Successful Navigation of the Conflict between Doctoral Education and Cultural Expectations of Child Rearing in Hispanic Culture

While the numbers are slowly rising, Hispanic students continue to be disproportionately underrepresented in all levels of higher education, including doctoral education. There are many factors that may contribute to the low numbers of Hispanic doctoral students; for Hispanic women, one of these factors may be the perceived conflict between cultural expectations of childrearing and doctoral education. For Hispanic students who hold strong cultural values, this conflict may prevent enrollment in, or result in attrition from, doctoral education. As the number of Hispanic college enrollment increases, we will see more students trying to navigate between the collectivistic value of childrearing and the individualistic value of pursuing higher education. Thus, it is important to understand the needs of these students to aid in recruitment and retention of student-parents in all levels of higher education. This paper explores the barriers and supportive factors for current Hispanic doctoral student-parents. Suggestions are made to increase support which will allow these individuals to successfully complete a doctoral education, while attending to the responsibilities of parenting.

Distance Education and the Evolution of Online Learning in the United States

Online education is no longer a trend, rather it is mainstream. In the Fall of 2012, 69.1% of chief academic leaders indicated online learning was critical to their long-term strategy and of the 20.6 million students enrolled in higher education, 6.7 million were enrolled in an online course (Allen & Seaman, 2013; United States Department of Education, 2013). The advent of online education and its rapid growth has forced academic institutions and faculty to question the current styles and techniques for teaching and learning. As developments in educational technology continue to advance, the ways in which we deliver and receive knowledge in both the traditional and online classrooms will further evolve. It is necessary to investigate and understand the progression and advancements in educational technology and the variety of methods used to deliver knowledge to improve the quality of education we provide today and motivate, inspire, and educate the students of the 21st century. This paper explores the atioevolution of distance education beginning with correspondence and the use of parcel post, to radio, then to television, and finally to online education.

Library and Information Science Education and eScience: The Current State of ALA Accredited MLS/MLIS Programs in preparing Librarians and Information Professionals for eScience Needs

The purpose of this study is multifaceted: 1) to describe eScience research in acomprehensive way; 2) to help library and information specialists understand the realm of eScience research and the information needs of the community and demonstrate the importance of LIS professionals within the eScience domain; 3) and to explore the current state of curricular content of ALA accredited MLS/MLIS programs to understand the extent to which they prepare new professionals within eScience librarianship. The literature review focuses heavily on eScientists and other data-driven researchers’ information service needs in addition to demonstrating how and why librarians and information specialists can and should fulfill these service gaps and information needs within eScience research. By looking at the current curriculum of American Library Association (ALA) accredited MLS/MLIS programs, we can identify potential gaps in knowledge and where to improve in order to prepare and train new MLS/MLIS graduates to fulfill the needs of eScientists. This investigation is meant to be informative and can be used as a tool for LIS programs to assess their curriculums in comparison to the needs of eScience and other data-driven and networked research. Finally, this investigation will provide awareness and insight into the services needed to support a thriving eScience and data-driven research community to the LIS profession.

The Role of Education and Government in Shaping Muslim Women's Rights: Three Contemporary Case Studies

The rise in Muslim terrorist activities has encouraged the West to reevaluate its understanding of Islam, prompting concern for Muslim women's rights. In search of education-based solutions, this project explores three case studies of Muslims living under different government types: a secular state with a primarily Muslim population (Turkey); a secular state with a significant Muslim minority population (France); and a Muslim state with a powerful religious influence (Afghanistan). The type of government plays a significant role in Muslim women's rights, and solutions must be based on individual aspects of each unique place where Muslims live today. The results show that education is a universal solution when accepted at all levels: governmental, communal, and the individual.

ConfChem Conference on A Virtual Colloquium to Sustain and Celebrate IYC 2011 Initiatives in Global Chemical Education—The Global Experiment of the IYC2011: Creating Online Communities for Education and Science

The Global Experiment, Water: A Chemical Solution, was one of the flagship activities of the International Year of Chemistry (IYC). During the virtual colloquium of the spring 2012 online ConfChem conference, the main results of this year-long experiment were presented and discussed online for a week. Some of the main conclusions of the virtual conversations relate to the benefits of creating online communities of people sharing similar interests, the use of online educational platforms to gather massive amounts of data, and specific questions about the development of this IYC initiative. The activities of the global water experiment (GWE) were designed by a team of experts and the protocols are available online on the GWE Web site. The results were shown in one interactive world map that allowed students to learn about data visualization, validation, and interpretation. The feedback obtained from the participants of the GWE and later by the contributors of the virtual colloquium was very positive. Many participants asked specific and technical questions about the development of this experiment, while others excitedly endorsed the convenience of these large open-access activities to promote chemistry worldwide. The estimate is that over 2 million people took part in the GWE during the IYC. This communication summarizes one of the invited papers to the ConfChem online conference: A Virtual Colloquium to Sustain and Celebrate IYC 2011 Initiatives in Global Chemical Education, held from May 18 to June 29, 2012 and hosted by the ACS DivCHED Committee on Computers in Chemical Education and the IUPAC Committee on Chemistry Education.