Probing the Effects of Policy Changes by Evaluating Circulation Activity Data at Columbia University Libraries

Circulation data sets at Columbia University Libraries were organized, analyzed, and visualized by examining types of patrons and their circulation activities. Patrons examined included: Graduate students, Undergraduate students, Officers and Faculty, and Visitors. Circulation activities are defined as: charges, renewals, holds, and recalls. Policy decisions, usage patterns, and learning curves were detected system-wide, and those concerning loan periods and borrowing permissions impacted activity immediately. The data validated common understandings of usage patterns and verified that faculty hold books longest, that overall activity has declined, and that patrons have adapted to online transactions. This article discusses academic years 2003–04 to 2009–10.     

BASES 2006: “From education to application”

The dependence of power on aerobic and anaerobic energy metabolism and on force production was studied in maximal leg exercise. National and international level male rowers (n = 9) performed four modified (legs‐only) rowing ergometer exercises: a progressive test, 2‐min (T2), 12‐min (T12) and 6‐min (T6) all‐out tests. In T2, significant correlations were observed between power in T2 (P_T2) and oxygen debt (r = 0.83, P<0.05) and between P_T2 and average force production (F_av) during the last 30 s (r = 0.85, P<0.05). These parameters explained 93% of the variation in P_T2. The highest correlations between power in T6 (P_T6) and physiological parameters were as follows: maximal oxygen uptake (VO₂ max: r = 0.87, P<0.01), blood bicarbonate concentration before the test ([HCO^‐ _3before]: r=0.85, P<0.05) and blood lactate concentration on anaerobic threshold (BL_anT: r= —0.82, P<0.05). Together, these parameters explained 92% of the variation in P_T6. In T12, the total power (P_T12) correlated with power of anaerobic threshold #OPP_ANT’. r = 0.95, P< 0.001) and with the highest VO₂ value in this test (VO₂ peak: r = 0.92, P<0.001). These two parameters explained 96% of the variation in P_T12.

The decrease of at least one of the force parameters during each test was taken as a sign of fatigue. The decline in force was compensated for by an increase in stroke rate at the end of T6 and T12 (P<0.01, P<0.001). Consequently, the power remained unchanged or even increased at the end of T6 and T12. The term ‘power endurance’ is introduced to describe the ability to resist and to compensate for local muscular fatigue.     

Impulsivity and Academic Cheating

The authors examined the relations between academic cheating and impulsivity in a large sample of adolescents enrolled in high school health education classes. Results indicated that impulsivity predicts academic cheating for students who report extensive involvement in cheating. However, students who engage in extensive cheating are less likely to report cheating when they perceive a mastery goal structure. In addition, both moderate and extensive cheaters report less cheating when they perceive the teacher as being credible.     

The complexities of supporting Asian international pre‐service teachers as they undertake practicum

Increasing numbers of Asian international students are choosing to undertake their tertiary studies in English‐speaking countries. For universities, international students are an important source of revenue. However, Asian international students face multiple challenges in adapting to a foreign culture, understanding the expectations of their role, and adjusting to language, communication and cultural differences. These challenges are manifested, in particular, during practicum or field experience. This paper investigated the concerns of twenty Asian pre‐service teachers before and after their practicum in Australian schools by drawing upon data from focus group interviews. Although language barriers and cultural differences were identified concerns before the practicum, concerns about their relationship with their supervising teachers and the limited time in which they had to learn also emerged after the practicum. Whilst the findings are limited to the present study, implications for supporting Asian international pre‐service teachers during practicum are discussed.     

Strategies for Examining the Consequences of Assessment and Accountability Programs

This article addresses issues in evaluating the consequences of assessment programs that are developed for the purpose of holding schools accountable to state standards. After providing a brief review of research examining consequential evidence, a validation study to obtain consequential evidence for state assessment and accountability programs is proposed. The proposal includes a validity argument, a set of propositions that follow from the validity argument, a delineation of the consequential evidence needed, and a way to model the relationship between performance gains and school, principal, teacher, and student variables.     

The frontline of refusal: indigenous women warriors of standing rock

Abstract

Indigenous women stand in solidarity on the frontline of refusal, protecting their ancestral homelands and their ways of life across North America and beyond. The Indigenous stand-off at Standing Rock in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline inspires this photo series of vignettes where Indigenous voices accompany images of Indigenous women in their battle as frontline water protectors. The intention of these vignettes is to share the intimacy of Indigenous experiences on the frontline that challenge perceptions of Indigenous women and instead situate them as warriors of wellness in the face of violence. The frontline in this reality represents the contested space where Indigenous people gather to refuse settler-colonial violence against Mother Earth, territorial lands, and Indigenous Peoples. Through the photo essay, we observe how Indigenous women reclaim identity through language revitalization, commitment to original instruction, and the right to visibility. Indigenous women define their missions of wellness and address direct challenges to community health they overcome in these spaces of refusal.     

Changes in time-related academic behaviour are associated with contextual motivational shifts

Research in the field of time-related academic behaviour (i.e. procrastination and timely engagement) has traditionally been focused on more stable factors, such as personality. Recent research suggests there may be a motivational component to these behaviours. The present study examines whether time-related academic behaviour is stable across time and context, and the degree to which change is predicted by contextual and motivational factors. The sample was comprised of 453 undergraduate college students at a large public university in the Midwestern US. We found that time-related academic behaviours were not stable, and changes in those behaviours were most closely linked to changes in self-efficacy, self-regulation and mastery-approach achievement goals.