Integrating social activity theory and critical discourse analysis: a multilayered methodological model for examining knowledge mediation in mentoring

This study suggests an integrative qualitative methodological framework for capturing complexity in mentoring activity. Specifically, the model examines how historical developments of a discipline direct mentors’ mediation of professional knowledge through the language that they use. The model integrates social activity theory and a framework of critical discourse analysis to guide the data collection, analysis and interpretation processes. Drawing on the case of mentoring in Arts Education, we describe and discuss the discursive character of the interactions between content and pedagogy in mentoring activity, as they grow out of the larger historical groundings of participants’ practice.     

Determinants of students' satisfaction with course work: An international comparison between two universities

The present study attempts to develop a scale of students' general satisfaction with college instruction, to empirically assess the dimensions behind the scale, and to examine four predictors (sex, major, school year, and academic performance) which may affect the various factors of student's satisfaction with instruction. The study was conducted in two universities, one in Israel and one in the United States. The findings of this study indicate that the concept of students' satisfaction is composed of four factors and that each of these factors is best predicted by a different combination of the independent variables. However, academic performance is a dominant predictor of all four factors. The pattern of the findings is similar for both countries.The policy implications of these findings for university decision making and institutional research are discussed and elaborated.     

A Mixed-Method Study of Undergraduate and First Year Librarian Positions in Academic Libraries in the United States

The aim of this study is to better understand the prevalence, scope, and unique challenges of undergraduate and first year librarians over the last decade, through the use of quantitative and qualitative data from job listings, online surveys, and phone interviews. The findings indicate that there is very little consensus about what the undergraduate librarian does, how the work is structured on a daily basis, and how its goals are negotiated and assessed. Further, undergraduate librarians face a number of issues, including navigating vaguely defined responsibilities, establishing their professional credibility, and communicating their role within the library and to the university. Survey participants reported experiencing tension between the traditional (reference, instruction, collection development) and undergraduate-specific aspects of their duties, indicating that it is difficult for them to prioritize engagement and outreach. While the literature on blended librarianship anticipates some of these issues, undergraduate librarians are unique because they provide an intersection between broader higher education priorities and the academic library. The author stipulates that the lack of definition, strain, and the perception of undergraduate librarianship as an entry-level position is incongruent with the importance colleges and universities place on undergraduate student success.     

Learning to Mentor as Learning a Second Language of Teaching

This paper describes and interprets the process by which two novice mentors of English teachers, who are experienced high school teachers of English, learnt to construe their new role by articulating differences and similarities between their practice as teachers of children and as mentors of teachers. The evolving competencies that the focal mentors attributed to their learning are interpreted through the metaphor of 'learning to mentor as learning a second language of teaching'; an organising framework that emerged from the findings of a qualitative case study that investigated the learning process experienced by two veteran teachers of English in their passage from teaching English to school children to becoming mentors of teachers of English (Orland, 1997). The study suggests that although the passage from being a teacher of children to becoming a teacher of teachers is shaped by strong emotional and motivational dispositions, it is also a highly conscious and gradual process of developing communicative competencies, whereby the mentor learns to redefine his/her context of teaching in order to make sense of his/her new context of mentoring. At an operational level the study indicates that there is a definite need to prepare teachers for this passage by providing opportunities to voice and articulate these connections in teacher education programmes.     

A survey of the use of ethnographic methods in the study of libraries and library users

A survey and analysis of the use of ethnographic methods in studies of libraries and library users identified a total of 81 studies. Five main types of ethnographic research methods were identified: observation, interviews, fieldwork, focus groups, and cultural probes. The survey shows a recent increase in the use of ethnographic methods in libraries, and identifies an emerging genre of studies associated with library planning that uses rapid ethnographic methods to investigate libraries and their users as part of planning processes. The survey supports comparison across ethnographic studies, settings, and methods; enables the growth of ethnographic methods as a research method in libraries; and provides material for library and information science curriculum development in this area. A bibliography of the studies used in the analysis is provided in Appendix A, and includes a number of gray literature reports and online publications.     

An alternative way of responding to powerful ideas: notes to accompany the poem entitled ‘Five Principles of Quality in Narratives of Action Research’

The author examines the development of her thinking in regard to the value, the purposes, the process and the outcomes of teaching an undergraduate course in action research for the past 4 years. The emergent understandings were informed by recurrent hermeneutic cycles of interpretative readings of the formal written and oral feedback conducted with the students at the end of each year, the students’ final action research projects submitted at the end of each course and personal field notes kept in journal writing. These sources have yielded rich longitudinal data that sheds light on the impact of a course for the learning of both its participants and the course professor. The article focuses on the actions that the author has undertaken in the design and implementation of the course as a result of her learning or on how action research ‘of a second order’ has informed the structure of ‘first order’ action research. The exploration has led the author to important insights regarding her role as course professor, issues of pedagogy, reflection, process and products of learning as they play out in an action research course at undergraduate level.     

The role of the academic library in supporting LGBTQ students: A survey of librarians and library administrators at LGBTQ-friendly colleges and universities

This study engages public services librarians and librarians in administrative or managerial positions in a conversation about LGBTQ student needs. Using a sample from the Campus Pride Index’s Best 25 LGBTQ-friendly colleges and universities, the researchers gathered information regarding outreach, collections, facilities, services, and policies for LGBTQ students. The results of this survey suggest that, while there is a great deal of support for LGBTQ students among librarians, the Campus Pride criteria is not entirely being met. There is an unclear delineation between the role of the library in promoting LGBTQ friendliness, and the role of the larger university, which may be related to the uncertain position of the library in the campus environment. However, the empathy that librarians in both decision and non-decision making roles have towards LGBTQ students opens up the possibility of deeper conversations and proactive, innovative support services in the future.     

Cracks in the iceberg: surfacing the tensions of constructivist pedagogy in the context of mentoring

In this study, the reciprocity between educational reforms and the role of teachers is examined. A social-discursive approach to sense-making provides a theoretical framework for understanding how teachers position themselves within the context of a reform. To illustrate the utility of such an approach, the specific case of a teacher involved in reforms is presented. The results show an ongoing positioning process and this process to constitute both the input and output for the interaction between teacher and reforms. The development of sensitivity to this positioning process appears to be a necessary prerequisite for successful reforms.