Linking online course design and implementation to learning outcomes: A design experiment

This paper reports on preliminary findings from ongoing design-based research being conducted in the fully online Master of Arts in Teacher Leadership (MTL) program at a small, Midwest public university. Researchers are using the Quality Matters (QM) and Community of Inquiry (CoI) frameworks to guide the iterative redesign of core courses in the program. Preliminary results from the redesign of one course suggest that such approach can improve student learning outcomes. Results also support the efficacy of the QM and CoI theoretical frames, and the usefulness of design-based approaches in online learning.     

A cross-disciplinary approach to teaching data literacy and proportionality

The Thinking with Data project (TWD) expands on current notions of data literacy by (1) focusing on proportional reasoning as key to data literacy and (2) leveraging the non-mathematics disciplines to engage students in deep thinking about the context of data and the application of proportionality. A set of four 2-week, sequential modules for cross-disciplinary implementation in seventh-grade classrooms was designed and evaluated. Using a quasi-experimental approach, we found that student data literacy was increased through the focused integration of social studies, mathematics, science, and English language arts. In this article, we describe our theoretical approach to designing and implementing the modules, report on student learning gains in mathematics, and describe teacher reactions to the materials. In sum, our study provides evidence that the TWD approach has the potential to build data literacy while also allowing students to learn core discipline-based content standards.     

Poetic Representations in Sport and Physical Education: Insider Perspectives 1

As part of the emergence of new writing practices in the social sciences, qualitative researchers have begun to harness the potential of poetic representations as a means of analysing social worlds and communicating their findings to others. To date, this genre has been little used within the domains of sport and physical education. Accordingly, in this article, we provide examples of poetic representations and seek to generate insights into the process of their construction by exploring the perspectives of their authors. A rationale for choosing this genre is outlined and the potential benefits and risks of making this choice for both the researcher and the audience are considered. It is concluded that poetic representations are a worthy addition to the analytical repertoire in qualitative research.     

A confluence of new technology and the right to water: experience and potential from South Africa’s constitution and commons

South Africa’s groundbreaking constitution explicitly confers a right of access to sufficient water (section 27). But the country is officially ‘water-stressed’ and around 10 % of the population still has no access to on-site or off-site piped or tap water. It is evident that a disconnect exists between this right and the reality for many; however the reasons for the continuation of such discrepancies are not always clear. While barriers to sufficient water are myriad, one significant factor contributing to insufficient and unpredictable access to water is the high percentage of broken water pumps. Previous studies have reported that between 20 and 50 % of all hand operated water pumps installed on the African continent are broken, or out of use. Monitoring and maintenance of pumps, which in South Africa is the responsibility of local municipalities is often ineffective, in part due to the distances between municipal centres and rural communities and the consequent costs of site visits, as well as breakdowns within the local bureaucratic system. The emergence of new telemetry tools that can remotely monitor water applications constitutes a novel and cost-efficient alternative to undertaking regular sites visits. Sustainable, appropriate, low-cost telemetry systems are emerging that could be used to monitor the operational performance of water pumps, or a wide range of other field parameters, and to communicate this information swiftly and cheaply to water service providers, using SMS messages. Data on the performance of water pumps could also be made available to the public online. This is an example of how ICT can be used for water resources management and environmental regulation, as well as in the governance of socio-economic rights: helping to optimize water allocation by improving communication and strengthening accountability.     

Infants' Selective Attention to Reliable Visual Cues in the Presence of Salient Distractors

With many features competing for attention in their visual environment, infants must learn to deploy attention toward informative cues while ignoring distractions. Three eye tracking experiments were conducted to investigate whether 6‐ and 8‐month‐olds (total N = 102) would shift attention away from a distractor stimulus to learn a cue–reward relation. While 8‐month‐olds showed evidence of increasingly selective attention toward the predictive cues, even when the distractors were highly salient, 6‐month‐olds shifted attention toward the predictive cues only when the distractors were equally (not more) engaging. These experiments suggest that attention in infancy is highly dependent on the relative weightings of predictiveness and visual salience, which may differ across development and context.