Discussion Across Borders: Benefits for Collaborative Learning

Online learning is facilitated by various forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC). In higher education, CMC presents an opportunity to expand the learning community, even across national borders. This paper reports on two cycles of action research into the use of online discussion forums to enable groups of students from different countries to collaborate with each other in achieving learning outcomes specific to each group. The research data was obtained from questionnaires and focus groups with students and analysis of the content of the online discussion. The discussion was focused on the evaluation of prototype learning systems, produced by one group of students and evaluated by groups from two institutions in different countries, each of which had different, yet reciprocal, objectives to achieve from participating in the activity. The findings highlight the potential complexity of such an asymmetric collaborative activity, but indicate several advantages to students when the activity forms a distinct part of the pedagogical framework of their modules. For tutors planning similar trans-national collaborations, guidance points are offered that incorporate the findings from the research. Discussion par delÀ les frontières: les bénéfices de l’apprentissage coopératif. L’apprentissage en ligne est facilité par des formes variées de communication par ordinateurs (computer mediated communication CMC) Dans l’enseignement supérieur la CMC fournit l’occasion d’élarger la communauté d’apprentissage, même par delÀ les frontières. Dans cet article nous faisons rapport sur 2 cycles de recherche – action dans l’utilisation de forums de discussion en ligne pour donner la possibilité À des groupes d’étudiants de différents pays de callaborer l’un avec l’autre en réussiant des résultats d’apprentissage spécifiques À chaque groupe. Nos résultats de recherche ont été obtenues

À partir de questionnaires et de groupes choisis d’étudiants et de l’analyse de contenu des discussions en ligne. La discussion

était centrée sur l’évaluation de systèmes d’apprentissage prototypes produits par un groupe d’étudiants et évalués par des groupes de deux institutions dans des pays différents, chacun d’eux ayant des objectifs différents, et cependant réciproques, pour les réaliser par la participation à l’activité. Les résultats mettent en valeur la complexité potentielle d’une telle activité asymétrique coopérative, mais mentionnent divers avantages pour les étudiants lorsque l’activité forme une partie distincte du

cadre pédagogique de leurs modules. Tous les tuteurs qui font des plans de telles collaborations transnationales, nous proposons des conseils et des lignes directrices qui incorporent les résultats de notre recherche. Besprechungen über Grenzen hinweg: Hilfen für Gemeinschaftliches Lernen. Online-Learning wird durch verschiedene Formen computergestützter Kommunikation (CMC: computer mediated

communication) erleichtert. Im Bereich der höheren Bildung können durch CMC die Lerngemeinschaften ausgeweitet werden, selbst über nationale Grenzen hinaus. Mit diesem Beitrag berichten wir über zwei Zyklen von Wirkungsforschung in der Nutzung von Online-Diskussionsforen zur Ermöglichung von Zusammenarbeit zwischen Studentengruppen aus

verschiedenen Ländern durch Benutzung von Arbeitsergebnissen der anderen Gruppen. Die Daten für unsere Ergebnisse haben wir über Fragebogen und studentische Focus-Gruppen sowie durch Analyse des Inhalts der Online-Diskussion erhalten. Die Diskussion war auf die Auswertung von Muster-Lehrsystemen konzentriert, die von einer Studentengruppe produziert

und von Gruppen zweier Institutionen aus verschiedenen Ländern evaluiert. Jede Gruppe hatte unterschiedliche, sogar entgegengesetzte Aufgaben durch Teilnahme an der Aktion zu erfüllen. Die Ergebnisse unterstreichen die potentielle Komplexität einer solchen asymmetrischen Zusammenarbeit, weisen aber auf verschiedene Vorteile für Studenten hin, wenn die Aktivität einen deutlic hen Teil des pädagogisc hen Rasters ihrer Module dar stellt. Für Tutoren, die ähnlic he über nationale Zusammenarbeiten planen, stellen wir gerne Leitfäden mit den Ergebnissen unserer Forschung zur Verfügung.     

Formal Academic Mentoring: A pilot scheme for first-year science students at a regional university

This article describes a pilot academic mentoring program carried out over one semester in The Faculty of the Sciences at a regional Australian university. The program employed a science and education specialist in the faculty to provide an avenue of help to first-year science students at risk of failing, to identify some of the barriers to their performance, and to thereby enhance student success and retention. The mentor found that many students who had already failed one major exam were at least as motivated, and studying as many hours, as their more successful counterparts, though they attended fewer lectures and found their units of study more difficult. Despite relatively low numbers of self-referring students, the program was viewed favourably by all students that sought mentoring assistance. On the basis of the pilot, the mentor program has been continued for a further three years.     

Transformation of a print reference collection

Prompted by the need to move an aged and sorely neglected print reference collection into a new smaller academic medical library, the Reference Team of the Dana Medical Library at the University of Vermont embarked on a massive project to shrink and revitalize its paper reference collection. Employing a comprehensive and contemporary approach, the project ultimately resulted in a refurbished collection that would more effectively meet the information needs of the 21st century library user. This paper describes the process employed, and the numerous quality improvements to the physical collection, supporting infrastructure, and collection management practices that resulted.     

EndNote and Reference Manager Citation formats compared to "instructions to authors" in top medical journals

The study compared citation format in EndNote version 7 and Reference Manager version 11 with the citation format for references found in the instructions to authors from the most significant medical literature. The resulting information should be very useful to those who depend on citation management software to format and organize their references for publication in medicine, and librarians and others who teach the use of citation management software.     

A capstone mathematics course for prospective secondary mathematics teachers

This article describes an innovative capstone mathematics course that links college mathematics with school mathematics and pedagogy. It describes how college juniors in a secondary mathematics teacher preparation program engage in leadership experiences that enable them to learn mathematics for teaching while developing student-centered pedagogical and assessment strategies. Examples show how students teach the class, complemented by excerpts from student journals containing students?? perceptions of their learning. Preliminary research indicates the effectiveness of this course for preparing future mathematics teachers.     

Early Educational Intervention, Early Cumulative Risk, and the Early Home Environment as Predictors of Young Adult Outcomes Within a High-Risk Sample

The extent to which early educational intervention, early cumulative risk, and the early home environment were associated with young adult outcomes was investigated in a sample of 139 young adults (age 21) from high-risk families enrolled in randomized trials of early intervention. Positive effects of treatment were found for education attainment, attending college, and skilled employment; negative effects of risk were found for education attainment, graduating high school, being employed, and avoiding teen parenthood. The home mediated the effects of risk for graduating high school, but not being employed for teen parenthood. Evidence for moderated mediation was found for educational attainment; the home mediated the association between risk and educational attainment for the control group, but not the treated group.     

Using color and grayscale images to teach histology to color‐deficient medical students

Examination of histologic and histopathologic microscopic sections relies upon differential colors provided by staining techniques, such as hematoxylin and eosin, to delineate normal tissue components and to identify pathologic alterations in these components. Given the prevalence of color deficiency (commonly called “color blindness”) in the general population, it is likely that this reliance upon color differentiation poses a significant obstacle for several medical students beginning a course of study that includes examination of histologic slides. In the past, first‐year medical students at Michigan State University who identified themselves as color deficient were encouraged to use color transparency overlays or tinted contact lenses to filter out problematic colors. Recently, however, we have offered such students a computer monitor adjusted to grayscale for in‐lab work, as well as grayscale copies of color photomicrographs for examination purposes. Grayscale images emphasize the texture of tissues and the contrasts between tissues as the students learn histologic architecture. Using this approach, color‐deficient students have quickly learned to compensate for their deficiency by focusing on cell and tissue structure rather than on color variation. Based upon our experience with color‐deficient students, we believe that grayscale photomicrographs may also prove instructional for students with normal (trichromatic) color vision, by encouraging them to consider structural characteristics of cells and tissues that may otherwise be overshadowed by stain colors. Anat Sci Ed 2:84–88, 2009. © 2009 American Association of Anatomists.     

Development of a clinical information tool for the electronic medical record: a case study

Question:

What is the process of developing a clinical information tool to be embedded in the electronic health record of a very large and diverse academic medical center?

Setting:

The development took place at the University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Library System.

Method:

The clinical information tool developed is a search box with subject tabs to provide quick access to designated full-text information resources. Each subject tab offers a federated search of a different pool of resources. Search results are organized “on the fly” into meaningful categories using clustering technology and are directly accessible from the results page.

Results:

After more than a year of discussion and planning, a clinical information tool was embedded in the academic medical center''s electronic health record.

Conclusion:

The library successfully developed a clinical information tool, called Clinical-e, for use at the point of care. Future development will refine the tool and evaluate its impact and effectiveness.     

Retrieval comparison of EndNote to search MEDLINE (Ovid and PubMed) versus searching them directly

Using EndNote version 7.0, the authors tested the search capabilities of the EndNote search engine for retrieving citations from MEDLINE for importation into EndNote, a citation management software package. Ovid MEDLINE and PubMed were selected for the comparison. Several searches were performed on Ovid MEDLINE and PubMed using EndNote as the search engine, and the same searches were run on both Ovid and PubMed directly. Findings indicate that it is preferable to search MEDLINE directly rather than using EndNote. The publishers of EndNote do warn its users about the limitations of their product as a search engine when searching external databases. In this article, the limitations of EndNote as a search engine for searching MEDLINE were explored as related to MeSH, non-MeSH, citation verification, and author searching.