Exploring the Change in Motivations for Fantasy Sport Participation During the Life Cycle of a Sports Fan

A total of 529 respondents who had participated in fantasy sport in the past year completed a survey regarding their media consumption habits and motivations for play. Significant age divides were uncovered between players who were younger than age 35 as opposed to respondents who were 35 and older. Overall, younger participants consumed 4.2 more hours of sports media content per week and were more likely to participate in fantasy sport because of entertainment, enjoyment, and surveillance desires. In contrast, older participants were more likely to participate in fantasy sport to pass the time, even though consumption research indicates that they spent less time devoted to the activity than their younger counterparts. In addition, younger participants were more likely than older participants to exhibit a desire to establish and exhibit elements of personal sports knowledge. Implications for communication researchers interested in media and/or sport are articulated.     

Balancing Plan-Driven and Agile Methods in Software Engineering Project Courses

Abstraction is a major concept in computer science and serves as a powerful tool in software development. Pattern-oriented instruction (POI) is a pedagogical approach that incorporates patterns in an introductory computer science course in order to structure the learning of algorithmic problem solving. This paper examines abstraction processes in the course of solving an algorithmic problem and highlights three distinct, although interrelated, facets of abstraction: pattern recognition, black-boxing, and structure identification. A study that examined the influence of the POI approach on students' abstraction skills is described; students who learned according to the POI approach were compared with students who learned in a traditional manner with regard to analogical reasoning and problem decomposition and solution, as well as verbal expression. The three facets of abstraction were used to analyze students' abstraction skills and their competency in algorithmic problem solving.     

Understanding Cross-Cultural Meaning through Visual Media

Lack of shared meaning can make communication difficult for people of different cultures. Perceptions and practical experience are important influences when devising and developing online learning experiences in cross-cultural contexts. In this study, 15 educational designers studying for their Masters Degree were asked to contribute their interpretations to an ongoing study of what meaning and interpretations were generated from a series of different learning environments offered via the Web. Course materials were designed in Australia and delivered into Hong Kong, SAR, and China. Students did not always interpret the visual information in the manner expected by the original designers. This paper discusses the outcomes of the investigation relating students' perceptions of the appropriateness of the western interface design guidelines as they applied them to a number of exemplary Chinese WWW sites, highlighting the cultural differences in meaning and representation. Comprendre les diversités culturelles À travers les images. Le manque de sens partagé peut rendre difficile la communication entre peuples de différentes cultures. L'expérience pratique et les diverses perceptions peuvent avoir leur importance lors de la conception et le développement de projets de formation en ligne dans des contextes multiculturels. Dans cette étude, quinze concepteurs multimédias, du niveau de la maîtrise, ont été sollicités pour étudier les différentes interprétations et perceptions générées par différents cours offerts sur le Web. Les cours ont été produits en Australie et diffusés À Hong Kong, en SAR, et en Chine. Les étudiants n'ont pas toujours décodé les informations visuelles selon les voeux de leurs concepteurs. Cet article analyse les résultats de cette investigation portant sur la perception qu'ont les étudiants chinois, par exemple, de directives proposées par des auteurs occidentaux, laissant apparaître d'importants écarts dans la représentation qu'ils s'en font. Interkulturelle Bedeutung durch visuelle Medien verstehen> Kommunikation zwischen Menschen verschiedener Kulturen kann durch die Verwendung von Begriffen mit nicht gemeinsamer Bedeutung erschwert werden. Eigene Wahrnehmungen und praktische Erfahrungen sind wichtige Grundlagen für den Entwurf und die Entwicklung von Online-Lehrgängen in interkulturellen Kontexten. In dieser Studie wurden fünfzehn Kursdesigner, die für ihre Masters Degrees studierten, darum gebeten, ihre Interpretationen einer laufenden Studie über die Frage, welche Bedeutung und Interpretationen durch eine Serie von über das Netz angebotenen verschiedenen Lernumgebungen generiert wurden, abzugeben. Die Kursmaterialien wurden in Australien gestaltet und nach Hongkong, SAR China, übermittelt. Die Studenten interpretierten die visuelle Information nicht immer in der Weise, wie das von den Original Designern erwartete worden war. Dieses Papier erörtert die Ergebnisse der Untersuchung, die die Wahrnehmungen der Studenten über die Sinnentsprechung der westlichen Schnittstellenentwurfsrichtlinien in Beziehung setzt, indem sie sie auf eine Anzahl vorbildlicher chinesischer Web-Sites anwandten und damit die kulturellen Unterschiede in Bedeutung und Darstellung hervorhoben.     

Developing multiliteracies in a technology-mediated environment

Evolving technologies and globalisation presents educators with the challenge of creating learning experiences to help students develop competencies to enable them to function successfully in a dynamic society. Today’s learner is expected to be multiliterate – able to analyse and construct multi-modal texts. A qualitative embedded multi-case study was conducted to investigate the learning experiences and multiliteracy outcomes for students engaged in an educational program with a media studies focus. The program, designed for a secondary school English curriculum, was underpinned by multiliteracies pedagogy and delivered within a technology-mediated environment. This paper reports a single class case drawing upon examples from small group cases embedded within the class. The findings suggest that educational programs underpinned by multiliteracy pedagogy supported by technology can provide meaningful learning experiences for students whilst achieving multiliteracies focused learning outcomes. For this to occur important factors such as teacher technology competencies and expertise, access and integration of technology and facilitation of effective learning scaffolds should be considered.     

A grand day out: towards a mode of interrogation of non-school pedagogic sites

Interest is increasingly being taken in educational sites which extend or which are located beyond the school. These include sites associated with developing information and communications technologies and mass media organizations as well as institutions of longer standing, such as museums, galleries and so forth. In this article we shall deploy a sociological framework originally developed for the analysis of school texts to such non-school sites. Our focus will include considerations of heritage and conservation sites in the form of castles and zoos. We contend that in operating in terms of both pedagogic and exchange relations, such sites may have something to teach as well as something to learn from schooling.     

An Evaluation of the Spitz Student Response System in Teaching a Course in Logical and Mathematical Concepts

The problem of this study was the effect of teaching freshman mathematics with the Spitz Student Response System (SSRS) upon a student’s anxiety, attitude, and achievement. Subjects were seventy-three freshman men and women at a liberal arts college in the Southwest. A 2 x 2 factorial analysis of covariance was used to analyze the data. Several research hypotheses were formulated to be consistent with the purposes of this research problem. It was found that the use of the Spitz Student Response System did not significantly change a student’s achievement, anxiety, or attitude in mathematics. The statistical data of this study would tend to support the idea that the effect of attitude on achievement in independent of the method of instruction. Subjective evaluation by the students tends to support the use of the Spitz System.     

The Nature of Some of the Difficulties of Students Failing the First Two Years of College

The partial correlation coefficient is derived analytically under exemplary factor patterns. In these patterns, variables are described as an additive composition of a set of orthogonal factors, including general, common, and specific factors. Viewed in this framework, it is evident that the partial correlation may yield spurious results. Partialling out an infallible variable or a variable with no unique component does not necessarily yield an interpretable coefficient. Examples from the literature are given where an understanding of the underlying factor pattern facilitates interpretation of the computed partial correlation coefficient.