Are low achievers disliked in a cooperative situation? A test of rival theories in a mixed ethnic situation

The effect of cooperative and individualistic learning experiences within which majority students worked with lower-achieving minority peers were compared. A number of theories predict that when white students collaborate with lower-achieving minority students prejudice and rejection will increase. These theories were tested against a counter position that working collaboratively promotes liking regardless of differences in achievement. Forty-eight students (20 minority and 28 white) were assigned to conditions on a stratified random basis controlling for ethnic membership, sex, social class, and ability level. They participated in the study for 55 min a day for 15 instructional days. The results indicate that cooperative learning experiences, compared with individualistic ones, promoted higher achievement for minority students, more cross-ethnic interaction aimed at supporting and regulating efforts to learn and ensuring the active involvement of all students, and greater cross-ethnic interpersonal attraction. The results do not support the theories that posit equal achievement levels are necessary for successful integration and do support the position that cooperative experiences result in liking regardless of the ethnic membership or achievement level of collaborators.     

Building a bioinformatics community of practice through library education programs

This paper addresses the following questions:What makes the community of practice concept an intriguing framework for developing library services for bioinformatics? What is the campus context and setting? What has been the Health Sciences Library's role in bioinformatics at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill? What are the Health Sciences Library's goals? What services are currently offered? How will these services be evaluated and developed? How can libraries demonstrate their value? Providing library services for an emerging community such as bioinformatics and computational biology presents special challenges for libraries including understanding needs, defining and communicating the library's role, building relationships within the community, preparing staff, and securing funding. Like many academic health sciences libraries, the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill Health Sciences Library is addressing these challenges in the context of its overall mission and goals.     

Designing spatial visual tasks for research: the case of the filling task

This article focuses on the development and problematization of a task designed to foster spatial visual sense in prospective and practicing elementary and middle school teachers. We describe and analyse the cyclical stages of developing, testing, and modifying several “task drafts” related to ideas around dilation and proportion. Challenged by participant non-actions and non-responses, we as task designers identified and anticipated sources of difficulties, which motivated repeated modification of the task to further the intended learning goals. The task in its present form incorporates numerous considerations including choices around materials, wording of questions and prompts, and sequencing of experiences. It also reflects our enriched understanding of exploration strategies and the roles of manipulatives and technology in spatial visual tasks designed for adult learners.     

Honouring the incomparable: honours in Australian universities

The Honours undergraduate degree in Australia is unlike that in most other countries. It has taken on a particular significance as a qualification, as a pathway to and a pre-requisite for direct entry into doctoral programs. This paper explores the outcomes of a study that suggests that the aims, outcomes, curriculum, pedagogical practices, purposes and enrolment patterns of Honours vary substantially across disciplines and university types. It addresses the questions about the diverse nature of Honours programs and questions what this diversity means for Australian higher education in the context where global standardisation of awards is rapidly occurring. Honours is seen variously as a qualification, an experience, or a program. These variations are discussed and it is demonstrated that Honours globally has not one, but many meanings. These meanings are often poorly understood within, and outside the academy. These multiple meanings create confusion about what Honours stands for and inhibit communication about the role and purpose of Honours both within Australia and in a global context.     

Sharing research with academia and beyond: Insights from early career researchers in Australia and Japan

Quality scholarly research outputs, such as peer reviewed journal articles published in reputable journals, are essential for early career researchers' (ECRs) vocational success while also offering benefits for their institutions. Research outputs destined for audiences beyond academia are also increasingly valued by funders, end users, and tertiary institutions. While there is an expectation that ECRs may create diverse research outputs for an array of audiences, the kinds of research output texts produced by ECRs for varied audiences warrants further investigation. In addition, the routes of dissemination that ECRs use to share their academic research outputs to secure impact beyond academia are not well understood. Drawing on semi‐structured interviews of 30 respondents in Australia and Japan, we explore the research‐sharing practices of ECRs, finding that ECRs may potentially create a wide range of research‐informed texts for end users beyond academia, using an array of methods for dissemination. The examples of the output text types and dissemination routes we provide in this paper can be used to inspire ECRs and also more senior academics to share their research more broadly, and perhaps more effectively, and can be used by publishers to improve research impact and support ECRs' research translation.     

MRSQ Informatics Education columns: past, present and future

This is the last Informatics Education column under the current editors. The outgoing editors identify six key themes that reflect the changes in informatics education over their seven-year tenure. The themes are picked from the 29 previous columns published under their editorship. The first and key theme is technology, and this one theme is the basis for the other five. The incoming editors project what they expect to see as key themes for future columns. Together, this column looks at the past, present, and future state of informatics education in the United States.     

Antenatal education as perceived by health professionals

This article aims to identify the learning needs of expectant and new parents for antenatal education as perceived by health professionals. In Australia, antenatal education programs are predominantly designed by health professionals, and recent research has challenged the efficacy of this approach. The data collected from 73 health professionals, reported here, demonstrates that their perceptions of the concerns and interests of expectant and new parents were divided into three interrelated categories: "need to know...what's happening," "they won't listen," and "balanced information." The health professional ideas for improving antenatal education were limited and identified a reluctance to change practice.     

Evaluating a Public Library Makerspace

ABSTRACT

This study explores how one public library assesses the outcomes of a makerspace and examines whether the approaches taken can be justified as appropriate. An increasing number of public libraries throughout the world are establishing makerspaces, and to date there is little literature on how outcomes of these services are assessed. This study explores the methods that are being used, making comparisons to best practice revealed in the literature. The project is a case-study of the Central City Library makerspace (Auckland Libraries, New Zealand). The study collected evidence from documents, archival records, and interviewees. The findings revealed that while efforts are being made to assess the outcomes of makerspaces, methods and techniques are primarily informal. Current formal reporting relies upon quantitative measurement, such as visitor or participant numbers, which fails to capture the effects of the service on users. The implication is that staff may develop more structured and formalized approaches to assessing the outcomes of makerspaces. Further research could include the design of a prototypical outcomes assessment model that is then tested on a public library makerspace to determine the practicality of the approach.