Work and Life Balance Support of Female Midlevel Noninstructional Staff at Community Colleges

Two-year public institutions are known for their nurturing academic environments that support students from diverse backgrounds and experiences. One would assume that these nurturing and supportive environments would also go beyond the students to include employees. Family-friendly working environments support the needs of employees to balance work and life obligations without affecting career advancement opportunities. To decide whether two-year public institutions are family-friendly working environments, this quantitative study explored the perceptions of female midlevel noninstructional professional staff in various administrative positions at 215 two-year public institutions. A survey designed to obtain participant perceptions of their working environments and institutional policies pertaining to work and life balances was completed by 590 respondents. By understanding the perceptions of midlevel noninstructional professional staff, institutions can address the areas of concern by establishing formal policies that support the needs of working adults to help them balance work and life obligations without affecting future career advancement opportunities.     

Causal Attribution Profiles as a Function of Reading Skills,Hyperactivity, and Inattention

ABSTRACT

The causes that individuals attribute to reading outcomes shape future behaviors, including engagement or persistence with learning tasks. Although previous reading motivation research has examined differences between typical and struggling readers, there may be unique dynamics related to varying levels of reading and attention skills. Using latent profile analysis, we found 4 groups informed by internal attributions to ability and effort. Reading skills, inattention, and hyperactivity/impulsivity were investigated as functional correlates of attribution profiles. Participants were 1,312 youth (8–15 years of age) of predominantly African American and Hispanic racial/ethnic heritage. More adaptive attribution profiles had greater reading performance and lower inattention. The reverse was found for the least adaptive profile with associations to greater reading and attention difficulties. Distinct attribution profiles also existed across similar-achieving groups. Understanding reading-related attributions may inform instructional efforts in reading. Promoting adaptive attributions may foster engagement with texts despite learning difficulties and, in turn, support reading achievement.     

Mathematics motivation and engagement: an independent evaluation of a complex model with Australian rural high school students

Most traditional models of academic motivation focus on a small number of specific factors. However, the Student Motivation and Engagement Scale (MES) (Martin, 2007b Martin, A.J. 2007b. The motivation and engagement scale, Sydney, , Australia: Lifelong Achievement Group.  [Google Scholar]) includes a fairly comprehensive range of perspectives on general student motivation. The current study set out (a) to provide an independent test of the proposed 11-factor structure of the MES for boys and girls when (b) applied to high school mathematics in Australia (N = 1014; Years 7 to 11). It also examined (c) the covariation of different facets of motivation and engagement with gender, year level, and scholastic achievement. The hypothesised 11-factor model fit reasonably well across gender, and there was clear evidence of specificity to maths compared to English achievement. Some gender and grade effects were observed as well. The study provides support for the value of the Martin model and its instrument. It also extends our knowledge of student motivation to mathematics in Australian rural high schools.     

“I've Never Heard of It Before”: Awareness of Open Access at a Small Liberal Arts University

Small colleges and universities, often late adopters of institutional repositories and open access initiatives, face challenges that have not fully been explored in the professional literature. In an effort to gauge the level of awareness of open access and institutional repositories at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire (UWEC), the authors of this article surveyed fellow faculty members at this small liberal arts university before the 2011 Open Access Week. The survey results reveal that faculty members at UWEC do not share the same level of awareness concerning open access and institutional repositories that was found in the existing scholarly literature.     

Establishing a New Clinical Informationist Role in an Academic Health Sciences Center

The concept of clinical informationists is not new, but has recently been gaining more widespread acceptance across the United States. This article describes the lessons and challenges learned from starting a new clinical informationist service targeted to internal medicine residents in a large academic medical center. Lessons included the need for becoming immersed in evidence-based practice fundamentals; becoming comfortable with the pace, realities, and topics encountered during clinical rounds; and needing organizational commitment to both the evidence-based practice paradigm and clinical informationist role. Challenges included adapting to organizational culture, resident burnout, and perceptions of information overload.     

Libr-AR-y Tours: Increasing engagement and scalability of library tours using augmented reality

Abstract

Orienting patrons to library spaces, collections, and services is an important, but time-intensive, challenge for many librarians. Library tours are one strategy commonly employed to familiarize patrons with library spaces and services. Augmented reality provides a new opportunity for librarians to develop engaging and interactive unmediated tours. Augmented reality tours provide participants with an opportunity to explore library spaces and service points while affording librarians the chance to share valuable information about those spaces and services. This article details how one library constructed an augmented reality tour and shares assessment-based insights into participant responses to the augmented reality format.     

Demonstrating Our Value: Tying Use of Electronic Resources to Academic Success

Dr. Stephanie Havron Rollins, Instruction Coordinator, and Ed Cherry, Systems Librarian at Samford University, presented the results of their research that measured the use of library electronic resources and academic success as defined by a higher grade point average (GPA). They presented statistics on student database log-ins by college, department, and major; student log-ins by level, class, and gender; and student undergraduate GPA by department and class. Research implications were discussed along with future research ideas. Their findings demonstrate to library stakeholders the impact that the library has on student success.     

Supervisor accessibility and job characteristics

Dyadic and normative accessibility are hypothesized to correlate positively with three task dimensions: variety, autonomy and identity. The presumed independence of the dyadic and normative accessibility scales is also investigated. Data were collected from 40 middle level managers in a variety of organizations. Results show significant relationships between dyadic accessibility and the characteristics of variety and autonomy. Tasks with high identity plausibly do not require much supervision. Follert's scale for normative accessibility seems to have some serious validity problems, and probably ought to be replaced or newly validated.     

Sexual Socialization Messages on Television Programs Most Popular Among Teens

This paper examines the portrayal of sexual messages in the top 20 most popular television programs among teenagers in the United States. It compares findings from the 2001–2002 and 2004–2005 seasons. Results show that these programs contained a large number of sexual messages, though their frequency decreased over time. Most messages about sex were in the form of conversations. About 1 in 2 shows included portrayals of sexual behaviors, mostly precursory behaviors. Sexual risk and responsibility concerns were rarely addressed. Most consequences for sexual intercourse portrayed in 2004–2005 were negative, a significant change from 2001–2002. The findings' implications for adolescents' sexual socialization are discussed.