Athletic Participation and Wellness: Implications for Counseling College Student‐Athletes

This study used a holistic wellness paradigm to explore the adjustment of student‐athletes and nonathletes at a Division I institution. Results were that nonathletes reported higher levels of wellness than did student‐athletes. The authors discuss the ways in which wellness may affect student‐athletes' physical and mental health at different points in time during their collegiate experience. Implications for college counselors and other student affairs professionals who support student‐athletes are presented.     

Cross-Cultural Validation of Four Positive Psychology Assessments for Use with a Ghanaian Population

This study reports the evaluation of four positive psychology assessments for use in clinical, education, and research settings with individuals in Ghana, Africa. The analyses attempted to identify validity evidence for internal structure and relationships with related variables for the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SLS; Diener et al. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75, 1985), General Mattering Scale (GMS; Marcus 1991), Short Grit Scale (GS; Duckworth and Quinn Journal of Personality Assessment, 9, 166–174, 2009), and Brief Resilience Scale (BRS; Smith et al. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 15, 194–200, 2008). The data yielded from 657 Ghanaian participants indicated factor structures ranging from a strong model fit (SLS and GMS) to an acceptable fit following modifications to factor structure (GS and BRS), while evidence based on relationships to related variables was convincing. Implications for use of these assessments and for future research are discussed.     

Facilitators and Barriers to the Implementation of EMOTION: An Indicated Intervention for Young Schoolchildren

ABSTRACT

Research on implementation of school-based transdiagnostic interventions, conducted by personnel from the municipal services is limited. We investigated facilitators and barriers regarding implementation of EMOTION, an intervention targeting symptoms of anxiety and depression in children 8–12 years. Trained health- and childcare professionals completed one questionnaire before (N?=?63) and a separate questionnaire after running an EMOTION group (N?=?66). Twelve of the group leaders were interviewed to provide additional information regarding implementation. Results indicated that factors such as a perceived need for the intervention and positive attitudes from the group leaders facilitated implementation. Hindering factors were related to time constraints, workload, unsupportive leaders, and lack of cooperation from the schools. Allocating resources to implementation specifically could promote future use of the program.     

老外眼中的中国学生——高考,让他们错过生活的美丽

当我还是孩子时,我的老师将我们与亚洲“刻苦学习的学生”相比较,希望以此来激励我们。我还记得,在小学时经常听到这样的评论:“许多亚洲学生一天学习12个小时”,“亚洲学生每天在放学后还要花好几个小时做作业”,“亚洲学生都很擅长数学,比美国学生强”。在美国,我通常在上午8点或8点半的时候去学校,在下午2点半或3点回到家。而周五许多学校在中午12点就下课了。一年之内,我们只需在学校呆满180天,据说在中国要超过200天。上小学二年级后,我才开始有家庭作业,而且通常只要十几分钟就完成了。后来虽然课业负担逐渐加重,即便这样,我写作业的…     

Identifying Cognitive Processing Events during Clicker Exercises and Exploring Their Relationship with Student Learning

The use of clickers in the classroom has been linked to student learning. However, studies that examine the effects of clickers on learning often conceptualize a clicker exercise as a single, homogeneous cognitive processing (CP) event. We offer a conceptualization of sequenced cognitive activities that unfold during a clicker exercise. An inductive approach is adopted to identify three CP events that occur during a clicker exercise: an investigation event, a confirmation event, and a ratification event. We then use data collected from a sample of 187 students in an undergraduate business capstone course to explore the relationships between the three CP events and student learning. Contrary to expectations, not all CP events contribute positively to student learning. We discuss the implications of these findings and offer directions for future research that advance the understanding of clicker‐enhanced student learning. These insights afford instructors new options for optimizing the contributions of clicker exercises to student learning in their courses.     

The influence of policy and context on teachers’ social media use

Research on teachers’ use of social media has typically assumed that it is a) driven by a need for professional learning and b) best understood in terms of individual motivations. In this study, we use a dataset of nearly 600,000 tweets posted to one or more of 48 Regional Educational Twitter Hashtags associated with 44 U.S. states. To explore the influence of local contextual factors on hashtag- and account-level activity in these hashtags, we use an analytic approach heretofore uncommon in social media-focussed education research: generalised linear and multilevel modelling. At the hashtag level, higher numbers of teachers within a state, proportions of students receiving subsidised meals, student-to-teacher ratios, and amounts of state spending per child are associated with more activity within a regional hashtag; by contrast, more left-leaning state governments and citizenries are associated with less activity. At the account level, more experienced accounts and accounts in more right-leaning states contribute more tweets to these hashtags. These findings reinforce established understandings of Twitter as a site for teacher learning; however, they also underline the importance of acknowledging other important purposes of teachers’ Twitter use, including receiving emotional support and engaging in activism. Practitioner notes What is already known about this topic

• Many teachers use Twitter (and other social media platforms) for professional purposes.
• Teachers have identified professional learning—among other purposes—as motivating their use of Twitter.
• Regional Educational Twitter Hashtags are diverse learning spaces for teachers and other education stakeholders.

What this paper adds

• Local context and policy factors help influence teachers’ use of Twitter.
• Teachers may turn to Twitter because of a lack of emotional or political support—not just a lack of material support or professional development opportunities.
• Individual and idiosyncratic factors remain important in explaining teachers’ engagement with social media.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• Informal spaces like social media may supplement formal support mechanisms for teachers.
• Teachers’ use of social media may help administrators and policymakers identify existing gaps to be repaired in those formal support mechanisms.
• Support for teachers should be conceived holistically and include emotional and political support.

     

Coping Self‐Efficacy and Academic Stress Among Hispanic First‐Year College Students: The Moderating Role of Emotional Intelligence

In this study, the authors examined the role that emotional intelligence plays in moderating the relationship between academic stress and coping self‐efficacy among a sample of 125 Hispanic 1st‐year college students enrolled at a medium‐size, southern Hispanic‐serving institution. Results of a 2‐stage hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that emotional intelligence was a significant moderator in the relationship for the students surveyed. Implications for counseling Hispanic 1st‐year college students and directions for future research are suggested.     

The intersection of culture and institutional support for Latino students’ academic success: Remediation or empowerment?

The study is framed by critical race theory to explore the intersection of cultural and institutional factors that influence Latino students’ completion of high school. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which factors related to students’ background, culture, socioeconomic status, and institutional-support such as participation in mentoring and/or dropout-prevention programs, can predict Latino students’ successful completion of high school. The overarching research question is: To what extent do family background, students’ educational aspirations, and institutional support programs predict whether Latino students’ complete high school? Using data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS: 2002), from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) with 2,217 Hispanic participants, the study used a logistic linear regression model for the analysis. The findings identified students’ gender, socioeconomic status, first language, educational aspirations as well as the aspirations of their parents, school poverty concentration, and school support programs to be significant predictors of high school completion. The logistic regression model correctly classified between 78%, 85%, and 81% of the cases included in the group for timely completion according to first-, second-, and third-generation respectively. A similar classification was found for high school completion-within-two-years. The discussion highlights marked differences between the effect of dropout-prevention programs and that of mentoring programs on Latinos’ high school completion. In addition, that the factors represented by individual and institutional variables might not operate in isolation but instead might intersect with socioeconomic and cultural factors that ultimately create barriers for this minority group.     

North Carolina Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped

Since 1958, the North Carolina Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NCLBPH) has served patrons throughout the State of North Carolina who have no vision, low vision, or who are unable to physically hold a printed book. The collection includes approximately 128,000 titles in accessible formats; and on average, 2,000 titles are sent out to patrons via USPS Mail each day. As with most public libraries, NCLBPH currently obtains a certain number of copies of each new title. For popular titles, this can produce long waiting lists for patrons who are not able to use NLS’s Braille and Audio Recording Download (BARD) service, available on computers and mobile devices. To solve this problem, NCLBPH is embarking on two pilot projects, one for Digital Talking Books (NLS’s proprietary audiobook format) and one for Braille books. These two pilot projects will eliminate the waiting lists for popular titles by instituting a Books on Demand (BOD) system.