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The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to present an Australian mentor preparation program designed to prepare experienced teachers to mentor beginning teachers and second, to identify and discuss mentor teachers’ personal and professional outcomes and the wider contextual implications emerging from the Mentoring Beginning Teachers (MBT) mentor preparation program.

This case study, situated within Queensland, Australia, draws on qualitative data collected via interviews and focus groups with mentor teachers who participated in a large-scale systemic mentor preparation program. The program positions mentoring as supportive, based on a process of collaborative inquiry and encouraging critically reflexive praxis with the mentor professional learning focusing on reflection, dialog and criticality.

Initial findings show the outcomes of the mentor preparation program include building a common language and shared understanding around the role of mentor, consolidating a collaborative inquiry approach to mentoring and providing opportunity for self-reflection and critique around mentoring approaches and practices. Some findings, such as a greater self-awareness and validation of mentors’ own teaching performance, have confirmed previous research. However, the originality of this research lies in the personal and professional impacts for mentor teachers and the wider contextual impacts that have emerged from the study.

The study highlights the impact of the mentor preparation program on the professional learning of teacher-mentors and contributes to the current lack of empirical research that identifies the personal and professional impacts for mentors and the wider contextual factors that impact effective mentoring in schools.

The originality of this research lies in the personal and professional impacts for mentor teachers and the wider contextual impacts more broadly that have emerged from the study.

There is no argument among serious researchers that a mongoloid stock first colonized the New World from Asia. Nor is there controversy about the fact that these continental pioneers used the Bering Land Bridge that then connected the Asian Far East with Alaska.– Gerald F. Shields, et al.American Journal of Genetics (1992)

Travel and tourism graduates are facing challenges in securing jobs within the travel and tourism industry, as their degrees have low recognition among travel and tourism employers. Yet there are growing numbers of tourism courses provided by universities, and these are increasingly popular among students. This paper attempts an informed discussion of the relevance of travel and tourism degrees, comparing students' career expectations and aspirations with industry needs and perceptions of travel and tourism degrees and graduates. Students' perceptions were investigated, using a questionnaire survey, while the employers' perceptions and needs were explored through semi‐structured interviews. The results indicate a desire and optimism amongst current travel and tourism undergraduate students towards securing a job in the tourism industry, while the industry is not convinced, or at best unaware, of the benefits of tourism degrees and employing tourism graduates.

As with many professional programmes, nursing students in the United Kingdom spend a significant proportion of their time ‘on placement’ – applying their theoretical learning to the clinical area.While off campus and at a distance from their peers and university staff, however, they must continue to study and complete assessments. This creates enormous complexities for nursing students; issues of retention and success, anxiety and isolation are well documented in the research literature relating to this particularly diverse group. Emerging technologies offer opportunities to increase engagement between nursing students and faculty, thus potentially eliminating many of these difficulties. At Glasgow Caledonian University, a blog was developed to provide new students with remote support and a virtual community while on their first placement. The open access resource offered a link between faculty and students and a forum for peer support among the cohort. Student produced materials, such as ‘talking head’ videos and placement diaries, were posted alongside assessment-specific learning resources developed by staff. The blog was fully interactive and participants were encouraged to comment on and respond to posts in order to increase engagement. A thorough evaluation of the continuing initiative highlighted the success and further potential of the resource but also suggested limitations in terms of interactive engagement and issues of digital literacy among some learners. This chapter will discuss the use of technologies such as blogs in providing remote support to learners, using the student nurse blog as a case study.

ELSEWHERE in this number we list libraries which have Esent us copies of their annual reports which we are glad to have. Now and again we are able to elaborate on these, but in the present issue that has not been possible. We would say, however, that these reports are deserving of the attention of librarians generally, and of students at the library schools. They are records of work in progress, and they do suggest the development of library policy. The best of them are of textbook value.

UNTIL 1952 Queen's University was fortunate to have one main library building. With the establishment of the Institute of Clinical Science in the hospital area 1½ miles from the main university site, the formation of a separate medical library near the hospitals was considered essential.

Within schools across the USA, mentees supported by mentors experience a number of potential benefits, including high job satisfaction, less attrition and more opportunities for professional/emotional guidance. However, these benefits are less understood in the context of formal mentorship specifically, as well as to what extent these supports apply to instructional practices. This study aims to address the minimally researched area of how being mentored might impact the instructional practices of teachers at all stages of their career.

Based on data recently published for the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) in 2018, this study examines the relationship of teachers with formally assigned mentors, the number of total years of teaching experience and instructional practices. US teachers who responded to the target survey questions (n = 1,934) were submitted to several one-way analyses of variance to determine (1) the potential relationships between the presence of a formal mentor and instructional practices and (2) how different groups of teachers with varying numbers of total years of teaching experience impacted these relationships.

The results found that the presence of a formal mentor predicted higher classroom management practices, clarity of instruction practices and cognitive activation activities for the combined sample (p < 0.05), and for teachers with 15 years or more of teaching experience, the presence of a formal mentor predicted higher classroom management and clarity of instruction practices (p < 0.05).

The results provide evidence for the use of formally assigned mentors beyond new teacher induction, but the nature of the formal mentorships in this study is unclear. Future research should further investigate descriptive cases of more inclusive formal mentorship programs.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the changes adopted in a major Asian academic library aimed at making the library more responsive to evolving and growing client needs, and to positioning the library as a key player on campus in terms of teaching and learning support.

Following a period of organizational restructuring, the library embarked on a series of client focused services specifically aimed at enhancing its role in teaching and learning support.

The article draws on a number of previously existing and new services introduced by the library, and demonstrates growth in their usage. Further evidence of success is highlighted through three consecutive biannual user survey results which demonstrate an increasing responsiveness to user expectations.

While many of the new services have been well received, the findings require further examination to ensure that the services continue to create value for the organization and that the library sustains its role.

This paper reinforces the perspective that, in order to succeed and remain relevant, academic libraries must continue to evolve and to position themselves within their organizations so that they are recognized as important players in teaching and learning processes.

This article provides one possible model for other libraries to follow in attempting to reposition themselves within their organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the development of learner autonomy and the application of Web 2.0 tools in the language classroom.

The approach taken is that of qualitative action research within an explicit theoretical framework and the data were collected via surveys and through the analysis of learner diaries.

Although the students were found to have high‐level skills in relation to the use of Web 2.0 tools, it was also found that explicit teaching is needed to maximize the potential of these tools.

Future research in this area is needed to develop a stronger research base around the student use of Web 2.0 to enhance their learning of second languages.

The paper highlights a need for teachers to engage in discussions with students around the use of Web 2.0 tools beyond the classroom and to model effective use of these within the classroom.

The paper seeks to explore the implications of the development of Web 2.0 skills by students and seeks to contribute to the current thinking around the use of social media by Generation Y (Gen‐y) students.

This paper will be of value to second–language teachers reflecting on the need to better equip students faced with the combination of vast amounts of online material with the rich potential of publishing through Web 2.0 tools.