Relationship Reciprocation Modulates Resource Allocation in Adolescent Social Networks: Developmental Effects

Adolescence is characterized as a period of social reorientation toward peer relationships, entailing the emergence of sophisticated social abilities. Two studies (Study 1: N = 42, ages 13–17; Study 2: N = 81, ages 13–16) investigated age group differences in the impact of relationship reciprocation within school‐based social networks on an experimental measure of cooperation behavior. Results suggest development between mid‐ and late adolescence in the extent to which reciprocation of social ties predicted resource allocation. With increasing age group, investment decisions increasingly reflected the degree to which peers reciprocated feelings of friendship. This result may reflect social‐cognitive development, which could facilitate the ability to navigate an increasingly complex social world in adolescence and promote positive and enduring relationships into adulthood.     

Old Players—New Rules: Higher education institutions’ response to educational demand

Tertiary Education and Management - Performance indicators and performance-based funding are becoming integral components of higher education (HE) policy around the globe. We explore some of the...     

Actions and Conceptions: Exploring Initial Literacy Teaching Practice for Adults

Given that it is a delicate task to meet the educational needs of adult emergent readers in a second language setting, this study serves to explore the teaching practice of teachers working with learners of initial literacy and second language. Based on a situated learning perspective, data from 16 lesson observations of nine teachers is analysed. The findings show that teachers initiate and negotiate learning activities, strive to get the students to understand words and other symbols, facilitate participation within and outside the classroom and negotiate the acceptable student behaviour. These findings suggest that Literacy Education and Second Language Learning for Adults (LESLLA) teaching and learning is a particular practice, where the teachers’ actions are intertwined with those of the learners and with the teachers’ conceptions of the learners. In that way, the teachers’ actions do not only speak of the learners, but also of their own professional identity.     

Mandatory coursework assignments can be,and should be,eliminated!

Formative assessment can serve as a catalyst for increased student effort and student learning. Yet, many engineering degree programmes are dominated by summative assessment and make limited use of formative assessment. The present case study serves as an example on how formative assessment can be used strategically to increase student effort and improve student learning. Within five courses of an engineering bachelor degree programme in Norway, the mandatory coursework assignments were removed and replaced by formative-only assessment. To facilitate the formative assessment, weekly student peer-assessment sessions were introduced. The main findings include an increase in student study hours and improved student performance on the examinations. Finally, interviews were conducted by an external consultant in an effort to identify key factors that attributed to the positive outcome.     

Evaluation of retrieval effectiveness with incomplete relevance data: Theoretical and experimental comparison of three measures

This paper investigates two relatively new measures of retrieval effectiveness in relation to the problem of incomplete relevance data. The measures, Bpref and RankEff, which do not take into account documents that have not been relevance judged, are compared theoretically and experimentally. The experimental comparisons involve a third measure, the well-known mean uninterpolated average precision. The results indicate that RankEff is the most stable of the three measures when the amount of relevance data is reduced, with respect to system ranking and absolute values. In addition, RankEff has the lowest error-rate.     

Examining Changing Attitudes in Secondary School Science

This study, carried out in England, examined the variation of attitudes towards science over the first three years of secondary schooling and with gender. The study in question was part of an evaluation of the “Lab in a Lorry” project, and involved 932 pupils completing a pre‐measure questionnaire containing items looking at six separate attitude constructs. From these data, two main patterns emerged; pupils’ attitudes towards science declined as they progressed through secondary school, and this decline was more pronounced for female pupils. These conclusions are largely in agreement with previous studies in this field. However, in examining separate attitude constructs, we were also able to identify that the sharpest decline occurred specifically for pupils’ attitude towards learning science in school. Furthermore, using linear regression, we identified that, as pupils progress through school, this construct becomes a greater influence on attitudes towards future participation in science. Therefore, we also concluded that learning science in school is a particular area that needs to be concentrated upon, if we are to improve children’s attitudes towards science. In the final part of the paper, we drew on interview data obtained from 44 pupils involved in the Lab in a Lorry study. Pupils’ comments in these interviews provided further insight into why pupils are “switched off” by school science. We drew out the most prevalent themes that emerged in the interviews, in order to provide further insight into why pupils do not enjoy science in school.     

Fourth Graders' Social Standing with Peers: A Prospective Study on the Role of First Grade Physical Activity,Weight Status,and Motor Proficiency

We prospectively examined the role of physical activity involvement, weight status, and motor functioning capability in 1^st grade for social status among other pupils in class in the 4^th grade. Our sample included 80 Norwegian 1^st grade pupils (Girls N = 44; Boys N = 36). 1^st grade motor proficiency and objectively measured physical activity, but not weight status was predictive of 4^th grade social standing among pupils in class as measured by socio‐metric status. Interaction findings also revealed that 1^st grade healthy weight children being proficient in the motor domain benefit more in terms of their social standing among peers in 4^th grade than do 1^st grade overweight but equally motor proficient children. Being physically active in the 1^st grade seems more important for social standing among peers in 4^th grade for 1^st grade girls than for boys. Results may inform early intervention efforts in school to enhance pupils' psychosocial development.     

WebTV Channel Additions: Channel Complementarity in the Broadcasting Industry

The purpose of this article is to study how WebTV channel additions influence the following relationship dimensions between a broadcasting company and its consumers: brand knowledge, brand satisfaction, direct relationship investments, and indirect relationship investments. A survey of broadcast consumers indicated positive effects of WebTV channel additions on all 4 brand relationship dimensions. The findings also indicate that brand satisfaction, direct relationship investments, and indirect relationship investments mediate the effect of WebTV channel additions on customers' use of the broadcaster's main channel. The implication of the results is that WebTV channel additions have the potential to strengthen consumer-brand relationships and that WebTV channel additions seem to complement rather than substitute a broadcast company's main channel. Based on the results, WebTV channel additions are recommended as a channel strategy for broadcasting companies. Similar studies in other industries and settings are suggested before the results can be generalized more broadly.     

The Formation of Swedish Media Studies, 1960–1980

Around 1960, the politics of the emerging media society in Sweden tended to fixate the formative functions of mass communication. The monopoly of public service broadcast media, press subsidies and new tendencies in film policy were some of the issues around which uncertainty prevailed. New methods to provide reliable data were sought by politicians, since empirical facts were required as arguments for an updated media policy. This article examines the different ways that the field of media studies was introduced in Sweden between 1960 and 1980. We argue that Swedish academic media studies departed from, and emerged within, a rather diffuse borderland between industry, politics and academia. The formation of national media research in Sweden can partly be seen as an effect of politicians and the media industry wanting to be better informed on issues such as media influence, media ownership and the habits and composition of the media audience.