The Impact of New Student Housing on Library Usage: A Case Study

A quantitative analysis of campus housing figures and library usage statistics suggests a stronger correlation than library usage compared to other enrollment figures. New residents on a university campus were surveyed on their frequency and reasons for utilizing the library's physical and online resources, before and after moving in.     

A Synchronous Online Social Work PhD Program: Educational Design and Student/Faculty Response

ABSTRACT

Faculty and students evaluate the curriculum design and delivery of a synchronous online PhD program in social work that prepares scholar-practitioners in social work research, education, and organizational practice. The designers envision a collaborative community of scholars and leaders nurtured by a cohort-based, sequenced curriculum, and intentional faculty mentoring. This teaching and learning platform provides an opportunity to engage with a globally diverse population of doctoral students while fostering both relationships and quality learning outcomes. Educational design and pedagogical features of the program are described and analyzed through the collaborative thinking and learning platform of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model’s interdependent elements–teaching, cognitive, and social presence. Eighteen students and ten faculty evaluated the strengths and limitations of the online program across each dimension of the model through student course evaluations, focus-group reflections, and qualitative faculty survey data. Student and faculty respondents specified the benefits of synchronous presence across all three dimensions. They also identified significant barriers, particularly in the areas of teaching and social presence. Implications and recommendations are based on a review of findings that inform pedagogical decisions and design options for online PhD education in social work.     

Use of systemic networks in the development of a questionnaire

The paper discusses the use of systemic networks as a basis for the construction of a questionnaire. The subject of the questionnaire was teachers' views of the philosophy of science. It is argued that systemic networks have potential value in questionnaire construction in such problematic areas, offering help in dealing with both construct and face validity.

The networks used, and the questionnaire based on them, were derived from an analysis of various philosophical positions. The analysis identified distinctions depicting the main philosophical differences, which were then represented in a network. The main systems described are inductivism, hypothetico‐deductivism (e.g., Popper, Lakatos), contextualism (e.g., Kuhn) and relativism (e.g., Feyerabend). Major distinctions turn on the issues of the unity of scientific method, criteria of demarcation, patterns of scientific change and the status of scientific knowledge.