Curricular Integration of Technology by the Coates Library, 2008-2013: A Report of the Activities of the Faculty Technology Liaison

The Faculty Technology Liaison (FTL) position was created to support Expanding Horizons: Information Literacy in the 21st Century, a Quality Enhancement Plan instituted at Trinity University in the fall of 2008. The position was intended to promote information literacy and technology use by providing technology-intensive teaching and learning opportunities for faculty and students

Expanding Library Support of Faculty Research: Exploring Readiness

The changing research and information environment requires a reexamination of library support for research. This study considers research-related attitudes and practices to identify elements indicating readiness or resistance to expanding the library’s role in research support. A survey of faculty conducted at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) finds that although a high percentage of faculty rate the library as important or very important to research productivity, perceived importance of specific support functions drops markedly, except for functions related to buying or providing access to resources

Looking back, moving forward: Reducing HIV-related stigma, Horizons studies 2000 to 2007

In 1997, the Population Council initiated the Horizons Program—a decade-long USAID-funded collaboration with the International Center for Research on Women, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, PATH, Tulane University, Family Health International, and Johns Hopkins University—designing, implementing, evaluating, and expanding innovative strategies for HIV prevention and care. Horizons developed and tested ways to optimize HIV prevention, care, and treatment programs; worked to reduce stigma and improve gender-biased behaviors; and greatly expanded knowledge about the best ways to support, protect, and treat children affected by HIV and AIDS. In all its projects, Horizons strengthened the capacity of local institutions by providing support and training to colleagues. This synthesis paper presents lessons learned and best practices on one of the key topics that Horizons investigated: HIV-related stigma

A writing support tool for distance students

This paper describes SuperText, a computer program designed to support productive expository writing processes among students at a distance teaching university. Being able to write well is an import communication skill, and the writing process can help to build and clarify the writer's knowledge. Computers can support this by providing a medium to externalise and record the writer's cognition. Appropriate representations for such externalisation are uninstantiated idea labels, instantiated text units, and a variety of relationships between these items. SuperText uses these representations to support a range of writing styles. It provides several independent 'Views' that represent the structure of the evolving document through expanding hierarchies, each with a variety of presentations. Allied to these Views is a text work space providing access to a database of continuous text nodes. Taken together, these provide an ability to represent global and intermediate structures of the document well beyond that of conventional editors. These aspects were all rated highly by students participating in a series of field trials of SuperText

Mapping the Way to Success: Collaborating with Academic Faculty on Library Services and Information Literacy for International Students

The University of Vermont recently introduced a formal pathway for international students to gain access to UVM’s degree programs at both an undergraduate and graduate level. The Global Gateway Program (GGP) offers academic courses while providing additional support for the cultural and pedagogical needs of English as a Foreign Language students. International students are a new and expanding demographic with diverse educational backgrounds, language needs and cultural characteristics. We will address strategies to help librarians prepare and anticipate a library’s role with international students, paying particular attention to being a part of the curriculum and introducing principles of information literacy

A writing support tool for distance students

This paper describes SuperText, a computer program designed to support productive expository writing processes among students at a distance teaching university. Being able to write well is an import communication skill, and the writing process can help to build and clarify the writer's knowledge. Computers can support this by providing a medium to externalise and record the writer's cognition. Appropriate representations for such externalisation are uninstantiated idea labels, instantiated text units, and a variety of relationships between these items. SuperText uses these representations to support a range of writing styles. It provides several independent 'Views' that represent the structure of the evolving document through expanding hierarchies, each with a variety of presentations. Allied to these Views is a text work space providing access to a database of continuous text nodes. Taken together, these provide an ability to represent global and intermediate structures of the document well beyond that of conventional editors. These aspects were all rated highly by students participating in a series of field trials of SuperText

'Caring for Caregivers' Model Addresses Needs of Those Looking After Others

The journal of the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), Health Progress, has published an article, "Aging - 'Caring for Caregivers' Model Addresses Needs of Those Looking After Others," as part of its spring 2023 issue.Family caregivers in the U.S. take on around 24 hours of complex care per week. Yet, nationally, caregiver needs are severely under addressed, leading to serious health consequences for millions of caregivers. This article explains the Caring for Caregivers Model at RUSH University Medical Center, which aims to address these needs by providing skilled and emotional support for caregivers through teams of physical therapists, occupational therapists, nurses, dieticians, pharmacists, and social workers.With support from RRF Foundation for Aging, The John A. Hartford Foundation, the model is expanding as part of the Age-Friendly Health Systems movement, of which the Catholic Health Association is a founding partner

Understanding what you are doing: A new angle on CAS?

Powerful Computer Algebra Systems (CAS) are often used only with reluctance in early undergraduate mathematics teaching, partly because of concerns that they may not encourage students to understand what they are doing. In this exploratory study, a version of a CAS that has been designed for secondary school students was used, with a view to considering the value of this sort of student learning support for first year undergraduate students enrolled in degree programs other than mathematics. Workshops were designed to help students understand aspects of elementary symbolic manipulation, through the use of the Algebra mode of an algebraic calculator, the Casio Algebra FX 2.0. The Algebra mode of this calculator allows a user to undertake elementary algebraic manipulation, routinely providing all intermediate results, in contrast to more powerful CAS software, which usually provides simplified results only. The students were volunteers from an introductory level unit, designed to provide a bridge between school and university studies of mathematics and with a focus on algebra and calculus. The two structured workshop sessions focussed respectively on the solution of linear equations and on relationships between factorising and expanding; attention focussed on using the calculators as personal learning devices. Following the workshops, structured interviews were used to systematically record student reactions to the experience. As a result of the study, the paper offers advice on the merits of using algebraic calculators in this sort of way

Baseline Assessment: Alaska's Capacity and Infrastructure for Prescription Opioid Misuse Prevention

The State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS), Division of Behavioral Health (DBH) was awarded the Partnerships for Success (PFS) grant by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAHMSA) in 2015. DBH contracted with the Center for Behavioral Health Research and Services (CBHRS) at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) to conduct a comprehensive project evaluation. As part of the evaluation, CBHRS performed a baseline assessment of the state’s capacity and infrastructure related to prescription opioid misuse prevention. Researchers conducted interviews with key stakeholders representing state government, healthcare agencies, law enforcement, substance abuse research, and service agencies. Interviews were semistructured, with questions addressing five domains of interest: (1) state climate and prevention efforts; (2) partnerships and coordinated efforts; (3) policies, practices, and laws; (4) data and data monitoring; and (5) knowledge and readiness. Thirteen interviews were conducted and analyzed using a qualitative template analysis technique combined with a SWOT analysis (i.e. strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats). Emergent themes are displayed in Table 1 below. Table 1. Emergent themes from SWOT analysis Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats (1) New and revised policies and guidelines (2) Activities and partnerships between state agencies and communities (3) Knowledge and awareness of state leadership (1) State policy limitations (2) Insufficient detox, treatment, and recovery support resources (3) Lack of full coordination within state agencies and with communities (1) Education enrichment (2) Policy improvements (3) Expansion of treatment, recovery, and mental health support (1) State fiscal crisis (2) Prescribing practices (3) Complexity and stigma of addiction (4) Legislative support Despite limitations in sample representativeness and interview timing, participants agreed that agencies, communities, and organizations across Alaska have demonstrated great concern about the opioid epidemic and that this concern has translated into considerable efforts to address and prevent opioid misuse. Participants also noted a variety of opportunities as targets for future work, many of which would address some of the current weaknesses that exist. Results yielded clear recommendations for increasing awareness and providing education to a variety of groups, further improving relevant policies to promote prevention, and expanding services for prevention and treatment.State of Alaska, Division of Behavioral Health Grant #SP020783Executive Summary / Introduction / Methodology / Results / Discussion / Reference

Using a Student Authentication and Authorship Checking System as a Catalyst for Developing an Academic Integrity Culture: a Bulgarian Case Study

This paper presents a case study carried out at Sofia University in Bulgaria, describing the relationship between two developments, firstly an expanding involvement with online learning and e-assessment, and secondly the development of institutional approaches to academic integrity. The two developments interact, the widening use of e-learning and e-assessment raising new issues for academic integrity, and the technology providing new tools to support academic integrity, with the involvement in technological developments acting as a catalyst for changes in approaches to academic integrity. The aim of this study is to describe in what ways the integration of technologies for student authentication and authorship checking in this university has begun to influence teachers’ approach to academic integrity, and has also helped to identify specific issues that need to be resolved for the future of academic integrity in the university. Data collected during the implementation of pilots for the project TeSLA - An adaptive trust-based e-assessment system - enabled an examination of the perspectives of administrators, teachers and students on approaches to cheating and plagiarism, and on possible future directions. The data suggests that the piloting of the TeSLA system has triggered a deepening consideration of approaches to academic integrity, and has also helped to identify important issues for future developments