The Future of Web Citation Practices

ABSTRACT

Citing webpages has been a common practice in scholarly publications for nearly two decades as the Web evolved into a major information source. But over the years, more and more bibliographies have suffered from “reference rot”: Cited URLs are broken links or point to a page that no longer contains the content the author originally cited. In this column, I look at several studies showing how reference rot has affected different academic disciplines. I also examine citation styles’ approach to citing Web sources. I then turn to emerging Web citation practices: Perma, a “freemium” Web archiving service specifically for citation; and the Internet Archive, the largest Web archive.     

Conceptualizing educational leadership in an academic development program

Promoting the development of educational leadership in higher education is essential for strengthening the quality of teaching and learning. Additional research is needed to conceptualize educational leadership, especially within informal roles. We analysed how faculty members in an academic development program conceptualized educational leadership. Five key characteristics emerged that inform the development of educational leadership capacity in postsecondary contexts: affective qualities, mentoring and empowering, action-orientation, teaching excellence, and research and scholarship. Three characteristics of academic programs aimed at developing educational leadership were also identified: funding and resources to implement a change initiative, building interdisciplinary communities, and embracing identity.     

How African American Mothers from Urban,Low-Income Backgrounds Support Their Children’s Kindergarten Transition: Qualitative Findings

The transition to kindergarten is a critical milestone in children’s lives, with implications for academic and future life success. The demographic family/parental variables of residence, social class, and race have been associated with children’s adjustment to kindergarten. In particular, children growing up in families from urban, low-income African American backgrounds are at heighted risk for negative academic, cognitive, and socio-emotional outcomes as they transition to kindergarten. Relatively little inductive research exists on the kindergarten transition of this population and how families from urban, low-income African backgrounds positively support their children’s kindergarten adjustment. However, researchers using qualitative methods are increasingly examining the first-hand experiences of families from urban, low-income African American backgrounds to better understand family beliefs and practices that promote children’s successful kindergarten transition. Contributing to this gap in the literature, we utilized qualitative interviews informed by resilience theory to explore how 20 mothers from urban, low-income African American backgrounds facilitated their Head Start preschoolers’ transition to kindergarten. We found that, despite possessing parental/family risk factors associated with ineffective kindergarten transitions, mothers monitored and assessed their children’s academic and socio-emotional school readiness abilities, promoting readiness competencies while addressing readiness weaknesses. One of the ways that mothers supported children’s transition readiness was through one-on-one conversations with preschoolers. Our findings provide recommendations for effective home–school collaborations that support children’s successful kindergarten transition. Collaborating with engaged and motivated parents, Head Start can assist families and children prior to kindergarten and continue to serve as a link between families and children and elementary schools.     

Cross‐national Similarities and Differences in Employee Perceptions of Issues in the Work Environment

This exploratory study examines cross‐national similarities and differences in employee perceptions of issues in the work environment in 17 organizational work settings in seven Asia‐Pacific countries; Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United States. Employees at these 17 sites indicated their degree of agreement with statements about 60 work environment issues which previous research has shown impact performance. Resulting data were compared using coefficients of concordance as described by Gibbons (1971) at three levels of analysis. Analysis indicated that differences and similarities in responses did not reflect those one would expect to find based on previous well‐known research concerning cultural differences in those same countries (Hall, 1976; Hofstede, 1980, 2001). This suggests that relying primarily on national cultural differences is not a sufficient guide for the design of performance improvement interventions in various countries and that other context factors need to be taken into account. Possible hypotheses for future research are offered.     

Relationships among stress,coping, and mental health in high‐achieving high school students

This study investigates the relationships among stress, coping, and mental health in 139 students participating in an International Baccalaureate (IB) high school diploma program. Mental health was assessed using both positive indicators (life satisfaction, academic achievement, academic self‐efficacy) and negative indicators (psychopathology) of adolescent social‐emotional and school functioning. Findings include that students in an IB program perceive significantly more stress than a sample of 168 of their general education peers, and that specific coping styles are differentially related to mental health outcomes in this subgroup of high‐achieving high school students. Furthermore, coping styles (specifically, anger and positive appraisal) moderate the influence of stress on global life satisfaction and internalizing symptoms of psychopathology. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

'Include me out': a response to John Wilson

Complex cultural and historical forces are often neglected when the development of inclusive education in international comparative research projects are discussed. The purpose of this study was to analyse teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education by examining the ways in which cultural-historical factors in South Africa and Finland may impact on teachers’ attitudes. Data collection methods included the analysis of education policy documents and other relevant documents in countries, an open-ended question on teachers’ own definition of inclusive education and the results of the initial study on teachers’ attitudes to and concerns about inclusive education. A sample of 310 South African and 833 Finnish primary and secondary education teachers in mainstream and special education settings took part. An analysis of the data within a cultural-historical framework indicated that each country’s historical commitment to inclusive education and its attendant legacies about diversity in education have clearly mediated teachers’ views in both countries. As a result, we have been able to develop a deeper understanding of the complex local conditions, and the similarities and differences across national contexts in which inclusive education is implemented that could benefit both countries.     

International Activity or Internationalisation Strategy? Insights from an Institutional Pilot Study in the UK

Tertiary Education and Management - Set in a context of increasing competition and changing dimensions of internationalisation, the paper offers an analysis of one institution’s approach to...     

Genetic Change and Continuity from Fourteen to Twenty Months: The MacArthur Longitudinal Twin Study

Genetic change as well as continuity was investigated within the domains of temperament, emotion, and cognition/language for 200 pairs of twins assessed at 14 and 20 months of age in the laboratory and home. The second year of life is marked by change rather than continuity: correlations from 14 to 20 months averaged about .30 for observational measures of temperament and emotion, about .40 for language measures, and about .50 for mental development. 2 types of genetic change were examined: changes in the magnitude of genetic influence (heritability) and genetic contributions to change from 14 to 20 months. In general, heritability estimates were similar at 14 and 20 months. Evidence for genetic influence on change from 14 to 20 months emerged for several measures, implying that heritability cannot be equated with stability. Analyses of continuity indicated that genetic factors are largely responsible for continuity from 14 to 20 months.