Designing Deliberation Systems

In a liberal democracy, the evolution of political agendas and formation of policy involves deliberation: serious consideration of political issues. Modern-day political participation is dependent on widespread deliberation supported by information and communication technologies, which also offer the potential to revitalize and transform citizen engagement in democracy. Although the majority of Web 2.0 systems enable these discourses to some extent, government institutions commission and manage specialized deliberation systems (information systems designed to support participative discourse) intended to promote citizen engagement. The most common examples of these are political discussion forums. Although usually considered trivial adaptations of well-known technologies, these types of deliberative systems are often unsuccessful, and present a distinct set of design and management challenges. In this article, the authors analyze the issues involved in establishing political deliberation systems under four headings: stakeholder engagement, Web platform design, service management, political process reshaping, and evaluation and improvement. We review the existing literature and present a longitudinal case study: the Norwegian Demokratitorget (Democracy Square). We define key issues in each of the four areas, which need to be understood to design and manage a successful net-based deliberation forum.     

Contagious Media Effects: How Media Use and Exposure to Game-Framed News Influence Media Trust

The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which trust in media is affected by personal media use and the framing of politics as a strategic game. The study is based on a four-wave panel survey matched with media content data, which allows us to investigate not only correlations but also individual-level effects on media trust. In accordance with previous research, our analyses show that the use of specific media types leads to more trust in those specific media. The results also show that media framing of politics as a strategic game has a negative effect on trust in the media. The more citizens are exposed to game-framed news, the less they tend to trust the media, with the exception of tabloid newspapers. Overall, these results lend support to the assumption of contagious effects of game-framed news. In a concluding section, we sum up our results and discuss the implications of our findings.     

“I feel I mean something to someone”: solution-focused brief therapy support groups for bullied schoolchildren

The aim of this study was to investigate how bullied schoolchildren experience solution-focused brief therapy support groups, and to examine how members of the support group experience their participation in the group. An explorative qualitative design, with individual and focus group interviews, was used. The sample consisted of 19 schoolchildren, aged 12–13 years, three of whom were bullied. Six individual interviews were conducted with the bullied children and three focus group interviews were held with the support groups. The bullied children reported that the bullying stopped after they received help from the support group and the improvements remained after three months. Their daily lives at school changed and they felt safer and happier and made friends. Members of the support groups reported that they were doing a meaningful job in helping the victims. It is important that school nurses, educational psychologists and teachers, together with parents, follow up bullied children, to prevent further bullying.     

Task-oriented reading of multiple documents: online comprehension processes and offline products

We explored readers’ judgments of text relevance and strategy use while they read about a controversial scientific issue in multiple conflicting documents using a think-aloud methodology and had them write a short essay after reading. Participants were university-level students. There were three main findings. First, readers discriminated between more- and less-relevant information while they read. Second, the frequency with which they used strategies differed while they read more- and less-relevant information. Specifically, while they read more-relevant information, students were more likely to build connections between that information and information in other texts. Third, their judgments of more-relevant segments as relevant and their evaluation of less-relevant information while they read were related to the quality of students’ essays after they read. We discuss how the findings may contribute to the literature on task-oriented reading of multiple documents.     

Job Values in Professional Education: The role of achievement goals

What kind of jobs students prefer after having completed their professional education may have important personal and organisational consequences. It is therefore essential to gain a better understanding of the job values they pursue, as well as of the antecedents of such values. In this longitudinal study, we first showed that the job values of the 152 participating Norwegian student nurses and student teachers could be divided into extrinsic job values, such as high salary and good opportunities for advancement, and intrinsic job values, such as good social relations and interesting work. Moreover, we found that an important aspect of academic motivation, that is, students' achievement goals, predicted their job values. Specifically, students adopting performance‐approach goals were more likely to pursue extrinsic job values and students adopting mastery goals were more likely to pursue intrinsic job values. Ways in which the findings address current controversies in the literature on achievement goals are discussed.     

Measuring the causes for the growth in special needs education. A validation of a questionnaire with possible factors explaining the growing demand for special provisions in education

In recent decades, the basic principle in Norway’s education policy has been that all students should receive adapted education within the framework of the mainstream schools. This policy notwithstanding, the rate of students for whom special support was initiated, rose from 6.2% in 2006 to 8.0% in 2014. The study reported here developed measures for the possible causes for this unwelcome development. A questionnaire with 23 statements suggesting possible causes of the increase in the use of special support was presented to 136 teachers in primary and lower secondary school. A factor analysis revealed that 12 items formed three reliable scales for possible causes behind the high demand for special provisions: ‘Focus on students’ problems’, ‘External pressure on schools’ and ‘Early support’. The teachers stated that these causes had moderate impact. The study has resulted in three scales useful in measuring three causes.     

Forefoot and heel take-off strategies result in different distribution of lower extremity work during landings

ABSTRACT

Previous research suggests that landing mechanics may be affected by the mechanics of the preceding jump take-off. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether jump take-off mechanics influence the subsequent landing mechanics. Female volleyball (n = 17) and ice hockey (n = 19) players performed maximal vertical jumps with forefoot and heel take-off strategies. During forefoot and heel jumps, participants were instructed to shift their weight to their forefoot or heel, respectively, and push through this portion of the foot throughout the jump. Jump mechanics were examined using 3D motion analysis, where lower extremity net joint moment (NJM) work, NJM, and segment angles were compared between forefoot and heel jumps using multivariate ANOVA. During jump take-off, participants performed more positive ankle plantar flexor and knee extensor NJM work in forefoot compared to heel jumps (P < 0.05). From initial foot contact to foot flat, participants performed more negative ankle plantar flexor and hip extensor NJM work during heel compared to forefoot jumps (P < 0.05). The present results demonstrate that using a heel take-off strategy results in a different distribution of lower extremity NJM work and NJM during landing compared to landings following forefoot jumps.     

A study of stearyl alcohol bloom on Dan Hill PVC dolls and the influence of temperature

A study was conducted to investigate white bloom found on more than 130 polyvinyl chloride (PVC) dolls from the 1980s and 1990s produced by the Danish factory Dan Hill Plast A/S. The bloom was discovered on the dolls after 10 years of storage in a climate controlled facility with average temperature at 11–12°C and a relative humidity at 50?±?5%. Analysis of the dolls and the bloom was carried out using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, which revealed that the bloom consisted primarily of stearyl alcohol. Subsequent analysis with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry showed a minor presence of cetyl alcohol. It is proposed that the alcohol had been added as a lubricant to aid flow during processing. The stearyl alcohol was almost completely reabsorbed into the PVC dolls following one month storage at room temperature, suggesting that low temperature storage played a decisive role in the appearance of the bloom. It is likely that a decrease in temperature has led to a decrease in compatibility of the stearyl alcohol in the PVC compound, thus promoting its exudation. This paper also discusses an extreme bloom of white crystals on other PVC dolls of unknown provenance.     

Assessing with new eyes? Assessment for learning in Norwegian physical education

Background: The latest curriculum reform in Norway is one example of an education reform with a highly emphasised assessment for learning (AfL) agenda. Acknowledging that there is a lack of empirical research on AfL in physical education (PE), and that AfL potentially can have an important role to play in development of PE pedagogy, this paper set out to examine the extent to which the emphasis on AfL from educational authorities has led to change in assessment practice in PE.

Purpose and research question: The purpose of this paper is to examine the implementation of AfL in PE at upper secondary level in Norway, and discuss possible implications. More specifically we ask ‘How do students’ and teachers' perspectives of assessment practices in PE reflect AfL key principles?'

Methods: A mixed-method design has been applied in this study. Quantitative data, collected through a questionnaire answered by 1486 students from six upper secondary schools (15–19 years), were combined and compared with qualitative data from focus groups of a total of 23 PE teachers at the same schools. Data were analysed in relation to four key principles of AfL.

Findings: For the majority of the students in the study, their reports of assessment practice in PE did not reflect the four key principles of AfL. This result was supported by the fact that their PE teachers conveyed very varied understandings and enactments of AfL. The study revealed some difference between teacher and student perspectives regarding AfL key principles, in particular regarding feedback that moves learners forward.

Conclusions: The study demonstrates limited implementation of AfL principles in PE and we conclude that the educational authorities' emphasis of AfL has not proven productive in PE. However, most of the teachers acknowledged the need to change teaching and assessment practices in PE, and all schools in the study are observed to be in an area of changing assessment. Considering the findings on different AfL key principles, this study highlights engaging student more directly in assessment processes as an important development area.