A model for e‐education: Extended teaching spaces and extended learning spaces

The paper proposes a model for e‐education in instruction, training, initiation and induction based upon the concept of extended teaching spaces involving execution, facilitation and liberation, and extended learning spaces used for acquisition, application and construction cemented by dialogue and reflection. The proposed model is based upon theory, research and practice in education and information and communications technology (ICT). In this paper, the focus is on K‐12 schooling, but the model may be applied to ICT integration in all sectors of education and training.     

Academics’ job-related stress and institutional commitment in Hong Kong universities

Tertiary Education and Management - Recent developments in higher education have placed greater emphasis on performance and accountability and raised concerns about increasing levels of stress...     

The effects of part-task and whole-task instructional approaches on acquisition and transfer of a complex cognitive skill

This study was designed to investigate the effects of two instructional approaches (whole-task versus part-task) and two levels of learner prior knowledge (lower versus higher) on learner acquisition and transfer of a complex cognitive skill. Participants were 51 undergraduate pre-service teachers. In the part-task condition, a complex skill (preparing a grade book using Excel) was decomposed into a series of smaller tasks, each of which was demonstrated and practiced separately. In the whole-task condition, which was based on the 4C/ID-model (van Merriënboer 1997), learners were exposed to the entire complex skill from the beginning of the instruction and were required to practice performing a series of whole tasks throughout the unit. Results indicated that the whole-task group performed significantly better than the part-task group on a skill acquisition test and a transfer test. Possible reasons for these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Assimilation or Contrast? Evaluation of New Shows in Lead-In–Lead-Out Scheduling

The basis of this study was an experiment conducted, incorporating lead-in and lead-out scheduling techniques, to explore the impact of context effects on the evaluation of a new show. Results indicate that contrast effect or assimilation effect occurred, dependent on whether the show adjacent to the show targeted for evaluation was of the same or a different genre. That is, viewers tended to evaluate the target program more favorably when they watched it in conjunction with a program of a different genre (i.e., assimilation occurs). Conversely, audiences gave a lower evaluation to the target show when the adjacent program was of the same genre (i.e., contrast occurs). This pattern of context effects occurred regardless of whether viewers watched the target show prior to (i.e., lead-out), or after (i.e., lead-in), the context show. This study also found that the assimilation effect was greater in the lead-out and different-genre condition, and contrast effect was enhanced in the lead-in and same-genre condition. Implications concerning context effects on scheduling strategies for the introduction of a new series are presented.     

Foot and ankle joint movements of dancers and non-dancers: a comparative study

Ballerinas use their ankle joints more extremely and sustain injuries on the ankle joint more frequently than non-dancers. Therefore, the ankle movement of dancers is important and should be studied to prevent injuries. Measuring ankle joint range of motion (ROM) using radiographs could demonstrate the contribution to motion of each joint. The aim of this study was to analyse and compare ankle joint movements and the ratio of each joint’s contribution during movement between dancers and non-dancers, using radiographic images. Dancers have lower dorsiflexion (26.7 ± 6.2°), higher plantarflexion (74.3 ± 7.1°) and higher total (101.1 ± 10.8°) ROMs than non-dancers (33.9 ± 7.0°, 57.2 ± 6.8° and 91.1 ± 9.3°, respectively) (p < 0.05). Although the ROMs were different between the two groups, the ratios of each joint movement were similar between these two groups, in all movements. Regarding total movement, the movement ratio of the talocrural joint was almost 70% and other joints accounted for almost 30% of the movement role in both dancers and non-dancers. Therefore, the differences in ROM between dancers and non-dancers were not a result of a specific joint movement but of all the relevant joints’ collaborative movement.     

The importance of indirect teaching behaviour and its educational effects in physical education

Background: Physical education teacher behaviour has been a subject of study in physical education including physical education teacher education for 30 years. However, the research on teacher behaviour has tended to focus on direct teaching behaviour (DTB) to demonstrate the benefits of effective teaching, centred on a technical understanding of the process of teacher behaviour. A holistic approach for teaching behaviour is needed in order to give students educational experiences.

Aims: Drawing on the studies of implicit ways of teaching, the aim of this paper is to provide a new approach of researching teacher behaviour in order to understand the social and moral assumptions and to promote students' motivation to engage in physical activities that are embedded in the act of teaching in physical education through the identification of indirect teaching behaviour (ITB).

Method: An ethnographically informed case study based on participant observation (eight months) was employed. The researcher observed students in two 8th-grade (13 years old) co-ed physical education classes in South Korea. Participant observation was supported by participant observer field notes, audio/video recordings of classes, questionnaires, and interviews.

Findings: Through inductive analysis of the data, the multiple ITBs were identified including tone of voice and intonation, humour, facial expressions and gestures, dress code and setting an example, touch, encouragement, and care. ITB had a powerful influence on students' social and moral development in terms of reflecting on themselves by the teacher's positive modelling, cooperating with other friends and learning the intrinsic value of physical activities and sports. ITB was also found to impact the student's perceptions of physical education and their physical education teachers, which seems to encourage them to learn more about the lesson.

Conclusions: An understanding of ITB will help broaden the perspectives on teaching methods used and studies conducted in physical education beyond the dominant approach of DTBs. Teachers need to reflect upon their behaviour in the physical education class, even if their teaching behaviours are regarded as trivial. Furthermore, the understanding of ITB can also play a pivotal role in encouraging pupils to enjoy the intrinsic value of physical education centred on moral values, and fostering a passion for physical activity that extends into participation for life. In this sense, this insight suggests that researchers re-examine the power of ITB in relation to teachers' professional competence. Teacher educators need to intentionally cultivate the character of teacher candidates in their professional preparation phase in addition to ITB-related studies in physical education.     

Decolonizing educational/curriculum studies in East Asia: problematizing shadow education in South Korea

This essay review critically engages Young Chun Kim's book, Shadow Education and the Curriculum and Culture of Schooling in South Korea, by responding to two central questions at its heart: What does decolonization of educational research mean and what does it look like? In what way can cultural studies of countries with histories of colonized educational systems challenge the inertia to recapitulate colonized historical consciousness? Kim provides theoretical and empirical foundations for generating intellectual space that reveals the dialectical relationship between the dominant modes of discourse in educational research and aspirations of the colonized to envision their own educational culture and history.     

Ontological framework based on contextual mediation for collaborative information retrieval

On the heterogeneous web information spaces, users have been suffering from efficiently searching for relevant information. This paper proposes a mediator agent system to estimate the semantics of unknown web spaces by learning the fragments gathered during the users' focused crawling. This process is organized as the following three tasks; (i) gathering semantic information about web spaces from personal agents while focused crawling in unknown spaces, (ii) reorganizing the information by using ontology alignment algorithm, and (iii) providing relevant semantic information to personal agents right before focused crawling. It makes the personal agent possible to recognize the corresponding user's behaviors in semantically heterogeneous spaces and predict his searching contexts. For the experiments, we implemented comparison-shopping system with heterogeneous web spaces. As a result, our proposed method efficiently supported the users, and then, network traffic was also reduced. An erratum to this article can be found at     

The Relationship Between Activities of Daily Living (ADL), Chronic Diseases,and Depression Among Older Korean Immigrants

It has been identified that performance of Activities of Daily living (ADL) and chronic disease are predictors of depression for older Asian immigrants. This study examined the independent and interactive effects of ADL performance and chronic disease on depressive symptoms among older Korean immigrants. Data from 210 older Korean immigrants in Los Angeles County were analyzed. Self-reported measures included sociodemographic characteristics, ADL performance, chronic disease, and depressive symptoms. A hierarchical regression model indicated that performance of activities of daily living were negatively associated with depressive symptoms. Also, older Korean immigrants with more chronic diseases were more likely to have depressive symptoms. The interaction between ADL performance and chronic diseases was significantly associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms (β = .46, p < .05). Findings suggest that it is critical to develop various strategies for enhancing immigrants’ ability to perform activities of daily living; this can lead to increased independence and reduced chronic illnesses, thus, improving overall quality of life.