Archiving of publicly funded research data: A survey of Canadian researchers

During the 2004–2005 fiscal year, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) awarded $252,654,341.97 in grant money to 6,958 research initiatives submitted by Canadian researchers working in academic settings. The results of these initiatives are reported in published papers, books, articles, and other forums. A question of concern is how much of the data being produced in the course of this research is being archived? What are the attitudes and concerns of the researchers themselves towards ensuring their work is preserved for the future? Results indicate that Canadian researchers in the humanities and social sciences actively share data. On the whole they are supportive of initiatives to preserve data but have thus far not systematically ensured preservation of their research materials. Researchers expressed concern over issues of confidentiality in providing access to their research data. Further dialogue is needed between researchers and other stakeholders to overcome impediments pertaining to preservation and access to research data on a national scale.     

You can make a difference

Inaccuracies, injustices, bad advice, and insensitivity are irritating. Most of us feel powerless to do anything about such situations or don't have the time or energy to try to make changes. A strategy is described that allows the author to address her concerns. Examples are given of changes that occurred because of her efforts through writing letters. Childbirth educators become aware of policies and situations that need change; as advocates, they are encouraged to take the risk and enjoy the challenge of creating change.     

An Examination of the Relationship Among Academic Stress,Coping, Motivation,and Performance in College

Empirical evidence suggests that a domain-specific coping style may play an important role in the way students manage stressful academic events and perform at college. The purpose of this research was to examine the extent to which college students' academic coping style and motivation mediate their academic stress and performance. A structural equation analysis showed that the relationship between college students' academic stress and course grade was influenced by problem-focused coping and motivation but not emotion-focused coping. As expected, greater academic stress covaried with lower course grades; however, students who engaged in problem-focused coping were more likely to be motivated and perform better than students who engaged in emotion-focused coping. Strategies for promoting more effective coping in college students are discussed.     

Digital media as a reflective tool: creating appropriate spaces for students to become introspective

Global citizenship and competency development have become integral parts of political, economic and education discourses. This is particularly true in the USA, where higher education institutions are answering the global citizenship call through the promotion of short-term study abroad. Unfortunately, the ‘just do it’ analogy too often influences the ideology of study abroad, whereby simply providing students with an international experience is perceived to be sufficient in shaping global citizenship. Global citizenship, as an educational outcome, is optimally facilitated when educational experiences are married with appropriate pedagogy, including the shaping of subsequent understandings and actions with critical reflection. We postulate that reflective experiences can be further enhanced by meeting students on the platforms and forums where they live, communicate and already engage. Specifically, this communication, using the context of short-term study abroad programmes, will argue that: (1) critical reflection is an essential step to fostering global citizenship and (2) digital story telling (mobile pedagogy) can be a powerful tool for enriching the critical reflection process.     

Planning text structure as a way to improve students' writing from sources in the compare–contrast genre

The aim of this study was to improve 7th- and 8th-grade students' (N = 83) compare–contrast reports when writing from sources. An instructional unit was designed and implemented for this purpose. It focused on increasing students' knowledge of compare–contrast text structure and on having students memorize and use a table to plan the structure of their reports. There was a large effect size of instruction, such that students in the instruction group made far greater gains in the holistic and structural quality of their writing (from pretest to posttest) than students in the control group.