Understanding the relative contribution of technical and tactical performance to match outcome in Australian Football

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to assess if tactical and technical performance indicators (PIs) could be used in combination to model match outcomes in Australian Football (AF). A database of 101 technical PIs and 14 tactical PIs from every match in the 2009–2016 Australian Football League (AFL) seasons was merged. Two outcome measures Win-loss and Score margin were used as dependent variables. The top 45 ranked technical and tactical PIs from a feature selection process were used to model match outcome using decision tree and Generalised Linear Models (GLMs). Of the top 45 selected features, this included seven tactical PIs. The Win-loss-based Decision tree model achieved a classification accuracy of 89.0% and GLM 93.2%. A Score margin-based GLM achieved a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 6.9 points. A combined approach to the classification of match outcomes provided no improvement in model accuracy compared with previous literature. However, this study has established the relative importance of technical and tactical measures of performance in relation to successful team performance in AF.     

Understanding the information and resource needs of UK health and social care placement students

Background: Students on health and social care degree programmes spend 50% of their time on practice placements. Because of the diversity of settings and the need to evidence their work, it is vital to understand the information and resource needs of placement students. Objectives: The aim of this investigation was to understand the needs of placement students in terms of accessing resources whilst they are in the field in order to inform a guide to meet these needs. Methods: Focus groups were conducted with students on midwifery, social work and post‐registration health professions degree programmes on three different sites across the region. Data were analysed using Thematic Content Analysis. Results: Three themes emerged from the data: inequality, user education needs and students’ solutions and strategies. Conclusions: It is essential to speak to placement students in order to understand their needs in terms of accessing and using library resources. The timing and content of information skills training is key to meeting student needs while on placement.     

SVC bitstream adaptation in MPEG-21 multimedia framework

INTRODUCTION Scalable video coding (SVC) (Schwarz et al., 2004) is the most promising video format for appli- cations of collaborative communication. First, SVC format, which is extended from the latest advanced video coding (AVC), is appropriate for creating a wide variety of bitrates with high compression effi- ciency. Second, an original SVC bitstream can be easily truncated in different ways to meet various characteristics and variations of devices and connec- tions. The scalabil…     

Living in space: A preschool aerospace curriculum

Outer space is a topic that is relevant to our future, promotes a universal sense of wonder and reinforces the idea that we all share one planet. Early childhood teachers, parents, grandparents and children all find the subject of outer space exploration fascinating. Space exploration weaves together all aspects of our experience and generates an enthusiasm to learn more. Space adventure also creates a new hero system for our children. Achievements and success are based on knowledge, skill and dedication to a common cause: the betterment of life for all people.     

Casting the assessment net wide: Capturing all student learning

North Georgia College and State University has joined a national effort to move away from the isolated approach to measuring student learning. Educators from three divisions offer their perspectives.     

Autonomy of Artistic Expression for Adult Learners with Disabilities

When an art tutor adopts the role of assistant to a disabled artist it is difficult not to move from helping with the physical handling of materials on the one hand into the actual creative process on the other, thus influencing how the artwork looks. Ecas is an Edinburgh‐based charity which promotes opportunities for physically disabled people to be self‐fulfilled and to participate in all aspects of society. They run, among other things, traditional art classes and computer classes. The use of computer technology (CT) in art seemed to offer the chance for self‐fulfilment for disabled artists by increasing control over artistic choices and providing for self expression with only minimal assistance required from others. Ecas decided to fund a research project in the form of a ten‐week pilot course and the data collected during the trial confirmed these possibilities and it was clear that adult learners with disabilities could benefit from CT in order to have greater autonomy in the creation of their art than before. In particular the program Corel Painter IX.5 and various graphics tablets proved to be a powerful arsenal for self‐expression without having to wait for a tutor to tape paper to a board, replenish paint, change brushes attached to a head pointer or any one of the many and varied problems disabled students had with traditional art materials.     

The Hidden Curriculum of Domestication

Four ethnically diverse faculty members in the field of education discuss the professional impact and personal affects of introducing critical themes of race, class, gender, and culture within their research and course offerings. Given that the professional outlook for university faculty of color in general, is grim, a willingness to imbue their research and courses with a critical interrogation of prevailing education topics and theories would seem to invite greater personal risk and professional jeopardy. The following dialogue introduces both the mechanisms by which critical faculty in general, and faculty of color in particular, can be conditioned to subordinate their critical impulses and the strategies they use to resist academic cultures of domestication.     

Gender differences in science achievement: Do school effects make a difference?

The problem of the underrepresentation of girls in science in Australian schools is often attributed to their poor performance. Yet the role of both the home and the school in affecting female science achievement is rarely examined empirically. The comprehensiveness of the Second International Science Study database provided an excellent opportunity to investigate the presence of gender differences in science achievement. Although previous studies of gender differences in science achievement have relied on methodology that has not adequately accounted for the school effects, this study used the design effect and hierarchical linear modeling (multilevel analysis) to explore whether there were significant gender differences. The relative contribution of schools to student achievement was examined, and school-level differences were found to contribute significantly toward explaining variations in student performance. Although statistically significant sex differences were found in physics achievement for 10-year-old, 14-year-old, and year-12 students, school effects were much more powerful in explaining student differences (9–19%) when compared with gender (3%).     

Predicting college grades: the value of achievement goals in supplementing ability measures

Achievement goal theory is an important theoretical framework for understanding achievement motivation. In previous studies, a mastery orientation has been shown to be related to students’ interest, while a performance orientation has been found to be predictive of academic performance outcomes such as course grades. In this study, the two mastery sub‐scores from the Multiple Goals Theory Measure (MGTM) of academic motivation, which was developed specifically from achievement goal theory, was found to be predictive of college grades for a sample of 257 undergraduates at a public university in the north‐eastern United States. Additionally, the results support a trichotomous model of achievement orientations comprising mastery approach, performance approach, and avoidance. The MGTM appears to hold promise as a diagnostic tool, but additional research is required on its resistance to faking and other threats to validity.     

Teacher education programmes delivered at a distance: An examination of distance student perceptions

Recent technological developments have greatly influenced the ways American universities deliver educational course offerings to students at a distance. The perception of pre-service teachers in distance education programmes is germane to the planning and delivery of distance education courses in teacher education departments in the future. The results of this American study revealed a differing perception between male and female students in the area of course structure, student/teacher interaction, overall course satisfaction and peer interaction. As a result of this study, recommendations are provided for teacher preparation programmes to improve distance education course offerings for prospective teachers in the USA and implications for educators involved in teacher preparation internationally.