The Past, Present, and Future of Media Literacy Education

Media literacy education in the United States is actively focused on the instructional methods and pedagogy of media literacy, integrating theoretical and critical frameworks rising from constructivist learning theory, media studies and cultural studies scholarship. This work has arisen from a legacy of media and technology use in education throughout the 20th century and the emergence of cross-disciplinary work at the intersections of scholarly work in media studies and education. Reflecting the emergence of a common ground for the field, the Core Principles of Media Literacy Education in the United States was created by a team of scholars and practitioners in 2007. This work reconciles the “protectionist” and “empowerment” wings of the media literacy education community and attempts to counter various misunderstandings among non-specialists. Two issues are identified for their potential to impact the future of the field: (1) media literacy’s relationship to the integration of educational technology into the K-12 curriculum and (2) the relationship between media literacy education and the humanities, arts, and sciences

The Use of Occupation-Based Interventions in Long-Term Care: A Qualitative Study

Purpose: To explore occupational therapists\u27 use of occupation- based interventions in long-term care facilities. Methodology: A literature review was completed on the use and effect occupation-based intervention has within a long-term care practice setting. Based upon the findings of this literature review, a qualitative research study was conducted using a grounded theory approach adopted from Strauss and Corbin (1998). Six occupational therapists working in long-term care facilities in Minnesota were recruited through purposive sampling using convenience and snowballing techniques. Each participant was interviewed once using a semi-structured interview. Data from the interviews was then coded and grouped into categories. Themes emerged from the categories and represented participants’ use and perception of occupation-based interventions in long-term care. Results: The data revealed five categories including participants’ focus of current interventions, barriers to occupation-based interventions, occupation-based intervention characteristics, participants’ perception of job, and facilitators of occupation-based interventions. From these categories, three themes were developed: 1) varying degrees in understanding of occupation-based intervention, 2) complexity of long-term care practice setting, and 3) impact of reimbursement on occupational therapy services. Two assertions emerged from the categories and themes. The first assertion was occupational therapists could benefit from additional knowledge regarding the application of occupation-based interventions in practice. The second assertion was, given the complexity of the longterm care practice setting, occupational therapists could benefit from strategies to overcome barriers that are present for implementing occupation-based interventions. Discussion & Recommendations: Although there were varying degrees in understanding of occupation-based intervention, participants reported functional and purposeful tasks provide clients with success and greater life satisfaction. The results of this study indicate the need for further and continued education on current occupational therapy language regarding the understanding and use of occupation-based interventions in long-term care. Additionally, therapists working in long-term care could benefit from implementing occupation-based model-driven therapy to assist with providing occupation-based intervention from evaluation to discharge. Future research is suggested to increase the strength of the current findings, and provide occupational therapists with evidence supporting the use of occupation-based interventions and how they affect the care provided in long-term care. Additionally, research that focuses on the client’s perception of occupationa

Better to Forgive or to Forget? Marital Transgressions and Forgiveness in Older Couples

Navigating romantic transgressions in older adulthood is imperative for both relationship quality and longevity, making forgiveness a critical process. The current study examined marital transgressions and forgiveness among 64 older (age range = 56–89), higher-functioning, primarily White, married couples studied at two time points spaced 16.4 months apart. More than half the spouses did not report a transgression in the past year, and not doing so was associated with better marital functioning at both time points. Of the transgressions reported, thematic analyses revealed they fell into six categories (e.g., spouse behaving badly, financial issues), but were overall relatively minor in nature. If husbands engaged in greater avoidance after a transgression, both spouses were less maritally satisfied a year later. Findings suggest more attention to not only forgiveness approaches employed (avoidance of the issue versus avoidance of the person) but also to the potential role of gender and timing in these associations

Afghanistan Legal Lessons Learned: Army Rule of Law Operations

One of the most crucial components of the 2002 National Security Strategy which will impact virtually all other components is the world-wide implementation of the rule of law. In furtherance of the Strategy, National Security Presidential Directive 44 was issued in late 2005 and states that it is U.S. policy to work with other countries towards effective implementation of the rule of law. The Directive tasks the Secretaries of State and Defense with coordinating rule of law efforts and with integrating them into military contingency plans. Consequently, by direction of the President, the military has a key role to play in implementing the rule of law and Judge Advocates must be prepared to lead these efforts. Commanders look to Judge Advocates with the expectation that they will be competent and innovative in implementing the unit\u27s rule of law mission. This is clearly demonstrated by the Center for Law and Military Operations\u27 publication of the Rule of Law Handbook: A Practitioner\u27s Guide for Judge Advocates, where a constantly re-occurring theme is that the command naturally turns to the legal expert within the task force to plan, execute, coordinate, and evaluate rule of law efforts. Over six years of operations in Afghanistan, commanders have relied on JAs in their rule of law operations. These operations have created a number of lessons learned; this paper will highlight three: 1) Rule of law operations must be totally integrated into all phases and aspects of military operations and the unit mission; 2) U.S. Army Rule of Law efforts must be completely coordinated and synchronized with other rule of law efforts, especially those of the host nation, and must recognize what role the military is organizationally qualified to fill; 3) Military rule of law operations must be effects-based

From Reading Clinic to Reading Community

This paper discusses the shift from a clinic model to a community model for the practicum experience for literacy education graduate students. The traditional program for the remediation of struggling readers followed a deficit model. Therefore, the reading specialist would pull out the child from regular classroom instruction to isolate a reading problem using standardized assessments and then to remediate the problem with programmed instruction. While the shifts in the understanding of the reading process which occurred in the 1980s and 1990s influenced instruction and assessment and the role of the reading specialist, researchers have found that instruction of struggling readers still tend to be routinized. This has often resulted in what appears to be a lack of personalization, a disregard of experiences, strengths and vulnerabilities that the child brings to the tutoring situation. Therefore, the process of transitioning from a clinic to community model described in this article was made based on the belief that today\u27s reading clinic component of a literacy specialist program needs to equip its graduate students to face the challenges of the classroom as well as the challenges in transcending their prior understandings and experiences teaching reading

Airborne Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria Isolated from a Concentrated Swine Feeding Operation

The use of nontherapeutic levels of antibiotics in swine production can select for antibiotic resistance in commensal and pathogenic bacteria in swine. As a result, retail pork products, as well as surface and groundwaters contaminated with swine waste, have been shown to be sources of human exposure to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. However, it is unclear whether the air within swine operations also serves as a source of exposure to antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens. To investigate this issue, we sampled the air within a concentrated swine feeding operation with an all-glass impinger. Samples were analyzed using a method for the isolation of Enterococcus. A total of 137 presumptive Enterococcus isolates were identified to species level using standard biochemical tests and analyzed for resistance to erythromycin, clindamycin, virginiamycin, tetracycline, and vancomycin using the agar dilution method. Thirty-four percent of the isolates were confirmed as Enterococcus, 32% were identified as coagulase-negative staphylococci, and 33% were identified as viridans group streptococci. Regardless of bacterial species, 98% of the isolates expressed high-level resistance to at least two antibiotics commonly used in swine production. None of the isolates were resistant to vancomycin, an antibiotic that has never been approved for use in livestock in the United States. In conclusion, high-level multidrug-resistant Enterococcus, coagulase-negative staphylococci, and viridans group streptococci were detected in the air of a concentrated swine feeding operation. These findings suggest that the inhalation of air from these facilities may serve as an exposure pathway for the transfer of multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens from swine to humans

Digital Processing of Remotely Sensed Imagery

Digital images can be acquired from various devices. Image scanners on personal computers can generate digital images of hard copy material. New digital cameras operate without film, recording a digital image of the scene in local solid state memory. Remote sensing instruments routinely return digital imagery to receiving stations for processing and display. Digital processing of remotely sensed imagery is a technology that is now over thirty years old. Earth orbitting and deep space exploration spacecraft have been returning digital imagery for many years. Earth-based systems, including biomedical imaging devices and other commercially available types of equipment, have also been producing digital imagery for many years. Each of these devices produce a digital version of an image as a two dimensional array of numbers. The values in the matrix represent the brightness of the scene at each individual sampled position in the image