A two-year experience teaching computer literacy to first-year medical students using skill-based cohorts

Because it is widely accepted that providing information online will play a major role in both the teaching and practice of medicine in the near future, a short formal course of instruction in computer skills was proposed for the incoming class of students entering medical school at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. The syllabus was developed on the basis of a set of expected outcomes, which was accepted by the dean of medicine and the curriculum committee for classes beginning in the fall of 1997. Prior to their arrival, students were asked to complete a self-assessment survey designed to elucidate their initial skill base; the returned surveys showed students to have computer skills ranging from complete novice to that of a systems engineer. The classes were taught during the first three weeks of the semester to groups of students separated on the basis of their knowledge of and comfort with computers. Areas covered included computer basics, e-mail management, MEDLINE, and Internet search tools. Each student received seven hours of hands-on training followed by a test. The syllabus and emphasis of the classes were tailored to the initial skill base but the final test was given at the same level to all students. Student participation, test scores, and course evaluations indicated that this noncredit program was successful in achieving an acceptable level of comfort in using a computer for almost all of the student body.     

Papier‐mach(in)e: Thinking with “sticky” paper in the cloud

There is nothing less about paper and its use when it comes to academic study as we experience increasingly converging media spaces and functionalities of online applications within the screens of our laptops, mobile phones and tablet devices. The paper persists, and the paperless office, classroom and pedagogy become nothing but pure rhetoric. Hence, it is most pertinent to focus on paper and its “stickiness” in maintaining educational structures and practices. Usually hidden from view or neglected in educational technology studies is a consideration on how we think and interact not only with our mind but also with our heads and limbs. This paper will argue that paper has a composite place or bearing, a kind of stickiness to our technologised bodies, digital mobilities and hybrid practices in what I have coined here as papier‐mach(in)e. This claim will be supported by evidence that demonstrates how we simply think both practically and pathically and that our mobilities in media and physical spaces are in one form or another meshed with paper. In fact, a drive towards a paperless classroom or pedagogy is without much foundation when it comes to mobilising a sustainable agenda for technology‐enhanced learning.     

College Student Access: How Articulation Agreements Support Rural Students

Students from rural areas face additional burdens, such as affordability, academic preparation, and lack of college-going resources that make seeking, enrolling, and attending college more difficult. Community colleges offer hope to achieve a college degree for many rural students, and well-developed articulation agreements can be one way of improving access for these students.     

Conditions for mental health in education: Towards relational practice

There are concerns globally about the emotional wellbeing and mental health of young people and in this paper a critical orientation comprises both theoretical and empirical data sources. The case is made that (1) the medical model of mental health – that of problem identification, diagnosis and medical treatment at the level of the individual – is not appropriate for the vast majority of children and young people in schools and (2) relational approaches would be more sensitive in responding to the complexity of the ‘conditions’ in the schools, homes and communities in which young people live. Articulations of these conditions in the literature are explored while we also draw on empirical data from part of an evaluation of a school-based teacher-training programme in which interviewees and respondents mapped out their own conditions for emotional wellbeing and mental health. We conclude with proposals for relational approaches which (1) acknowledge the links between affect, cognition and school climate and culture, (2) foreground mental health and poverty as impacting on young people’s emotional wellbeing in their communities, families and schools and (3) attend to voice – providing spaces in which young people can develop their own ‘preferred narratives’ concerning emotional wellbeing and mental health.     

Generating Random Parallel Test Forms Using CTT in a Computer-Based Environment

This paper describes a procedure for automated test forms assembly based on Classical Test Theory (CTT). The procedure uses stratified random content sampling and test form pre-equating to ensure both content and psychometric equivalence in generating virtually unlimited parallel forms. The procedure extends the usefulness of CTT in automated test form construction, yielding classical item statistics based on representative sample distributions and pre-equated test forms with known psychometric characteristics. A rationale for the procedure is presented followed by an example application and discussion of psychometric considerations related to its use.     

Books and the popularization of science

This article discusses best-selling science books, the characteristics of the audience for popular science books, and the role of books within science popularization and science education. Best-selling science books have been rare, but generally readable. Regional books, also important sources of scientific information, aim at much smaller, far more price-sensitive audiences. Many successful regional, nontechnical science books are readable, heavily illustrated, and in some cases, cross-disciplinary. To increase the attentive audience for scientific information, improvement in science education is necessary, and the most efficacious role for scientific institutions may be the production of materials that can be easily incorporated into school curricula. He is the author of several nontechnical guides to the geology of Kansas and teaches science writing at the University of Kansas School of Journalism and Mass Communications A slightly different version of this paper was presented at the joint meeting of the Association of Earth Science éditors, European Association of Editors, and the Council of Biology Editors, Ottawa, Ontario, September 1989.     

Tapping the educational potential of Facebook: Guidelines for use in higher education

Facebook is a frequently used Computer Mediated Environment (CME) for students and others to build social connections, with identities and deposited self-expression. Its widespread use makes it appropriate for consideration as an educational tool; though one that does not yet have clear guidelines for use. Whether a social networking site can be used for educational objectives remains largely unexplored as a research question. This paper discusses a study conducted at the University of Auckland and at Manchester Metropolitan University on how their students use Facebook, and its impact on their social and academic lives. Using theories of social capital and knowledge management, we explore some potential educational uses of Facebook. Guidelines are included for the educational use of Facebook by tutors in a university environment. These include both positive recommendations and activities and approaches to avoid; and include educational, administrative and legal issues.     

Learning to read

Summary Reading begins with the child’s acquisition of spoken language. Later he learns to differentiate the graphic symbols from one another and to decode these to familiar speech sounds. As he learns the code, he must progressively utilize the structural constraints which are built into it in order to attain the skilled performance which is characterized by processing of higher-order units—the spelling and morphological patterns of the language. Because of my firm conviction that good pedagogy is based on a deep understanding of the discipline to be taught and the nature of the learning process involved, I have tried to show that the psychology of reading can benefit from a program of theoretical analysis and experiment. An analysis of the reading task—its discriminatory and decoding aspects as well as the semantic and syntactical aspects—tells uswhat must be learned. An analysis of the learning process tells ushow. The consideration of formal instruction comes only after these steps, and its precepts should follow from them. This article is adapted from a paper used at a conference on Perceptual and Linguistic Aspects of Reading, sponsored by the Committee on Learning and the Educational Process of the Social Science Research Council and held at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Palo Alto, California, 31, October 1963. Reprinted by permission of the Author and Publisher from Science, V. 148, No. 3673, 21 May 1965.     

School Job Descriptions: Purpose and Preparation

This paper emerged following recent research into the causes and effects of occupational pressures on primary headteachers in West Berkshire. The heads concerned were grouped according to a measure of the Type A/Type B personality dichotomy and their reported vulnerability to particular pressures related to this variable. Some conclusions are noted as are reported effective coping devices. The paper concludes with a brief examination of the implications of the research findings for local authorities.