A Special Relationship? A Comparison of Consumer Book Buying Habits and Trends in the United States and Great Britain

BML monitors consumer book purchases in Britain via its Books & Consumers survey. RR Bowker tracks US consumer book purchases via its PubTrack Consumer survey. This report compares the results of the two surveys. In 2008, the US consumer market was around ten times the size of its UK equivalent, but a higher proportion of British than US consumers bought books. Book buyers in each country were similar in terms of gender and age, but slightly more ‘up market’ in the US than Britain. Adult fiction and hardbacks accounted for a higher proportion of book purchases in the US than in Britain, but with variations in the mix of genres bought. Chain bookshops remained the largest channel for book purchases in Britain, despite losing share in recent years. The internet overtook the chains in the US in 2008, with Britain around 3 years behind in terms of internet share.     

Active learning for postsecondary educators: A study of two learning designs

Research and theory related to experiential learning hold important implications for designers and teachers in postsecondary educational organizations. Three current approaches to the investigation of active learning are discussed. A research study of two designs of a field-based graduate course is reported. Participants in both versions of the course responded to two questionnaires measuring their perceptions of their learning experiences. Twenty-three participants (55%) from the earlier version and twenty (95%) from the redesigned course responded. The findings, while not always consistent with conceptual expectations, revealed provocative relationships between theories of active learning. Effort to apply concepts of experiential learning to course design resulted in measurable differences in perceived quality of learning. Key questions for further investigation are highlighted.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the American Educational Research Association National Conference, Los Angeles, April, 1981.The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of Millicent Nuver in the collection, processing, and analysis of the data reported in this study.     

The Impact of First‐year Education Practicum and Study on Preservice Teachers: a West Australian perspective

The pressure to improve preparation programs for teachers increasingly is evident in Australia, UK and the US. At Curtin University, the Faculty of Education is interested in the way in which preservice students perceive the teaching role and how these perceptions alter during their undergraduate experiences. First year undergraduates in the Faculty of Education were asked early in the year to give short written comments, in an informal situation, to the question “What is teaching?” At the end of their first year the same students were then asked “How have your ideas about teaching changed, and what influenced those changes?” An analysis of students’ responses showed considerable changes in their views of the profession with the single most important factor in the change being the first practicum. Also many of the student teachers’ views were expressed in strongly emotional terms. This paper reports the findings of the first year of a three year project planned to continue mapping students’ conceptions of teaching.     

Exploring the Efficacy of The Word Within the Word for Gifted and Typically Developing Students

An exploratory study of the efficacy of The Word Within the Word tested students’ abilities to recognize, use, and recall vocabulary. Ten middle school teachers and their 493 students participated. Five teachers used The Word Within the Word, and five used traditional vocabulary materials. Students completed an out-of-level sentence completion test and a test of prompted vocabulary recall. Analysis of sentence completion data revealed significant differences with moderate effect sizes, favoring students in The Word Within the Word sixth- and seventh-grade classes. Analysis of prompted vocabulary recall data revealed significant differences with moderate to large effect sizes at all grade levels, favoring The Word Within the Word classes. Results suggest that in this case, both gifted and typically developing students in classrooms using The Word Within the Word were more skilled in vocabulary recognition, use, and recall than students in classrooms using traditional methods of vocabulary instruction.     

Social studies: incorporating all children using community and cultural universals as the centerpiece

This article features an elementary teacher who has worked with the authors for the past 10 years in research on building a classroom community and using cultural universals as the centerpiece for elementary social studies for all children. Cultural universals are basic human needs and social experiences found in all societies, past and present, and include food, shelter, clothing, transportation, communication, family living, money, childhood, government, and so on. Actions related to cultural universals are experienced by all children regardless of their cultures, socioeconomic backgrounds, achievement levels, or special needs, so teachers can connect to these experiences as bases for developing historical, geographic, political, economic, sociological, psychological, or anthropological understandings. The ultimate goal is connected knowledge about how the social system works, how and why it developed over time, how and why it varies across locations and cultures, and what all this might mean for personal, social, and civic decision making.     

Collaboration, Engagement & Fun: How Youth Preferences in Video Gaming can Inform 21st Century Education

In this content analysis study, researchers explored middle school students’ preference for playing video games and the possible implications for learning environments. During two-week, summer sessions, learners played videos games and answered questions related to their preferences in different settings. Students’ preferences and justifications for playing alone or in company are described. Results shows that middle school students prefer to work in groups motivated by companionship, collaboration, competition, and challenge. The article concludes showing the relevance of using video games to emphasize 21st century skills in learners.     

Why are they not accessing it? User barriers to clinical information access

The Medical Library Association''s InSight Initiative provides an open and collaborative environment for library and industry partners to discuss vexing problems and find solutions to better serve their users. The initiative''s fifth summit, continuing work from the previous summit, focused on understanding how users discover and access information in the clinical environment. During the summit, participants were divided into working groups and encouraged to create a tangible product as a result of their discussions. At the end of the summit, participants established a framework for understanding users'' pain points, discussed possible solutions to those points, and received feedback on their work from an End User Advisory Board comprising physicians, clinical researchers, and clinical faculty in biomedicine. In addition to the pain point framework, participants are developing MLA InSight Initiative Learning content with modules to educate librarians and publishers about critical aspects of user behavior. The 2020 Insight Initiative Fall Forum will serve as a virtual home for constructive dialogue between health sciences librarians and publishers on improving discovery and access to information.     

Digital reference service: trends in academic health science libraries

Two years after the initial 2002 study, a greater number of academic health science libraries are offering digital reference chat services, and this number appears poised to grow in the coming years. This 2004 follow-up study found that 36 (27%) of the academic health science libraries examined provide digital chat reference services; this was an approximately 6% increase over the 25 libraries (21%) located in 2002. Trends in digital reference services in academic health science libraries were derived from the exploration of academic health science library Web sites and from digital correspondence with academic health science library personnel using e-mail and chat. This article presents an overview of the current state of digital reference service in academic health science libraries.