scholarly journals Use of Electronic Resources Before and During the Pandemic in the Universitas Indonesia Library

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-227
Author(s):  
Aswinna Aswinna ◽  
Rahmi Rahmi

Background of the study: COVID-19 impacts library activities. However, previous studies have not analysed the use of electronic resources (online database) before and during the pandemic, especially concerning higher education libraries in Indonesia. Purpose: This study investigated electronic collections before (2019) and during the pandemic (2020) in the Universitas Indonesia Library. Method: This study used a quantitative approach with descriptive analysis. Using online database usage logs from 2019 to 2020. Findings: The study divided its online database comparisons into several clusters, including multi-disciplinary, health, science and technology, and social science and humanities. The findings show that the use of almost all electronic collections declined in 2020, especially the use of e-books and protocol collections. When grouped according to knowledge clumps, however, the use of electronic collections increase in 1) health and 2) social sciences and humanities. Use declined in 1) multi-disciplinary and 2) science and technology clusters. Conclusion: This study recommends further research.

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kjell Asplund ◽  
Kerstin Hulter Åsberg

Abstract Background Previous studies have indicated that failure to report ethical approval is common in health science articles. In social sciences, the occurrence is unknown. The Swedish Ethics Review Act requests that sensitive personal data, in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), should undergo independent ethical review, irrespective of academic discipline. We have explored the adherence to this regulation. Methods Using the Web of Science databases, we reviewed 600 consecutive articles from three domains (health sciences with and without somatic focus and social sciences) based on identifiable personal data published in 2020. Results Information on ethical review was lacking in 12 of 200 health science articles with somatic focus (6%), 21 of 200 health science articles with non-somatic focus (11%), and in 54 of 200 social science articles (27%; p < 0.001 vs. both groups of health science articles). Failure to report on ethical approval was more common in (a) observational than in interventional studies (p < 0.01), (b) articles with only 1–2 authors (p < 0.001) and (c) health science articles from universities without a medical school (p < 0.001). There was no significant association between journal impact factor and failure to report ethical approval. Conclusions We conclude that reporting of research ethics approval is reasonably good, but not strict, in health science articles. Failure to report ethical approval is about three times more frequent in social sciences compared to health sciences. Improved adherence seems needed particularly in observational studies, in articles with few authors and in social science research.


Author(s):  
Heather N. Fedesco ◽  
Drew Cavin ◽  
Regina Henares

Field-based learning in higher education is lacking both in practice at colleges and in research within the academic literature. This study aims to address these deficits by exploring the benefits of, and suggesting strategies for, executing field study in higher education across a variety of courses. We report the results of a qualitative research design that included the observation of five courses within the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Approximately eight students per observed course were interviewed three times during their course to assess perceptions of the class, their peers and instructor, the field experiences, and their motivation throughout the course. In total, 130 individual interviews were conducted with 45 students. Results revealed that field-based learning enhances the degree of relatedness students feel with their classmates and instructors, they have a greater degree of intrinsic motivation in the course, and these experiences facilitate learning in ways that may not be replicated in the traditional classroom. In addition, we created a typology of field-based learning, which includes eight different trips that could be employed in higher education courses. We also identified general strategies to improve the execution of these trips.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Rigby ◽  
Barbara Jones

This paper reflects on alternatives to the traditional form of doctoral thesis which are emerging to reflect a new approach to the valuation and designation of scientific outputs. We examine the changes and consider some implications. We suggest that the adoption of co-citation as underpinning principle for the measurement of knowledge structures has led to re-designation of the value of knowledge and knowledge producers in increasingly quantitative terms. We use notions of ‘institution’ and ‘logic’ to better understand such a change and its implications. Under a new logic that is gradually embedding itself across the higher education sector, the ‘constitutive rules’ concerned with the value of research now prioritize quantification, and tangibility of output, and quality is increasingly equated with citation. Whilst the scientific disciplines have traditionally been closer to this model, albeit with significant national variations, subjects within the Social Sciences and Humanities are now being affected. We present evidence from a small study of the UK higher education sector of university regulation of doctoral degree submission format in two disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences (History and Sociology). Our evidence shows the recent and gradual adoption of a practice, previously more common in scientific disciplines, that allows the doctoral thesis to be constituted by a series of publishable papers, known by a variety of names, the most common being ‘Thesis by Published Papers’, ‘Journal Format Thesis’, ‘Alternative Format Thesis’, and ‘Integrated Thesis’. As the thesis of the Social Sciences and Humanities – itself an important institution in the academic field - begins to reflect a greater emphasis upon quantity of knowledge outputs, a tension emerges with the most central of all scientific institutions, the peer-reviewed journal paper.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Jay Coakley

This article is organized around the idea that a person can be a part of kinesiology without being in kinesiology. Trained as a sociologist and never having a faculty appointment outside of a sociology department, I am an outsider in kinesiology. However, my participation in kinesiology and relationships with scholars in kinesiology departments have fostered my professional growth and my appreciation of interdisciplinary approaches to studying sports, physical activities, and the moving human body. The knowledge produced by scholars in kinesiology subdisciplines has provided a framework for situating and assessing my research, teaching, and professional service as a sociologist. The latter half of this article focuses on changes in higher education and how they are likely to negatively impact the social sciences and humanities subdisciplines in kinesiology. The survival of these subdisciplines will depend, in part, on how leaders in the field respond to the question, Kinesiology for whom?


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Rebat Kumar Dhakal

Highlights Social inquiry is much more than the study of society. It further excavates historical facts, critically reflects on everyday happenings, and envisions the future we wish to create. The intent of initiating this dialogue on social inquiry is two-fold: a) to offer a sociological perspective (i.e. ‘thinking sociologically’), and b) to expand our understanding of sociological thinking. Sociological thinking can be developed by examining the periphery of the core. Context matters in understanding any phenomenon under the sociological microscope. Sociological thinking allows many different viewpoints to coexist within a larger structure and that it respects pluralism. Sociological thinking is about developing or providing a perspective to examine social nuances. Sociological thinking should act as a means for social transformation.  Social inquiry serves as a methodology for the social sciences and humanities. It deals with the philosophy of social science and the workings of the social world – giving a way for understanding both the biosphere and the sociosphere.


2019 ◽  
Vol 200 ◽  
pp. 01016
Author(s):  
Michael Waltemathe ◽  
Elke Hemminger

In a preliminary empirical study of social-science and humanities students enrolled in teacher-training programs at two German universities, the authors have found a disparaging view of technology and science among said students. Their material knowledge of technology and science is the result of content they learned in high-school themselves. After having graduated, they chose social-sciences or humanities as their subjects. There is little or no overlap between science and engineering subjects and social-science and humanities subjects in teacher training programs. Apart from the students choices, this is also the consequence of an institutionally established and strict segregation of the academic fields that does not, unlike in other university systems, require the students to enroll in at least basic interdisciplinary courses. The result for science and technology awareness among the students is problematic, to say the least. While their knowledge of science and technology -being the product of high-school education - is often not up to date and also lacking in current developments, their moral and ethical judgement about the implications of scientific research and use of technology is strong. The preliminary study also showed that the students are interested in new technological and scientific developments, they just lack the ability to include this into their worldview, which is very strongly influenced by their choice of subjects in the humanities and social-sciences. Teaching these students has convinced the authors that their lack of technology and science knowledge combined with their inherent tendency to judge science and technology from the point of view of their respective field, impairs their ability to take an adequate part in science and technology discourse. Their awareness, and thus, their competence to rationally engage with science and technology is lacking. That is in part due to the depiction of science and technology in humanities and social-science courses, and on the other hand due to a lack of current science and technology education as part of a humanities and social-sciences program. The result becomes even more alarming if we assume that the future teachers will continue to relay their heavily biased opinions on science and technology in general, as well as their deficient knowledge of specific technologies to their future students, thus generating a vicious cycle of inadequate technology and science awareness. As the authors’ study has shown, these students are really interested in science and technology, they just lack key competencies to make an analytical connec- tion between their field of choice (humanities and social sciences) and technology and science, without resorting to moral and ethical judgement.


Author(s):  
Eric T. Meyer ◽  
Ralph Schroeder

This chapter examines how the Internet is transforming academic research in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The question of changes in knowledge is one that science and technology should be well equipped to answer. The chapter also offers examples that show the range of e-Research. E-Research needs novel tools, and organisational structures as well as researchers should change their everyday practices. VOSON can be seen as part of a burgeoning engagement in e-Social Science. The e-Research component has the advantage of enhanced visibility. The sociology of science and technology does not have the conceptual tools to simultaneously deal with how research communities are oriented to shared objects, how this impacts various styles of science and knowledge, and how scholarly practices are therefore being transformed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (06) ◽  
pp. A06
Author(s):  
Rita Campos ◽  
José Monteiro ◽  
Cláudia Carvalho

Acknowledging the consolidation of citizen science, this paper aims to foster a collective debate on two visible gaps of the field. First, how to overcome the limited participation of social sciences and humanities in the broader field of citizen science, still dominated by natural sciences. Second, how to develop a citizen social science that allows for an active participation of citizens and for a critical engagement with contemporary societies. The authors coordinate a state-sponsored program of scientific dissemination within a Portuguese research institution and this paper intends to lay the groundwork for a future project of Citizen Social Science based on a new concept of “engaged citizen social science”.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 52-67
Author(s):  
Le Tan Cuong

As a major aspect of internationalization, international academic mobility has been among the most discussed issues in higher education worldwide in recent years. However, while more and more institutions in many countries show substantial interest in implementing international academic mobility programs, the practices seem to be surprisingly in slow progress in Vietnam higher education . The current study, therefore, aims to fill up the gap by exploring the reality of implementing international academic mobility programs and surveying students’ readiness as well as expectations for international academic mobility programs in the setting of the faculty of English Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University- HCM city. Using data from a semi-structured interview with the faculty dean, a semi-structured interview with 5 students having just coming back from an international academic mobility program to the Philippines in early 2020 and a questionnaire among 78 students coming from 4 continuous cohorts, the findings evidence that (1) Intra-national mobility programs outperform the international ones, (2) Students expect more orientational activities and support from the faculty, (3) Students show high level of readiness for international academic mobility programs, (4) Students are more open-minded in choosing where to go and what to do during international academic mobility programs. Recommendations are well elaborated at the latter part of the study as references for institutions that are considering internationalizing their curricular. The study hopefully sheds light on the feasibility of implementing international academic mobility programs in the setting of Vietnam higher education.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document