International Media

AMERICA'S OTHER VOICE: THE STORY OF RADIO FREE EUROPE AND RADIO LIBERTY by Sig Mickelson (New York: Praeger, 1983—price not given).

PRESS CONTROL AROUND THE WORLD edited by Jane Leftwich Curry and Joan R. Dassin (New York: Praeger, 1982—price not given).

METHODS FOR INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION RESEARCH edited by William B. Gudykunst and Young Yun Kim (Beverly Hills, California: Sage Publications 1984—S28.00/$14.00).

A STUDY OF FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR THE VOICE OF AMERICA IN THE CHANGING WORLD OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING by John E. Ward, et al. (Research Program on Communications Policy, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139—$10.00, paper).     

The use of public computing facilities by library patrons: demography,motivations, and barriers

Public libraries play an important part in the development of a community. Today, they are seen as more than store houses of books; they are also responsible for the dissemination of online, and offline information. Public access computers are becoming increasingly popular as more and more people understand the need for internet access. Using a series of surveys conducted in 12 libraries across the state of Michigan, the current study is a step towards understanding why the computing facilities are widely used, and what are the motivations behind their use. In addition, barriers and other factors that hinder usage are also discussed. The findings from this study will help policy makers and library administrators evaluate the current allocation of scarce resources, help them promote greater use of the library's resources, and guide their future course of action. The study is conducted as part of a federally funded public computing center grant.     

The Dark Side of Collection Management: Deselecting Serials from a Research Library's Storage Facility Using WorldCat Collection Analysis

To address the situation of its nearly full storage facility, the Purdue University Libraries developed guidelines for the deselection of very low–use serial titles and conducted a pilot project to identify material for withdrawal. The library school intern hired to conduct the pilot used WorldCat Collection Analysis to create subject lists of titles to be considered for withdrawal. These lists also contained value-added information about how many benchmark institutions owned and duplicated the local holdings of each title. Working with subject specialists, the intern developed criteria to guide a major serials deselection project. After the success of the internship in six subject areas, the libraries funded a longer-term position to complete the deselection project.     

Ontario’s Plowden Report: British influence on Canadian education in the 1960s

Treading in the footsteps of past generations, Ontario policy advisers journeyed throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1966 to directly understand the educational reforms that were being undertaken in that country. On their return, these consultants brought back a number of innovations for discussion with their parent committee in the hopes of possible adaptation by the province. When their final submission was tabled two years later, the ‘Hall-Dennis Report’ (as it became popularly known) went on to reflect the tone for education in the province for a generation. This study examines the impact that Britain’s educational policies in the 1960s, and especially the ‘Plowden Report’ of 1967, may have had on the recommendations found in the Hall-Dennis Report. As well, it ties these two reports to the longstanding legacy of British influence on the Ontario education system ^{1 1}A first version of this work was presented at the History of Education Society Conference, held in London, 26–28 November 2010. Thanks are expressed to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for its support of this endeavour. .     

Short Cuts and Extended Techniques: Rethinking relations between technology and educational theory

Building upon a recent call to renew actor-network theory (ANT) for educational research, this article reconsiders relations between technology and educational theory. Taking cues from actor-network theorists, this discussion considers the technologically-mediated networks in which learning actors are situated, acted upon, and acting, and traces the novel positions of creative capacity and participation that emerging media may enable. Whereas traditional theories of educational technology tend to focus on the harmonization of new technologies with extant curricular goals and educational practices, an educational theory of technology looks to novel forms of technologically-mediated learning experience—from production pedagogies to role play in the virtual—to make visible the surprising relations, techniques, and opportunities that emerging media, and their attendant social contexts, may offer educational research.     

Measuring gifted adolescents' implicit theories of creativity

This paper examines the structure of implicit theories of creativity in a sample of gifted adolescents and describes the development and use of the Creative Self Checklist and the Creative Individual Checklist, adjective checklists designed to assess endorsement of creativity‐related personality and behavioral attributes. Findings indicate that the gifted rate aspects of risk‐taking and inquisitiveness as primary facets of their own creativity while defining artistic abilities and energy and motivation as important parts of creativity in others. This study also assessed the role that these implicit theories play in the display of creative behaviors with regard to both performance on creativity tests and participation in creative hobbies. Findings indicate that while performance on creativity measures is predictive of creative hobby participation, greater self‐endorsement of beliefs that are positively related to creativity also significantly predict creative behaviors.     

Examining primary schools' physical education coordinators' pedagogical content knowledge of games: are we just playing as this?

A detailed insight into how the current educational climate influences the pedagogical decisions made by primary school teachers when teaching games is limited. Studies examining the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of teachers within physical education have revealed its close relationship with specific forms of subject knowledge. In recognition of this, Veal and MaKinster's framework of general, domain and topic-specific PCK was employed to examine 12 primary school teachers' PCK of games. It was concluded that when personal experiences of pedagogy and content knowledge are unchallenged and reinforced by teachers' training and continuing professional development (CPD) programmes, very narrow topic-specific PCK results. This PCK was characterised bythe inseparable paring of constricted pedagogical strategies and limited content knowledge. When teachers do not integrate this very narrow topic-specific PCK with other types of PCK, it has significant repercussions upon the planned curriculum and learning experiences offered to pupils.