Graduate Business Students Performance with Synchronous and Asynchronous Interaction e-Learning Methods

The effects of synchronous and asynchronous lectures and interaction formats were examined with graduate business students in on‐campus and off‐campus MBA programs. The dependent variables were scores on exams questions and learning styles and cognitive styles were used as covariates. The results indicated significant differences for discussion and lecture format and for on‐campus and off‐campus students. The results were discussed relative to learning in electronic environments.     

A tribute to ‘unsung teachers’: teachers’ influences on students enrolling in STEM programs with the intent of entering STEM careers

This narrative inquiry examines teachers’ influences on undergraduate and graduate students who enrolled in STEM programs and intended to enter STEM careers. Three National Science Foundation (NSF) scholarship grants sat in the backdrop. Narrative exemplars were crafted using the interpretative tools of broadening, burrowing, storying and restorying, fictionalisation and serial interpretation. Three diverse students’ narratives constituted the science education cases: one from teacher education, another arising from cyber technology and a third involving cyber security. The influence of the university students’ former teachers cohered around five themes: 1) same program-different narratives, 2) in loco parentis, 3) counter stories, 4) learning in small moments, and 5) the importance of the liberal arts in STEM education. The students’ narratives form instructive models for their siblings and other students pursuing STEM degrees and careers. Most importantly, the multiperspectival stories of experiences capture the far-reaching impact of ‘unsung teachers’ whose long-term influence is greatly underestimated by the public.     

Teacher disapproval,delinquent peers,and self-reported delinquency: A longitudinal test of labeling theory

Data from the National Youth Survey (waves one and two) were used to assess the effects of individual students' perceptions of teacher disapproval on self-reported delinquency. The panel study included youths between the ages of 11 and 17. Consistent with the labeling perspective, the results indicated that perceptions of teacher disapproval are associated with subsequent delinquency. This relationship was significant even when controlling for prior delinquency, thus weakening the argument that labeling is merely a result, and not a cause, of delinquency. The effects did, however, appear to be indirect when measures of delinquent peer associations were included in the model.     

Socioeconomic Disadvantage, Proximal Environmental Experiences, and Socioemotional and Academic Adjustment in Early Adolescence: Investigation of a Mediated Effects Model

This study investigated interrelations among conditions of household socioeconomic disadvantage, proximal environmental experiences, and adaptational outcomes in a sample of 398 middle grade, early adolescents from a predominantly poor, rural area. Findings indicated that levels of disadvantage were related to both socioemotional and academic adjustment, with those from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds faring most poorly. Specifically, youth from homes in which adults were employed in low-income, unskilled occupations were found to have lower levels of school performance and achievement compared to those from homes in which adults were employed in higher paying semi-skilled or skilled/professional occupations. Further, youth from families in which neither parent had graduated from high school exhibited significantly worse socioemotional and academic adjustment than did those whose parents had higher educational levels. Youth who lived in relatively disadvantaged homes also reported more negative experiences of proximal environmental conditions relating to family and school contexts and greater exposure to stressful life events. Most notably, findings provided support for employing an ecological-mediational perspective to understand patterns of linkage between socioeconomic disadvantage and levels of adjustment. Support for this viewpoint included the finding that proximal environmental experiences were significant predictors of adolescent adjustment, independent of shared variance with conditions of household disadvantage, whereas conditions of disadvantage in several instances were no longer related significantly to indices of adjustment once their association with proximal environmental conditions was taken into account. The discussion considers implications for the targeting and scope of ecologically oriented approaches to preventive intervention.     

Taking place: the social construction of place,time and space,and the (re)making of distances in distance education

This paper endeavours to link the notions of distance and place to distance education, using social scientific theories of distance. A selection of the work of geographers, historians and sociologists concerning theories of distance and place are related critically to the administration, management and practices of distance education. Distance and place are presented as a concept which individuals construct for themselves in relation to the broader social contexts of their lives. The relationships between students and their distance education institutions represent encounters between a variety of distance relations which are rarely considered by distance educationists.

It is argued that distance education institutions play a part in ‘choreographing’ the existences of their students. In effect, a series of movements in time‐space are choreographed in order for people to be ‘distance students’. Such a choreography is founded on unstated assumptions about place and distance and is constructed through the bureaucracies and processes of distance education, particularly through the use of non‐dialogic forms of communications.     

PROFESSIONALISM, PROFESSIONALITY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS

ABSTRACT:  What purpose is served by renovation or redesign of professionalism, and how successful a process is it likely to be? This article addresses these questions by examining the effectiveness as a professional development mechanism of the imposition of changes to policy and/or practice that require modification or renovation of professionalism. The 'new' professionalisms purported to have been fashioned over the last two or three decades across the spectrum of UK education sectors and contexts have been the subject of extensive analysis, and this article avoids going over old ground and revisiting issues that have already been much debated. Nevertheless, the example of UK government education policy during this period is used as a basis for considering the pitfalls associated with mechanisms for modifying professionalism through a reform and standards agenda. The article's analysis incorporates re-definition and examination of the concept and substance of professionalism and offers new perspectives in the form of three distinct conceptions: demanded, prescribed and enacted professionalism. Exploring the existentialist status of 'new' or 'modified' professionalisms and the relationship between professionality, professional culture and professionalism, it examines how professionalism may be interpreted and utilised for the development of education professionals.     

Validity of the osu post‐traumatic stress disorder scale and the behavior assessment system for children self‐report of personality with child tornado survivors

Tornadoes and other natural disasters can lead to anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children. This study provides further validity for the Oklahoma State University Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder Scale–Child Form (OSU PTSDS‐CF) by comparing it to the Behavior Assessment System for Children Self‐Report of Personality (BASC‐SRP). Correlations were significant at 0.01 between BASC‐SRP scales of Anxiety, Atypicality, and Clinical Maladjustment, and at least 0.05 between OSU PTSDS‐CF scales for Social Stress, Depression, Inadequacy, and Emotional Symptoms Index (ESI). Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) yielded significant differences at 0.01 between children with and without PTSD, based on OSU PTSDS‐CF cut‐off scores, for BASC‐SRP Anxiety, Atypicality, and Clinical Maladjustment. ANOVAs were significant at 0.05 for Social Stress, Locus of Control, Relationship with Parents, and ESI. Results yielded moderate effect sizes, and BASC‐SRP means were within normal limits for all groups. Practitioners are encouraged to supplement the BASC‐SRP with PTSD measures in children who have experienced trauma. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A Cognitive Framework for the Analysis of Online Chemistry Courses

Many students now are receiving instruction in online environments created by universities, museums, corporations, and even students. What features of a given online course contribute to its effectiveness? This paper addresses that query by proposing and applying an analytic framework to five online introductory chemistry courses. Introductory chemistry was chosen because, as the central science, chemistry is a core component of scientific literacy as well as a long-established prerequisite for science, engineering, and medical fields. An online instructional delivery system has the potential to overcome the limitations of the traditionally large and passive lecture format characteristic of an introductory chemistry course by providing students with opportunities for active engagement and support in the learning process via self-pacing, dynamic expositions, interactive problem solving, and open ended or scaffolded explorations of new information. The proposed framework for addressing the effectiveness of online chemistry courses is informed by both cognitive and chemistry education research on examples, tasks, and explorations and includes a catalog of possible online resources. As a demonstration of the framework, an analysis was conducted on each course’s instruction in stoichiometry, a tool that is both challenging to students and fundamental to the solution-chemistry topics addressed during subsequent coursework. The application of this framework revealed characteristics of the courses that could affect their instructional effectiveness as well as students’ impressions of what it means to “do chemistry.”     

Variational analysis of electrical networks

A unified variational approach to network analysis is presented. From an initial classification of variables, expressed in topological terms, Lagrangian energy functions are generated which may be used in Hamilton's principles. This topological formalism allows extension into nonconservative networks and enables the complete retention of classical formalism in all networks.By using a topological version of the Brayton-Moser mixed potential function, several power variational principles are developed. These principles lead to comparison of the roles played by classical energy and power state functions in analytical mechanics.     

Effect of acute ingestion of β-hydroxybutyrate salts on the response to graded exercise in trained cyclists

Acute ingestion of ketone salts induces nutritional ketosis by elevating β-hydroxybutyrate (βHB), but few studies have examined the metabolic effects of ingestion prior to exercise. Nineteen trained cyclists (12 male, 7 female) undertook graded exercise (8 min each at ～30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, and 80% VO_2peak) on a cycle ergometer on two occasions separated by either 7 or 14 days. Trials included ingestion of boluses of either (i) plain water (3.8?mL?kg?body mass^?1) (CON) or (ii) βHB salts (0.38?g?kg?body mass^?1) in plain water (3.8?mL?kg body mass^?1) (KET), at both 60 min and 15 min prior to exercise. During KET, plasma [βHB] increased to 0.33?±?0.16?mM prior to exercise and 0.44?±?0.15?mM at the end of exercise (both p?.05). Plasma glucose was 0.44?±?0.27?mM lower (p?.01) 30?min after ingestion of KET and remained ～0.2?mM lower throughout exercise compared to CON (p?.001). Respiratory exchange ratio (RER) was higher during KET compared to CON (p?.001) and 0.03–0.04 higher from 30%VO_2peak to 60%VO_2peak (all p?.05). No differences in plasma lactate, rate of perceived exertion, or gross or delta efficiency were observed between trials. Gastrointestinal symptoms were reported in 13 out of 19 participants during KET. Acute ingestion of βHB salts induces nutritional ketosis and alters the metabolic response to exercise in trained cyclists. Elevated RER during KET may be indicative of increased ketone body oxidation during exercise, but at the plasma βHB concentrations achieved, ingestion of βHB salts does not affect lactate appearance, perceived exertion, or muscular efficiency.