Using Metadata to Design a Database-Driven Website

ABSTRACT

After a review of the Kent State Libraries and Media Services Web site, a committee of librarians and staff gathered user feedback and developed a library-specific content management system (CMS) to make the move from a static HTML environment to database-driven design. This article focuses on the significant role of metadata in the CMS from the perspective of one of the site's architects and one of its content developers. This article includes figures and a biography for further reading. The work of the redesign was earlier described in a poster presentation for the 12th Annual ACRL conference.     

Enclothed cognition: putting lab coats to the test

ABSTRACT

Although there has been some success with programmes that aim to increase STEM involvement by women and underserved minorities, science educators continue to seek ways to promote students’ interest in STEM. This study builds on social cognitive career theory (SCCT) and the theory of enclothed cognition to assess the impact of wearing lab coats on 5th-grade students. Students were assigned to a treatment group (that wore lab coats, n = 106) or a control group (that did not wear lab coats, n = 110) for 10 science classes taught by their classroom science teacher. Students were assessed pre and post to the intervention with a survey designed to measure science interest, recognition from others as a science person, science self-efficacy, and STEM career goals. Results showed students’ interest in science was not significantly changed due to wearing the lab coat, but the lab coats did have significant effects on students’ perceived recognition by others as being a science learner. Furthermore, those treatment students with low self-efficacy (compared to those with high self-efficacy) and those with who did not report having access to a parent with a STEM career had significant increases in perceptions of self-efficacy in science.     

Managing oppositional masculinity politics: the gendering of a government-commissioned research project

This article discusses the role of serendipity in qualitative research. Drawing on ideas and methodological suggestions from a set of classic and recent fieldwork accounts, the authors examine conceptions of serendipity and the ways that these conceptions become embedded in the processes by which we incorporate and embrace the temporal, relational, and analytical aspects of serendipity. The authors reject the perspective that it is the divine roll of the dice that determines serendipity and argue that serendipity is the interactive outcome of unique and contingent “mixes” of insight coupled with chance. A wide range of attempts to make sense of serendipity in sociology and anthropology are provided as exemplars of how planned insights coupled with unplanned events can potentially yield meaningful and interesting discovery in qualitative research.     

Enabling and aligning assessment for learning: some research and policy lessons from Queensland

Drawing on the Queensland School Reform Longitudinal Study (QSRLS), this paper documents the assessment practices of about 250 Queensland primary and secondary classrooms and the extent to which they align with those pedagogical practices described as ‘productive pedagogies’ in the research. In considering the extent of this alignment, the paper outlines in some detail the concept of ‘productive assessment’, which also developed out of the research. The QSRLS demonstrated the necessity of aligning pedagogies and assessment practices with curriculum purposes to enhance student learning and contribute to socially just outcomes. A lack of visible alignment in the assessment practices of teachers in the study is demonstrated and discussed. When considered in conjunction with the low intellectual demands of the pedagogies observed, there are serious social justice implications to be drawn from the research. The paper also shows the significance of systemic assessment policies in relation to teacher assessment practices. The paper conceptualizes ‘productive assessment’ in relation to broader sociological considerations of assessment practices. Some possible explanations for the findings are proffered and some brief recommendations about a way forward in relation to teacher professional development around assessment literacy are suggested.     

Tensions in learning content and technology: the experience of education students in a web-based research project

Abstract

There has been little research on how a content-based teacher education course can embed effective training in the use of the World Wide Web to search for information and present learning outcomes. To address this gap, the present study documents the experience of 64 pre-service and inservice teachers who completed a web-based group project in an applied linguistics course. Participants expressed general appreciation of the experience but also felt tension between technology and content learning. The study raises questions about the role of technology in knowledge construction, teachers' beliefs regarding what constitutes learning in a content-based course, and how new technology can be used to enhance the learning of content knowledge.     

Sex‐role‐related personality correlates of intellectual abilities in adolescents

A recent study illustrates the interrelatedness of personality variables and intellectual ability for both boys and girls.     

Factors Influencing Intrajudge Consistency During Standard-Setting

What factors influence judges when they set standards? How do judges, test questions, and the standard-setting process interact? How can we improve intrajudge consistency?     

Recoding Discourses in Higher Education: Critical Views on Recruiting Materials for Latin@ College Students

R. Stanton-Salazar (1997) suggested that minority students who successfully navigate the contexts of higher education are able to do so by “decoding” the system. Rather than obligating students to decode the system, we contend that institutions should recode the information they provide to prospective students from minority backgrounds. We focus on the promotional materials of an aspiring Hispanic-Serving Institution for our analysis.