Engineering Courses Taught in English: An Experience from Denmark

The article gives a brief review of the internationalization of Danish higher education and engineering education in particular. It addresses the questions of why it is important to develop courses in English with regard to the process of internationalization, impact on the curricula and impact on students. Finally, it shows the necessity for higher education institutes in minor language areas to develop courses in English, and new keywords in the internationalization process are discussed.     

Using Quality Management Tools to Enhance Feedback from Student Evaluations

Statistical tools found in the service quality assessment literature—the T² statistic combined with factor analysis—can enhance the feedback instructors receive from student ratings. T² examines variability across multiple sets of ratings to isolate individual respondents with aberrant response patterns (i.e., outliers). Analyzing student responses that are outside the “normal” range of responses can identify aspects of the course that cause pockets of students to be dissatisfied. This fresh insight into sources of student dissatisfaction is particularly valuable for instructors willing to make tactical classroom changes that accommodate individual students rather than the traditional approach of using student ratings to develop systemwide changes in course delivery. A case study is presented to demonstrate how the recommended procedure minimizes data overload, allows for valid schoolwide and longitudinal comparisons of correlated survey responses, and helps instructors identify priority areas for instructional improvement.     

Looking at the extraordinary success of the ‘Clockwork Orange’: examining the brilliance of total football played by the Netherlands

This essay describes some of the legendary accomplishments of the Netherlands football team in the World Cup and other international tournaments. It focuses on the Dutch teams led by Johan Cruyff and affectionately known as ‘The Clockwork Orange’ because they introduced a modern style of play with precision passing that was referred to as ‘total football’. The Netherlands advanced to the World Cup final in 1974 and 1978, only to lose the championship each time. The study also explores the role of the Dutch coach Rinus Michels and some of Cruyff’s teammates such as Johan Neeskens and Rob Rensenbrink. Looking at the Netherlands’ performances in the European championships and World Cups in the last three decades, the essay attempts to bring out the transformations in Dutch football in post-Cruyff age. Finally, it discusses the team’s rabid and energized fan base, and the ambush marketing scandal that took place during the 2010 World Cup.     

Preparing Ed.D. Students to Conduct Group Dissertations

In this article we present an overview of a recently launched cohort-based Ed.D. program that prepares participants to conduct group dissertations. The program, a hybrid model of online learning activities and monthly face-to-face class sessions, is delivered through a partnership between a university’s college of education and the administrative office of a statewide system of community and technical colleges. Discussion begins with a review of the pedagogical rationale that informed program design and instructional practices, followed by a presentation of key program elements tracing the development of the cohort through an innovative, collaborative dissertation process still in progress.     

Effects of social psychological phenomena on school psychologists’ ethical decision-making: a preliminary empirical analysis

This preliminary, exploratory study examines the impact of select social psychological phenomena on school-based ethical decision-making of school psychologists. Responses to vignettes and hypothetical statements reflecting several social psychological phenomena were collected from 106 practicing school psychologists. Participants were asked to respond by indicating the degree to which their actions in such a scenario would be influenced by the particular phenomenon being represented. Results indicate that some of these social psychological influences are present in the daily work of the school psychologist.     

Assessing and Promoting Cultural Relativism in Students of Counseling

Multicultural counseling is often promoted as a core element in counselor development. As such, educational efforts aim to increase counselors’ cultural relativism, or their ability to recognize their own enculturation and to appreciate the value of other cultural norms. This mixed qualitative-quantitative study explored the relationship between counselor and human service professional trainees’ moral development levels and their cultural assumptions after they had experienced a course in cultural diversity. Four themes were noted: (i) reflexivity about culture, (ii) orientation toward activism and advocacy, (iii) differences in attitudes toward sexual orientation and religion, and (iv) increased alertness to culture. Implications for culturally alert practice are discussed.     

Data-Driven Decisions for Library Liaisons: Exploring Strategies for Effectively Managing Diminishing Monograph Collections

Many academic libraries have liaison programs as a means of building relevant and useful library collections and to promote library resources to campus users. Librarians have long served as liaisons without the benefit of much data to guide decisions. In this age of library budget cuts, librarians need to make every dollar count. What collection and use data help liaisons build a quality monograph collection that better meets the needs of library users? This article offers some ideas for providing the data needed by liaisons for more informed decision making and collection management and, ultimately, for ensuring that library materials purchased are needed and used.     

SMS Text Reference Comes of Age: The My Info Quest Collaborative

The advent of the nationwide My Info Quest text message reference collaborative not only helped propel United States libraries' use of telephone text messaging to a new standing, it also demonstrated the effectiveness of a nationwide non-hierarchical librarian collective built on an organic foundation of radical trust. Much of the collaborative's development parallels similarly probing steps taken years earlier by instant messaging reference librarians, albeit with profound organizational differences. This article reports on important contrasts and commonalities with earlier services and describes some of the day-to-day workings of My Info Quest during its 2009–2010 pilot phase.     

Acute and sub-acute effects of repetitive kicking on hip adduction torque in injury-free elite youth soccer players

Abstract

Hip adduction strength is important for kicking and acceleration in soccer players. Changes in hip adduction strength may therefore have an effect on soccer players’ athletic performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the acute and sub-acute effects of a kicking drill session on hip strength, concerning isometric hip adduction, abduction and flexion torque of the kicking leg and the supporting leg. Ten injury-free male elite soccer players, mean ± s age of 15.8 ± 0.4 years participated. All players underwent a specific 20 min kicking drill session, comprising 45 kicks. The players were tested the day before, 15 min after and 24 h after the kicking drill session by a blinded tester using a reliable test procedure. The isometric hip-action and leg-order were randomized. For the kicking leg, hip adduction torque increased from 2.45 (2.19–2.65) Nm ? kg^?1, median (25th–75th percentiles), at pre-kicking to 2.65 (2.55–2.81) Nm ? kg^?1 (P = 0.024) 24 h post-kicking. This may have implications for the soccer player’s ability to maximally activate the hip adductors during kicking and acceleration, and thereby improve performance the day after a kicking drill session.