Search results

This chapter focuses on a university case that interprets the variability of academic freedom in terms of faculty’s textbook selection and the need for students’ textbook affordability. Faculty members are participants in a collective bargaining unit and students are members of the student government organization in a state university system. The faculty contract outlines tenets of academic freedom that delineate faculty selection of curriculum (textbooks), instruction, and assessment practices. This chapter highlights the nuances of faculty rights in the name of academic freedom and the students’ need for more affordable textbooks which includes open educational resource materials. In this case, the administration, faculty association, and the student government worked together to create a set of conditions for a more affordable textbook selection. This collaborative process is explored and explained as a set of practices that other colleges and universities can replicate at their institutions.

Students’ professional training often focuses on narrow technical considerations that exclude accessibility concerns and universal design perspectives. This can make them ill‐equipped to understand the importance of accessibility approaches let alone become advocates for them. This article explores how students who design Web sites and work with computer end users in support capacities can be introduced to accessibility approaches and empowered to promote them in organizational contexts. The issues involved can also be used as springboards for examination of larger matters concerning universal design perspectives and humanistic approaches to management.

This study aims to add to the body of literature by examining students’ satisfaction with e-textbooks. As higher education evolves, one instructional tool, the classic textbook, is undergoing various transformations. In today’s classrooms, many e-textbooks are in use and there are implications.

A researcher-developed instrument measured 115 undergraduate students’ satisfaction levels for e-textbooks used in two courses, and a learning styles instrument was given to identify student learning preferences.

Through factor analysis, a few dimensions emerged regarding factors related to satisfaction. The factors included features, usability and learning facilitation provided by the e-textbooks. In general, students had a moderately above-neutral, positive attitude toward the e-textbooks. Gender, grade point average, time spent weekly reading e-textbooks and a few learning style tendencies can significantly predict, to some extent, different dimensions of satisfaction.

Usability design of e-textbooks plays a key role in student satisfaction toward digital materials. Moreover, instructors need to use meaningful instructional activities as they adopt the usage of e-textbooks.

The findings can help shed light on ways to enable students to become more satisfied with digital textbooks and can help policymakers and instructors evaluate and effectively adopt the appropriate digital materials to meet individual needs.

The purpose of this paper is to review the library and information science literature related to the accessibility of digital resources by individuals with mental, physical or other impairments, to assess the state of research in the field and to explore new avenues for investigation.

There is an increasingly rich body of literature surrounding digital accessibility in libraries, ranging from practical guides for authors of Web content, to principles of universal design, to the ethical considerations of libraries subscribing to packages of digital content, to critical examinations of the accessibility guidelines themselves. This review is intended to be illustrative, not exhaustive; less attention is given to studies of specific tools that will become quickly outdated, and more attention is given to underlying considerations and approaches that will remain relevant even as technologies change.

Many libraries and vendors have taken steps to provide equal access to websites and electronic resources in recent years. While the literature reflects an increasing level of critical engagement with concepts around disability and diversity, it also demonstrates methodological weaknesses in assessment projects that do not lead to meaningful accessibility.

This review offers theoretical and practical perspectives from recent work that can assist librarians in planning and decision-making, as they deal with an increasingly complex landscape of digital resources.

The study aims to propose a predictive model that combines personality and demographic factors to predict student academic performance (SAP). This research study works on understanding, enhancing and applying techniques to enhance the prediction of SAP.

The authors gathered information from 305 university students from Al-Zintan University Libya. The study uses a survey questionnaire to collect data on essential variables. The purpose of the questionnaire is to discover variables that affect students' academic performance. The survey questionnaire has 44 closed questions with Likert scale designs that were distributed to a variety of college students at the start of the first semester of 2022. It includes questions about demographics, personality, employment and institutional aspects. The authors proposed a predictive model to identify the main fundamental components, consisting of one dependent variable (SAP) and five independent constructs. The suggested model is tested using partial least squares (PLS) and structural equation modeling (SEM), which perform better than covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM). PLS-SEM performs well with smaller sample sizes, even for complicated models.

The study results show that the proposed model accurately predicted the student's academic performance. The personality trait variables are a key factor that determines the actual student's academic performance. The student's academic performance is significantly impacted by each variable in the personality trait variables as well.

The process of validating research was done empirically through the accuracy and efficiency of model performance. The study differs from previous studies in that it accumulated a wide range of factors from different dimensions, including student demographics and personality trait factors. The authors developed a structural equation model to predict students' academic performance.

The purpose of this paper is to explain and discuss a paradoxical tension in the practice of marketing and the consequent dilemmas posed for practitioners in general and planners in particular.

A “Viewpoint” contribution, with implicit permission to “think aloud.” Informed opinion and logical argument are in this case founded on but not exclusively derived from the existing research‐based marketing literature, plus selected transfer of principles from other disciplines.

The paradox is that, by concentrating on the contribution of accepted theory and principles to practice, in fact intellectual and conceptual progress might be hindered. A way out of this dilemma is to shift the focus from marketing‐as‐content (doing) to marketing‐as‐questioning (thinking). A new working definition emphasizes the value of this focus and the benefits of equal participation in the process by both academics and practitioners.

A route map is offered for productive collaboration across the much‐discussed academic‐practitioner gap, which should lead to mitigation of the constraining (hindering) effect of the conventional wisdom and the way it is applied to strategy.

The paper presents a point of view, to stimulate lateral thinking and alternative positions. It shifts the focus from “what” to “how” and “why” and exhorts academics and practitioners to move in the same direction together.

This chapter aims to present best practices in providing inclusive resources and services offered to persons with disabilities at a public university library, in light of the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

A review of past practices and future considerations are presented from the perspective of providing both effective services and acquiring accessible resources.

Effective practices, at a college library serving individuals with disabilities, need to be a consistent part of daily practices and policies. Due to changing populations of students with disabilities, library outreach to the local disability office and communication to library professionals is essential. Practices for acquiring, assessing, and purchasing library resources require conformity to legal standards in order to be an “accessible” library.

Success for college students with disabilities also requires an institutional and system-wide university commitment to accessibility. As a case study in practice, the College of Staten Island (CSI) Library actively assesses accessibility at their library, which can be relevant to other academic libraries.

Limited amount of studies document the application of compliance with the ADA to daily library acquisition practices. Initiatives are also presented that can lead to future procurement guidelines at the CSI and similar organizations.

In grades K-3, the primary focus of instruction is learning to read. In grades 4 and beyond, however, the focus shifts to reading to learn. Whereas teachers may use a variety of instructional approaches, research has clearly documented that learning from text is the primary instructional model found in most classrooms. This means that efforts to close the achievement gap must focus on ensuring that all students can access text-based learning materials, engage with the content in meaningful ways, and ultimately demonstrate success in the form of measurable gains in learning outcomes. Whereas the philosophy of UDL is relatively easy to understand, it has proven problematic to design, implement, evaluate, and scale. The purpose of this chapter is to describe a universal design engineering approach known as Design for More Types that can be applied to the design of text-based learning materials, this chapter will describe the conceptual and practical issues involved in the development of text-based learning materials for diverse learners. We begin by providing some foundational concepts for this multidisciplinary work. Next, we provide a series of case studies to illustrate how universal usability can be applied to various instructional designs. Finally, we describe how the Design for More Types framework can be used in both research and practice.

The author takes a comprehensive look at the accessibility of e-resources for all people, including those with disabilities, in the context of collection development (CD).

Employing a combination of research methodologies — policy analysis, content analysis, and phone survey—the author explores the extent to which the needs of people with disabilities are considered.

Several professional library organizations recommend accessibility-sensitive selection and procurement procedures. However, not all students enrolled in library school programs might learn about the issue. Few books on the subject cover the issue adequately. Nationwide, CD policies requiring conformance to accessibility standards are the exception; and when librarians meet to make decisions about the selection of specific e-resources, the needs of people with disabilities are rarely on their radar screens.

Researchers conducting similar surveys in the future might want to not only select a statistically more representative sample of academic libraries but also widen their focus and include both accessibility and usability in their investigations.

Textbook authors and course instructors in the area of CD need to address accessibility and usability. Librarians need to raise the issue with database and e-book vendors during license negotiations.

The acquisition of e-resources designed to be accessible and usable for all will enable people with disabilities to participate more fully in our information-driven society.

The data collected provide for a broad discussion of the extent to which the needs of people with disabilities are considered in connection with CD.