THE USES OF TELEVISION IN TEACHING PSYCHIATRY

The A.U.T.P. Working Party on the Applied Uses of Television was set up after the A UTP/ASME Conference on Undergraduate Education in Psychiatry and Behavioural Science held in Manchester in 1971. A group of Position Papers on the Uses of Television in Teaching Psychiatry has been published by the Working Party (AUTP, 1977), under the chairmanship of Professor David Goldberg. By his kind permission, two of these papers are here reprinted: one concerns the uses of television in undergraduate teaching of psychiatry; the other, ethical aspects of the use of television in psychiatry.     

Incivility and Dysfunction in the Library Workplace: Perceptions and Feedback from the Field

Issues associated with lack of civility, less than ideal functionality, and employees that may not self-reflect as much they should are all challenges in the modern workplace and libraries are no exception. The purpose of this study was to determine which issues associated with a lack of civility such as mobbing, bullying, workplace dysfunction, and lack of abilities regarding self-reflection were found in the library workplace and to what extent. The data represents the feedback of 4,168 library employees through a self-reporting survey instrument designed by the authors with the help of the American Library Association. Data is both quantitative and qualitative and seeks to examine the issues addressed across all types of libraries. While useful for all library employees, this study and report are especially relevant to the modern library administrator.     

Listening to People Listening to Music: Lessons for Museums

The language people use to talk about something can constrain as well as facilitate understanding. This essay explores the lessons learned through a study of how people talked about music to examine what it can mean for museums and museum experiences. The study itself had people talk about their interest, background, and ways of engaging with music, then listen to random cuts of preselected music to talk about what they were hearing. Several themes emerged from the study, suggesting there are clusters to ways in which people frame their experiences of music, which extend to how people might understand the museum experience and what museums might do to make that experience more relevant.     

Recouping and rethinking the effects of summer vacation on reading achievement

Vacations may have detrimental effects on maths and spelling performance, but the findings for reading are less conclusive. The purpose of this study was to analyse the effects of summer vacation on early literacy skills of young children. Participants included rising first and second‐graders, most of whom were at‐risk, struggling readers. No evidence of summer setback was evident for this sample of children; in fact, gains in reading (or, recoupment of any losses) were more common in children performing at lower levels than for those with higher scores at the end of the school year. Our outcomes are different from those reported by other researchers. We explain this with attention to the content of our comparisons, the grade levels investigated and measures used to assess performance, and discuss implications for future research based on our findings.     

Goal orientations in Russian university students: from mastery to performance?

Research in the UK has shown that students start their university career with the goal of mastering their subject, but this focus shifts as they progress through their degree program. Studies have suggested that unlike students in the UK, Russian students continue to take a strong mastery approach to their work. The main aim of this study was to assess whether the effects observed in UK studies could be found in a Russian context. In a cross‐sectional study, 618 students across four years of a degree program in a Russian university completed an achievement‐goal questionnaire. Results revealed patterns similar to the studies in the UK; Russian students’ levels of mastery were significantly lower after Year 1. The results are discussed in terms of potential changes in Russian culture. Methodological issues relating to the relative failure of some questionnaire items to validate fully within their hypothesised constructs are also discussed.     

Seryozha’s Education

This is discussion of one of Leo Tolstoy’s fictional dramatisations of aggressive but dull-witted pedagogy. In Anna Karenina, two adults badger a lively, deep-souled, active-minded boy, Anna’s son Seryozha, to learn his rote-lessons.