Search results

The chapter explores the value of dialogue and the dialogic for developing student and staff agency, “voice” and ethics in the context of a first-year undergraduate module of the BA Hons Education Studies, an undergraduate course at The Sir John Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design and a Postgraduate Certificate of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education module, at London Metropolitan University, United Kingdom. The authors take a case study approach, making use of Freire’s ideas of critical pedagogy, to reflect on their personal learning and teaching experience as well as the feedback received from students and staff. The aim of the chapter is to explore how to empower (non-traditional) students and staff – and bridge the gap between students’ and teachers’ understanding of what this might entail. Rather than trying to bring students “up to speed” to prepare them for successful study and a professional career, or better “train” staff to deliver policy and strategy, we argue that we need to welcome them for the people they are as we help them to navigate a Higher Education system in need of humanizing.

Purpose: This chapter applies and integrates theories of status and stigma to better understand the mechanisms that drive the combined effects of the status of race and the stigma of criminal record in the context of the labor market. Using these social psychological theories of status and stigma, I propose and test two potential mechanisms – moral expectations and performance expectations – that might explain the compound or “double disadvantage” observed among Black job seekers with a criminal record. Within this synthetic application, I also seek to bridge and extend the literatures on status and stigma processes.

Methodology/Approach: To examine the relationship between race and criminal record and the potential mediating role of moral and performance expectations, I use a laboratory experiment consisting of a hiring scenario where participants evaluate mock, but ostensibly real job applicants who vary on the characteristics of interest. Participant evaluations consist of rankings along a series moral and performance-related scales as well as a set of workplace outcomes.

Findings: Findings suggest that race and criminal record aggregate to intensify disadvantage, with Black applicants who have a criminal record faring worse than other applicants on each workplace outcome. Results also support moral expectations, but not performance expectations, as a key mechanism driving this status-stigma intensification process.

Implications: This study has important implications for studies of race, crime, and employment as well as for theories of status and stigma. Future research should attend more closely to the role of perceived morality both in substantive work on race and criminal record and in bridging work on status and stigma processes. Pinpointing moral expectations as a mechanism of bias related to race and criminal record also opens new avenues for targeted intervention efforts.

The present review seeks to stimulate thinking about transforming the undergraduate library, both conceptually and in reality, for the future as it continues its search for the best ways to address the library needs of undergraduate students attending a large research university. The review focuses on what has emerged from, been consequential to, and poses challenges for the undergraduate library concept. The author conducted searches in the Library Literature and Information Science database, WorldCat database, the Melvyl^® The Catalog of the University of California Libraries, and the Google™ search engine for information related to the separate undergraduate library in the large research university. Pertinent abstracts, literature, and Web documents were reviewed for references. The search period was from October 2005 to March 2006.

This paper reports findings from the first annual cycle of a three‐year research project on the provision and use of electronic information systems (EIS) within higher education in the UK. The project, JISC User Surveys: Trends in Electronic Information Services (JUSTEIS), was funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and undertaken at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (UWA). Students, academics and library staff in 25 universities were surveyed using critical incident and critical success factors methodologies to ascertain the range and nature of EIS use. Provision of these systems by higher education institutions was also investigated via an analysis of their library websites. The findings reported in this paper focus on student use and the purposes for which EIS are employed, and reveal the limited array of EIS used and the ad hoc nature of search strategies adopted across undergraduate and postgraduate bodies within a range of disciplines. There appears to be little or no variation in the pattern of EIS use by the various student groups studied – the effect of the Internet on information seeking by students is hugely significant and the more formal resources, such as JISC‐negotiated resources are little used. There is little evidence of coherent search strategies used by students. Recommendations for both the JISC and higher education are offered.

This paper aims to describe an attempt to develop a more effective technique to teach self-awareness and relationship skills.

A journal is used in combination with a model of human nature. The model lists human characteristics that the management trainee must identify in themselves and others they interact with. Students kept a journal and analysed their interactions in reference to a list of human characteristics.

Initial plans were disrupted by an earthquake. Analysis in the first journal instalments was limited and students regularly found negative characteristics in colleagues. Feedback was given and the second instalment showed greater quality of analysis. Students regularly found and showed understanding of the characteristics in themselves and others. They also put more thought in to how to manage those traits. The model provided a solution to the problems of marking reflective journals.

A key limitation of this approach is the difference in opinion that may exist between academics as to what characteristics managers should look for in themselves and others. There may be substantial divergence on this.

This paper contributes to management education by suggesting a method for enhancing both relationship skills and self-awareness. Problems in assessing reflection essays and journals can be overcome by grading their knowledge and understanding of the human characteristics.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a case study of the selection process used to select the ReSearcher Suite, and its implementation including an outline of why and how the suite was implemented at the Library in the Institute of Technology in Tallaght.

Case study – single site.

The Simon Frasier University (SFU) hosted ReSearcher Suite (with support) provides an open source solution for open URL linking integrated with inter‐library loan submission, federated searching, knowledge base, coverage data, and A‐Z listings for journals and databases. While it does not have the full integration with the library management system that a vendor supplied product would, the functionality is strong enough on the user end to offer a viable alternative.

Provides a start point for similar projects.

The site studied is an international customer for SFU, while the suite is still in beta. The option to have open source software hosted by the developing institution is of interest.

The history of continuous improvement, particularly requirements to close the feedback loop, was explored through an analysis of experiences at St. Cloud State University (SCSU). A method for generating evidence of the use of assessment data is provided. Several program improvements tied to this example were cited, including increasing the number of program area reports, adding to the number of qualitative studies, and strengthening advisement. Difficulties encountered with the system included institutionalizing the approach, response rates, and workload issues.

Library anxiety is a phenomenon that is different from other academic anxiety, which has implication on physical use of libraries. This study aims to investigate the phenomenon of library anxiety among undergraduates in federal universities in North-central, Nigeria.

Descriptive survey of the correlational type was adopted for the study. Purposive sampling technique was used in selecting five conventional federal universities, three homogenous faculties and six departments through multistage sampling technique. Five percent of the undergraduates (797) were selected from a total sample of 15,933. The instrument used was measuring scale on library anxiety (MSLA) developed by Bostick (1992). Descriptive statistics such as percentage mean and standard deviation were used to analyse the research questions.

The findings revealed that majority of the undergraduates (85.0%) experienced moderate level of library anxiety across the universities at varying degree. The most prevalent aspect of the library anxiety experienced by the undergraduates was inadequate knowledge of the library (x. = 2.14).

The study selected five conventional universities out of the seven federal universities in North-central, Nigeria.

Based on the findings, the study recommends library orientation programme for the undergraduates to increase their knowledge of the library. Likewise, the library staff should be more approachable and friendly so as to alleviate the library anxiety experienced by the undergraduates.

Team-based projects are being used at work in various industries and in education. This paper aims to share a training strategy that integrates training with casual games to effectively prepare individuals to perform better in team-based settings due to their acquisition of team skills combined with their knowledge of tools including a team charter, communication plan and conflict resolution plan.

A training module was developed, deployed and tested in a virtual classroom of an upper-level undergraduate business class to emulate real-world team experiences. In the study, 342 of the 631 participants enrolled chose to complete the optional training module, which included pre- and posttests followed by a perception survey. A quasi-experimental design was used to evaluate the impact of the training upon team skills including communication, conflict resolution and feelings of belonging.

The pre- and posttest results for trainees indicated a significant increase in team process and development knowledge, which included concepts such as communication, conflict resolution methods, roles, goal-setting and expectation-setting. Survey results indicated a correlation between completing the team training module and improved communication within teams, particularly for teams developing a communication plan in addition to a team charter and conflict resolution strategies.

This research contributes to the literature on preparing individuals for success in teams through training and education using interactive games, while equipping them with tools to contribute to favorable team dynamics and outcomes. The results are applicable to business, organizations and training settings that incorporate team-based projects in online, hybrid and face-to-face settings.

Undergraduates constitute an attractive segment of customers for retail banks in many countries of the world, including Singapore. This study, using a sample of Singapore’s undergraduates, sets out to establish a ranking of the various dimensions which influence their bank selection decision and seeks to determine how homogeneous undergraduates are in relation to their selection decision. Seven bank selection dimensions were identified, the most important being undergraduates should “feel secure”, while the least important dimension was “third party influences”. Responses between those “attending engineering courses and non‐engineering courses” were compared, as were those between “males and females” and “single and multiple bank users”. More significant differences were found when engineering undergraduates were compared with non‐engineering undergraduates. Irrespective of these differences, the sequencing of the seven selection dimensions was invariably in the same order.