How do students define their roles and responsibilities in online learning group projects?

The goal of this study was to explore the processes of group role formation in online class settings. Qualitative analysis was used to code chat logs and discussion threads in six undergraduate Family and Consumer Sciences online courses that required online group projects. Four themes related to the process of group role formation emerged: testing the waters, apologies as being nice, tag – you’re it, and struggling to find one’s role. Students created roles of leader, wannabe, spoiler, agreeable enabler, coat‐tails, and supportive worker as the group process evolved over the course of the semester. Results lend support for a balance between allowing students to create and experience roles on their own and faculty assignment of roles. Questions are raised related to faculty approaches toward directing and scaffolding the group process.     

Use of dual-task methodology for skill assessment and development: examples from rugby league

We assessed the attentional demands of drawing and passing in rugby league players and investigated the effects of single-task and dual-task training on the acquisition, retention, and transfer of skill in these athletes. In Study 1, high-skilled and lesser-skilled rugby league players performed a standardized 2-on-1 drill under single-task (primary skill in isolation) and dual-task (primary skill while performing a secondary verbal tone recognition task) conditions. No differences were detected in primary task performance between groups, although the performance of the high-skilled players was more resistant to skill decrement under dual-task conditions. In Study 2, high-performance rugby league players were randomly allocated to either a single-task or dual-task training group. Each group underwent 8 weeks of training between the pre- and post-test sessions. While the mean improvement for draw and pass proficiency under dual-task conditions in the dual-task training group was greater than in the single-task training group (10.0% vs. 2.3%), the differences, while providing a moderate effect size (d = 0.57), were not statistically significant. These results suggest that the attentional demands of drawing and passing are reduced in high-skilled rugby league players compared with their lesser-skilled counterparts. In addition, compared with single-task training, dual-task training appears to improve the ability to perform dual-task draw and pass tasks (possibly through an improvement in time-sharing skills). Further studies are required to verify the efficacy of dual-task training as a training stimulus.     

The force-time profile of elite front crawl swimmers

In this study, we used recently developed technology to determine the force-time profile of elite swimmers, which enabled coaches to make informed decisions on technique modifications. Eight elite male swimmers with a FINA (Federation Internationale de Natation) rank of 900+ completed five passive (streamline tow) and five net force (arms and leg swimming) trials. Three 50-Hz cameras were used to video each trial and were synchronized to the kinetic data output from a force-platform, upon which a motorized towing device was mounted. Passive and net force trials were completed at the participant's maximal front crawl swimming velocity. For the constant tow velocity, the net force profile was presented as a force-time graph, and the limitation of a constant velocity assumption was acknowledged. This allowed minimum and maximum net forces and arm symmetry to be identified. At a mean velocity of 1.92+0.06 m s?1, the mean passive drag for the swimmers was 80.3+4.0 N, and the mean net force was 262.4+33.4 N. The mean location in the stroke cycle for minimum and maximum net force production was at 45% (insweep phase) and 75% (upsweep phase) of the stroke, respectively. This force-time profile also identified any stroke asymmetry.     

A process for the critical analysis of instructional theory

Some have argued for a common language in the field of instructional design in an effort to reduce misunderstandings and simplify a multitude of synonymous terms and concepts. Others feel that this goal is undesirable in that it precludes development and flexibility. In this article we propose an ontology-building process as a way for readers to compare and analyze terms and concepts across theories. This process entails the development of categories that emerge from the literature, and the comparison of theories across categories. Such a process can reveal broader concepts that exist beyond specific theoretical terminology, differences in meanings behind common terms used by theorists, a greater understanding of the theorists’ intent, and discontinuities and gaps within the theoretical literature.     

Chan teaching and learning: an aesthetic analysis of its educational import

This study examines the sudden enlightenment sect of Chan (or Zen in Japanese terms) in order to understand various aspects of teaching and learning in the Buddhist tradition in China. To unravel Chan’s educational import, we analyze its aesthetic features through a Western lens in order to highlight significant aspects of the teaching/learning process. Using connections, risk taking, imagination, sensory experience, perceptivity, and active engagement, a six-theme framework in the Western aesthetic education literature, we summarize five characteristics of Chan teaching and learning that specifically facilitates learners to be actively engaged and connected in their learning and modestly facilitates the learner’s sensory experience and imagination. We argue that Chan’s teaching and learning do not enable learners to take risks or to become overly perceptive. These aesthetic features might make Chinese learners more able learners in a lecture-directed learning environment that is usually associated with ineffective learning in Western teaching and learning discourse. Lack of risk taking in Chan tradition might relate to the lack of creative thinking in China, which still needs more in-depth exploration.     

The Disengaged Academic: the Retreat from Citizenship

Citizenship education has developed against the backdrop of civic disengagement. However, as attention has focused on the incorporation of citizenship education into the school curriculum, the responsibilities of citizenship incumbent on the academic community within higher education has been largely overlooked. This paper examines the reasons for the apparent decline of academic citizenship through an analysis of three elements of citizenship. It argues that the erosion of academic self‐governance has led to the decline of political literacy in academic life and that a range of other forces, including under‐funded massification and research audit, have damaged social and moral responsibility and the responsibilities implied by community involvement. It is concluded that adjustments to reward and recognition structures and professorial leadership are vital if the academic is not to become increasingly disengaged from the service role.     

A Normativist Account of Language‐Based Learning Disability1,2

Research on learning disabilities (LD) depends upon a conceptual framework that specifies what it should explain, what kinds of data are needed, and how these data are to be arranged in order to provide a meaningful explanation. An argument is made that LD are no different in this respect than any other form of human illness. In this article, a theory of LD based on weak normativism drawn from the philosophy of medicine is presented. This theory emphasizes that cultural values (norms) determine which aspects of human experience and function are instances of ill health. Thus, ill health is fundamentally normative. However, the experiences and behaviors themselves arise out of the natural world and therefore can be explained by a culturally neutral natural science. Data from a longitudinal study of specific language impairment are used to show that academic achievement is culturally evaluated, that low achievement is disvalued, and that therefore actions are taken to help the poor achiever. Spoken language abilities in kindergarten are associated with judgments of the adequacy of fourth grade academic achievement and are mediated by reading prior to fourth grade and also via a path that is independent of reading. It is argued that poor academic achievement may be viewed as a disvalued state consistent with an illness, whereas language and reading skills can be viewed as basic causal systems that can explain the child's learning performance. Properties of this causal system are value free, except that they can inherit disvalue by their association with poor achievement. It remains to be determined whether the notion of LD is to be equated with poor achievement and therefore serve as a type of illness or whether it is to be viewed as a particular cause of poor achievement and thus functions as a type of disease associated with poor achievement. The conceptual framework lays out the alternative meanings for LD and the choice between these alternatives will ultimately depend on how it is used in the LD research community.