A comparison of traditional and modified Summated-Heart-Rate-Zones models to measure internal training load in basketball players

The Summated-Heart-Rate-Zones training load (SHRZ TL) model is used to measure internal loading; however, a major limitation of this approach is the use of broad heart rate (HR) zones to quantify exercise intensity. Therefore, this study aimed to compare SHRZ TL outcomes derived using the traditional model and modified approaches using smaller HR zones. HR responses were monitored in 15 semi-professional basketball players during preparatory training to calculate SHRZ TL using the traditional approach with 10%HR_max zones (SHRZ₁₀) and modified approaches with 5%HR_max zones (SHRZ₅) and 2.5%HR_max zones (SHRZ_2.5). Significant (P < 0.001) differences were evident in SHRZ TL between SHRZ₁₀ (254.2 ± 41.7 AU) and SHRZ₅ (275.9 ± 43.3 AU, unclear, small) as well as SHRZ_2.5 (286.7 ± 44.3 AU, very likely, moderate). Use of SHRZ_2.5 provides novel insight regarding internal loading in basketball players and may carry greater sensitivity for detection of maladaptive and adaptive responses to training.     

Travel with a Time Lord: using media to enhance literacy

This article reports on a UKLA‐funded project in which a group of 10 teachers in South Wales were involved. The televised science fiction drama Doctor Who was chosen as the theme as it was based on popular culture as well as being of local and national interest. The main character in this television drama is an alien who can fly through time and space in a machine called the Tardis. The aim of the project was to improve standards in literacy, with writing as a particular focus and make teachers more aware of the effective use of media resources. Teachers were provided with an information pack containing sample lessons but were actively encouraged to implement the project in whichever way they chose. Questionnaires given to teachers before and after the project reflected a more positive attitude towards using media resources at the end. Pupils, aged between 8 and 11 years old, were given writing journals as part of the project and focus groups interviewed. It proved difficult to ascertain if standards had improved although pupil enthusiasm was a recognisable feature. The value of learning across the curriculum was another element that emerged during the course of the project. Results indicated that more training is required to enable teachers to use media resources and cross‐curricular approaches more confidently in their teaching.     

Promoting Inclusive (and Dialogic) Leadership in Higher Education Institutions

Tertiary Education and Management - Higher education institutions are facing major challenges requiring traditional leadership and administrative policies and practices to be rethought and renewed....     

Improving mathematics instruction through lesson study: a theoretical model and North American case

This article presents a theoretical model of lesson study, an approach to instructional improvement that originated in Japan. The theoretical model includes four lesson study features (investigation, planning, research lesson, and reflection) and three pathways through which lesson study improves instruction: changes in teachers’ knowledge and beliefs; changes in professional community; and changes in teaching–learning resources. The model thus suggests that development of teachers’ knowledge and professional community (not just improved lesson plans) are instructional improvement mechanisms within lesson study. The theoretical model is used to examine the “auditable trail” of data from a North American lesson study case, yielding evidence that the lesson study work affected each of the three pathways. We argue that the case provides an “existence proof” of the potential effectiveness of lesson study outside Japan. Limitations of the case are discussed, including (1) the nature of data available from the “auditable trail” and (2) generalizability to other lesson study efforts.

The use of Wechsler Scales in the assessment of Native Americans of the Columbia River Basin

Native American secondary students from the Columbia Basin were found to have significant Verbal-Performance discrepancies on the WISC-R and WAIS. Mean Verbal scores were significantly below the normative mean, while Performance scores were at, or above, the normative means. These findings substantiated research with other Native American groups. Also, the Verbal and Performance scales correlated so low as to preclude the Full Scale from being an accurate representation of the “g” factor of intelligence. Further, the predictive validity of the WISC-R and the WAIS for reading and math achievement was found to be at variance with the standardization group.     

The Effects of Dimensionality on Equating the Law School Admission Test

Using factor analysis, we conducted an assessment of multidimensionality for 6 forms of the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) and found 2 subgroups of items or factors for each of the 6 forms. The main conclusion of the factor analysis component of this study was that the LSAT appears to measure 2 different reasoning abilities: inductive and deductive. The technique of N. J. Dorans & N. M. Kingston (1985) was used to examine the effect of dimensionality on equating. We began by calibrating (with item response theory [IRT] methods) all items on a form to obtain Set I of estimated IRT item parameters. Next, the test was divided into 2 homogeneous subgroups of items, each having been determined to represent a different ability (i.e., inductive or deductive reasoning). The items within these subgroups were then recalibrated separately to obtain item parameter estimates, and then combined into Set II. The estimated item parameters and true-score equating tables for Sets I and II corresponded closely.     

Staff Development,Staff Assessment and the Industrial Awards

In 1988 academic unions were signatories to the first industrial award ever negotiated concerning academic salaries in Australia. In return for the 4% Second Tier increase, academics became subject to mandatory supervision and performance assessment. The wording of the award allowed a wide diversity of ways in which institutions could interpret and implement these requirements. One University's response to the award is examined.

In 1991 a subsequent award restructuring decision imposed the trial requirement of routine appraisal of academic staff for development only. This paper discusses the issues arising for academic staff as a result of these requirements, particularly the difficulty for an appraiser of separating the purpose of judgement from that of development, and it analyses the nature of the training needed for developmental appraisers.

It is concluded that as a result of the 1991 decision there is now a chance that academic staff development will be taken seriously if the funding implications of these requirements are honoured.     

“The Sins of Name Calling”: Responses to Paula Deen’s Use of Ethnophaulisms

Although many think, or wish to think, that racism in the United States is part of our peripheral past, contemporary discourses of racial and ethnic relations suggest otherwise. Discussions of ethnicity and race are still at the forefront of public discourse. The recent publication of news articles citing celebrity chef Paula Deen’s use of ethnophaulisms and prejudiced talk resulted in thousands of user-generated comments and responses. This article purports, then, to highlight the current discourses of racial and ethnic relations as revealed through online responses to one particular ethnophaulism used by celebrity chef Paula Deen. Important to this discussion, however, is the interesting finding that comments made by readers spoke to larger “meta” discourses of language use: Users commented about contemporary American race and racial relations and how we use (or do not use) language with specific purposes and power in mind, rather than the specific case of Paula Deen’s utterance.