Using Consultation Data to Guide Data Services Training for Liaison Librarians

Abstract

As data services gain momentum in academic libraries, liaison librarians are expected to be part of the education force for data literacy. Nonetheless, due to the broad scope of data literacy, training librarians to improve data-related skills can be challenging. This article used consultation statistics to identify tools and resources employed to solve users’ data questions. The results offered insights into users’ data needs and provided librarians with a clear direction to further develop data skills in their assigned disciplines. The methodology used in this study can be replicated at other institutions to identify needs and to direct professional development.     

Wake up Information Literacy Instruction: Ideas for Student Engagement

In this article, three librarians from Santa Fe College, the community college winner of the 2015 ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries Award, share their successful work in information literacy instruction. While the ACRL award is given for overall achievement, this article focuses upon their creative and varied approaches to instruction, incorporating a wide blend of strategies to reach students across the college. Beginning with targeted approaches to virtual instruction, including broad use of the flipped classroom model, and building in active learning techniques, the librarians at Santa Fe College have built an instruction program that could serve as a model to community college libraries across the country.     

Physical activity patterns of ethnic children from low socio-economic environments within the UK

Many children fail to meet physical activity (PA) guidelines for health benefits. PA behaviours are complex and depend on numerous interrelated factors. The study aims to develop current understanding of how children from low Socio-economic environments within the UK use their surrounding built environments for PA by using advanced technology. The environment was assessed in 96 school children (7–9 years) using global positioning system (GPS) monitoring (Garmin Forerunner, 305). In a subsample of 46 children, the environment and PA were assessed using an integrated GPS and heart rate monitor. The percentage of time spent indoor, outdoor, in green and non-green environments along with time spent in moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) in indoor and outdoor environments were assessed. A 2-by-2 repeated measures analysis of covariance, controlling for body mass index, BF%, assessed the environmental differences. The findings show that 42% of children from deprived wards of Coventry fail to meet PA guidelines, of which 43% was accumulated during school. Children engaged in more MVPA outdoor than indoor environments (P < 0.01) and a greater amount of time was spent in non-green environments (P < 0.01). Increased time outdoors was negatively associated with BF%. In conclusion, outdoor environments are important for health-enhancing PA and reducing fatness in deprived and ethnic children.     

Disciplinary containment: whiteness and the academic scarcity narrative

ABSTRACT

Amid rising controversy around the alleged distinctions between merit and excellence lies a familiar refrain, scarcity. The narrative of academic scarcity, proclaiming the insufficient numbers of scholars and academics of color, permeates conversations in higher education. We suggest that the academic scarcity narrative, a remnant of stagnant logics of diversity, circulates as a contemporary mechanism of what we name disciplinary containment. Extending disciplinary conversations around rhetorical containment, we argue that disciplinary containment perpetuates whiteness.     

Communication through comedy: a drama and theatre project with young people for whom English is a second language

This article explores an eight‐month community theatre project with young people for whom English is a second language. Working as a creative practitioner facilitating young people to explore their personal stories of transition to the UK, the dramatherapist discovered comedy to be an important and poignant vehicle for expression of the emotional and psychological material associated with transition. In this article the author explores her experience of working with a group of young people who came together from all over the world to share their experiences of transition through the use of comedic theatre techniques.     

Building an online community to support the professional development of casual teachers

Abstract

With the burgeoning casualisation of the higher education workforce, the precarious nature of casual teaching has become increasingly well documented. Universities are recognising that enhancing quality learning and teaching must include attention to the provision of services, support, and professional development for teachers employed on a sessional or casual basis. This paper presents a study investigating an online course for supporting and connecting dispersed and diverse casual teachers at an Australian university. The study explores the role of community and the impact of professional development for casual teachers across discipline boundaries in an institution-wide online course.     

Approaches to Study and the Quality of Learning. Some Empirical Evidence from Engineering Education

In the late 1990s failure rates in a first-year introductory calculus course at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology reached peak levels. This paper reports on findings from an action research project that was set up in 2002/2003 to improve the situation. The study confirms that students approach their tasks differently which contributes to qualitatively different learning outcomes. Furthermore, patterns of achievement in mathematics and physics in secondary education keep reoccurring in the calculus course, even though the teaching and learning contexts are different. The paper does not provide any definite answer as to why groups of students get involved in distinctly different learning processes, and it will take further research to decide the nature of commitment to the learning tasks. However, inspired by the notion of ‘practices’ this paper raises a discussion about the role of intentionality in learning processes. When doing mathematics, students are also in a process of being engaged in and developing a practice. It is a major challenge for academic staff to contribute to communities of practice that are conducive to learning.     

Attending to Precision: Mathematical Definitions in Courses for Pre-Service and Practicing Teachers

In this article we address the Common Core State Standard for Mathematical Practice: Attend to Precision. We describe work in mathematics content courses for pre-service and inservice teachers focused on developing teachers’ understanding of mathematical definitions. We discuss teachers’ work in developing definitions for students at various levels of mathematics, in generalizing a definition in order to extend the domain to which it may be applied, and in correcting teachers’ misconceptions. The work discussed in this article is consistent with the recommendations of the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences for the mathematics education of teachers. In explicit response to contemporary mathematics education research, the author presents constructive assessment prompts which lend themselves to formal study by mathematics education researchers.     

Changing cognitions in parents of two‐year‐olds attending Scottish Sure Start centres

The study examined how preschool intervention programmes set up by three Scottish local authorities changed parents’ cognitions. Quantitative parent outcomes were measured using Parenting Daily Hassles Scales (N = 88). A matched comparison group of parents (N = 55) recruited from the same areas of disadvantage but whose children did not attend the intervention programmes also completed questionnaires. Qualitative outcomes were evaluated using semi‐structured interviews (N = 30). A significant group × time interaction effect was found for daily hassle cognitions, Parenting Task–Intensity, Challenging Behaviour–Frequency and Challenging Behaviour–Intensity, with comparison group parents showing an increase in their experience of hassles during the ‘terrible twos’ compared with intervention group parents. Complementary qualitative data indicated that intervention group parents had gained valuable new insights into their children’s behaviour, changing how they thought about their role as parents and their behavioural and developmental expectations of their children. Implications for parental engagement in preschool programmes are discussed.