Rush Health Systems and Meridian Community College: People Serving People

Meridian Community College and Rush Health Systems are partners in delivering training focused on Rush's mission statement of hospital-wide commitment to “excellence in service management.” Rush and MCC have delivered customized classes in the following areas: medical billing, leadership management, computer training, admissions clerk, and system-wide customer service training.     

THE COST OF COMPLIANCE WITH THE SPIRIT AND LETTER OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS

The Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education has received considerable attention in this twentieth anniversary year. We are reprinting the decision because we think it deserves as much attention today as in 1954. Reading it over I wondered would it have made any difference if the suit had been brought in behalf of white as well as black children who also suffer the psychological effect of segregated schools.     

International relations and the spread of information worldwide

The world is too small to function within borders. Librarians have recognized the need for mutual respect and co-operation between nations, and the importance of their role in achieving this end. IFLA represents the interests of librarianship and has established various core programs that address common concerns. Aspects of international co-operation include the needs for preservation of materials, resource sharing through international networks, international telecommunications, librarian exchanges and materials exchanges. Obstacles to technology, finances and cultural differences must be overcome. Developed nations must assume an open and helpful attitude toward sharing technology with underdeveloped nations so that they can begin to thrive, standards of living improve, and economic markets open. Librarians can effect major changes in the way information is transmitted across borders, thereby shaping information policy and the resulting world order.     

A variable drag coefficient,spatially extended numerical model of hammer throws and new wind tunnel data on current hammers

The maximum distance a hammer can be thrown depends on its mass, length and aerodynamic drag, meaning that record hammer throws performed before and after a rule change (for example, if the minimum mass is changed) cannot be compared directly. However, if all factors affecting the flight of a hammer are fully understood, and the range travelled by a hammer thrown with a given initial speed, angle and release height can be predicted, records thrown under different rules can be compared. In this work, a numerical model is developed, which includes the effects of atmospheric pressure, altitude, Coriolis Effect, gravitational variation, wind speed, ambient temperature, linear drag, torsional drag, hammer size and hammer orientation. It is based on the model of Mizera and Horvath (J Biomech 35:785–796, 2002). Two refinements are made: the drag coefficient varies with Reynolds number, and the hammer is represented as a spatially extended object with nonzero moment of inertia. New wind tunnel data on the drag of the three main components of the hammer (ball, cable and handle) are presented. This data are incorporated into the model which is then used to predict throws made at the IAAF 2011 World Athletics Championships (Daegu, Korea). The model is shown to be capable of predicting to within 1 % the distance of hammer throws where the air density, latitude, release height, release angle and release velocity are known. It is more accurate than numeric and analytic models which assume a constant drag coefficient. This may be because it does not require the user to choose the drag coefficient and automatically uses an appropriate drag coefficient regardless of conditions. With a good biomechanical model or good assumptions about release speeds, throws with different implements can be compared to compare records thrown before and after rule changes. Further work is needed to develop a biomechanical model capable of predicting the release speed an athlete can achieve with a range of different implements.     

Sound Effects: A Look Into The Past*

The following article should be of particular interest to American radio broadcasters and producers. Based upon a visit by the author to Moscow in 1958, it details the methods used by the North American Service of Radio Moscow in producing a wide variety of programs with an extremely small staff. Of special note is the practice of using the program producer as his own tape recording engineer, and the “make and remake”; method of editing programs as they are being recorded.     

A foot in both camps: lessons learned about without-prejudice teaching and learning from cross-cultural experience

This paper articulates lessons learned about without-prejudice teaching and learning from a researcher-practitioner who has experience in both developing and developed contexts. Developing countries often look to Western countries for education standards, but Western countries rarely look to developing contexts where theory is being generated about divisions and access to education. This comparative study integrates lessons learned from both contexts. It uses an auto-ethnographic methodology and draws upon phenomenographic research and critical theory. The need for emic (insider) without-prejudice teaching and learning practices is articulated in three lessons: 1. culture privileges for or prejudices against students’ access to education; 2. beliefs systems allow or deny access to learning opportunities and environments; and 3. student–teacher relationship can interrupt prejudice.     

Action Learning: Design Features and Outcomes at Georgia State University

This account of action learning as a curriculum offering at Georgia State University provides background and details of program start-up and operation during a first, experimental year. It explains what features were important in the design, what some of the first-year outcomes were, and what designers of the laboratory course will continuously seek to improve. Research findings from the first year of offering the program supported the expectation that students would gain confidence in their set mentoring and organizational problem-solving skills through a blend of hands-on experience and through independent and in-class reflection. Using critical incidents and journals as a way of staying in touch with events and with their own learning process, participants came to view critique as a leading part of action learning. Graduate students who were the first action learners at GSU included both human resource development and instructional technology majors. They have now fanned out in many directions to learn more about action learning and to carry the process into other organizations.     

An Examination of Changes to State Civic Education Requirements, 2004–2016

Across the country, states are considering policies that support civic learning among youth. Recent initiatives at the state level have changed graduation requirements and state assessments around high school civics. These initiatives can be grouped into three types: coursework, assessments, and accountability. The first type, coursework, refers to whether a state’s graduation requirements include a course in civics. The second, assessments, encompasses state requirements that students be assessed on civics or citizenship education. The third type, accountability, refers to whether a state’s accountability system includes state assessments in civics or citizenship education. The purpose of this study is threefold: (1) to describe state policies in civics education and the variation in them among the American states, (2) to document the changes in state policies between 2004 and 2016, and (3) to help unpack the reasons behind changes to civics education policy among the American states. We find considerable variation in civics education policies across states, as well as substantial changes within states over time. Using event history analysis, we exploit the variation to examine the extent to which political, economic, and demographic factors inside a state as well as the actions of neighboring or regional states condition adoption of assessment policies. We find evidence that the proportion of Hispanic and black populations in a state are positively associated with adoption and discuss implications and areas for future research.