Emotional design application to evaluate user impressions of library information desks

To evaluate the quality of service it is critical to know the concepts on which such evaluations are made from the user point of view. Differential semantics was applied in an emotional design framework to identify these concepts, or dimensions, and an equation was devised to discover the influence they have in the acceptance of a service by users. Some 53 users evaluated the tangible elements of 28 library information desks. Five latent concepts emerged from the analysis: modern, welcoming, professional, simple, and accessible. The most influential concepts influencing willingness to interact at library information desks were, in descending order, modernity, professionalism, welcoming environment, and accessibility. Finally, a comparative semantic profile was developed to explore the perception differences between the most and the least desirable information desks. Understanding the concepts that users consider when evaluating information desks and the influence of those concepts on user behavior can help designers improve overall service quality impressions.     

Early career researchers and their publishing and authorship practices

This study presents findings from the first year of the Harbingers research project, a 3‐year longitudinal study of early career researchers (ECRs), which sought to ascertain current and changing habits in scholarly communication. The study recruited 116 science and social science ECRs from seven countries who were subject to in‐depth interviews, and this paper reports on findings regarding publishing and authorship practices and attitudes. A major objective was to determine whether ECRs are taking the myriad opportunities proffered by new digital innovations, developing within the context of open science, open access, and social media, to publish their research. The main finding is that these opportunities are generally not taken because ECRs are constrained by convention and the precarious employment environment they inhabit and know what is best for them, which is to publish (in high impact factor journals) or perish.     

UNIVERSITY AUTONOMY: MODELS AND PERSPECTIVES

The author suggests that among the changes which will come in the wake of the reduction and the elimination of international boundaries in Europe will be an increase in the linkages among nationally peripheral higher education institutions which happen to be close together but on opposite sides of common international borders. Such linkages, which will no doubt profit from the parallel movement to increase the financial independence of higher education institutions vis‐!‐vis their national authorities, will probably also affect the centre‐periphery balance of power within given national higher education administrative authorities. These questions and others should quickly be made the objects of good comparative studies.     

From savages to capitalists: progressive images of education in the UK and the USA (1920–1939)

ABSTRACT

One strand of historical research in education that sails on the waves of the visual turn in history concerns the progressive image of education. A major reference point is an article written in 2007 by Burke and Grosvenor, who, on the basis of the photographic archives of two progressive schools in England, constructed a visual typology of progressive education. After a content analysis of 944 images published in the educational journal The New Era and 1827 images in Progressive Education in the period 1920–1939, it is concluded that this typology is partly adequate for describing a common image of new education in the UK and progressive education in the USA. But it should be extended with two more elements: (a) urban discovery and nature exploration, and (b) cultural-historical representations and recapitulation. In the latter children are first portrayed as ‘primitive savages’ who later become little bankers and shopkeepers in a capitalist economy.     

超越技术整合走向技术转换

时至今日,技术对美国基础教育的影响甚微,鉴于此,美国教育部及技术界领导人士近年来力主将技术与学校教学两者予以整合。这场“技术整合”运动主要还是聚焦于如何运用技术来支持当今学校已经采用的各种教学方式。然而,如果我们想要找到技术能够“转换”现有教学方式的新路径,也许应该迈出更大的步伐。     

Conflict Management in Pre-schoolers: A cross-cultural perspective La Gestion des Conflits chez les Enfants d'Age Pre´scolaire: Une perspective interculturelle Gestio´n de Conflictos en los Preescolares: Una perspectiva inter-cultural

The aim of the present article is to study of role that cultural differences play in peer interactions. We analysed children's behaviour during play, focusing on the conflicts that took place among pre-schoolers during leisure time, comparing the results obtained between children from Andalusia and Holland. We found a tendency for Andalusian children to prioritise the maintenance of the interaction above personal objectives, as well as a more marked interest in the Dutch pre-schoolers in conserving their own point of view before others, regardless of the possibility of disrupting the activity. Our explanation of the results was supported by consideration of peer interactions as peer cultures, which at the time of producing one's own social order reproduce the order of the adult culture in which they are developing. The influence of the collective - individualistic dimension as centre of important differences between the two cultures completes our argument. Le présent article a pour but d'étudier le rôle des différences culturelles dans l'interaction entre enfants du même âge. Nous avons analysé le comportement d'enfants en train de jouer, en nous concentrant sur les conflits qui se produisaient entre enfants d'âge préscolaire pendant leurs loisirs, et en comparant les résultats obtenus pour des enfants d'Andalouise et de Hollande. Nous avons trouvé que les enfants andalous avaient tendance à donner la priorité à la sauvegarde de l'interaction plutôt qu'à leurs objectifs personnels, tandis que les petits hollandais montraient un intérêt plus marqué envers le maintien de leur point de vue par rapport aux autres, sans se préoccuper de la possibilité de perturber l'activité. L'explication des résultats a été appuyée en considérant les interactions d'enfants du même âge au sein de leur groupe, qui, au moment de la production de leur propre ordre social, reproduisent l'ordre de la culture adulte dans laquelle ils se développent. L'influence du collectif - la dimension individualiste en tant que centre de différences importantes entre les deux cultures - complète notre argument. El objectivo del presente artículo es estudiar el papel que las diferencias culturales juegan en Las interacciones entre iguales. Estudiamos el comportamiento de los niños durante el juego centrándonos en los conflictos que tuvieron lugar entre preescolares a la hora del recreo, comparando los resultados obtenidos entre niños de Andalucía y de Holanda. Descubrimos que había una tendencia en los niños andaluces a priorizar el mantenimiento de la interacción por encima de los objetivos personales, así como un interés más marcado en los preescolares holandeses por conservar su propio punto de vista frente a los demás, sin tener en cuenta la posibilidad de trastornar la actividad. La explicación de los resultados apoyó en la consideración de las interacciones entre iguales, como en cursiva, donde los niños, a la vet de producir que en el momento un producir el orden social propio, reproducen el orden de la cultura adulta en la que se desarrollan. La influencia de la dimensión colectivismo-individualismo como ejc de importantes diferencias entre ambas culturas completa nuesta argumentación.     

Which New Forms of Television Advertising Are Most Strongly Recalled? A Quantitative Analysis

In recent years the loss of effectiveness of television advertising based on traditional spots has led to the development and consolidation of new forms of advertising. In this article, the authors analyze the recall effectiveness of three new television advertising formats (television billboards, internal telepromotions, and external telepromotions). We use a representative sample of Spanish television audiences to compare the advertising recall generated by each new form of advertising. The empirical analysis, carried out by means of a probit model, shows that television billboards generate better recall than external or internal telepromotions.     

Beyond English hegemony: language,migration and Appalachian schools

Co‐authored by an academic who has worked in ESL teacher improvement programmes under the No Child Left Behind Act, an assistant director of an Appalachian school district, and a trilingual translator and teacher who works with indigenous Mexican populations, this article is narrated in the voice of the first author. The essay addresses how teachers in a Tennessee school district have learned to engage new English speakers and how existing ‘English only’ law affects the process. Contrasting today's immigrants with those of the past, the narrator relates her experience of working with Purépecha children in Morristown and considers the perils of stereotyping others' literacy. The children's comfort with speaking English is affected by their awareness that, as undocumented people, they and their families do not enjoy full citizenship.     

Comparing university performance by legal status: a Malmquist-type index approach for the case of the Spanish higher education system

New public management and increasing levels of competition driven by global rankings are bringing the managerial practices of public and private higher education institutions closer together. However, these two types of institutions still maintain different objectives and traditions and enjoy different degrees of autonomy that are reflected in their internal organisational structures. We study the relative efficiency and productivity performance of private and public universities in Spain through two adaptations of the Malmquist Index. Results show that, in 2009/2010, the greater flexibility of private universities meant a better adjustment between inputs and outputs in the private sector. However, in 2013/2014, public universities had caught up with private universities. Because of the economic crisis, the inputs of public universities have decreased, but this decrease had not fully impacted their results in 2013/2014.     

Students’ and teachers’ perceptions: initial achievements of a Project-Based Engineering School

A unified academic model based on the project-based learning (PBL) methodology was implemented, in the 2012–2013 period, in the School of Engineering at Universidad Europea de Madrid. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether teachers and students participating in the capstone projects feel that the objectives for which this methodology was designed for are being achieved. The data were collected through interviews to participants at the end of the PBL experience. The results are encouraging, as students seem to be more motivated, and they say that they are experiencing deeper learning, and have developed key competitive skills required for their professional lives. Findings also suggest that teachers face positively the PBL as a learning approach since they perceive that students obtain a deeper learning, develop transversal skills with the projects and are more engaged with their studies. Implications and recommendations for the future of the model are also discussed.