Equipping Leaders to Capitalise on the Outcomes of Quality Assessment in Higher Education

Has the quality movement in universities become so sophisticated that it has outpaced the capacity of academic leaders to respond? The authors of this paper argue that this has been their experience within the context of New Zealand universities. In response, the University of Otago has developed an innovative programme to provide academic and administrative leaders with an opportunity to enhance those skills and attributes needed to meet the challenges of change arising from audit and other reforms.     

TAKING ACCOUNT OF STUDENTS’ EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCE IN A COURSE OF INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION

This study focuses on an industrial, commercial and community experience programme within a full time, one year postgraduate teacher training course. Acknowledging the heterogeneous experiences brought to this course by the students, an attempt was made to detect links between the students’ prior experience and their experience of the industrial, commercial and community programme. The students completed questionnaires before and after a placement and the findings are described. These findings contribute to an evaluation of the programme and suggest a number of important questions for those responsible for designing teacher education courses.     

Predicting Suicide Risks Among Outpatient Adolescents Using the Family Environment Scale: Implications for Practice and Research

This study was designed to identify characteristics of family functioning that relate to suicide potential in an outpatient adolescent population. Participants included 51 adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18 who were involved in outpatient counselling. The Family Environment Scale and the Suicide Probability Scale were used to assess adolescents’ perception of family social climate and degree of suicide risk respectively. Results revealed significant correlations between suicide risk and family systems characterized by heightened conflict and lower levels of cohesion, independence, and organization. A stepwise multiple regression analysis suggested that organization (related to clarity and structure in family activities and responsibilities) was the strongest predictor of suicide risk. Implications for research and practice are considered.     

Learning to Teach Offshore: Pre-Departure training for lecturers in transnational programs

The internationalisation of higher education in Australia over the past two decades has brought about dramatic changes in Australian universities. Growing numbers of international students have enrolled in Australian universities and the number of students studying offshore has also increased dramatically. While considerable material has been published on the ramifications of the increased numbers of onshore international students studying at Australian universities, there is relatively little published research on the specific challenges facing academics participating in offshore programs. The aim of this project was to examine the current pre-departure cross-cultural training taking place in the business faculties of three Australian universities in order to gain a better understanding of the adequacy of the support given to Australian academics teaching offshore. Twenty staff involved in offshore education were interviewed as part of this project, including academics with considerable offshore teaching experience, senior academic managers and cross-cultural trainers. While these institutions engage in little formal preparation for offshore teaching, a great deal of informal mentoring and briefing is taking place. We consider the implications of the new quality assurance framework for Australian universities, which requires that institutions be able to demonstrate the ways in which they ensure the quality of teaching and learning. Under this new system, universities are bound by the Australian Vice Chancellors' Committee's guidelines for the provision of education to international students. It appears that Australian universities will need to establish more formal mechanisms to ensure that offshore staff are adequately prepared for offshore teaching posts.     

Fault reconstruction using a LPV sliding mode observer for a class of LPV systems

This paper proposes a new sliding mode observer for fault reconstruction, applicable for a class of linear parameter varying (LPV) systems. Observer schemes for actuator and sensor fault reconstruction are presented. For the actuator fault reconstruction scheme, a virtual system comprising the system matrix and a fixed input distribution matrix is used for the design of the observer. The fixed input distribution matrix is instrumental in simplifying the synthesis procedure to create the observer gains to ensure a stable closed-loop reduced order sliding motion. The ‘output error injection signals’ from the observer are used as the basis for reconstructing the fault signals. For the sensor fault observer design, augmenting the LPV system with a filtered version of the faulty measurements allows the sensor fault reconstruction problem to be posed as an actuator fault reconstruction scenario. Simulation tests based on a high-fidelity nonlinear model of a transport aircraft have been used to demonstrate the proposed actuator and sensor FDI schemes. The simulation results show their efficacy.     

The innovation–economic growth nexus: Global evidence

This paper extends the line of research attempting to link innovation to economic growth by addressing some unexplored questions. Using global patent data, this paper empirically investigates the importance of both the quantity and quality of innovation on economic growth, controlling for past measures of inventive inputs. Moreover, our research examines how innovation inputs can be translated into per capita growth under the various economic structures and stages of economic development. Based on a sample of 58 countries for the period 1980–2003, our empirical results indicate that countries hosting firms with higher quality patents also have higher economic growth. Furthermore, we have some evidence that those countries that increase the level of patenting also witness a concomitant increase in economic growth.     

Making Compliance Seem More Important: The “Just-One-More” Technique of Gaining Compliance

A new compliance-gaining technique is introduced called the “just-one-more” (JOM) technique that increases compliance rates by including the phrase “I just need one more person to help.” Two studies are reported (N = 160 in each). The first established the effectiveness of the technique as compared to a direct request. The second tested the hypothesis that goal difficulty moderates the technique's effectiveness in a 2 (JOM or direct request) × 2 (requester needs five surveys or 100). Results indicate that the JOM was substantially more effective than a direct request in the 100 surveys condition but not the five.     

The cumulative and residual fatigue response associated with soccer-specific activity performed on different playing surfaces

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to assess the effect of playing surface (Natural [NT] and Artificial [AT] Turf) on the fatigue response to a soccer-specific exercise protocol (SSEP). Eighteen male soccer players completed the SSEP on NT and AT with pre-, post-, and 48 h post-assessments of eccentric knee flexor (eccKF) and concentric knee extensor peak torque (PT), peak countermovement (CMJ) and squat jump (SJ) height, and Nordic hamstring break angle. No significant main effects for surface or any surface and time interactions were observed for any of the outcome measures, except for eccKF PT recorded at 3.14 rad·s^-1, which was significantly lower 48 h post-trial in the AT condition (AT = 146.3 ± 20.4 Nm; NT = 158.8 ± 24.7 Nm). Main effects for time were observed between pre- and post-trial measures for eccKF PT at all angular velocities, Nordic break angle, CMJ and SJ height. Nordic break angle, and both CMJ and SJ height were significantly impaired 48 h post-trial when compared to pre-trial. The findings of the current study suggest surface dependent changes in eccKF PT which may have implications for recovery and subsequent performance after competition on AT.     

Latent Profiles of Reading and Language and Their Association With Standardized Reading Outcomes in Kindergarten Through Tenth Grade

The objective of this study was to determine the latent profiles of reading and language skills that characterized 7,752 students in kindergarten through tenth grade and to relate the profiles to norm-referenced reading outcomes. Reading and language skills were assessed with a computer-adaptive assessment administered in the middle of the year and reading outcome measures were administered at the end of the year. Three measures of reading comprehension were administered in third through tenth grades to create a latent variable. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was conducted on the reading and language measures and related to reading outcomes in multiple regression analyses. Within-grade multiple regressions were subjected to a linear step-up correction to guard against false-discovery rate. LPA results revealed five to six profiles in the elementary grades and three in the secondary grades that were strongly related to standardized reading outcomes, with average absolute between-profile effect sizes ranging from 1.10 to 2.53. The profiles in the secondary grades followed a high, medium, and low pattern. Profiles in the elementary grades revealed more heterogeneity, suggestive of strategies for differentiating instruction.