More than just charts and graphs: What to teach in a data visualization course

Based on our experience developing and delivering a highly successful data visualization course within a Master of Science in Business Analytics program, we present a taxonomy for data visualization courses and recommend content and pedagogical features for each type of data visualization course therein. We also discuss the interdependence between data visualization and business communication as a critical consideration in course design.     

Supervision provided to Indigenous Australian doctoral students: a black and white issue

The number of Indigenous Australians completing doctoral qualifications is disparately below their non-Indigenous contemporaries. Whilst there has been a steady increase in Indigenous completions in recent years, significant work remains to redress the imbalance. Supervision has been identified as a primary influencer of the likely success of Indigenous doctoral students, yet very little research has been undertaken in this area. This paper examines the experiences of 11 Indigenous Australians who hold a doctoral qualification. It also provides the experiences of five non-Indigenous supervisors who were an integral part of the supervision team of one of the successful doctoral graduates. A best-practice framework for supervision is offered as a guide for how supervisors, universities and national bodies can contribute to building the number of doctoral qualified Indigenous Australians.     

Patterns,drivers and challenges pertaining to postgraduate taught study: an international comparative analysis

The global growth in postgraduate (PG) study since the mid-1990s has been attributed to the expansion in Masters by Coursework participation (Bekhradnia, B. (2005). Postgraduate education in the UK: Trends and challenges higher education policy institute. Paper presented at a conference The future of postgraduate education supporting the students of today and tomorrow, London, 17 March). However, unlike at undergraduate level, research into understanding PG growth has been under-researched. This paper aims to contribute to the knowledge gap by identifying and comparing the growth in PG study in Australia, Canada, the USA and the UK. It explores the possible drivers behind the growth and concludes by highlighting potential challenges facing the future of PG study across the sector.     

Course of depression and anxiety symptoms during the transition to parenthood for female adolescents with histories of victimization

The aim of the current study was to increase understanding of how victimization history impacts the longitudinal course of depression and anxiety in a sample of 55 adolescents emerging into parenthood. Adolescents were interviewed about their victimization experiences during their second trimester of pregnancy, and interviews were subsequently classified according the Maltreatment Classification Scale (Barnett, Manly, & Cicchetti, 1993). Adolescents reported on their symptoms of depression and anxiety prenatally and 6 and 12 months postpartum. Growth curve modeling revealed that, on average, there was a steady linear decline in depression and anxiety symptoms across the transition to parenthood, with a rate of change of 25% and 20%, respectively, from the prenatal assessment to 12 months postpartum. Sexual abuse history attenuated the likelihood of a decrease in depressive symptoms over time. Neglect history was associated with higher prenatal levels of anxiety, as well as a steeper decline in anxiety symptoms over time. Future research is needed to determine the role of poly-victimization in predicting the onset and change of depression and anxiety symptoms. Findings from the current study have the potential to aid in the design of preventative and intervention efforts to reduce risks of mental health difficulties in adolescent parents.     

Humans and Change: BlackBerry Haters to iPhone Fans

This article is a lighthearted look at how people's attitudes changed over time in relation to their mobile phones, what the drivers of that change were, and what we can learn from that.     

HSCL LibQUAL+ 2004: from numbers and graphs to practical application

The University of Florida Health Science Center Libraries created a task force representing various departments to review data from its 2004 LibQUAL+ survey. This review compared results from the 2002 and 2004 LibQUAL+ surveys, and the data from the Association of Academic Health Science Libraries 2004 cohort. The task force analyzed the key components of the LibQUAL+ survey: Affect of Service, Information Control, Library as Place, and user comments. At the conclusion of this review, the task force made recommendations and suggestions along departmental lines to meet the patrons' needs and expectations. In addition to following the task force recommendations, the Libraries independently implemented several new services and hired additional personnel after the completion of the 2004 survey. Combined, these changes should improve overall library service and increase customer satisfaction. Looking towards the 2006 LibQUAL+ survey, the task force will be convened in advance and will guide the entire process.     

On archival pluralism: what religious pluralism (and its critics) can teach us about archives

Recent work has stressed the importance of pluralism in archival education, practice, and research. By examining the promises and perils of pluralism as it has been constructed in another field—religion—this article analyzes, expands, and delineates the notion of archival pluralism in a way that helps form the conceptual foundation for further work on pluralistic approaches to archival education, theory and practice. More specifically, it argues that archival pluralism can learn from four basic principles of religious pluralism—energetic engagement, understanding, strengthened commitment, and dialog—while at the same time avoiding four major perils: claims of universality, inattention to power, silencing dissent, and collapsing of difference. First, this article presents a brief discourse analysis tracing the emergence and development of archival pluralism in the literature to date. Next, turning to how pluralism has been constructed in another field, this article gives a brief overview of conceptions of religious pluralism using the work of two of its most prominent American scholars as guideposts and then addresses the strengths and weaknesses of this conceptualization of pluralism in the religious sphere. Next, this article proposes how religious pluralism’s main principles and pitfalls can be adapted and applied in the realm of memory keeping in order to strengthen the conceptual framework for archival pluralism. It concludes by suggesting aspects of a research agenda for future work in archival pluralism.     

Measuring general and specific stress causes and stress responses among beginning secondary school teachers in the Netherlands

The main aim of this study was to adjust the Questionnaire on the Experience and Evaluation of Work (QEEW) in order to measure stress causes and stress responses of beginning secondary school teachers in the Netherlands. First, the suitability of the original QEEW stress scales for use in the beginning teachers (BTs) context was investigated using a sample of 356 beginning teachers from 52 different secondary school locations in the Netherlands. Confirmatory Factor Analyses, Principal Component Analyses and Mokken scaling item reduction was applied to create high concise and precise scales. Hereafter, based on the teacher stress literature, additional teacher specific stress items were added, resulting in the adjusted version of the measure, the Questionnaire on the Experience and Evaluation of Work – Beginning Teachers (QEEW-BT, study 1). To cross-validate the results and to examine the internal consistency and validity of the adjusted instrument a different sample of 143 beginning teachers from 61 different secondary school locations in the Netherlands was used (study 2). The present findings provide adequate support that the QEEW-BT is a reliable and valid instrument to measure stress causes and responses for beginning secondary school teachers in the Netherlands.