Compulsory Schooling‐‐the Critical Dimension to Work and Learning in the New Millennium

This article discusses the need to better match education to the needs of redefined work. It considers some of the attitudes and personal characteristics required in the new millennium and holds that these should be imparted through compulsory schooling. It further considers the appropriateness of skills training, vocational education, and employment strategies in the changing arena of business; the impact on the Twenty‐First Century learner of internationalization and globalization; and current as well as potential innovative learning experiences and opportunities. International business and learning examples are cited.     

Impact of librarians in first-year medical and dental student problem-based learning (PBL) groups: a controlled study

BACKGROUND: Librarians at the University of Alberta have been involved with teaching undergraduate medical and dental education for several years. After 1 year of increased librarian involvement at the problem-based learning (PBL), small-group level, informal feedback from faculty and students suggested that librarians' participation in PBL groups was beneficial. There was, however, no real evidence to support this claim or justify the high demand on librarians' time. OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to determine whether having a librarian present in the small-group, problem-based learning modules for first-year medical and dental students results in an improved understanding of evidence-based medicine concepts, the nature of medical literature, and information access skills. METHODS: One hundred and sixty-four first-year medical and dental students participated in the study. There were a total of 18 PBL groups, each with approximately nine students and one faculty tutor. Six librarians participated and were assigned randomly to the six intervention groups. Students were given pre- and post-tests at the outset and upon completion of the 6-week course. RESULTS: Post-test scores showed that there was a small positive librarian impact, but final exam scores showed no impact. There was also no difference in attitudes or comfort levels between students who had a librarian in their group and those who did not. CONCLUSIONS: Impact was not sufficient to warrant continued participation of librarians in PBL. In future instruction, librarians at the John W. Scott Health Sciences Library will continue to teach at the larger group level.     

The notion of presence in virtual learning environments: what makes the environment "real"

To know where they are in the environment, humans rely on their senses for information. If the environment is artificially generated then it raises the question as to what information is needed to allow humans to know their location in the environment and have a more tacit feeling of presence within it. This paper looks at the role of Virtual Environments as conceptual learning tools in Science and the notion of "Presence" within these types of environments. Presence in this context is based on the stream of sensory input, organized by our perceiving systems, and out of which emerges our sense of being in and of the world. This feeling is also engendered by our ability to affect the world through touch, gesture, voice etc. These are very private actions and to research this we conducted interviews with competent computer users about their feelings of "presence" when using virtual environments. One of the main findings has been that audio feedback is perceived to be one of the most important features that engender a sense of presence. We have also found that ease of navigation around the environment affects perceptions of presence and this is reflected to some extent with users' personal experience.     

The role of feedback in the under-attainment of ethnic minority students: evidence from distance education

In UK higher education, the attainment of ethnic minority students is lower than that of white students, and this remains the case when differences in entry qualifications have been taken into account. The present study investigated whether the under-attainment of ethnic minority students might be due to the nature of the feedback that they received for their assignments. The assignments submitted by 470 ethnic minority and 470 matched white students taking a distance-learning course were compared using a computer system, Open Mentor, to categorise the feedback given by tutors based on a scheme devised by Bales. Asian and black students and students of mixed ethnicity obtained lower marks for their assignments than did the white students. However, there were only small differences between the ethnic minority students and the white students in terms of the pattern of feedback that they received, and these disappeared when the marks that they had received for their assignments had been taken into account. It is concluded that students from all ethnic groups received feedback that was commensurate with their marks, and that the origins of the attainment gap in ethnic minority students in UK higher education must be sought elsewhere.     

Perspectives on same-sex sexualities and self-harm amongst service providers and teachers in Hong Kong

This study investigates the perspectives of service providers working with Chinese lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) young people in Hong Kong secondary schools and maps the relationships between same-sex sexualities, religion, education and self-harm. Sixteen service providers, including secondary school teachers, social workers based on and off school sites, and lesbian/transgender activists working in non-governmental organisations serving the LGB and transgender communities, participated in in-depth qualitative interviews. In addition, extensive participant observation was carried out. A grounded theory approach was adopted to code the data, as themes emerged with each successive round of coding. Study findings highlight four main themes: barriers to discussing sexuality at school, the effects of personal disinclination and religion, lesbian and gay youth being perceived as especially susceptible to self-harm, and the similarities in professionals' perceptions of self-harmers and LGB youth. Findings suggest that conservative religious beliefs at both the personal and structural levels act as deterrents to providing counselling and mental health services supportive of LGB youth in Hong Kong.