A Graphic Interface to Online Reference Sources

Librarians at the Arnold Bernhard Library of Quinnipiac University were at a crossroads with electronic reference books. At first they had added the titles to the library's web page, generated records to individual titles in the online catalog, and even established links to their content using the link resolver in the online catalog. It was still felt that the collection was not living up to its potential. In 2007, the automation librarian began a project to add one more level of access to these titles – a graphic interface that simulated the process of walking into a reference room and picking out a title – all of this done with no programming beyond basic HTML. Early usage reports beginning in the Fall of 2007 prove that the concept has found an audience.     

数字电子技术课程教学改革的探索与实践

数字电子技术是高职电子类专业必修的一门职业基础课程。海南软件职业技术学院对该课程教学内容选取、组织形式、方法与手段、考核方法等方面进行了一系列改革措施,实现了学生从被动到主动自主创新、设计和实施的转变,培养了学生工程职业素质、团队协作精神。     

Nothing about us without us! Youth-led solutions to improve high school completion rates

This Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) study represents a collaboration with six students from alternative education to inquire about the experiences of vulnerable youth – students in alternative education and youth who have dropped out of school. Utilizing the Enhanced Critical Incident Technique, youth researchers asked their peers what helped and hindered their retention and success in mainstream and alternative education. Youth researchers engaged in authentic participation and took part in the iterative phases of YPAR – critical reflection and social action. Their involvement empowered them to advocate for their peers by disseminating the results and recommendations to key stakeholders within the community. Youth researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 participants. Overall, the findings show that relationships with staff and peers, flexibility, psychosocial and academic supports, and personal circumstances are vital in helping vulnerable students succeed in school. Engagement in YPAR provided insight into working with vulnerable youth in a manner that promotes agency and social change within educational institutions.     

Emerging communities of practice: collaboration and communication in action research

This article chronicles the experiences of Dialogues in Methods of Education (DIME), a group of school and university faculty. Over the past 22 years, DIME members have studied together how to improve their own teaching practices through research, the sharing of ideas and mutual support. They have also engaged in critical analysis of the disciplinary and institutional forces shaping their work. The history of DIME shows the importance of accommodating difference as well as providing mutual support for long-term collaborations.     

CONTENTdm Digital Collection Management Software and End-User Efficacy

ABSTRACT

Digital libraries and collections are a growing facet of today's traditional library. Digital library technologies have become increasingly more sophisticated in the effort to provide more and better access to the collections they contain. The evaluation of the usability of these technologies has not kept pace with technological developments, however, and the end-user has in some cases been left behind. This research study evaluates the usability of digital collections created using the CONTENTdm Digital Collection Management System, a software system used by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Specifically, this study addresses the following questions: Does CONTENTdm meet users' needs? Is the interface sufficiently intuitive for them to use it? Is the experience of exploring digital collections using CONTENTdm satisfying to users? Employing usability testing techniques with actual-end users, this study attempts to assess the efficacy of the CONTENTdm public interface as well as user attitudes toward it. Ten participants from three user groups—faculty, library science graduate students, and the general public—performed eleven tasks designed to test the key functions of CONTENTdm-created collections and then answered a series of questions about their experiences. Key findings from this study indicate that while the included digital collections are useful and desirable to end-users, the interface generated by CONTENTdm can be confusing even for those who have considerable experience using the Internet. Results from this study may be used to improve this software system and add to the literature surrounding the usability of digital libraries in general.     

Card-Sorting Usability Tests of the WMU Libraries’ Web Site

ABSTRACT

This article describes the card-sorting techniques used by several academic libraries, reports and discusses the results of card-sorting usability tests of the Western Michigan University Libraries’ Web site, and reveals how the WMU libraries incorporated the findings into a new Web site redesign, setting the design direction early on. The article briefly describes open and closed card-sorting techniques and quantitative and qualitative methods of analyzing data commonly used in computer and library science fields. Findings from this study allowed the library design team to vastly improve its initial redesign decisions for a new Web site tabbed navigation system. Card sorting not only helped the design team validate its redesign decisions, but it also opened the WMU libraries to outside innovation, inviting Web site visitors to redesign the Web site free from the libraries’ influence. The simple and inexpensive techniques used here may be useful to any Web librarian or design team embarking upon redesign and usability testing of their own sites and interested in building a more compelling, insightful Web site.     

Teaching chemical bonding through jigsaw cooperative learning

This study examined the effectiveness of jigsaw cooperative learning in teaching chemical bonding at tertiary level. This study was carried out in two different classes in the Department of Primary Science Education of Atatürk University during the 2005–2006 academic year. One of the classes was the non‐jigsaw group (control) and the other was the jigsaw group (experimental). Students in the jigsaw group were divided into four ‘home groups’ since chemical bonding is divided into four subtopics (Modules A, B, C and D). Each of these home groups consisted of four students. The subjects covered were ionic bonding (Module A), covalent bonding (Module B), hydrogen bonding and van der Waals (Module C) and basic concepts about bonds (Module D). The main instrument for obtaining data was the Chemical Bonding Achievement Test (CBAT), which was applied to both groups. The CBAT was divided into four modules (A, B, C and D), in which each module consisted of five questions (four multiple‐choice and one open‐ended). The data obtained indicated that the students in the jigsaw group were more successful than those in the non‐jigsaw group.     

Developing primary science through IT-INSET

The purpose of the research study was to find out if the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) could improve the planning, performing and evaluating process within a sequence of six gymnastics lessons, and whether this would then improve the children's technique. The research consisted of a questionnaire given to the 30 children in the class at the end of the six consecutive lessons, an interview with the class teacher prior to the implementation of ICT and again afterwards, and observations. The findings showed that ICT improved the plan, perform and evaluate stages, within gymnastics, and consequently, the children's technique improved.     

世界杯足球赛进球规律研究

参照国际足联技术委员会主任马洛茨基博士的方法，通过跟踪调研，对１３、１４、１５届世界杯决赛１５６场３８８个射门进球的分类技术统计，找出其基本规律和特征。认为当今足球技战术发展的趋势，已进入了一个新的历史阶段。     

基于ODBC的多媒体考试系统的设计与实现

介绍了一种基于Authorware多媒体和ODBC技术的在线考试系统。本系统利用传统关系数据库来模拟实现多媒体数据库的功能,具有随机抽题、自动阅卷等特点,为考试走向无纸化、标准化创造了条件,具有很高的实用价值。