Collaborative Development and Evaluation of an Online Nursing Course

Institutions of higher education acknowledge that online learning represents a growing segment of the modern learning environment, and most students have mastered basic computer skills. However, reluctance to engage in online learning remains among both faculty and students. This article presents a case study of three schools of nursing that collaboratively developed and implemented an online undergraduate-nursing course. The article discusses the challenges that were encountered by faculty and students. The faculty used the distance education literature to address these challenges related to technological, institutional, and pedagogical aspects of online learning, as well as the recruitment and retention of online learners. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the course. The paper concludes with suggestions to overcome the challenges of online learning, such that faculty and students receive the inherent rewards.     

Assessing University Library Print Book Collections and Deselection: A Case Study at The National University of Ireland Maynooth

This article discusses an assessment and deselection project of the modern print book collections in the John Paul II Library, National University of Ireland Maynooth. Following a contextual introduction and literature review, the article outlines the methodology, presents and discusses the results, and concludes with lessons learned. Although this project had its origins in planning for a major extension to the Library, its main aim was to ensure current and relevant print book collections. The purpose of the article is to share experience in the hope of it being useful to other libraries considering a review of print book collections.     

Peripheral Narrowing among Experienced and Inexperienced Rifle Shooters under Low- and High-Stress Conditions

Abstract

This study examined Easterbrook's (1959) hypothesis that performance on a primary task would improve or at least be maintained with increased levels of arousal, while performance on a secondary task would decrease. To test this hypothesis, the performance of 20 collegiate rifle shooters (10 experienced, 10 inexperienced) on a primary target shooting task and a secondary auditory task were compared while shooting under low- and high-time stress conditions. Heart rate results, but not a self-report anxiety measure, provided evidence for the effectiveness of the stress manipulation. The results primarily supported Easterbrook's hypothesis. There were no differences in secondary task performance between experienced and inexperienced shooters. However, subjects who first underwent high time stress followed by low (H-L) shot better than those given the reverse order (L-H). These findings are discussed in relation to the attention demands of self-paced sports as well as the transfer effects of stress.     

Michael Faraday, media man

Michael Faraday was an enthusiastic portrait collector, and he welcomed the invention of photography not only as a possible means of recording observations accurately, but also as a method for advertising science and its practitioners. This article (which is part of the Science in the Industrial Revolution series) shows that like many eminent scientists, Faraday took advantage of the burgeoning Victorian media industry by posing in various roles.     

Mobiles for literacy in developing countries: An effectiveness framework

In recent years, the advent of low-cost digital and mobile devices has led to a strong expansion of social interventions, including those that try to improve student learning and literacy outcomes. Many of these are focused on improving reading in low-income countries, and particularly among the most disadvantaged. Some of these early efforts have been called successful, but little credible evidence exists for those claims. Drawing on a robust sample of projects in the domain of mobiles for literacy, this article introduces a design solution framework that combines intervention purposes with devices, end users, and local contexts. In combination with a suggested set of purpose-driven methods for monitoring and evaluation, this new framework provides useful parameters for measuring effectiveness in the domain of mobiles for literacy.     

Communicating Prevention: The Effects of the keepin' it REAL Classroom Videotapes and Televised PSAs on Middle-School Students' Substance Use

This study sought to determine if exposure to two communication-oriented activities, videotapes and public service announcements, accounts for changes in substance use among adolescents participating in the Drug Resistance Strategies Project's keepin' it REAL adolescent substance use prevention curriculum. Middle-school students (4,734, 72% Latino) responded to questionnaires related to these analyses. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) model was fit separately to six substance use outcomes. The results suggested that intervention students who saw four or five videos engaged in less substance use in the past month than did students who saw fewer videos. Having seen the PSAs one or more times did not predict the reported change in substance use.     

Los retos de la educación bilingüe en inglés y español en las escuelas públicas de Nueva York: objetivos, modelos y currículos

The challenges of bilingual education in English and Spanish in public schools of New York: Objectives, models and curricula – The first section of this article describes the conceptual differences between educational objectives, educational model (context and structures) and curriculum (units of study or sequential study guides). The second section analyses how these three concepts were put into practice in five bilingual elementary schools serving immigrant students in New York City. The educational objectives reflect the leadership and work expectations which the principal establishes within the school and with the community. The educational model is translated into a clear language allocation policy that is reached by consensus between the principal and the teachers. The curriculum adaptations reflect the context and culture of the students, but without neglecting the educational objectives. The development of academic language (the language based on academic texts) is an element that attracts vast interest in American schools, but is ignored in many bilingual ones. The development of academic language occupies a central role in the curriculum of these five schools. This is, to a great extent, the result of the limited exposure to literacy that many students have had outside of the school environment. The final section of this article describes how these schools disregard the antagonism towards immigrants and bilingual education that is currently characteristic of the United States and focus on the quality of their programmes.     

Blood Pressure,Fitness, and Lipid Profiles of Rural Women in the Wellness for Women Project

Purpose: This study examined whether rural women, who had a high prevalence of prehypertension and hypertension upon enrollment in a wellness program, would also have a high prevalence of other cardiovascular disease risk factors such as low fitness and/or dyslipidemia. Methods: Data were analyzed from 225 rural women, ages 50-69, enrolled in a healthy eating and activity clinical trial. Cardiovascular health histories, fitness measures, blood pressure, and fasting blood serum samples were collected following standardized protocols at rural research offices. Chi-square and MANOVA were performed to examine differences in health characteristics, lipids, and fitness across blood pressure categories. Results: Fitness indicators of estimated VO_2max, 1-mile walk time, and resting heart rate differed between the blood pressure groups, with those in the prehypertensive and hypertensive groups having less desirable profiles than those in the normotensive group. Triglyceride levels of 150 mg/dL or greater, were observed in 36%, 32%, and 16.7% of women who had hypertensive, prehypertensive, and normal blood pressures, respectively. Conclusions: The need for routine blood pressure screenings by practitioners is reinforced by finding that rural women screened via PAR-Q and/or physician clearance had a high prevalence of prehypertensive and hypertensive blood pressures, in addition to low fitness and nonoptimal triglycerides. Practitioners need to provide counselling based on results and refer to other providers as appropriate.Key Words: blood pressure, lipids, fitness, rural women     

The Changing Role of Higher Education in the United States

The role of higher education has changed in the United States. It has become a learning society where egalitarian pressures for equal opportunities led to the expansion of educational services to broader and more representative segments of society. Five propositions illustrate the current pressures for change. (1) Institutions of higher education no longer enjoy a monopoly on the provision of educational services. The learning society has given higher education new competition for the growing adult market. (2) The roles of education providers are increasingly blurred. (3) Higher education no longer has the full‐time commitment of students or of faculty. (4) Lifelong learning has become a lifelong necessity for almost everyone, which demands flexibility and responsiveness to change on the part of higher education. (5) A change is needed in the methods of teaching and learning to accommodate adult learners and to provide for the long‐ range needs of the learning society.     

Homeless Children and Youth at Risk: The Educational Impact of Displacement

We know that homelessness creates conditions of risk for homeless children and youth (e.g., malnutrition, missing parental support, affiliation with deviant peers, disconnect from schooling, and so forth). Researchers also document that these states of risk have devastating physical, emotional, social, and educational impacts on young people. In this article, we explore the final issue—how displacement affects the educational well-being of homeless children and youth. We begin our review with a variable—mobility—that has a good deal of explanatory power for the educational impacts examined. We conclude with the consequences of homelessness that follow displaced children and youth into adulthood. In between we discuss an assortment of outcome factors: placement in special education, attendance, academic success, and graduation.