Journal articles on the topic 'Archives Administration Study and teaching (Higher) Standards'

The article considers the problem of developing cultural competence of future primary school teachers during professional retraining (language teaching-learning). This problem is stated in the Federal State Educational Standards of Higher Professional Education. The author emphasizes that organizing work to develop cultural competence is a relevant pedagogical concern. Competency-based approach is a high-priority task. Its implementation is mandatory within the framework of new Federal State Educational Standards of Higher Professional Education that determine the training objectives in the form of competencies which are necessary for modern teachers in their professional activities. To address the problem the author suggests using historical documents and archives as additional methodological tools during the compulsory courses study (“Theoretical Bases and Technologies of Primary Language Education”, “Theoretical Bases of Primary Literary Education”) of the 44.03.01. Pedagogical Education (Primary Education) curriculum. According to the author, mastering linguistic disciplines will be successful, if there are vivid examples from regional texts illustrating how a language unit functions and evolves. As a result, it will lead to the developing cultural competence of future primary school teachers.

This study aimed to clarify the importance of having national standards and their role in achieving quality, as well as establishing a framework for the actual application of national standards in quality assurance so as to achieve quality in higher education institutions. The researchers followed a descriptive analytical method to achieve the objectives of the study and developed a questionnaire covering primary and secondary variables that have a role in the design of specific models to help in applying the national standards by the Sudanese universities. The questionnaire included one dependent variable; the effective application of national standards of quality assurance in higher education institutions, and the four main variables (independent) are: the national standards of quality assurance in higher education in Sudan, the standard of quality assurance, the standard of teaching and learning and the standard of scientific research and publication. The study revealed a number of conclusions: there were statistically significant differences in the extent of familiarity with the national quality assurance standards in Sudan according to the academic rank of the faculty members; there were also significant differences in the extent of compliance with the national quality assurance standards in Sudan according to the academic rank of the faculty members; there was full agreement between the national standards for quality assurance in Sudan and the international standards for quality assurance; and there were statistically significant differences in that the absence of specific models would have a negative impact on effective application of national standards of quality assurance in higher education in Sudan, according to the academic rank of the faculty members. Keywords: Quality, The program, Standards, University, Total quality management.

This study is an attempt to determine the implementation level of quality standards in graduate programs at the college of Education, IAU in the light of the National Center for Academic Accreditation and Evaluation standards from the viewpoints of students. Data were collected from a randomly selected sample of 86 graduate students. To achieve the study goals, respondents were requested to answer a five-point scale questionnaire comprised of 69 items related to eight quality standards. The result shows an average degree of overall implementation. At the standards level, findings revealed a higher average for implementing quality standards related to teaching staff and quality learning. On the other hand, lower averages of implementation were found for the quality standards of Scientific Research and Projects, Students, Learning Resources, Facilities and Equipment, Curricula, Mission and Goals, and Graduate Qualities and Learning Outcomes. A statistically significant difference (P< 0.05) was found between males and females on the teaching staff standard favoring female students and non-significant differences were found on the implementation of quality standards according to their graduate specialization. The study concluded with recommendations directed for decision makers and higher administration to monitor the implementation of quality assurance within graduate programs.

The present article explores the problems of personnel policy in the higher education system concerning the incentive role of remuneration and career development opportunities. At present, due to several major socio-economic changes, a transformation of labor relations in the system of higher education is taking place. As a result, new approaches to both the management of educational institutions and the selection of university faculty and the remuneration and career development of teachers are required. The goal of the study is to analyze individual modern trends in the development of incentive methods in higher education as a feature of personnel policy. The article demonstrates that as a consequence of the economic transformations, changes requiring an increase in the quality of graduates are occurring in university management which inevitably influences the expansion of the professional requirements for teaching staff. It is established that in modern conditions, external control is replaced by internal one, academic freedoms are displaced by the administration, and academic standards are modified and replaced by formal rules. This process is accompanied by considerable changes in the university personnel policy and the relationships between the administration and teachers. Various examples of human resources policy organizations adopted in different countries are studied. The features of labor contracts with teachers, the conditions of their work, and career opportunities are investigated. Special attention is paid to various approaches to stimulating teaching activity. The shortcomings that do not allow achieving a higher quality of higher education in Russia are identified. Proposals for improving personnel policy in higher education aimed at improving its quality are presented.

The purpose of the study is to examine the legal framework governing online learning in higher education in Kosovo and harmonization with accreditation standards, professional licensing bodies, and copyrights laws (Frydenberg, 2002; Davis, Dowd, Poulin, & Silverman, 2020) and evaluate the transformation process from in-campus classes to online classes from the technical perspective within five higher education institutions (HEI) in Kosovo such as faculty support, redesign of learning outcomes, and assessment strategies (Martin, Polly, Jokiaho, & May, 2017; Coates & Lennon, 2014; Johnson, Veletsianos, & Seaman, 2020). The present study uses qualitative research methodology. The qualitative research method analyzes laws, standards, and other by-laws in Kosovo to examine the legal clauses governing the delivery of online teaching in Kosovo. The study analyzes the Kosovo Law on Higher Education, Accreditation Directive, accreditation manual and standards, and strategic documents of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of Kosovo. Further, the present study uses discussions and interviews with the homogenous purposive sample of stakeholders within five HEIs in Kosovo. The present study finds that the actual legal framework in Kosovo lacks clarity and standardization and offers liberty for self-governance and independence to universities to decide on online education. Also, results show that Kosovo universities are at the outset of transformative processes towards online education such as faculty support, the adaption of didactics, course redesign, and the adaptation of assessment policy. So, the present study paves the way for better regulation of online learning within the Law on Higher Education and various administrative directives governing the accreditation of HEI and their study programs and modes of delivery. The present paper represents the first qualitative study of legal and institutional governance of online learning in Kosovo.

Objective. The paper examined the information digital technologies effectiveness in the PR-management specialists training for public administration bodies on the blended learning model. The research methodology is based on a mixed-methods approach and a combination of qualitative and quantitative design to fully cover the use of digital technology in the training of professionals under martial law. Results. It has been demonstrated that through a combination of different digital technologies in the higher education institutions of Ukraine, depending on the stage of training and type of lesson, a flexible inclusive approach was used, making provision for the creation of common standards for teaching through digital technology. Innovative digital technologies were used depending on the stage of the educational process (communication and interaction; conducting lectures and seminars; transferring learning materials and exchanging them; digital content development; knowledge evaluation and academic performance rating). As the higher education institutions of Ukraine significantly improved the asynchronous learning models, the preparation level of both educators and students for the complete transition to asynchronous learning given the war was markedly higher. It is deemed that the flexible self-study model during the war ensures the general competencies development, however students have not mastered a sufficient level of professional practical competencies.

The study aimed to identify the level of applying total quality standards in the graduate studies at the Palestinian universities from the students' perspective. The researcher used the descriptive analytical method to achieve the objectives. A questionnaire, consisting of (33) items divided into (3) themes, was developed and distributed to the sample of the study which was (129) male and female students, approximately constituting (15%) of the study population (860 members). To collect the data, the questionnaire was distributed to the sample, data was analyzed and the following results were obtained. The overall degree of applying the total quality standards in higher studies from the perspective of students was on average with a proportional weight of (62.83%). The theme related to the teaching staff scored the first rank while the theme related to the university administration scored the last rank. In addition, there were no statistically significant differences between the means of the study sample members regarding the degree of applying total quality standards in the graduate studies at the universities that were attributed to the variables of gender, university, and the academic level. Finally, the study proposed major recommendations the first of which was that more efforts should be exerted in order to improve the application of total quality standards in the postgraduate studies at Palestinian universities, and to continuously develop human resources as well. The second recommendation was that there should be a revision of future visions of Palestinian universities according to the total quality management standards, with wide participation of the university staff to ensure compliance with the total quality standards. The last major recommendation suggested by the study was to consider the university inputs to ensure that the outputs are in line with the quality standards. This can be achieved through persistent and continuous efforts on the application of total quality standards during the processing phase Keywords: Total quality standards, Graduate, Palestinian universities.

Introduction. This article describes how universities are fulfilling their training assignments. Its relevance is determined by the growing need of teachers to correlate the learning results of specialists-to-be with learning assignments. The aim of the article is to describe a method for assessing the learning management system of higher education institutions by analysing learning outcomes and graduates’ turn-out. Materials and Methods. The study relies on the collection and analysis of the results of specialists’ training between 2015 and 2019. The joint use of the obtained data and methods of normative forecasting and interpolation allowed the authors to calculate and measure the intermediate results relative to the final ones, to build educational trajectories, which made it possible to evaluate the learning management system by dealing with training results and graduates turn-out. Results. For the first time the authors of the article showed that the measured results demonstrated not only the scope of specialists’ training and graduation, but they evaluated management of the educational process and developed necessary management decisions to regulate standards and measures for specialists’ training and graduation according to the specified final results. Discussion and Conclusion. The conclusions contribute to the development of the concept of learning management systems, provided that there are specified final results of the specialists’ graduation. Findings are of interest to the scientific and pedagogical community, professors, teaching staff and leadership of educational institutions.

Context: The responsibilities of new faculty members can be stressful because of the expectations of research, teaching, service, and for some, administration. The strain from transition and role complexity can impact faculty members' perceptions of the experience and therefore professional development. Objective: To understand how individual characteristics and behaviors influenced development of new faculty during their transition from doctoral students to faculty members. Design: Qualitative phenomenology study. Setting: Higher education institutions with Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education-accredited athletic training programs. Patients or Other Participants: Sixteen junior faculty (7 males, 9 females, age = 32 ± 3.5 years) representing 7 National Athletic Trainers' Association districts and 14 different higher education institutions participated. Main Outcome Measure(s): A semistructured telephone interview protocol was used to examine the experiences of junior faculty within their first 3 years of a faculty role. Interviews were coded inductively using a psychosocial developmental interpretive lens. Credibility was established with saturation of the findings and researcher triangulation. Results: The data revealed 3 individual behavioral characteristics positively influenced the development of junior faculty through transition: (1) adaptive perfectionism, (2) competence gained through experience, and (3) the use of a mentor network. Our participants adapted personal expectations in light of outcomes that differed from personal standards; gained competence by seeking experience before, during, and after their doctoral studies; and used a mentor network to ease transition. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that individuals who are able to reflect on their performance and self-adjust personal standards and/or behaviors have a positive perception related to their ability to be successful during transition. Competence gained through experience apart from doctoral assistantships appears to facilitate the transition into higher education. Also, the creation and maintenance of a mentor network that provides a variety of support from multiple sources appears to improve transition by providing comradery, security, and help.

If higher education was already restricted and off-limits to women until the 20th century, their access to teaching and obtaining academic positions at these levels was even more difficult and complex. The aim of this paper is to describe a paradigmatic case of this problem: the life of Rosario Fuentes, who achieved the highest score in a public exam to become French professor and who became the first secondary school professor at the Zorrilla high school in Valladolid. Fuentes alsohad a relevant career as a translator, with contributions to texts on education, philosophy and psychology. This study highlights her role as a researcher associated with the Junta para la Ampliación de Estudios (Board for Advanced Studies) and as a writer of French textbooks. She also took part in the organization of language teachers as well as teaching in different Teacher Training Schools. Her career suffered as a result of the purging process which Franco’s dictatorship carried out on teachers, a process that was especially arbitrary against women due to the fact that their own actions and thoughts were often considered less relevant than those of their partners or relatives.. This paper, which examines many of these aspects of her life, relies on documentation and unpublished images from different archives such as those of the administration and the family, as well as previous works that analyse the issue of women teachers in Secondary Education.

The present article is focused on a general analysis of labor relations in a modern university, as well as on the study of some specific characteristics of these relations. In recent decades, economic policy in higher education has changed significantly in different countries of the world. The goal of the study is to analyze modern approaches to regulating the labor status of a university teacher and its elements. The authors investigate the history of the transformations of higher education since the 1990s which resulted in higher education turning from the sphere of human capital production into an independent branch of the service sector. The article shows that, as a result of the higher education system reforms, changes in university management, the system of labor relations, and the socio-economic status of university teachers are taking place. Various university management models are explored. It is demonstrated that in the modern setting, internal control is replaced by external control, academic freedom is pushed aside by administration, and academic standards are modified and replaced by formal rules. These reforms are accompanied by major changes in labor relations and the role of management and teaching staff in universities. Various examples of the construction of labor relations with teachers adopted in different countries are studied. Close attention is paid to approaches to stimulating teaching activities. In the light of the current difficult situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the problems of labor relations aggravated with the transition to distance and blended learning are considered. The drawbacks preventing a higher quality of higher education in Russia are identified. Proposals for improving the regulation of labor relations in the field of higher education aimed at improving its quality are presented.

B.Ed (Honors) program initiated with the recommendations of the National Curriculum Revision Committee (NCRC) and Higher Education Commission (HEC) in Pakistan. Government of Pakistan (GOP) ensures to expose a deep interest in creating severe modifications to confiscate entirely differences in the transnational standards. The present study was designed to assess the effectiveness of B.Ed (Honors) program being offered in private and public sector universities in Pakistan. Faculty teachers and alumni were selected as sample of the study. For data collection, questionnaire containing 45 statements with four factors and focus group discussion were used. SPSS version 23 was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics indicated that the respondents were satisfied about the teachers’ content knowledge, effectiveness of teaching methodologies, practices of behavior changes and timely feedbacks. Respondents were less satisfied with the statements related to admission criteria, appropriateness of content, supportive environment for learning and teaching practices, assessment system and availability of physical resources. Inferential statistics showed that significant difference in mean scores of respondents from private and public sectors universities on the factors of program objectives, content of program, assessment procedure and accessibility of physical facilities. It is suggested in the light of findings that administration of universities should allocate more budget for improving the quality of this program, content should revised, selection criteria should appropriate, availability and proper use of technology and proficiency of English.

Objectives: For decades, the role of hospital pharmacists has been instrumental in elevating pharmacy practice worldwide. Recently, the Hospital Pharmacy Section of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP), and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) updated their statements about the future role and responsibilities of the pharmacy executive in hospitals and health systems. A series of surveys were conducted around the globe to better understand the current state of hospital pharmacy practice. The purpose of these surveys was to identify challenges in hospital pharmacy practice and to develop improvement strategies. The objective of this national survey is to evaluate hospital pharmacy practice in Lebanon. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was performed among pharmacists working in hospital settings in Lebanon, from January through June 2016. Based on a literature review, a questionnaire to elicit Lebanese hospital pharmacists’ practice was developed. Results: The results showed a nonsignificant difference between university teaching and nonuniversity teaching hospitals in the processes of drug procurement, preparation, dispensing, and drug administration. However, statistically significant differences were observed between university teaching and nonuniversity teaching hospitals with respect to having clinical pharmacists ( P < .001) and highly qualified personnel ( P < .005). Pharmacy services in teaching hospitals seemed to be more advanced cooperating with affiliated medical schools. Furthermore, teaching hospitals were more likely to have pharmacists providing information about the safety of the medications used ( P = .029). Although not statistically significant, there was a higher trend toward having a designated champion for medication safety ( P = .052). Conclusion: The results of our survey showed that teaching hospitals were more compliant with the International Statements of Hospital Pharmacy Practice compared with nonteaching hospitals. There is room for improvement especially if the application of the accreditation standards for safe hospital pharmacy practice becomes mandatory for all hospitals, which is expected to standardize pharmacy practice and secure both medication and patient safety.

The introduction to the article describes the situation that has developed in the system of higher education in Russia after Perestroika and has led to an unambiguous predominance of administration over professionally significant employees.The objective of the article is to arrange a detailed analysis of the reasons for the inversely proportional relationship between the level of creativity and the level of bureaucratization that is emerging in modern conditions. As an example, such an aspect of bureaucratic activity as the development and implementation of standards, represented, in particular, by the work programs of disciplines (WPD) and work programs of practices (WPP), is taken.The main research methodology is a comparative and comparative historical analysis, which allows to identify the features of the activities for the creation of WPD and WPP, which is considered necessary to improve the level of methodological work and the corresponding improvement in the quality of teaching.The result of the study allows us to show that the organization of methodological work is built hierarchically, with methodologists at the upper levels, and all teachers, including professors, at the lower levels. The work of the making of educational programs has turned, on the one hand, into a separate discipline, and, on the other hand, into a process, completely autonomous from educational and scientific activities. It is necessary not for educational activities, but exclusively for passing confirmations from authorities (attestations). In addition, rigid and constantly changing requirements for standards (including changes of the standards themselves) are reinforced by additional requirements for the quality of teaching staff, which are growing according to the awareness of the ineffectiveness of previous measures. This practice is considered in the context of the global trend of transformation of universities from “universities of culture” to the “universities of excellence” (in Bill Readings’ terminology).The authors of the article come to conclusion that as a result of the ongoing educational policy, a situation arises not just of imitation of education, but of imitation of imitation. The heyday of the WPD-logy is an important modern indicator that the real trajectory of development of most universities in modern Russia actually demonstrates a sign ificant decline of the level teaching.

The pandemic has significantly adjusted global processes. The world will never be the same as it was before the pandemic. The COVID-19 challenge was met differently by countries as well as individual industries. The pandemic has emerged as a catalyst for some of the accumulated problems and shortcomings. Naturally, the changes also affected the educational field, which is one of the most sensitive sectors to economic and social change. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, many international organizations have conducted large-scale surveys to address issues related to educational management and learning. They interviewed heads of educational institutions, lecturers, students, parents, and other stakeholders. The purpose of the research was to assess the scale of change and to assist higher education institution in developing future strategies in the areas of management, internationalization, management of the learning process, and other key areas. Due to the situation around the world, the educational institutions of our country have been forced to move to the new levels of education. To create a legal basis for a new form of education in Georgia, the Law on Higher Education was amended, and the terms "remote" and "e-learning" were added. According to the explanations, teaching in both formats is necessary: ​​the distance between the student and the academic staff; As well as implementation of the learning process based on ICT. The new challenge posed many problems for educational institutions, especially for universities, including: to make significant changes to create a safe environment for health; To replace the traditional learning process with the online teaching method; To maintaining the appropriate quality standards and develop different approaches to achieve the outcomes set out in the educational programs; There was a need for training and technical support for students, academic and visiting staff for professional development in digital technology; To solve problems with appropriate technical equipment and limited internet; Universities had purchased appropriate software (Microsoft teams, zoom, etc.) for successful teaching process; It became necessary to digitize the relevant literature and materials of the learning courses, to create or improve text-books, audio or video recording. Solving these problems required promptness from the universities in the management process. Higher education institutions in Georgia, including Akaki Tsereteli State University, responded quickly, implemented measures aimed at reducing the spread of infection and creating the safe environment for learning, which meant a transition to a remote learning. To study students’ satisfaction with e-learning process we made a survey for the students of Akaki Tsereteli State University. 1505 students were participated in the survey, from different faculties. Online questionnaire was used as a research tool. As the research showed, most of the students were involved in the online learning process from the very first days. 95% of the participants were involved in remote learning no later than one month. It is noteworthy that most of the students before the pandemic had no experience of online learning and were not familiar with the relevant educational portals. A particular problem for most students was the unstable access to the Internet and the lack of appropriate equipment, also psychological unpreparedness, unusual forms of communication, and lack of computer skills were named. Despite all this, most of the students also saw positive features in remote learning: to attend lectures without missing a job, active and effective attendance at lectures, avoid interrupting the learning process, to re-watch the recording of the lecture etc. Most of the students believe that the university has effectively dealt with the existing challenges. In total, transition to e-learning process, university got 4.15 points (out of 5 points). One of the interesting trends can be that most of the students find it useful to use e-learning elements in the post-pandemic period too and believe that it was very useful experience, which facilitated the acquisition of additional new skills. The research revealed both positive and negative aspects during the remote learning period. The advantages of remote learning can be considered: savings on apartment rent and transportation; more free time for new interests; focus more on independent learning; acquisition/mastering of new experiences and skills; ability to attend a lecture from any location. The disadvantages of remote learning can be considered: the difficulty of observing students’ involvement in the lecture process; the duration of the lecture planning process and the digitization of the required resources; the lecture is as interesting as the lecturer is prepared and motivated; probability of occurrence of technical problems; riding on gadgets and computer devices, disturbing the balance of learning and personal life; possession of foreign language and computer skills. The fact is that the "accelerated" transition to the remote learning has brought educational institutions to a fundamentally new reality, and the gained experience requires significant analysis. As it seems, soon we will have to "digitize" most of the processes - from administration and management to teaching. Maintaining elements of remote and hybrid learning in the learning process will enable students to be actively involved in the learning process without missing a job, teachers can manage time more efficiently, and universities to save material and human resources. At the same time, the process of internationalization has been simplified. Without physical mobility, it is possible to take distance learning courses or programs at leading foreign universities, sharing experiences with less financial costs. Another important achievement is the increasing access to education, which is a stated priority in the modern world.

Purpose This study aims to examine North American master's programs in higher education administration, leadership and student affairs; the extent to which these programs incorporate diversity coursework; and their reasons for doing so. Graduate programs must prepare practitioners who are able to work effectively with multiple groups of students, ameliorate persistence and graduation gaps, and create more socially just campuses. Design/methodology/approach Using an open-ended questionnaire and document analysis, the authors analyzed the extent to which and why these master's programs incorporate courses and course material on diversity. Findings Exactly half of higher education leadership (50%) and a small majority of student affairs (52%) programs require some type of diversity course, while only 42% of higher education administration programs do so. Reported reasons for including such coursework include students' demand for such courses, the centrality of diversity to university missions and standards in the field. Research limitations/implications Research on faculty perceptions regarding the need for diversity courses with a focus on interest convergence may be productive. Practical implications Program directors should ensure that coursework on diversity is required, and that faculty teaching these courses are comfortable discussing these topics to prepare students to work with diverse groups in multiple contexts. Originality/value This study uses multiple methods (document analysis, open-ended questionnaire of program directors) to analyze programs and program design intentions. The authors use the critical race theory framework's tenet of interest convergence to understand program rationales.

Managing a business requires the knowledge of a broad range of disciplines so that a number of perspectives can be brought to bear on business problems and decision making. Management students learn the basics from a management course, which can be applied to business organizations of all kinds. Study of management subjects provides an understanding of the areas of knowledge that are fundamental to the administration and management of individual business and also to all other types of organizations. Modern society cannot achieve the aim of economic growth and higher cultural standards without making effective use of the talents of the citizens particularly well-trained managers.

The general purpose of this study is to understand (from the standpoint of Business Administration teachers in higher education) what is required to have lessons of good quality that provide students with an effective return in terms of learning. A qualitative research methodology was employed which was of an exploratory character and descriptive nature; this involved a bibliographical and documentary analysis, together with in-depth interviews, following the guidelines of a semi-structured study, with twelve teachers who came from both public and private institutions. After the study had been undertaken, it was found that what characterizes a good teacher is that he has have a good grounding in didactics and knowledge of the subject being taught. This involves practical work in the classroom with regard to the subject in question, and preferably based on his own professional experience. The teacher should also know how to make use of new technical resources so that classes can allow the students to take part in a more active way. However, it was also clear that a good class does not only depend on the teacher but also on the willingness of the students to learn and the availability of good teaching material. As well as this, it is essential for the academic staff to be supported by the teaching institutions in both the public and private sector.

PurposeThe use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has become a major driving force in transforming education worldwide. Similarly, in the last ten years, the usage of ICTs and e-learning in Pakistan has increased. Whereas the latest educational policy of the Government of Pakistan has focused on using ICTs and e-learning in schools and universities. The national professional standards for teachers have also suggested teachers to integrate ICTs in their classrooms and develop e-learning platforms for teaching and learning processes. However, in this study the effectiveness of information and communication and e-learning technologies integration in teaching and learning has been assessed. The context selected for this research study is a public university of Sindh, Pakistan. The research gap, which has been founded through the extensive literature review, indicated that most of the students are not able to utilize ICTs effectively. The first objective of this study is to enable students to gain wider range of knowledge and access Internet for developing a global outlook. Moreover, the second objective of this study is to develop students' capabilities of processing information more effectively and efficiently for teaching and learning.Design/methodology/approachBy nature, this study is quantitative survey-based research study. For this purpose, data has been collected from students and teachers of English, Computer Science and Business Administration departments of targeted university, survey questionnaires have been adopted as a data collection tool. Whereas the random sampling technique is used for the collection of data by using Morgan table of sample size. Additionally, data has been collected from 100 participants, 80 of them were students and 20 were teachers, and data has been analyzed by using SPSS 22.0 software.FindingsThe findings of this study have indicated the student's level of interest toward the integration of ICTs and e-learning in science and social science courses. Similarly, the findings specify that through ICT and e-learning materials, students can learn more effectively, which can also facilitate teachers for their teaching process in this modern era of technology. Whereas the issue that has been specified through the findings is that the teachers are not encouraged by the management of the university to implement the ICT in their teaching and learning due to their concerns on the limited resources and lack of competencies.Practical implicationsFor the practical implication, the findings of this study will facilitate the teachers and learners for integrating the ICTs and e-learning in their course curriculums and interactive teaching practices as per modern era of technology. Also, this study will help the provincial leader and policymakers by addressing the teachers’ concern to encourage the integration of ICT tools and develop capabilities for interactive classrooms for effective teaching and learning.Originality/valueThis is the first study of its nature that has been conducted in the Pakistani public university in rural setting, and the finding of this study will facilitate and help the institutional and government stakeholders to where and how they can effectively integrate ICTs and e-learning in classrooms for interactive teaching and learning processes in the rural Sindh.

The Student in a collage who have finish their study will get an academic document as a legal proof. The academic document it could be like an academic certificate, academic transcript, or teaching certificates. The document can be use for a complement if the alumnus want to get a job or continue the study to the higher level in a duplicate document that has a signature and stamp from the competent people. To get an endorsement of document in Engineering Faculty of Universitas Negeri Padang is still through the manual process and not computerized yet. Certainty about when the process has finish is not yet, because there isn’t system that provides information about i yet. Storage of data relating to the management all of process is still in the form of archives and files is stored or held by Administration Employee. Therefore, designed a system that can manage all of process that can give ease for all users. The application design of the web-based information system done using the programming language PHP (Hypertext preprocessing) and the MySQL database as well as the division level access use a username and password. A method of password encryption Message Digest 5 (MD-5) and session web system are use to provide security to the data and information. This information system give provide services in an order, payment confirmation, check the status, managing bookings and payments that can be accessed by online system. Additionally, data storage has been using a database that can be accessed easily by users. Keywords : Information systems, web, PHP, MySQL, MD-5 and session.

Introduction The exhibition of an artist’s work is traditionally accepted as representing the final stage of the creative process (Staniszewski). This article asks, however, whether this traditional view can be reassessed so that the curatorial practice of mounting an exhibition becomes, itself, a creative outcome feeding into work that may still be in progress, and that simultaneously operates as a learning and teaching tool. To provide a preliminary examination of the issue, we use a single case study approach, taking an example of practice currently used at an Australian university. In this program, internal and external students work together to develop and deliver an exhibition of their own work in progress. The exhibition space has a professional website (‘CQUniversity Noosa Exhibition Space’), many community members and the local media attend exhibition openings, and the exhibition (which runs for three to four weeks) becomes an outcome students can include in their curriculum vitae. This article reflects on the experiences, challenges, and outcomes that have been gained through this process over the past twelve months. Due to this time frame, the case study is exploratory and its findings are provisional. The case study is an appropriate method to explore a small sample of events (in this case exhibitions) as, following Merriam, it allows the construction of a richer picture of an under-examined phenomenon to be constructed. Although it is clear that this approach will not offer results which can be generalised, it can, nevertheless, assist in opening up a field for investigation and constructing a holistic account of a phenomenon (in this case, the exhibition space as authentic learning experience and productive teaching tool), for, as Merriam states, “much can be learned from a particular case” (51). Jennings adds that even the smallest case study is useful as it includes an “in-depth examination of the subject with which to confirm or contest received generalizations” (14). Donmoyer extends thoughts on this, suggesting that the single case study is extremely useful as the “restricted conception of generalizability … solely in terms of sampling and statistical significance is no longer defensible or functional” (45). Using the available student course feedback, anonymous end-of-term course evaluations, and other available information, this case study account offers an example of what Merriam terms a “narrative description” (51), which seeks to offer readers the opportunity to engage and “learn vicariously from an encounter with the case” (Merriam 51) in question. This may, we propose, be particularly productive for other educators since what is “learn[ed] in a particular case can be transferred to similar situations” (Merriam 51). Breaking Ground exhibition, CQUniversity Noosa Exhibition Space, 2014. Photo by Ulrike Sturm. Background The Graduate Certificate of Creative Industries (Creative Practice) (CQU ‘CB82’) was developed in 2011 to meet the national Australian Quality Framework agency’s Level 8 (Graduate Certificate) standards in terms of what is called in their policies, the “level” of learning. This states that, following the program, graduates from this level of program “will have advanced knowledge and skills for professional or highly skilled work and/or further learning … [and] will apply knowledge and skills to demonstrate autonomy, well-developed judgment, adaptability and responsibility as a practitioner or learner” (AQF). The program was first delivered in 2012 and, since then, has been offered both two and three terms a year, attracting small numbers of students each term, with an average of 8 to 12 students a term. To meet these requirements, such programs are sometimes developed to provide professional and work-integrated learning tasks and learning outcomes for students (Patrick et al., Smith et al.). In this case, professionally relevant and related tasks and outcomes formed the basis for the program, its learning tasks, and its assessment regime. To this end, each student enrolled in this program works on an individual, self-determined (but developed in association with the teaching team and with feedback from peers) creative/professional project that is planned, developed, and delivered across one term of study for full- time students and two terms for part- timers. In order to ensure the AQF-required professional-level outcomes, many projects are designed and/or developed in partnership with professional arts institutions and community bodies. Partnerships mobilised utilised in this way have included those with local, state, and national bodies, including the local arts community, festivals, and educational support programs, as well as private business and community organisations. Student interaction with curation occurs regularly at art schools, where graduate and other student shows are scheduled as a regular events on the calendar of most tertiary art schools (Al-Amri), and the curated exhibition as an outcome has a longstanding tradition in tertiary fine arts education (Webb, Brien, and Burr). Yet in these cases, it is ultimately the creative work on show that is the focus of the learning experience and assessment process, rather than any focus on engagement with the curatorial process itself (Dally et al.). When art schools do involve students in the curatorial process, the focus usually still remains on the students' creative work (Sullivan). Another interaction with curation is when students undertaking a tertiary-level course or program in museum, and/or curatorial practice are engaged in the process of developing, mounting, and/or critiquing curated activities. These programs are, however, very small in number in Australia, where they are only offered at postgraduate level, with the exception of an undergraduate program at the University of Canberra (‘215JA.2’). By adopting “the exhibition” as a component of the learning process rather than its end product, including documentation of students’ work in progress as exhibition pieces, and incorporating it into a more general creative industries focused program, we argue that the curatorial experience can become an interactive learning platform for students ranging from diverse creative disciplines. The Student Experience Students in the program under consideration in this case study come from a wide spectrum of the creative industries, including creative writing, film, multimedia, music, and visual arts. Each term, at least half of the enrolments are distance students. The decision to establish an on-campus exhibition space was an experimental strategy that sought to bring together students from different creative disciplines and diverse locations, and actively involve them in the exhibition development and curatorial process. As well as their individual project work, the students also bring differing levels of prior professional experience to the program, and exhibit a wide range of learning styles and approaches when developing and completing their creative works and exegetical reflections. To cater for the variations listed above, but still meet the program milestones and learning outcomes that must (under the program rules) remain consistent for each student, we employed a multi-disciplinary approach to teaching that included strategies informed by Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences (Gardner, Frames of Mind), which proposed and defined seven intelligences, and repeatedly criticised what he identified as an over-reliance on linguistic and logical indices as identifiers of intelligence. He asserted that these were traditional indicators of high scores on most IQ measures or tests of achievement but were not representative of overall levels of intelligence. Gardner later reinforced that, “unless individuals take a very active role in what it is that they’re studying, unless they learn to ask questions, to do things hands on, to essentially re-create things in their own mind and transform them as is needed, the ideas just disappear” (Edutopia). In alignment with Gardner’s views, we have noted that students enrolled in the program demonstrate strengths in several key intelligence areas, particularly interpersonal, musical, body-kinaesthetic, and spacial/visual intelligences (see Gardner, ‘Multiple Intelligences’, 8–18). To cater for, and further develop, these strengths, and also for the external students who were unable to attend university-based workshop sessions, we developed a range of resources with various approaches to hands-on creative tasks that related to the projects students were completing that term. These resources included the usual scholarly articles, books, and textbooks but were also sourced from the print and online media, guest speaker presentations, and digital sites such as You Tube and TED Talks, and through student input into group discussions. The positive reception of these individual project-relevant resources is evidenced in the class online discussion forums, where consecutive groups of students have consistently reflected on the positive impact these resources have had on their individual creative projects: This has been a difficult week with many issues presenting. As part of our Free Writing exercise in class, we explored ‘brain dumping’ and wrote anything (no matter how ridiculous) down. The great thing I discovered after completing this task was that by allowing myself to not censor my thoughts by compiling a writing masterpiece, I was indeed “free” to express everything. …. … I understand that this may not have been the original intended goal of Free Writing – but it is something I would highly recommend external students to try and see if it works for you (Student 'A', week 5, term 1 2015, Moodle reflection point). I found our discussion about crowdfunding particularly interesting. ... I intend to look at this model for future exhibitions. I think it could be a great way for me to look into developing an exhibition of paintings alongside some more commercial collateral such as prints and cards (Student 'B', week 6, term 1 2015, Moodle reflection point). In class I specifically enjoyed the black out activity and found the online videos exceptional, inspiring and innovating. I really enjoyed this activity and it was something that I can take away and use within the classroom when educating (Student 'C', week 8, term 1 2015, Moodle reflection point). The application of Gardner’s principles and strategies dovetailed with our framework for assessing learning outcomes, where we were guided by Boud’s seven propositions for assessment reform in higher education, which aim to “set directions for change, designed to enhance learning achievements for all students and improve the quality of their experience” (26). Boud asserts that assessment has most effect when: it is used to engage students in productive learning; feedback is used to improve student learning; students and teachers become partners in learning and assessment; students are inducted into the assessment practices of higher education; assessment and learning are placed at the centre of subject and program design; assessment and learning is a focus for staff and institutional development; and, assessment provides inclusive and trustworthy representation of student achievement. These propositions were integral to the design of learning outcomes for the exhibition. Teachers worked with students, individually and as a group, to build their capacity to curate the exhibition, and this included such things as the design and administration of invitations, and also the physical placement of works within the exhibition space. In this way, teachers and students became partners in the process of assessment. The final exhibition, as a learning outcome, meant that students were engaged in productive learning that placed both assessment and knowledge at the centre of subject and project design. It is a collation of creative pieces that embodies the class, as a whole; however, each piece also represents the skills and creativity of individual students and, in this way, are is a trustworthy representations of student achievement. While we aimed to employ all seven recommendations, our main focus was on ensuring that the exhibition, as an authentic learning experience, was productive and that the students were engaged as responsible and accountable co-facilitators of it. These factors are particularly relevant as almost all the students were either currently working, or planning to work, in their chosen creative field, where the work would necessarily involve both publication, performance, and/or exhibition of their artwork plus collaborative practice across disciplinary boundaries to make this happen (Brien). For this reason, we provided exhibition-related coursework tasks that we hoped were engaging and that also represented an authentic learning outcome for the students. Student Curatorship In this context, the opportunity to exhibit their own works-in-progress provided an authentic reason, with a deadline, for students to both work, and reflect, on their creative projects. The documentation of each student’s creative process was showcased as a stand-alone exhibition piece within the display. These exhibits not only served not only to highlight the different learning styles of each student, but also proved to inspire creativity and skill development. They also provided a working model whereby students (and potential enrollees) could view other students’ work and creative processes from inception to fully-realised project outcomes. The sample online reflections quoted above not only highlight the effectiveness of the online content delivery, but this engagement with the online forum also allowed remote students to comment on each other’s projects as well as to and respond to issues they were encountering in their project planning and development and creative practice. It was essential that this level of peer engagement was fostered for the curatorial project to be viable, as both internal and external students are involved in designing the invitation, catalogue, labels, and design of the space, while on-campus students hang and label work according to the group’s directions. Distance students send in items. This is a key point of this experiment: the process of curating an exhibition of work from diverse creative fields, and from students located thousands of kilometres apart, as a way of bringing cohesion to a diverse cohort of students. That cohesiveness provided an opportunity for authentic learning to occur because it was in relation to a task that each student apparently understood as personally, academically, and professionally relevant. This was supported by the anonymous course evaluation comments, which were overwhelmingly positive about the exhibition process – there were no negative comments regarding this aspect of the program, and over 60 per cent of the class supplied these evaluations. This also met a considerable point of anxiety in the current university environment whereby actively engaging students in online learning interactions is a continuing issue (Dixon, Dixon, and Axmann). A key question is: what relevance does this curatorial process have for a student whose field is not visual art, but, for instance, music, film, or writing? By displaying documentation of work in progress, this process connects students of all disciplines with an audience. For example, one student in 2014 who was a singer/songwriter, had her song available to be played on a laptop, alongside photographs of the studio when she was recording her song with her band. In conjunction with this, the cover artwork for her CD, together with the actual CD and CD cover, were framed and exhibited. Another student, who was also a musician but who was completing a music history project, sent in pages of the music transcriptions he had been working on during the course. This manuscript was bound and exhibited in a way that prompted some audience members to commented that it was like an artist’s book as well as a collection of data. Both of these students lived over 1,000 kilometres from the campus where the exhibition was held, but they were able to share with us as teaching staff, as well as with other students who were involved in the physical setting up of the exhibition, exactly how they envisaged their work being displayed. The feedback from both of these students was that this experience gave them a strong connection to the program. They described how, despite the issue of distance, they had had the opportunity to participate in a professional event that they were very keen to include on their curricula vitae. Another aspect of students actively participating in the curation of an exhibition which features work from diverse disciplines is that these students get a true sense of the collaborative interconnectedness of the disciplines of the creative industries (Brien). By way of example, the exhibit of the singer/songwriter referred to above involved not only the student and her band, but also the photographer who took the photographs, and the artist who designed the CD cover. Students collaboratively decided how this material was handled in the exhibition catalogue – all these names were included and their roles described. Breaking Ground exhibition, CQUniversity Noosa Exhibition Space, 2014. Photo by Ulrike Sturm. Outcomes and Conclusion We believe that the curation of an exhibition and the delivery of its constituent components raises student awareness that they are, as creatives, part of a network of industries, developing in them a genuine understanding of the way the creating industries works as a profession outside the academic setting. It is in this sense that this curatorial task is an authentic learning experience. In fact, what was initially perceived as a significant challenge—, that is, exhibiting work in progress from diverse creative fields—, has become a strength of the curatorial project. In reflecting on the experiences and outcomes that have occurred through the implementation of this example of curatorial practice, both as a learning tool and as a creative outcome in its own right, a key positive indicator for this approach is the high level of student satisfaction with the course, as recorded in the formal, anonymous university student evaluations (with 60–100 per cent of these completed for each term, when the university benchmark is 50 per cent completion), and the high level of professional outcomes achieved post-completion. The university evaluation scores have been in the top (4.5–5/.5) range for satisfaction over the program’s eight terms of delivery since 2012. Particularly in relation to subsequent professional outcomes, anecdotal feedback has been that the curatorial process served as an authentic and engaged learning experience because it equipped the students, now graduates, of the program with not only knowledge about how exhibitions work, but also a genuine understanding of the web of connections between the diverse creative arts and industries. Indeed, a number of students have submitted proposals to exhibit professionally in the space after graduation, again providing anecdotal feedback that the experience they gained through our model has had a sustaining impact on their creative practice. While the focus of this activity has been on creative learning for the students, it has also provided an interesting and engaging teaching experience for us as the program’s staff. We will continue to gather evidence relating to our model, and, with the next iteration of the exhibition project, a more detailed comparative analysis will be attempted. At this stage, with ethics approval, we plan to run an anonymous survey with all students involved in this activity, to develop questions for a focus group discussion with graduates. We are also in the process of contacting alumni of the program regarding professional outcomes to map these one, two, and five years after graduation. We will also keep a record of what percentage of students apply to exhibit in the space after graduation, as this will also be an additional marker of how professional and useful they perceive the experience to be. In conclusion, it can be stated that the 100 per cent pass rate and 0 per cent attrition rate from the program since its inception, coupled with a high level (over 60 per cent) of student progression to further post-graduate study in the creative industries, has not been detrimentally affected by this curatorial experiment, and has encouraged staff to continue with this approach. References Al-Amri, Mohammed. “Assessment Techniques Practiced in Teaching Art at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman.” International Journal of Education through Art 7.3 (2011): 267–282. AQF Levels. Australian Qualifications Framework website. 18 June 2015 ‹http://www.aqf.edu.au/aqf/in-detail/aqf-levels/›. Boud, D. Student Assessment for Learning in and after Courses: Final Report for Senior Fellowship. Sydney: Australian Learning and Teaching Council, 2010. 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At one point in Victor Hugo’s novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the archdeacon, Claude Frollo, looked up from a book on his table to the edifice of the gothic cathedral, visible from his canon’s cell in the cloister of Notre Dame: “Alas!” he said, “this will kill that” (146). Frollo’s lament, that the book would destroy the edifice, captures the medieval cleric’s anxiety about the way in which Gutenberg’s print technology would become the new universal means for recording and communicating humanity’s ideas and artistic expression, replacing the grand monuments of architecture, human engineering, and craftsmanship. For Hugo, architecture was “the great handwriting of humankind” (149). The cathedral as the material outcome of human technology was being replaced by the first great machine—the printing press. At this point in the third millennium, some people undoubtedly have similar anxieties to Frollo: is it now the book’s turn to be destroyed by yet another great machine? The inclusion of “post print” in our title is not intended to sound the death knell of the book. Rather, we contend that despite the enduring value of print, digital publishing is “present and active” and is changing the way in which research, particularly in the humanities, is being undertaken. Our approach has three related parts. First, we consider how digital technologies are changing the way in which content is constructed, customised, modified, disseminated, and accessed within a global, distributed network. This section argues that the transition from print to electronic or digital publishing means both losses and gains, particularly with respect to shifts in our approaches to textuality, information, and innovative publishing. Second, we discuss the Children’s Literature Digital Resources (CLDR) project, with which we are involved. This case study of a digitising initiative opens out the transformative possibilities and challenges of digital publishing and e-scholarship for research communities. Third, we reflect on technology’s capacity to bring about major changes in the light of the theoretical and practical issues that have arisen from our discussion. I. Digitising in a “post-print age” We are living in an era that is commonly referred to as “the late age of print” (see Kho) or the “post-print age” (see Gunkel). According to Aarseth, we have reached a point whereby nearly all of our public and personal media have become more or less digital (37). As Kho notes, web newspapers are not only becoming increasingly more popular, but they are also making rather than losing money, and paper-based newspapers are finding it difficult to recruit new readers from the younger generations (37). Not only can such online-only publications update format, content, and structure more economically than print-based publications, but their wide distribution network, speed, and flexibility attract advertising revenue. Hype and hyperbole aside, publishers are not so much discarding their legacy of print, but recognising the folly of not embracing innovative technologies that can add value by presenting information in ways that satisfy users’ needs for content to-go or for edutainment. As Kho notes: “no longer able to satisfy customer demand by producing print-only products, or even by enabling online access to semi-static content, established publishers are embracing new models for publishing, web-style” (42). Advocates of online publishing contend that the major benefits of online publishing over print technology are that it is faster, more economical, and more interactive. However, as Hovav and Gray caution, “e-publishing also involves risks, hidden costs, and trade-offs” (79). The specific focus for these authors is e-journal publishing and they contend that while cost reduction is in editing, production and distribution, if the journal is not open access, then costs relating to storage and bandwith will be transferred to the user. If we put economics aside for the moment, the transition from print to electronic text (e-text), especially with electronic literary works, brings additional considerations, particularly in their ability to make available different reading strategies to print, such as “animation, rollovers, screen design, navigation strategies, and so on” (Hayles 38). Transition from print to e-text In his book, Writing Space, David Bolter follows Victor Hugo’s lead, but does not ask if print technology will be destroyed. Rather, he argues that “the idea and ideal of the book will change: print will no longer define the organization and presentation of knowledge, as it has for the past five centuries” (2). As Hayles noted above, one significant indicator of this change, which is a consequence of the shift from analogue to digital, is the addition of graphical, audio, visual, sonic, and kinetic elements to the written word. A significant consequence of this transition is the reinvention of the book in a networked environment. Unlike the printed book, the networked book is not bound by space and time. Rather, it is an evolving entity within an ecology of readers, authors, and texts. The Web 2.0 platform has enabled more experimentation with blending of digital technology and traditional writing, particularly in the use of blogs, which have spawned blogwriting and the wikinovel. Siva Vaidhyanathan’s The Googlization of Everything: How One Company is Disrupting Culture, Commerce and Community … and Why We Should Worry is a wikinovel or blog book that was produced over a series of weeks with contributions from other bloggers (see: http://www.sivacracy.net/). Penguin Books, in collaboration with a media company, “Six Stories to Start,” have developed six stories—“We Tell Stories,” which involve different forms of interactivity from users through blog entries, Twitter text messages, an interactive google map, and other features. For example, the story titled “Fairy Tales” allows users to customise the story using their own choice of names for characters and descriptions of character traits. Each story is loosely based on a classic story and links take users to synopses of these original stories and their authors and to online purchase of the texts through the Penguin Books sales website. These examples of digital stories are a small part of the digital environment, which exploits computer and online technologies’ capacity to be interactive and immersive. As Janet Murray notes, the interactive qualities of digital environments are characterised by their procedural and participatory abilities, while their immersive qualities are characterised by their spatial and encyclopedic dimensions (71–89). These immersive and interactive qualities highlight different ways of reading texts, which entail different embodied and cognitive functions from those that reading print texts requires. As Hayles argues: the advent of electronic textuality presents us with an unparalleled opportunity to reformulate fundamental ideas about texts and, in the process, to see print as well as electronic texts with fresh eyes (89–90). The transition to e-text also highlights how digitality is changing all aspects of everyday life both inside and outside the academy. Online teaching and e-research Another aspect of the commercial arm of publishing that is impacting on academe and other organisations is the digitising and indexing of print content for niche distribution. Kho offers the example of the Mark Logic Corporation, which uses its XML content platform to repurpose content, create new content, and distribute this content through multiple portals. As the promotional website video for Mark Logic explains, academics can use this service to customise their own textbooks for students by including only articles and book chapters that are relevant to their subject. These are then organised, bound, and distributed by Mark Logic for sale to students at a cost that is generally cheaper than most textbooks. A further example of how print and digital materials can form an integrated, customised source for teachers and students is eFictions (Trimmer, Jennings, & Patterson). eFictions was one of the first print and online short story anthologies that teachers of literature could customise to their own needs. Produced as both a print text collection and a website, eFictions offers popular short stories in English by well-known traditional and contemporary writers from the US, Australia, New Zealand, UK, and Europe, with summaries, notes on literary features, author biographies, and, in one instance, a YouTube movie of the story. In using the eFictions website, teachers can build a customised anthology of traditional and innovative stories to suit their teaching preferences. These examples provide useful indicators of how content is constructed, customised, modified, disseminated, and accessed within a distributed network. However, the question remains as to how to measure their impact and outcomes within teaching and learning communities. As Harley suggests in her study on the use and users of digital resources in the humanities and social sciences, several factors warrant attention, such as personal teaching style, philosophy, and specific disciplinary requirements. However, in terms of understanding the benefits of digital resources for teaching and learning, Harley notes that few providers in her sample had developed any plans to evaluate use and users in a systematic way. In addition to the problems raised in Harley’s study, another relates to how researchers can be supported to take full advantage of digital technologies for e-research. The transformation brought about by information and communication technologies extends and broadens the impact of research, by making its outputs more discoverable and usable by other researchers, and its benefits more available to industry, governments, and the wider community. Traditional repositories of knowledge and information, such as libraries, are juggling the space demands of books and computer hardware alongside increasing reader demand for anywhere, anytime, anyplace access to information. Researchers’ expectations about online access to journals, eprints, bibliographic data, and the views of others through wikis, blogs, and associated social and information networking sites such as YouTube compete with the traditional expectations of the institutions that fund libraries for paper-based archives and book repositories. While university libraries are finding it increasingly difficult to purchase all hardcover books relevant to numerous and varied disciplines, a significant proportion of their budgets goes towards digital repositories (e.g., STORS), indexes, and other resources, such as full-text electronic specialised and multidisciplinary journal databases (e.g., Project Muse and Proquest); electronic serials; e-books; and specialised information sources through fast (online) document delivery services. An area that is becoming increasingly significant for those working in the humanities is the digitising of historical and cultural texts. II. Bringing back the dead: The CLDR project The CLDR project is led by researchers and librarians at the Queensland University of Technology, in collaboration with Deakin University, University of Sydney, and members of the AustLit team at The University of Queensland. The CLDR project is a “Research Community” of the electronic bibliographic database AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource, which is working towards the goal of providing a complete bibliographic record of the nation’s literature. AustLit offers users with a single entry point to enhanced scholarly resources on Australian writers, their works, and other aspects of Australian literary culture and activities. AustLit and its Research Communities are supported by grants from the Australian Research Council and financial and in-kind contributions from a consortium of Australian universities, and by other external funding sources such as the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy. Like other more extensive digitisation projects, such as Project Gutenberg and the Rosetta Project, the CLDR project aims to provide a centralised access point for digital surrogates of early published works of Australian children’s literature, with access pathways to existing resources. The first stage of the CLDR project is to provide access to digitised, full-text, out-of-copyright Australian children’s literature from European settlement to 1945, with selected digitised critical works relevant to the field. Texts comprise a range of genres, including poetry, drama, and narrative for young readers and picture books, songs, and rhymes for infants. Currently, a selection of 75 e-texts and digital scans of original texts from Project Gutenberg and Internet Archive have been linked to the Children’s Literature Research Community. By the end of 2009, the CLDR will have digitised approximately 1000 literary texts and a significant number of critical works. Stage II and subsequent development will involve digitisation of selected texts from 1945 onwards. A precursor to the CLDR project has been undertaken by Deakin University in collaboration with the State Library of Victoria, whereby a digital bibliographic index comprising Victorian School Readers has been completed with plans for full-text digital surrogates of a selection of these texts. These texts provide valuable insights into citizenship, identity, and values formation from the 1930s onwards. At the time of writing, the CLDR is at an early stage of development. An extensive survey of out-of-copyright texts has been completed and the digitisation of these resources is about to commence. The project plans to make rich content searchable, allowing scholars from children’s literature studies and education to benefit from the many advantages of online scholarship. What digital publishing and associated digital archives, electronic texts, hypermedia, and so forth foreground is the fact that writers, readers, publishers, programmers, designers, critics, booksellers, teachers, and copyright laws operate within a context that is highly mediated by technology. In his article on large-scale digitisation projects carried out by Cornell and University of Michigan with the Making of America collection of 19th-century American serials and monographs, Hirtle notes that when special collections’ materials are available via the Web, with appropriate metadata and software, then they can “increase use of the material, contribute to new forms of research, and attract new users to the material” (44). Furthermore, Hirtle contends that despite the poor ergonomics associated with most electronic displays and e-book readers, “people will, when given the opportunity, consult an electronic text over the print original” (46). If this preference is universally accurate, especially for researchers and students, then it follows that not only will the preference for electronic surrogates of original material increase, but preference for other kinds of electronic texts will also increase. It is with this preference for electronic resources in mind that we approached the field of children’s literature in Australia and asked questions about how future generations of researchers would prefer to work. If electronic texts become the reference of choice for primary as well as secondary sources, then it seems sensible to assume that researchers would prefer to sit at the end of the keyboard than to travel considerable distances at considerable cost to access paper-based print texts in distant libraries and archives. We considered the best means for providing access to digitised primary and secondary, full text material, and digital pathways to existing online resources, particularly an extensive indexing and bibliographic database. Prior to the commencement of the CLDR project, AustLit had already indexed an extensive number of children’s literature. Challenges and dilemmas The CLDR project, even in its early stages of development, has encountered a number of challenges and dilemmas that centre on access, copyright, economic capital, and practical aspects of digitisation, and sustainability. These issues have relevance for digital publishing and e-research. A decision is yet to be made as to whether the digital texts in CLDR will be available on open or closed/tolled access. The preference is for open access. As Hayles argues, copyright is more than a legal basis for intellectual property, as it also entails ideas about authorship, creativity, and the work as an “immaterial mental construct” that goes “beyond the paper, binding, or ink” (144). Seeking copyright permission is therefore only part of the issue. Determining how the item will be accessed is a further matter, particularly as future technologies may impact upon how a digital item is used. In the case of e-journals, the issue of copyright payment structures are evolving towards a collective licensing system, pay-per-view, and other combinations of print and electronic subscription (see Hovav and Gray). For research purposes, digitisation of items for CLDR is not simply a scan and deliver process. Rather it is one that needs to ensure that the best quality is provided and that the item is both accessible and usable by researchers, and sustainable for future researchers. Sustainability is an important consideration and provides a challenge for institutions that host projects such as CLDR. Therefore, items need to be scanned to a high quality and this requires an expensive scanner and personnel costs. Files need to be in a variety of formats for preservation purposes and so that they may be manipulated to be useable in different technologies (for example, Archival Tiff, Tiff, Jpeg, PDF, HTML). Hovav and Gray warn that when technology becomes obsolete, then content becomes unreadable unless backward integration is maintained. The CLDR items will be annotatable given AustLit’s NeAt funded project: Aus-e-Lit. The Aus-e-Lit project will extend and enhance the existing AustLit web portal with data integration and search services, empirical reporting services, collaborative annotation services, and compound object authoring, editing, and publishing services. For users to be able to get the most out of a digital item, it needs to be searchable, either through double keying or OCR (optimal character recognition). The value of CLDR’s contribution The value of the CLDR project lies in its goal to provide a comprehensive, searchable body of texts (fictional and critical) to researchers across the humanities and social sciences. Other projects seem to be intent on putting up as many items as possible to be considered as a first resort for online texts. CLDR is more specific and is not interested in simply generating a presence on the Web. Rather, it is research driven both in its design and implementation, and in its focussed outcomes of assisting academics and students primarily in their e-research endeavours. To this end, we have concentrated on the following: an extensive survey of appropriate texts; best models for file location, distribution, and use; and high standards of digitising protocols. These issues that relate to data storage, digitisation, collections, management, and end-users of data are aligned with the “Development of an Australian Research Data Strategy” outlined in An Australian e-Research Strategy and Implementation Framework (2006). CLDR is not designed to simply replicate resources, as it has a distinct focus, audience, and research potential. In addition, it looks at resources that may be forgotten or are no longer available in reproduction by current publishing companies. Thus, the aim of CLDR is to preserve both the time and a period of Australian history and literary culture. It will also provide users with an accessible repository of rare and early texts written for children. III. Future directions It is now commonplace to recognize that the Web’s role as information provider has changed over the past decade. New forms of “collective intelligence” or “distributed cognition” (Oblinger and Lombardi) are emerging within and outside formal research communities. Technology’s capacity to initiate major cultural, social, educational, economic, political and commercial shifts has conditioned us to expect the “next big thing.” We have learnt to adapt swiftly to the many challenges that online technologies have presented, and we have reaped the benefits. As the examples in this discussion have highlighted, the changes in online publishing and digitisation have provided many material, network, pedagogical, and research possibilities: we teach online units providing students with access to e-journals, e-books, and customized archives of digitised materials; we communicate via various online technologies; we attend virtual conferences; and we participate in e-research through a global, digital network. In other words, technology is deeply engrained in our everyday lives. In returning to Frollo’s concern that the book would destroy architecture, Umberto Eco offers a placatory note: “in the history of culture it has never happened that something has simply killed something else. Something has profoundly changed something else” (n. pag.). Eco’s point has relevance to our discussion of digital publishing. The transition from print to digital necessitates a profound change that impacts on the ways we read, write, and research. As we have illustrated with our case study of the CLDR project, the move to creating digitised texts of print literature needs to be considered within a dynamic network of multiple causalities, emergent technological processes, and complex negotiations through which digital texts are created, stored, disseminated, and used. Technological changes in just the past five years have, in many ways, created an expectation in the minds of people that the future is no longer some distant time from the present. Rather, as our title suggests, the future is both present and active. References Aarseth, Espen. “How we became Postdigital: From Cyberstudies to Game Studies.” Critical Cyber-culture Studies. Ed. David Silver and Adrienne Massanari. New York: New York UP, 2006. 37–46. An Australian e-Research Strategy and Implementation Framework: Final Report of the e-Research Coordinating Committee. Commonwealth of Australia, 2006. Bolter, Jay David. Writing Space: The Computer, Hypertext, and the History of Writing. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1991. Eco, Umberto. “The Future of the Book.” 1994. 3 June 2008 ‹http://www.themodernword.com/eco/eco_future_of_book.html>. Gunkel, David. J. “What's the Matter with Books?” Configurations 11.3 (2003): 277–303. Harley, Diane. “Use and Users of Digital Resources: A Focus on Undergraduate Education in the Humanities and Social Sciences.” Research and Occasional Papers Series. Berkeley: University of California. Centre for Studies in Higher Education. 12 June 2008 ‹http://www.themodernword.com/eco/eco_future_of_book.html>. Hayles, N. Katherine. My Mother was a Computer: Digital Subjects and Literary Texts. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2005. Hirtle, Peter B. “The Impact of Digitization on Special Collections in Libraries.” Libraries & Culture 37.1 (2002): 42–52. Hovav, Anat and Paul Gray. “Managing Academic E-journals.” Communications of the ACM 47.4 (2004): 79–82. Hugo, Victor. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Notre-Dame de Paris). Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth editions, 1993. Kho, Nancy D. “The Medium Gets the Message: Post-Print Publishing Models.” EContent 30.6 (2007): 42–48. Oblinger, Diana and Marilyn Lombardi. “Common Knowledge: Openness in Higher Education.” Opening up Education: The Collective Advancement of Education Through Open Technology, Open Content and Open Knowledge. Ed. Toru Liyoshi and M. S. Vijay Kumar. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007. 389–400. Murray, Janet H. Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001. Trimmer, Joseph F., Wade Jennings, and Annette Patterson. eFictions. New York: Harcourt, 2001.

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash INTORDUCTION In March of 2022, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced that the state would no longer mandate face masks for students, staff, and visitors at schools and childcare centers. Two-thirds of New Jersey residents already supported this decision.[1] Soon after, Princeton University led the way in learning to live with the virus by making the use of masks optional in most situations. At a time when vaccination rates were already high and Omicron hospitalization rates were falling, the decision to relax mask mandates was the right call. Yet, Rutgers University has extended its mask mandate for the rest of the academic year, with no stated endpoint. In a university-wide email, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Antonio Calcado announced: The university has been clear that the science and data would guide our path forward with respect to the health and safety of our community… Use of appropriate face coverings will still be required in all teaching spaces (classrooms, lecture halls, seminar rooms, etc.), teaching labs, computer labs, buses, libraries, and clinical facilities.[2] Despite the university’s purported commitment to follow “the science and data,” there has been a noticeable lack of transparency regarding the scientific rationale and official endpoint for this extension of the mask mandate. Given the same set of scientific data available, these neighboring universities came to opposite conclusions on the need for continued mask mandates. Notably, the Rutgers mask mandate continues to require students to mask in libraries but not in crowded cafeterias. These discrepancies have led to understandable frustration among members of the Rutgers community. In response, the Rutgers student newspaper objects to “the sense of optics” and “the lack of clear communication,” resulting in “confusion,” arguing that the university administration “needs to be more transparent” and “must communicate and explain the policy changes more effectively.”[3] At a time when trust in public health institutions is at an all-time low, Ava Kamb warns that a lack of transparent messaging can reduce public trust even further.[4] Instead, Kamb argues that public health mandates should use the least restrictive means necessary in order to promote health and civil liberties at the same time. The ethical question is whether university mask mandates should be relaxed. I argue that the use of face masks by healthy individuals has uncertain benefits, which potential harms may outweigh, and should therefore be voluntary. ANALYSIS Rutgers intends “the science and data” to guide its path forward. As such, it is worth revisiting the controversial science behind mask mandates. From 2019 to 2020, systematic reviews by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Cochrane Acute Respiratory Infections concluded that the use of face masks by healthy individuals in the community lacks effectiveness in reducing viral transmission based on moderate-quality evidence.[5] Neither study concerned COVID-19 specifically. Since then, the only two randomized controlled trials of face masks published during the pandemic found little to no benefit.[6] Yet, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cite many observational and modeling studies (based on empirical assumptions) which suggest that community masking is beneficial.[7] These studies support a larger benefit associated with masking, but they use less reliable research methods. Based on these non-randomized data and mechanistic plausibility, WHO’s current position is also supportive of community masking recommendations. But without high-quality evidence, it is difficult to justify a requirement rather than a recommendation. It may be useful to draw an ethical distinction between a recommendation and a mandate in public health. A public health recommendation does not generally undermine individual autonomy because individuals have the choice to follow the recommendation. I argue that recommendations may be justified by a lower standard of proof or a lesser expected benefit precisely because they do not violate individual autonomy. On the other hand, a public health mandate demands compliance using the threat of penalty. To ethically justify an infringement of autonomy, strong evidence that demonstrates a significant health benefit should support a public health mandate. While the recommendation to use masks in accordance with personal preference may be a reasonable precaution—particularly for vulnerable individuals—the higher standards of evidence and benefit that would ethically justify mask mandates have not been met. Notwithstanding, one might argue the precautionary principle justifies mask mandates. For example, Chinese CDC Director-General George Gao, medical researcher Trisha Greenhalgh, and others espouse such a view.[8] The precautionary principle holds that it is better to be safe than sorry. In the context of COVID-19, the principle has been used to advocate for public health measures which lack high-quality evidence. Accordingly, it might be thought that it is safer to implement potentially ineffective mask mandates than to risk forgoing a lifesaving benefit. Yet, the precautionary principle is an ill-defined concept that is philosophically problematic. Health economist Jay Bhattacharya and epidemiologist Sunetra Gupta argue that the precautionary principle cuts both ways because a public health mandate without high-quality evidence has both potential benefits and potential harms.[9] If the precautionary principle can justify implementing mask mandates due to the risk of forgoing possible benefit, then it might also be able to justify not implementing mask mandates due to the risk of potential harm caused by the intervention. It is commonly thought that there is little to lose from the use of face masks, but this is not necessarily true. According to WHO, CDC, and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the harms of face masks may include headaches, difficulty breathing, skin lesions, difficulty communicating, a false sense of security, environmental pollution, impaired learning, delayed psychosocial development, and disadvantages for individuals with cognitive or mental disorders.[10] These include both potential and observed harms drawn from the scientific literature. Yet, the negative side effects of masks remain significantly under-investigated. For example, there is emerging mechanistic evidence that prolonged mask use or reuse increases both inhaled and environmental microplastics, the long-term effects of which are unknown.[11] The harms related to communication, learning, and psychosocial development are particularly problematic for educational institutions, whose mission is to promote these very things. It is, therefore, possible that masks have done more harm than good. While many observational studies and models support the potential benefits of masks, some interpret these studies to mean that masks clearly work. However, the limited body of randomized data paints a less optimistic picture and cannot be used to rule out an increase in infection from masks.[12] Other types of studies, less reliable research methods, do rule this out and support masking. Bhattacharya and Gupta would argue that it is safer to encourage voluntary, evidence-based interventions than to foist these potential harms upon individuals for the sake of uncertain benefits. It remains unclear whether and to what extent the use of face masks by healthy individuals in the community influenced COVID-19 mortality. However, it is clear to me that community masking does not meet the higher standard of evidence necessary to justify a mandate and that mask use is associated with potential harm. The already tenuous case for masks continues to weaken with a mixed body of evidence, the availability of effective pharmaceuticals, and widespread natural immunity to COVID-19. If public health should aim for the least restrictive means necessary to promote health while respecting civil liberties, then the extension of burdensome mask mandates which lack high-quality evidence is ethically problematic. CONCLUSION Given the current state of COVID-19, a university mask mandate for a low-risk population with high levels of immunity is not justified. In times of fear and uncertainty, higher education institutions ought to make reasoned policy decisions guided by “the science and data.” It would seem that, of the universities that mandated masks, Princeton has emerged as a national leader in mask policy while Rutgers lags behind. Schools across the nation should take note. - [1] Rutgers University Eagleton Institute of Politics. Two-thirds of New Jerseyans agree with lifting school mask mandate, most comfortable returning to normal; half think NJ has done “just right” on pandemic. Accessed May 14, 2022. https://eagletonpoll.rutgers.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Rutgers-Eagleton-Poll-COVID-March-7-2022.pdf [2] Calcado AM. Return to Campus Update – January 31, 2022. Accessed May 14, 2022. https://coronavirus.rutgers.edu/changes-related-to-covid-19-protocols [3] The Daily Targum. Rutgers’ new mask policies are more than confusing. Accessed May 14, 2022. https://dailytargum.com/article/2022/04/editorial-rutgers-new-mask-policies-are-more-than-confusing [4] Kamb A. The false choice between public health and civil liberties. Voices in Bioethics 2020;6. doi:10.7916/vib.v6i.6297. [5] World Health Organization Global Influenza Programme. Non-pharmaceutical public health measures for mitigating the risk and impact of epidemic and pandemic influenza. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2019; Jefferson T, Del Mar CB, Dooley L, et al. Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2020;11(CD006207). doi:10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub5. [6] Abaluck J, Kwong LH, Styczynski A, et al. Impact of community masking on COVID-19: A cluster-randomized trial in Bangladesh. Science 2022;375(6577):eabi9069. doi:10.1126/science.abi9069. (intervention reduced symptomatic seroprevalence by 9.5%; 95% confidence interval = [0.82, 1.00].); Bundgaard H, Bundgaard JS, Raaschou-Pedersen DET, et al. Effectiveness of adding a mask recommendation to other public health measures to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection in Danish mask wearers: A randomized controlled trial. Ann Intern Med 2021;174(3):335-343. doi:10.7326/M20-6817. (trial was conducted in a setting where mask wearing was uncommon and the findings were inconclusive; 95% confidence interval = [0.54, 1.23].) [7] U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Science Brief: Community Use of Masks to Control the Spread of SARS-CoV-2. Accessed May 14, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/masking-science-sars-cov2.html [8] Zimmerman A. The precautionary principle in mask-wearing: When waiting for explicit scientific evidence is unwise. Voices in Bioethics 2020;6. doi:10.7916/vib.v6i.5896. (supporting the use of masks early in the pandemic arguing that the harms of masking in the short term were unlikely to be severe or to outweigh the benefits.); Greenhalgh T, Schmid MB, Czypionka T, et al. Face masks for the public during the COVID-19 crisis. BMJ 2020;369:m1435. doi:10.1136/bmj.m1435. [9] Bhattacharya J. On the Catastrophic Misapplication of the Precautionary Principle. Accessed May 14, 2022. https://collateralglobal.org/article/misapplication-of-the-precautionary-principle; Gupta S. A Betrayal of the Precautionary Principle. Accessed May 14, 2022. https://collateralglobal.org/article/a-betrayal-of-the-precautionary-principle [10] World Health Organization. Mask use in the context of COVID-19: Interim guidance, 1 December 2020. Accessed May 14, 2022. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/337199; U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Using face masks in the community: First update - Effectiveness in reducing transmission of COVID-19. Accessed May 14, 2022. https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/covid-19-face-masks-community-first-update.pdf [11] Li L, Zhao X, Li Z, et al. COVID-19: Performance study of microplastic inhalation risk posed by wearing masks. J Hazard Mater 2021;411:124955. doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124955; Ma J, Chen F, Xu H, et al. Face masks as a source of nanoplastics and microplastics in the environment: Quantification, characterization, and potential for bioaccumulation. Environ Pollut 2021;288:117748. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117748; Chen X, Chen X, Liu Q, et al. Used disposable face masks are significant sources of microplastics to environment. Environ Pollut 2021;285:117485. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117485. [12] Bundgaard et al. (inconclusive with a 95% confidence interval = [0.54, 1.23]).