Providing access to electronic information resources in further education

This article aims to provide a baseline for future studies on the provision and support for the use of digital or electronic information services (EIS) in further education. The analysis presented is based on a multi‐level model of access, which encompasses access to and availability of information and communication technology (ICT) resources, access to and availability of EIS resources, and the third leg of staff skills and their development. The research was conducted within the third cycle of the JISC (Joint Information Services Committee) User Behaviour Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, in 2001/2002. Evidence was gathered from library and information service web sites and various stakeholders, including library and information service staff, academic staff and students to generate insights into the provision of access to EIS in further education. Sector‐wide funding initiatives have had a significant impact on ICT infrastructures, and these attract a positive response from students. EIS are represented on some library web sites but both web site development and EIS availability is very much less advanced than in higher education. Staff, however, lack sufficient dedicated access to ICT to be able to develop their own skills and use. There remains a low level of access to electronic information resources, with only limited access to these resources through library web sites. LIS managers face a number of challenges in enhancing this provision, including licensing arrangements, tight budgets that need to be spread across many discipline areas, and the absence of EIS designed specifically for the further education student. The other key challenge lies in the provision of time and opportunity for academic and LIS staff to develop their ICT and EIS skills, and, more generally in the further development of the role of Information and Learning Technology (ILT) Champions.     

Too Many Pumpkins

丽贝卡·埃斯特尔是一位老妇人。在她年轻的时候,她家里很穷,他们能吃的就只有南瓜,所以她讨厌南瓜。     

New fast food debuts in U.S. fairs fried Coke

Around the globe,Christmas invariably offers tales of the wacky,wild and downright weird--and the 2007 festivities are certainly no exception.     

Extracurricular participation and academic achievement in minority students in urban schools

Restructured extracurricular activities are a component in many of the proposed solutions for the educational problems of minority students in urban schools. This study investigates the relationships between participation in traditional extracurricular activities and the academic achievement levels of minority male and female students in poor urban schools. Using a national data base, we found that, in almost 50 percent of the cases, male student participation in extracurricular activities was associated with lower achievement levels. For female students, the results were mixed. In 23 of the 90 different analyses run, females who participated in extracurricular activities were found to have higher achievement levels than nonparticipating females. In 6 cases, female participants had lower achievement levels. In the remaining cases, no differences were found. Reasons for and implications of the results are examined.     

Look! Here’s a New Idea! Using Information Technology to Facilitate the Use of Expository Text

Talking electronic stories are now an accepted part of many infant children’s early reading experiences and research has suggested that they have benefits in terms of reading development. Linda Pagett here describes the impact on her class of children of the non-fiction equivalent of these talking stories – the simple talking topic ‘books’ produced by Sherston Software. Her favourable report suggests that simple books like these have much more potential than might at first be realised.     

How stable is the stratification of higher education in England and Scotland?

This paper asks whether the institutional hierarchies defined by ‘golden triangle’, other Russell Group, other pre-1992 and post-1992 universities in England, and by ancient, old and new universities in Scotland, have become weaker since the 1990s. Using indicators constructed from Universities and Colleges Admissions Service data for 1996–2010, the article finds a stable hierarchical relationship among the sectors within each country, with some indicators showing a slight widening of status differences between sectors towards the end of the period. The main exception was a slight ‘upgrading’ of new (post-1992) universities in Scotland early in the period. There was little change in the association of institutional sector with social class, but in England the association with private secondary schools became slightly stronger and the association with ethnicity weakened.