Skirting the Sketch: An Analysis of Sketch Inhibition within Contemporary Design Higher Education

Sketch inhibition is regularly alluded to by educators within design higher education and one with increasingly marked effects on industry. Over the past thirty years, students have been observed to engage less with the manual processes of design development process in favour of other activities perceived as more attractive, to the detriment of their development as effective designers. This article offers an evaluation of literature which supports the importance of sketching to the design process across a variety of disciplines, its anatomy and functions and demonstrates its role in cognitive support, as a language, a means of reflection, communication and storage of information and the micro‐processes it embodies. Initial findings regarding the symptoms of sketch inhibition are presented: from avoidance of studio sessions and minimal design development, to an overreliance on digital tools. It considers causes, ranging from lacking skill‐sets, psycho‐social, to technological, and although further investigation is recommended to establish depth and enable development of an appropriate pedagogical framework for its management within HE, various methods are offered at this stage for use by educators: these include fine art exercises, a rigorous pursuit of quantity and even paper type.     

Validation of self-report measures of physical activity: a case study using the New Zealand Physical Activity Questionnaire

Accurate measurement of physical activity is fundamentally important in epidemiological research of physical activity behavior A widely used telephone-based physical activity questionnaire was compared with other methods of administration and objective measures (pedometers and accelerometers) among 80 adults (43 women). The telephone questionnaire was comparable to both the self-administered form and international telephone-administered equivalent. Although moderate correlation coefficients with objective measures supported the use of the questionnaire, wide prediction intervals generated using Bland Altman methods highlighted large discrepancies between the measures, particularly in the moderate intensity category. These findings illustrate the limitations of correlation coefficients in validation studies and the inaccuracy of self-report questionnaires in measuring physical activity.     

Effects of achievement standards,choice, sex,and educational level on mathematical performance

The study assessed the effects of achievement standards, and choice of such standards, on mathematics performance in conditions where no tangible rewards were presented for reaching such standards. Elementary, junior high, and high school students performed a multiplication task in conditions where they chose standards, had standards imposed by an experimenter, or had no standards. Results demonstrated that high school students worked more multiplication problems when they chose standards than when identical standards were imposed by an experimenter or when no standards were present. Moreover, male students who chose standards worked more problems than did male students who had no standards; this effect was not found for female students.     

HUMAN SERVICES FOR THE ELDERLY AND THE ROLE OF UNIVERSITY–COMMUNITY COLLABORATION: PERCEPTIONS OF HUMAN SERVICE AGENCY WORKERS

According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, in 1998 the 65-74 years age group (18.4 million) was eight times larger than in 1900, the 75-84 years age group (12 million) was 16 times larger, and the 85 and older years age group (4 million) was 33 times larger. It is anticipated that if this trend continues, by 2030, there will be about 70 million older American persons, more than twice their number in 1998. To meet the needs of the older population, governments, foundations, nonprofit organizations, and other groups will have to continue to work on how to increase availability, accessibility, and adequacy of community-based services. One approach will be to encourage community collaboration and partnerships. Funding agencies have encouraged university-community collaboration in recent years. However, none of the studies reviewed for this paper addressed the need for the type of university-community collaboration that our study deals with (i.e., university-community agency collaboration). In particular, our study investigates human service agency workers' perceptions of the availability, accessibility, and adequacy of services to the elderly in Northwest Ohio, and how collaboration with a university can improve service delivery to consumers. The findings of the study provide a general indication of trends, experiences, and problems common to these agencies. The findings also suggest that agency workers do not necessarily have a negative perception of university-community agency collaboration, rather many do not understand how such collaborations will improve services to consumers. Recommendations regarding how to enhance university-community collaborations are made.     

Tracing the evolution of critical evaluation skills in students' use of the Internet

This paper documents the evolving uses of the Internet made by public health graduate students and traces the development of their search methods and critical evaluative criteria. Early in the first semester and again six months later, twenty-four graduate students in a problem-based learning curriculum, which emphasizes evidence-based critical thinking skills, were required to describe their most helpful resources and to evaluate these resources critically. The answers were coded for the types of resources the students used, how frequently they were used, and why they were used. Student perception of the usefulness of resources, especially the Internet, and ability to evaluate these resources critically changed greatly. Initially, 96% of the students stated that the Internet was their most helpful resource. Six months later, these students continued to use the Internet; however, it was not their most useful source. At the later point, students had very specific uses for the Internet. Their most frequently used evaluation criterion was the reliability and objectivity of the source of the information. By the end of the first year of study, the majority of the students demonstrated an understanding of the principles of evidence-based practice and applied them to their research and analysis of information resources.