High reliability of performance of well-trained rowers on a rowing ergometer.

High retest reliability is desirable in tests used to monitor athletic performance, but the reliability of many popular tests has not been established. The aim of this study was to determine the reliability of performance of a 2000-m time-trial lasting approximately 7 min performed on a Concept II rowing ergometer. Eight well-trained rowers (peak oxygen uptake 61+/-5 ml x kg(-1) x min(-1); mean +/- standard deviation) performed the time-trials on three occasions at 3-day intervals. Mean power (313+/-38 W in trial 1) improved by 2.3% (95% confidence interval 0.1 to 4.5%) in trial 2 and by a further 0.9% (-1.4 to 3.3%) in trial 3. The variability of performance for individual rowers expressed as a coefficient of variation for mean power was 2.0% (1.3 to 3.1%), and the retest correlation was 0.96 (0.87 to 0.99). Variability and changes in performance expressed as time to complete the test were approximately one-third those of mean power, apparently because simulated velocity is proportional to the cube root of power on this ergometer. Such high reliability makes this combination of ergometer, athlete and test protocol very suitable for monitoring rowing performance and for investigating factors that affect performance in short, high-intensity endurance events.     

A Comparative Study Examining Academic Cohorts with Transnational Migratory Intentions Towards Canada and Australia

This research examines the issue of transnational academic mobility of academic staff, those choosing to migrate to higher education institutions in different countries as part of their career development, and performs a comparative study between the characteristics of academics examining Australia as a possible migratory destination with those considering Canada. A combination of Google Analytics and two online questionnaires, running in parallel for a period of 12 months, were employed in capturing a range of rich primary quantitative and qualitative research data. Quantitative web analytics data is analysed to locate the geographic origins of migratory interest, with qualitative survey data providing further insight into the academics' background, qualifications, disciplines and reasons for wanting to migrate. When combined, this mixed‐method approach is able to utilise the merged data to develop a detailed profile of academics with migratory intentions towards Australia and Canada, enabling comparisons between the two cohorts to be made.     

Cybertroopers and tea parties: government use of the Internet in Malaysia

The advent of the Internet has enabled a disruption of the Malaysian government's long-standing control of media content. However, there are also opportunities for the government to extend into the Internet what Cherian George has called ‘narrow tailoring’ policies, designed to ensure ‘hegemonic consensus.’ Demonstrating the interconnections of intraparty factional rivalry, blogging and newspaper management, as well as the extension of government influence into online content, this paper discusses three cases: the transformation of a bloggers association; the organisation of ‘cybertroopers’ by the dominant governing party; and, the use of a blog, Facebook, and Twitter by the prime minister (PM), Najib Razak. Each of the cases highlights particular ‘blog affordances’, a concept used to parse the potentials and limitations of blogs and other social media with regards to state hegemonic control through media ownership. In addition, an adapted concept of ‘extended parasocial relations’ is proposed in relation to Najib's blog and social media presence. Overall, these cases demonstrate the continuity and complementarity of on- and offline activities, which form a relatively stabilised assemblage of political activity.     

Allowing learners to choose: self-controlled practice schedules for learning multiple movement patterns

For this study, we investigated the effects of self-controlled practice on learning multiple motor skills. Thirty participants were randomly assigned to self-control or yoked conditions. Participants learned a three-keystroke pattern with three different relative time structures. Those in the self-control group chose one of three relative time structures before each of 90 practice trials; yoked participants were not allowed to choose but were yoked to a self-control participant and followed that individual's sequence of practice trials. Results of the 24-hr serial transfer test revealed the self-control group exhibited significantly lower relative timing error, absolute error, and total error than the yoked group. Findings further support the efficacy of self-controlled learning     

Comparative learning and retention of conventional and instructional TV methods

Summary Each of the 20 elementary schools in the Anaheim City School District were randomly assigned to one of the three method groups. The present studies included the entire group of fourth and fifth grade pupils who received instruction either conventionally or with one of the two ITV methods. The two studies compared pupils’ achievement and retention by method group, intelligence, and sex. Groups receiving the televised social studies instruction performed significantly better on the end-of-term examinations than did the control groups. On the one and two-year delayed posttests, contrary to expectation, all groups had significantly higher means than on the immediate posttests. The basic explanation for the phenomenon was thought to be maturation since many items appear to have tapped reasoning ability as well as content knowledge. This interpretation was supported by the fact that greater gain was noted on the two-year delayed posttest than on the one-year detention measure. The hypothesis was further strengthened by the analysis by item type, the factual items showing the least increase over the time interval. No differential change or gain existed for method groups for the oneyear study. In the two-year study the control group showed greater gain, but its mean remained below that of the TV group. Both authors have served as research consultants for the Anaheim Instructional Television Project for the past five years. They are presently writing a monograph presenting the results from their five years of research with this project.