Systematic educational change and teacher skill-building in developed and developing countries: the importance of teacher peer learning groups

Many developed and developing countries are seeking to systematically transform their education processes through Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The aim of this paper is to present findings from one aspect of a larger ICT study in a particular location in a developing country, with the specific focus presented here being ICT professional development and impacts. Research methods in the study included teacher and school leader surveys, targeted interviews and also case studies. Findings at a systems level generally indicated insufficient coordination of training and minimal follow-up occurring. In case study situations in which the school leader ensured a schoolwide approach to the professional learning of teachers, ICT was more embedded into student learning processes in classrooms. Considering ICT and other professional learning relevant to education, this paper has relevance for policy developers and school leaders in developed and developing world contexts. The need exists for using coordinated professional development processes, with more centralised ‘one-off’ training supplemented by schools and districts. The establishment of peer learning groups or mentors to support skill-building over time is also needed. Through these ongoing processes, teachers can more effectively make changes in their teaching practices, with potential impacts on student learning.     

Preparing novice teachers to develop basic reading and spelling skills in children

This study examined the word-structure knowledge of novice teachers and the progress of children tutored by a subgroup of the teachers. Teachers’ word-structure knowledge was assessed using three tasks: graphophonemic segmentation, classification of pseudowords by syllable type, and classification of real words as phonetically regular or irregular. Tutored children were assessed on several measures of basic reading and spelling skills. Novice teachers who received word-structure instruction outperformed a comparison group of teachers in word-structure knowledge at post-test. Tutored children improved significantly from pre-test to post-test on all assessments. Teachers’ post-test knowledge on the graphophonemic segmentation and irregular words tasks correlated significantly with tutored children’s progress in decoding phonetically regular words; error analyses indicated links between teachers’ patterns of word-structure knowledge and children’s patterns of decoding progress. The study suggests that word-structure knowledge is important to effective teaching of word decoding and underscores the need to include this information in teacher preparation.     

The peer‐review process in English‐language advertising journals: a survey of US academics

This study examined the views of advertising academics regarding the peer‐review process in English‐language advertising journals. Three issues were examined. First, how do advertising academics assess the peer‐review process in advertising journals on the following dimensions: fairness, anonymity (truly double‐blind), timeliness, and effectiveness in improving the quality of research? Second, how do they perceive the ethicality of review process behaviors? Third, what steps do they suggest for improving the quality or integrity of the peer‐review process? Data was collected through a survey of US‐based advertising academics. The findings reveal that advertising academics believe that, for the most part, advertising journals are succeeding at fairness, protecting anonymity, improving the research of submitters, and avoiding ethical infractions in the review process. However, advertising academics would like to see improvements in timeliness as well as in incentives and guidelines provided to participants in the peer‐review process.     

日本大阪都市圈居民的年龄、居住位置与家庭生命周期对小汽车使用与保有的影响

研究目的：探究城市居民小汽车交通行为变化的原因有多少来自人口统计特性的变化,有多少来自城市结构的改变。 创新要点：考虑家庭成员的生活任务分工以及家庭资源的分配等对每个家庭成员出行方式的影响,构建基于家庭生命周期的小汽车出行行为模型,为控制小汽车出行对策的研究提供准确依据。 研究方法：采用调查与统计理论,掌握居民的出行行为特征;基于经济计量学建模方法,构建居民小汽车出行行为联立方程模型。重要结论：城市结构关系的改变在抵消了人口统计特性的变化对小汽车交通产生的负面影响之后,小汽车交通总体呈上升趋势。     

User experience methodology: from the physical to the emotional

• Understanding users is vital to any interface design.
• People vary enormously – this affects not only the design but also the ways that we assess interface design success.
• To fully understand users we need to pair quantitative data with qualitative research.

     

Effect of swim speed on leg-to-arm coordination in unilateral arm amputee front crawl swimmers

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of swimming speed on leg-to-arm coordination in competitive unilateral arm amputee front crawl swimmers. Thirteen well-trained swimmers were videotaped underwater during three 25-m front crawl trials (400 m, 100 m and 50 m pace). The number, duration and timing of leg kicks in relation to arm stroke phases were identified by video analysis. Within the group, a six-beat kick was predominantly used (n = 10) although some swimmers used a four-beat (n = 2) or eight-beat kick (n = 1). Swimming speed had no significant effect on the relative duration of arm stroke and leg kick phases. At all speeds, arm stroke phases were significantly different (P < 0.05) between the affected and unaffected sides. In contrast, the kicking phases of both legs were not different. Consequently, leg-to-arm coordination was asymmetrical. The instant when the leg kicks ended on the affected side corresponded with particular positions of the unaffected arm, but not with the same positions of the affected arm. In conclusion, the ability to dissociate the movements of the arms from the legs demonstrates that, because of their physical impairment, unilateral arm amputee swimmers functionally adapt their motor organisation to swim front crawl.     

Linked to innovation: Shaping an innovative climate through network intentionality and educators’ social network position

This study investigates whether educators’ cognitive and structural social capital is associated with perceptions of innovative climate in charter schools. We explore a new concept to assess educators’ cognitive social capital, namely network intentionality, meaning the extent to which an educator is intentional in connecting and interacting with others. We hypothesize that network intentionality (cognitive social capital) is related to the extent to which educators perceive their school’s climate to be innovative, but that this relationship is dependent on the educator’s position in their school’s social network (structural social capital). Findings suggest that the relationship between cognitive social capital and perceptions of innovative climate is partly mediated by structural social capital. In other words, those educators with high network intentionality, as evidenced by an orientation towards connecting others, also perceive the school’s climate as being more innovative, partly because this strong network intentionality is associated with more out-going relational activity. This work provides unique insights into the factors that may be associated with teacher collaboration in successful charter schools serving traditionally underserved populations, and suggests ideas for schools wishing to support teacher collaboration and innovation.     

The relationship between functional potential and field performance in elite female wheelchair basketball players

The functional classification system for wheelchair basketball is based on an analysis of the players' functional resources through field-testing and game observation. Under this system, players are assigned a score of 1 to 4.5. The aim of this study was to determine if the wheelchair basketball player classification system reflects the existing differences in performance of elite female players. During the World Championship for Wheelchair Basketball in Sydney 1998, eight teams were videotaped for three 40-min games for a total of 120 min per team. Fifty-nine female players (Class I [1 and 1.5 points] n=12; Class II [2 and 2.5 points] n=20; Class III [3 and 3.5 points] n=13; Class IV [4 and 4.5 points] n=14) were retained for a detailed performance analysis by means of the Comprehensive Basketball Grading System (CBGS). Two-way analysis of variance showed high point players to perform better compared with low point players for the majority of variables determining the quality of game performance. A lack of significant differences between two adjacent classes was explained on the basis of the methodological approach, the class-position relationship in this sample, and the performance level of women's wheelchair basketball. We conclude that the performance of elite female wheelchair basketball players is dependent on functional ability.