The Relationship Between Trait Affect and Job Attitudes in Library Employees

This research explores the relationship between employees’ disposition and several important job attitudes. Dispositional affect is a personality trait that describes people's emotional responses to situations. This study explored how affective disposition influences the job attitudes of work engagement, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. Data were collected from a sample of librarians, and the results show that affective disposition strongly predicted the three job attitudes in the expected directions. The findings contribute to knowledge of the role of personality in the workplace and provide guidance for library managers on how best to facilitate positive job attitudes.     

What do they know?: An assessment of undergraduate library skills

This article, which examines variables affecting scores on a test of library skills, finds that the frequency with which students receive assignments requiring library research is the best predictor of a score. The unevenness is students' research skills has implications for bibliographic instruction.     

Physics Courses in the New Arizona Engineering Curriculum

To facilitate the adoption of a common core curriculum in the Schools of Engineering and of Mining at the University of Arizona, the general physics course for engineers has been dropped. The physical foundation for engineering is taught in a new series of courses in the Civil, Mechanical, Electrical Engineering, and Physics Departments as part of the common core. The Physics Department teaches atomic, molecular, nuclear, and solid-state physics in a seven-unit junior-level course. There are grounds for a re-examination of the role of physics in engineering education and perhaps for extensive changes. It is suggested, however, that the role is, and should remain, vital, in the interests of science, of engineering, and of education.     

Expert anticipatory skill in striking sports: a review and a model

Expert performers in striking sports can hit objects moving at high speed with incredible precision. Exceptionally well developed anticipation skills are necessary to cope with the severe constraints on interception. In this papr we provide a review of the empirical evidence regarding expert interception in striking sports and propose a preliminary model of expert anticipation. Central to the review and the model is the notion that the visual information used to guide the sequential phases of the striking action is systematically different between experts and nonexperts. Knowing the factors that contribute to expert anticipation, and how anticipation may guide skilled performance in striking sports, has practical implications for assessment and training across skill levels.     

Demystifying the publication process – a structured writing program to facilitate dissemination of teaching and learning scholarship

This paper reports on a writing program to support academic staff to publish in peer-refereed journals. Nine participants completed a 12-week program, which involved regular meetings, set writing tasks, and peer feedback on drafts. A pre- and post-survey and follow-up interviews were used to gather feedback. Participants especially valued the discipline of weekly sessions and peer feedback. They reported increased skills and confidence in their writing, greater knowledge of the publication process, and intention to continue writing. Although five papers were published, a 12-month follow-up revealed that original writing intentions were not sustained. Thus, while a structured writing program can be effective, the pressures academic staff experience trying to meet conflicting requirements of teaching, administration, and research, must also be addressed.     

An ethic of care and educational practice

Abstract

This article explicates the theoretical framework of an ethic of care and outlines recommendations for applying the framework to practice in adventure education, offering possibilities for re-imagining organizations as centrally concerned with compassion and care. Focusing on the work of Gilligan and Noddings, we suggest an understanding of an ethic of care that is contextual, ungendered, and inclusive of both the private and public spheres of life, and draw parallels between this ethic and the philosophies underlying Outward Bound specifically, and adventure education more generally. Finally, we outline possibilities for organizing educational curricula around centres of care for self, others, and the natural world, using Noddings' suggested curricular components of modeling, dialogue, practice, and confirmation.     

Negotiating the cultural and economic outcomes of sport heritage attractions: the case of the National Baseball Hall of Fame

ABSTRACT

Contemporary museums must balance their roles as commercial entities and repositories of various, and often dissonant, heritages and histories. Sports museums in particular often have clear commercial and nostalgic aims, particularly through tourist visitation, though the extent to which they represent more challenging narratives remains unclear. This paper examines how one of the most famous sports museums in the world, the National Baseball Hall of Fame (NBHF) in Cooperstown, New York, balances its dual role as tourist attraction and repository of baseball's sometimes checkered past. It was found that different sections of the museum provide greater or lesser degrees of engagement with more controversial issues, although the commercial outputs and appeal of the museum remains clear throughout. Utlimately, the NBHF demonstrates that balancing veneration and critique in collections can be commercially prosperous, and can provide a template for other sport and popular culture museums who may be wary of incorporating more challenging narratives in their exhibits. Furthermore, the symbiotic relationship between the Hall of Fame and the village of Cooperstown, particularly in creating and maintaining cultural and economic outputs, requires further exploration.     

Mental aerobics: The half-sheet response

Mental aerobics is the process of stimulating the mind through wellplanned, specific, and direct exercise routines. The half-sheet response, one type of mental aerobics, has many uses. Also, it encourages inclusion, expression, understanding, thinking, feedback, insight, and comparison. It serves as a form of entertainment, a way to test, and a means for taking attendance. Weaknesses include the possibility that it will be viewed as a gimmick, used just for attendance, or used without feedback. With enough time to write, avoidance of overuse, and substantial planning, it can stimulate and motivate students, and it can form an important bond between instructor and students.