A sentence-combining intervention for struggling writers: response to intervention

Reading and Writing - Children who struggle with writing are a heterogeneous group and may experience difficulties in a range of domains, including spelling, reading, and oral language. These...     

Establishing the Role and Impact of Academic Librarians in Supporting Open Research: A Case Study at Leeds Beckett University,UK

ABSTRACT

This practical article presents findings of a small scale study undertaken at a large U.K. University. The purpose of the study was to encourage academic engagement with Open Access (OA) and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) mandate with the measurable impact being increased engagement with the Repository and dissemination of research while circulating information to the wider community. In order to promote research, a series of “Focus on” webpages were created aligned to a particular theme and were then disseminated via social media. It was anticipated that by potentially increasing access to research outputs, academic staff would be motivated to make their work available following OA models and use the institutional repository (IR) as a means to achieve this. The main drivers for the study were the Finch Report, the HEFCE Policy for open access in the post-2014 Research Excellence Framework and the institutional strategy for research. Data was collected through a statistical analysis of both the “Focus on” pages and journal article downloads via the IR, with results indicating increased engagement with the IR making research openly accessible.     

Teaching Styles of Community College Instructors

This study examined the teaching styles of online instructors at Florida's 28 community colleges in an effort to determine if the instructors had adopted the learner–centered model touted in the literature. The Principles of Adult Learning Scale was the primary instrument used to collect data from 292 online instructors. The study revealed that nearly half of the participants (n?=?135) scored in the middle range, with 84% (n?=?244) of the participants’ scores falling into the teacher-centered range. Although online distance education does have the potential to transition education from a teacher-centered orientation to a more student-centered orientation, continued efforts are needed to accomplish this shift.     

Academic feedback in veterinary medicine: a comparison of school leaver and graduate entry cohorts

This study analysed the expectations and experiences of students on a five-year undergraduate (n?=?91) and four-year graduate entry (n?=?47) veterinary medicine degree programme relating to academic feedback. Qualitative and quantitative methodologies were used to explore new students’ expectations and prior experiences of feedback and capture experiences across one academic year. The majority of the students expect no less feedback at university than at school. Students’ experiences of the course highlighted themes of not knowing what was expected of them, a perceived need for more guidance and the importance of timely feedback. The impact of the staff–student relationship on how students obtain and perceive feedback and the emotional impact of positive and negative feedback were also highlighted. In addition, a recurring theme was the social context of veterinary medicine with issues relating to high academic achievers, competition between students and the need to gain professional and clinical skills. This study confirms a mismatch in student expectations versus experience. The paper draws on a rich data-set based on both quantitative and qualitative methods and is the first study of this type to be carried out in the context of students of veterinary medicine.     

Tennis racket stiffness,string tension and impact velocity effects on post-impact ball angular velocity

There has been significant technological advancement in the game of tennis over the past two decades. In particular, tennis rackets have changed in size, shape and material composition. The effects of these changes on ball rebound speed have been well documented, but few studies have considered the effects on ball angular velocity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of three factors on post-impact ball spin. Tennis balls were projected at three velocities toward a clamped racket simulating three levels of stiffness and strung at three string tensions. The angular velocity of each tennis ball was measured from stroboscopic images during an oblique impact with the racket. A three-way factorial ANOVA revealed significant (P < 0.01) differences in the post-impact angular velocity for string tension, racket stiffness and impact velocity, as well as two-way interactions between string tension and impact velocity, and between racket stiffness and impact velocity. The possibility of tangential elastic strain energy being stored in the racket and ball was evident in low impact velocity trials. These displayed a post-impact angular velocity where the circumference of the ball was translating faster than the relative velocity between the ball’s centre of mass and the string surface. It was concluded that increasing the relative impact velocity between the racket and ball was the best means of increasing the post-impact angular velocity of the tennis ball.     

“Try to Walk With the Sound of My Footsteps”: The Surveillant Body in Contemporary Art

While the prevailing artistic response to surveillance has been sousveillance, the turning of surveillance against itself, this paper suggests that the usefulness of such responses depends upon granting power to the surveillance video camera as the roving eye of an elusive disciplinary body. This paper analyzes contemporary art works where the surveillant eye is met not with the returned gaze, but with interpersonal and embodied responses that challenge the dichotomized relationship between viewer and viewed.     

Circulation Services for Distance Education: A Case Study Comparing Two Institutions

The way students experience higher education in today's world is rapidly changing, and students have the choice to earn their college degree in a number of non-traditional ways. Library services also need to transform to meet the needs of all students regardless of how they experience higher education. The following article outlines how library circulation and document delivery services can be provided to distance education students. Two institutions' services are compared: the distance education circulation services offered at the Leatherby Libraries at Chapman University and the equivalent services at the Ottenheimer Library at University of Arkansas at Little Rock. This case study provides examples of how document delivery and interlibrary loan can fill the resource needs of distance education patrons.