Undercounting File Downloads from Institutional Repositories

ABSTRACT

A primary impact metric for institutional repositories (IR) is the number of file downloads, which are commonly measured through third-party Web analytics software. Google Analytics, a free service used by most academic libraries, relies on HTML page tagging to log visitor activity on Google's servers. However, Web aggregators such as Google Scholar link directly to high value content (usually PDF files), bypassing the HTML page and failing to register these direct access events. This article presents evidence of a study of four institutions demonstrating that the majority of IR activity is not counted by page tagging Web analytics software, and proposes a practical solution for significantly improving the reporting relevancy and accuracy of IR performance metrics using Google Analytics.     

Instructional Feedback II: How Do Instructor Immediacy Cues and Facework Tactics Interact to Predict Student Motivation and Fairness Perceptions?

During feedback interventions (FIs), instructors may feel torn between directing students’ learning or maintaining productive rapport with them. Existing research suggests how instructional communication can achieve both outcomes. This study examined how students’ motivation to learn and perceptions of fairness were enhanced or eroded via particular instructional behaviors. Actual face-threat mitigation (FTM) tactics and teacher nonverbal immediacy (TNI) cues were manipulated in differing combinations to manage an FI situation, with varying effects on the outcome variables. Multivariate analysis detected main effects and a significant interaction effect between FTM and TNI regarding students’ motivation to learn, but main effects only for their perceptions of interactional fairness. Theoretical and pedagogical implications are discussed in light of self-determination, facework, approach-avoidance, and feedback intervention theories.     

College Course Grades for Dual Enrollment Students

This study compared college course grade outcomes, both during and after high school, of dual-enrollment students to those of traditional students. The study was based on a large, multiyear sample of Iowa high school and community college students. The results showed that while in high school, dual-enrollment students consistently outperformed traditional students in community college courses. However, much of the difference might be due to underlying differences in the two groups associated with the type of college the students chose to attend after high school (i.e., four-year vs. two-year). Dual enrollment students tended to perform about the same as traditional students in terms of post-high-school community college course grades. For students who enrolled in four-year institutions after high school, analyses of college course grade data suggested a small positive effect of dual enrollment on first-year college grade point average (GPA).     

Woodward Paths: Motorizing Space

This essay takes up the call for a rhetoric of distributed space by proposing a folksonomic rhetoric. Folksonomies, systems in which users may name any object, space, idea, or image any name they want, offer technical communicators new possibilities for how they work in network environments. As a way to explore the possibility of a folksonomic rhetoric, this essay examines 1 specific space, Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, as if it were a folksonomic space.     

Differences in trunk and upper extremity kinematics and segmental velocities during the offside forehand polo swing between male and female athletes

ABSTRACT

Although polo is a well-known equestrian sport, it is fundamentally misunderstood. The purpose of this study was to examine trunk and upper extremity kinematics and segmental velocities during the offside forehand polo swing between male and female athletes. Ten female and 17 male professional polo athletes volunteered. An electromagnetic tracking system collected kinematic data at 100 Hz while participants performed three offside forehand polo swings from a stationary wooden horse. One-way ANOVAs revealed statistically significant differences (p<0.05) in all kinematic variables and segmental velocities. Specifically, males exhibited a greater mean difference (MD=23°) of trunk flexion at take away (TA) and top of backswing (TOB)(MD=29°) trunk lateral flexion at ball contact (BC)(MD=23°), trunk rotation at TA(MD=97°) and TOB(MD=118°), shoulder abduction at TOB(MD=64°), and shoulder elevation at TOB(MD=13°) and BC(MD=40°). Females displayed greater trunk rotation at BC(MD=91°), shoulder elevation at TA(MD=19°), and elbow flexion at TA(MD=90°). Additionally, females generated greater segmental velocities early in the swing, while the males generated velocity later. The movement patterns observed amongst the males suggest energy is being transferred more efficiently along the kinetic chain, thus more efficient swing mechanics, but further investigation into the role of the trunk and lumbopelvic-hip complex in reference to the polo swing is warranted.     

Assessing attitude towards religion: the Astley–Francis Scale of Attitude towards Theistic Faith

This study builds on the research tradition modelled by the Francis Scale of Attitude towards Christianity, the Katz–Francis Scale of Attitude towards Judaism, the Sahin–Francis Scale of Attitude towards Islam and the Santosh–Francis Scale of Attitude towards Hinduism to propose a generic instrument concerned with attitudes towards theistic faith. The scale properties of this new instrument, established among a sample of 284 (200 female and 84 male) 16–18-year-old students, commend it for use in future research.     

A Placement Test for Computer Science: Design,Implementation, and Analysis

An introductory CS1 course presents problems for educators and students due to students' diverse background in programming knowledge and exposure. Students who enroll in CS1 also have different expectations and motivations. Prompted by the curricular guidelines for undergraduate programmes in computer science released in 2001 by the ACM/IEEE, and driven by a departmental project to reinvent the undergraduate computer science and computer engineering curricula at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, we are currently implementing a series of changes which will improve our introductory courses. One key component of our project is an online placement examination tied to the cognitive domain that assesses student knowledge and intellectual skills. Our placement test is also integrated into a comprehensive educational research design containing a pre- and posttest framework for assessing student learning and providing valuable feedback for needed instructional revisions. In this paper, we focus on the design and implementation of our placement exam and present an analysis of the data collected to date.     

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION AND OPENNESS: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION AMONG UNDERGRADUATES

A sample of 334 undergraduates completed the Francis Scale of Attitude Toward Christianity and the Astley-Francis Open Worldview Scale, together with the short form Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. The data provide no support for the view that a positive attitude toward Christianity inhibits openness to other worldviews, although both attitude toward Christianity and the adoption of an open worldview are significantly related to individual differences in personality.     

春天的承诺

冬天过去了,但我们还清楚地记得,当刺骨的寒风吹来,我们不由地缩起脖子,裹紧大衣。冬,似乎是寒意,是肃杀,是销声匿迹……然而,即使在最寒冷的日子里,也别忘了倾听生命的迹象,它来自自然,来自生活,来自内心希望的涌动。下面我们就一起来欣赏一篇在冬日里写下的《春天的承诺》。