The Process of Becoming an Embedded Curriculum Librarian in Multiple Health Sciences Programs

Higher education is moving to offer more fully online programs, and the health science fields are no different. These programs are either hybrid or completely online. It is up to the health sciences librarian to adapt services offered by the academic library to these types of courses. This column discusses the multiple ways a librarian can be an embedded librarian in a course using a learning management system (LMS). The process of creating a customized embedded librarian program, results, and lessons learned from the different embedded librarian roles are also discussed.     

Development of Targeted Online Modules for Recurring Reference Questions

When students are given assignments with specific information needs, they may turn to the library for help. The UNC Health Sciences Library developed three short online modules to teach first-year pharmacy students how to find early/animal studies, mechanism of action information, and specific study types in an effort to lessen demand on the reference desk. The modules filled two goals: to free up time that had been spent on three common low-level questions and to provide a pedagogically sound online tool to teach students how to find answers to these three questions. The modules were created using Adobe Captivate. Developing and promoting the modules took three hours of the pharmacy librarian's time compared with nearly 23 hours spent answering individual questions via e-mail, in consultations, and at the reference desk before the modules were introduced. After introducing the modules, only one student asked for help from the library compared to more than 60 who viewed the online modules at least once.     

Live and Online: Using Co-Streaming to Reach Users

The increase in distance education students and the changing preferences for online instruction led the Health Sciences Library to seek creative approaches to traditional classroom instruction. Library instructors compared two different class formats: online-only classes and in-person classes with online sections. The second format, called “co-streaming,” provided instruction in traditional classroom and virtual environments at the same time. A postclass survey was used to gather users' evaluations of the instruction and the format via which it was offered. This paper examines the user response to, and satisfaction with, the co-streaming classes.     

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.     

Perception Matters: Exploring Thai lecturers’ views,preferences and needs of MOOCs

Despite wide recognition of MOOCs, little is known about the lecturers’ perception and what are their needs before encouraging them to integrate MOOCs in their pedagogical practices. To gain such an understanding, this study conducted in-depth interviews probing Thai lecturers’ perception and paying special attention to their needs in designing their MOOCs. Strengths and challenges in integrating MOOCs were highlighted. The study proposed that for MOOCs to exert power in Thai institutions, it might be necessary for Thai institutions to introduce systematic and effective workshops for lecturers to acquire the skills and confidence to design their MOOCs.     

Exploring Online and Blended Course Delivery in Social Group Work

Agency group work has increased, but opportunities for social work group practice in educational settings have not kept pace. One option in response is technology-based learning, and students appear to have positive perceptions of online group project work. Online courses appear to have outcomes comparable to those that occur with in-person groups but require careful monitoring of group processes and group-based technologies. The authors discuss the factors involved in developing and implementing online and blended course delivery in teaching group work.     

International University Education: An Australian Perspective

This paper attempts to explore the effectiveness of UK universities' websites. The area of branding in higher education has received increasing academic investigation, but little work has researched how universities demonstrate their brand promises through their websites. The quest to differentiate through branding can be challenging in the university context, however. It is argued that those institutions that have a strong distinctive image will be in a better position to face a changing future. Employing a multistage methodology, the web pages of 20 UK universities were investigated by using a combination of content and multivariable analysis. Results indicated ‘traditional values’ such as teaching and research were often well communicated in terms of online brand but ‘emotional values’ like social responsibility and the universities' environments were less consistently communicated, despite their increased topicality. It is therefore suggested that emotional values may offer a basis for possible future online differentiation.     

基于WPF的在线笔记本系统的研究与实现

根据在线笔记本系统的特点和具体要求,阐述了用WPF、Socket编程、多线程等技术构建CS多层架构的互联网在线笔记本系统的过程．系统采用WPF技术构建表示层,提供友好的操作界面;用Socket编程技术,建立通道为客户、服务端的通讯服务;用多线程技术,建立专门线程对客户端请求的监听,并为信息交互服务．