This paper discusses lessons learned from the Teacher Training Resource Bank (TTRB) portal in England. The TTRB provided evidence-informed resources for teacher training but was shut down after a change in government. Key lessons include the importance of quality assurance processes for reviews, classification systems to improve searchability, and planning for open licensing or archiving of resources to allow their continued use after a project ends. The TTRB was found to improve the quality of trainee teachers' work by providing up-to-date research but faced challenges around sustainability due to its reliance on government funding and policy changes.
The document discusses learning analytics and its use at the University of Auckland. It provides examples of how several faculty members are using learning analytics to gain insights into student behavior and learning. One example looks at correlations between course access and grades. Another shares past student performance data to help current students evaluate their own progress. A third discusses using analytics to support an established peer mentoring program. The document emphasizes that learning analytics has potential to improve teaching and learning but also comes with challenges around student privacy and making data meaningful for instructors.
The document summarizes surveys conducted at four institutions - Danubius University of Galati, Romania, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain, University of Cape Town, South Africa, and University of Michigan, USA - regarding faculty and student familiarity with, perceptions of, and willingness to contribute to open courseware (OCW) initiatives. Key findings include low familiarity with OCW but receptiveness to the concept, and a positive correlation between OCW familiarity and intention to contribute materials, especially among older faculty. The document calls for expanding such research to other open educational activities and sharing results.
Introduction to open access principles & discussionsIryna Kuchma
This document provides an introduction and overview of open access principles and discussions. It summarizes the benefits of open access for researchers, research institutions, publishers, and libraries. It discusses open access repositories and journals, licensing and sustainability models, and recommendations from various organizations regarding open access policies. The document also highlights comments from researchers and university administrators supporting open access and its ability to increase the visibility, usage and impact of scholarly work.
The Four R's: The Future of the LibraryElaine Martin
The document outlines a plan for the Lamar Soutter Library to address budget cuts through a process of rejecting old models, rethinking librarianship, and redoing staffing and services. It proposes transitioning from a model relying on support staff to an all-professional staff. This involves laying off support staff, hiring recent MLS graduates as fellows, implementing a new appointment-based reference model, and increasing librarian participation in areas like research and education. The goal is to rejuvenate the library by focusing resources on mission critical activities and creating opportunities for professional growth.
Elaine martinphia -bor presentation-sept 10-2014Elaine Martin
The Public Health Information Access Project (PHIA) aims to improve evidence-based public health practice by providing seamless access to published literature and other resources. PHIA identifies core trusted resources and makes them available through digital libraries for state public health departments. It also subsidizes access to other resources through participating National Network of Libraries of Medicine members. PHIA trains nearly 900 public health professionals and addresses limitations of previous short-term projects by providing sustainable long-term access to resources. Initial feedback indicates the digital libraries help inform policy development, program planning, and grant writing.
Lecture presented by Vivian Praxedes D. Sy at PAARL's Summer Conference on the theme "Library Analytics: Data-driven Library Management", held at Pearl Hotel, Manila on 20-22 April 2016
In light of the recent EU decision to make all European
scientific articles freely accessible by 2020, academic
institutions must prepare to convince a considerable number
of researchers to publish their work open access. This talk
presents an example of how a university library can become
a prime mover in its institution’s work on open science.
Keywords to success are a dedicated team, collaboration with
the institution’s research administration and IT department,
and focusing on widespread information towards the
research community.
The document discusses learning analytics and its use at the University of Auckland. It provides examples of how several faculty members are using learning analytics to gain insights into student behavior and learning. One example looks at correlations between course access and grades. Another shares past student performance data to help current students evaluate their own progress. A third discusses using analytics to support an established peer mentoring program. The document emphasizes that learning analytics has potential to improve teaching and learning but also comes with challenges around student privacy and making data meaningful for instructors.
The document summarizes surveys conducted at four institutions - Danubius University of Galati, Romania, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain, University of Cape Town, South Africa, and University of Michigan, USA - regarding faculty and student familiarity with, perceptions of, and willingness to contribute to open courseware (OCW) initiatives. Key findings include low familiarity with OCW but receptiveness to the concept, and a positive correlation between OCW familiarity and intention to contribute materials, especially among older faculty. The document calls for expanding such research to other open educational activities and sharing results.
Introduction to open access principles & discussionsIryna Kuchma
This document provides an introduction and overview of open access principles and discussions. It summarizes the benefits of open access for researchers, research institutions, publishers, and libraries. It discusses open access repositories and journals, licensing and sustainability models, and recommendations from various organizations regarding open access policies. The document also highlights comments from researchers and university administrators supporting open access and its ability to increase the visibility, usage and impact of scholarly work.
The Four R's: The Future of the LibraryElaine Martin
The document outlines a plan for the Lamar Soutter Library to address budget cuts through a process of rejecting old models, rethinking librarianship, and redoing staffing and services. It proposes transitioning from a model relying on support staff to an all-professional staff. This involves laying off support staff, hiring recent MLS graduates as fellows, implementing a new appointment-based reference model, and increasing librarian participation in areas like research and education. The goal is to rejuvenate the library by focusing resources on mission critical activities and creating opportunities for professional growth.
Elaine martinphia -bor presentation-sept 10-2014Elaine Martin
The Public Health Information Access Project (PHIA) aims to improve evidence-based public health practice by providing seamless access to published literature and other resources. PHIA identifies core trusted resources and makes them available through digital libraries for state public health departments. It also subsidizes access to other resources through participating National Network of Libraries of Medicine members. PHIA trains nearly 900 public health professionals and addresses limitations of previous short-term projects by providing sustainable long-term access to resources. Initial feedback indicates the digital libraries help inform policy development, program planning, and grant writing.
Lecture presented by Vivian Praxedes D. Sy at PAARL's Summer Conference on the theme "Library Analytics: Data-driven Library Management", held at Pearl Hotel, Manila on 20-22 April 2016
In light of the recent EU decision to make all European
scientific articles freely accessible by 2020, academic
institutions must prepare to convince a considerable number
of researchers to publish their work open access. This talk
presents an example of how a university library can become
a prime mover in its institution’s work on open science.
Keywords to success are a dedicated team, collaboration with
the institution’s research administration and IT department,
and focusing on widespread information towards the
research community.
Poster Presentation for 4:am Altmetrics Conference, Toronto ON, CA and National Institutes of Health Bibliometrics and Assessment Conference, Bethesda MD, US
Evaluate! Evaluation of school librariesJohan Koren
This document discusses evaluating school library media services. It begins by defining evaluation and noting that evaluation of school libraries should examine quality, significance, and condition. The purposes of evaluation include finding what is right and wrong and judging the significance, worth, and quality. Evaluation can examine collections, personnel, programs, curriculum collaboration, and more. Standards provide a baseline for evaluation and require interpreting quantitative and qualitative data. The document outlines methods, types, and models of evaluation.
Communications and context: strategies for onboarding new e-resources librari...NASIG
Presented by Bonnie Thornton.
This presentation details onboarding strategies institutions can utilize to help acclimate new e-resources librarians with an emphasis on strategies for effectively establishing and perpetuating communications with stakeholders.
Lecture presented by Rhea Rowena U. Apolinario at PAARL's Summer Conference on the theme "Library Analytics: Data-driven Library Management, held at Pearl Hotel, Manila on 20-22 April 2016
Lecture presented by Fernan R. Dizon at PAARL's Summer Conference on the theme "Library Analytics: Data-driven Library Management", held at Pearl Hotel, Manila on 20-22 April 2016
This document discusses the Middle East Technical University Library's process to evaluate and select open access resources to add to its collection. It describes a 5 stage process to: 1) analyze the current situation; 2) determine evaluation criteria and add them to the collection policy; 3) decide how to share resources online; 4) evaluate existing and new resources; and 5) share identified resources online. So far, the library has completed the first stage of analyzing the current situation and is now working on the second stage of determining evaluation criteria. Preliminary studies on criteria are being shared to obtain feedback before finalizing the criteria. The criteria will be grouped by resource type and publisher and cover areas like format, relevance, objectivity, methodology, sources
Sbm open science committee report to the boardBradford Hesse
In the spirit of transparency, I am uploading a mid-course presentation I made to the Board of Directors for the Society of Behavioral Medicine on the topic of Open Science. The report embodies the best thinking of some of the greatest thinkers in our field.
The document discusses enhancing the usability of libraries through an evidence-based approach. It defines usability as being easy to use, useful, and pleasant to use. There are three types of librarianship discussed - "lollipop librarianship" which focuses only on what patrons want, "broccoli librarianship" which focuses only on what is good for patrons, and evidence-based librarianship which seeks to integrate user needs, practitioner experience, and research evidence. The document advocates applying an evidence-based practice approach to evaluate and improve the usability of library services and resources.
Evidence-based Research in Library and Information PracticeFe Angela Verzosa
This document provides background information on Andrew Booth, a leading figure in evidence-based library and information practice (EBLIP). It discusses some of Booth's qualifications and publications on EBLIP. The document also summarizes parts of a presentation by Booth on why librarians do not often conduct research and the reasons why research is important for librarians. Key points from the presentation include a lack of research skills/time and the perception that research lacks practical applications. However, research can improve practice, create new knowledge, and advance careers.
Mary Moser, Learning Commons Librarian, and Satu Riutta, Institutional Research Associate, both of Oxford College of Emory University, presented their findings from the Research Practices Survey at the Association of General and Liberal Studies conference in October 2009.
Alternative metrics for book impact assessmentKayvan Kousha
This study examines whether book reviews from Choice, an academic library review source, can provide useful metrics for assessing scholarly book impact. The researchers analyzed 451 book reviews from Choice, extracting ratings and audience recommendations. They then automatically captured citations from Google Books, academic syllabus mentions, Amazon reviews, and other metrics. They found books rated highly in Choice received more citations and mentions, and books recommended for teaching received more syllabus mentions. While Choice ratings modestly correlated with other metrics, they assess different aspects of a book's value than citation or usage metrics. The researchers conclude Choice reviews can help distinguish book audiences and provide complementary insights to other impact indicators.
Wake Forest University Faculty Survey 2016Susan Smith
The survey of 167 Wake Forest University faculty found:
- Faculty value the library's role in paying for resources but rated digital research activities lower than peers.
- Two-thirds were comfortable replacing print journals with electronic versions. Half saw roles for both print and digital books.
- Faculty said undergraduate students have poor research skills and improving them is important. Two-thirds agreed librarians significantly help with student learning.
- Most visited the library weekly and were satisfied with facilities but less so with workspaces. Six in ten were highly dependent on the library.
This study aimed to understand student and faculty perspectives on e-books through an analysis of responses to two open-ended questions in a large UK national survey. The survey received over 16,000 responses. Convenience of online access and searchability were cited as the biggest advantages of e-books. Respondents saw potential for e-textbooks but felt e-books need improved printing and screen reading features to be more student-friendly. The study provides valuable insight into academic attitudes toward e-books from one of the largest surveys on the topic.
Keeping it real: A comprehensive and transparent evaluation of electronic res...University of North Texas
Presentation for pre-conference workshop at the Charleston Conference, 2014. There will be a time when your library will need to evaluate all of your electronic resources. How would you do it? In response to a cut to our materials budget, we have developed a method that condenses a large amount of information into a few select criteria. In this day-long workshop, we will walk through the process using the Decision Grid process developed by at the University of Maryland at College Park (Foudy and McManus 533-538) as a starting point. The workshop leaders will first demonstrate each step of our process, and then the participants will work in small groups (5-7) using their own experiences and a sample data set of their own. The steps covered will include selecting and defining the criteria, gathering and analyzing the data, and determining how to make final decisions. We will cover some technical aspects of gathering and analyzing data, including using Excel functions.
Demonstrating the Value of Academic Libraries in Times of Uncertainty: A Rese...Lynn Connaway
The document summarizes key findings from a research study examining how academic libraries can demonstrate their value, especially in times of uncertainty. The study utilized focus groups, interviews with provosts, and a literature review to develop a research agenda. Key recommendations include identifying learning and success outcomes, bolstering collaboration, communicating the library's role in institutional missions, and conducting learning analytics and assessment of diverse student populations. The research agenda prioritizes communication, collaboration, mission alignment, teaching and learning, and student success.
Sociology and anthropology briefings (C-SAP collections project)CSAPSubjectCentre
This literature review was written as part of the C-SAP (Higher Education Academy's Centre for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics) project "Discovering Collections of Social Science Open Educational Resources". The project ran from August 2010 - August 2011 as part of Phase 2 of the HEFCE-funded Open Educational Resources (OER) programme. The programme focused in particular on issues related to the discovery and use of OER by academics and was managed jointly by the Higher Education Academy [HEA] and Joint Information Systems Committee [JISC].
Ethan Pullman and Denise Novak presented on how librarians can stay informed about text mining to better support their constituents. Kristen Garlock discussed JSTOR's Data for Research service which allows researchers to generate datasets for text mining. Patricia Cleary provided an overview of Springer's text and data mining policy which allows researchers to text mine subscribed content for non-commercial research.
Sherif presentation richard nurse new templateRichard Nurse
1) The study analyzed usage data from eResources at the Open University, a distance learning institution, to determine if there was a relationship between library resource usage and student success, as has been found at traditional universities.
2) The results showed that students who passed modules accessed library eResources twice as often as students who failed. Further statistical analysis found a significant association between higher levels of eResource access and better student results.
3) The findings suggest that even in a digital library environment, higher student engagement with library resources is still correlated with academic success, as seen in other university studies.
The document provides information about IndiaITWizards, an IT solutions company established in 2009. It offers various services such as web development, graphic design, and QA testing. The management team includes Shephali Wattal as President and Gopal Krishna Wattal as Managing Partner. The company aims to leverage technical resources to provide novel business solutions for clients in industries such as real estate, education, and hospitality.
Poster Presentation for 4:am Altmetrics Conference, Toronto ON, CA and National Institutes of Health Bibliometrics and Assessment Conference, Bethesda MD, US
Evaluate! Evaluation of school librariesJohan Koren
This document discusses evaluating school library media services. It begins by defining evaluation and noting that evaluation of school libraries should examine quality, significance, and condition. The purposes of evaluation include finding what is right and wrong and judging the significance, worth, and quality. Evaluation can examine collections, personnel, programs, curriculum collaboration, and more. Standards provide a baseline for evaluation and require interpreting quantitative and qualitative data. The document outlines methods, types, and models of evaluation.
Communications and context: strategies for onboarding new e-resources librari...NASIG
Presented by Bonnie Thornton.
This presentation details onboarding strategies institutions can utilize to help acclimate new e-resources librarians with an emphasis on strategies for effectively establishing and perpetuating communications with stakeholders.
Lecture presented by Rhea Rowena U. Apolinario at PAARL's Summer Conference on the theme "Library Analytics: Data-driven Library Management, held at Pearl Hotel, Manila on 20-22 April 2016
Lecture presented by Fernan R. Dizon at PAARL's Summer Conference on the theme "Library Analytics: Data-driven Library Management", held at Pearl Hotel, Manila on 20-22 April 2016
This document discusses the Middle East Technical University Library's process to evaluate and select open access resources to add to its collection. It describes a 5 stage process to: 1) analyze the current situation; 2) determine evaluation criteria and add them to the collection policy; 3) decide how to share resources online; 4) evaluate existing and new resources; and 5) share identified resources online. So far, the library has completed the first stage of analyzing the current situation and is now working on the second stage of determining evaluation criteria. Preliminary studies on criteria are being shared to obtain feedback before finalizing the criteria. The criteria will be grouped by resource type and publisher and cover areas like format, relevance, objectivity, methodology, sources
Sbm open science committee report to the boardBradford Hesse
In the spirit of transparency, I am uploading a mid-course presentation I made to the Board of Directors for the Society of Behavioral Medicine on the topic of Open Science. The report embodies the best thinking of some of the greatest thinkers in our field.
The document discusses enhancing the usability of libraries through an evidence-based approach. It defines usability as being easy to use, useful, and pleasant to use. There are three types of librarianship discussed - "lollipop librarianship" which focuses only on what patrons want, "broccoli librarianship" which focuses only on what is good for patrons, and evidence-based librarianship which seeks to integrate user needs, practitioner experience, and research evidence. The document advocates applying an evidence-based practice approach to evaluate and improve the usability of library services and resources.
Evidence-based Research in Library and Information PracticeFe Angela Verzosa
This document provides background information on Andrew Booth, a leading figure in evidence-based library and information practice (EBLIP). It discusses some of Booth's qualifications and publications on EBLIP. The document also summarizes parts of a presentation by Booth on why librarians do not often conduct research and the reasons why research is important for librarians. Key points from the presentation include a lack of research skills/time and the perception that research lacks practical applications. However, research can improve practice, create new knowledge, and advance careers.
Mary Moser, Learning Commons Librarian, and Satu Riutta, Institutional Research Associate, both of Oxford College of Emory University, presented their findings from the Research Practices Survey at the Association of General and Liberal Studies conference in October 2009.
Alternative metrics for book impact assessmentKayvan Kousha
This study examines whether book reviews from Choice, an academic library review source, can provide useful metrics for assessing scholarly book impact. The researchers analyzed 451 book reviews from Choice, extracting ratings and audience recommendations. They then automatically captured citations from Google Books, academic syllabus mentions, Amazon reviews, and other metrics. They found books rated highly in Choice received more citations and mentions, and books recommended for teaching received more syllabus mentions. While Choice ratings modestly correlated with other metrics, they assess different aspects of a book's value than citation or usage metrics. The researchers conclude Choice reviews can help distinguish book audiences and provide complementary insights to other impact indicators.
Wake Forest University Faculty Survey 2016Susan Smith
The survey of 167 Wake Forest University faculty found:
- Faculty value the library's role in paying for resources but rated digital research activities lower than peers.
- Two-thirds were comfortable replacing print journals with electronic versions. Half saw roles for both print and digital books.
- Faculty said undergraduate students have poor research skills and improving them is important. Two-thirds agreed librarians significantly help with student learning.
- Most visited the library weekly and were satisfied with facilities but less so with workspaces. Six in ten were highly dependent on the library.
This study aimed to understand student and faculty perspectives on e-books through an analysis of responses to two open-ended questions in a large UK national survey. The survey received over 16,000 responses. Convenience of online access and searchability were cited as the biggest advantages of e-books. Respondents saw potential for e-textbooks but felt e-books need improved printing and screen reading features to be more student-friendly. The study provides valuable insight into academic attitudes toward e-books from one of the largest surveys on the topic.
Keeping it real: A comprehensive and transparent evaluation of electronic res...University of North Texas
Presentation for pre-conference workshop at the Charleston Conference, 2014. There will be a time when your library will need to evaluate all of your electronic resources. How would you do it? In response to a cut to our materials budget, we have developed a method that condenses a large amount of information into a few select criteria. In this day-long workshop, we will walk through the process using the Decision Grid process developed by at the University of Maryland at College Park (Foudy and McManus 533-538) as a starting point. The workshop leaders will first demonstrate each step of our process, and then the participants will work in small groups (5-7) using their own experiences and a sample data set of their own. The steps covered will include selecting and defining the criteria, gathering and analyzing the data, and determining how to make final decisions. We will cover some technical aspects of gathering and analyzing data, including using Excel functions.
Demonstrating the Value of Academic Libraries in Times of Uncertainty: A Rese...Lynn Connaway
The document summarizes key findings from a research study examining how academic libraries can demonstrate their value, especially in times of uncertainty. The study utilized focus groups, interviews with provosts, and a literature review to develop a research agenda. Key recommendations include identifying learning and success outcomes, bolstering collaboration, communicating the library's role in institutional missions, and conducting learning analytics and assessment of diverse student populations. The research agenda prioritizes communication, collaboration, mission alignment, teaching and learning, and student success.
Sociology and anthropology briefings (C-SAP collections project)CSAPSubjectCentre
This literature review was written as part of the C-SAP (Higher Education Academy's Centre for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics) project "Discovering Collections of Social Science Open Educational Resources". The project ran from August 2010 - August 2011 as part of Phase 2 of the HEFCE-funded Open Educational Resources (OER) programme. The programme focused in particular on issues related to the discovery and use of OER by academics and was managed jointly by the Higher Education Academy [HEA] and Joint Information Systems Committee [JISC].
Ethan Pullman and Denise Novak presented on how librarians can stay informed about text mining to better support their constituents. Kristen Garlock discussed JSTOR's Data for Research service which allows researchers to generate datasets for text mining. Patricia Cleary provided an overview of Springer's text and data mining policy which allows researchers to text mine subscribed content for non-commercial research.
Sherif presentation richard nurse new templateRichard Nurse
1) The study analyzed usage data from eResources at the Open University, a distance learning institution, to determine if there was a relationship between library resource usage and student success, as has been found at traditional universities.
2) The results showed that students who passed modules accessed library eResources twice as often as students who failed. Further statistical analysis found a significant association between higher levels of eResource access and better student results.
3) The findings suggest that even in a digital library environment, higher student engagement with library resources is still correlated with academic success, as seen in other university studies.
The document provides information about IndiaITWizards, an IT solutions company established in 2009. It offers various services such as web development, graphic design, and QA testing. The management team includes Shephali Wattal as President and Gopal Krishna Wattal as Managing Partner. The company aims to leverage technical resources to provide novel business solutions for clients in industries such as real estate, education, and hospitality.
El documento describe el proceso de elaboración de mermelada. La fruta se recibe, pesa y almacena hasta su procesamiento. Luego es seleccionada, lavada, pelada, blanqueada térmicamente y acondicionada en pulpa cortada o licuada. La pulpa se cuece con azúcar y ácido cítrico en tres etapas de 20 minutos cada una con adición de azúcar. Finalmente, la mermelada se envasa a más de 85°C, se sella y enfría a temperatura ambiente.
Exchange Server 2007 introduces a new role-based architecture that allows servers to be dedicated to specific tasks like client access, mailboxes, or transporting mail. It also simplifies administration. Additional features improve protection from outside threats through enhanced anti-spam and antivirus capabilities, simplify message security, improve compliance functions, maximize availability, and boost productivity.
The document discusses lessons learned from the Teacher Training Resource Bank (TTRB) project. The TTRB aimed to provide teacher trainees and educators access to research and resources to support evidence-informed education. However, the TTRB project has ended. The document reflects on the TTRB's goals, structure, usage data, and positive evaluation findings. It also outlines lessons for future projects, such as agreeing ownership and risk procedures, future-proofing classification systems, and prioritizing dissemination to keep resources accessible after a project ends.
Building Portals for Evidence Informed Education: Lessons from the Dead: SummaryBalrymes
This paper discusses lessons learned from the Teacher Training Resource Bank (TTRB) project in England. The TTRB portal provided a large collection of evidence-informed resources but was shut down in 2010 due to a change in government. Key lessons include: classifying resources using enduring thesauri to future-proof against policy changes; openly licensing materials from the start to allow repurposing; and using feed technologies to better disseminate resources to potential users. The forced archiving of the TTRB stripped functionality and accessibility, highlighting the need for sustainable hosting and dissemination strategies.
CLIR staff present the results of a 2011 survey of student engagement with projects funded through the Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives program. See also:
http://www.clir.org/hiddencollections/student_survey_results.html
CLIR officers describe results of recent survey of student engagement in Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives projects. See also: http://www.clir.org/hiddencollections/student_survey_results.html
Changing role of faculty librarians in open accessIryna Kuchma
How faculty librarians could contribute to open access awareness raising and advocacy, provide support and training for researchers and students on changing scholarly communication landscape
This document summarizes research into teacher trainees' perspectives on graded lesson observations. A mixed-methods approach was used, including a survey of 32 trainees, two focus groups, and two interviews. The survey included questions about trainees' comfort levels during observations and the impact of grading. In the focus groups, questions were rephrased to encourage alternative viewpoints. The research aimed to gain insights into how observations impact trainees and explore strategies to make them more supportive. Key findings indicated trainees had concerns about their competence being questioned and the restrictive nature of graded observations. Recommendations included changes to initial teacher education to encourage creativity and open discussion of issues.
The document discusses the importance of evidence in education for teachers, researchers, and policy-makers. It introduces the Teaching and Training Resources Bank (TTRB) website as a source of evidence on effective teaching practices. TTRB provides recently posted materials on evidence-based education and a hierarchy of evidence. It also lists additional sites where users can find literature and research evidence in education to support practice, policymaking, and further learning. The document concludes that TTRB has the potential to significantly impact education by allowing existing policies and practices to be improved based on evidence.
Richard Andrews on Evidence in EducationMike Blamires
The document discusses the importance of evidence in education for teachers, researchers, and policy-makers. It introduces the Teaching and Training Resources Bank (TTRB) website as a source of evidence on effective teaching practices. TTRB provides recently posted materials on evidence-based education and a hierarchy of evidence. It also lists additional websites that can be used to find literature and evidence on topics in education. In conclusion, the document states that if used by teachers, researchers, and policy-makers, TTRB has the potential to improve existing policies and practices by allowing options to be explored and gaps in research to be identified.
The document discusses the importance of evidence in education for teachers, researchers, and policy-makers. It introduces the Teaching and Training Resources Bank (TTRB) website as a source of evidence on effective teaching practices. TTRB provides recently posted materials on evidence-based education and a hierarchy of evidence. It also lists additional sites where users can find literature reviews and research evidence in education to support teachers, researchers, and policy work. The document concludes that TTRB has the potential to improve existing policies and practices by allowing options to be explored and gaps in research to be identified, when used by teachers, researchers, and policy-makers.
Essential Practices for Online Instruction - Early ResearchJenni Hayman
The document summarizes a literature review and preliminary instrument developed for a Delphi study on essential practices for online instruction. The literature review analyzed 18 sources and identified 70 recommended practices across categories like facilitation, assessment, and instructional design. These practices will be used to develop a survey to determine which ones expert online instructors agree are essential at their institution. The goal is to establish guidelines to improve online instructor training and evaluation.
Jenni hayman ed media brief paper presentationJenni Hayman
The document summarizes a literature review and preliminary instrument developed for a Delphi study on essential practices for online instruction. The literature review analyzed 18 sources and identified 70 recommended practices across categories like facilitation, assessment, and instructional design. These practices will be used to develop a survey to determine which ones expert online instructors agree are essential at their institution. The goal is to establish guidelines to improve online instructor training and evaluation.
The document discusses evaluating school library media programs. It defines evaluation and discusses its purposes, including improving effectiveness, determining needs, and demonstrating value. The summary discusses formal vs informal evaluation, quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, and developing goals, objectives and recommendations from evaluation findings to strengthen programs.
The Impact of TEF and Proposed Sector Changes on Academic Libraries - Liz Jol...Talis
The document summarizes the key points of the UK government's "Green Paper" on higher education reform and discusses its potential impacts on academic libraries. It outlines proposed changes like the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and new regulatory bodies. It then explores how these reforms could affect the roles of academic libraries in areas like content and scholarly communication, physical and learning spaces, supporting learners and researchers, and the future roles of library staff. The presentation argues libraries must align their strategies to institutional missions and collaborate more broadly across partnerships.
This article summarizes a study that explored how academics use information and communication technologies (ICTs) for teaching and learning in higher education. Focus groups were conducted with academics from English, law, and nursing. The discussions revealed that ICTs were mainly used to provide online resources for students. Motivations for using ICTs centered around enhancing the educational experience. While use of ICTs was generally positive, lack of time was a common challenge. Factors influencing adoption of ICTs included institutional support, department resources, individual skills, and technical issues. The study provided insight into appropriate uses of technology in higher education.
This article summarizes a study that explored how academics use information and communication technologies (ICTs) for teaching and learning in higher education. Focus groups were conducted with academics from English, law, and nursing. The discussions found that ICTs were mainly used to provide online resources for students. Academics were motivated to use ICTs to enhance students' educational experience. While use of ICTs was generally positive, lack of time was a common challenge. Factors influencing adoption of ICTs included institutional support, department resources, individual skills, and technical issues. The study provided insight into appropriate uses of technology in higher education.
This article summarizes a study that explored how academics use information and communication technologies (ICTs) for teaching and learning in higher education. Focus groups were conducted with academics from English, law, and nursing. The discussions found that ICTs were mainly used to provide online resources for students. Academics were motivated to use ICTs to enhance students' educational experience. While use of ICTs was generally positive, lack of time was a common challenge. Factors influencing adoption of ICTs included institutional support, department resources, individual skills, and technical issues. The study provided insight into appropriate uses of technology in higher education.
The document outlines a three tier model for promoting institutional adoption of learning analytics at universities.
Tier 1 involves small scale pilot projects using various learning analytics tools to provide insights. Tier 2 establishes a community of interest to share practices. Tier 3 develops learning analytics principles, frameworks and governance models for institutional implementation.
The model was applied at Victoria University of Wellington, resulting in learning analytics principles and framework documents, and progress towards an institutional governance model to bring analytics to scale safely while respecting data ethics. Various pilot projects provided lessons about the need for staff capability development and coordination across the university.
This document discusses evaluating school library media programs. It provides definitions of evaluation, purposes of evaluation such as improving services and demonstrating value, and types of data that can be collected including quantitative and qualitative data. The document also presents an evaluation model including defining questions, collecting and analyzing data, formulating recommendations, and developing an action plan. Methods of evaluation discussed include questionnaires, observation, and focus groups. Challenges of evaluation in a school context and potential solutions are also outlined.
AN INVESTIGATION OF TEACHER EDUCATORS’ PERCEPTION TOWARDS THE PEDAGOGICAL BEN...Thiyagu K
The use of ICT in teacher education programs has been gaining interest throughout the world. This interest places pressure on faculties of education to prepare a new generation of graduates capable of integrating a variety of technological tools into their personal and professional lives (Starkman, Neal. 2007). Argued that enabling teachers to make effective use of ICT as a tool for deep learning should be top priorities for both, pre-service and in-service programs, so as to overcome the most important challenge of the teaching profession, which is the preparation of students equipped with the skills needed for 21st century careers. The explosion of technological growth with Web 2.0 applications has opened up new learning possibilities for educational programs and blogs are a promising example of these new applications (Keegan and Desmond. 2002). Weblogs are considered to be one of the best ways of combining Information Communication Technology (ICT) with teaching and learning methodologies in a classroom. The application of weblogs in higher education, particularly in teacher preparation programs, has been documented very recently. Hence, the investigator proposed the title of the study has “Teacher Educators’ Perception towards the Pedagogical Benefits of weblog in Tirunelveli District”. The main aim of the study is to assess the perception towards the pedagogical benefits of weblog among the teacher educators of Tirunelveli district. Survey method is employed for this study. The investigator has chosen 150 teacher educators as a sample for the study in a random sampling technique. Finally the investigator concludes; (a) Average level perception towards pedagogical benefits of weblog among the teacher educators. (b) There is no significant difference in the mean scores of teacher educators’ perception towards pedagogical Benefits of Weblog with respect to their gender, age, subject, marital status, years of experience and educational qualification.
Open Educational Resources: OER, Building Collaborative BridgesNASIG
The topic of providing Open Educational Resources, OERs, as an alternative to costly textbooks for students in higher education is on the minds of educators, administrators, librarians, publishers, and faculty these days. All are eager to ease the cost burden of higher education by providing students with freely available, openly licensed learning materials, but each constituency faces specific barriers and has specific questions to be resolved.
At Emporia State University, faculty, librarians, and administrators are at the beginning of an exploration of the advantages and disadvantages that are part and parcel of creating, adopting, storing, maintaining, and licensing OERs. A task force has been formed to "establish a baseline for current OER efforts at ESU and to initiate a process of discovery to evaluate resources and infrastructure necessary to enlarge our OER efforts beyond the current baseline" (OER Task Force charge). Some of the topics that the Task Force may consider are
* Weighing the strengths and weaknesses of including OER as a strategic plan initiative;
* Analyzing faculty work conditions within an OER environment;
* Determining the need to adjust institutional intellectual property rights policies;
* Assessing student attitudes toward OER as well as preferences for digital or print resources;
* Exploring faculty incentives for assessing/adapting/authoring OER;
* Assessing the financial impact of OER to the bookstore and the Memorial Union;
* Developing an information campaign to educate faculty, students, and staff about OER;
* Exploring software systems, like Intellus, that might facilitate OER access;
* Cataloging ready-made resources, like Open Stax, for faculty availability.
One thing that is clear is that the collaborations among ESU constituencies, among institutions of higher education in Kansas and the Midwest, and among educators, administrators, librarians, publishers, and faculty are necessary to the success of an OER project at ESU. In this presentation, I propose to present the experiences of the OER task force, particularly their collaborations with both internal and external stakeholders, as well as the results of their work as a case study. I will focus on sharing how collaborations with stakeholders influenced the process, the choices, and the outcomes of the work of the task force; particularly those that are transferable and may have benefits for other institutions of higher education.
Sarah Sutton, Associate Professor of Library and Information Man, Emporia State University School of Library and Information Management
To support UTA faculty interested in submitting an application for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) Open Educational Resources Grant Program, UTA Libraries are hosting two OER Grant Application Sprints. Librarians will share tips for completing the application, assist with locating OER, define support for open education at UTA, and review application materials.
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Building Portals for Evidence Informed Education: Lessons from the Dead
1. Building Portals for Evidence Informed Education: Lessons from the Dead
Mike Blamires
email Michael.Blamires@canterbury.ac.uk
Canterbury Christ Church University, United Kingdom
Summary
This paper considers the creation of quality assured reviews to build sustainable quality assured evidence
sources that inform the training and professional development of new and experienced teachers. This makes
use of the experience and evaluations of portals developed in England as part of the Teacher Training Resource
Bank (TTRB). The TTRB was developed by a consortium of Universities supported by a software company and
funded by a government agency responsible for what it called ‘Teacher Training’. This project ran from 2006
and ended in 2010 due to a change of government. The project was then ‘archived’ in a very restrictive
manner. The paper explores the lessons learned from the project.
Introduction
Statistical records of TTRB impact since its inception in 2006 demonstrated its widespread usage across English
initial teacher education (ITE) and schools. An independent evaluation of the TTRB (Chambers, 2009) indicated
a positive impact on trainee teachers in terms of making a large range of research and up-to-date resource
material easily available. Trainee teachers were further enabled to make connections between theory and
their own practice. The quality of their academic work was also seen to be improved through more
comprehensive use of sources.
At its peak, the TTRB had over 30,000 visitors per month with more than 6,000 page views per day according
to independent analytic software tools (google analytics). The TTRB was a project, funded by the English
Teacher Development Agency for Schools (TDA). The main aims were to articulate and represent the
professional knowledge bases that underpin teacher education and to increase the range and quality of
resources available for the professional development of novice teachers and those who support them. The
TTRB also sought to link theory, debate and practice by raising the profile of research and knowledge creation.
Review articles by academics and education experts were rigorously moderated, categorised and manually
interlinked with related content creating contextually rich and authoritative resources that were linked to the
original source. It aimed to be a one-stop portal for education professionals to gain evidence informed
briefings that are authoritative, credible, relevant and timely. The site also included longer briefings on key
areas of interest and a ‘real life’ librarian service called the e- librarian. This enabled registered users to obtain
a librarian’s response to a question if they were unable to find any relevant resources on the web site itself.
These questions also served to inform the future selection of material for review.
How were TTRB reviews processed?
All materials on the TTRB were subject to rigorous quality assurance procedures. The TTRB utilised
two sets of inclusion criteria to filter potential content. These focused upon an evaluation of the
relevance (the substantive inclusion criteria or topic priorities) and equally the quality of evidence
(the generic inclusion criteria) .
2. Materials were selected according to these criteria from a number of sources. These included the
British Education Index, government agency releases, the National Foundation for Educational
Research list of research reports and reviews as well as e-librarian responses. Material meeting the
inclusion criteria were placed in a ‘pipeline’ and prioritised by two academics. A reviewer with
appropriate expertise was agreed by both the academics and then a a review was then requested
against a time scale, which was normally four weeks.
The review was written using a preset template that structured the review with accompanying style
guidelines. The returned review was then moderated by two academic members of the content
team. The review could be accepted with no or minor modifications or be sent back to the reviewer
one or more times depending upon the nature of the review and the experience of the reviewer.
The resource; once accepted by an academic from the content team was then put onto the content
management system where the images, classifications and links were added and checked by both an
academic and administrative member of the content team.
British Education Thesaurus (BET) (University of Leeds) classification terms were also added at this
stage. The BET is a thesaurus of over 8000 terms describing education which is part of a much wider
collection of resource references that is used in systematic and other research reviews. Finally, the
review was subject to a sign off by another academic member of the TTRB content team before
being scheduled for publication. This entire process was, in turn, overseen by an independent
Editorial Commissioning and Advisory Board and the TDA.
(A schematic diagram of the process is shown below. Diagram 1)
3. Diagram 1: The Peer Review Process
Methodology and Analysis
Developmental project reports and plans that included both qualitative and quantitative data were utilised to
understand the process of portal development as an interplay between technical, academic and political
barriers and enablers (sometimes called affordances in the ICT literature). In addition, the findings of both
4. qualitative and quantitative independent evaluations were employed in order to identify key factors in the
rationale and working of knowledge mediation in relation to support for the induction and professional
development of teachers.
Pre Termination Findings
The School of Education at the University of Leeds conducted a independent formative evaluation of
the TTRB portals during 2008. Qualitative data was collected through telephone and e-interviews
with representatives from government agencies and teacher educators from a sample of providers,
as well as case study visits which included student/trainee interviews.
Findings from the research
• The findings reveal that the TTRB was typically and progressively viewed “as a ‘one-stop-shop’ where
they (trainees) could access everything they needed”.
• The quality (“the editorial aspect of it”) was appreciated, and the currency and relevancy of the
material emphasised as a key feature of the site.
• “the knowledge is all up to date, so the impact should be seen through that”.
• One of the providers felt that students/trainees engaged with more recent research because of the
TTRB, with another commenting that “it’s helped them focus much more on recent and relevant
issues”.
• “Given the quality of the site in terms of content and presentation, its value to tutors and trainees and
how highly it is rated, it deserves to be exploited by the widest possible constituency of users”.
• The accessibility to a range of resources, which were previously unavailable, was perceived to be a
major benefit of the site by more than half the users in the survey.
• Over a fifth of users felt that the TTRB had enhanced student/trainee autonomy.
• One provider referred to students/trainees using the TTRB for ‘personal research’, and others that the
site offers opportunities for them to further their subject knowledge.
• The E-librarian was also seen as an effective feature of the site in this context; for example, “I often
refer [the students] to the E-librarian, particularly when they’re doing the more independent aspects
of their course”.
• Positive features identified by students/trainees include the wealth of research projects and research
data on the site, as well as articles and journals, which are ‘really helpful’ for assignments.
• “the TTRB is making a positive impact on Masters level work”. Not only were students/trainees seen
to be using the resources independently for M-level work, but also the range of topics and the
“quality of assignments in relation to M-level credits” were seen to have improved through the use of
the TTRB.
The findings suggest that students/trainees used the TTRB mostly to inform their writing of assignments, and
over a third of trainers felt this had improved the quality of assignments, with one commenting that this was
“through more comprehensive use of sources”.
One trainer felt that the TTRB could be used as a device for “making a bridge between the theory and the
school practice”: or, as one school based provider commented:
5. “What we’ve tried to do is to encourage our trainees to address [their inclination to the practical]
head on and learn in a variety of different ways not just by doing teaching in a classroom but also by
reading and engaging with what research is out there and the TTRB has been a tremendous help in
terms of been able to link them very, very quickly with that.”
University of Toronto Website Usage Analysis Report
Through using Google Analytics, this report describes the initial findings of the website usage data
from September 2009 through August 2010. This use of the site was compared with eight other
evidence based portals from countries around the world and its use significantly outstripped all the
other sites apart from one based in Chile (organisation number 9) which is also used for providing
teaching materials
Illustrative usage figures taken from TTRB (independently gathered from
Google Analytics)
• One article released every day for nearly four years
• 18,000 Registered Users
• Over 124,800 page views a month
• Over 6,000 page views a day
• Over 1,600 visits per day 32,400/month
• 37% Students/Trainees: 21% Tutors : 22% Teachers
• 108 Active reviewers from over 43 Institutions
6. From the Leeds Evaluation: Making the Bridge between theory and practice
Although some students/trainees expressed disappointment that the site does not include ‘practical
resources’ (e.g. lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations for use in the school classroom), others
acknowledged clearly the link between theory and practice. So, for example, the site had proved
useful in researching aspects of SEN prevalent in pupils at the placement school of one
student/trainee, in order to inform their teaching. One trainer felt that the TTRB can be used as a
device for “making a bridge between the theory and the school practice”: or, as one school based
teacher training provider commented;
“What we’ve tried to do is to encourage our trainees to address [their inclination to the practical]
head on and learn in a variety of different ways not just by doing teaching in a classroom but also by
reading by engaging with what research is out there and the TTRB has been a tremendous help in
terms of been able to link them very, very quickly with that.”
This reflects the English General Teaching Council (now defunct) Code of Conduct and Practice for
Registered Teachers, that was effective from October 2009, which stipulated that all teachers must:
“Base their practice on knowledge of their subject area/s and specialisms, and make use of research
about teaching and learning” (p8). The UK Government Education Select Committee Report on the
National Curriculum (House of Commons, 2009a) acknowledged a need for trainee teachers to
develop deeper understandings about curriculum design, and for enhanced support to enable
teachers to harness evidence to inform the development of teaching and learning. The TTRB was
cited in the UK Government’s response to this report (House of Commons 2009b, p10), as well as in
a more recent report by the Innovation Unit at CUREE (Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence
in Education) Harnessing knowledge to practice: accessing and using evidence from research (2008,
p30), as a means of mediating the evidence in order to bridge the gap between education research
and educational practice.
This reflects Ainscow’s (2001) aspiration for enhance teacher professionalism to further inclusion
and also addresses the concerns expressed by the English Inspectorate (Ofsted,2008) in relation to
teacher preparedness in relation to special educational needs and inclusion. An interlinked quality
assured evidence base can provide multiple exemplars of teaching and learning that can be
discussed, applied and evaluated thus increasing the professional capability of teachers. It would
appear that the TTRB could have a key role to play in facilitating this from the outset of a teacher’s
career, and, in this respect, the following conclusion from the Leeds report has particular resonance:
“Given the quality of the site in terms of content and presentation, its value to tutors and trainees
and how highly it is rated, it deserves to be exploited by the widest possible constituency of users”
Potential Outcomes
The TTRB may be viewed as one example of a number of knowledge portals for evidence in education that can
be seen to have potential across Europe and beyond. The key building blocks involved in the construction an
evidence portal include generic and substantive inclusion criteria, classification systems linked to browse and
7. search structures, quality assurance and moderation procedures, risk management alongside dissemination
and valorisation strategies .
Premature Death or Death by Natural Causes?
In the build-up to the UK general election of 2010 it appeared that the government agency became
more nervous about and less confident with the degree of autonomy that the project content team
had. There was an atmosphere of ‘risk avoidance’ in terms of the criticality of the reviews. At the
same time the project was due for renewal and, although, the project team had received written
and oral assurances of an extension to the project no new contract letter arrived and this had an
impact upon staffing. Short term projects have unstable staffing and this can compromise the quality
in terms of efficiency and content and is a well-known threat to projects near the end of their life.
The project was eventually instructed to stop publishing resources Before this a number of
‘sensitive’ items had been requested to be removed by the Government Agency as they were said to
be a contradiction to the then government policy. This dramatically signalled a change in perception
of the resource. The site was eventually archived by the incoming government into the national
archives along with numerous other old Government websites.
The National Archives is much akin to where the dead are alleged to dwell – a place of highly
prescribed and limited functionality and minimal contact possible with the world of the living.
Practically, searching was not possible and the browse only displayed the most recent ten items of
any category.
OER (Open Educational Resources)
Over the course of the TTRB project, Open Educational Resource principles and technologies have
developed. The tensions of being a consortium of government agencies, a commercial software
company and two universities meant that there was not an agreed commitment to OER resources at
the time. This may have been, in part, because a commercial company has to protect its assets in a
competitive market and that the UK government was just beginning to developing its response to
demands for more open information and data. Also, OER technologies were not widely available
and were not being championed by academics or governments.
In addition, during the project government officials had been a number of high profile losses of
sensitive information via laptops and USB drives being left on trains and we felt able to tease our
government colleagues with the suggestion that this might also be additional dissemination strategy
for the project. In retrospect it might not have been not too silly a suggestion.
Preparing the Will and Testament
Legacy and inheritance were considered during each of the project bidding rounds and the
requirements were met by an undertaking to make the reviews available as xml data when the
project was ended or succeeded. This did not allow for the archiving of the user interface, in other
words the scripts that gave the resource coherence as these were deemed to be owned by the
8. software developers. At the start of each phase of the project, open source options were explored
by the commissioning government team but these were discounted as the software company’s
experience and preference was for proprietary tools that they could take on to other projects as one
would expect.
Any pre-agreed archiving strategy came to nought when the coalition government came into being.
Their aim was to remove the plethora of new labour websites and to ensure that what was left was
‘on message’ or clearly marked as being ‘not necessarily part of current government policy’. This
‘clearing of the decks’ may be understandable for a new government and happens in the US and
other countries but the TTRB site had been developed collaboratively at ‘arms length’ from
government so that the reviews on the site rather than potentially not reflecting the new coalition
government policy might never have reflected New Labour government policy either .
The process of moving the TTRB into the national archives has been seen in some quarters as an ‘act
of vandalism’ in that the materials became highly unusable when they were stripped of the
functionality .Lacking the ability to search even with Google or to browse beyond the first 10 items
makes much of the archive inaccessible. The resource was not just a government investment but
one that was built upon the good will of individual teacher educators as well as their institutions and
representative organisations. Originally the site was not branded as a government agency site in
order to ensure some level of independence and distance from government policy. This was
something that all partners worked hard for during the project but this became impossible at the
end.
To protect the integrity of the resource an extensive quality assurance process was put in place as
described above. However, this counted for nothing because the site was ultimately ‘owned’ by the
state and the state had the right to dispose of the site’s resource as it saw fit. This might beg
questions of how a functioning democracy should work best.. An open government licence was
applied to the material that allows any British company or organisation to make use of the resources
in profit and non-profit ventures.
Findability
Categorisation systems are central to aiding the accessibility and re-purposing of material on a
repository. The British Education Thesaurus (BET) was a key resource developed over more than two
decades to map educational research and knowledge in the UK (The British Education Index). In
addition, a number of schemas were employed on the TTRB that covered New Labour Policy terms
in relation to education and the methodology of teacher education. The BET consisted of over 8000
terms and initially the software link to this thesaurus hindered their application to the reviews. In
addition, their utility was not made explicit to the users
Mapping the transient policy terms to enduring BEI terms might have future proofed the resources
to some degree. Making this mapping transparent would have also been a useful professional
development resource for users. As the project developed, the academics did learn to listen more to
the librarians on the project team but the allocation of resources to the project may have also
inhibited the development of transparent classification as the annual project enhancement had an
emphasis on content development and ‘make overs’ of the front end employing the design strengths
9. of the software company rather than enhancing the content management system and its interface.
The attractiveness and usability were seen to be important in the valorisation of the resource.
Future Proof the Classification System
In revising the classification system for a new project, it was clear that the emphasis had been on
policy terms and this was purposely so because it aided the accessibility and apparent relevance of
the browse system to English users but it also made the browse system parochial and at risk to the
future. This is especially the case in relation to the browse by Qualified Teacher Standards. These
had to be changed during the project by a mixture of scripting and manual intervention where there
were grey areas of interpretation. A mapping of the standards onto the enduring categories of the
BEI would have meant that changes to standards could have been dealt with by creating new
clusters of BEI terms.
Use Feed Technology to get the Resource to Those Who Might Need It
This relates to the quality of classification systems as the range of available RSS (Really Simple
Syndication) feeds is dependent upon the categories available to link an RSS feed to.RSS and
associated technologies provide a means of sharing content across the web. The content of the TTRB
RSS feeds were limited to a title plus summary and link for each article. This format of feed supplied
a list of events, news articles and a list of ‘everything’. This limited the potential of these resources
to be integrated into specialist blogs, virtual learning environments for courses and subject
association sites. Not having feeds for reviewers meant that these articles were not available for use
in staff / course team profiles.
This lack of granualisation through RSS technologies meant also that the OER repositories such as
Jorum would also have to retrospectively process the material or just allocate the material to a small
number of categories leading to inefficient access to the sources. Restricting the content in the RSS
feeds themselves also meant that the resource could not easily be rebuilt and repurposed from the
archives.
In Conclusion
In retrospect the dissemination of evidence informed resources into the public domain should occur
as soon as a project begins. Clarifying the ownership of the materials through perhaps an
independent foundation or through an existing non-government organisation with a suitable open
licence may aid their sustainability. Perceiving the project as channel and a branded source with an
established or claimed provenance may be a strong strategy with the potential for materials to take
on a life of their own as they are incorporated into communities, Virtual Learning Environments and
collections. They might also be repurposed and refreshed for new audiences and uses.
10. References
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Cordingley, P., Bell, M., Rundell, B. & Evans, D. (2003) The impact of collaborative CPD onclassroom teaching
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Ofsted (2008) How well new teachers are prepared to teach pupils with learning difficulties and/or
disabilities?
London Ofsted
New Website:
www.ttrb3.ac.uk