The continuous nature of timing reprogramming in an interceptive task

The time course of movement timing reprogramming was examined in a task requiring temporal coincidence of the conclusion of a forehand drive with the arrival of a moving luminous target at the end of an electronic trackway. The moving target departed from one end of the trackway at a constant velocity of 2 m (.) s(-1), and for a part of the trials its velocity was increased to 3 m (.) s(-1). Target velocity was modified at different moments during stimulus displacement, producing times-to-arrival after velocity increment (TAVIs) from 100 to 600 ms. The effect of specific practice on movement reprogramming was also examined. The results showed early adjustments to the action (TAVIs = 100 - 200 ms) that seemed to be stereotyped, while feedback-based corrections were implemented only at TAVIs of 300 ms or longer. Temporal accuracy was progressively increased as longer TAVIs were provided up to 600 ms. Skill training led to an overall increment of temporal accuracy, but no effect of specific practice was found. The results indicate that timing reprogramming in interceptive actions is a continuous process limited mainly by intrinsic factors: latency to initiate more effective adjustments to the action, and rate-of-movement timing reprogramming.     

Using mobile peer mentors for student engagement: Student Rovers in the Learning Commons

This paper presents findings from a 2010 evaluation of Victoria University's Student Rover program, an on-campus work-based learning program in which mobile student mentors are employed and deployed within the university's Learning Commons to provide ‘just-in-time’ and ‘just-in-place’ learning support to other students. Student Rovers are paid not to perform a quasi-staff role, but to be students who help other students learn and, in this process, to model both learning to learn and collaborative learning behaviours. Drawing on specific findings from a large-scale student survey, a small-scale staff survey and focus groups conducted with Student Rovers themselves relating to perceptions of the socio-institutional status of Student Rovers, the paper is concerned with exploring the anomalous nature of the Student Rover role and speculating as to the potential for change inherent within this situation. Reworking Billett's conceptualisation of co-participatory workplace practices, we propose that by framing the work of Student Rovers as ‘learningful’ workers operating within the liminal institutional contact zone between staff and students, the program may prove to be not simply a successful strategy for helping new students engage in campus life – while simultaneously preparing Student Rovers themselves for negotiating contemporary organisational circumstances of change, complexity and contingency – but also a precursor to an emergent, institutionally recognised, educational role of students paid to support the learning of other students.     

Digitizing IKS: Epistemic complexity,datadiversity & cognitive justice*

In contemporary African societies where multiple systems of knowledge coexist, and the use of informatics is becoming increasingly widespread, conventional perspectives drawn from cultural anthropology, environmentalism, development studies and intellectual property rights are insufficient guides to thinking about the digitization of indigenous knowledge. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, three moments in South African knowledge dynamics are used to probe some of the ontological, epistemological, and performative implications of science/IKS interaction in the design and construction of archives and databases of local plants. Twenty-first century databases of indigenous African medico-botanical knowledge need to assure that it is recontextualized historically and socially; that its multiplicity, visuality, and orality are retained; and that “articulation work” is done to make sure that design choices and use are cognitively just.     

Leg preference and interlateral asymmetry of balance stability in soccer players

To examine the effect of long lasting practice on pedal behavior in sport, we compared experienced adult soccer players and nonsoccer players on leg preference in motor tasks requiring general mobilization, soccer related mobilization, and body balance stabilization. We also evaluated performance asymmetry between the right and left legs in static and dynamic unipedal body balance, based on center of pressure displacement, and correlated that with leg preference in balance stabilization tasks. Results revealed (a) a distinct leg preference between mobilization and stabilization tasks, which were significantly different between players and nonplayers, (b) similar balance stability between the right and left legs, (c) greater stability of experienced players compared with nonplayers in static and dynamic balance, and (d) absence of a significant leg preference correlation with interlateral balance asymmetry. These results suggest an effect of extensive soccer skill practice on establishing leg preference for specific mobilization tasks and overall balance control.     

Differences in the Way Broadcast,Cable and Public TV Reporters Used Women and Non-White Sources to Cover the 2008 Presidential Race

TV evening news coverage of the 2008 presidential election by broadcast, cable, and public networks was predominately male and Caucasian in terms of reporters and sources. However, according to our content analysis of 888 campaign stories, viewers saw the least amount of source diversity if they watched the evening news on broadcast networks ABC, CBS, and NBC. Cable networks FOX and CNN, and the PBS evening news had more female and non-White sources. This pattern also holds true for reporter use of nonpartisan sources. Findings on the 2008 election for the traditional broadcast networks are not consistent with those for the 2000 and 2004 elections, when female reporters at these networks had more female and nonpartisan sources in their election coverage than did their male colleagues. Reporters at PBS provided the greatest overall source diversity, regardless of their race or gender, compared to what was observed on broadcast and cable networks. Differences in the way reporters used women and non-White sources to cover the 2008 presidential race may be attributable to organizational factors.     

Broadcast and Cable News Network Differences in the Way Reporters Used Women and Minority Group Sources to Cover the 2004 Presidential Race

Our content analysis of 2,075 campaign stories aired by 3 broadcast and 3 cable networks during the 2004 presidential campaign revealed that female and non-White reporters at broadcast networks were generally more aggressive in their source use when compared to their male and White colleagues, using a greater number of sources and in most cases also allotting the sources more time. Female and non-White reporters at cable networks also tended, although less consistently and to a lesser extent, to use and give more time to female and non-White sources.     

The influence of task and gender on search and evaluation behavior using Google

To improve search engine effectiveness, we have observed an increased interest in gathering additional feedback about users’ information needs that goes beyond the queries they type in. Adaptive search engines use explicit and implicit feedback indicators to model users or search tasks. In order to create appropriate models, it is essential to understand how users interact with search engines, including the determining factors of their actions. Using eye tracking, we extend this understanding by analyzing the sequences and patterns with which users evaluate query result returned to them when using Google. We find that the query result abstracts are viewed in the order of their ranking in only about one fifth of the cases, and only an average of about three abstracts per result page are viewed at all. We also compare search behavior variability with respect to different classes of users and different classes of search tasks to reveal whether user models or task models may be greater predictors of behavior. We discover that gender and task significantly influence different kinds of search behaviors discussed here. The results are suggestive of improvements to query-based search interface designs with respect to both their use of space and workflow.     

The metaphorical department head: using metaphors as analytic tools to investigate the role of department head

This paper reports the results of a study that examined the ways a group of department heads in Ontario, Canada, describe their role. Despite their ubiquity and importance, department heads have been seldom investigated in the educational leadership literature. The study uses the metaphor as an analytic tool to examine the ways participants talked about their role. It was found that while department heads seem essential to the policy implementation, their role is rarely acknowledged. In the analysis, we use the term ‘Fifth Business’, originally coined by Robertson Davies, to refer to the actors in a play who were never assigned the role of heroes or villains, but whose work was to incarnate a role that was nonetheless essential to the play. The study concludes that by building on the complex ways department heads understand their role, school leaders and policy-makers could clarify their role and develop strategies to support them.