Discovering Open Access Articles: Maximum Access, Maximum Visibility! A Report of the ALCTS Continuing Resources Section Program. American Library Association Annual Conference, Las Vegas, June 2014

The growing open access movement raises many questions for libraries and researchers. A program, presented by the Education, Research, and Publications Coordinating Committee of the ALCTS Continuing Resources Section, addressed prominent open access issues and offered a number of solutions currently under development by institutions and NISO (National Information Standards Organization). The three presenters provided background on the various issues, a description of the new open access policy at the University of California system, an overview of the challenges in accessing open access articles in hybrid journals, and a description of the NISO Open Access Metadata and Indicators Initiative

Innovations in the Pursuit of Excellence

As students begin their journey in preservice early education courses, an important aspect of an introductory level course is the microteaching experience. For the purposes of this article microteaching is defined as the opportunity to present a lesson to a group of peers who role-play as children at the primary level. Although field-based teaching is critical to a student’s educational experience before student teaching the microteaching experience can be a valuable tool for reflecting and evaluation on best instruction. In the process of evaluating practice it became apparent that we might also assess communication competence as well. The Foundations of Early Education course with a microteaching component presented an innovative to appraise the scope of each student’s attention to articulate speech. A collaborative effort between the university’s speech center and the Education department was established. Instruments for faulty and peer evaluation were designed or adjusted to suit the course framework. Our findings correlated to the results of prior studies of across-the-curriculum college programs with a speech communication emphasis where method and manner of approach are meeting particular success in fields and coursework outside departments of speech communication (Cronin and Tony, 1991 & Weiss, 1989). We found evidence of this same kind of success in the positive feedback from students enrolled in the Foundation of Early Education course. Student evaluations of this course have shown us than an approach employing several means of oral communication assessment was considered by students to be most beneficial. Components of this combined approach and the procedures necessary to effectively incorporate it are described below

A Survey of Information Sources Used for Progress Decisions about Medical Students

Although many medical schools have adopted a variety of methods to assess student competency, the extent to which these innovations have changed how decisions about student progress are made is not clear. This paper describes a survey of 126 accredited allopathic U.S. medical schools to determine which information sources are used for decisions related to medical student progress and graduation. Respondents were asked to indicate up to three information sources used for seven specific decisions about student progress. The results indicate that multiple choice questions (MCQs) and faculty ratings remain the most frequently used information sources. Clinical skills education in the pre-clinical curriculum is the area with the broadest use of assessments for progress decisions. Several explanations are suggested for the primacy of MCQs and faculty ratings in student decisions, including familiarity for faculty and students, ease of implementation and the resources required for the adoption of other assessment strategies

Title Change Characteristics of Academic and Nonacademic Serials

The study compared the characteristics of academic and nonacademic serials with title changes, from which it was determined that the two serial subpopulations were similar in the six broad reasons found for a title change but differed in the kinds and proportions of subject and function changes that occurred when a title changed. On the basis of the findings, two alternate RDA rule revision proposals are made (labeled Ideal versus Practical), the first requiring a new access point for a title change only when a significant subject or function change has occurred, and the second requiring a new access point only when the publisher has indicated the start of a totally new serial. It is further recommended that reasons for title changes be determined from statements in the serial or directly from the editor or publisher rather than from word changes in the title

Higher Education and Health Issues in Development: an Insight Study of Cameroon

Treball de Fi de Màster de Master Universitario Internacional en Estudios de Paz, Conflictos y Desarrollo. Curs 2012/201