Interdisciplinary collaboration as a prerequisite for inclusive education

This article reports on findings from a research project on interdisciplinary collaboration between mainstream school teachers and special school teachers. The aim of the research project has been to examine the knowledge of special school teachers and how this knowledge can contribute to the development of an inclusive learning environment in mainstream schools. Not as a simple task of transferring knowledge, but as a process of transforming knowledge through interdisciplinary collaboration and co-teaching. The design of the study is inspired by the notion of participation within action research as a research approach. Thus the thick data generated from reflective activities in the study design are analysed within a narrative and practice directed strategy of analysis.     

Investigating Strategies for Pre-Class Content Learning in a Flipped Classroom

In a flipped classroom model, learning of basic content is shifted before class while in-class time is used for concept application. Empirical and controlled research studies are lacking on the best strategies to provide the necessary pre-class content instruction. In this study, we tested three methods of pre-class content learning—interactive online tutorials, video lectures, and textbook-style readings—while holding the content and the in-class application activities constant. Identical introductory, non-majors biology classes were manipulated at both a public, open-enrollment institution and a private, highly selective institution. We found that video lectures offer a small advantage to overall student learning over interactive tutorials or textbook-style readings. Although our two populations differed in their ability to effectively learn from pre-class activities, through a student-centered flipped classroom approach, students at both institutions demonstrated equal learning gains by the final assessment. Potential reasons for some observed differences are suggested.     

Providing metrics and automatic enhancement for hierarchical taxonomies

Taxonomies enable organising information in a human–machine understandable form, but constructing them for reuse and maintainability remains difficult. The paper presents a formal underpinning to provide quality metrics for a taxonomy under development. It proposes a methodology for semi-automatic building of maintainable taxonomies and outlines key features of the knowledge engineering context where the metrics and methodology are most suitable. The strength of the approach presented is that it is applied during the actual construction of the taxonomy. Users provide terms to describe different domain elements, as well as their attributes, and methodology uses metrics to assess the quality of this input. Changes according to given quality constraints are then proposed during the actual development of the taxonomy.     

The MPEES Journal: 1997–2006

The articles published in the Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science (MPEES) journal over the first 10 volumes were categorized by content area and methodology. The authors have offered opinions here concerning the changes observed over the 10-year period, the areas that are well-represented, and other potential areas of research that were not included. The purpose and intent of the journal has been to publish measurement research in areas related to physical education and exercise science. Although the content areas included in the journal have broadened over the years, the original purpose of the journal has remained the same.     

Creating a space where teachers can locate their voices and develop their pedagogical awareness

The claim is made here that we need to prepare teachers who can locate their voices in teaching situations, recognize their relationship with other voices in those situations, and reflect on their pedagogical intentions. In a teacher education course, stories written about practicum experiences offered students an opportunity to reflect on the location of their voice in classroom situations and to discuss with peers different classroom situations and possibilities for teaching and learning. This study examines more closely the reflections of two of the students with seemingly distinct orientations to learning to teach. Their practicum stories and reflective essays were analyzed for positioning of voice as described by Belenky et al. (1986). The two students located their voices in distinct ways, and also expressed growing awareness of classroom dynamics and the value of peer dialogue in broadening and deepening their understandings of teaching and learning.     

Family contexts of television

Educational technology research and development -     

Giving a voice to traumatized youth—Experiences with Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

The efficacy of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) has been shown in several randomized controlled trials. However, to our knowledge no one has studied the TF-CBT model from a user's perspective. The objective of this study was to explore traumatized youths’ experiences of receiving TF-CBT. Thirty youths between 11 and 17 years old (M = 15, SD = 1.8) were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide after they had received TF-CBT as part of an effectiveness trial. The interviews were analyzed according to thematic analysis. The youths’ responses were grouped into four themes: (1) expectations, (2) experiences of talking to the therapist and sharing information, (3) experiences of trauma narrative work, and (4) experiences of change and change processes. Findings showed how an initial fear of talking about traumatic events and not knowing what to expect from therapy was reduced when the youth experienced the therapist as empathetic and knowledgeable. Talking to the therapist was experienced as positive because of the therapist's expertise, neutrality, empathy, and confidentiality. Talking about the trauma was perceived as difficult but also as most helpful. Learning skills for reducing stress was also perceived as helpful. Important change processes were described as resuming normal functioning and getting “back on track,”, or as acquiring new perspectives and “moving forward.” Because TF-CBT is recommended as a first line treatment for traumatized youth and treating posttraumatic stress may entail special challenges, understanding more about how youths experience this mode of treatment contributes to our knowledge base and may help us tailor interventions.     

Intertribal dance and cross cultural communication: Traditional powwows in Ohio

Greater fear arousal is associated with greater engagement with persuasive messages, and negative information and events are more potent than their positive counterparts. Hence loss-framed persuasive appeals, which emphasize the undesirable outcomes of noncompliance with the communicator's recommendations, should elicit greater message processing than do gain-framed appeals, which emphasize the desirable outcomes of compliance. But a meta-analytic review (based on 42 effect sizes, N = 6,378) finds that gain-framed messages engender slightly but significantly greater message engagement than do loss-framed messages. This effect is apparently not a result of whether the appeals refer to obtaining or averting negative (e.g., “skin cancer”) rather than positive (e.g., “attractive skin”) outcomes.     

General Media and Media-Related

William L. Rivers, Theodore Peterson and Jay W. Jensen's The Mass Media and Modern Society (Rinehart Press, $8.95)

Ronald T. Farrar and John D. Stevens' (eds.) Mass Media and the National Experience (Harper & Row, price not known (paper back))

Bernard Rosenberg and David Manning White's Mass Culture Revisited (Van Nostrand, both hardback and paperback at same time–price not yet known)

Wilbur Schramm (ed.) Process and Effects of Mass Communications (University of Illinois Press, details unknown)

The Steranko History of Comics (Supergraphics Publications, 501 Spruce St., Reading, Pa. 19602, $3.00 paperback)     

Addressing sexual harassment in a sexually charged national culture: a Journal of Applied Communication Research forum

Sexual harassment remains a persistent workplace problem. The 2017 #Metoo movement and what-have-come-to-be routine news stories about sexual hostility, sexual assault, and sexual harassment in American organizations have opened wounds and reinvigorated public commentary. Although the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sets forth guidelines for organizations to follow, questions remain about what counts as sexual harassment, and what is an organization’s responsibility in maintaining a harassment-free workplace for its employees. At the invitation of the editor, seven organizational communication scholars responded to a series of questions addressing seven issues related to sexual harassment. These are: sexual harassment policy and training; the responsibilities of bystanders of sexual harassment; organizational culture that provides more support to the harasser than the harassed; the intersection of race with sexual harassment; same-sex harassment and female-to-male harassment; and what can be learned from public movements (e.g. #Metoo). The co-authors’ responses describe sexually harassing situation with which they are familiar.