Teaching and learning by videoconferencing at the University of Ulster

The Open University has developed an array of tutorial and advisory services for its students over 16 years. These have been reviewed regularly for their academic appropriateness and effectiveness. More recently, urgent reductions in services have taken place, in response to financial restraints. During 1985, Mary Thorpe and colleagues in the Student Research Centre, the Institute of Educational Technology conducted in‐depth interviews with students and staff to explore their perceptions of studying with the Open University.     

Children's views of Teaching Assistants in primary schools

This study reports primary children's perceptions of the role of the Teaching Assistant (TA) in three state primary schools in South West England. Through the use of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, an exploration was made of how children view TAs, who are commonly found delivering the curriculum alongside the teacher in the classroom. A simple questionnaire was completed by 419 junior children and 86 infant and junior pupils were interviewed, giving children a ‘voice’ about an environment which they inhabit for a substantial proportion of their lives. The results show that children between the ages of 5–11 perceive the role of the TA to be of value and their work to be useful and helpful. Their accounts of the TAs' work in general and in relation to themselves, in particular, were clear and insightful. They distinguish between teacher and TA in terms of training, vocation and responsibility. Most children consider themselves to be confident and willing to ask for help but a significant minority reported that they preferred not to ask for help. The implications of the findings for further research on children's views and for educational practice are discussed.     

Ethical dilemmas and practical problems for the practitioner researcher

This paper explores the ethical dilemmas and problems encountered when undertaking an action research study in my own school. The study was designed to evaluate a contentious part of a new midwifery programme as it was being implemented. A range of potentially problematic issues are discussed from the practitioner researcher perspective. Some of these problems were anticipated but others had not been addressed and had to be responded to as they arose, More careful thought at the planning stage about the potential effects on others, as well as action-in-reflection are presented as important considerations for other practitioners contemplating action research in their own place of work.     

American Association for Health,Physical Education,and Recreation

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify whether post-resistance exercise (REx) blood flow restriction (BFR) can elicit a similar acute training stimulus to that offered by either heavy REx or traditional low-load BFR REx. Method: Ten men completed trials with 30% one-repetition maximum (1RM) for 5 sets of 15 repetitions without BFR (30%), with BFR during exercise (30% RD), and with postexercise BFR (30% RP) and at 75% 1RM for 3 sets of 10 repetitions. Lactate and cortisol were measured before and up to 60 min after exercise. Thigh circumference, ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), and pain were measured before and after exercise. Surface electromyography was measured during exercise. Results: All conditions had a large effect (effect size [ES] > 0.8) on lactate, with the largest effects observed with the 75% condition; no differences were observed between the 30% conditions. All conditions had a moderate effect (ES > 0.25 ≤ 0.4) on increasing thigh circumference. This effect was maintained (ES = 0.35) with the application of BFR after REx (30% RP). Change in RPE, from the first to last set, was significantly greater with 30% RD compared with other conditions (all p < .05). Electromyography amplitude was higher and percentage change was greater for the 75% condition compared with the other conditions (both p < .05). Conclusions: The application of BFR immediately post-REx altered several of the responses associated with REx that is aimed at inducing muscular hypertrophy. Additionally, these changes occurred with less pain and perceived exertion suggesting that this form of REx may offer an alternative, tolerable method of REx.     

Relationships between exercise regulations and motivational consequences in university students

The aim of this study was to examine propositions stemming from Self-Determination Theory (SDT) that contend motivational consequences vary as a function of different regulations in the exercise domain. Participants (N = 276; n = 98 men; n = 178 women) completed inventories assessing exercise regulations, current exercise behavior, and behavioral intentions to continue exercising for the next 4 months and the effort and importance associated with exercise participation. Bivariate analyses indicated autonomous exercise regulations (identified and intrinsic) were the strongest correlates of each motivational consequence across both sexes, and introjected regulation was positively associated with exercise consequences in women. Simultaneous multiple regression analyses indicated that exercise regulations accounted for a sizeable portion of the variance across each motivational consequence in both sexes (R2adj values ranged from .20 to .53). Both regression and structure coefficients revealed that introjected regulation was a stronger motivational force in women than men, and identified regulation was the most important predictor of all three motivational consequences in both sexes. Collectively, these findings suggest that exercise regulations differentially predict motivational consequences across sexes, and future research using this theoretical framework for examining motivational issues pertinent to the exercise domain appears warranted.     

School-level environment and outcomes-based education in South Africa

In this study, we developed and validated a questionnaire to assess teachers’ perceptions of their actual and preferred school-level environment, investigated whether teachers involved with Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) perceive the school-level environment differently from those who are not, and investigated factors in the school-level environment (such as resources and staff freedom) linked with a school’s likelihood of successfully implementing OBE. The study involved modifying and validating an existing questionnaire to make it suitable for assessing the school-level environment in South Africa, as well as adding to the School-Level Environment Survey (SLEQ) the scales of Familiarity with OBE and Parental Involvement. Analysis of data collected from 403 teachers provides evidence for the validity and reliability of the new SLEQ-SA. MANOVA for repeated measures revealed a statistically significant (p < 0.01) difference between teacher perceptions of their actual school environment and the one that they would prefer for all seven SLEQ-SA dimensions. When MANOVA was used to examine whether teachers involved in OBE perceive their school-level environments differently from those who are not, statistically significant differences emerged for two of the seven school-level environment scales, with teachers involved with OBE perceiving significantly more Familiarity with OBE and Work Pressure. The constraints faced by teachers are wide ranging and include a number of factors such as a lack of material resources and large class sizes. The results provide valuable information to policy-makers, principals and researchers that potentially could help to guide the implementation of OBE.     

Learning environments associated with technology-based science classrooms for gifted Singaporean females

Because there has been very little past research into gifted students’ science learning environments, especially in Singapore, we selected from four established questionnaires six learning environment scales that are consistent with Van Tassel-Baska and Stambaugh’s guidelines for gifted education. These scales were modified slightly to enhance suitability for the target population and refined further based on feedback from teachers and students in a pilot study. Data from administration of the questionnaires to 722 gifted science students in grades 9 and 10 were analysed to provide support for the questionnaire’s factorial validity, internal consistency reliability, ability to differentiate between classrooms, and predictive validity (in terms of associations with self-efficacy). To evaluate a new one-student one-laptop program being implemented for the first time, we compared the learning environments of this program with regular classrooms and found higher levels of perceived investigation, task orientation, collaboration, computer usage and formative assessment in technology-based classrooms.

     

Effectiveness of student response systems in terms of learning environment,attitudes and achievement

In order to investigate the effectiveness of using Student Response Systems (SRS) among grade 7 and 8 science students in New York, the How Do You Feel About This Class? (HDYFATC) questionnaire was administered to 1097 students (532 students did use SRS and 565 students who did not use SRS). Data analyses attested to the sound factorial validity and internal consistency reliability of the HDYFATC, as well as its ability to differentiate between the perceptions of students in different classrooms. Very large differences between users and non-users of SRS, ranging from 1.17 to 2.45 standard deviations for various learning environment scales, attitudes and achievement, supported the efficacy of using SRS.