Putting words in their mouths: The alignment of identities with system goals through the use of Individual Learning Plans

This article analyses the role of Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) in teachers' work in the Skills for Life sector. It shows how ILPs, originally a means of formative assessment, have become part of a system of performance indicators and function as a key mediating mechanism between local interactions and system goals. The article draws on theoretical perspectives from the new literacy studies and the sociology of science to reveal the pivotal role of texts in projects of social ordering. The methodology is a version of institutional ethnography, whereby an artefact (the ILP) is tracked as it circulates across the different sites of its production and use. Documentary and interview evidence are used. The article concludes that, in its current form, the ILP shapes teaching and learning relationships and aligns both tutor and student identities. Permissive guidance, combined with a core curriculum, the demands of audit and inspection, positions tutors uncomfortably as active mediators between student experience and the policy discourse.     

Understanding School Counseling Internships From a Communities of Practice Framework

School counseling interns are on the boundary of communities of practice. This study explored how school counselors develop competence during internship experiences by analyzing an online dialogue taking place among a small group of interns. Feelings of being on the boundary intensified with unsatisfactory supervisor‐intern relationships (lack of mutuality of engagement) or when interns experienced a sense of powerlessness to effect change at their internship placements (negotiating their repertoire). As boundary dwellers, interns turned to peers to make sense of their experiences (accountability to the joint enterprise). Implications include the importance of the supervisor‐intern relationship and the relationships among internship peers.     

The Mobile Reference Service: a case study of an onsite reference service program at the school of public health

The School of Public Health at Saint Louis University is located at a greater distance from the library than other programs on the main medical center campus. Physical distance diminishes the ease of access to direct reference services for public health users. To bridge the gap, the library developed the Mobile Reference Service to deliver onsite information assistance with regular office hours each week. Between September 2006 and April 2007, a total of 57 in-depth reference transactions took place over 25 weeks, averaging 2 transactions per week in a 2-hour period. Overall reference transactions from public health users went up 28%, while liaison contacts with public health users doubled compared to the same period the year before. The Mobile Reference Service program has improved library support for research and scholarship, cultivated and strengthened liaison relationships, and enhanced marketing and delivery of library resources and services to the Saint Louis University School of Public Health.     

Testing the usability of a portable DVD player and tailored photo instructions with older adult veterans

DVD-delivered behavioral skills training may help disseminate efficacious treatments to older adults independent of internet access. The present study examined the usability of a portable DVD player alongside iterative revisions of accompanying instructions to be used by older adults in a DVD-delivered behavioral skills treatment study. The sample comprised 20 older adults with a mean age of 69.5 years (SD = 7.3). Behavior observations revealed that three of five steps to play the DVD were completed by more than 90% of participants. Quantitative ratings revealed that 75% could play the DVD easily. Qualitative content analysis further elucidated the usability of the player and the clarity of the instructions. Findings suggest user-centered design of instructional support in DVD-delivered treatments for older adults may be critical to minimizing user error and frustration and increase user experience.     

Thinking about technology: Applying a cognitive lens to technical change

We apply a cognitive lens to understanding technology trajectories across the life cycle by developing a co-evolutionary model of technological frames and technology. Applying that model to each stage of the technology life cycle, we identify conditions under which a cognitive lens might change the expected technological outcome predicted by purely economic or organizational models. We also show that interactions of producers, users and institutions shape the development of collective frames around the meaning of new technologies. We thus deepen our understanding of sources of variation in the era of ferment, conditions under which a dominant design may be achieved, the underlying architecture of the era of incremental change and the dynamics associated with discontinuities.     

What Lies Beneath Seemingly Positive Campus Climate Results: Institutional Sexism,Racism, and Male Hostility Toward Equity Initiatives and Liberal Bias

This study investigates what preservice elementary school teachers assume about children's capacities to learn about equity issues and how teachers might translate teaching for social justice into actual classroom practices. Participants said they did not see the age of their students as a barrier to teaching for social justice, although their ways of conceptualizing this varied considerably, and those teaching grade 4–6 students were generally more risk-taking in the curricular and pedagogical choices they made. We found that the concepts of childhood innocence and developmental appropriateness mediated the topics and approach to topics that beginning teachers considered. Roughly half the participants believed that younger children are relatively uninterested in the events of the day, are incapable of forming nuanced opinions, and are unable to analyze political issues; while the other half disagreed. Participants concerned about engendering negative emotional responses from elementary students made more limited and generic responses to name-calling or teasing rather than naming specific forms of oppression or prompting students to reflect critically on hurtful language and behavior.     

Innovation,Creativity, and Meaning: Leading in the Information Age

Today's fast paced global environment requires information professionals to be leaders keeping pace with user needs. Two academic research libraries share their work seeking to ensure and leverage the creativity in their organizations focusing on the most meaningful innovative opportunities. The premise is that usefulness and appropriateness is achieved through strategic alignment, thereby opening the door of opportunity for innovative products and services. The ability to seize the opportunity each group seeks to meet is due to the recognition by the organization of that alignment. And so, organizational perception, awareness, and value all affect the successful implementation of creativity. The products and services presented in this article, Harvard's Baker Library Historical Collections Online and Purdue University's career wiki, stem from organizational alignment, and the work of the leadership teams to influence perception, create awareness, and demonstrate value.