Guest reviewers

What if new cars could adjust in-car devices to particular ways of speaking around the world? General Motors sought communication research to inform the design of culturally competent in-car human–machine interfaces. We discuss concerns and tensions that arise when balancing commitments of naturalistic study with design development goals. We emphasize the importance of awareness, attentiveness, and cooperation to ensure research integrity.     

Embedding Guides Where Students Learn: Do Design Choices and Librarian Behavior Make a Difference?

This study investigated whether library guides embedded in a university's learning management system fulfill their mission to promote library resources and maintain a librarian presence in the online course environment. Specifically, the study examined whether design elements, promotional practices, or other behaviors influenced guide use. It questioned whether students located the library guides and, if so, did students find the guides helpful. Results confirmed that students who used library guides found the guides helpful. Select faculty and librarian behaviors may also influence student use of library guides. Promotion and marketing practices, however, are not the only factors encouraging students to use library guides.     

Just Enough of a Good Thing: Indications of Long-Term Efficacy in One-Shot Library Instruction

Website attributions were measured as one way of evaluating the efficacy of the “one-shot” library session. Survey results indicated support for single session information literacy instruction in that participants exposed to a librarian classroom visit reported that they would be significantly more likely to have used library databases, checked out a book, asked a librarian for help, and to predict that they would ask a librarian for help at a later time. Results also indicated that students who reported a classroom librarian visit may have engaged in more systematic or complex processing to evaluate websites in that they considered more attributes and took less time to make better judgments about the quality of sources.     

Closing the Loop on Nursing Library Instruction: Using Student Performance to Improve Outcomes

Two librarians analyzed nursing students’ performance on an information literacy assignment to determine how they could change their instruction to better assist the students in comprehending the material. After identifying major areas of difficulty, including the use of search techniques, they revised both the instruction and the assignment, closing the loop by utilizing their assessment data. Next, they analyzed those results to evaluate the effectiveness of their changes and to make further improvements, thus demonstrating the iterative nature of instruction and assessment. The evidence-based instruction cycle of teaching, assessing, and revising should be repeated frequently to keep the assignment fresh and relevant.     

Teaching First-year Medical Students Where to Go First: Connecting Information Needs to e-resources

The purpose of this project was to introduce first-year medical students to electronic resources that are best suited for different types of background questions. Specific questions from a case study were presented, and the students generalized them into a “type” of question. They then identified the best e-resources for that type of question. This is their first introduction to the lifelong learning competency in the Indiana University School of Medicine competency-based curriculum.     

Book review

Kahin, B., & Keller, J. (Eds.). (1995). Public access to the Internet. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Kahin, B., & Keller, J. H. (Eds.). (In press). Coordinating the Internet. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Minow, N. W., & LaMay, C. L. (1995). Abandoned in the wasteland: Children, television, and the First Amendment. New York: Hill & Wang.

Messaris, P. (1997). Visual persuasion: The role of images in advertising. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.     

Using rubrics for assessing information literacy in the finance classroom: A collaboration

Business information literacy (BIL) is a core competency for lifelong learning and critical to achieving professional success. This article reports on the evolution of a collaborative framework for integrating and assessing information literacy in subject-specific upper-level undergraduate, as well as introductory MBA, courses in finance. The framework, developed over a significant period of time, provides a guide for structured and full collaboration between librarians and classroom instructors and includes a sample assignment and accompanying evaluation rubric which are adaptable across disciplines. Additionally, it provides a model for developing pedagogical methodologies for student attainment of BIL competencies and for faculty assessment of them.     

An Investigation of Student Response to a Potential Tuition Cap Increase at Casper College

Wyoming Community College Commission policy currently states any student enrolled for more than 12 credit hours will be charged tuition for only 12 credit hours. This policy is referred to as the tuition cap. In November 2010, the commission discussed increasing the tuition cap to 15 credits. An increase from 12 to 15 credits would have represented a 25% increase in tuition for students enrolled for 15 or more credits. Casper College president Dr. Walter Nolte commissioned a study to examine the impact such an increase would have on Casper College and its students. A survey instrument was designed to determine if students carrying more than 12 credit hours would reduce their enrollment credits and what sources of funding they would seek to defray the increased cost. Using a multistage sampling design, a sample of 67 Casper College course sections was selected to respond to the survey. The data were analyzed with logistic regression models, and the estimates were adjusted using sampling weights and a finite population correction. Analysis indicated that 42% of Casper College students would reduce their credit hours by an average of 3.3 credits. Approximately 58% of students would seek additional scholarships and 63% would seek increased work hours. The results of the study were presented to the Wyoming Community College Commission on October 28, 2011. In December 2011, the Commission announced a decision not to increase the tuition cap.     

MATHEMATICS IN COMMUNITY COLLEGES

The research reported in this article used regression analyses to examine the factors explaining the variation in instructional costs per full‐time equivalent (FTE) student at 592 public community colleges during the 1991‐92 academic year. The results suggests that instructional costs per FTE student tend to increase with the full‐time faculty‐to‐FTE student ratio, the part‐time faculty‐to‐FTE student ratio, faculty salaries, and the ratio of degree completions to total FTE enrollment in agricultural, skilled trade, and health‐related programs. Community colleges with total FTE enrollments between 1,000 and 1,499, between 2,000 and 2,499, and between 4,000 and 4,499 students tend to have lower instructional costs per FTE student than community colleges having total FTE enrollment less than 500 students.