A telepresence learning environment for opera singing: distance lessons implementations over Internet2

The Opera eLearning project developed a solution for opera singing distance lessons at the graduate level, using high bandwidth to deliver a quality audio and video experience that has been evaluated by singing teachers, chorus and orchestra directors, singers and other professional musicians. Prior to finding a technological model that suits the user's requirements, several experiments have been conducted, testing and prototyping different technologies, until arriving at a telepresence, immersive sound model. This paper summarises the findings of this pilot stage, and its interest includes the management of innovation exercises across a multidisciplinary team, based on usability and a user-centred design. Some of the technology tested includes professional audio and video equipment, software for A/V signal capturing and transmission on uncompressed formats, A/D converters, and other auxiliary devices. The resultant model has later been successfully used in a formal case study, delivering 14 remote masterclasses.     

Theory and practice in self‐esteem enhancement: Circle‐Time and efficacy‐based approaches—a controlled evaluation

There are differences of opinion about self‐esteem enhancement in the classroom; these differences exist at both conceptual and practical levels. The aim of this study was to ascertain whether techniques employed by primary school teachers as a day‐to‐day part of their teaching can have measurable effects on the self‐esteem of their pupils. Two different approaches to self‐esteem enhancement in primary classes were evaluated. The participants were 519 primary school children and their teachers (n = 21). Circle‐Time and efficacy‐based approaches were compared with a control condition over a four‐month period. On two self‐report measures of self‐esteem, gains were found for both experimental conditions, but not for the controls. Significant sub‐scale differences suggested that the two approaches achieved their effects in different ways, consistent with a two‐dimensional model of self‐esteem. Circle‐Time methodology, focusing on the creation of a climate in which individuals are respected and valued, is more likely to help children to develop a sense of self‐worth. On the other hand, an efficacy‐based approach tends to focus on the achievement of performance goals, and is thus more likely to develop the self‐competence dimension. It is argued that we should now reconsider how we think about self‐esteem enhancement in primary classrooms.     

Reverberating chords: implications of storied nostalgia for borderland discourses in pre-service teacher identity

The research that is the subject of this paper set out to interrogate pre-service teachers’ responses to issues of national identity, ideology, and representation in contemporary multicultural Canadian picture books. While the research focused on whether and how the literature could serve to inform and broaden pre-service teachers’ conceptualizations of diversity, we retrospectively decided to re-visit the focus group and interview data to know which of the 70 picture books had most engaged the teachers and why. We critically consider the implications of teachers’ attachments for social justice education and teachers’ cultivation of a critical, ‘borderlands’ discourse aware of self and open to others. The research suggests that a significant source of teacher knowledge and thinking is lodged in teachers’ personal memories of childhood texts, called touchstones. Touchstones were a place from which teachers implicitly began; certain stories struck particular chords, chords largely attributable to childhood memories. Most intertextual connections were personal, with some tangential to the text. While touchstones performed different functions depending on the subject position of the pre-service teachers, they pointed to the existence of an underlying position of teacher as nostalgic subject. Given the importance of this subject position for teachers’ responses to picture books, we explore critical reconceptualizations of nostalgia that can support the development of borderland discourses. We suggest that pre-service teachers need to be invited to individually and collectively examine their responses to both old and new touchstone stories. More nuanced research also needs to be conducted on the role of nostalgia in teacher formation, how it influences teacher practice, and how to best design teacher education courses to foster ‘borderland discourses’ related to the storying of teacher identity, especially with respect to popular ‘collectibles’ and core teaching texts like picture books.     

Windows into teaching and learning: professional growth of classroom teachers in an online environment

The Windows into Teaching and Learning (WiTL) project was developed by researchers at one large urban institution in the southeast region of the United States as a way to facilitate online clinical experiences for content area methods students during summer coursework. Utilising both synchronous and asynchronous elements, WiTL addressed the issue of students gaining meaningful clinical experiences in coursework offered during the summer. Though the purpose of WiTL was initially for methods students to engage in observations of and conversations with practising classroom teachers, an unanticipated outcome occurred. In this paper, the authors describe the WiTL process and discuss the impact it had on the professional growth of the practising classroom teachers. The results indicate that WiTL encouraged teachers to utilise reflective practice in rethinking their pedagogy and used technology to facilitate professional learning community among classroom teachers.     

An Evaluation of Four Levels of Online Training in Public Libraries

This study employed a sequential, mixed-method confirmatory research design to assess the impact of the delivery of library staff asynchronous online training at four levels of instructional intervention and workplace integration on short- and long-term knowledge acquisition/retention, self-efficacy, and job performance. The study utilized a pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest design with 192 staff members from twenty-seven public libraries in the United States completing all phases of the four-month longitudinal study. The study proposed an evidence-based, comparative evaluation framework to discern effectiveness of competency-based online training and the impact of varying online training implementation practices. The study found that all levels of instructional intervention resulted in significant short-term knowledge acquisition and enhancement of self-efficacy, and the three approaches that utilized facilitation resulted in long-term knowledge acquisition and improvement in self-efficacy. The impact on long-term workplace practices resulted in unique findings for small and large libraries. The researchers recommend further research in online training evaluation and best practices in public library online training.     

Help between disabled and ablebodied persons: An exploratory observational study of a feedback system

Because of concern among both disabled and ablebodied individuals about the issue of helping behavior, an exploratory observational study of helping in three settings was undertaken. Previous research had examined the frequency with which the disabled are helped, but had not examined the communication accompanying that help. The present study was interested in investigating the behaviors which actually occur in regard to helping, rather than what people say they do. The settings included a sheltered workshop, a social activity group, and a university with a large population of disabled students. The results indicate that much helping behavior occurred, but little verbal communication accompanied that help. There were few requests for or offers of help. In the three settings studied, helping did not appear to be a serious problem. No negative reactions to offers of or requests for help were observed. There were some instances, however, when those apparently needing help did not receive it. On the basis of the observations reported in this study, seventeen tentative “rules” based on our findings have been generated.     

Creating Interactive Online Instruction: The McGoogan Library Experience

Online instruction is a hot topic at academic medical centers. Seizing the opportunity to join the online movement at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), the McGoogan Library created an open access course made up of six learning modules. The modules addressed three issues: 1) supplementing one-shot library instruction, 2) offering opportunity for instruction when a librarian is not embedded in a course, and 3) showcasing the library as an online instruction supporter. This article discusses the planning process, technology used, how the modules were received, and how this initial project increased McGoogan Library's involvement in the UNMC online movement.     

Computer-Assisted Rubric Evaluation: Enhancing Outcomes and Assessment Quality

This case study examines the use of computer-assisted grading rubrics using Blackboard’s ? Rubric Evaluation Report to compare expected performance for each criterion of an assignment to the students’ level of achievement. Several studies have reported on the innovative and effective delivery of how learning management systems (LMS) can deliver real-time (immediate data delivery) antecedents that inform students of performance requirements (Atkinson & Lim, 2013; Goomas, in press). The impetus, then, is to perform an analysis on each criterion of the assignment in order to determine how closely student performance matched the requirements of the rubric. Used as an analytical tool, the instructor was able to direct students to particular learning activities and to adjust teaching tactics in order to meet or exceed the rubric requirements.     

Enzyme activity and myoglobin concentration in rat myocardium and skeletal muscles after passive intermittent simulated altitude exposure

Abstract

We studied the effect of intermittent hypobaric hypoxia exposure on lactate dehydrogenase and citrate synthase activities, together with myoglobin content, of rat myocardium, tibialis anterior, and diaphragm muscles. The intermittent hypoxia exposure programme consisted of daily 4-h sessions in a hypobaric chamber (5000 m) over a period of 22 days. Samples were taken at the end of the programme, and 20 and 40 days later, and compared with those of control animals. In myocardium, lactate dehydrogenase activity was significantly depressed in animals 20 days post-exposure (314.6 ± 15.3 IU · g^?1) compared with control animals (400 ± 14.3 IU · g^?1), while citrate synthase activity and myoglobin concentration showed a significant stepwise increase from control animals (88.2 ± 3.6 IU · g^?1 and 4.38 ± 0.13 μm · mg^?1) to animals 20 days (104.7 ± 3.7 IU · g^?1 and 5.01 ± 0.17 μm · mg^?1) and 40 days post-exposure (108.8 ± 6.5 IU · g^?1 and 5.11 ± 0.22 μm · mg^?1). In contrast, no differences were found in diaphragm and tibialis anterior muscles. Our results show that intermittent hypobaric hypoxia exposure increased the oxidative character of myocardium even 20 days after the hypoxic stimulus has ceased, and that this effect lasts for more than 40 days for citrate synthase activity and myoglobin concentration. These findings support our previous results on skeletal and cardiac muscle capillarization after passive intermittent simulated altitude exposure, thus providing morphofunctional and biochemical evidence for increased cardiac aerobic efficiency.