Difficulty and self-efficacy: An exploratory study

Serious games are becoming increasingly popular due to their association with increased learning outcomes when compared to traditional self-regulated learning activities. However, the majority of research examining the outcomes of serious games has focused almost exclusively on learning outcomes. This has resulted in a lack of research examining why these types of games result in increased positive outcomes, such as engagement or performance. This study seeks to address this gap in existing research by examining the relationship between game difficulty and participants’ engagement, performance and self-efficacy in a Pacman style maze navigation game. This required the use of hidden difficulty variations which participants were randomly assigned. Participants engaged with the game over a 5-days practice period. Results from this study suggest that difficulty plays a considerable role in influencing participants’ self-efficacy for the task. Self-efficacy has been consistently linked to positive outcomes such as increased engagement and performance. This highlights the importance of difficulty as a game design factor as well as providing an insight into the manner in which serious games could be further refined in order to increase user’s self-efficacy and associated positive outcomes. Implications for future serious games and self-efficacy research are discussed.     

基础法语教学中法语文学的作用--以《法语》教材为例

从上世纪90年代初开始,国内众多高校选择外语教学与研究出版社出版的《法语》作为法语专业本科阶段的教材。该文研究了该教材中法语文学类课文的分布和占比,分析了该教材缺少该类课文的原因及对学习法语的中国学生所产生的影响,评估了通过文学类课文教授基础法语的方法及前景,建议在法语教材中增加适合学生语言水平的法语文学类课文。     

Departmental morale as a function of the perceived performance of department heads

The object of this paper is to analyze some of the factors underlying differing levels of morale in university departments. Morale is conceived to be primarily a product of perceived department-head performance, although it is also suggested that environmental and satisfaction variables may be important. Morale is seen as a potential symptomatic attribute which might be used in diagnosing organizational difficulties. The authors did indeed find, using multiple discriminant analysis on departmentally aggregated data, that the perceived performance of department heads was more important in predicting levels of morale. In addition, department size was also found to be useful. The conclusions drawn were that morale could be used as a symptom of departmental (or organizational) well being and that such data could be useful to those managing department heads both in the selection of department heads and in their ongoing supervision.The authors were designated by Western Kentucky University to supervise the collection and analysis of the data described. The data were used with the permission of the Office of the President, Western Kentucky University.     

Economic stress, parenting, and child adjustment in Mexican American and European American families

To assess the impact of economic hardship on 111 European American and 167 Mexican American families and their 5th-grade (M age=11.4 years) children, a family stress model was evaluated. Structural equation analyses revealed that economic hardship was linked to indexes of economic pressure that were related to depressive symptoms for mothers and fathers of both ethnicities. Depressive symptoms were linked to marital problems and hostile parenting. Paternal hostile parenting was related to child adjustment problems for European Americans, whereas marital problems were linked to child adjustment problems for Mexican Americans. Maternal acculturation was associated with both higher marital problems and lower hostile parenting. The utility of the model for describing the effects of economic hardship in Mexican Americans is noted.     

Factors influencing school connectedness: Chinese adolescents’ perspectives

This study explored the concept of school connectedness and the factors that may influence its development with a sample of Chinese adolescents. Six focus groups involving 52 high school students were conducted using a set of predetermined discussion topics. Results indicated that the students fully understood the notion of school connectedness and could identify a number of key influences affecting its development. These factors could be grouped under several domains including teacher care, peer relations, broader school relationships, school disciplinary policies and practices, activities within the school’s guidance and counseling program, and opportunities for talent development. The students were also able to suggest practical strategies that schools might introduce to enhance and strengthen students’ acquisition of connectedness to school. The implications from the findings are discussed with particular reference to implementing comprehensive school guidance and counseling program in Hong Kong.     

Mass Media

Robert C. Toll's On with the Show: The First Century of Show Business in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1976---$19.95)

Edwin Fisher, et al., eds. The Art in Cartooning: Seventy-five Years of American Magazine Cartoons (New York : Scribner's, 1975---$14.95)

Vaughncille Molden's Telecommunications and Black Americans: A Survey of Ownership, Participation and Control (Center for Development Technology and Program in Technology and Human Affairs, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. 63130-48.50, paper)

Working Papers in Culture and Communication (Department of Anthropology, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa. 19122-- $2.00, paper)     

Journalism

Michael Wynn Jones' A Newspaper History of the World (New York: Morrow, 1974—$15.95)

Problems of Journalism: Proceedings of the 1974 Convention, American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE, Box 551, 1350 Sullivan Trail, Easton, Pa. 18042—$6.25)

M.L. Stein's Shaping the News: How the Media Function in Today's World (New York: Pocket Books, 1974—$1.25, paper)

Raymond A. Schroth S.J., The Eagle and Brooklyn: A Community Newspaper, 1341-1955 (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1974— $12.95)

American Newspaper Publishers Association News Research Bulletin (write to Mr. William Schabacker, Manager, Information Services, American Newspaper Publishers Association, P.O. Box 17407, Dulles International Airport, Washington, D.C. 20041)     

Communication climate and satisfaction with immediate supervision

Four factors (reciprocity, feedback perceptiveness, feedback responsiveness, and feedback permissiveness) are related to employees' satisfaction with immediate supervision in this industrial communication field study.