Bridging the implementation gap: a teacher‐as‐learner approach to teaching and learning policy

A major dilemma facing higher educational institutions around the world is how to achieve quality outcomes for students in an increasingly internationalised and competitive environment. To effect change in teaching and learning, we advocate a teacher‐as‐learner approach to the implementation of teaching and learning policy. Our approach has been influenced by approaches to change management as well as contemporary educational theories, such as constructive alignment and deep and surface approaches to learning. In this paper we use these approaches to evaluate the success of a policy initiative designed to encourage subject coordinators to use a faculty‐endorsed template to embed graduate attributes into their subject outlines. The difficulties experienced by teachers at the disciplinary level in using the subject outline template illustrate how a seemingly positive and well‐intentioned initiative can have a potentially minimal effect on teaching and learning practice and, as a consequence, student learning. We suggest that the Course Experience Questionnaire provides a useful model for evaluating not only teaching but also the management of teaching. As teachers responsible for the implementation of teaching and learning policies, we hope our views will provide a more integrated approach to teaching and learning changes in the higher educational context.     

Bullying in Schools: Addressing Desires, Not Only Behaviours

Currently the main approach in responding to bullying in schools is to focus on undesired behaviours and to apply sanctions. This approach is often ineffective as well as failing to address the needs of children as persons as distinct from the behaviour they produce. A proposed alternative approach is to inquire into the motivation of children who bully and to identify the desires that bullying behaviour seeks to satisfy. This paper provides a critique of the conception of bullying as located in the desire to hurt others, as proposed by Tattum and Tattum (1992). It examines a range of desires, as inferred from the reasons schoolchildren give for bullying others, that may, under some circumstances, lead them to engage in bullying. Finally, it considers how a primary focus on children’s desires rather than on their behaviour, may result in more effective and humane methods of dealing with the problem of bullying in schools.     

Prospects of adolescent students collaborating with teachers in addressing issues of bullying and conflict in schools

Advice to schools on countering bullying has emphasised the need for a whole school approach. This implies close collaboration between students and teachers. Little attention, however, has been paid to how students view the prospects of such collaboration. Two student surveys (n=7091 and n=632) were conducted among Australian adolescent schoolchildren, average age 14 years. The results suggest that approximately 40% of the students believed that teachers were not usually interested in taking action to stop bullying and a similar proportion were either opposed or unsure whether they should collaborate. Multiple regression analysis indicated that students who were more involved in bully/victim encounters as either as bullies or as victims were more likely than others to disparage the conflict resolution skills of teachers. In addition, bullies were particularly inclined to judge teachers as unfair in their behaviour toward students. The implications of these findings for the implementation of whole school approaches to conflict and bullying and for teacher education are discussed.     

Breastfeeding Attitudes of WIC Staff: A Descriptive Study

A sample of staff members from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC program) were interviewed about breastfeeding and their perceptions of WIC recipients' views on breastfeeding. WIC staff members universally supported breastfeeding and expressed desires for more linkages between WIC agencies and perinatal education specialists in childbirth education classes, as well as with mothers during their postpartum hospital stay. The WIC staff members in this study reported on a variety of beliefs about breastfeeding held by their WIC clients, including cultural beliefs, the importance of family support, and experiences of pain during breastfeeding.     

Validity of proximity sensor-based wear-time detection using the ActiGraph GT9X

Our study investigated the performance of proximity sensor-based wear-time detection using the GT9X under laboratory and free-living settings. Fifty-two volunteers (23.2 ± 3.8 y; 23.2 ± 3.7 kg/m²) participated in either a laboratory or free-living protocol. Lab participants wore and removed a wrist-worn GT9X on 3–5 occasions during a 3-hour directly observed activity protocol. The 2-day free-living protocol used an independent temperature sensor and self-report as the reference to determine if wrist and hip-worn GT9X accurately determined wear (i.e., sensitivity) and non-wear (i.e., specificity). Free-living estimates of wear/non-wear were also compared to Troiano 2007 and Choi 2012 wear/non-wear algorithms. In lab, sensitivity and specificity of the wrist-worn GT9X in detecting total minutes of wear-on and off was 93% and 49%, respectively. The GT9X detected wear-off more often than wear-on, but with a greater margin of error (4.8 ± 11.6 vs. 1.4 ± 1.4 min). In the free-living protocol, wrist and hip-worn GT9X’s yielded sensitivity and specificity of 72 and 90% and 84 and 92%, respectively. GT9X estimations had inferior sensitivity but superior specificity to Troiano 2007 and Choi 2012 algorithms. Due to inaccuracies, it may not be advisable to singularly use the proximity-sensor-based wear-time detection method to detect wear-time.     

Changes in Cardiorespiratory Responses and Kinematics With Hippotherapy in Youth With and Without Cerebral Palsy

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to characterize pelvic displacement and cardiorespiratory responses to simulated horseback riding and walking in youth with cerebral palsy and to compare responses to youth without cerebral palsy before and after 8 weeks of hippotherapy. Method: Eight youth with cerebral palsy (M_age = 10 ± 4 years; M_height = 137 ± 24 cm; M_weight = 32 ± 16 kg) and 8 youth without cerebral palsy (M_age = 11 ± 2 years; M_height = 149 ± 14 cm; M_weight = 48 ± 15 kg) underwent a hippotherapy intervention. Participants completed simulated horseback riding at an intensity approximating a fast walk (0.65 Hz) and walked on a treadmill (1 mph, 0% grade) before and after hippotherapy. Pelvic displacement along the anterior-posterior, vertical, and medial-lateral axes, heart rate, oxygen consumption, ventilation, and blood pressure were measured at rest and during steady-state exercise in both exercise modes. Results: Kinematics and cardiorespiratory responses were similar between the 2 groups during simulated horseback riding (p > .05 for all) before the intervention. Significantly greater cardiorespiratory responses were observed in the youth with cerebral palsy compared with the group without cerebral palsy while walking before and after the intervention (p < .05, effect sizes 26% to 237% greater). Eight weeks of hippotherapy did not alter responses, but anecdotal improvements in gait, balance, posture, and range of motion were observed in those with cerebral palsy. Conclusion: These results contribute to our understanding regarding the efficacy of hippotherapy as an intervention to improve functional abilities in those with cerebral palsy.     

HPT in Academic Curricula: Survey Results

The purpose of this research was to determine to what extent human performance technology (HPT) is being taught in academic programs that traditionally emphasized training—programs such as instructional systems, training and development, human resource development, and adult learning. A written survey was used to collect data from 82 academic programs. Results indicate that while training (and the related areas of needs assessment and evaluation) continues to dominate curricula at these institutions, non-training performance improvement strategies (and the broader performance analysis that leads to their selection) are frequently taught as well. No correlations were found between the extent of teaching HPT topics and the variables of program size, program type, location, degrees offered, or faculty membership in NSPI (now called the International Society for Performance Improvement). Future research could investigate the driving and restraining forces that determine HPT's impact on the curriculum and the effects that current curricula have on program graduates.