Learning to lead: Self‐ and peer evaluation of team leaders in the human structure didactic block

Increasing emphasis on leadership in medical education has created a need for developing accurate evaluations of team leaders. Our study aimed to compare the accuracy of self‐ and peer evaluation of student leaders in the first‐year Human Structure block (integrated gross anatomy, embryology, and radiology). Forty‐nine first‐year medical students at Mayo Medical School were assigned to learning teams of three or four members. Teams worked together on daily laboratory dissection, clinical projects, embryology presentations, and daily group quizzes. Student team leaders were responsible for leading laboratory dissection, reviewing radiographic findings, and organizing group assignments. Weekly electronic surveys were administered to evaluate team leaders on altruism, compassion, respect, integrity, responsibility, commitment to excellence, and self‐reflection. Results demonstrated that team leaders rated themselves lower than their peers rated them in multiple aspects of leadership. Peer evaluation of team leaders was statistically higher than self‐evaluation in all traits measured except respect. Female leaders were rated higher by their peers in the areas of responsibility and self‐reflection compared to male leaders. This study demonstrates the need for increased communication between team leaders and members, along with creation of a mutually respectful environment, to improve leader awareness of their abilities and foster team success. Anat Sci Educ 2:210–217, 2009. © 2009 American Association of Anatomists.     

Trends in Female Authorships, Editorial Board Memberships, and Editorships in Educational Psychology Journals from 2003 to 2008

Robinson, McKay, Katayama, and Fan (Contemporary Educational Psychology, 23, 331–343, 1998) reported that women were underrepresented in terms of authorships, editorial board memberships, and editorships in the field of educational psychology based on membership trends. More recently, Evans, Hsieh, and Robinson (Educational Psychology Review, 17, 263–271, 2005) reported that women had made gains as editors but had not kept pace with organizational membership in terms of authorships and editorial board memberships. Our goal in this paper was to further examine women’s participation in educational psychology journals by extending the datasets of Robinson et al. and Evans et al. The number of female authors per article, particularly those from non-US institutions, has continued to increase. However, consistent with Evans et al., although females are continuing to make numerical gains in both authorships—both primary and secondary—and editorial board memberships, their involvement has not kept pace in relation to membership trends.     

Evaluating the impact of an environmental education programme: an empirical study in Mexico

This study draws on information from 11 in‐depth interviews, two focus groups and 72 written questionnaires to evaluate an extra‐curricular environmental education programme on forestry designed for preparatory school students from a small rural community in Mexico. Specifically, the study assessed the impact of the programme on the ecological knowledge of 72 students. Qualitative feedback suggests that students learnt about forestry, acquired greater awareness of the importance of conservation for the local environment and enjoyed the participatory teaching methods used in the programme. Quantitative results show a positive and significant association between the number of times a student participated in the programme and the student’s ecological knowledge. Students who participated in the programme once had a 16.3% higher knowledge on ecological concepts and knew, on average, 1.5 more local forest plants than students who never attended it (p<.001). Findings suggest that the inclusion of participatory environmental education programmes in preparatory schools would improve the acquisition of ecological knowledge. Further research could consider the consistency of the findings by replicating participatory methods presented here and by using an experimental research design.     

Effectiveness of psychological intervention following sport injury

With increasing attention given to the development and implementation of psychological interventions during the sport injury rehabilitation process, there is a need to document the effectiveness of these interventions. The purpose of this review was to summarize the empirical findings of the effects of psychological interventions in reducing post-injury psychological consequences and improving psychological coping during the injury rehabilitation process among competitive and recreational athletes. In February 2012, utilizing a comprehensive search strategy, we conducted electronic searches of multiple electronic databases for randomized and nonrandomized control trials that evaluated interventions targeting populations of injured competitive and recreational athletes age 17 years and older. We included interventions that directly intervene on injured athletes' psychological outcomes (e.g., psychological consequences, psychological coping and re-injury anxiety) and utilized psychological strategies including imagery, goal-setting, relaxation, and other common techniques during the post-injury rehabilitation period. Six studies, described in seven peer-reviewed published articles, met study inclusion criteria and were included in this review. Of those studies, two included randomized control trials, two used before and after study designs and two were case study designs. Two interventions utilized guided imagery and relaxation, two interventions utilized goal-setting and one each utilized microcounseling, written disclosure, and acceptance and commitment therapy. Guided imagery/relaxation was shown to be associated with improved psychological coping and reduced re-injury anxiety. Goal setting, however, was not directly associated with the reduction of negative psychological consequences. Other psychological techniques such as microcounseling skills, acceptance and commitment therapy, and written disclosure have demonstrated effectiveness in reducing negative psychological consequences, improving psychological coping, and reducing re-injury anxiety. Our findings suggest a significant need to develop and implement well-designed intervention studies that target improvement of post-injury psychological outcomes in order to assist injured athletes successfully recovery from sport injury.     

Resolving ambiguity in biomedical text to improve summarization

Access to the vast body of research literature that is now available on biomedicine and related fields can be improved with automatic summarization. This paper describes a summarization system for the biomedical domain that represents documents as graphs formed from concepts and relations in the UMLS Metathesaurus. This system has to deal with the ambiguities that occur in biomedical documents. We describe a variety of strategies that make use of MetaMap and Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD) to accurately map biomedical documents onto UMLS Metathesaurus concepts. Evaluation is carried out using a collection of 150 biomedical scientific articles from the BioMed Central corpus. We find that using WSD improves the quality of the summaries generated.     

The use of cookies in Federal agency web sites: Privacy and recordkeeping issues

On July 27, 2009 the United States Government Office of Management and Budget (OMB) publicized its intent to review the nine-year-old prohibition of web tracking technologies such as cookies on Federal agency web sites. OMB cited its need to continue to protect the public's privacy while visiting Federal Government web sites, while at the same time “making these web sites more user friendly, providing better customer service, and allowing for enhanced web analytics” (Federal Register, 2009, p. 37062). In this paper, we review the history of the Federal government's position on cookies, and describe exactly how the technology works and why this shift in policy toward the use of cookies is logical and necessary for the evolution of electronic-government and government 2.0 services in terms of accessibility and capability. We review two major issues with which Federal agencies must contend related to the use of cookies – privacy, and records management. It is interesting to note that, despite earlier research on the implications of privacy and records management concerning other adopted technologies such as e-mail, these issues continue to be complex and misunderstood. We discuss the implications of cookies as records for future e-Government services and for long-term records management.     

Scholarly book publishing practice: the ALPSP survey findings

In summer 2009 ALPSP undertook the first industry‐wide survey into scholarly book publishing practice. This article covers the key findings and attempts to describe the current scholarly book and e‐book publishing landscape. Publishers' development of e‐books varies considerably from early experimentation to being a standard component of their publishing programme. However, publishers of all shapes and sizes have developed some common policies and practices despite the rapid evolution of an emerging element of scholarly publishing. E‐books currently make up a small, if growing, proportion of total book sales, although they are currently one of the most talked about developments in the entire publishing industry.     

Factors discriminating among profiles of resilience and psychopathology in children exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV)

ObjectiveTo evaluate the social and emotional adjustment of 219 children in families with varying levels of intimate partner violence (IPV) using a model of risk and protection. To explore factors that differentiate children with poor adjustment from those with resilience.MethodologyMothers who experienced IPV in the past year and their children ages 6–12 were interviewed. Standardized measures assessed family violence, parenting, family functioning, maternal mental health, and children's adjustment and beliefs.ResultsUsing cluster analysis, all cases with valid data on the Child Behavior Checklist, Child Depression Inventory, General Self-Worth and Social Self-Competence measures were described by four profiles of children's adjustment: Severe Adjustment Problems (24%); children who were Struggling (45%); those with Depression Only (11%); and Resilient (20%) with high competence and low adjustment problems. Multinomial logistic regression analyses showed children in the Severe Problems cluster witnessed more family violence and had mothers higher in depression and trauma symptoms than other children. Resilient and Struggling children had mothers with better parenting, more family strengths and no past violent partner. Parents of children with Severe Problems were lacking these attributes. The Depressed profile children witnessed less violence but had greater fears and worries about mother's safety.ConclusionFactors related to the child, to the mother and to the family distinguish different profiles of adjustment for children exposed to IPV who are living in the community. Resilient children have less violence exposure, fewer fears and worries, and mothers with better mental health and parenting skills, suggesting avenues for intervention with this population.Practice implicationsFindings suggest that child adjustment is largely influenced by parent functioning. Thus, services should be targeted at both the child and the parent. Clinical interventions shaped to the unique needs of the child might also be tested with this population.     

The Contribution of HBCUS to the Preparation of African American Women for Stem Careers: A Case Study

This study uses case study analysis to explore the ways that Spelman College, a historically Black women’s college, promotes the attainment of African American women in STEM fields. Although limited to one institution, the findings shed light on the ways that institutional characteristics, policies, and practices may mitigate the barriers that limit attainment of African American women in STEM fields. Drawing on the findings, the paper concludes with recommendations for improving policy and practice as well as recommendations for additional fruitful research.     

Further evidence for teacher knowledge: supporting struggling readers in grades three through five

We report the results of a study with 30 teachers designed to examine the effects of teacher knowledge on the achievement of struggling readers. We worked with teachers of grades three, four, and five during a 10-day intervention focused on literacy instruction and related linguistic knowledge, and we assessed their students’ learning across the year. Hierarchical models of student outcomes indicated that lower-performing students in intervention classrooms showed significantly higher levels of performance at year end on all literacy measures, compared with their peers in control classrooms (n = 140). In addition, teacher’s linguistic knowledge was related to improved student performance, regardless of condition. Additional analyses including all students (n = 718) indicated that benefits for the lower performing students in intervention classrooms were shared by their classmates, but to a more limited extent.