Book Reviews

Open Access: Key Strategic, Technical and Economic Aspects Edited by Neil Jacobs Chandos Publishing, 2006. 250 pp. ISBN 1‐84334‐203‐0, £39.95, pbk ISBN 1‐84334‐204‐9, £57.00, hbk Selling Rights, 5th edn Lynette Owen Routledge, 2006. 384 pp. ISBN 978‐0‐415‐36280‐1, £75.00 hbk ISBN 978‐0‐415‐38652‐4, £29.95 pbk Bound by Law? Tales from the Public Domain by Keith Aoki, James Boyle and Jennifer Jenkins Duke Law School Center for the Study of the Public Domain, 2006. 76 pp. ISBN 0‐974‐15531‐4, $5.95, pbk. Freely available online at http://www.law.duke.edu/cspd Digital Preservation Marilyn Deegan Simon Tanner Facet Publishing, 2006, Digital Futures Series. 288 pp. ISBN 978‐1‐85604‐485‐1, £39.95, hbk.     

Study abroad: A process of adaptation and change

American students participating in a study abroad program in Switzerland were studied over a three-year period (1968–1970) using the methods of participant observation and written questionnaires. The researcher developed a typology of five unique types of student adaptation. From this typology recommendations are made to increase the educational impact of study abroad on participants.     

Abstracts of Doctoral Dissertations In Religious Education, 1960‐1961

There is great art in some commercially produced motion pictures, often with religious significance. There are ways of using such films educationally     

Learning about Interface Design through Peer Assessment

Peer assessment is recognised as a useful learning activity, not merely as a means by which assignments can be marked. In a design subject such as Human-computer Interaction, peer-assessment offers a unique opportunity for students to be exposed to a wide range of different designs in an environment that ensures that they reflect on these designs. However, it is important that the marking criteria are well specified and unambiguous. This paper reports on the use of peer-assessment as an effective learning activity for revealing the wide range of design issues and dimensions in interface design, where formal marking is based on clear, functional criteria. Subjective consideration of the interfaces is encouraged through a ranking system and the subsequent elicitation of interface design principles. The successful implementation of this scheme demonstrates its benefits both as a learning activity and as an opportunity for student reflection.     

Assimilation, Faith and Identity: Educational Implications of Change and Continuity

In England, the presence of an established church places its adherents within the social mainstream. Other religious groups have been tolerated though suffering social and educational disadvantages. With the passage of time through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, minority religious groups such as Irish Catholics have been assimilated into the host culture, and allowed to have their own schools.
However, it would appear that contemporary movements of people to the United Kingdom have retained loyalties not only to their own religion, but, in some instances to their own language, which they perceive as a vital element of their own culture and identity. Demands for schools, within the state-funded system, for minority religious groups have not lessened. As faith schools in England increase in number, their role in a multicultural society becomes increasingly problematic. Lessons about changing models of assimilation and identity can be learnt from a brief review of the historic Irish Catholic experience that, in turn, can illuminate the current experience of a Greek Orthodox school in south London.