Exploring factors that influence adoption of e‐learning within higher education

E‐learning is increasingly adopted in the workplace for supporting professional development and continuing education; however, in higher education, the use of e‐learning is predominantly used as a tool support teaching. As a relatively new priority for universities, this paper explores what influences its adoption. Challenges identified in the literature include organisational features of universities like faculty autonomy and dispersed academic perspectives. This study, carried out at the University of Warwick, adopted a phenomenological approach and explored participants' perceptions through a series of faculty‐based focus groups and individual interviews. Factors identified as influential to adoption of e‐learning included the institutional infrastructure, staff attitudes and skills, and perceived student expectations. Participants suggested the importance of an institutional strategy targeted at providing sufficient resources and guidance for effective implementation. This strategy needs to be supported by a varied programme of staff development and opportunities for sharing practice among colleagues. In further developing understanding in this area, it would be beneficial to replicate the study with other stakeholder groups (including the leadership team and students) to develop an institutional strategy responsive at all levels of implementation. It would also be valuable to investigate the extent to which these findings are replicated within other workplaces looking to adopt innovation.     

The Western Primary School 'Quiet Room' Project

There has been a great deal of interest recently in the development of more 'nurturing' environments in mainstream primary schools. This interest has been reflected in a series of articles published in the pages of this journal. In this paper, Angus King, headteacher of Western Primary School, a performance management consultant, a threshold assessor and a teacher trainer, with Zara Chantler, Key Stage 1 leader and SENCo at Western, describe the Western 'Quiet Room' project, set up in 1999 as a response to the needs of pupils experiencing social, emotional and behavioural problems. The Quiet Room was designed to provide a nurturing environment in a dedicated space away from the classroom. In this way, argue King and Chantler, a child's emotional needs can be explored, on a one–to–one basis where appropriate, in a safe and supportive setting. The results to date are positive and there is real potential for the scheme to be extended.     

Researching Internet Communities: Proposed Ethical Guidelines for the Reporting of Results

Communication researchers and social scientists are quickly discovering the value of data that exists in the postings of members of Internet e-mail, Usenet, and real-time groups. The ability to communicate with one's peers, no matter how esoteric the interests, is causing an explosion in the number of new virtual communities. The interpersonal dynamics of these groups are increasingly coming under the scrutiny of academic research. The publicly available archived records of Internet virtual communities are being analyzed for a wide variety of research interests. The ability to do naturalistic observations of group dynamics, as they are exhibited in these exchanges of text, has captured the attention of many researchers. The institutional review boards of major universities are granting researchers exempt or expedited (exempt from full review) status for this work, due to the public nature of the notes being analyzed. These studies often involve the lack of informed consent, where the group members under study are unaware they are being monitored. There is a potential for psychological harm to the members of these groups, depending on the way results are reported. This article explores the ethical considerations that must be taken into account to protect cyberspace participants. The guidelines proposed are based on the American Psychological Association ethical guidelines for use of human subjects in research. An explanation is offered as to how such guidelines can best be applied to the study of Internet communities. The constructs of Group Accessibility (the public/private nature of the actual cyberspace occupied by a group) and Perceived Privacy (the level of privacy that group members assume they have) are defined and proposed as two dimensions by which individual Internet communities may be evaluated in order to assure the ethical reporting of research findings.     

Head injury secondary to suspected child maltreatment: results of a prospective Canadian national surveillance program

Objective

We sought to determine the incidence, clinical features, and demographic profile of head injury secondary to suspected child maltreatment (abuse or neglect) in Canada to help inform the development and evaluation of prevention programs for abusive head injuries.

Methods

From March 1, 2005 to February 28, 2008, an average of 2,545 paediatricians and paediatric subspecialists were surveyed monthly through the established network of the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program. We calculated incidence rates using the number of confirmed cases over the product of the duration of the study (3 years) and population estimates by age group.

Results

There were 220 confirmed cases of head injury from suspected child maltreatment. The annual incidence rate was 14.1 per 100,000 for children less than 1 year of age and 1.4 per 100,000 for those less than 15 years. Seventy three percent (141) of cases involved infants less than 12 months of age and 52% (100) of cases involved infants less than 6 months of age. Seventy-five percent (165) of cases presented to the emergency room. With regard to outcome, 12% (27) of cases resulted in death and 45% (75) of survivors had neurological sequelae at discharge. Thirty percent (67) of all cases, as well as 30% (8) of deaths were previously known to child welfare authorities.

Conclusion

This study provides an estimate of the rate of head injury secondary to suspected child maltreatment in Canada. The young age and poor medical outcomes of those involved highlights the need for prevention efforts that are implemented early in life. Given that a significant percentage of injured infants and children were already known to child welfare authorities, the study also highlights the need to establish and evaluate additional preventive efforts for parents and caregivers already in the child welfare system.     

Subject-specific computer simulation model for determining elbow loading in one-handed tennis backhand groundstrokes

A subject-specific angle-driven computer model of a tennis player, combined with a forward dynamics, equipment-specific computer model of tennis ball-racket impacts, was developed to determine the effect of ball-racket impacts on loading at the elbow for one-handed backhand groundstrokes. Matching subject-specific computer simulations of a typical topspin/slice one-handed backhand groundstroke performed by an elite tennis player were done with root mean square differences between performance and matching simulations of < 0.5 degrees over a 50 ms period starting from ball impact. Simulation results suggest that for similar ball-racket impact conditions, the difference in elbow loading for a topspin and slice one-handed backhand groundstroke is relatively small. In this study, the relatively small differences in elbow loading may be due to comparable angle-time histories at the wrist and elbow joints with the major kinematic differences occurring at the shoulder. Using a subject-specific angle-driven computer model combined with a forward dynamics, equipment-specific computer model of tennis ball-racket impacts allows peak internal loading, net impulse, and shock due to ball-racket impact to be calculated which would not otherwise be possible without impractical invasive techniques. This study provides a basis for further investigation of the factors that may increase elbow loading during tennis strokes.