as refining the application form to allow more specific answers to areas of interest to the selection committee. The newly created selection process for editorial board members constitutes a significant change in JMLA processes; however, more can be done to build on this work by further refining the selection process and ensuring that new members are selected in a transparent and streamlined manner.     

Item analyses of the concept assessment kit-conservation for educable mentally retarded children

A series of item analyses of the CAK-C was conducted for a sample of 155 educable mentally retarded children. The probability of a correct response was found to differ from task to task, and there was evidence that the order of difficulty of the tasks for this sample resembled that for nonretarded children. The probabilities of the two incorrect responses were generally not equal, and the choice of one or the other incorrect response showed some relation to CA, MA, and IQ, particularly the last two variables.     

Interpreting the differences: A reply to Kaufman

Kaufman's critique of our article was based on a misunderstanding of our purpose and procedures. This reply clarifies those points and suggests further areas of concern regarding the McCarthy Screening Test.