Mandated Psychological Assessments for Suicide Risk in a College Population: A Pilot Study

This study was conducted to evaluate the impact of a protocol mandating psychological assessment of college students exhibiting specific signs of suicide risk and/or nonsuicidal self-harm. Thirty-seven current and former students who had been documented as at risk completed a structured interview in person or by phone. Outcomes suggest this protocol identifies students at risk for suicide, with 27% having made an attempt at some point in their lives and 50% having been suicidal at the time the report was written. The majority of participants endorsed the value of this intervention.     

Negotiating Genre and New Media for STEM News

ABSTRACT

This article—co-authored by a transdisciplinary team of social scientists and journalists in the United States—traces changes to the news landscape in recent decades, and asks: How are legacy media producers grappling with these new realities? As part of a four-year collaboration on young adult news consumption, we take a participatory action research approach to this question, tacking back and forth between newsroom concepts and anthropological ones in pursuit of a synthesis that strengthens both. Starting from anthropological frameworks of participation, the authors argue that broadcast videos typically position their audiences as overhearers rather than interlocutors, while the reverse is true for social media, and that these tendencies shape audience expectations. We find that many audiences have what we call poetic motivations: they are drawn to stories that exemplify their genre. For example, the participatory nature of social media genres translates well to a more candid style that can incorporate live questions and other direct participation. The study reported here focuses on STEM news, but many of the findings apply to news production in general. Our reflective methods can also be applied more widely in the field of journalism to synthesize perspectives from theory and practice.     

Film Production

Mollie Gregory, Making Films Your Business (New York: Schocken Books, 1979 -- paper/$14.95 hardcover)

Sheldon Thomberg, Making Money Making Movies: The Independent Movie-makers Handbook (New York: New Viewpoints/Vision Books, 1980 -- $9.95).

Donn Delson, A Dictionary of Marketing and Related Terms in the Motion Picture Industry (Write Bradson Press, 120 Longfellow Street, Thosand Oaks, California 91360 -- $7.95 paper).

Milton Lustig, Music Editing for Motion Pictures (New York: Hastings House, 1980 -- $15.95)

Fred B. Basten, Glorious Technicolor: The Movies Magic Rainbow (South Brunswick, A.S. Barnes, 1980 -- $30.00).

Al Taylor and Sue Roy, Making a Monster (New York: Crown Publishers, 1980 -- $14.95).     

Sources of career support for university faculty

A survey of faculty at a research-oriented public university in the midwest identified four major sources of support for faculty. These are off-campus personal supports including spouse or significant other, family, friends, a former professor, and the religious community; colleagues within the academic unit; professional supports outside the unit such as administrators, colleagues on campus with common research interests, and national and international networks; and a minority network including minority faculty in the unit and on campus and other ethnic or cultural groups off campus. The primary source of support for faculty was a spouse or significant other. Differences in types of career supports were examined for women and men and for faculty at different ranks.This research was partially supported by an Affirmative Action Grant awarded by The Ohio State University, 1987–88.     

Conservation in Transition

ABSTRACT:

An evaluation of four different dissemination modes distributing activities developed through a teaching materials development program was performed. The activities, developed for use in middle schools, focused on Great Lakes topics in science, history, and social studies. It was found that short intensive workshops were more effective than longer workshops both in participant use of materials and in transmission of the materials to other potential users. The difference in usage seems to be related to differences in the professional orientation of teachers attracted into the two different types of workshops. Simply giving activities to prospective users resulted in no usage. Those individuals who took the trouble to mail order the materials used them but at a somewhat lower frequency than those who participated in a workshop. It is concluded that short intensive workshops are the most cost-effective way of ensuring usage of the type of curriculum materials disseminated in this program.     

Educating an iPod generation: undergraduate attitudes,experiences and understanding of vodcast and podcast use

There is an increasing pressure on university staff to provide ever more information and resources to students. This study investigated student opinions on (audio) podcasts and (video) vodcasts and how well they met requirements and aided learning processes. Two experiments within the Aston University looked at student opinion on, and usage of, podcasts and vodcasts for a selection of their psychology lectures. Recordings were produced first using a hand‐held camcorder, and then using the in‐house media department. WebCT was used to distribute the podcasts and vodcasts, attitude questionnaires were then circulated at two time points. Overall students indicated that podcasts and vodcasts were a beneficial addition resource for learning, particularly when used in conjunction with lecturers’ slides and as a tool for revision/assessment. The online material translated into students having increased understanding of the material, which supplemented and enhanced their learning without being a substitute for traditional lectures. There is scope for the provision of portable media files to become standard practice within higher education; integrating distance and online learning with traditional approaches to improve teaching and learning.     

Barriers to the implementation of career education for special education

The LCCE Employability Enhancement Project was funded by the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs. Address reprint requests to Donn Brolin, 111 Townsend Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211. Contact Richard Roessler, Rehabilitation Department, 346 N. West Avenue, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701 for a copy of the 48 barriers and their respective importance, agreement, and rank scores.