Linkages Among Preschoolers' Playground Behavior, Outcome Expectations, and Parental Disciplinary Strategies

To explore relationships among parent's self-reported disciplinary strategies, preschoolers' outcome expectations, and playground behavior, 136 mothers of preschool-age children (age range = 39-71 months) participated in home disciplinary style interviews. Measures of preschoolers' outcome expectations and observations of childrens' prosocial, antisocial/disruptive, and nonsocial/withdrawn playground behavior in preschool settings were also obtained. Results indicated that power-assertive mothers had preschoolers who engaged in more antisocial/disruptive behavior and who expected successful instrumental outcomes for hostile methods of resolving peer conflict. Preschoolers with such outcome expectations also participated in more antisocial playground behavior. Older preschoolers of inductive mothers engaged in more prosocial behavior and expected prosocial behavior to lead to both instrumental gains and enhanced relations with peers. Preschoolers who were more prosocial envisioned friendly-assertive strategies as leading to instrumental gains and, in the case of less nonsocial behavior, to enhanced relations with peers. Children's outcome expectations were also found to be different for older versus younger preschoolers. Evidence was also obtained suggesting that maternal discipline and outcome expectations make separate and independent contributions to children's social and aggressive play behavior.     

Faculty reflect on course planning

Faculty members' beliefs about educational purpose and the nature of their academic fields strongly influence how they plan introductory courses. Interviews with 89 faculty members teaching in diverse colleges and representing eight fields also identified faculty attention to student preparation, available textbooks, and locally important factors, but little attention to alternative instructional strategies during course planning. Based on the findings, the authors have developed a tentative general model of course design and related questions to guide future study.     

Postural and Object‐Oriented Experiences Advance Early Reaching,Object Exploration,and Means–End Behavior

The effects of 3 weeks of social (control), postural, or object‐oriented experiences on 9‐ to 21‐week‐old infants’ (N = 42) reaching, exploration, and means–end behaviors were assessed. Coders recorded object contacts, mouthing, fingering, attention, and affect from video. Postural and object‐oriented experiences advanced reaching, haptic exploration of objects, and developing means–end behavior compared to social experience. Object‐oriented experience best‐advanced means–end behavior. The results suggest that the development of novel behaviors is dependent on multiple subsystems and can be similarly advanced by addressing a variety of these subsystems. They also suggest that past experiences with active object exploration can facilitate early information processing and the development of early knowledge.     

Benefits Visitors Derive from Sustained Engagement with a Single Museum

Abstract Museums are currently faced with new challenges and issues of sustainability. Consequently, they are under increasing pressure to provide funding bodies with evidence of their value and worth. This paper reports findings from a narrative study that explored the nature of returning visitors’ engagement with a single museum over time. The study’s findings document a broad range of benefits visitors derive from a sustained relationship with a museum and reveal the significant contributions that sustained engagement with a museum make towards enriching visitors’ lives.     

EIGHTH GRADE MATHEMATICS TEACHERS’ FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT PRACTICES IN SES-DIFFERENT CLASSROOMS: A TAIWAN STUDY

In this qualitative case study, the researchers explored 3 8th grade teachers?? formative assessment practices as it occurred during their mathematics instruction at socioeconomic status (SES)-different schools in Taiwan. Instructionally embedded formative assessment we refer to as discourse-based assessment practice (DAP). In Taiwan, there is a large mathematics achievement gap among high SES and low SES and minority students in 8th grade. Addressing this issue at the level of classroom practice, we attempt to document teachers?? DAP using a parsimonious, but practical framework for analyzing classroom discourse in 23 lessons. For the purpose of this study, 3 lessons for each teacher are represented. The extended sequence (Mehan, 1979) was the primary unit of analysis, to which we applied our framework for illuminating and differentiating the teachers?? press for student understanding through questions and feedback. The analysis of the teacher??s instruction at the high SES indicated that it was more formative than the others, pressing for mathematical understanding. The 2 teachers at the low SES schools pressed for rote understanding, though there were qualitative differences between them. The findings raise more questions and implications for research and education policy. In Taiwan where there is scant research on classroom practices, DAP as an instructional improvement may be a starting point for educational improvement for all its students.     

The presence of academic health sciences libraries on Facebook: the relationship between content and library popularity

Social networks such as Facebook allow libraries to be proactive in reaching their users. While some libraries have popular Facebook pages, it remains unclear what attracts users to these pages. This study evaluates relationships between libraries' Facebook page content and popularity. An analysis of 72 academic health sciences libraries' Facebook pages showed positive correlations between number of library fans and number of tabs, photos, events, and wall posts on Facebook. Libraries posting videos had significantly more fans than libraries without them. This study contributes to an understanding of correlations between content and popularity on Facebook, with implications for library outreach.     

Changing the face of reference: adapting biomedical and health information services for the classroom, clinic, and beyond

This article describes how the reference department at a large academic health sciences library evolved to address the clinical and research information needs of the parent organization without losing its close connections to the classroom and curriculum. Closing the reference desk, moving to on-call and house call models, designing positions such as clinical research librarian and basic biomedical sciences librarian, finding alternative funding to grow the department, providing technology and training to facilitate librarians' work, and developing programming for and taking advice from library clients facilitated efforts to create a relevant presence and solidify the library's place in the university community.     

An exploration of instructors' perceptions about online proctoring and its value in ensuring academic integrity

As universities moved to remotely taught courses during the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of maintaining academic integrity in online environments intensified. In response, this study explores instructors' perceptions about the role of online proctoring as a tool for their courses with the intent of enhancing the understanding of online proctoring's usefulness in ensuring academic integrity and the factors that may be swaying instructors' adoption decisions. An online survey was completed by 158 instructors at a variety of higher education institutions with 118 responding to an open-ended question that allowed respondents to share any additional thoughts about or experiences with using online proctoring. A thematic review of the qualitative comments illustrates the multifaceted impact of online proctoring on instructors and students. Results identified instructors' perceived benefits and challenges of online proctoring to them, their students and the learning process. In addition, instructors voiced numerous legal, ethical and social concerns about the use of online proctoring, including concerns related to students' privacy. Despite these concerns, some instructors identified strong use cases for online proctoring while others provided alternative strategies for ensuring academic integrity in online courses. As institutions consider the role of online proctoring in ensuring academic integrity, a holistic approach that balances instructional design best practices, student-friendly policies and proctoring tools is recommended to serve the complex needs and concerns of instructors, students and their institutions.

Practitioner notes

What is already known about this topic

• Prior research findings are mixed as to whether proctoring is valuable for ensuring academic integrity in online courses.
• Studies investigating grade performance in proctored versus unproctored exam settings have conflicting results; however, studies have found that students completing proctored formative exams perform better on summative exams than students completing non-proctored formative exams.

What this paper adds

• Qualitative data were collected to provide an overview of instructors' perceptions about and experiences with online proctoring.
• Analysis suggests that online proctoring is beneficial to some instructors, students and the overall learning process. At the same time, its use is also concerning to other instructors and students. Among the issues raised by instructors are concerns for student privacy, increases in student test anxiety and discriminatory proctoring practices.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• Institutions must be proactive in ensuring that the use of online proctoring aligns with their institutional values and the changing legal landscape.
• Institutional policies should strive to find a balance between ensuring academic integrity and promoting a positive experience for students and instructors. Since there are strong use cases for online proctoring, these policies should include flexibility whenever possible.