Tablet Devices in the Classroom: Their Instructional Role with Children on the Autism Spectrum

Understanding the instructional role of tablet devices while teaching a group of learners diagnosed with autism was the purpose of this research study. Five children diagnosed with autism participated in activities involving traditional paper and pencil and tablet devices. Observations and interviews with learners and one teacher were conducted. The case study provided an understanding of the motivational impact tablet devices potentially have on learners on the autism spectrum concerning engagement and participation in learning activities. The study also revealed that technology in general and tablet devices, in particular, are used in the classroom as reward mechanisms and entertaining strategies to seize and retain the learners’ attention to achieve instructional goals.

Comparison of U.S. 4-year and community college librarians’ perspectives on competencies, challenges, and educational preparation for the instructional role

The purpose of this study is to explore and compare community (2-year) college librarians’ perceptions of their competencies, challenges, and educational preparation with those of librarians at 4-year colleges. Researchers created survey questions based on previous studies and distributed the survey through online mailing lists. The survey results indicated that community college instructional librarians’ responses were generally not statistically significantly different from 4-year university librarians in terms of what skills, traits, and educational needs were most prevalent. From the perspective of career challenges, community college instructional librarians cited marketing and changing perceptions/needs of content area faculty, while the librarians at 4-year universities cited burnout and class overload. These differences reveal the substantial challenge of preparing instructional librarians according to the types of libraries and instructional approaches.

School Library Research Rocks

This research examined the state-of-the-art of research in school librarianship. Similar trends from previous research were confirmed: research in school librarianship is published in two major journals -- School Library (Media) Research and School Libraries Worldwide. Almost 80% of the research was carried out in the United States. There is a small core group of researchers working in the area of school librarianship. About half of all research is by a single author. The main themes from the research included collaboration between teachers and school librarian, technology integration, the instructional role of school librarians, professional development, analysis of materials, information literacy instruction, practices and assessment, hiring, professional development and retention of school librarians, use of multimedia resources, role of school librarians in the provision of health information, motivation of students, and research in other parts of the world. Frameworks (Aharony, 2011; Koufogiannakis, Slater & Crumley, 2005; Mardis, 2011) were incomplete and the authors present a new framework for categorizing school library research, in particular, but also LIS research, in general.

The Shifting sands of School Libraries

This paper reports on selected findings from the Phase 2 New Jersey School Library research study “One Common Goal: Student Learning” completed in 2011 that provides insights into the future of school libraries, and their evolution and transformation in the digital age. The study examines a selected sample of effective school libraries in New Jersey to establish the key inputs (both library and school-wide inputs) that enable these effective school libraries to thrive, contribute richly to the learning agendas of the schools, and to continually be developed and improved in their schools. The findings are selected through the lens school effectiveness and school improvement literature, and identify dimensions of school library practice that have contributed to their sustainability and continuous improvement. Key dimensions include a substantive instructional role of the school librarians, an inquiry-centered pedagogy, a collaborative school culture of distributed leadership, a knowledge-outcomes orientation of the school library, and school librarians as professional development leaders.

Attitude of University Students and Teachers towards Instructional Role of Artificial Intelligence

The present study evaluated the attitude of university students and teachers towards instructional role of artificial intelligence. It was a descriptive study and the researcher used survey approach for data collection. The data was collected from 323 university students and 196 university teachers by using two questionnaires developed (one for students and one for teachers) on five point rating (Likert) scales. Descriptive statistics i.e. percentage was used for data analysis. This study demonstrated positive attitude of university students and teachers towards AI and its instructional role. It appeared to be encouraging for the respondents as well as for the administrators and policy makers. The study suggested higher education institutions to formulate a feasible policy to get benefits of instructional role of AI in higher education.

Teaching with Images among the Jews and Manichaeans of Late Antique Mesopotamia

Although much has been written about the art of the famous synagogue at Dura-Europos, its rootedness in Mesopotamia has gone largely unexplored. This study looks south along the local trade routes to Iranian Babylonia and examines evidence available about the religious function of Durian Jewish and Sasanian Manichaean pictorial art as part of a shared regional development of techniques of instruction. It reveals that the distinctly different forms of pictorial art used by these two communities in mid-third-century Mesopotamia are nevertheless comparable based on their didactic function. They both: (1) displayed a visual library of doctrinal subjects, that is, they captured, in pictorial form, a large sample of core tenets which were also recorded in the respective sacred texts of these religions; (2) fulfilled a primarily didactic function, that is, their pictorial genres (narrative scenes, didactic portraits, and diagrams in the Manichaean case) played a dominantly instructional role; and (3) effectively supplemented oral instruction, that is, the paintings were sermonized about and discussed in light of living interpretations. I argue that these correlations result not from direct influence between the two communities, but rather from a shared approach to what images can do for a religion. The Jewish and Manichaean paintings in question emerged simultaneously and in relative closeness to one another. While the Jewish archeological records of the painted synagogue are all but silent, various characteristics of the mid-third-century Manichaean paintings are noted in literary records, including what they portrayed and, most importantly for this study, the pedagogical reasons for how and why they were used. As evidenced by Iranian, Coptic, and Syriac textual sources from between the mid-third and the late fourth and early fifth centuries, the founding prophet of Manichaeism, Mani (active from 240 to 274/277 CE), not only wrote down his own teachings, but also created visual representations of them on a solely pictorial scroll—the Book of Pictures—that he and his highest-ranking elects used in the course of oral instructions while missionizing across greater West Asia and the East Mediterranean region.

Librarians and Instructional Design Challenges

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a conceptual and practical perspective on instructional design problems that librarians face, from the perspective of design research. Librarians see increasing need to provide instruction to their users in new ways and on new topics as the world becomes digital and global in nature. The expanding instructional role of librarians requires instructional design skills. However, many librarians have little formal training on instructional design, leading to concerns and confusion about instructional design skills, problems and processes. This chapter discusses design, instructional design issues, concerns and problems (typical and specific to librarians), and explores a conceptual framework to support flexible instructional design based upon the concept of design as a discipline. Examples, recommendations and supporting resources are included.

The Benefits and Challenges of Special Education Positions in Rural Settings: Listening to the Teachers

Special education teachers, through a national survey conducted in 55 rural districts, provided information on the positive and negative aspects of teaching in rural schools. The 203 special educators were asked what they liked best about their position and what they found challenging. Some of the themes identified in the analysis centered on positive features of working in rural areas. Characteristics of the rural community fostered family-like relationships with others in their school and in-depth relationships with parents and students. Half of the teachers also reported they shared the responsibility or took a team approach to delivering special education services, a factor related to teacher satisfaction. The majority of teachers were satisfied with the instructional aspects of their position but dissatisfied with non-instructional role responsibilities. Challenges of the position also included role confusion and a lack of resources. Related implications for rural administrators interested in the satisfaction of special education teachers are provided.

Visual Catechism in Third-Century Mesopotamia

This study explores a previously overlooked aspect of the Mesopotamian context of the synagogue at Dura-Europos. It considers the function of the Jewish murals together with that of the contemporaneous pictorial art of the Manichaeans and thus brings a fundamentally new perspective to the most famous and commented-upon aspect of the synagogue. While the archeological records of the painted synagogue are silent, various characteristics of the mid-third-century Manichaean paintings are documented in literary records, including what they portrayed and the pedagogical reasons for how and why they were used. As evidenced by Iranian, Coptic, and Syriac textual sources from between the mid 3rd and the late 4th/early 5th centuries, the founding prophet of Manichaeism, Mani (active from 240 to 274 or 277 C. E.), wrote down his teachings and commissioned visual representations of them on a solely pictorial scroll – the Book of Pictures – used for oral instructions while missionizing across greater West Asia and the East Mediterranean region. When accessed together, the available evidence demonstrates that correlations between the religious function of Durene Jewish and Sasanian Manichaean art go beyond surface similarities: they both displayed a visual library of doctrinal subjects, that is, they capture in the pictorial form a large sample of core tenets, which were also recorded in the sacred texts of their respective religions; and they both fulfilled a primarily instructional role since their scenes were sermonized about and discussed in light of living interpretations.

Librarians and Instructional Design Challenges

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a conceptual and practical perspective on instructional design problems that librarians face, from the perspective of design research. Librarians see increasing need to provide instruction to their users in new ways and on new topics as the world becomes digital and global in nature. The expanding instructional role of librarians requires instructional design skills. However, many librarians have little formal training on instructional design, leading to concerns and confusion about instructional design skills, problems and processes. This chapter discusses design, instructional design issues, concerns and problems (typical and specific to librarians), and explores a conceptual framework to support flexible instructional design based upon the concept of design as a discipline. Examples, recommendations and supporting resources are included.