Evaluating a Capstone Course: Graduate Student Efficacy and Instructional Strategies to Accommodate Them

A Review of: Canuel, R., Hervieux, S., Bergsten, V., Brault, A., & Burke, R. (2019). Developing and assessing a graduate student reference service. Reference Services Review, 47(4), 527–543. https://doi.org/10.1108/RSR-06-2019-0041 Abstract Objective – To evaluate the effectiveness of a reference training program for graduate student employees that seeks to encourage use of reference interview and instruction techniques in virtual and in-person reference interactions. Design – Naturalistic observation with qualitative content analysis. Setting – A large, public research university in Montreal, Canada. Subjects – Three graduate students in Library and Information Science employed by the university library to provide virtual and in-person reference services. Methods – After completing a training program, the three participants provided virtual and in-person reference training for two consecutive semesters. They self-recorded their desk interactions in a Google form. These self-reports, along with their online chat transcripts from QuestionPoint, were the subject of this study’s analysis. Focusing on the QuestionPoint data, the authors coded the transcripts from these participants’ online reference interactions to reflect the presence or absence of a reference interview and various instructional techniques in their responses to patrons. Also, all in-person and virtual questions were examined and categorized as being either transactional or reference questions. Reference questions were further categorized as basic, intermediate, or advanced questions. Main Results – Of the chat transcripts analyzed, 49% were classified as containing reference questions rather than transactional questions. At the desk, 21.9% of interactions were coded as reference questions. Taking the two semesters together, 232 of 282 virtual reference questions were considered basic, while 41 were labelled intermediate, and 9 classified as advanced. Similarly, of 136 desk reference questions, 120 were classified as basic, 14 as intermediate, and 2 as advanced. In their coding of chat transcripts, researchers indicated whether the interaction contained no reference interview, a partial reference interview, or a complete reference interview. Virtual chat transcripts from both fall and winter semesters showed that no reference interview took place in 77.3% of interactions. Authors noted evidence of partial reference interviews in 19.3% of fall transcripts and 21.5% of winter transcripts. Complete reference interviews took place in 3.4% of fall and 1.2% of winter transcripts. Additionally, authors found that 65.5% of chat transcripts contained elements of instruction, with Modelling and Resource Suggestion being the most prevalent forms. Conclusion – Because the graduate students used complete or partial reference interviews in a small number of their virtual reference questions, the authors of this study determined that more emphasis ought to be placed on reference interviews, particularly virtual reference interactions, in future training programs. Graduate students employed instructional strategies in observed virtual reference interactions, a promising trend.

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Observer Agreement on Disfluency and Stuttering

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jshr.2404.595 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 24 (4) ◽

pp. 595-600 ◽

Cited By ~ 49

Author(s):

Richard F. Curlee

Keyword(s):

Graduate Student ◽

Adult Male ◽

Observer Agreement

Groups of undergraduate and graduate stndent listeners identified the stutterings and disfluencies of eight adult male stutterers during videotaped samples of their reading and speaking. Stuttering and disfluency loci were assigned to words or to intervals between words. The data indicated that stuttering and disfluency are not two reliable and unambiguous response classes and are not usually assigned to different, nonoverlapping behaviors. Furthermore, judgments of stuttering and disfluency were distributed similarly across words and intervals. For both undergraduate and graduate student listeners, there was relatively low unit-by-unit agreement among listeners and within the same listeners from one judgment session to another.

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Student's Say: ‘What If My Clients End Up With a Chinese Accent?'

ASHA Leader ◽

10.1044/leader.ssay.18032013.64 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 18 (3) ◽

pp. 64-65

Author(s):

King Kwok

Keyword(s):

Graduate Student ◽

English Language Learner ◽

English Language ◽

Language Learner

A graduate student who is an English-language learner devises strategies to meet the challenges of providing speech-language treatment.

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Federal Graduate Student Loans to Cost More

ASHA Leader ◽

10.1044/leader.pa3.16112011.19 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 16 (11) ◽

pp. 19-19

Author(s):

Neil Snyder

Keyword(s):

Graduate Student ◽

Student Loans

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The Graduate Dysphagia Course: Opening the Door to New Frontiers

Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups ◽

10.1044/persp1.sig13.104 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 1 (13) ◽

pp. 104-112

Author(s):

Karen A. Ball ◽

Luis F. Riquelme

Keyword(s):

Graduate Student ◽

Paradigm Shifts ◽

Speech Language Pathology ◽

Approaches To Teaching ◽

Graduate Level ◽

Graduate Curriculum ◽

Current Trends ◽

Language Pathology

A graduate-level course in dysphagia is an integral part of the graduate curriculum in speech-language pathology. There are many challenges to meeting the needs of current graduate student clinicians, thus requiring the instructor to explore alternatives. These challenges, suggested paradigm shifts, and potential available solutions are explored. Current trends, lack of evidence for current methods, and the variety of approaches to teaching the dysphagia course are presented.

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