Peer review: still king in the digital age

The article presents one of the main findings of an international study of 4,000 academic researchers that examined how trustworthiness is determined in the digital environment when it comes to scholarly reading, citing, and publishing. The study shows that peer review is still the most trustworthy characteristic of all. There is, though, a common perception that open access journals are not peer reviewed or do not have proper peer‐review systems. Researchers appear to have moved inexorably from a print‐based system to a digital system, but it has not significantly changed the way they decide what to trust. They do not trust social media. Only a minority – although significantly mostly young and early career researchers – thought that social media are anything other than more appropriate to personal interactions and peripheral to their professional/academic lives. There are other significant differences, according to the age of the researcher. Thus, in regard to choosing an outlet for publication of their work, young researchers are much less concerned with the fact that it is peer reviewed.     

The Impact of Reorganization of Staff Using the Core Competencies as a Framework for Staff Training and Development

In 2012, the Colorado State University Libraries’ Technical Services Department reorganized, which provided the catalyst to reconfigure paraprofessional staff positions. Staff are either part of the state classified system or are considered administrative professionals; both categories dictate the extent to which positions can be expanded to encompass assisting with managing electronic resources. This presentation is an account of how NASIG’s Core Competencies for Electronic Resource Librarians are scalable to be used in restructuring staff positions that assist with managing resources. Special attention will be paid to various modes of training that enable paraprofessionals to learn processes associated with electronic resources work.     

Impact of age on haematological markers pre- and post-marathon running

This study investigated whether haematological markers differ between young and masters marathon participants, running at similar performance levels. Nine young (31.89 ± 4.96 years) and eight masters (63.13 ± 4.61 years) runners participated. At five time points (pre-race through 54 h post-race), a complete blood cell count, basic metabolic panel and creatine kinase (CK) isoenzyme panel were assessed. Race performance was standardised using the World Masters Association Age Grading Performance Tables. Total CK levels were elevated for all participants at all time points post-race (P < 0.001). The CK-isoenzyme MB% was elevated across groups at 6, 30 and 54 h post-race (P < 0.01, P < 0.01 and P < 0.05), with masters runners having a higher CK-MB% at 30 and 54 h (P < 0.05, P < 0.05). Total white blood cell and neutrophil counts were elevated through 6 h post-race (P < 0.001), with higher levels found in younger runners (P < 0.001). When considering all blood work, masters runners had a higher number of abnormal values at 6, 30 and 54 h post-race (P < 0.05, P < 0.01 and P < 0.05). In conclusion, masters runners demonstrated sustained CK-MB elevation, which may suggest greater cardiac stress. However, future studies using additional cardiac markers should be completed to confirm these findings. In addition, masters runners showed an increased number of laboratory values outside normal range, indicating the body’s reduced capacity to respond to marathon running.     

Health information seeking behaviour: the librarian's role in supporting digital and health literacy

This paper is based on Rachel Butler's dissertation carried out at the University of Sheffield as part of the MA Library and Information Services Management. The study examines people's online health information seeking skills, with the specific aim to identify how libraries and health services can work together in supporting digital and health literacy. A survey approach is used to explore online searching habits as well as librarian and health professionals’ views on health literacy. The key findings indicate that whilst the majority of respondents consider themselves to be health literate, there was an overall agreement that effective education and support could be achieved through the collaboration between libraries and health services, and specifically to signpost information and to provide targeted education. The limitations of the research for dissertation are recognised leading to recommendations that further study focuses on the impact of signposting and education on health literacy.F.J.     

Mental toughness in education: exploring relationships with attainment,attendance, behaviour and peer relationships

Mental toughness has frequently been associated with successful performance in sport; however, recent research suggests that it may also be related to academic performance in Higher Education. In a series of three exploratory studies, we examined the relationship between mental toughness and different aspects of educational performance in adolescents aged 11–16, focusing on academic attainment, school attendance, classroom behaviour and peer relationships. Study 1 revealed significant associations between several aspects of mental toughness (but particularly control of life) and academic attainment and attendance. Study 2 revealed significant associations between several aspects of mental toughness (but again particularly control of life) and counterproductive classroom behaviour. Finally, Study 3 demonstrated significant associations between aspects of mental toughness (confidence in abilities and interpersonal confidence) and peer relationships. The results are discussed in terms of the potential value of mental toughness as a useful concept in education.     

International students with dependent children: the reproduction of gender norms

Extant research on family migration for education has focused almost exclusively on the education of children. We thus know very little about family migration when it is driven by the educational projects of parents. To begin to redress this gap, this paper explores the experiences of families who have moved to the United Kingdom primarily to enable the mother or father to pursue a degree. It argues that, in common with what we know of UK student-parents, both choices about and experiences of higher education are strongly differentiated by gender.     

Developing Critical Social Justice Literacy in an Online Seminar

The purpose of this article is to report on an effort to cultivate a critical social justice perspective and critical social justice praxis among educators enrolled in an online graduate program. Although the entire program was organized around themes of equity, collaboration, and leadership, this study focused on educators’ perspectives of the purposes, pedagogy, and outcomes of one course, Critical Pedagogy. Fourteen of the 19 students enrolled in the online course participated in one of six online focus groups following the conclusion of the course. Using constructivist grounded theory methods, the researchers identified the different ways in which students responded to the course, what they learned, and how they enacted their learning as well as the features of the course that the students believed contributed to their learning and practice. The study provides insight into features of online pedagogy that appear to facilitate transformative learning. It further provides insight into the kinds of content and assignments that may promote critical social justice praxis among educators.     

A love towards a thing eternal: Spinoza and the classroom

There is a growing concern about the struggles of early career teachers and an understandable questioning of the preparation being offered by teacher education courses. Are our preservice teachers being given workable strategies and techniques to allow them to survive the early years? Is it strategies and techniques that are primarily at issue here? Could it be that there is something more fundamental, to do with an underlying philosophical understanding about human nature, the desire to learn and the need to relate? I want to suggest that instruction about strategies and techniques is too often built on an insecure and incompatible foundation of assumptions about the nature of the world of sentient beings and their relationships. Ontology matters. Philosopher Spinoza divided the world of thought into ideas that were adequate – contributing to our well-being, potency and happiness – and those that were inadequate – leading us to feel weak, at the mercy of outside forces, and sad. I want to argue, with Spinoza, that inadequate ontologies lead to a sense of impotence and frustration, and that adequate ideas – a stronger ontology – can underpin and sustain a more durable pedagogy. I explore this idea by looking at some classroom events through a Spinozean lens.