No Light at the End of Tunnel Vision: Steps for Improving Lesson Plans

The authors of this article believe that the current structure of lesson plans impede differentiation, individualization, and innovation and offer little in assessing the quality of teaching and learning. Concrete steps will be offered for planning to better respond to student diversity in meeting lesson objectives.     

The pursuit of useable knowledge in instructional technology

The object of inquiry in instructional technology is not simply knowledge, but useable knowledge. This paper explores the dimensions of relevance with respect to research and suggests ways the research community can accommodate the needs and interests of practicing professionals in the field. Research relevance is examined as a reflection of: (a) practitioner and disciplinary values; (b) perceived credibility, viewed in terms of authenticity, methods employed, and replicability; and (c) perceptions of utility based upon the concrete nature of the findings. Specific recommendations relate to expanding the range of topics addressed in our research, expanding the range of research methods employed, orienting our research communication to specific practitioner communities, conducting research under natural conditions, replicating research, and establishing links between abstract and concrete findings. Finally, the role of the practitioner as an educated consumer of research is discussed.     

The relationship between peak height velocity and physical performance in youth soccer players

Longitudinal changes in height, weight and physical performance were studied in 33 Flemish male youth soccer players from the Ghent Youth Soccer Project. The players' ages at the start of the study ranged from 10.4 to 13.7 years, with a mean age of 12.2 +/- 0.7 years. Longitudinal changes were studied over a 5 year period. Peak height velocity and peak weight velocity were determined using non-smoothed polynomials. The estimations of peak height velocity, peak weight velocity and age at peak height velocity were 9.7 +/- 1.5 cm x year-1, 8.4 +/- 3.0 kg x year-1 and 13.8 +/- 0.8 years, respectively. Peak weight velocity occurred, on average, at the same age as peak height velocity. Balance, speed of limb movement, trunk strength, upper-body muscular endurance, explosive strength, running speed and agility, cardiorespiratory endurance and anaerobic capacity showed peak development at peak height velocity. A plateau in the velocity curves was observed after peak height velocity for upper-body muscular endurance, explosive strength and running speed. Flexibility exhibited peak development during the tear after peak height velocity. Trainers and coaches should be aware of the individual characteristics of the adolescent growth spurt and the training load should also be individualized at this time.     

Holdings of peace research journals in academic library collections

Peace movements have shaped national and international culture for decades. Although the Cold War is over, conflict-resolution issues continue to dominate headlines and the news. Peace literature holdings are vital to a relatively young but growing peace and conflict studies curricula. This study uses the list of serials abstracted by Peace Research Abstracts Journal to examine the holdings rates of peace-oriented journal titles in the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member libraries. Holdings rates are examined by library, title, and subject category. Their impact on scholars, researchers, and students is discussed. Findings reveal generally strong holdings rates among ARL libraries. The broad nature of peace research, however, results in greater variation in holdings among certain important sub-topics of the literature.     

The use of self moderated focus groups to gather exploratory data on information beliefs and their impact on information seeking behaviour

The existence of an information belief system is tested for the first time through innovative use of self moderated focus groups. Initial generation of information beliefs was achieved in an open, unpredicted and unbiased way through focus groups. To remove researcher effect and promote informality in discussion, the researcher experimented with a novel approach - self moderated focus groups. A detailed study of 5 groups evaluates their effectiveness in encouraging free and spontaneous discussion and in eliciting unique information ideas or beliefs. Results show that self moderated focus groups encourage naturalistic discourse, take unpredictable directions and are fertile in uncovering unexpected beliefs. Disadvantages include lack of consistency and leader mirroring, with members adopting the style and tone of volunteer moderators. Consideration should be given to gender balance in group composition. The method is recommended where open and free flowing discussion is sought.     

Emerging themes in Finnish archival science and records management education

The paper focuses on the convergence of Finnish research and education in archival science with information science in general and in records management with information management in particular. Two issues influencing this development are: the convergence of professionals previously worked in the archival and library sectors and in information management and services; and the wide-spread, extensive growth in the use of digital technology to manage internal and external organizational information. At the level of society the opportunities provided by digital technology to manage heritage information in memory organizations like archives, libraries and museums, are tremendous and the role of documentary heritage at the global, European and national levels is well recognized. These developments are changing the information and operating environments of memory organizations and public and private enterprises. These changes, in turn, are generating new requirements in archival science and records management education and research. This paper focuses on the implications of these changes for the planning, implementation and further development of an information studies curriculum. This curriculum development is considered crucial in order to respond to the new demands, and is also implicitly linked to the emerging Finnish information society. This article is based on Huotari, M.-L. and Valtonen, M.R., “Integrating Records and Archives Management with Information Studies in Finland”, in L. Ashcroft (ed.),Continuity, Culture, Competition—the Future of Library and Information Studies Education, Proceedings of the 4th British-Nordic Conference on Library and Information Studies 21–23 March 2001, Dublin, Ireland, pp. 249–254 (Dublin: MCB UP Limited, 2002).     

Marketing undergraduates' attitudes towards query-based instructional machines as a possible learning medium

Six hundred and seventy-one undergraduates completed a questionnaire concerning their reactions to the idea that parts of their degree programmes might be delivered via Query Based Instructional Machines. The latter are commonplace in museums and other cultural attractions. They are menu-driven and operate on the touch-screen principle, thus allowing the user to browse through whichever aspects of a subject the person finds most interesting. Cognitive, affective and conative responses were measured and related to students' personal characteristics, degree programme, year of study, level of academic attainment, psychological involvement with a course, and innate tendencies vis-à-vis need for cognition, curiosity, and change leadership. The sample comprised students on three categories of degree programme: marketing, computing, or humanities. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was completed using aggregated responses as dependent variables, degree type as the fixed factor (grouping variable), and personal characteristics and inclinations as covariates. There were a number of significant differences between the responses of the marketing students and students in the other groups.