Using restaurant reviews to teach how to write literature reviews

Courses: Any communication course requiring a literature review, including, but is not limited to, Communication Research Methods and Communication Theory.

Objectives: After completing this activity, students should be able to write better literature reviews by (1) locating a range of resources; (2) identifying a variety of relevant information (that directly relates to the question at hand) from within a popular social medium; (3) identifying relevant information from scholarly works and making informed judgments about what information should be used or discarded; and (4) synthesizing information from disparate sources, drawing appropriate inferences and conclusions from the available research to communicate a point clearly.     

Toward a Model of Influence in Persuasive Discussions: Negotiating Quality,Authority, Privilege,and Access Within a Student-Led Argument

It is commonly observed that during classroom or group discussions some students have greater influence than may be justified by the normative quality of those students’ contributions. We propose a 5-component theoretical framework in order to explain how undue influence unfolds. We build on literatures on persuasion, argumentation, discourse, and classroom discussions to develop a framework that models how each participant’s level of influence in a discussion emerges out of the social negotiation of influence itself and the following 4 components that interact with it: (a) the negotiated merit of each participant’s contributions; and each participant’s (b) degree of intellectual authority, (c) access to the conversational floor, and (d) degree of spatial privilege. We then illustrate how the framework works by explaining how 1 student became unduly influential during a heated, student-led scientific debate. Finally, we close by outlining how our framework can be further developed to better understand and address differences in influence in classrooms and other learning contexts.     

Tell Me More: The Operational Style of Maxine Bleiweis

Abstract

An interview with former library director Maxine Bleiweis explores leadership, staffing, and operations from the perspective of interpersonal connection. How can real conversation – asking questions, listening, and remembering – lead to a stronger staff engagement, innovative programing, and community investment in the library? How can directors find the best candidates for their staff and then assemble energized, complementary teams? How can libraries find support from their local business communities? Bleiweis, winner of Charles Robinson Award for Innovative Leadership from the Public Library Association, is now a consultant who encourages libraries across the country to tap into their community networks to explore bold new directions.     

Probability With Less Pain

The teaching of probability theory has been steadily declining in introductory statistics courses as students have difficulty with handling the rules of probability. In this article, we give a data‐driven approach, based on two‐way tables, which helps students to become familiar with using the usual rules but without the formal structure.     

Peer Mediated Intervention in Reading Instruction Using Pause,Prompt and Praise

A multiple baseline research design across subjects (pairs) was used to examine the effectiveness of peer tutoring in reading using the Pause, Prompt and Praise tutoring procedure. Twelve 11 year‐old, Year 6 students of varying reading ability were trained in the systematic use of delayed attention, prompting and praise to tutor 12 Year 6 students of a similar age and similar reading ability. Individual trends in tutor behaviours were examined using a statistical programme specifically designed for analysing data from interrupted time series research designs. A one‐tailed t‐test was also computed to test for significant differences in pre‐ and post‐test means in reading achievement. Continuous data collection throughout the programme indicated that all peers were effective in increasing their use of the tutoring behaviours; not all tutors experienced statistically significant increases, however. Both peer tutors and tutees made statistically significant gains in reading accuracy and comprehension over the course of the intervention.