ACRL libraries and student success report

A new report issued by the Association of College and Research Libraries shows compelling evidence for library contributions to student learning and success. The report focuses on dozens of projects conducted as part of the program Assessment in Action: Academic Libraries and Student Success (AiA) by teams that participated in the second year of the program, from April 2014 to June 2015. Synthesizing more than 60 individual project reports  and using past findings from projects completed during the first year of the AiA program as context, the report identifies strong evidence of the positive contributions of academic libraries to student learning and success in four key areas: Students benefit from library instruction in their initial coursework. Library use increases student success. Collaborative academic programs and services involving the library enhance student learning. Information literacy instruction strengthens general education outcomes. Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). (2016). Documented Library Contributions to Student Learning and Success: Building Evidence with Team-Based Assessment in Action Campus Projects, Chicago, IL: American Library Association.

Survey about choosing digital media for courses

Choosing digital media for courses

Using digital media in courses can help improve student learning, according to 91% of college faculty who responded to a new VideoBlocks survey. However, only a fifth of professors use institutional resources, with most preferring to use outside sources, including 31% who said they turned to copyright-free online services for content.

"The 2016 State of Digital Media in Higher Education Report" is available with registration on the VideoBlocks education site.

Abstract: Six case histories of second language acquirers were examined to attempt to determine what factors play a role in developing a long-term pleasure reading habit in a second language (English). The cases provided support for several hypotheses: Long-term readers are first stimulated to read through a pleasant reading experience, they have access to books and time and a place (or places) to read, they select their own reading material, feel free to stay with certain authors and genres if they want to, and do not profit from tests, workbook exercises and incentives. If these hypotheses are confirmed in future studies, we can conclude that school does not provide the conditions that help develop long-term pleasure reading.

Cho, K.S. and Krashen, S. 2015. What does it take to develop a long-term pleasure reading habit? Turkish Online Journal of English Language Teaching.  1(1): 1-9.http://www.tojelt.com

Media use and attitudes report

This report examines children's media literacy. It provides detailed evidence on media use, attitudes and understanding among children and young people aged 5-15, as well as detailed information about the media access and use of young children aged 3-4. Researchers found that only a third of young people aged 12 to 15 knew which search results on Google were ads, while this figure was even lower — less than one in five — for children aged 8 to 11. Other tests showed that 19% of 12- to 15-year-olds  believed that if a search engine listed particular information then it must be true, while  46% of children could say for sure that Google itself was funded by ads.
Children and parents: Media use and attitudes report. (2015). London:  Ofcom. 
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/other/research-publications/childrens/children-parents-nov-15/

School Libraries Work! study

The 2016 edition of Scholastic's School Libraries Work! summarizes major recent research about the impact of school libraries in the U.S.

School Libraries Work!: A compendium of research supporting the effectiveness of school libraries. (2016). New York: Scholastic.  http://www.scholastic.com/SLW2016/

Independent reading and English improvement research

An analysis done by Nation (2014) leads to the conclusion that readers in English as a foreign language can gain about one-half a point on the TOEIC test for every hour of independent English reading. A statistical analysis of progress made by seven adult acquirers of English living in Japan was performed to confirm this conclusion: All were intermediates, but there was considerable variation, with TOEIC scores ranging from 220 to 705. All engaged in self-selected reading,  and took pre and post TOEIC tests. Hours spent reading was shown to be an excellent predictor of gains on the TOEIC, and the rate of improvement was shown to be nearly exactly the same as that reported by Nation.
Krashen, S., & Mason, B. (2015). Can Second Language Acquirers Reach High Levels of Proficiency Through Self Selected Reading? An Attempt to Confirm Nation's (2014) Results. International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching 10 (2): 10-19.
Available at: ijflt.com  OR http://sdkrashen.com/articles.php?cat=2

New OECD Report Slams Computers - and Actually Says Why They Can Hurt Learning

Are there computers in the classroom? Does it matter? Students, Computers and Learning: Making the Connection examines how students’ access to and use of information and communication technology (ICT) devices has evolved in recent years, and explores how education systems and schools are integrating ICT into students’ learning experiences. Based on results from PISA 2012, the report discusses differences in access to and use of ICT – what are collectively known as the “digital divide” – that are related to students’ socio-economic status, gender, geographic location, and the school a child attends. The report highlights the importance of bolstering students’ ability to navigate through digital texts. It also examines the relationship among computer access in schools, computer use in classrooms, and performance in the PISA assessment. As the report makes clear, all students first need to be equipped with basic literacy and numeracy skills so that they can participate fully in the hyper-connected, digitised societies of the 21st century.

OECD (2015), Students, Computers and Learning: Making the Connection, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264239555-en