Mediated Intergroup Contact: Concept Explication,Synthesis, and Application

This article had an overarching goal of paving a foundation for the scholarship on intergroup contact in the field of media research. This goal was approached from three different directions: concept explication, synthesis, and application. First, selective reviews of literature on intergroup contact research and media effects research were conducted to identify a term that can best represent existing terminology on intergroup contact via media consumption and elaborate on its definition. A synthesis of intergroup contact literature and existing studies of mediated intergroup contact revealed potential moderators and mediators of mediated contact effect. Last, current practices of media production and consumption in the United States were analyzed through the lens of intergroup contact to provide an assessment of the current state of mediated contact. Based on these reviews and syntheses, suggestions for future research and practice were made.     

Preparing public librarians for consumer health information service: A nationwide study

A nationwide survey study was conducted to gain understanding as to how to prepare public librarians for consumer health information service. Findings indicate that the popular health information needs encountered by public librarians cover a wide variety of topics, including the human body, a medical/health condition, a disease, a medical concept, and fitness/diet/nutrition. The top two challenges faced by public librarians when providing consumer health information service are difficulty in interpreting patrons' questions and lack of knowledge about available and trusted/appropriate medical/health information sources. Public librarians wish to receive training on a number of topics that could help address the challenges they face, and the most favorable training format for them, among all the options provided in the survey, is the self-paced online tutorial. This study constitutes the basis for establishing training requirements and developing training programs to meet the needs of public librarians. Their mastery of the necessary skills, knowledge and competencies via training will lead to effective and efficient delivery of consumer health information service in public libraries, and ultimately generate optimal patron experiences.     

Unraveling the relationships between smartphone use,exposure to heterogeneity,political efficacy,and political participation: a mediation model approach

This paper assesses how use of smartphones relates to exposure to heterogeneity, political efficacy, and political engagement and suggests a new mediation model that can be applied to mobile communication. Drawing on online survey data collected during the 2012 presidential election in South Korea, this study finds that exposure to heterogeneity and political efficacy jointly mediate the impact of informational uses of smartphones on political participation. The current study also shows that informational uses of smartphones are significantly related to encounters with heterogeneity, political efficacy, and participatory behaviors. Additionally, recreational uses of smartphones were found to have a positive association with exposure to heterogeneity. However, relational uses of smartphones were not associated with democratic outcomes. The findings suggest that smartphones, by increasing the possibility of encountering diversity and subsequently enhancing political efficacy, create an additional pathway to citizen engagement in democratic processes.     

Lessons Learned from EIAH Metadata Application Profile (EMAP)

The EIAH Metadata Application Profile (EMAP) has been designed to meet Encyclopedia of Iranian Architectural History (EIAH) needs regarding the organization of architectural resources. The application profile should satisfy community needs and should respect existing conventions; architects may think differently from archivists or museum curators. The key issues in the design process have been addressed here; namely, compliance with the special needs of EIAH data architecture, interoperability, compliance with Persian language and localization, as well as simplicity, critical because of the wide range of non-cataloger users of the system. The EMAP has been designed based on Dublin Core; six element refinements have been defined for the Dublin Core element “subject” to facilitate the interconnection of resources to entities in the EIAH ontology. In particular, human readable documentation guidelines have been emphasized as an important factor in metadata quality. Metadata crosswalks have also been defined with major standards of the domain to improve interoperability.     

A longitudinal study on the uses of mobile tablet devices and changes in digital media literacy of young adults

This study examined whether gaining access to a new digital device enhanced the digital media literacy of young adults and what factors determine such change. Thirty-five young adults were given a mobile tablet device and observed for one year. Participants engaged in an online community, responding regularly to online surveys and discussion forums. Digital media literacy, using multidimensional scales, was measured at the beginning and end of the study. Usage was measured every month to track changes over time. When measured with multiple dimensional scales, the participants’ digital media literacy levels increased over time. Those who used the tablet device for information access and social activities increased their digital media literacy in some dimensions. However, an increase in digital media literacy was not directly related to the time spent on the tablet.     

School reforms,principal leadership,and teacher resistance: evidence from Korea

Many countries design and implement school change with a focus on the fundamental reconfiguration in the structures of schooling. In this article, we examined the relationship between principal leadership and teacher resistance to school reforms driven by external interveners. For an empirical analysis, we took advantage of extensive data derived from 967 teachers and 32 principals in Korean vocational high schools that are now experiencing school reforms launched by the government. Our results revealed the importance of human aspects of school changes and reforms, in particular, driven by the external intervener. We first showed that a principal's initiative leadership is significantly related to the reduction of teacher resistance to change, in particular on the emotional and behavioural dimensions. Not surprisingly, teachers showed a higher level of resistance when their schools participate in the government-driven reform. Finally, teacher resistance depended upon characteristics of teachers as well as principals. These findings provide some useful policy implications for facilitating successful school reform efforts. Foremost, school reformers are advised to rethink the school change model design in a way of fully capturing human aspects in the reform process.     

The roles of cognitive and language abilities in predicting decoding and reading comprehension: comparisons of dyslexia and specific language impairment

This study aimed to (a) explore the roles of cognitive and language variables in predicting reading abilities of two groups of individuals with reading disabilities (i.e., dyslexia and specific language impairment) and (b) examine which variable(s) is the most predictive in differentiating two groups. Inclusion/exclusion criteria applied to categorize the two groups yielded a total of 63 participants (n = 44 for the dyslexia; n = 19 for the specific language impairment). A stepwise multiple regression approach was conducted to examine which cognitive and/or language variables made the largest contribution to reading abilities (i.e., Phonetic Decoding Efficiency, Word Attack, Sight Word Efficiency, and Passage Comprehension). Results revealed that there were significant differences in which measures of cognitive and language ability predicted individuals with dyslexia and speech and language impairments reading ability, showing that the cognitive and language variables underlying their difficulty with reading abilities were not the same across the two groups. A discriminant function analysis showed that a measure of Verbal Comprehension, Phonological Awareness, and Phonetic Decoding Efficiency can be used to differentiate the two groups. These findings support the tenet that dyslexia and specific language impairment are two subgroups of reading disabilities and that thorough diagnostic evaluations are needed to differentiate between these two subgroups. Distinctions of this nature are central to determining the type and intensity of language-based interventions.     

App-Based Manipulatives and Explicit Instruction to Support Division with Remainders

ABSTRACT

In theory, both virtual manipulatives and explicit instruction are viable options to support students with disabilities as they learn mathematics. This study explored the effect of a treatment package—an app-based virtual manipulative (Cuisenaire® Rods) in conjunction with explicit instruction—on students’ acquisition and generalization of solving problems involving division of whole numbers with remainders. Three middle school students with disabilities participated in this multiple baseline, multiple probe across participants single case design study. Each of the students acquired the mathematical behavior of being able to solve division with remainders problems. In other words, a functional relation existed between the intervention package of explicit instruction and the Cuisenaire® Rods app-based manipulative and students’ accuracy in solving division with remainders problems. Yet, two students failed to generalize the skill without the explicit instruction and use of the app-based manipulative.