Advances in the application of information technology to sport performance

This paper overviews the diverse information technologies that are used to provide athletes with relevant feedback. Examples taken from various sports are used to illustrate selected applications of technology-based feedback. Several feedback systems are discussed, including vision, audition and proprioception. Each technology described here is based on the assumption that feedback would eventually enhance skill acquisition and sport performance and, as such, its usefulness to athletes and coaches in training is critically evaluated.     

The Effect of Drag-and-Drop Item Features on Test-Taker Performance and Response Strategies

Computer-based educational assessments often include items that involve drag-and-drop responses. There are different ways that drag-and-drop items can be laid out and different choices that test developers can make when designing these items. Currently, these decisions are based on experts’ professional judgments and design constraints, rather than empirical research, which might threaten the validity of interpretations of test outcomes. To this end, we investigated the effect of drag-and-drop item features on test-taker performance and response strategies with a cognition-centered approach. Four hundred and seventy-six adult participants solved content-equivalent drag-and-drop mathematics items under five design variants. Results showed that: (a) test takers’ performance and response strategies were affected by the experimental manipulations, and (b) test takers mostly used cognitively efficient response strategies regardless of the manipulated item features. Implications of the findings are provided to support test developers’ design decisions.     

TEACHER DISTRESS AND THE ROLE OF EXPERIENTIAL AVOIDANCE

Teachers’ psychological well‐being is important for teachers and students, but teaching is highly stressful, particularly in special education. We examined the role of experiential avoidance (EA) in the well‐being of 529 middle and elementary school teachers. EA involves the tendency to avoid thoughts, feelings, and other internal experiences, even when doing so causes long‐range consequences. Using a teacher‐specific measure, we investigated EA's relationship to stress associated with student misbehavior and limited social support. We also assessed EA's relationship to burnout and depression, finding EA significantly and moderately correlated with depression and all scales of Maslach's Burnout Inventory. Mediation analyses showed EA mediated the relationship between stress associated with student behavior and measures of well‐being. We found 26.8% of teachers to be mildly, 8.9% moderately, and 2.8% moderately severely or severely depressed. This evidence concurs with studies showing the value of mindfulness‐based interventions and points to the utility of implementing interventions aimed at decreasing EA in teachers.     

Making time for science

This work analyzes the evolution of time allocation for agricultural and life science faculty in Tier 1 US research universities from 1975 to 2005. Specifically, it explores the trends with respect to time spent on research versus administrative activities, and shows about a 20% decline in the former and doubling of time spent on the latter. Most of the research time decline is accounted for by increased pre and post-grant administrative efforts and other non-research administrative activities rather than changes in teaching activity. Despite the substantial decrease in time available for research, other key research inputs and overall journal article output per faculty have remained relatively stable over that same time period. These findings raise important concerns regarding whether faculty time is being used sub-optimally relative to other ways in which administrative activities might be completed and scholarly activity might be advanced.     

The impact of cultural,ethnic, and national variables on attitudes towards the disabled in Israel: A review

Studies in Israel relating to attitudes of various ethnic, cultural and religious groups towards the disabled were reviewed. The results indicate that although there were differences in attitudes towards the disabled, these differences appear to be a function of interaction effects between many other variables and not necessarily only related to ethnic, cultural, and religious affiliation.