Technology education students: e-tutors for school children

E-tutoring refers to individualised learning support mediated by Internet technology. While increased demand for tutors has led to a surge in commercial e-tutoring services, volunteer e-tutoring programs for children are rare. To test the viability of volunteer e-tutoring for elementary school students, 10 undergraduate students enrolled in a technology education (TE) course provided online with instructional support to children in need of tutoring services. Each e-tutor was assigned a specific child, developed a Web Course Tools course and corresponding online activities to improve teacher-identified skill deficiencies, and provided 8 weeks of e-tutoring. Three video conferences complemented online instructional interaction between e-tutor and e-tutee. Children, parents and TE students expressed positive evaluation of the initiative.     

Differences in the Intensity and Duration of Adolescents' Sports and Exercise Across Physical and Social Environments

We used data from the American Time Use Survey (years 2003–06) to analyze whether the intensity and duration of high school students' (ages 15–18 years) sports and exercise bouts differed across physical and social environments. Boys' sports and exercise bouts were more likely to reach a vigorous intensity when taking place at school and with friends/acquaintances/other people; whereas girls' sports and exercise bouts were more likely to reach a vigorous intensity when outdoors and alone. For boys and girls, bout durations were greater at school and with friends/acquaintances/other people than in other environments. Overall, environmental influences on the intensity but not duration of sports and exercise bouts appear to differ between boys and girls.     

The Impact of Alumni Status on Institutional Giving by Faculty and Staff

This study explores the association between propensity toward giving and personal and positional characteristics of faculty and staff across 3 years within a large, public, multi-campus higher education institution. Informed by the literatures on organizational identity and commitment, faculty and staff giving, and the higher education workforce, the study employs a hurdle analysis to estimate the predictors of likelihood of donating (the hurdle) and the amount given among those who donate. Following up on earlier research by the authors that demonstrated that academic employees and employees who are institutional alumni are more likely to give, the present study explores the interaction between these roles and offers a more powerful model for predicting the amount given. The results of this study have implications for understanding how organizational commitment and identification may be relevant in addressing giving, for institutional fundraising, and for building institutional loyalties.     

Motion Pictures

The American Film Institute Guide to College Courses in Film and Television (Washington, D.C.: Acropolis. Books, 1973—$5.95, paper)

Joseph McBride, Orson Welles (192 pp.)

Colin McArthur, Underworld USA (176 pp.)

Alan Lovell and Jim Hillier, Studies in Documentary (176 pp.)

Joel E. Siegel, Val Lewton: the Reality of Terror (176 pp.)

Arnold Gassan's A Chronology of Photography (Light Impressions, Box 3012, Rochester, N.Y. 14614, 1972—$10.50/ 7.95)     

Action research for instructional improvement: the Bad,the Ugly,and the Good

In the wake of accreditation cycles stressing student outcomes, we believed the reflective and practitioner-centered philosophy of action research a perfect fit for effecting institutional improvements for a four-year grant-funded effort in our urban–suburban community colleges in California. We learned that things were both worse and better than we had imagined. While we had anticipated what we will call ‘the Bad’, the classic budgetary and institutional forces buffeting us, our project, and our institutions, we had not anticipated what we will call ‘the Ugly’. And perhaps because of our grasp of ‘the Bad’, we also had not anticipated what we will call ‘the Good’. We found ourselves challenged to rethink how to encourage colleagues to become reflective practitioners, yet able to appreciate the power of action research to lead to genuine transformation.     

Evaluation of Handheld Computers for Direct Systematic Classroom Observation

Through this study the authors evaluate outcomes associated with the use of handheld computers by interventionists in improving the efficiency of direct systematic classroom observation. Information from observations is used by interventionists for treatment planning and evaluation. In this study, interventionists were trained to use personal digital assistants with classroom observational software for use with students who displayed low levels of academic engagement. Results indicated that the personal digital assistants and observational software were perceived as user-friendly, increased computer self-efficacy, and facilitated treatment planning and evaluation. Discussion focuses on implications for use of handheld computers and mobile devices by interventionists.     

Dissection versus Prosection: A Comparative Assessment of the Course Experiences,Approaches to Learning,and Academic Performance of Non-medical Undergraduate Students in Human Anatomy

Many institutions rely upon prosection-based laboratories as more resource-efficient and time-effective alternatives to traditional cadaver dissection for human anatomy education. To facilitate growing enrollment numbers despite resource limitations, the University of Guelph (a non-medical institution) introduced a modified “stepwise” prosection-based laboratory cohort to supplement a dissection-based course. In this design, all students attended the same lectures, but those in the dissection-based cohort learned by performing regional dissections and students in the prosection-based cohort studied from those dissections. Prosection students thereby witnessed a “slow reveal” of structures throughout the course. This study compared the perceived course experiences, student approaches to learning, and academic performance between the two groups. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to isolate the effect of the laboratory environment on student approaches to learning and academic performance from demographic and situational covariates. Both groups reported positive course experience ratings and high average final grades that were not statistically dissimilar (P > 0.05), increased reliance on deep approaches to learning (P = 0.002), and decreased reliance on surface approaches to learning (P = 0.023). When controlling for covariates, participation in dissection had small but statistically significant positive associations with deep approaches to learning (P = 0.043), performance on laboratory oral assessments (P < 0.001), and average final grades (P = 0.039). Ultimately, both designs promoted meaningful learning and desirable performance outcomes, indicating that both dissection and stepwise prosection have the potential to facilitate high quality human anatomy instruction.