Data in Motion: Sports as a site for expansive learning

ABSTRACT

Background and Context

Sports and technology are often pitted as being at odds with one another. While there are several educational activities that make reference to sports we seldom see sports used as an authentic context for learning computing.     

College Drinkers’ Privacy Management of Alcohol Content on Social-Networking Sites

Alcohol-related posts on social-networking sites (SNS) can damage college students’ reputations and relationships and contribute to risky behavior. However, little is known about how college drinkers engage in privacy management involving alcohol content. Through 48 interviews and a Communication Privacy Management lens, this study uncovered criteria on which students relied to develop relatively impermeable boundaries around alcohol posts, the ways they collectively negotiated privacy with peers, and how participants implicitly and explicitly communicatively negotiated privacy turbulence. Findings suggest important connections between the co-occurrence of online privacy management and identity management, including how facework is involved in remediating privacy breaches and the co-opting of privacy. Findings also inform efforts to educate college drinkers about on-and-offline strategies to manage alcohol-related SNS content.     

The Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness: Its Importance for Critical and Creative Inquiry

In Science and the Modern World, Alfred North Whitehead (1925/1953) critically discusses the historical development of science and its larger impact on our civilization and culture today. The fallacy of misplaced concreteness (FMC) is a notion central to his analysis, both of the process of inquiry and to the general sustainability of quality of life. This paper is part of a panel of four presentations relevant to the theory, practice, and teaching of science. In this paper I identify the FMC as a set of variations on the central theme of misplacing concreteness, by mistaking the abstract for the concrete, and I define the component notions involved. More than half of the paper involves a representative range of concrete examples of the FMC. The realm of the aesthetic, of patient and sensitive attention, the full range of immediate bodily feeling, and the variety of real values revealed therein, turns out to be both the victim of and the remedy for the FMC. As Whitehead says: "Sensitiveness without impulse spells decadence, and impulse without sensitiveness spells brutality" (1925/1953, p. 200).     

The “Wicked Problem” of Neutral Description: Toward a Documentation Approach to Metadata Standards

Increasingly, metadata standards have been recognized as constructed rather than neutral. In this article, we argue for the importance of a documentation approach to metadata standards creation as a codification of this growing recognition. By making design decisions explicit, the documentation approach dispels presumptions of neutrality and, drawing on the “wicked problems” theoretical framework, acknowledges the constructed nature of standards as “clumsy solutions.”     

Sickness presenteeism of German teachers: prevalence and influencing factors

The aim of the present study was to investigate teachers’ sickness presenteeism (SP). We examined the prevalence of SP in a sample of teachers as well as work-related and health-related influencing factors of teachers’ SP. We used a cross-sectional study design. Teachers working at different types of schools in Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany) participated in an online survey. We used Pearson’s Chi-squared test (in case of categorical variables) or Mann–Whitney-U-test (in case of continuous variables) to test for differences between SP and sociodemographic/work-related/health-related factors. Factors influencing SP were identified using multivariable logistic regression analyses. Nine hundred and twenty-four teachers working at 42 different schools completed the questionnaire (response proportion: 50.1%). The prevalence of SP in our study was 57.1%. The multivariable logistic regression analyses showed less support by supervisors (aOR: 1.77; 95-CI: 1.21–2.60), inappropriate administration efforts (aOR: 1.56; 95-CI: 1.16–2.11), and inappropriate recognition of performance (aOR: 1.44; 95-CI: 1.04–198) as well as exhaustion/fatigue (aOR: 2.29; 95-CI: 1.71–3.08) as main predictors of teachers’ SP. SP is widespread among teachers. As SP is associated with impairment of psychological and physical health in the long run, it is important to implement measures to reduce SP. A climate of support and cooperation as well as assistance for ill teachers to deal with work missed due to absence might be useful strategies.     

Curriculum continuity and school to university transition: science and technology programmes in Malawi

This paper reports on a study that explored issues of curriculum continuity at the school to university level transition in Malawi. It bases its analysis on the school integrated science curriculum and university science and technology programmes. Data were collected through interviews, documentation and classroom observations. The findings show that gaps do exist, with both the ‘intended’ and the ‘experienced’ curriculum, between integrated science and the requirements of university science and technology programmes in the three categories of the knowledge of science, science as a way of knowing and general knowledge and skills. With respect to the investigative nature of science, gaps exist only with the delivered curriculum. Implications for both the integrated science curriculum and the university science and technology programmes are discussed.     

Introducing and Developing Professional Standards in the Information Systems Curriculum

In light of growing concerns in the public and recent mandates from business program accrediting bodies and curricular task forces, the importance of teaching ethical topics in information systems programs is discussed. Innovative strategies used for teaching the application of ethical criteria to common situations are reviewed. Results of a survey of information systems faculty members in the US are presented and are compared to previous studies that related primarily to computer science and software engineering programs. Insight is provided into the topics, techniques, degree of coverage, and assessment techniques currently used when teaching ethics in computing-related programs. Key concerns and future work is also outlined.     

Use of Anthropomorphic Brand Mascots for Student Motivation and Engagement: A Promotional Case Study With Pablo the Penguin at the University of Portsmouth Library

ABSTRACT

A case study demonstrating how an online narrative featuring the adventures of a cuddly toy penguin, Pablo Penguin (@uoppenguin on Twitter) has been introduced at the University of Portsmouth Library to build trust and engagement between university students and library services and facilities. Evidence for the benefits of anthropomorphic brand mascots and best practice for their design and use to enhance the library brand, emotionally engage, build trust, lower barriers to service engagement, and mentor students from the perspective of a perpetual student are drawn from the marketing and psychological literature then illustrated in the case study.