Peer choice – does reviewer self‐selection work?

The British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET) uses a novel system for obtaining referees by e‐mailing the abstracts of submissions to a panel of over 250 referees and allowing these individuals to choose which papers they would like to review. An analysis of 13 experienced referees showed that, of 473 reviews assessed, these referees were slightly more lenient than the editor and that electronic records provide useful data that can be mined in interesting ways.     

The effect of limb dominance on lower limb functional performance – a systematic review

Lower limb dominance (or lateral preference) could potentially effect functional performance. Clinicians are often asked to make judgements as to when a patient has sufficiently “recovered” from an injury, typically using strength and dynamic performance outcome measures. The primary purpose of this study was to systematically review the literature in relation to limb dominance within active adult populations and discuss some limitations to current methods and relate this to current clinical practice. A search of MEDLINE and CINAHL and EMBASE databases and reference lists of those articles identified was performed. Eleven articles were selected for meta-analysis. There was no statistical effect of limb dominance for any of the functional tests: isokinetic quadriceps and hamstring tests, hamstring:quadriceps ratios, single-leg hop for distance, single-leg vertical jump and vertical ground reaction force following a single-leg vertical jump. Pooled symmetry values varied from 94.6% to 99.6% across the tests, above the clinically accepted benchmark of 90% used in clinical practice. Although the results of this study must be used with discretion, asymmetries in the tasks described in this analysis should be viewed as undesirable and remedied accordingly. Further research is needed to quantify asymmetries, particularly in relation to sport-specific contexts.     

How young people respond to learning spaces outside school: A sociocultural perspective

This article focuses on educational enterprises outside the formal sector, such as museums, botanical gardens and interactive science centres. International research is drawn on to illuminate how design, culture, educational strategies and settings combine to affect the way in which young people respond to experiences on offer, leading to analysis of the impact of such settings in promoting learning, and the likely implications for those who staff such venues. Aikenhead’s concept of the educator as ‘culture broker’ is developed to suggest ways in which learning might be best supported. It envisages a shift from ‘delivery’ strategies targeted at large groups towards approaches which focus on what learners choose to know about using dialogue between children and ‘known and trusted people’. Analysis of observed responses in various settings is undertaken from a sociocultural perspective using the notion of communities of practice. Implications for the roles of education managers and their staff in further research are developed.     

弗里德曼:使社会倒退的"自由市场"设计师

2006年11月21日,澳大利亚http://www.wsws.org网站刊登了尼克·比姆斯题为《弗里德曼:使社会倒退的"自由市场"设计师》的文章,认为弗里德曼的理论受到重视不是因为其科学性,而是因为他为垄断资本的全球扩张提供了一个意识形态外衣,他的理论在科学上是一种倒退,而且实际上也导致社会倒退.文章主要内容如下.     

Student Finance and Widening Participation in the British Isles: Common Problems, Different Solutions

Across the British Isles there are common forces encouraging an expansion of higher education (HE) while constraining the ability and willingness of governments to finance it. We examine the nature of these forces and conclude that together they are likely to lead over time to the general taxpayer funding a declining share of HE costs. While there are some potential efficiency and social equity benefits from reforms of student finance motivated by switching more of the costs towards students and their parents, the likely impact of these reforms on widening participation is unclear. We examine the current student finance systems in the British Isles and assess whether or not a system based upon income‐contingent student loans, means‐tested grants and targeted bursaries can deliver both the desired expansion and widening access.     

From unbundling to market making: reimagining,reassembling and reinventing the public university

ABSTRACT

In Britain and New Zealand the neoliberal assault on universities has shifted from new public management and funding models to the special status of the public university. The project aims to complete neoliberal business initiated 25 years ago by more fully marketising and financialising universities, starting with ‘unbundling’ and outsourcing and culminating in new forms of privatisation, rent-extraction and rebundling. This paper analyses two documents commissioned beyond government to create political momentum for this project: Avalanche is Coming and The University of the Future. These both capture the zeitgeist of reform while simultaneously creating the university futures that they portend. We examine the market-making work they perform in reimagining and reinventing universities ahead of policy reform. We argue that claims made to support fundamental restructuring of public universities lack substance or evidence. Rather, each is underpinned by different configurations of ideology and self-interest that together envelope universities in new agendas of marketisation, financialisation and privatisation. We suggest that in this latest restructuring of public universities critics should pay more attention to the work of consultancies and think tanks alongside the micro-details of market making. By doing so, they too might reimagine public universities, but for a different political project.     

A comparison of self-focus versus attentional explanations of choking

This study examined attentional processes underlying skilled motor performance in threatening situations. Twenty-four trained participants performed a simulated rally driving task under conditions designed either to direct the focus of attention toward the explicit monitoring of driving or a distracting secondary task. Performance (lap time) was compared with a "driving only" control condition. Each condition was completed under nonevaluative and evaluative instructional sets designed to manipulate anxiety. Mental effort was indexed by self-report and dual-task performance measures. The results showed little change in performance in the high-threat explicit monitoring task condition, compared with either the low-threat or the high-threat distraction conditions. Mental effort increased, however, in all high- as opposed to low-threat conditions. Performance effectiveness was therefore maintained under threat although this was at the expense of reduced processing efficiency. The results provide stronger support for the predictions of processing efficiency theory than self-focus theories of choking.     

Adolescents With Disabilities: The Need for Occupational Social Skills Training

In this article, occupational social skills are defined and their importance is highlighted. The lack of occupational social skills has been estimated to be responsible for almost 90% of job loss. Although a number of commercial social skills instructional programs are available, none address social skills as they relate to specific occupations. We offer 4 different ways to develop appropriate occupational social skills training.