Reasons for Student Engagement in Extra-Class Communication

This study extends instructional communication research on extra-class communication (ECC) by presenting an integrative analysis comparing the explanatory utility of student- and instructor-oriented reasons for student engagement in frequent ECC. Results from 495 college students suggested that student-oriented reasons, specifically the relational and functional student motives, were the only significant, positive predictors of students’ perceptions of frequent ECC engagement. Other student motives (excuse making, participation, sycophancy) and perceptions of instructor approachability did not significantly predict perceived frequency of ECC engagement.     

The one-week and six-month reliability and variability of three-dimensional tibial acceleration in runners*

Tibial acceleration is a surrogate measure for impact loading and lower limb fatigue injury in runners. Triaxial accelerometers may offer reliable and practical measurement of resultant peak tibial acceleration (PTA). With such potential in mind, this study examined variability and measurement reliability of tibial acceleration in 14 runners at baseline at one week, and eight of the runners again at six months. Triaxial accelerometers were attached to the distal tibiae of runners before they ran on a treadmill for two minutes each, at speeds of 2.7, 3.0, 3.3 and 3.7 m/s in standardised shoes. Resultant PTAs were calculated for each speed and session. Reliability outcomes were presented as percentage change and effect sizes. Variability outcomes included intraclass correlation coefficients and the typical error of the measurement. Smallest worthwhile change and performance/noise ratio were also calculated. While runners demonstrated marginally lower reliability and higher variability over six months, compared to one week, in all cases the measures of reliability and variability were of ‘good’ to ‘moderate’ reliability, and ‘small’ to ‘moderate’ variability using magnitude-based inferences. We can be confident that resultant PTA can be used with runners to assess and monitor their impacts throughout a six-month intervention.     

The effects of resistance training volume on osteosarcopenic obesity in older women

The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of resistance training (RT) performed with 1 or 3 sets per exercise on osteosarcopenic obesity (OSO) syndrome parameters in older women. Sixty-two older women (68.0 ± 4.3 years, 26.8 ± 4.4 kg/m²) participated in a 12-week RT program. Participants were randomly assigned into one of the three groups: two training groups that performed either 1 set (G1S, n = 21) or 3 sets (G3S, n = 20) 3 times weekly, or a control group (CG, n = 21). Body composition was assessed by dual X-ray absorptiometry, strength was evaluated by 1 repetition maximum testing. The G3S presented significantly higher strength changes than G1S. The changes for percentage of body fat were higher for G3S compared to G1S. There was no difference in skeletal muscle mass between G3S and G1S, however both training groups displayed greater increases in this outcome compared to CG. There was no effect for bone mineral density. The overall analysis indicated higher (P < 0.05) positive changes for G3S than G1S (composed Z-score: G3S = 0.62 ± 0.40; G1S = 0.11 ± 0.48). The results suggest that a 12-week RT period is effective to improve the risk factors of OSO, and that 3 sets induce higher improvements than a single set.     

Do karate fighters use situational probability information to improve decision-making performance during on-mat tasks?

This study examined the contribution of situational probability information to the perceptual and cognitive processes underlying decision-making behaviour during in situ Karate performance. Experts and novices were required to make decisions about various attacks in different fight scenarios. The order in which the fight situations were presented was modified in order to provide advanced probability information and identify whether fighters were able to use the latter information to make better decisions. Specifically, one of the attacks was repeated every four actions. Results revealed that experts were more accurate and faster than their less skilled counterparts to block and counterattack the opponent. The experts picked up the occurrence of the attack pattern after the fifth repetition whereas novices did not. This enabled experts to improve decision time and decision accuracy. Findings suggest that such superiority could stem from the perceptual and cognitive skills possessed by the experts, thus giving them the opportunity to recognise a situation more easily. This was reinforced by gaze behaviour which demonstrated that experts used a more efficient search strategy involving fewer fixations of longer duration on a lesser number of areas relative to the novices. Moreover, experts generated more refined karate-specific knowledge structures compared with the novices.     

The effects of physical contact type on the internal and external demands during a rugby league match simulation protocol

The aim of this study was to investigate how the type of contact influences physiological, perceptual and locomotive load during a simulated rugby league match. Eleven male university rugby league players performed two trials of the rugby league movement simulation protocol for interchange forwards with a traditional soft tackle bag and a weighted tackle sled to replicate contact demands. The interchange forward-specific simulation was chosen given the contact frequency is higher for this group of players compared to whole match players. Locomotive rate, sprint speed, tackle intensity, heart rate (HR) and rating of perceived exertion were analysed during the first and second bouts that replicated two ~23 min on-field passages. Countermovement jump (CMJ) was measured before and immediately after each trial. More time was spent in heart rate zone between 91 and 100% HR_peak during the first (effect size ± 90% confidence interval: 0.44 ± 0.49) and second bouts (0.44 ± 0.43), and larger (0.6 ± 0.69) decrements in CMJ performance were observed during the sled trial (5.9, s = 4.9%) compared to the bag trial (2.6, s = 5.4%). Changing the type of contact during the match simulation subtly altered both the internal and external loads on participants. Using a standard tackle bag results in faster sprint speed to contact, but lower overall high-intensity running. Conversely, a heavier tackle object increases the internal load and results in greater lower limb neuromuscular fatigue as reflected by the decrease in CMJ performance.     

Sensemaking and social processes in digital government projects

This research identifies main feedback dynamics associated with social processes necessary to make sense of ambiguous project goals, typical of large digital government projects. The study reports on findings from a case analysis using participatory approaches in system dynamics, based on a digital government project integrating information systems of New York's criminal justice agencies. Findings stress the importance of visuals in the sensemaking process that results from the interaction of technical and social outcomes produced through identifying and continuously re-interpreting main project issues and goals. Project analyses suggest that requisite elements of successfully managing this type of project include 1) facilitation that enables diversity of ideas, 2) shared visuals and re-presentations of participants' efforts to work on the issues, and 3) iterative social construction of objectives, progress, and valid processes for doing the work; each of these plays a role in three different feedback processes sustaining (or undermining) the group engagement needed to yield successful integrative work. The study contributes to the literature in digital government by introducing the lenses of people-centered project management processes, an emerging approach in project management, to underscore the role of social processes in technical projects.     

My lost museum: User expectations and motivations for creating personal digital collections on museum websites

The recent development of personal digital collections systems on museum websites has prompted researchers to examine the motivations and expectations of museum visitors as they interact with those systems. Results from an online survey completed by visitors to six different museum websites show that users of personal digital collections systems are primarily motivated by a desire to create simple collections of objects and images, and are less influenced by the more complicated features museums have implemented to encourage user participation. The significance of these findings is explored through a discussion of user expectations and motivations with respect to creating personal digital collections, and an attempt is made to reconcile some of the disparities between the perceptions of survey respondents and the experiences of museum professionals developing and implementing personal digital collections systems.     

Power Dynamics and Questioning in Elementary Science Classrooms

We describe the dynamic discourse interactions between a teacher and her students in a third-grade science classroom. We focused on how the teacher and students initiate, prompt, respond, and provide feedback; use questioning and power strategies; and how questions are associated with power dynamics. We relate the consequences of teacher use of power to the engagement of student with subject matter. Two classroom sessions were observed and teacher?Cstudent interactions audio recorded. Data were transcribed and a method was developed for analyzing teacher-student interactions, power dynamics, and types of questions asked. Results revealed that teacher talk was twice as frequent as students?? talk; questions were primarily closed-ended and task-oriented; and students asked few questions. The teacher exercised power by keeping activities organized and conventional, and utilizing subject matter. The developed methods showed us the complexity of question and power dynamics in classroom discourse and have implications for professional development and research.     

Mentor-shape: exploring the mentoring relationships of Black women in doctoral programs

Using a Black Feminist Thought framework, this phenomenological study focused on lived experiences with mentoring relationships among 38 Black women in doctoral programs in multiple disciplines across universities in the United States. Although emerging studies on Black women in academia acknowledge the significance of mentorship and the reality of discrimination at the intersection of race and gender, the literature lacks empirical support pertaining to the formation and outcomes of mentoring relationships, specifically for Black women in doctoral education. Findings from this study suggested four central themes in the mentoring relationships among Black women in doctoral programs: (a) organic evolvement, (b) shared identity/mutual interest, (c) personal transformation and (d) increase in access and opportunity. Implications for future research, policy, practice and education across disciplines are offered.     

Approaches to studying and academic performance in short-essay exams

Previous research has generallyfailed to find a relation between the waystudents approach the task of studying andtheir exam grades. The present studyinvestigated why it is that a deep approach tostudying, which has been shown to result in ahigher quality of learning, does notconsistently result in higher exam grades. Theparticipants in the study were 49 third-yearpsychology students. They completedquestionnaires that assessed approaches tostudying, motivation, and intelligence. Theirfinal exam marks, along with indicators of thequality of their final exam responses and thequantity of information reproduced in the finalexam were used as indicators of academicperformance. The results showed that the deepstudy approach was linearly related to thequality of exam responses, but quadraticallyrelated to the quantity of informationreproduced. The use of the deep approach was nomore effective in facilitating high exam marksfor questions that emphasised understanding ofthe study material than for questions thatemphasised reproduction of it. Taken together,these findings suggest that students who usehigh levels of the deep approach fail toconsistently achieve higher exam grades becauseof deficiencies in the quantity of theirresponses, rather than because of theinsensitivity of exams to students'understanding of the study material.