Standardised library instruction assessment: an institution-specific approach

Introduction We explore the use of a psychometric model for locally-relevant, information literacy assessment, using an online tool for standardised assessment of student learning during discipline-based library instruction sessions. Method A quantitative approach to data collection and analysis was used, employing standardised multiple-choice survey questions followed by individual, cognitive interviews with undergraduate students. The assessment tool was administered to five general education psychology classes during library instruction sessions. AnalysisDescriptive statistics were generated by the assessment tool. Results. The assessment tool proved a feasible means of measuring student learning. While student scores improved on every survey question, there was uneven improvement from pre-test to post-test for different questions. Conclusion Student scores showed more improvement for some learning outcomes over others, thus, spending time on fewer concepts during instruction sessions would enable more reliable evaluation of student learning. We recommend using digital learning objects that address basic research skills to enhance library instruction programmes. Future studies will explore different applications of the assessment tool, provide more detailed statistical analysis of the data and shed additional light on the significance of overall scores

NOVEL USE OF WASTE KERATIN AND COTTON LINTER FIBERS FOR PROTOTYPE TISSUE PAPERS AND THEIR EVALUATION

Corporate environmental sustainability calls for sustainable product manufacturing with less creation of waste material or increased reuse of waste materials. One example is the use of keratin fiber from the poultry industry and cotton linter from the textile industry for paper and tissue manufacturing. In this paper, the feasibility of using these waste fibers to make paper was demonstrated in handsheets. The properties of these handsheets were compared to the properties of handsheets made with standard bleached eucalyptus tropical hardwood fibers. A blend of cotton linter and keratin fibers at 80/20 and 60/40 ratios showed a 59% and 73% improvement in sheet bulk, respectively, compared to eucalyptus handsheets. Similarly, air permeability of the cotton / keratin fiber handsheets improved 414% and 336%, respectively, versus the eucalyptus. However, the tensile index of the cotton and keratin fiber blends was lower than the eucalyptus sheets. There was no remarkable difference in water absorbency up to 20% keratin fiber. Above 20% of keratin fibers the water absorbency started to decrease, which is likely attributable to the hydrophobic nature of the protein-based keratin fiber

Transient Large-Scale Chlorine Releases in the Jack Rabbit II Field Tests: Rainout Source Data Analysis from Video Records

PresentationSponsored by the Chemical Security Analysis Center (CSAC) of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) of the U.S. Department of Defense, Transport Canada, and Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC), the Jack Rabbit II tests were designed to release liquid chlorine at ambient temperature in quantities of 5 to 20 T for the purpose of quantifying the behavior and hazards of catastrophic chlorine releases at scales represented by rail and truck transport vessels. In 2015, five successful field trials were conducted in which chlorine was released in quantities of 5 to 10 tons through a 6-inch circular breach in the tank and directed vertically downward at 1 m elevation over a concrete pad. In 2016, three additional trials were conducted with releases of 10 tons also through 6-inch circular breaches at different release orientations. A final 20 ton test was conducted in 2016. Data from the test program is being made available. This paper summarizes an analysis of the available data from the concrete pad including analysis of the temperature measurements below and above grade in the concrete pad. Assessment of the chlorine rainout is estimated based on temperature measurements and available video data analysis

Increasing Positive Perceptions of Food Irradiation: Appealing to One\u27s Affective Domain

A study tested the effectiveness of experiential learning techniques in food irradiation technology to positively influence understanding in both the affective and cognitive domain. Research shows that food irradiation is a safe food technology effective at reducing foodborne illness, but the adoption rate of the technology remains slow. The short course employed experiential components, such as tours of food irradiation facilities, group activities, and taste-tests of irradiated produce. Data were collected assessing participants\u27 knowledge and perceptions about food irradiation, using Likert-type scales. The short course produced significant gains in participants\u27 knowledge and positively influenced participants\u27 perceptions of food irradiation issues

Panel: Collaboration and Digital Projects

In 2011 the University of Iowa Libraries began crowdsourcing the digital transcription of its manuscript archives. Four years and over 50,000 transcribed pages later, that project, known as DIY History, has garnered considerable internet attention via Buzzfeed, Twitter, Tumblr, and the NBC News blog. At the same time, it has been threaded into undergraduate classrooms at Iowa as a means of introducing students to primary source research, information literacy, and multimodal design. Matt Gilchrist and Tom Keegan will discuss how faculty members and librarians collaborated on an assignment that emphasizes course objectives while strengthening student connections to the UI Libraries. That assignment, Archives Alive!, resulted from a partnership between DIY History and Iowa Digital Engagement and Learning (IDEAL). Students are asked to transcribe a document, compose a brief rhetorical analysis and historical contextualization of it, and create screencasts of their work. By making use of narrative primary source material like letters and diary entries, Archives Alive! helps students see themselves in research material. Building an assignment around the crowdsourcing model provides students with two attitudes important to project success: a sense of ownership (through crowdsourced participation) and a sense of purpose (through a dynamic assignment with a real audience). The success of the project rests upon a flexible, design-centered approach to program structure that fosters an audience for library collections while asking students to create work with the public in mind. Paul Soderdahl will discuss the administrative considerations and costs in moving digital library operations from project to program. The UI Libraries have made deliberate efforts over the past several years to achieve this transition – in particular a reorganization of Digital Library Services into Digital Research and Publishing. He will also discuss the relative leap of faith and return on investment associated with large-scale digitization projects and audience engagement. The James Merrill Digital Archive (JMDA) is comprised of digitized Ouija board session transcripts, poem drafts, and other materials toward Merrill’s epic narrative poem, “The Book of Ephraim,” part of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Divine Comedies. The JMDA is the result of expertise and input of many collaborators across the Washington University campus. Shannon Davis and Joel Minor will speak on various aspects of the ongoing project, including successful cross-campus collaboration, employing student workers to perform high-level encoding and exhibit curation, and how Omeka was used to develop the digital archive

Panel: Collaboration and Digital Projects

In 2011 the University of Iowa Libraries began crowdsourcing the digital transcription of its manuscript archives. Four years and over 50,000 transcribed pages later, that project, known as DIY History, has garnered considerable internet attention via Buzzfeed, Twitter, Tumblr, and the NBC News blog. At the same time, it has been threaded into undergraduate classrooms at Iowa as a means of introducing students to primary source research, information literacy, and multimodal design. Matt Gilchrist and Tom Keegan will discuss how faculty members and librarians collaborated on an assignment that emphasizes course objectives while strengthening student connections to the UI Libraries. That assignment, Archives Alive!, resulted from a partnership between DIY History and Iowa Digital Engagement and Learning (IDEAL). Students are asked to transcribe a document, compose a brief rhetorical analysis and historical contextualization of it, and create screencasts of their work. By making use of narrative primary source material like letters and diary entries, Archives Alive! helps students see themselves in research material. Building an assignment around the crowdsourcing model provides students with two attitudes important to project success: a sense of ownership (through crowdsourced participation) and a sense of purpose (through a dynamic assignment with a real audience). The success of the project rests upon a flexible, design-centered approach to program structure that fosters an audience for library collections while asking students to create work with the public in mind. Paul Soderdahl will discuss the administrative considerations and costs in moving digital library operations from project to program. The UI Libraries have made deliberate efforts over the past several years to achieve this transition – in particular a reorganization of Digital Library Services into Digital Research and Publishing. He will also discuss the relative leap of faith and return on investment associated with large-scale digitization projects and audience engagement. The James Merrill Digital Archive (JMDA) is comprised of digitized Ouija board session transcripts, poem drafts, and other materials toward Merrill’s epic narrative poem, “The Book of Ephraim,” part of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Divine Comedies. The JMDA is the result of expertise and input of many collaborators across the Washington University campus. Shannon Davis and Joel Minor will speak on various aspects of the ongoing project, including successful cross-campus collaboration, employing student workers to perform high-level encoding and exhibit curation, and how Omeka was used to develop the digital archive

Guest Editorial Special Issue on Using Enquiry-and-Design-Based Learning to Spur Epistemological and Identity Development of Engineering Students

This Special Issue of the IEEE Transactions on Education focuses on using enquiry-based design projects to spur engineering students’ development, so as to increase understanding and application of the relevant theories, foster higher rates of student development and achieve this in healthy and productive ways

Antibiotic Resistance and Substrate Utilization by Bacteria Affi liated with Cave Streams at Diff erent Levels of Mammoth Cave

Located in south-central Kentucky, Mammoth Cave is one of the most unique National Parks in the United States. The surface landscape includes complex relationships between the flora and fauna along with human influences. However, the primary ecological focus is concealed below ground. Over four-hundred miles of cave passages, created by fl owing groundwater over millions of years, host a variety of macro and micro organisms. The Green River has cut into the limestone formation over geologic time, creating a complex network of passages that are stacked, one below the other, with the newer levels of cave lying near the bottom. Palmer (2007, 1987) describes 4 main levels of cave passages in the Mammoth Cave system. A detailed discussion of the geology and conditions that formed the cave levels can be found in several reports (Palmer, 1987; Palmer 1989; White and White, 1989; Granger, et al, 2001). Precipitation continues to provide water that traverses from the surface, through the unsaturated vadose levels of the cave, and down to the water table in the lower level. Water enters the cave system through direct recharge at sinkholes and through diff use percolation. The rapid infiltration of stormwater often exceeds the carrying capacity of the upper cave passages and excess water is pushed into void pore-spaces near the top of bedrock. This stored water is slowly released and provides base-fl ow to cave streams that replenish the pools and streams in the lowest level of the cave (Ryan and Meimen, 1996). These perennial cave streams carry many of the organic compounds that provide energy to the cave ecosystem (Barr, 1976)