Evaluation of an intervention to help students avoid unintentional plagiarism by improving their authorial identity

Students with poorly developed authorial identity may be at risk of unintentional plagiarism. An instructional intervention designed specifically to improve authorial identity was delivered to 364 psychology students at three post‐1992 universities in London, UK, and evaluated with before‐and‐after measures of beliefs and attitudes about academic authorship, using the Student Authorship Questionnaire. Changes in questionnaire scores showed that the intervention led to significantly increased confidence in writing, understanding of authorship, knowledge to avoid plagiarism, and top‐down approaches to writing, and significantly decreased bottom‐up and pragmatic approaches to writing. For understanding of authorship, knowledge to avoid plagiarism and pragmatic approaches to writing, significant intervention by year of study interaction effects showed that the greatest improvements were among year one undergraduates. Direct evaluative feedback showed that 86% of students believed the intervention helped them avoid plagiarism and 66% believed it helped them write better assignments. Post‐intervention focus groups revealed changed student understandings about authorial identity and academic writing. The results show that interventions can help students avoid unintentional plagiarism by adopting more authorial roles in their academic writing. Further research could explore other influences on authorial identity, and examine the impact of authorial identity interventions on other outcome indicators.     

Decrements in knee extensor and flexor strength are associated with performance fatigue during simulated basketball game-play in adolescent,male players

This study quantified lower-limb strength decrements and assessed the relationships between strength decrements and performance fatigue during simulated basketball. Ten adolescent, male basketball players completed a circuit-based, basketball simulation. Sprint and jump performance were assessed during each circuit, with knee flexion and extension peak concentric torques measured at baseline, half-time, and full-time. Decrement scores were calculated for all measures. Mean knee flexor strength decrement was significantly (P < 0.05) related to sprint fatigue in the first half (R = 0.65), with dominant knee flexor strength (R = 0.67) and dominant flexor:extensor strength ratio (R = 0.77) decrement significantly (P < 0.05) associated with sprint decrement across the entire game. Mean knee extensor strength (R = 0.71), dominant knee flexor strength (R = 0.80), non-dominant knee flexor strength (R = 0.75), mean knee flexor strength (R = 0.81), non-dominant flexor:extensor strength ratio (R = 0.71), and mean flexor:extensor strength ratio (R = 0.70) decrement measures significantly (P < 0.05) influenced jump fatigue during the entire game. Lower-limb strength decrements may exert an important influence on performance fatigue during basketball activity in adolescent, male players. Consequently, training plans should aim to mitigate lower-limb fatigue to optimise sprint and jump performance during game-play.     

BASES Position Statement on Guidelines for Resistance Exercise in Young People

Abstract

Despite the performance concerns of dehydration in other sports, there are currently no data on the effects of rapid weight-loss on the physical and cognitive performance of jockeys in a sport-specific context. In a randomised crossover design, eight Great Britain (GB) male licensed jockeys were assessed for chest strength, leg strength, simulated riding performance (assessed by maximum pushing frequency on a mechanical riding simulator during the final two furlongs of a simulated 2 mile race) and simple reaction time after performing 45 min of exercise, during which euhydration was maintained (Control trial) or induced 2% dehydration (Rapid Weight-Loss trial). Reductions in both chest (–13.8 ± 3.03% vs. 0.62 ± 1.04%) and leg strength (–4.8 ± 4.8% vs. –0.56 ± 2.5%) were greater in Rapid Weight-Loss compared with Control (P < 0.01 and P = 0.04, respectively). Similarly, reductions in simulated riding performance were also greater (P = 0.05) in Rapid Weight-Loss (–2.8 ± 4.0%) compared with Control (–0.07 ± 1.5%), whereas there were no significant changes (P = 0.14) in simple reaction time. We conclude that a 2% reduction in body mass, as achieved by 45 min of moderate-intensity exercise undertaken in a sweatsuit (a common method of inducing acute dehydration by jockeys), significantly impairs maximum pushing frequency during a simulated race. In addition, the observed reductions in strength may also increase the occupational hazards associated with race riding.     

The Reliability and Validity of Selected Physical Fitness Tests for High School Girls

Abstract

The Rogers' Strength Test, the Kraus-Weber Test of Minimum Muscular Fitness, and a battery of motor fitness tests were administered to 169 freshmen, sophomore, and junior girls at Shoreline High School, Seattle, Washington. Each test was administered two or more times in order to investigate the reliability of the tests. The results seemed to indicate that the Rogers' Strength Test and Washington Battery were reliable, that those who scored high on the Washington Battery and on the PFI had a much lower percentage of failures on the Kraus-Weber test than did those with poor Washington Battery and PFI scores, and that there was a moderate correlation (.54) between the Washington Battery and the PFI.     

A new paradigm for evolution

Standard evolutionary theory sees little beyond the natural selection of random variation. Yet there is more to life.     

Training the adult educator as professional

The growing importance of adult training and education is a worldwide phenomenon. As an accompaniment to the growing range of programmes and courses in adult continuing education, there has developed a cadre of professional adult educators who exist to provide them. Using examples both from Anglophone Africa and from the UK, this paper traces the development of adult education as an idea and the emergence of the adult educator as professional. Training institutions (mainly in universities) have developed from direct course provision though there is now no necessary connection between their past and present functions. Nevertheless, it is these same institutions which have begun to give coherence to the curricula of professional training. Finally, the paper considers some of the training issues which have arisen and which still need to be addressed by the training institutions if professional training is to continue to meet changing professional needs.

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Zusammenfassung Die zunehmende Bedeutung der Bildung und Ausbildung von Erwachsenen ist ein weltweites Phänomen. Als Begleiterscheinung zum wachsenden Angebot von Programmen und Kursen in der Erwachsenenfortbildung hat sich eine Gruppe von professionellen Lehrern für Erwachsene herausgebildet, die diese Kurse leiten. Mit Beispielen sowohl aus dem englischsprachigen Afrika als auch aus Großbritannien wird in dem Artikel der Entwicklung der Erwachsenenbildung als Idee und dem Aufkommen von berufsmäßigen Lehrern für Erwachsene nachgegangen. Ausbildungsstätten (vorwiegend an Universitäten) haben sich aus der unmittelbaren Bereitstellung von Kursen entwickelt, obwohl es heutzutage nicht notwendigerweise eine Verbindung zwischen beiden gibt. Dennoch sind es genau diese Institutionen, die damit begonnen haben, den Curricula für die Ausbildung professioneller Lehrer von Erwachsenen einen logischen Zusammenhang zu geben. Zum Schluß werden einige sich ergebende Fragen zur Ausbildung aufgegriffen, die an die Ausbildungsstätten weitergegeben werden müssen, wenn die Berufsausbildung weiterhin den sich ändernden beruflichen Erfordernissen gerecht werden soll.

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Résumé L'importance croissante de la formation et de l'éducation des adultes est un phénomène mondial. Parallèlement au nombre de programmes et de cours d'éducation continue des adultes qui ne cesse d'augmenter, un corps d'éducateurs des adultes spécialisés a été développé pour conduire ces cours. En tirant ses exemples de l'Afrique anglophone et du Royaume Uni, cet article retrace le développement de l'éducation des adultes en tant que concept et l'émergence de l'éducateur d'adultes en tant qu'enseignant spécialisé. Les institutions de formation (au sein des universités principalement) sont directement nées des cours qui étaient offerts, même s'il n'y a plus aujourd'hui de relation nécessaire entre leurs fonctions passées et présentes. Néanmoins, ce sont ces institutions qui ont commencé à rendre cohérents les curricula de l'enseignement professionnel. Enfin, le présent article examine quelques questions de formation qui ont été soulevées et qui doivent encore être soumises aux institutions de formation, si l'enseignement professionnel ne doit pas cesser de répondre aux besoins changeants qui se font sentir dans le domaine du travail.

     

The development of a small-scale survey instrument of UK teachers to study professional use (and non-use) of and attitudes to social media

This paper documents the creation, implementation and analysis of a survey instrument designed to reveal patterns of use and attitudes towards the value of social media by UK teachers. The study was motivated to discover which teachers use social media professionally, how they use it (both personally and professionally) and attitudes to social media as a professional tool (for their students' and their own professional use). The instrument was created from verbal data from two focus group discussions regarding the use of social media in education. Attitude statements were included verbatim when practical. This instrument was placed online and practising teachers invited to complete it (n?=?216). Exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical clustering identified 9 factors from 54 attitude statements and 5 distinct teacher groups. The rich data allowed each group to be carefully defined, providing potentially invaluable information to school leaders when developing social media projects to recognize and accommodate the full range of teacher concerns and experience. The paper also addresses methodological concerns regarding instrument creation, dealing with missing data and the impact of missing data on subsequent analysis.     

Tell England and the perfection of death

Geoff Fox was a founding editor of CLIE and still serves as Secretary to the UK Editorial Committee. He has worked with young people and teachers in schools and universities in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia. He has written widely in the field, includingTeaching Literature 9–14 (with Michael Benton, Oxford University Press, 1985). He has recently written four short works of fiction.