The role of assessment feedback in developing academic buoyancy

This research focuses on the everyday challenge in academic learning of assessment, and argues that academic buoyancy is a key factor in academic success. To scaffold students’ learning and effectively support academic buoyancy, there is arguably a need for a better understanding of: (i) what students find most and least useful in their assessment feedback; (ii) how students use feedback to approach future assessments; and (iii) how students respond to feedback in terms of what they think, feel and do. Key findings from survey responses of 91 undergraduate students were that students use their feedback more than anticipated and look for specific information to help their future performance. In addition, five indicators of academically buoyant behaviour were identified: an internal locus of control, understanding the grade, being forward looking, being improvement focused and being action orientated. These indicators suggested a distinction between students who were academically buoyant because they were constructive in their response to feedback, and those who appeared less so because they were not action orientated, but more focused on their emotional response. These findings have implications for the provision of assessment feedback in higher education and offer insight into opportunities for the development of academic buoyancy.     

Movement and stretching imagery during flexibility training

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of movement and stretching imagery on increases in flexibility. Thirty volunteers took part in a 4 week flexibility training programme. They were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) movement imagery, where participants imagined moving the limb they were stretching; (2) stretching imagery, where participants imagined the physiological processes involved in stretching the muscle; and (3) control, where participants did not engage in mental imagery. Active and passive range of motion around the hip was assessed before and after the programme. Participants provided specific ratings of vividness and comfort throughout the programme. Results showed significant increases in flexibility over time, but no differences between the three groups. A significant relationship was found, however, between improved flexibility and vividness ratings in the movement imagery group. Furthermore, both imagery groups scored significantly higher than the control group on levels of comfort, with the movement imagery group also scoring significantly higher than the stretching imagery group. We conclude that the imagery had stronger psychological than physiological effects, but that there is potential for enhancing physiological effects by maximizing imagery vividness, particularly for movement imagery.     

A Consideration of Why Active Participation in Sport and Leisure Might Reduce Criminal Behaviour

This paper contributes to sport, sociology and the body literature by exploring the ‘exposure and effect’ of culture, in particular bodily practices placed on three adolescent swimmers immersed in the Australian swimming culture using an ethnographic framework. The research reported is particularly notable as it addresses two distinct time points in the swimmers’ lives. The first section explores the adolescent experiences of three female swimmers within the cultural context of Australian swimming by articulating some of the specific body practices and ‘memes’ (ideas, symbols and practices) that they were exposed to and/or engaged within relation to the body. The second section of this paper focuses on the same three swimmers in the ‘present day’, some 10–30 years after being immersed in the Australian swimming culture as adolescents. It excavates their body practices and the relationships they now have with their body, and thus pursues the sustained impact of the body practices and ‘memes’ they were exposed to as adolescents. Analysis employs concepts drawn mainly from Foucault, particularly his thesis in regard to ‘disciplinary power’, ‘regulation’ ‘classification’ and ‘surveillance’. At a club (amateur) and National level, Australian swimming is revealed as an institution, a site and culture where particular techniques of power have become concentrated and have been brought to bear on individuals in systematic ways, with sometimes damaging effects arising for athletes’ long-term health and well-being, particularly if the individuals concerned continue to engage with cultural practices in regard to the body post-career.     

Child, Program, and Family Ecological Variables in Early Intervention

This study is based on a conceptual framework which emphasized the importance of viewing early intervention outcomes in relation to both program and nonprogram variables. Three broad classes of independent variables were included in the framework child, program, and family ecology. The unique and combined contributions of these three sets of variables to the prediction of three indices of intervention outcome was assessed through regression techniques. As much as 68% of the variance in children's post-intervention developmental age (DA2) was explained by the combined influence of all three classes of variables. All three classes of variables again contributed uniquely to the prediction of parental satisfaction with the intervention, explaining 45% of the variance. The three classes of variables explained 36% of the variance in children's rate of development during the intervention (RDI), although the contribution of the program class was very minimal. In addition to ascertaining the contributions of sets of variables, the importance of individual variables within sets was also examined. Results from both types of analysis underscored the important role of nonprogram variables in the determination of both child and parental outcomes. The implications of these findings for the design and evaluation of early intervention are discussed.     

INVENTING THE CHARTERED TEACHER

ABSTRACT:  This paper explores the effects of enacting a collaborative and enquiry based model of teacher professionalism in the UK. Based on work with Chartered Teachers in Scotland, it indicates that the barriers to changing the basis of teacher professionalism are complex and multi-faceted because of the contested nature of teachers' work identities. Chartered Teacher status is achieved by qualification against an occupational standard which positions those who attain it as leading teachers, exerting a significant influence with their colleagues to improve the quality of teaching and learning in schools. This paper looks at some of the conceptual and practical difficulties faced by Chartered Teachers as they try to enact what this new 'status' means. It argues that those with an interest in the professional development of teachers need to position themselves as knowing agents in the complex systemic and political aspects of changing practice in schools.     

How Risky Are One-Shot Cross-Sectional Assessments of Undergraduate Students?

The purpose of this study was to explore the extent of possible input bias associated with the rapidly growing use by colleges and universities of one-time cross-sectional assessments of students. The results presented in this study demonstrate that cross-sectional assessments of enrolled college students are very difficult to interpret because they inevitably reflect characteristics of the same students when they first entered college. For those forms of engagement that have to do with how students allocate their time, it appears that the majority of variation among institutions is attributable to entering freshman characteristics rather than to institutional policies or practices. Thus, rather than relying solely on student outcome data, institutions should ideally also collect pretest or input information from the same students when they first matriculate.