A tool instead of a chore: Measuring student learning gains in order to improve instruction

Assessment is often treated as an unwelcome and time-consuming university or departmental requirement. This project proposes that assessment is actually an opportunity that communication faculty should embrace. Beginning with the end in mind, this study used stated course learning outcomes to construct a pre-/posttest instrument, administering those assessments in order to find out whether students were really learning what they were supposed to be learning. This article explains how the assessment instruments were constructed and administered, demonstrates clear and significant learning gains across three semesters, and identifies learning outcomes in need of instructional improvement. It also finds that by separating assessment from grading, pretests can identify concepts that need not be retaught, and posttests can reveal that an instructor’s perception of a successful instructional day does not necessarily match the reality of student learning for that day.     

Special Deliveries: Towards a Methodology for Generous Fulfillment of Special Collections Interlibrary Loan Requests

This article explores the implementation of special collections interlibrary loan policies and procedures at the University of South Florida (USF), focusing particularly on the development of policies related to physically loaning published materials, and traces the development of these policies through a pilot project to routinized implementation. Particular attention is paid to developing mutually beneficial workflows between special collections and interlibrary loan departments, creating transparent policies for the criteria under which requests are or are not filled, and technical considerations for implementing special collections loans. Through this case study, we highlight the potential for collaboration in the fulfillment of special deliveries.     

Testing Measurement Invariance of Hedonic and Eudaimonic Entertainment Experiences Across Media Formats

The aim of this study is to investigate the measurement invariance of media users’ entertainment experiences as conceptualized by two-process models of entertainment (i.e., enjoyment and appreciation) across different media formats. With this purpose, the present research relates to the recent rise of entertainment research, embracing more and more media types and formats with which entertainment experiences may occur. At the same time, it addresses a methodological issue that has rarely been addressed in communication research. Focusing on one of the most often used measurement instruments in entertainment research, on three different media formats (political talk shows, comedies, and dramas), the study finds evidence for configural, metric, and scalar invariance for the scale. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Partnership working in the production of clinical guidelines

This article describes a working partnership between the Cairns Clinical Librarian Service, Health Care Libraries, University of Oxford and the Emergency Department (ED) at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. This collaboration resulted in the establishment of a guideline development group in June 2002. The aim of the group is to produce a set of easily accessible, user-orientated, evidence-based guidelines for the use of clinicians in the Emergency Department, within a realistic timescale. The Cairns Clinical Librarian Project was built on previous models of clinical librarianship and incorporated an evaluation of previous programmes. The objective was to provide information to clinicians at the time and point of need. Consultation with the ED from the outset determined the approach adopted by the Cairns team. Clinical guidelines have been shown to improve clinical practice. Pending the introduction of nationally available protocols, we have begun to establish a collection of evidence-based guidelines using web-based architecture in conjunction with the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust's IT department. A piece of diagnostic analysis was undertaken to ensure a coherent strategy was developed for the guideline project. An 'intermediate approach' was adopted, where existing valid guidelines were modified to fit local circumstances. We strove to be transparent at all times about all aspects of the guideline development process. Formative evaluation has shown how the application of evidence-based health care needs adequate resources and requires people with appropriate knowledge and skills. This article charts the progress of the project and highlights how the partnership between the clinical team and the Clinical Librarian has been deemed to be essential to the success of the project.     

Children's Perceptions of Economic Groups in a Context of Limited Access to Opportunities

Children (N = 267, ages 8–14 years, M = 11.61 years, middle to upper-middle income) made predictions regarding groups of same-aged peers from high-wealth and low-wealth backgrounds. The context involved granting access to a special opportunity. From middle childhood to early adolescence children increasingly expected both high- and low-wealth groups to want access to opportunities for their own group. However, children viewed high-wealth groups as motivated in part by selfishness and low-wealth groups as concerned in part with broader economic inequality. Finally, the higher children's family income, the more they expected group-serving tendencies. These findings revealed children's perceptions of exclusive preferences between economic groups, negative stereotypes about high-wealth children, and awareness of some of the constraints faced by low-wealth children.     

Children's Strategies with Number Patterns

Pattern and generalisation are both thought to be fundamental to mathematics and are therefore important in mathematics education. This study investigates how children throughout the junior age range generalise about number patterns and the cognitive processes involved in this. The data were collected from 315 children aged between 7 and 11 years, by means of a workbook which gave children the opportunity to work with different types of pattern within different tasks. Analysis of the data revealed the different types of generalisation made by the children and the different cognitive processes which seemed to be involved. This paper examines specifically the strategies children use when they make generalisations about individual number patterns and briefly discusses how these vary across year groups.     

School inspections in low- and middle-income countries: Explaining impact and mechanisms of impact

Many efforts to implement and improve school inspections have been modelled on examples from high-income countries, and many studies on the effectiveness of such systems have also only been carried out in these countries. However, local contexts in low- and middle-income countries are very different from those in developed countries, and findings about the effectiveness of school inspections from Western studies are therefore not easily transferable to low- and middle-income countries. Existing literature portrays complex and varied links amongst governance context, policy, design of accountability systems, mechanisms of impact and school outcomes that make translation of conditions across studies challenging. This paper presents the results of a systematic review about the conditions under which school inspections lead to improvement in schools and to positive learning outcomes for schoolchildren in low- and middle-income countries, especially the poorest and most marginalised.     

Effects of childhood setting and interaction with nature on academic performance in introductory college-level courses in the environmental sciences

This study explored the relationships between student background and academic performance in college introductory environmental science (ES) courses at a large U.S. research university with the premise that this analysis may inform teaching practices, curricula, and efforts to increase retention. We surveyed over 700 students across eleven introductory ES courses and used multiple linear mixed-effects regressions to model the data. We found that students who grew up in rural settings or who had frequent childhood interactions with natural environments earned higher grades, on average, than students from urban settings or with fewer childhood interactions with natural environments. Our results indicate that students reporting frequent childhood interactions with forests, for example, were projected to earn grades up to 1.5 letter grades higher in these courses than students with no such interactions. In addition, students with frequent childhood interactions with nature were likelier to report that such interactions helped them in their ES course, suggesting that these students may recognize the value of these experiences. Greater interest in the subject matter also correlated with higher ES course grades, whereas amount of prior ES coursework did not. We discuss the possible implications of these correlations for ES academic performance and educational practice.     

The Interactive Science and Technology Project: the Nuffield Foundation's Launchpad for a European Collaborative

The development of interactive science and technology centres in the UK, catalysed by the example of successful North American science centres, is also a reflection of increasing British concern for public understanding of science.

In 1986, the Committee on the Public Understanding of Science was established jointly by the Royal Society, the Royal Institution and the British Association, as a focus for initiatives to improve public awareness of science and technology. The COPUS ‘Interactive Science and Technology Centres’ working group linked COPUS's own programmes with the co‐ordination and promotion activities developed by the Nuffield Foundation's interactive science and technology project.

Launched in 1987, the Nuffield project served as a resource for the science centres and, building a strong network of contacts stretching from the BBC and British Association to science centres worldwide, itself served as a launchpad for ECSITE‐the European Collaborative for Science, Industry and Technology Exhibitions.