HERSTORIES Library Short Creative Writing Course

Course Title: HERSTORIES – Women Writers of Missouri Course Instructor: kYmberly Keeton, M.L.S. Course Focus: Introduce students and community members to women writers in the state of Missouri. Dates for Course: March 22nd, April 12th, April 26th, and May 3rd Meeting Times: 11:00 AM -12:30 PM Course Info: All materials are provided by the library. Course Website: www.herstories365.wordpress.com

The impacts of learning styles, learning patterns and demographic factors on learners’ performance in a blended learning environment

Many studies have widely accepted the assumption that learning processes can be promoted when teaching styles and learning styles are well matched. In this study, the synergy between learning styles, learning patterns, and gender as a selected demographic feature and learners’ performance were quantitatively investigated in a blended learning setting. This environment adopts a traditional teaching approach of ‘one-sizefits-all’ without considering individual user’s preferences and attitudes. Hence, evidence can be provided about the value of taking such factors into account in Adaptive Educational Hypermedia Systems (AEHSs). Felder and Soloman’s Index of Learning Styles (ILS) was used to identify the learning styles of 59 undergraduate students at the University of Babylon. Five hypotheses were investigated in the experiment. Our findings show that there is no statistical significance in some of the assessed factors. However, processing dimension, the total number of hits on course website and gender indicated a statistical significance on learners’ performance. This finding needs more investigation in order to identify the effective factors on students’ achievement to be considered in Adaptive Educational Hypermedia Systems (AEHSs).

Renewing the Sustainable Energy Curriculum : Curriculum Frameworks and Guidance for Course Delivery

This guide is to support institutions in developing and teaching tertiary level programmes for sustainable energy professionals. Ongoing curriculum renewal is more difficult but vital for multidisciplinary courses preparing graduates to work in a specialised rapidly changing field. After more than 15 years of offering tertiary level “sustainable energy” qualifications in Australian Universities there was a clear need to assess how these courses are taught and develop curriculum frameworks to guide Universities designing/redesigning programs and courses to provide graduates with the relevant skills, knowledge and attributes (capabilities) seen by graduates and employers as required to work in this rapidly changing field. This guide presents the sustainable energy curriculum frameworks developed by the “Renewing the sustainable energy curriculum – providing internationally relevant skills for a carbon constrained economy” project, which was conducted over a two-and-a-quarter year period.

Australian Library and Information Association Course Accreditation Review 2013

This report has been prepared for the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) in response to the request to undertake a literature review and environmental scan to inform discussions of the issues associated with professional accreditation. ALIA is the peak body which develops and monitors the professional standards that ensure the high quality of graduates entering the library and information services (LIS) profession in Australia. The report presents a themed discussion of the issues identified in the literature review and environmental scan to build a full picture of the role of course accreditation in LIS education. This is set against developments in the wider context of quality assurance in Australian tertiary education, to analyse the implications of this changing environment for ALIA’s accreditation policies and ractices.

“Success in (Surviving) Bioscience and Pharmacology” – an eBook to improve the retention of diploma nurses transitioning to a Bachelor of Nursing course

Diploma students transitioning into the NS40 BNursing (BN) course at QUT withdraw from the bioscience and pharmacology units, and leave the university at higher rates than traditional students. The diploma students, entering in second year, have missed out on 2 units of bioscience taught to the traditional students in their first year, and miss out on a 3rd unit of bioscience taught to the traditional students in their 2nd year. Instead the diploma students receive one specialized unit in bioscience only i.e. a bridging unit. As a consequence, the diploma students may not have the depth of bioscience knowledge to be able to successfully study the bridging unit (LSB111) or the pharmacology unit (LSB384). Our plan was to write an eBook which refreshed and reinforced diploma students’ knowledge of bioscience aiming to prepare them with the concepts and terminology, and to build a level of confidence to support their transition to the BN. We have previously developed an intervention associated with reduced attrition of diploma nursing students, and this was our starting point. The study skills part of the initial intervention was addressed in the eBook, by links to the specialist services and resources available from our liaison librarian and academic skills adviser. The introductory bioscience/pharmacology information provided by the previous intervention involved material from standard textbooks. However, we considered this material too difficult for diploma students. Thus, we created simplified diagrams to go with text as part of our eBook. The outcome is an eBook, created and made available to the diploma students via the Community Website: “Surviving Bioscience and Pharmacology”. Using simplified diagrams to illustrate the concise text, definition to explain the concepts, the focus has been on encouraging self-awareness and help-seeking strategies and building students who take responsibility for their learning. All the nursing students in the second semester LSB384 Pharmacology Unit have been surveyed face-to-face to get feedback on their engagement with the eBook resource. The data has not been analysed to date. An important consideration is that the website be evaluated by the diploma students as they come into bioscience in first semester (LSB111), the student population for whom the eBook is primarily intended. To get a good response rate we need to do a face-to-face survey. However, we have not been able to do this, as the co-ordinator of the unit has changed since we started the project, and the present co-ordinator will not allow us access to these students.

The use of ICT in the course “Photography” in university education. First results of a teaching innovation project at the University of Murcia

The new pedagogical framework arisen since the Bologna Declaration,the Prague Communiquéand the introduction of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), encourages, significantly, the use of new Communication and Information Technology to evolve teaching methodologies. The different ways teachers relate to learners have undergone a staggering change from which educational initiatives have emerged. Many of them are based on contents’ democratization through the use of ICT. The current article is intended to show the results obtained until the 2012/2013 academic course, since the implementation of the teaching innovation project entitled “The use of ICT for the students’ autonomous learning in the university education of the course Photography. Elaboration of a virtual classroom and results’ analysis related to the acquisition of skills and competencies” that has been developed in the course called Draw with light: Photography, belonging to the Fine Arts Degree at the University of Murcia.

Ethox Website

Free teaching materials for medical ethics and law course taught to medical students in Oxford.

Remote Development of Distance Course Using Virtual Learning Space ‘Web-Class Khpi’

An approach to a specialized website creation – club of distance courses authors – on the basis of Virtual Learning Space “Web-Class KhPI” is implemented and suggested in the article.

International human resource management in the introductory HRM course

This paper explores the extent to which students in the introductory HRM course in US institutions are likely to be exposed to information on international and cross-cultural aspects of HRM. Two methods are used: (1) an analysis of international content in fifteen popular introductory HRM textbooks and (2) a survey of professors teaching introductory HRM. The vast majority of responding instructors said their classes got some exposure to international issues in HRM, and most introductory texts included some relevant content. Critiques of international boxed features and dedicated IHRM chapters are provided, and suggestions for improving the quality and depth of IHRM content in introductory textbooks are made.