The importance of institutional image to student satisfaction and loyalty within higher education

This paper outlines the findings of a study employing a partial least squares (PLS) structural equation methodology to test a customer satisfaction model of the drivers of student satisfaction and loyalty in higher education settings. Drawing upon a moderately large sample of students enrolled in four ‘types’ of Australian universities, the findings suggest that student loyalty is predicted by student satisfaction, which is in turn predicted by the perceived image of the host university. While the perceived quality of “humanware” (e.g., people and process) and “hardware” (e.g., infrastructure and tangible service elements) has an impact on perceived value, this was found to be weak and indeterminate. Of most importance was the impact of the institution’s institutional image, which strongly predicted perceived value, and to a lesser extent student satisfaction. The findings have implications for newer, less prestigious universities seeking to compete in a more deregulated, market driven environment.     

Intellectual innovation or intellectual retrofitting: on agency, culture and access to science education

A great challenge in education research involves the difficulty of differentiating between studies that apply commonly understood theoretical perspectives and recognizing studies that merely rename old theoretical frameworks. This conflict between intellectual innovation and intellectual retrofitting emerges as central to Basu, Calabrese-Barton, Clairmont, and Lock’s exploration of the relationship between critical agency and student identity development in science.

Secondary school science predictors of academic performance in university bioscience subjects

In 2009 the Faculty of Health Sciences at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia is introducing a common first year for 11 different undergraduate courses in the faculty. Current prerequisite science entry requirements vary with course and range from none to at least two science or mathematics subjects and from ～50 to 99 in Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank (ENTER) scores. Under the previous structure, students in different courses completed a variety of different subjects at first year. Concern about the ability of such disparate groups to complete a common first year led to the current investigation of the relationships between year 12 (final year of secondary school) science subjects and performance in first year university bioscience subjects. Year 12 results for all science‐related units and ENTER scores were obtained for all Victorian students enrolling in a first year course in the Faculty of Health Sciences in 2005 and 2006. Regression and other analyses were conducted for five first year bioscience subjects. The ENTER score was the best predictor of academic performance in all units except regional anatomy. Performance in many secondary school science subjects was highly predictive of performance in physiology, combined systematic physiology and anatomy and biomechanics units, but again not for regional anatomy units. It appears that year 12 performance in science subjects and ENTER scores may be important predictors of success in physiology, but not regional anatomy subjects at university. It is possible that regional anatomy is an entirely new subject area that requires new types of learning unrelated to year 12 science subjects. Anat Sci Ed 2:113‐118, 2009. © 2009 American Association of Anatomists.     

Race as a Durable and Shifting Idea: How Black Millennial Preservice Teachers Understand Race,Racism, and Teaching

The rapidly changing landscape of 21st-century education has sparked intense conversations around the need for a more racially and ethnically diverse PK–12 teacher population. Drawing from critical race theory and racial formation, I describe findings from a qualitative case study that examined how a group of black millennial preservice teachers understand race and racism. Findings from the study illuminate that race and racism continue to hold relevance for the participants, even as they recognized generational differences in how these issues operate in past and present social relations. Additionally, as the participants express both sophisticated and simplistic understandings about racism, social media and university spaces allow students to expand their knowledge about race and racism.     

Does performance level affect initial ball flight kinematics in finger and wrist-spin cricket bowlers?

Spin bowling plays a fundamental role within the game of cricket yet little is known about the initial ball kinematics in elite and pathway spin bowlers or their relationship to performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to record three-dimensional ball kinematics in a large and truly high level cohort of elite and pathway finger-spin (FS) and wrist-spin (WS) bowlers, identifying potential performance measures that can be subsequently used in future research. A 22-camera Vicon motion analysis system captured retro-reflective markers placed on the seam (static) and ball (dynamic) to quantify ball kinematics in 36 FS (12 elite and 24 pathway) and 20 WS (eight elite and 12 pathway) bowlers. Results indicated that FS bowlers delivered the ball with an increased axis of rotation elevation, while wrist-spin bowlers placed greater amounts of revolutions on the ball. It also highlighted that ball release (BR) velocity, revolutions and velocity/revolution index scores for both groups and seam stability for FS bowlers, and seam azimuth angle and spin axis elevation angle for WS bowlers, were discriminators of playing level. As such these variables could be used as indicators of performance (i.e. performance measures) in future research.     

Use of saliva for assessment of stress and its effect on the immune system prior to gross anatomy practical examinations

The objective of this study was to determine the longitudinal effects of a series of stressful gross anatomy tests on the immune system. Thirty‐six freshman occupational therapy students completed a written stress evaluation survey, and saliva samples were obtained at baseline and prior to each of three timed‐practical gross anatomy tests. Cortisol, secretory IgA (sIgA), and IL‐12 concentrations were measured within the salivary samples by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. The total scores from the stress surveys were used as markers for environmental stress. Data were compiled for each student at baseline and prior to each examination and were compared by repeated‐measures MANOVA and Pearson's correlation test. Following normalization for protein concentration and flow rate, the concentrations of IL‐2, IL‐6, IL‐12, and sIgA progressively increased from baseline to the third test. Cortisol concentrations, following normalization for flow rate, were highest prior to the first test and became significantly reduced prior to second and third test. Prior to second and third test, salivary concentrations of IL‐6, IL‐2, IL‐12, and sIgA were significantly correlated (P < 0.05). In contrast, prior to third test, there was a negative correlation between salivary concentrations of cortisol and IL‐12 (P < 0.05). Progressive increases in salivary sIgA, IL‐6, IL‐2, and IL‐12 concentrations from the first to the third test coincident to decreased salivary cortisol suggest that the initial examination stressors precede significant effects on the immune system. These data suggest that there may be latent effects of examination stress on the immune system and that saliva can be used to predict these effects. Anat Sci Educ. © 2010 American Association of Anatomists.