Colour-based rigid body tracking using three-dimensional graphics models

This paper introduces the first stage of a new model-based approach to three-dimensional (3D) human movement tracking. A ‘generate-and-test’ matching procedure was adopted by matching rendered images of a 3D computer graphics model of the human body to target images of rigid body motion. The set of pixels to be compared were just those corresponding to the model of the body in the rendered images. The matching criterion to optimize model position and orientation was based on the minimisation of the RGB (red-green-blue) colour difference between generated model images and associated target images. The method was able to track synthetic image sequences of a half twisting somersault accurately with root-mean-square (rms) errors of less than 5 mm and 0.3∘ for position and orientation estimates respectively. The suitability of the proposed approach for rigid body motion tracking was supported by additional tracking experiments on video image sequences of ‘wooden cross’ trajectories. Comparisons of tracked estimates against manual digitizing estimates returned relatively small rms difference values on both side somersault and twisting somersault movements. The proposed approach has the potential to track video images of a human torso using a rigid body model and hence to track articulated movements by successively adding segments to the model in a hierarchical manner.     

“Home” and “not home” in children's stories: Getting there—and being worth it

Jon C. Stott teaches Children's Literature at the University of Alberta and also teaches regularly in elementary schools. Christine Doyle Francis teaches at Central Connecticut University.     

An analysis of predictors of instruction work effort

Various measures are presently utilized for the purposes of determining faculty teaching effort and assigning teaching loads. This study investigates how well the predictor variables of credit hours, student credit hours, contact hours, and student contact hours correlate with faculty self-report measures of time-use for each class taught. Additionally, the question of differences among measures of faculty work effort per class when faculty are classified by academic rank was investigated. The findings of this study indicate that of the commonly used measures of total faculty effort for a class only contact hours are a reliable measure, and neither the level of instruction nor the academic rank of the teacher have much to do with the faculty member's effort as measured in time for a class.     

Education and cultural change: A view from Micronesia

Traditionally, transmission of cultural knowledge between generations in Micronesia was the role of family, in particular parents and grand parents. To what extent is that role still important today? In this article, we draw on data obtained from questionnaires distributed to high school and primary school children throughout Micronesia in 2002 and 2003 to consider how culture is being transferred between generations today. We argue the importance of local communities being closely involved in all aspects of formal education including developing and managing schools and their curricula to ensure that local aspirations are satisfied. Micronesian children have expressed preferences for favourite food, drink, and entertainment that follow international trends closely and are moving away from traditional choices. The data also show a shift away from traditional family-based cultural education to a more formal school-based model that emphasises the importance of teachers being familiar and sympathetic with local culture.     

Agency and conformity in school-based teacher training

Concern has been expressed that the current climate in schools militates against trainee teachers’ self-directed development. This article explores the issue of trainees’ capacity for self-direction through the analysis of interviews with 32 trainees, investigating their perceived proactive social strategies. Three proactive strategies were identified: ‘tactical compliance’, personalising advice, and seeking out opportunities to exercise control. It is argued that these strategies are indicative of trainees’ drive to establish a personal teaching identity through self-directed development and the creation of individual development agendas. The article concludes by emphasising the importance of the development of proactive social skills in beginning teachers.     

Where did distance education go wrong?

Distance education (DE) practices around the world use a wide range of audio‐visual technologies to overcome the lack of direct contact between teachers and students. These are not universally adopted by DE teachers, however, nor even encouraged by their institutions. This article discusses the organisational attitudes that can lead to outdated methods being maintained and successful ones abandoned, and it suggests that, just as educational television and programmed learning were supplanted in previous decades, so the World Wide Web could be abandoned as a viable education medium in the foreseeable future and replaced by more widely available media such as the cell phone. The article contrasts the learner‐centred philosophies underlying current DE approaches with the teacher‐centred philosophies of a generation ago. If these two philosophies are not united in a sensible middle ground, the article suggests, history may come to regard today’s DE as a Dark Age less enlightened than when Genghis Khan sent his arrow riders to deliver the mail in person across the Mongolian steppes, and when Lenin dispatched educational media experts to deliver DE materials by hand across the post‐revolutionary Soviet Union. The main losers in this scenario, the article concludes, will be the students of the developing world.     

Men in limbo: former students with special educational needs caught between economic independence and social security dependence

Individuals in their mid-thirties are expected to be employed and economically independent. However, people with disabilities and health problems – for example, former students with special educational needs (SEN) – may have problems in this domain of adult life. In Norway, individuals with SEN frequently rely on social security and support measures from the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV). This article is based on the narrative analysis of life course trajectories of seven young adult males over a period of 17 years – from their enrolment in upper secondary school with special needs teaching whilst in their teens to their participation in various NAV programmes whilst in their mid-thirties. The life course approach, with an emphasis on transitions and trajectories, has been used as the theoretical framework for analysing the presented data. The hope is that, taken together, these seven stories provide a deeper insight than one individual story could offer. We find that both social structures and the earlier life course affect one’s opportunities for joining the labour market.