Computerized Agility Training Improves Change-of-Direction and Balance Performance Independently of Footwear in Young Adults

Understanding the effects of training in different footwear on sporting performance would be useful to coaches and athletes. Purpose: This study compared the effects of computerized agility training using 3 types of footwear on change-of-direction and balance performance in young adults. Method: Thirty recreationally active young adults (M_age = 22.8 ± 3.1 years; M_height = 1.71 ± 0.7 m; M_bodymass = 73.4 ± 10.3 kg) were randomly assigned to a 6-week computerized agility training intervention in 1 of 3 footwear groups (n = 10/group): barefoot, minimal footwear, or traditional shoes. Participants had no previous barefoot or minimal-footwear training experience. Dependent variables included change-of-direction test time to completion, Star Excursion Balance Test, and single-leg stability evaluation. Testing was performed at the start of the training program, after 2 weeks, after 4 weeks, and at the end of the training program. Results: No group or time interactions were found for any of the dependent variables. Time main effects were observed for the performance measures of change of direction, Star Excursion, and single-leg-with-eyes-open stability evaluation. Participants improved in all 3 tests as early as 2 weeks into the intervention, with improvements continuing through the entire 6-week intervention. Conclusions: The lack of interaction and footwear effects suggests that agility and balance improvements during foot agility training are independent of footwear in a recreationally active young-adult population. Computerized agility training improves change-of-direction and balance performance within 2 weeks of training implementation. Future studies should consider footwear training effects in different populations, including frail older adults and athletes.     

Measuring the value of theatre for Tyneside audiences

What values do theatre and dance hold for audience members? And how do these values differ between subsidised, amateur, and commercial performance? This paper addresses these questions through a survey of over 1800 spectators for theatre and dance in Tyneside in northeastern England, as well as a parallel set of focus groups, in the spring of 2014. These methods, which are designed for comprehensiveness and comparability, are being used across Europe by the Project on European Theatre Systems, a working group of theatre sociologists. Our research showed two sets of values which performances achieved; one was a common measure of performance quality, while the other described the values particular to subsidised work. This allows us to articulate both the general value of the arts and the particular values which subsidy (attempts to) facilitate. This has implications for both understandings of cultural value and for cultural policy, as the distinction between the two groups was not clean. We also found that amateur theatre participated in the same value system, but with an increased emphasis on loyalty and community cohesion. The paper concludes a methodological reflection on the use of quantitative methods in theatre studies.     

Factor structure evidence for developmental levels of perceptual processing on the developmental test of visual-motor integration

Beery's Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration was individually administered to 193 school-age children. Test protocols were factor analyzed by a principal component solution. Four factors were obtained, indicating that the test does not measure a unitary dimension of perceptual-motor development, but rather four distinct levels or stages for the age range of children investigated. The structural features of the designs that make up the test were used to define the factors. It is argued that a more useful interpretation of performance on this test would be one that designates visualmotor processing in terms of levels, not age equivalents.     

Research,writing, and racial identity: Cross‐disciplinary connections for multicultural education

Abstract

This paper describes a classroom‐based research study designed to determine how students in an undergraduate multicultural education course experience difficult and emotional content about racism. Samples of students’ reflective writing were used as sources of data, and Janet Helms’ theory of racial identity development served as the framework for analysis. Findings suggest that coursework in multicultural education can influence white students’ racial identities. In addition, the experiences of one white student are highlighted as she grappled with issues of white privilege and multicultural teaching. This study illustrates how reflective writing in combination with teaching practices informed by psychological theory helped to expand students’ understanding of racism while facilitating the development of their racial identities.     

Enlightenment and Education in Eighteenth Century America: A Platform for Further Study in Higher Education and the Colonial Shift

The prolific educational discussions of America's founding generation have led to extensive treatments surrounding the nature of early-national education in recent scholarship. Republican educational models Jefferson, Rush, and Webster have been scrutinized and praised as the forerunners to modern American higher education. Where these treatments are remiss, however, is in clearly identifying the fundamental shift in educational purpose between 1740 and 1780. Higher education classrooms were inundated with both Enlightenment and Evangelical literature, resulting in new arenas of student autonomy, thus radically departing from the traditional model of higher education carried over from England. An analysis of this transformation will highlight how the highly regarded republican educational ideas on education did not necessarily illustrate a thoroughly new model of higher education. Rather, it gave new definition to an already existing paradigm.     

The telecommunications content of state public utility commission Web sites: Remaining relevant in a changing marketplace

The role and continued relevance of state telecommunications regulators have been challenged by the development of competition, the introduction of new technologies, and the increasing dominance of federal authority. An important role that state utility commissions can play in the current telecommunications environment is to provide consumer education and information about consumer protection, competition, and universal service. Commissions can use their Web sites as effective tools in educating and informing consumers. This study analyzes the consumer-related telecommunications information included on the Web sites of the commissions in the 50 states and the District of Columbia to determine whether, and how well, state commissions are using their Web sites to educate and inform.