Peer Judgments of Teaching Competence as a Function of Field Independence and Dogmatism,

The theoretical relationships among field independence, dogmatism, and a peer judgment criterion of professional competence were examined. The subjects were master’s level interns in a training program. The data illustrate the reliability of the criterion and indicate that these interns differentiate between professional competence judgments and more interpersonal judgments when making peer choices. Neither dogmatism nor field independence alone predicts the criterion, but the interaction term for the two variables significantly predicts the criterion. It is the field dependent/highly dogmatic person who is chosen less often by his peers, while the field dependent/low dogmatic person is chosen more often.     

移动学习的案例研究及内容分析——以mGage项目为例

文章首先对移动学习在中小学课堂中的应用、移动学习的形式和信息设计进行了文献综述。在此基础上,又对美国圣地亚哥州立大学教育技术系开展的mGage项目进行了案例分析。研究者设计出一套详细的评价工具,从视觉吸引力、认知过程、资源质量等16个维度评估学生的WebQuest作品。结果显示,参加移动学习的实验组的得分明显高于对照组。统计分析表明,使用移动设备进行学习的实验组,除了在工具使用维度上具有明显优势外,在认知过程维度和资源质量维度的得分也胜过对照组。文章最后对研究进行了反思总结并展望了下一阶段的研究工作,以期为移动学习进入中小学课堂提供有意义的借鉴。     

The impact of student academic achievement on graduate salaries: the case of a leading Russian university

This paper analyses the impact of academic achievement on future salaries by looking into the grade point average (GPA)-earnings relationship for graduates of a leading Russian university. The study is based on pooled cross-sectional graduate survey data for 2014–2015. The issue of how student academic achievement impacts future labour market rewards is analysed through academic, demographic and labour market factors. We found that there is a significant positive impact of GPA on salaries of BA graduates (9–12% wage premium for an additional GPA point) and an insignificant or negative impact for MA programmes graduates. The study depicts that this negative effect can be partially explained by employment sector-specific variables. Among the main factors which positively affect earnings of graduates is work experience. Graduates who combined study and work achieve a 30% wage premium. However, there is no evidence that combining study and work affects student academic achievement, even for those who combined studies with full-time job. Despite the higher GPA of female students, male graduates’ earnings are 18% higher. Gender wage differences can be explained by gender distribution by the sector of employment: the over-representation of women in the low-paid education and science sectors and their under-representation in entrepreneurship and corporate sector.     

Self-regulation as a function of perceived leadership and cohesion in small group online collaborative learning

The present study examined the relationships between perceived leadership, group cohesion, online engagement, self-regulation and learning outcomes. Data included surveys and online discussion logs from 171 students in an undergraduate online course. Through correlation analysis and structural equation modeling, the results revealed unique contributions of task and relationship leadership in small group collaborative learning. Each form of leadership may translate into greater use of self-regulation strategies that align with students’ focus on either the instrumental or interpersonal resources related to academics but may bring about a corresponding lower utilization of other types of self-regulation strategies. Further, results indicate that students’ perceptions of group cohesion provided the most robust and multifaceted positive associations with learning engagement.     

Searching for New Answers: The Application of Task‐Technology Fit to E‐Textbook Usage

Students have been slow to adopt e‐textbooks even though they are often less expensive than traditional textbooks. Prior e‐textbook research has focused on adoption behavior, with little research to date on how students perceive e‐textbooks fitting their needs. This work builds upon Task‐Technology Fit (TTF) and Consumer Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) theory to present a student‐perspective model of e‐textbook usage. By contextualizing TTF and UTAUT2 to e‐textbooks, the research fills a gap in the literature and provides guidance to researchers and practitioners. The goal of the research is to understand how students perceive their task of learning to fit with e‐textbook technology, and how that fit influences e‐textbook usage and expected performance in their classes. To achieve this goal, the research develops a model to test the relationship between perceived TTF of e‐textbooks and UTAUT2‐defined user characteristics that encourage adoption behaviors, thus facilitating student learning. The findings show that four factors impact a student's perceived TTF: substitution, habit, hedonic motivation, and facilitating conditions. Furthermore, perceived TTF positively correlates with students’ e‐textbook usage and expected performance in classes when using e‐textbooks. While price value exhibits a measurable effect on e‐textbook utilization, it is a minor factor.     

Sustaining Information Delivery: The Experience of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Library,Kumasi, Ghana

The paper reviews the history of information delivery at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology from 1993 to the present. Information delivery (which includes document and electronic resource delivery) from CD-ROM and online databases has given Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology's users access to about 15,000 online journals. Sponsorship of information delivery has largely come from donors such as the Danish International Development Agency, the Norwegian Ministry of Aid to Developing Countries, and the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publication. The bane of information delivery over the years has been the financial implications of sustainability, especially after the pullout of sponsors. This paper analyses the situation and proposes a solution in open access journals, cost-sharing by beneficiaries, ingenuity on the part of librarians, and eventual support by university administrators.     

Future School Administrators' Perceptions of the School Counselor's Role

The authors examined the perceptions of future school administrators regarding the role of the school counselor. The study was designed to assist counselor educators and school counselors in identifying potential barriers that could interfere with establishing comprehensive developmental counseling programs that are supervised by principals and superintendents. Future administrators rated crisis intervention, assisting with transitions, and personal counseling as the most important duties of school counselors; however, some respondents identified administrative and disciplinary duties as significant ones for the counselor.     

Activity during prior shock determines subsequent shock-elicited fighting in the rat

Two experiments investigated the relationship between activity during shock and the magnitude of subsequent impairment of shock-elicited fighting in the rat. Different levels of intra-shock activity were engendered in two ways. In Experiment 1, differing temporal forms of inescapable shock were employed to produce markedly different levels of activity. In Experiment 2, a passive-escape procedure was used to explicitly reinforce nonmovement during shock relative to a yoked, inescapable shock control. Results indicated that relative to the performance of subjects not previously shocked, fighting impairment was produced only by those prior treatments that promoted reduced intrashock activity. Since one of the prior shock treatments involved inescapable shock but the other did not, these findings may be viewed as strong support for the notion that behavior during shock, rather than uncontrollability, is the critical determinant of the observed impairment effects. There was some suggestion in both studies that shock treatments that resulted in sustained or increased intrashock activity tended to produce augmentation of fighting. Both inhibitory and facilitative effects of prior shock exposure are discussed in terms of an interacting response theory of shock treatment effects.     

Does moderate-intensity continuous training result in greater total energy expenditure compared to high-intensity interval training?

Recently in the Journal of Sports Sciences, Schaun et al. published a study on the comparison of energy expenditure between high-intensity interval training and moderate continuous training performed in water. With this Letter to the Editor, we would like to comment on the methodological aspects that should be considered to analyze the results presented, as well as the conclusions.

Abbreviations: CONT, moderate-intensity continuous training; EPOC, excess post-exercise oxygen consumption; HIIT, high-intensity interval training; VO2max, maximal oxygen consumption.