Self-Confidence as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Competitive Anxiety Intensity and Interpretation

The aim of this study was to examine whether self-confidence mediated the relationship between competitive anxiety intensity and direction. Elite (n = 102) and nonelite (n = 144) participants completed the self-confidence subscale of the Competitive Trait Anxiety Inventory-2 and the worry and somatic subscales from the Sport Anxiety Scale. Consistent with procedures recommended by Baron and Kenny (1986), linear regression analyses were used. The findings for elite athletes revealed worry intensity to significantly predict self-confidence and worry direction. However, when self-confidence was controlled, worry intensity did not predict worry direction over that which was significantly predicted by self-confidence. Within the analysis for somatic symptoms, only self-confidence was found to predict somatic symptom direction. For the nonelite athletes, worry and somatic symptom intensity predicted both self-confidence and direction, and direction when self-confidence was controlled. The findings for the elite athletes suggest self-confidence mediates the relationship between performers' worry symptoms and subsequent directional interpretations. However, the findings suggest that high levels of self-confidence and low symptom intensity are needed for nonelite athletes to demonstrate a less debilitative interpretation.     

SROI in the art gallery; valuing social impact

ABSTRACT

This article considers a project that used the Social Return on Investment (SROI) methodology to describe and measure the social impact of Turner Contemporary art gallery in Margate, a coastal town in the South East of England. The article details the reasons why the methodology was chosen by the gallery, setting this in the context of the wider debate around evaluation and social impact reporting. A section of the research and analysis, which was carried out by COaST, a consultancy and research centre based within Canterbury Christ Church University, is described in detail, allowing the reader to understand the processes involved in this type of project and the kinds of outcomes that can be delivered using this method. Finally, an account is given of the impact the work had on the management of the gallery, and the ways in which the final report was used.     

Unique contributions of eye-tracking research to the study of learning with graphics

The author examines the empirical, methodological, theoretical, and practical contributions of the six studies in this special issue on eye tracking as a tool to study and enhance multimedia learning. The design of learning environments involving graphics should be consistent with a research-based theory of how people learn and evidence-based principles of how to help people learn. Research using eye tracking offers a unique path to testing aspects of theories of multimedia learning, particularly concerning perceptual processing during learning. The studies reported in this special issue add to the evidence base on how people learn and think with graphics.     

Collaborative learning processes in the context of a public health professional development program: a case study

The health promotion laboratory (HPL – Canada) is a public health professional development program building on a collaborative learning approach in order to support long-term practice change in local health services teams. This study aims to analyse the collaborative learning processes of two teams involved in the program during the first year of implementation. Based on a multiple case study design involving observations, interviews, and documentary sources, the study: (1) describes the learning process by which each team built a common understanding of the problem at hand and developed an intervention to address it; (2) identifies factors that facilitated or hindered these processes; and (3) proposes a cross-case explanation of the collaborative learning process in the HPL. The results demonstrate that the two teams learned by expanding their repertoire of actions, albeit experiencing different processes. Results point to the central role of shared mental models and key influencing factors, such as commitment and participation (team cohesion), team climate (psychological safety), and leadership style. Unlike previous studies on team learning that concentrated on existing teams in organisations, the current research studied purposely created teams working at transforming their practices and showed that they can successfully learn if specific conditions are achieved.     

Anytime,anywhere, anyplace: Articulating the meaning of flexible delivery in built environment education

This paper describes a process for negotiating aspects of flexible learning through the consideration of flexibility from student, teacher and institutional perspectives. The process aimed to reconcile, in an Australian school of architecture, the competing demands of learner's increasing flexibility demands, teacher's attributes and pedagogical objectives and the structural limitations that militate against the delivery, resourcing and maintenance of flexibility. Results indicated that the only categories of flexibility (out of time, content, access/entry requirements, pedagogy and delivery) that were demanded by students were pedagogy (but only in the choice of working in groups) and delivery; whereas teachers were merely willing to offer flexibility in delivery. Thus, what students desired of teaching, and what teachers were able to provide, were multiple mediums of knowledge delivery that allowed students flexibility in when and where they could learn. These findings, it is suggested, have relevance for course redesign throughout the creative/visual arts.