A Nomadic Information System for Adaptive Exhibition Guidance

The paper describes the electronic guide HIPS that can be used duringthe process of a visit in a museum, i.e., for preparation, execution andevaluation. Users can access the system via the Web to prepare a visitby receiving information about the content and organization of anexhibition and practical issues like location and opening hours. Thevisitor can also prepare a tour for the actual visit or define hotspotswith important exhibits. The system should remind the user when on site.Once the user is in the museum he or she has two specific options to usethe system: the visitor can walk around in the museum and remainstanding where he or she finds an item of interest. The current locationin the room identified by infrared emitters at all exhibits triggers anindicator for the information presentation. Or, the visitor can select atour prepared by a curator, prepared by the user in advance (at home) orgenerated by the user ad hoc. In the museum, the information access isprovided via wireless technologies. This allows the user to accessinformation by moving in the physical space and navigating in theinformation space concurrently. The Web-based server approach allows foradaptive information selection and presentation based on a user modelevaluating the history of the usage of the system. The user canaccelerate the adaptation by specifying interests and preferences in theuser model. Before the visit the user can define tours and hotspots andenter annotations that will be presented or activated by the system inthe appropriate physical environment. After a visit in the museum theuser can evaluate the experience at home for further own inquiries orfor communication with other interested people. Thebefore-during-after-the-visit-support of visitors via nomadicinformation system has been designed based on evidence from ourquestionnaire pre-study, which showed that visitors actually useinformation available in or about museums before and also after avisit.     

The Impact of Emotions on Student Achievement in Synchronous Hybrid Business and Public Administration Programs: A Longitudinal Test of Control‐Value Theory*

Synchronous hybrid delivery (simultaneously teaching on‐campus and online students using Web conferencing) is becoming more common in higher education. However, little is known about students’ emotions in these environments. Although often overlooked, emotions are fundamental antecedents of success. This study longitudinally examined the role of students’ emotions (enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom), perceptions of control, value, and success in synchronous hybrid learning environments. In particular, the investigation assessed students’ self‐reported enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom as predictors of their program achievement and successful technology use. Students were recruited from synchronous hybrid MBA and MPA programs. Control‐value theory of emotions was used as the theoretical framework. Paired samples t‐tests revealed that the achievement domain, compared to the technology domain, yielded higher mean scores for control, value, enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom. In addition, mixed ANOVAs indicated an interaction effect in which group means for program boredom were significantly higher for on‐campus students than for online students. Intercorrelations in each domain showed that perceived success was positively related to enjoyment and negatively related to anxiety and boredom. Technology‐related anxiety was also found to fully mediate the positive effect of control on perceived success in using technology.     

Moderation of the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect: Juxtaposition of Evolutionary (Darwinian-Economic) and Achievement Motivation Theory Predictions Based on a Delphi Approach

Educational Psychology Review - The big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE), the negative effect of school-/class-average achievement on academic self-concept, is one of educational psychology’s...     

Accurately detecting students’ lies regarding relational aggression by correctional instructions

This study investigates the effect of correctional instructions when detecting lies about relational aggression. Based on models from the field of social psychology, we predict that correctional instruction will lead to a less pronounced lie bias and to more accurate lie detection. Seventy-five teachers received videotapes of students’ true denial messages (e.g., students were innocent) and untrue denial messages (students were involved in relational aggression). A random half of the teachers were either given no further instructions or were told not to use stereotypical non-verbal cues when forming judgements (correctional instruction condition). As predicted, teachers in the correctional instruction condition were slightly better at detecting true than invented stories.     

Social change through an urban sport for development initiative? Investigating critical pedagogy through the voices of young people

This article explores the pedagogy of an urban Sport for Development (SfD) initiative in Belgium through the voices of young people. We draw on the critical pedagogy of Paulo Freire, and use qualitative research methods (i.e. observations, informal conversations, in-depth interviews and sharing circles) over a three-year period, to analyse the initiative’s actual pedagogical practice with key Freirean concepts (i.e. ‘banking education’, ‘dialogue’ and ‘dialogical action’) and virtues (e.g. respect for people’s knowledge, rejection of discrimination, caring for people). The findings reveal the presence of several Freirean virtues, emerging dialogue and, for some, action thought. Still, the SfD initiative remains at considerable distance from fully-fledged critical pedagogy. The young people in the SfD initiative nonetheless experience it as a space where they can be themselves, feel at home, gain respect, can learn to reflect and form opinions, and are temporarily freed from daily struggles such as discrimination. We discuss several pathways that could foster the capacity to organise and deliver a programme beyond emerging dialogue and action.     

Stratifikationen im Bereich der Hochschulbildung in Deutschland

Until recently there have been no universities or study programs in Germany that were connected to claims for top level positions in the field of higher education. However, by now efforts to vertically differentiate higher education are increasing and emphasize differences in quality. Such efforts have so far been observed with respect to research. In contrast, this article focusses on stratificatory efforts that are primarily connected to education at universities. It is based on cases studies in the field of graduate schools funded by the German excellence initiative and in the field of private higher education institutions that belong to law, business, and the social sciences and try to positions themselves as top level institutions. The first part addresses specific forms in which stratification is institutionalized in the field of higher education at present. The second part then exemplifies the various ways in which vertical differentiation is mobilized along a common attribute in both fields—internationality. We show that stratification is not a monolithic process but involves highly complex differentiations along various attributes and in multiple ways.     

How Personality Shapes Study Location Choices

Research in Higher Education - In this paper I investigate undergraduate students’ discrete location choices in presence of a plethora of potential destinations and psychic costs. I...     

How need for cognition affects the processing of achievement-related information

The present article analyzed, how need for cognition (NFC) influences the formation of performance expectancies. When processing information, individuals with lower NFC often rely on salient information and shortcuts compared to individuals higher in NFC. We assume that these preferences of processing will also make individuals low in NFC more responsive to salient achievement-related cues because the processing of salient cues is cognitively less demanding than the processing of non-salient cues. Therefore, individuals lower in NFC should tend to draw wider ranging inferences from salient achievement-related information. In a sample of N = 197 secondary school students, achievement-related feedback (grade on an English examination) affected changes in expectancies in non-corresponding academic subjects (e.g., expectation of final grade in mathematics or history) when NFC was lower, whereas for students with higher NFC, changes in expectancies in non-corresponding academic subjects were not affected.     

Girls and mathematics —A “hopeless” issue? A control-value approach to gender differences in emotions towards mathematics

This study analyzed gender differences in achievement emotions in the domain of mathematics. Based on Pekrun’s (2000, 2006) controlvalue theory of achievement emotions, we hypothesized that there are gender differences in mathematics emotions due to the students’ different levels of control and value beliefs in mathematics, even when controlling for prior achievement. The structural relationships between prior achievement, control and value beliefs, and emotions were assumed to be invariant across girls and boys in spite of hypothesized mean level differences of beliefs and emotions across genders. The emotions and beliefs of 1,036 male and 1,017 female 5th grade students were assessed by self-report measures, and their prior mathematics achievement was assessed by academic grades. Even though girls and boys had received similar grades in mathematics, girls reported significantly less enjoyment and pride than boys, but more anxiety, hopelessness and shame. Findings suggested that the female emotional pattern was due to the girls’ low competence beliefs and domain value of mathematics, combined with their high subjective values of achievement in mathematics. Multiple-group comparisons confirmed that the structural relationships between variables were largely invariant across the genders.     

The responses of fatty acid-binding protein and creatine kinase to acute and chronic exercise in junior rowers

The responses of fatty acid-binding protein (FABP) and creatine kinase (CK) were compared in a group of junior rowers during 5 weeks of training. Acute exercise induced a larger increase in FABP (70-362%) than in CK (24-156%). When the chronic effect of exercise was studied, the baseline FABP levels were independent of previous training. However, the baseline CK level was dependent on the training that took place during 1 day before (F = 4.362, p < .01) and on the combined training on the previous 2 days (F = 4.606, p < .005). The present results suggest that FABP and CK could be used to monitor acute exercise and chronic exercise, respectively.