An Empirical Investigation of the Efficacy of Multimedia Instruction in Counseling Skill Development

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of multimedia instruction on students' counseling skill development. The participants were 73 beginning‐level counselor education students (20 men and 53 women, ages ranging from 24 to 47 years). Ratings of students' pre‐ and posttest video counseling tapes were used to assess the effects of the multimedia approach. The results found that there was no statistically significant difference among the levels of students' counseling skill development across the 3 (high‐tech multimedia, low‐tech multimedia, and traditional instruction) treatment groups.     

‘Hardly Neutral Players’: Australia's role in liberalising trade in education services

In this paper we explore the avowedly partisan stance of Australia regarding trade in education services, the government's enthusiastic approach to market liberalisation through GATS, and its response to the concerns of vocal critics including academic and student unions. Education is a major export enterprise for Australia, both onshore and offshore. Education is publicly referred to as an ‘industry’ as often as a ‘sector’, and institutions behave in an aggressively market‐oriented manner unthinkable two decades ago. While other major education exporters, including the EU, US and Canada, have showed flagging commitment to pursuing trade liberalisation in education due to opposition from the academic community and little pressure from the ‘industry’ for such an approach, Australia and New Zealand have come to represent the most ardent supporters of free trade in education. The Australian government's approach has involved making changes to its domestic education regulations to ensure they are consistent with market liberalisation, and facilitating the exploration of concerns through various international forums, including APEC, the WTO and OECD. Issues such as quality assurance, consumer protection, and public subsidies remain high on the list of matters for further debate.     

Using computer-delivered natural speech to assist in the teaching of reading

The findings of a pilot study designed to evaluate a computer system developed to assist in the teaching of reading to beginners are presented. The system uses digitised speech and the content is based upon a reading scheme already in use in the schools. Twenty children, ten in the intervention group and ten in the control group, in two schools were involved over a four-week period. Subjects were tested on a standardised reading test, a list of the 30 most frequently occurring words in written English, and on words from the published scheme. The experimental group improved their scores significantly more than the control group only on the standardised reading test. The results suggest the system can be helpful and that its effect goes beyond the words being practised.     

CULTURE and culture at the Royal Ontario Museum: Anthropology Meets Marketing,Part 1

The museum in the contemporary era imports from the nineteenth century a venerable idea: that the first responsibility of a public art museum is to enlighten and improve its visitors, morally, socially, and politically. Yet visitors often seem to have arrived from another planet, bringing with them their own cultural meanings and agendas. A series of two articles presents ethnographic data, anthropological analysis, and a marketing perspective to suggest why the visitors' points of view may seem vertiginously strange to museum personnel. This article, Part One, characterizes the conflict between host and guest as the outcome of two competing models of culture: “preferment” and “transformation.” In a subsequent issue of Curator, Part Two will examine the influence of consumer culture on these models, and offer strategies for rapprochement.     

Young offenders in New South Wales,Australia and the need for remedial sexual health education

The 2005–2008 Australian National Sexually Transmissible Infections Strategy identifies young people as a key target group in need of sexual health education, screening and management. For young people who are in contact with the New South Wales (NSW) juvenile justice system, a dire need for remedial sexual health education exists. NSW young offenders indicate initiation of sexual activity at a younger age than their peers, higher numbers of sexual partners, infrequent condom use and higher rates of sexually transmitted infections. They also report family instability, poor accessing of health services, and low school attendance: all factors that result in poor sexual knowledge and health outcomes. An examination into the cognitive profile of these young offenders indicates remedial education for this group may require a dual approach in order to redress their specific circumstances and needs. The first approach should target young offenders who simply missed out on stages of sexual health information in the school curriculum. The second approach requires a tailored teaching methodology more appropriate for a group with atypical cognitive profiles. Both approaches need to engage an educative model that acknowledges that these disadvantaged young people are already sexual active; and that many did not have the benefit of an informed or consensual decision making processes. More importantly, the tailoring of a sexual health education program to these young people needs to resonate with teaching to a cognitively distinctive population who have experienced higher than usual rates of alcohol and other drugs abuse, and higher than usual episodes of physical and emotional abuse and neglect.     

Effect of repeat-sprint training in hypoxia on post-exercise interleukin-6 and F2-isoprostanes

This investigation examined the oxidative stress (F₂-Isoprostane; F₂-IsoP) and inflammatory (interleukin-6; IL-6) responses to repeat-sprint training in hypoxia (RSH). Ten trained male team sport athletes performed 3(sets)*9(repetitions)*5?s cycling sprints in simulated altitude (3000?m) and sea-level conditions. Mean and peak sprint power output (MPO and PPO) were recorded, and blood samples were collected pre-exercise, and again at 8 and 60?min post-exercise. Both MPO and PPO were significantly reduced in hypoxia (compared to sea-level) in the second (MPO: 855?±?89 vs. 739?±?95?W, p?=?.006; PPO: 1024?±?114 vs. 895?±?112?W, p?=?.010) and third (MPO: 819?±?105 vs. 686?±?83?W, p?=?.008; PPO: 985?±?125 vs. 834?±?99?W, p?=?.008) sets, respectively. IL-6 was significantly increased from pre- to 1?h post-exercise in both hypoxia (0.7?±?0.2 vs. 2.4?±?1.4?pg/mL, p?=?.004) and sea-level conditions (0.7?±?0.2 vs. 1.6?±?0.3?pg/mL, p?d?=?0.80) suggesting higher IL-6 levels of post-hypoxia. F₂-IsoP was significantly lower 1?h post-exercise in both the hypoxic (p?=?.005) and sea-level (p?=?.002) conditions, with no differences between trials. While hypoxia can impact on exercise intensity and may result in greater post-exercise inflammation, it appears to have little effect on oxidative stress. These results indicate that team sport organisations with ready access to hypoxic training facilities could confidently administer RSH without significantly increasing the post-exercise inflammatory or oxidative stress response.     

Fact or folklore? Exploring “Myths” about outdoor education accidents: Some evidence from New Zealand

Abstract

This paper provides analysis on the frequency and nature of accidents and near accidents that have occurred in larger outdoor education centres in New Zealand. This is the first time that information of this type has been collected and analysed in New Zealand.

All 25 of the known outdoor education organisations employing three or more full-time staff were invited to participate in a study that would extract and review data from their records about accidents and near accidents. Twelve agreed to participate.

The data collected is analysed in the context of various myths that are often heard referred to by the outdoor education community. These are that: 1. i.focusing on minor incidents prevents major accidents occurring,

2. ii.selecting activities with high perceived risk but low real risk reduces exposure to accidents,

3. iii.more accidents occur while under the supervision of male rather than female instructors,

4. iv.accidents are more likely in the afternoon than the morning, and

5. v.outdoor education is dangerous compared to other risks in life.

The results lend some support to the factual nature of “myths” iii and iv, but help consign “myths” i, ii and v to the category of folklore. These results provide insights that may assist in developing strategies to improve safety in outdoor education.

In view of the current size and importance of the outdoor education sector in New Zealand and its likely future growth, one of the main recommendations arising from this study is for the establishment of a national system to formally record and report incidents and accidents.     

Time motion analysis of 2001 and 2002 super 12 rugby

The aim of this study was to quantify movements of Super 12 rugby players in competition because information on elite rugby players' movements is unavailable. Players were categorized into forwards [front (n = 16) and back row (n = 15)] and backs [inside (n = 9) and outside backs (n = 7)] and their movements analysed by video-based time motion analysis. Movements were classified as rest (standing, walking and jogging) and work (striding, sprinting, static exertion, jumping, lifting or tackling). The total time, number and duration of individual activities were assessed, with differences between groups evaluated using independent sample t-tests (unequal variances), while differences between halves were assessed with paired sample t-tests. Forwards had 7:47 min:s (95% confidence limits: 6:39 to 8:55 min:s, P<0.01) more time in static exertion than backs, but backs spent 0:52 (0:34 to 1:09, P = 0.01) min:s more time sprinting than forwards, and had a 0.7 (0.3 to 1.2, P = 0.01) s longer duration of each sprint. Forwards spent 7:31 (5:55 to 9:08) min:s more time in work activities (P = 0.01) and had 2.1 (1.3 to 2.8) s longer work durations (P<0.01) than backs. The results indicate frequent short duration (<4 s) work efforts followed by moderate duration (<20 s) rest for forwards, and extended (>100 s) rest duration for backs. High-intensity efforts involved static exertion for forwards (mean +/- standard deviation frequency = 80 +/- 17) and sprinting for backs (27 +/- 9). In conclusion, after nearly a decade since becoming professional, elite rugby union is still characterized by highly intense, intermittent movement patterns and marked differences in the competition demands of forwards and backs.     

New challenges for higher education: global and Asia-Pacific perspectives

With rapid socio-economic changes, twenty-first century higher education is facing major challenges to its governance systems, curriculum, mission focus, external relations, research, and financing. A theoretical framework to analyze these post-massification challenges is suggested, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region as well as global issues. Five main topic areas provide the basis for the theoretical framework: massification, privatization, accountability and governance, internationalization, and ranking and world-class universities. Some discussion of the possible effects of the financial crisis that commenced in 2008 is provided.