There exists a consensus on the importance of teacher professional development. This chapter provides a knowledge base for environments, describes the benefits, best practices, and sources for quality online professional development. The attributes associated with online professional development can be examined within the framework of web conferencing, web cast, and online teaching and learning. An annotated bibliography and extensive glossary related to online professional development are included in this chapter. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-1963-0.ch010

Definition and History of Online Professional Development

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to examine the challenges of collection analysis and development in response to a new academic interdisciplinary program in East Asian Studies at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York. Design/methodology/approach – First, the authors examined the needs of a new East Asian Studies program and its interdisciplinary nature. Next, an automated collection development tool was chosen that provides a snapshot of current monograph holdings and a comparison with other equivalent institutions. Lastly, the authors conduct an analysis of citations in key Asian Studies journals, library holdings in relevant top electronic resources and core journal subscriptions. For future collection building, vendor tools and patron-drive acquisitions are explored. Findings – Traditional methods of collection development can prove inadequate. A variety of tools and methods need to be used to guarantee adequate results. Originality/value – This paper builds on prior researc...

Evaluating and planning for interdisciplinary collection development: a case of an East Asian collection at the College of Staten Island Library

This paper aims to investigate upper-undergraduate and graduate students’ perceptions of interdisciplinarity in relation to their information-seeking habits by analyzing their beliefs, rationalizations and preferences around the retrieval, evaluation and use of information sources for interdisciplinary research.,This study made use of focus group interviews with 18 student participants enrolled in different academic programs in the humanities and social sciences at a research university in Toronto. Transcript data were analyzed through use of the constant comparison method.,Students perceive the classification of library collections as both helpful and problematic in their pursuits of interdisciplinary work. Students believe that knowing how to identify appropriate terminology while navigating scholarly and non-scholarly environments is crucial to their success in interdisciplinary research. Librarians can adjust their service philosophies and research tools to better anticipate the needs of students engaged in interdisciplinary research.,This paper adds to the literature by providing library practitioners and other interested parties with a unique view of how undergraduate and graduate students contextualize their information needs when undertaking interdisciplinary research work.

Seeing through the network: A focus on interdisciplinary student research and information discovery

Many students and faculty in online programs communicate concerns about limited faculty and student interaction and increased feelings of isolation. With recent improvements in availability and costs, Web conferencing has become easily accessible, reliable, and economically viable for academic institutions and students. However, there is little in the nursing literature on how to train faculty and students in its use or how best to use the technology for Key Points •Effective training of faculty and students in the use of Web conferencing •Web conferencing protocol and etiquette •Student-centered collaborative learning and tutoring through Web conferencing instructional purposes. The purpose of this article was to describe effective training and instructional strategies in the use of Web conferencing for nursing programs. In developing a training program, one must consider the environment for the training to take place, the number of participants to include in a training session, and the essential content to be covered. Through the use of appropriate instructional strategies, Web conferencing can be an excellent medium for community building, student-centered collaborative learning, and student tutoring. In the past, asynchronous learning, or sharing information outside the constraints of time and place, has dominated many online nursing programs. Students are attracted to these programs primarily because of the convenience they allow in continuing their education within flexible time frames while balancing work and home responsibilities. The hours and expense of commuting to campus are eliminated. However, many students communicate concerns about limited faculty and student interaction and increased feelings of isolation in online programs. Faculty also expresses dissatisfaction with the lack of faceto-face interaction with their students in the online environment and the challenge of maintaining effective communication and engagement with the learners. We recently addressed these concerns through the addition of Web conferencing software to online and blended programs. With improvements in availability and costs, Web conferencing has become easily accessible, reliable, and economically viable for academic institutions and students. Web conferencing users are able to draw on the Internet to connect via voice, video, and with a common workspace to share and generate information.

Training and instructional strategies for the use of web conferencing in nursing education

This paper sets out to identify the ways in which academic libraries can further interdisciplinary scholarship on campus. The medical humanities is presented as an example to interrogate the current practices in academic libraries and to inform future efforts in support of interdisciplinarity. Text mining was employed to illuminate trends in this interdisciplinary field using program descriptions from universities with “very high research activity” as a data set for analysis. Based on these data, this article proposes best practices and opportunities for engagement in the medical humanities that may be applicable to other interdisciplinary fields served by research libraries.

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The Interdisciplinary Academic Library: A Medical Humanities Case Study.

Web conferencing software can be a useful tool for training sessions or other kinds of information sharing across distances. Background information on why participants in the University of California system Cooperative Online Serials (CONSER) Funnel use Web conferencing software is shared. Results of an informal survey and information gleaned from session audience on the topic of Web conferencing software are also discussed.

Like a Haven in the Shifting Economic Sands: Making the Most of Web Conferencing Tools

The creation of new degrees at an academic institution often requires additional library resources to provide adequate support. Identifying the needed library materials can be especially difficult for interdisciplinary programs. The process of serials analysis undertaken for new interdisciplinary degrees at the University of Texas at Dallas was explained in this session. The presenter also discussed results and the need for ongoing analysis of serials collections used for academic programs.

Jennifer J. Leffler Recorder

Papers

Like a Haven in the Shifting Economic Sands: Making the Most of Web Conferencing Tools

Preparing for New Degree Plans: Finding the Essential Journal Titles in an Interdisciplinary World