Treading new ground in household sector innovation research: Scope,emergence, business implications,and diffusion

Individual consumers in the household sector increasingly develop products, services and processes, in their discretionary time without payment. Household sector innovation is becoming a pervasive phenomenon, representing a significant share of the innovation activity in any economy. Such innovation emerges from personal needs or self-rewards, and is distinct from and complementary to producer innovations motivated by commercial gains. In this introductory paper to the special issue on household sector innovation, we take stock of emerging research on the topic. We categorize the research into four areas: scope, emergence, implications for business, and diffusion. We develop a conceptual basis for the phenomenon, introduce the articles in the special issue, and show how each article contributes new insights. We end by offering a research agenda for scholars interested in the salient phenomenon of household sector innovation.     

Satisfying heterogeneous user needs via innovation toolkits: the case of Apache security software

Manufacturers customarily provide only a few product variants to address the average needs of users in the major segments of markets they serve. When user needs are highly heterogeneous, this approach leaves many seriously dissatisfied. One solution is to enable users to modify products on their own using “innovation toolkits.” We explore the effectiveness of this solution in an empirical study of Apache security software. We find high heterogeneity of need in that field, and also find that users modifying their own software to be significantly more satisfied than non-innovating users. We propose that the “user toolkits” solution will be useful in many markets characterized by heterogeneous demand.     

Effects of Altered Stride Lengths on Ratings of Perceived Exertion during Running

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of stride length variations on ratings of perceived exertion (RPEs) in experienced recreational runners. Twenty-eight male college students were randomly divided into equal-sized treatment and control groups. The treatment group performed five 15 min altered stride length runs, each separated by a minimum of 48 hr. The five trials involved running with a freely chosen stride length (FCSL) and a FCSL altered by +14%, +7%, ?14%, and ?7%. The control group was utilized to monitor changes in subjects' RPEs as a result of practice effects developed through repeated bouts of treadmill running. Results revealed that the treatment group's local and general RPEs for the over striding runs (+14%, +7%) were significantly greater (p < .01) than RPEs recorded during the FCSL run. Additionally, there was a marginally significant difference (p < .05) in local RPEs between the FCSL run and the extreme understriding run (?14%). Analysis of variance on the control group's RPE data suggests that neither local nor general RPEs changed significantly in repeated FCSL runs across the six-week testing period. The results of this study suggest that experienced recreational runners perceive differences in exertion accompanying changes in stride length.     

Teacher Learning in Mathematics: Using Student Work to Promote Collective Inquiry

The study describes teachers' collective work in which they developed deeper understanding of their own students' mathematical thinking. Teachers at one school met in monthly workgroups throughout the year. Prior to each workgroup, they posed a similar mathematical problem to their students. The workgroup discussions centered on the student work those problems generated. This study draws on a transformation of participation perspective to address the questions: What do teachers learn through collective examination of student work? How is teacher learning evident in shifts in participation in discussions centered on student work? The analyses account for the learning of the group by documenting key shifts in teachers' participation across the year. The first shift in participation occurred when teachers as a group learned to attend to the details of children's thinking. A second shift in participation occurred as teachers began to develop possible instructional trajectories in mathematics. We focus our discussion on the significance of the use of student work and a transformation of participation view in analyzing the learning trajectory of teachers as a group.     

Anatomical knowledge gain through a clay‐modeling exercise compared to live and video observations

Clay modeling is increasingly used as a teaching method other than dissection. The haptic experience during clay modeling is supposed to correspond to the learning effect of manipulations during exercises in the dissection room involving tissues and organs. We questioned this assumption in two pretest–post‐test experiments. In these experiments, the learning effects of clay modeling were compared to either live observations (Experiment I) or video observations (Experiment II) of the clay‐modeling exercise. The effects of learning were measured with multiple choice questions, extended matching questions, and recognition of structures on illustrations of cross‐sections. Analysis of covariance with pretest scores as the covariate was used to elaborate the results. Experiment I showed a significantly higher post‐test score for the observers, whereas Experiment II showed a significantly higher post‐test score for the clay modelers. This study shows that (1) students who perform clay‐modeling exercises show less gain in anatomical knowledge than students who attentively observe the same exercise being carried out and (2) performing a clay‐modeling exercise is better in anatomical knowledge gain compared to the study of a video of the recorded exercise. The most important learning effect seems to be the engagement in the exercise, focusing attention and stimulating time on task. Anat Sci Educ 7: 420–429. © 2014 American Association of Anatomists.