Distance education via the Internet: the student experience

This is the second in a series of papers that describes the use of the Internet on a distance-taught undergraduate Computer Science course (Thomas et al ., 1998). This paper examines students' experience of a large-scale trial in which students were taught using electronic communication exclusively. The paper compares the constitution and experiences of a group of Internet students to those of conventional distance learning students on the same course. Learning styles, background questionnaires, and learning outcomes were used in the comparison of the two groups. The study reveals comparable learning outcomes with no discrimination in grade as the result of using different communication media. The student experience is reported, highlighting the main gains and issues of using the Internet as a communication medium in distance education. This paper also shows that using the Internet in this context can provide students with a worthwhile experience.     

Event-specific impact test protocol for ice hockey goaltender masks

ABSTRACT

Goaltenders in the sport of ice hockey are at high risk for concussions from falls to the ice, player collisions and puck impacts. However, current methods used to certify helmets only consider head accelerations for drop tests which may not describe all common injury mechanisms relating to concussion. The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics of 3 events associated with concussions for ice hockey goaltenders. A helmeted medium National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) headform was impacted under conditions representing 3 injury events. Three impact locations’ velocities were selected for each event based on video analysis of real-world concussive events. Peak resultant linear acceleration, rotational acceleration and rotational velocity of the headform were measured. The University College Dublin Brain Trauma Model (UCDBTM) was used to calculate maximum principal strain (MPS) and von Mises stress in the cerebrum. Each impact event produced a unique dynamic response and brain stress and strain values. This demonstrates that a single impact event (i.e. falls) cannot adequately describe all impact events. As a result, impact protocols which assess multiple impact events such as the protocol described in this study should be used to evaluate ice hockey goaltender masks.     

Science identity development: how multimodal composition mediates student role-taking as scientist in a media-rich learning environment

Educational technology research and development - Science identity has been widely discussed in recent years; however, research on its development in multimodal composing environments, especially...     

Composing across modes: a comparative analysis of adolescents’ multimodal composing processes

Although the shift from page to screen has dramatically redefined conceptions of writing, very little is known about how youth compose with multiple modes in digital environments. Integrating multimodality and multiliteracies theoretical frameworks, this comparative case study examined how urban twelfth-grade students collaboratively composed across three multimodal projects when responding to and analyzing literature. Data sources included screen capture and video observations, student design interviews, written reflections, and multimodal products. Findings revealed that multimodal composing was a complex, dynamic, and varied process mediated by the interaction of multiple factors. Students exhibited modal preferences when working with open and flexible digital tools – spending a majority of time working with that particular mode and relying on it to carry the communicative weight of their compositions. The development of multimodal composing timescapes for this study provided new insights into students’ rapid and frequent cross-modal traversals as they worked on their digital projects.     

Class Level as a Possible Mediator of the Relationship between Grades and Student Ratings of Teaching

Although the research literature investigating the relationship between grade awarded to students and students’ evaluations of teaching performance is voluminous, very few studies have examined the grade‐rating relationship according to level of student. The present study examined correlations between mean instructor rating and mean class grade for all course evaluations (N = 625 classes) at Utah State University during an academic quarter. In lower‐division (courses 100–299) and upper‐division (courses 300–599) undergraduate classes, correlations between grades and ratings of faculty were of an expected direction and magnitude (0.29 and 0.28, respectively); however, the grade‐rating correlation for graduate classes (courses 600 +) was — 0.20. It is speculated that graduate students are both better students and more critical evaluators of instruction, but replication and extension with different samples are needed before this tentative explanation can be accepted with confidence.     

Teachers’ adoption of technology innovation into pedagogical practices

This paper summarized findings from an empirical study that evaluated the effectiveness of a technology incentive project, MEET, on facilitating the adoption of a web technology CCC Confer among college instructors. Results show that teachers’ technology adoption can be facilitated by providing certain incentives. A number of strategies were essential to the effectiveness of this incentive project: (1) Involving teachers in the decision-making process to make the technology integration project meaningful to them; (2) Helping teachers to develop a well-designed plan with realistic goals and a feasible implementation outline; (3) Building a collegial community from where teachers can learn from peers, obtain support from their social-networks, and work collaboratively; (4) Leading with strong leadership to ensure high morale, sufficient resources and support that are indispensible to the successful implementation of a technology project; and (5) Proving timely support to help teachers remove roadblocks. Restraining factors included insufficient critical appraisal, the absence of collaborative projects, and few face-to-face meetings. Specific implications for technology integration are discussed.