“May god have mercy on your soul!” Exploring and teaching a course on the death penalty

Teaching a course with emotive content presents faculty with a number of challenges. This article reflects on the lessons learned when teaching a semester-long course on the death penalty at a liberal arts university in the U.S. South. The course explored cultural, religious, historical, national, and international perspectives on the nature of punishment and the right to execute, the methods used in the death penalty, the efficacy of the death penalty, and future directions. The organization, presentation and teaching aids employed throughout this course sought to ensure an objective stance and focused on improving critical thinking among students.     

A Guide to Analyzing Message–Response Sequences and Group Interaction Patterns in Computer‐mediated Communication

This paper proposes a set of methods and a framework for evaluating, modeling, and predicting group interactions in computer‐mediated communication. The method of sequential analysis is described along with specific software tools and techniques to facilitate the analysis of message–response sequences. In addition, the Dialogic Theory and its assumptions are presented to establish a theoretical framework and guide to using sequential analysis in computer‐mediated communication research. Step‐by‐step instructions are presented to illustrate how sequential analysis can be used to measure the way latent variables (e.g., message function, response latency, communication style) and exogenous variables (e.g., gender, discourse rules, context) affect how likely a message is to elicit a response, the types of responses elicited by the message, and whether or not the elicited sequence of responses (e.g., claim → challenge → explain) mirror the processes that support group decision‐making, problem‐solving, and learning.     

Filipino parents’ school choice and loyalty: a factor analysis

This quantitative study aims to ascertain the significant relationship existing between parents’ profile, and their school choice and school loyalty. Data were gathered using the researcher’s two-part made instrument. Respondents were first asked to fill in a robotfoto for purpose of profiling their baseline characteristics and were later asked to rate listed indicators, using a modified 8-point Likert scale. Using statistical tools such as the ANOVA, factor analysis, correlation, mean, and standard deviation, data were treated indepth. It is interesting to note that although parents are loyal to their alma mater, this does not have a much impact on their choice of school for their children. On the whole, parents’ choice of school is based on its indispensable qualities. Among the three interval-scale profiles of the parent respondents such as age, income, tuition fee payment and number of children, none of these relate to school choice, but age, income, and tuition fee payment negatively relate to school loyalty. From their nominal-scale profiles, significant differences were noted in their school choice when grouped according to civil status, place of work, and terms of payment. With respect to school loyalty, significant differences occurred in their responses when classified according to gender, terms of payment and their active participation in the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA).     

Editorial

Knowledge Management Research & Practice -     

Editorial

Knowledge Management Research & Practice -     

Eye movements of monkeys during performance of ambiguous cue problems

Learning & Behavior - Eye movements of four stumptailed monkeys were measured during performance of simple and ambiguous form discriminations. Duration of fixations increased during learning of...