Book review

Gender & Technology: Empowering Women, Engendering Development** London and New York: Zed Books Ltd. . By Everts, Saskia (1998)

Privatising Agricultural Extension in India** Policy Paper 10, National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research, P.O. Box 11305, New Delhi 110 012, India, February 2000. 95 p. 64 . By Rasheed Sulaiman V and V.V. Sadamate.     

Improving school attendance: can participation in outdoor learning influence attendance for young people with social,emotional and behavioural difficulties?

The link between good attendance in school and academic performance has been acknowledged for some time now. However, improving school attendance for young people with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) or pupils at risk of exclusion can be a challenging task for educational leaders. This paper begins with a discussion of earlier studies on outdoor learning and school attendance. It adds to the discourse by presenting findings from a one-year outdoor learning programme situated within an English special school for young people with SEBD. The research reported here is part of a larger study that used an action research design. The paper concludes that although improvements in attendance can be achieved, the factors affecting attendance are complex and that improvements may be restricted to programmes that utilise an outdoor learning approach rather than being achievable across the whole school curriculum.     

THE ROUNDTABLE ON HIGHER EDUCATION: CREATING A NORTH DAKOTA UNIVERSITY SYSTEM FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

The Roundtable on Higher Education brought together the key stakeholders of the North Dakota University System (a unified system of 11 colleges and universities, including 5 community colleges) to establish consensus on a common vision, a clear set of expectations and the results for which the system would be held accountable. The roundtable effectively engaged these stakeholders at the front end of the process in a manner that made them active participants and led to the stakeholders taking ownership of the effort. Although there was an element of risk in this approach, the benefits have far exceeded expectations. This initiative is resulting in the development of a new relationship between the University System and the state's executive and legislative branches, as well as a new relationship between the University System and the private sector. Roundtable members refer to this new way of doing business as "public and private partnerships built upon mutual trust and a common purpose." Building these meaningful partnerships has taken a considerable commitment in North Dakota, but the results will likely have a major impact on the future of the state. The Roundtable on Higher Education has reached a level of accomplishment beyond the expectations of the State Board of Higher Education, the college and university presidents and those directly involved in the roundtable. For example, the landmark and comprehensive legislation passed during the 2001 legislative session was virtually identical to what was submitted. The State Board of Higher Education has authorized an entirely new funding model for the University System (as recommended by the roundtable), and the legislature granted the University System "flexibility with accountability"--a change that will be vitally important to the system's ability to play an expanded role in growing the state's economy. One challenge will be to maintain the momentum of this initiative, as well as the engagement of key stakeholders, especially since the initiative does not have an anticipated end date. Rather, it will be an evolving process with continued involvement by the key stakeholders. As targets are met and needs change, new recommendations will need to be defined. A high level of commitment will be essential to realizing the full potential of the roundtable. It is anticipated, however, that the project's success will help sustain it. The fundamental concept of engaging key stakeholders in developing consensus upon which to build a visionary plan is not original, nor is it unique to this initiative. Executive and legislative branch leaders in a number of states are attempting to better connect the tremendous resources and power of their higher education systems to the public agenda of their respective states. What is original and somewhat uncommon about this initiative is the application of effective leadership principles that help transform "knowing what needs to be done" into "making it happen." This leadership component is, undoubtedly, the most critical factor in the success of the Roundtable on Higher Education to date.     

Everything is illuminated: What big data can tell us about teacher commentary

What happens to writing instructors’ feedback when they use a common rubric and an online tool to respond to student papers in a first-year composition course at a large state university in the United States? To investigate this question, we analyze the 118,611 comments instructors made when responding to 17,433 student essays. Using concordance software to quantify teachers’ use of rubric terms, we found instructors were primarily concerned with global, substantive, higher-order concerns—such as responding to students’ rhetorical situations, use of reason, and organization—rather than lower-order concerns about grammar or formatting. Given past research has determined teachers overemphasize lower-order concerns such as grammar, mechanics, and punctuation (Connors and Lunsford, 1988, Lunsford and Lunsford, 2008, Moxley and Joseph, 1989, Moxley and Joseph, 1992, Schwartz, 1984, Sommers, 1982, Stern and Solomon, 2006), these results may suggest the possibility of a generational shift when it comes to response to student writing. Aggregating teacher commentary, student work, and peer review responses via digital tools and employing concordance software to identify big-data patterns illuminates a new assessment practice for Writing Program Administrators—the practice of Deep Assessment.     

Direct Behavioral Consultation in Head Start to Increase Teacher Use of Praise and Effective Instruction Delivery

Chronic disruptive behaviors during early childhood are associated with many poor developmental outcomes including, but not limited to, school dropout and conduct disorder during adolescence. Much is known regarding effective intervention procedures for disruptive classroom behaviors by preschool children. Unfortunately, evidence-based intervention procedures may not be implemented with integrity in applied settings. Direct behavioral consultation may increase teacher intervention integrity because of direct training procedures used with teachers and students during routine classroom activities. This study evaluated a nondisruptive direct training method for increasing Head Start teachers' use of praise and effective instruction delivery. Results indicated that the direct training procedure implemented during routine instructional activities resulted in increased use of praise and effective instruction delivery that maintained following training. Additionally, increased use of praise and effective instruction delivery resulted in reductions in children's disruptive classroom behavior.     

Acute cardiovascular responses to interval exercise: A systematic review and meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

Interval exercise training is increasingly recommended to improve health and fitness; however, it is not known if cardiovascular risk is different from continuous exercise protocols. This systematic review with meta-analyses assessed the effect of a single bout of interval exercise on cardiovascular responses that indicate risk of cardiac fibrillation and infarction compared to continuous exercise. Electronic databases Medline, CINAHL, Embase, Scopus and Cochrane were searched. Key inclusion criteria were: (1) intervals of the same intensity and duration followed by a recovery period and (2) reporting at least one of blood pressure, heart rate variability, arterial stiffness or function. Cochrane Risk of Bias tool and GRADE approach were used. Meta-analyses found that systolic blood pressure responses to interval exercise did not differ from responses to continuous exercise immediately (MD 8 mmHg [95% CI ?32, 47], p = 0.71) or at 60 min following exercise (MD 0 mmHg [95% CI ?2, 1], p = 0.79). However, reductions in diastolic blood pressure and flow-mediated dilation with interval exercise were observed 10–15 min post-exercise. The available evidence indicates that interval exercise does not convey higher cardiovascular risk than continuous exercise. Further investigation is required to establish the safety of interval exercise for clinical populations.