Outcomes of a scientific nonformal educational initiative for youth in Rio de Janeiro

The aim of this research is to understand how former students view their professional and academic paths after taking part in a specific scientific nonformal educational initiative during high school. This program is called Vocational Scientific Program (Provoc) and is carried out in the Oswald Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This institution has for over 100 years played a pioneer role in public health research in the country. This institution has many graduate programs and a high school dedicated to training students in health issues. Provoc was originated in this school and has been part of it for the last 25 years. Since its beginning, this program has been characterized by a significant predominance of women which relates to the female predominance of professionals in this institution working in the traditional areas of Fiocruz, which are Biology, Medicine, Public Health, Humanities and Social Sciences. This study was qualitative in nature and involved observations and 34 individual interviews, which followed a semi structured questionnaire, designed for this research. The results indicate that the majority of participants see their program participation experiences as an asset in their academic and professional careers. Many describe feeling empowered by presenting their work in seminars and a few by writing a research article. Many former students also testified to the establishment of social long lasting relationships in the research work environment. And finally, the interviews reveal a few moments and the factors involved in the selection of a profession by youth.     

Psychological assessment and dyslexia: parents’ perspectives

The purpose of this paper is to explore parents’ perceptions of the process of having their child assessed for dyslexia by an independent Educational Psychologist and the affective impact on the child or young person. The research was carried out as part of an evaluation of the services offered by the Northern Ireland Dyslexia Centre (NIDC). The methodology involved the use of a postal survey questionnaire with both qualitative and quantitative outcomes. Findings are discussed in the context of strategies for promoting partnerships with parents and affective-academic pathways for learners with dyslexia.     

The effect of instruction on socio-cultural beliefs hindering the learning of science

Although recent studies have shown that the sociocultural characteristics which children in non-western society bring into the classroom from their environment create a wedge between what they are taught and what they learn, very little has been done to solve the problem. A learner who is not positively disposed to, or has a socio-cultural background that is indifferent to, learning science would find it hard to learn science effectively. This study investigated whether instruction through the use of the socio-cultural mode has any significant effect on students' attitude towards the learning of science. The sample consisted of 600 senior secondary year-one students (442 boys, 158 girls) from 15 secondary schools in Nigeria. The Socio-Cultural Environment Scale (SCES) and the Biology Achievement Test (BAT) were used to measure the change in attitude and achievement of subjects in a pretest-posttest situation after a six-week treatment. Evidence was found to support the hypothesis that science instruction which deliberately involves the discussion of socio-cultural views about science concepts engenders positive attitudes towards the study of science. The findings also indicate that anthropomorphic and mechanistic views can be presented in such a way as to promote positive attitudes towards the study of science in traditional cultures.     

Student perceptions of quality feedback in teacher education

Many reports have identified a perceived lack of quality in regard to assessment feedback in higher education contexts. One research study in 2007 on undergraduate university students found that less than half of the students (46%) collected their formative feedback, suggesting that from their perspective feedback clearly was not fulfilling the role it should. This is a study of 465 graduate students and 101 undergraduate students studying teacher education at a major Australian university. The study investigated what students perceived to be effective, quality feedback based upon their extensive higher education experiences. Students identified preferences in regard to form, detail and timing of assessment feedback. The data were collected by means of pen and paper survey and identified which strategies the students perceived to be the most effective, particularly within the context of large cohort teaching and written assessment formats. Findings agreed with research elsewhere regarding problems with assessment feedback quality and quantity, but students also provided clear indications of how realistic improvements could be made in terms of assessment feedback processes and strategies.     

Enabling customer relationship management: Multi‐channel content model and management for financial eservices

Abstract

This study examines convergence as both a concept and a process. It examines the current state of convergence, various definitions of convergence, convergence practices, and it identifies Seven Observations of Convergence to be used as a strategy for best practices for organizations to integrate new and old media. Everett Rogers (1995) diffusion of innovations and the five stages of the innovation process in organizations, coupled with innovation management research are theoretical foundations used to examine the infusion of technological changes into business practices in the media industry. The study is based on research conducted during the summer of 2002 that included in‐depth interviews, participation‐observation, and archival documents from three leading corporate media groups and convergence pioneers‐Tribune Company, Media‐General, and Belo Corp at their integrated business units in Chicago, Dallas, and Tampa, Florida. The three organizations were selected for field study because they are convergence pioneers that fell under the grandfather clause of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission 1975 cross‐ownership rule and were allowed to maintain ownership of their television broadcast and newspaper business units in the same market.     

Scaling up Content Analysis

ABSTRACT

Employing a number of different standalone programs is a prevalent approach among communication scholars who use computational methods to analyze media content. For instance, a researcher might use a specific program or a paid service to scrape some content from the Web, then use another program to process the resulting data, and finally conduct statistical analysis or produce some visualizations in yet another program. This makes it hard to build reproducible workflows, and even harder to build on the work of earlier studies. To improve this situation, we propose and discuss four criteria that a framework for automated content analysis should fulfill: scalability, free and open source, adaptability, and accessibility via multiple interfaces. We also describe how to put these considerations into practice, discuss their feasibility, and point toward future developments.     

Agile Project Management in Libraries: Creating Collaborative,Resilient, Responsive Organizations

Libraries must continually adapt to meet the ever-changing needs of users. Doing so requires the ability to be flexible and respond quickly. This is a case study of how The George Washington University Libraries rethought its approach to collection development using a cross-functional, team-based strategy that leveraged the benefits of Agile project management. Adopting an Agile approach to collection development maximized the impact of the library’s financial resources and enabled staff to develop new skills. This project underscores the value of collaboration, agility, and experimentation in libraries.