Instructor experiences with a social networking site in a higher education setting: expectations, frustrations, appropriation, and compartmentalization

Researchers and practitioners have suggested that the use of social networking sites in formal education may be a worthwhile endeavor. Toward this goal, emerging learning platforms have included social networking features. Nevertheless, empirical literature examining user experiences, and more specifically instructor experiences, with these tools is limited. In this qualitative study, we address this gap in the literature by reporting the experiences of five instructors who used a social networking platform in their courses. We find that instructors (a) had expectations of Elgg that stemmed from numerous sources, (b) used Elgg in heterogeneous ways and for varied purposes, (c) compartmentalized Elgg and used it in familiar ways, and (d) faced frustrations stemming from numerous sources. We note that the ways Elgg came to be used “on the ground” is contested and contrasts starkly with the narrative of how social software might contribute benefits to educational practice. In addition, we note that learning management systems may frame the ways through which other tools, such as social media and Elgg, are understood, used, and experienced.     

An investigation of alpha,beta, and gamma change in developmental assessment center participants

Despite widespread application of developmental assessment centers (DACs), little is known about the impact of the process on participants' understanding of the assessed performance dimensions. This study explores this issue by applying Golembiewski, Billingsley, and Yeager's (1976) tripartite model of change to assess the presence of alpha, beta, and gamma change in DAC participants. Using the method outlined by Terborg, Howard, and Maxwell (1980), we investigate the nature and type of change occurring in a sample of mid‐level managers following a DAC. Evidence for all three types of change was found across the six dimensions targeted by the DAC. Results suggest DACs may not only be an effective means to facilitate perceived performance improvement (alpha change), they may also succeed in facilitating new insight in participants regarding the dimensions on which they are assessed (beta and gamma change).     

Style,stamina and mobile masculinities: the reinvention of Savate in the Anglosphere

ABSTRACT

The roots of Savate in France stretch back at least 200 years, and there is extensive interdisciplinary research in French showing changing interpretations of its meaning and purpose. Savate is now a globalised combat sports with potential to enter the Olympic Games. To help remedy the lacuna of English-language research, this paper considers: (1) Documentaries and rare instructional literature; (2) online videos and discussions of archival Savate footage; (3) contemporary documentation from the Great Britain Savate Federation; and, (4) ongoing fieldwork in one UK Savate school. Through our multimodal study of printed, televised, digital and physical action, we add to the discussions to the constant reinvention of Savate to a modern, seemingly inclusive combat sport. Using John Urry’s framework of mobilities, we introduce the notion of ‘mobile masculinities’ underpinned by a European sense of relatively elite individualistic cosmopolitanism. Savate provides a rich case study of gender inclusivity in sport – how a previously male-dominated activity incorporates women in positions of power and responsibility and teaches men to acquire elegance in style and elite levels of stamina.     

Martin to Brown

The rise of the modern Black Lives Matter movement can be traced back to two key events, the 2012 death of Trayvon Martin and the 2014 death of Michael Brown. Research routinely showed that mainstream media’s narrative choices marginalize and delegitimize protesters and their causes, a pattern known as the protest paradigm. This study provides a longitudinal examination of how the same mainstream media system varied in their coverage of similar events and the degree to which journalists challenged the predicted paradigms conceptualized in other academic work. A content analysis of national newspaper coverage revealed that news before the judicial rulings focused on protesters’ tactics (violence versus peaceful) and changed to the realm of ideas (grievances and demands) after the assailants were considered not guilty of wrongdoing. No progression was found in legitimizing coverage of protests between the two cases.     

A posthumanist critique of flexible online learning and its “anytime anyplace” claims

Flexible approaches to online learning are gaining renewed interest in some part due to their capacity to address emergent opportunities and concerns facing higher education. Importantly, flexible approaches to online learning are purported to be democratizing and liberatory, broadening access to higher education and enabling learners to participate in educational endeavours at “anytime” from “anyplace.” In this paper, we critique such narratives by showing that flexibility is neither universal nor neutral. Using critical theory, we demonstrate how flexibility assumes imagined autonomous learners that are self-reliant and individualistic. Through relevant examples, we show how such a framing to flexibility is oppressive, and argue that a contextual, relative and relational understanding of flexibility may in fact be more liberatory. Such an approach to flexibility, for example, may involve contextual and relational efforts to relax prescribed curricula within courses or programmes of study.     

Kindergarten Children's Executive Functions Predict Their Second-Grade Academic Achievement and Behavior

Whether and to what extent kindergarten children's executive functions (EF) constitute promising targets of early intervention is currently unclear. This study examined whether kindergarten children's EF predicted their second-grade academic achievement and behavior. This was done using (a) a longitudinal and nationally representative sample (N = 8,920, M_age = 97.6 months), (b) multiple measures of EF, academic achievement, and behavior, and (c) extensive statistical control including for domain-specific and domain-general lagged dependent variables. All three measures of EF—working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control—positively and significantly predicted reading, mathematics, and science achievement. In addition, inhibitory control negatively predicted both externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors. Children's EF constitute promising targets of experimentally evaluated interventions for increasing academic and behavioral functioning.     

Interval exercise induces milder respiratory responses compared to continuous exercise

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to explore the respiratory response of acute interval and continuous exercise (CE) of low and high intensity. Fourteen recreational athletes (7 men and 7 women; VO₂max = 35.7 ± 6.1 mlkg^–1min^–1) performed a bout of continuous and a bout of interval exercise (IE) both consisted of 5-min cycling at low intensity [80% of the power output (W) of the predetermined gas exchange threshold (GET) (80%W_GET)] and 5-min cycling at high intensity {W_GET plus the work rate corresponding to 50% of the difference between peak power output (PPO) at oxygen uptake (VO₂max) test and the W_GET [W_GET + 0.50 Δ(PPO – W_GET)]}. CE compared to IE induced significant higher heart rate and ventilation as well as significant higher levels of mouth occlusion pressure for 0.1 s (P_0.1) (P < 0.05) during low and high intensities. Our results indicate that CE stimulates respiration more than IE when the exercise is performed at the same relative intensity.