Environment and Policy Factors Shaping Global E-Commerce Diffusion: A Cross-Country Comparison

This article examines the key global, environmental and policy factors that act as determinants of e-commerce diffusion. It is based on systematic comparison of case studies from 10 countries--Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Mexico, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States. It finds that B2B e-commerce seems to be driven by global forces, whereas B2C seems to be more of a local phenomenon. A preliminary explanation for this difference is that B2B is driven by global competition and MNCs that "push" e-commerce to their global suppliers, customers, and subsidiaries. This in turn creates pressures on local companies to adopt e-commerce to stay competitive. In contrast, B2C is "pulled" by consumer markets, which are mainly local and therefore divergent. While all consumers desire convenience and low prices, consumer preferences and values, national culture, and distribution systems differ markedly across countries and define differences in local consumer markets. These findings support the transformation perspective about globalization and its impacts. In terms of policy, the case studies suggest that enabling policies such as trade and telecommunications liberalization are likely to have the biggest impact on e-commerce, by making ICT and Internet access more affordable to firms and consumers, and increasing pressure on firms to adopt e-commerce to compete. Specific e-commerce legislation appears not to have as big an impact, although inadequate protection for both buyers and sellers in some countries suggests that mechanisms need to be developed to ensure greater confidence in doing business online.     

Evaluation fidelity: An examination of criterion‐based assessment and rater training in the speech communication classroom

The purpose of this study was to further investigate the effectiveness of speech evaluation procedures and measures. Specifically, this study examines the relationship between rater training and evaluation fidelity— a concept which focuses on the shared understanding of meaning between speech raters and students in terms of what is expected and what is performed. To do so, two studies were conducted. Study one hypothesized that evaluation fidelity would be associated with rater training such that inter‐rater (instructor‐instructor) reliability would be higher after training. The findings suggest that participants in Study one increased their evaluation fidelity in terms of total scores. The variance and frequency reports confirmed that the range of scores decreased (higher evaluation fidelity) after training. Study two hypothesized that instructors who provided their students with training in using the “Criteria for Evaluating Speeches” form would achieve higher evaluation fidelity than those instructors who do not. Results support this hypothesis and reveal higher evaluation fidelity between instructors and students in the group where students received a copy and explanation of the criterion‐based assessment tool.     

Instructional patterns for the teaching and learning of argumentative writing in high school English language arts classrooms

Reading and Writing - Argumentative writing has long been considered an essential skill for disciplinary learning. For researchers and curriculum developers to develop ecologically valid...     

A Review and Meta-Analysis Examining the Relationship of Music Content with Sex,Race, Priming,and Attitudes

This meta-analysis (k = 35, N = 11,629) examines the effect that listening to music, particularly popular music, has on consumers. Results demonstrate that listening to music generates an effect on listeners consistent with the content of the music (average r = .210, k = 35, N = 11,629). This effect was similar when considering survey research (r = .227) or experimental research (r = .265). The tenets of excitation transfer theory received some support, particularly when considering the effects of music as a priming material (r = .399), demonstrating the impact of music as a means of establishing mood, and ultimately the subsequent reactions of individuals. One conclusion is that efforts toward media literacy or education may prove far more productive than media content restrictions when attempting to curb potential undesirable media effects. Additional implications for policy and theory are discussed.     

Reducing Children's Implicit Racial Bias Through Exposure to Positive Out‐Group Exemplars

Studies with adults suggest that implicit preferences favoring White versus Black individuals can be reduced through exposure to positive Black exemplars. However, it remains unclear whether developmental differences exist in the capacity for these biases to be changed. This study included 369 children and examined whether their implicit racial bias would be reduced following exposure to positive Black exemplars. Results showed that children's implicit pro‐White bias was reduced following exposure to positive Black exemplars, but only for older children (M_age = ~10 years). Younger children's (M_age = ~7 years) implicit bias was not affected by this intervention. These results suggest developmental differences in the malleability of implicit racial biases and point to possible age differences in intervention effectiveness.     

Designing Curriculum-Based Mathematics Professional Development for Kindergarten Teachers

This study examines the influence of a year-long mathematics professional development program on Kindergarten teachers’ beliefs, content knowledge, instructional practices, and their students’ achievement. The professional development program is grounded in the theoretical construct of learner-centered professional development and focuses on supporting teachers’ integration of standards-based pedagogies aligned with the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics. Data analysis included examining 15 Kindergarten teachers’ mathematics content knowledge, their beliefs about mathematics, their enactment of student-centered pedagogies, and student achievement on curriculum-based assessments. Findings indicated that teachers adopted more student-centered pedagogies and embraced more student-centered beliefs about mathematics teaching during their time in the project. Further, Kindergarten teachers also demonstrated gains in their mathematical content knowledge, and those content knowledge gains were linked to gains in student achievement.     

Writing week-journals to improve the writing quality of fourth-graders’ compositions

Students’ writing problems are a global educational concern and is in need of particular attention. This study aims to examine the impact of providing extra writing opportunities (i.e., writing journals) on the quality of writing compositions. A longitudinal cluster-randomized controlled design using a multilevel modeling analysis with 182 fourth grade students was conducted. We examined whether students’ writing quality differed when writing journals on a weekly basis for 12 weeks, compared with a control group. Three covariates were analyzed, namely: (i) the students’ attitudes towards writing; (ii) their self-efficacy in writing; (iii) and their use of self-regulation (SRL) strategies while writing. Findings have shown that students who wrote week-journals significantly improved the writing quality of their compositions and reported a higher use of SRL strategies in writing. Nevertheless, self-efficacy and attitude towards writing were found to not be related to the quality of the compositions. Moreover, data indicated that the writing quality of compositions improved along with the writing quality of the week-journals. Findings suggest the use of week-journals in class to promote writing.     

The effect of a specialized dyslexia font,OpenDyslexic, on reading rate and accuracy

A single-subject alternating treatment design was used to investigate the extent to which a specialized dyslexia font, OpenDyslexic, impacted reading rate or accuracy compared to two commonly used fonts when used with elementary students identified as having dyslexia. OpenDyslexic was compared to Arial and Times New Roman in three reading tasks: (a) letter naming, (b) word reading, and (c) nonsense word reading. Data were analyzed through visual analysis and improvement rate difference, a nonparametric measure of nonoverlap for comparing treatments. Results from this alternating treatment experiment show no improvement in reading rate or accuracy for individual students with dyslexia, as well as the group as a whole. While some students commented that the font was “new” or “different”, none of the participants reported preferring to read material presented in that font. These results indicate there may be no benefit for translating print materials to this font.     

A comparison of the Rescorla-Wagner and Pearce models in a negative patterning and a summation problem

In two experiments, we examined two related conditioning problems previously investigated by Red-head and Pearce (1995a) and Pearce, Aydin, and Redhead (1997). Experiment 1 involved an A+, B+, C+, AB+, AC+, BC+, ABC2 discrimination. The Rescorla-Wagner model predicts that response to AB, AC, and BC will be greater than that to A, B, and C at asymptote, whereas the Pearce model makes the opposite prediction. In Experiment 2, we investigated the responding to a novel ABC compound in groups trained with either A+, B+, C+ or AB+, AC+, BC+. The Rescorla-Wagner model predicts greater response to ABC in the group trained with A+, B+, C+ than in the group trained with AB+, AC+, BC+, whereas the Pearce model makes the opposite prediction. In contrast to the findings of Redhead and Pearce (1995a) and Pearce et al. (1997) in pigeon autoshaping, our findings in rabbit eyelid conditioning support the Rescorla-Wagner model.