What is Open Access Button? An interview with Joe McArthur

Articles published behind a paywall in commercial journals are often inaccessible to potential readers who are not affiliated with a subscribing institution. Open Access Button is an application that assists readers in finding Open Access versions of such articles. This service works in a completely legal fashion. This interview is with one of the co-founders of the service, Joe McArthur. Open Access Button is supported by the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition.     

Academic Writing and Publishing: A NASIG Preconference Workshop

ABSTRACT

The goal of this preconference was to guide aspiring academic librarians in understanding how to navigate scholarly publication requirements and be successful academic writers. The presenters provided tips for beginners as well as for those already engaged in a research agenda. One of the presenters is a published book and journal author and the other is the editor-in-chief of a major peer-reviewed library journal.     

The scientometric analysis of the “Abstract Journal” database

This paper discusses the results of statistical research on the information massif of the “Abstract Journal” DB (of the Republic of Kazakhstan) with a volume of about 50000 documents, which was carried out based on a number of scientometric indices. The types of journals, thematic structure of the AJ DB and prospective directions for investigations are designated. The leading journals on the themes of the series of the abstract journal are revealed. The averaged ratio between the scientific articles of the Kazakhstan scientists published in Kazakhstan, CIS-countries and far-abroad countries is determined to be 80: 5: 1. The main themes of publications in the English language relate to chemistry, physics, and mathematics. The works in various fields of Kazakhstan science are presented in Russian journals.     

The application of the radio frequency identification technology at libraries: The Russian experience

This paper presents the main stages of the emergence and development of the radio-frequency identification technology (RFID) at Russian libraries and analyzes the current state of library RFID systems, as well as considering the basic tendencies of the development of radio-frequency identification in the integration with the modern library technologies.     

The Idea of Calling Presented in Light of High-Impact Practices in a General Education Course and Beyond

ABSTRACT

This article describes a course taught at a U.S. Christian college located in Pennsylvania that uses “high impact practices,” as described by Kuh and O'Donnell (2013 Kuh, G. D., & O'Donnell, K. (2013). Ensuring quality and taking high-impact practices to scale. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities. [Google Scholar]), to educate students about calling. The course, titled “Created and Called for Community,” is required for all incoming first-year students in their second semester at the college and addresses three main topics central to the identity of the institution: Creation, Community, and Calling. Seven high-impact practices are instrumental in teaching about the nature of calling in this course. The influence of the course content is further enhanced by the campus environment and academic context in which it is offered. An identified weakness of the course is its lack of intentional connection to students' academic major and to other dimensions of life on campus. This criticism is addressed in the final section of the article, which focuses on the extension of the topic of vocation and calling throughout students' coursework, and particularly the selection of a major, and culminating in a capstone course during the final year of undergraduate studies.     

The design and validation of an instrument to measure teachers’ professional development at work

After graduation, it is essential for teachers to continue working on their professional development since they need to be prepared for the requirements of tomorrow's knowledge- and technology-based society, a more varied student and pupil population creating new responsibilities, and higher social expectations from schools and the society as a whole. Although attention for teachers’ professional development at work is increasing, the availability of valid survey instruments that measure their participation in professional development at work is still limited. Based on a literature review, such an instrument was designed. This 21-item self-report measure, using a 4-point rating scale, makes an inventory of teachers’ participation in activities contributing to professional development. The purpose of the instrument is to make teachers, school leaders and other stakeholders aware of whether, and to what degree, teachers engage in learning at work. This is important because ultimately the quality of education depends on it. A survey was administered in 9 Dutch primary schools and 15 Dutch secondary schools. Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis confirmed a six-factor structure, and augments earlier findings in the field. The reliabilities of the six subscales were sufficient to good.     

Enhancing science performance in students with learning disabilities using cover,copy, and compare: A student shows the way

A student who participated in a previous study where he was trained to use a self‐managed academic intervention known as cover, copy, and compare (CCC) to enhance his mathematics performance developed the specific intervention used in the current study. Without prompting, this student adapted and employed this procedure to learn bone in the human body. In the current study a multiple baseline across tasks design was used to determine if CCC could be used to enhance accuracy in identifying parts of the human heart in three students with learning disabilities. Three students learned how to perform the self‐management procedures during one session that lasted less than 15 minutes. Results showed that immediately after implementing the CCC intervention students' accuracy improved. Following 11 brief sessions, students were able to identify 15 parts of a human heart with an overall accuracy of 80% over 2 consecutive days. Discussion focuses on limitations and implications of this study and school psychologists' and students' contributions to the development and empirical validation of academic interventions. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Regression and fragmentation of the self inJames and the Giant Peach

Children's Literature in Education -     

Specificity of Reading Self-Efficacy Among Primary School Children

We investigated the specificity of reading self-efficacy among second- to fifth-grade children in Finland (N?=?1,327). Bandura (1997 Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York, NY: Freeman. [Google Scholar]) theorized that efficacy beliefs can be assessed at different levels of specificity; however, empirical support for this view is scarce among young children. Efficacy beliefs targeting reading-related activities were assessed at three specificity levels (general, intermediate, and specific). Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that these specificity levels are separable, but correlated, and the structure was invariant across gender and grade level. Self-efficacy factors were positively associated with reading fluency, but the strength of these associations varied according to specificity level. Findings suggest that reading self-efficacy in primary grades can and should be assessed at different specificity levels according to research aims.