What are students doing during lecture? Evidence from new technologies to capture student activity

Engaging students in class is paramount if they are to gain a deep understanding of class content. Student engagement is manifested by attention to the various components of instruction. However, there is little research at the tertiary level focusing on what aspects of instruction are related to changes in student attention during class. To address this gap, we collected multiple streams of data that provide a measure of student attention during instruction. We had students in an organic chemistry course who wear hats with a camera mounted on the brim, to provide a record of student gaze (i.e. looking at the board, notes, and friends). We also had students who use electronic pens that allowed us to record what information students transferred into their notes (pencasts). Based on our initial results, we believe the data provided by the point-of-view cameras and electronic pens hold great promise for using these technologies as viable research tools in educational settings to address various research questions.     

Globalization: "Making Geography Irrelevant"

Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore, in 1967, declared the advent of a "new audio-visual age of global Gemeinschaft":1 "Electric circuitry has overthrown the regime of 'time' and 'space' and pours upon us incessantly and continually the concerns of all other men… .     

A new approach to community helpers: Butcher,baker, candlestick maker

Community helpers have been discussed in early childhood education for many years. Young children are familiar with the police officer, fire-fighter, postal worker, nurse and doctor. They are able to describe the workers' uniforms as well as their work places. Yet they know very little about the skills and attitudes these helpers possess. Teachers can expand the study of community helpers by using a Career Education approach.Ann Harsh has taught primary grades in several states. Bitsy Browne Miller has taught primary and upper elementary grades in Mississippi. They are both doctoral students at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.     

Radio broadcast technology

This article traces the history of radio broadcasting beginning with the experiments of Heinrich Hertz and the successful transatlantic transmission of wireless signals by Marconi to the current satellite based radio broadcasting.     

A preliminary study of protein thiols and serum cholinesterase in assisted reproduction

In this study we sought to investigate the levels of serum protein thiols and cholinesterase levels before and after intrauterine insemination (IUI).We observed 68% patients showed a decrease in protein thiols and 63% showed a decrease in serum cholinesterase levels after insemination as compared to their respective pre procedure levels. The fall in thiols was statistically significant (p=0.021) indicating there is increased oxidative stress after the procedure. However, we could not comment on any reason for the fall in cholinesterase. Whether the changes in above parameters may have some implication on the overall success rate of IUI is yet to be ascertained.     

Listening ethically to indigenous children: experiences from India

ABSTRACT

An act of respect when researching with indigenous children is recognising the community’s code of ethics, its intellectual and environmental property, and acknowledging its right to self-determination. Within India, the indigenous communities constitute over 84 million people, but their voice has been marginalised particularly in the context of education. This paper foregrounds ethical considerations when researching with indigenous groups, specifically outlining dilemmas that arose from working alongside Sabar children of Jharkhand, India. It identifies how ethnomethodological methods and participatory tools have empowered this marginalised voice, enabling multinodal expressions and access to data that other methods may not have elicited. Findings highlight children as legitimate meaning-makers of their world, as ‘beings’, and not merely ‘becomings’. The paper discusses the ethical strategies adopted in consideration of its indigenous participants that have enabled generation of data beyond barriers of language, power and privilege. It navigates the nature and practice of ethics examined in the context of indigeneity through acknowledgement of ‘paradigmatic’ and ‘situated’ ethics, and an ethic of reciprocity. It concludes the relevance of ethics of difference in postcolonial education and research.     

E-readers: new opportunities for hospital patients and staff

E-readers provide an opportunity for hospital librarians to reach out to staff and patients with new approaches to library lending. Librarians in four Veterans Health Administration medical centers are using e-readers to enlarge their scope of service in unique ways. The libraries of VA hospitals in Minneapolis, Des Moines, Tampa, and Philadelphia have developed several ways to reach out to new library users.