Computerized Agility Training Improves Change-of-Direction and Balance Performance Independently of Footwear in Young Adults

Understanding the effects of training in different footwear on sporting performance would be useful to coaches and athletes. Purpose: This study compared the effects of computerized agility training using 3 types of footwear on change-of-direction and balance performance in young adults. Method: Thirty recreationally active young adults (M_age = 22.8 ± 3.1 years; M_height = 1.71 ± 0.7 m; M_bodymass = 73.4 ± 10.3 kg) were randomly assigned to a 6-week computerized agility training intervention in 1 of 3 footwear groups (n = 10/group): barefoot, minimal footwear, or traditional shoes. Participants had no previous barefoot or minimal-footwear training experience. Dependent variables included change-of-direction test time to completion, Star Excursion Balance Test, and single-leg stability evaluation. Testing was performed at the start of the training program, after 2 weeks, after 4 weeks, and at the end of the training program. Results: No group or time interactions were found for any of the dependent variables. Time main effects were observed for the performance measures of change of direction, Star Excursion, and single-leg-with-eyes-open stability evaluation. Participants improved in all 3 tests as early as 2 weeks into the intervention, with improvements continuing through the entire 6-week intervention. Conclusions: The lack of interaction and footwear effects suggests that agility and balance improvements during foot agility training are independent of footwear in a recreationally active young-adult population. Computerized agility training improves change-of-direction and balance performance within 2 weeks of training implementation. Future studies should consider footwear training effects in different populations, including frail older adults and athletes.     

Neoliberalism,global poverty policy and early childhood education and care: a critique of local uptake in England

The global rise of a neoliberal ‘new politics of parenting’ discursively constructs parents in poverty as the reason for, and remedy to, child poverty. This allows for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) to become a key policy lever by using human technologies to intervene in and regulate the lives of parents and children in poverty. The article explores the uptake of this policy locally through interviews with 30 ECEC practitioners in three locations across England. The interviews suggested that the neoliberal discursive formation of child poverty as a problem of the poor themselves had symbolic power and was a view shared by most of the interviewees. This appeared to restrict their thinking and action, shaping a limited engagement with parents in poverty. Delivering curricular requirements was seen to further delimit practitioners’ practices with children in poverty by reducing their poverty sensitivity. Although this is a small study, its findings may be of value in questioning neoliberal logics, and their implications are considered critically.     

Perceived Utility of Methods and Instructional Strategies Used in Online and Face-to-face Teaching Environments

The purposes of this study were to compare the instructional methods and strategies identified as useful in online teaching environments with those used in a face-to-face teaching environment, to investigate relationships between the perceived usefulness of instructional strategies and methods used by higher education faculty in both teaching environments, and to identify instructional methods transferred from an online to a face-to-face teaching environment. The following instructional methods were found to have a significant relationship with the instructional environment: student collaborative projects, student-to-student electronic discussions, lecture (direct instruction), questioning and feedback to students, and e-mail communication with the instructor. Both authors are at Drake University. Peggy Steinbronn. Ed.D., Drake University, is the Instructional Technology Manager. Special interests include technology integration, faculty professional development, and online instruction. Eunice Merideth, Ph.D., Iowa State University, is the Associate Dean of the Drake School of Education. Her special interests include technology integration, social justice, and distance learning. Contact the authors at peggy.steinbronn@drake.edu and eunice.merideth@drake.edu     

How do teachers help children to learn? An analysis of teachers' interventions in computer-based activities

In British schools, educational software is normally used by children working under the supervision of a teacher, who will have set them specific tasks and organize them to work at the computer in pairs or groups. However, those theories of learning which have most influenced research into the design and use of educational software have been essentially concerned with individualized learning, and are insensitive to the nature of teaching and learning as a communicative, culturally-based process. The present paper discusses an alternative theoretical perspective, one derived from the work of Vygotsky. This is used in an analysis of interventions made by teachers in the computer-based activities of their pupils, using observational data gained from video-recordings of primary school classrooms. The usefulness of the theoretical perspective is evaluated, and implications for the development of computer-based activities are discussed.     

An Investigation into the Dimensionality of TOEFL Using Conditional Covariance-Based Nonparametric Approach

This article reports two studies to illustrate methodologies for conducting a conditional covariance-based nonparametric dimensionality assessment using data from two forms of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Study 1 illustrates how to assess overall dimensionality of the TOEFL including all three subtests. Study 2 is aimed at illustrating how to conduct dimensionality analyses for a testlet-based test by focusing on the Reading Comprehension (RC) section in combination with item content analyses and hypothesis testing. The results of Study 1 indicated that both TOEFL forms involve two dominant dimensions corresponding to the Listening Comprehension section and the combination of the Reading Comprehension section and Structure and Written Expression section. The extensive RC analyses from Study 2 revealed strong evidence that a significant amount of the RC multidimensionality came from testlet effects. Confirmatory analyses coupled with exploratory cluster analyses and substantive item content analyses further identified dimensionality structure having to do with reading subskills.     

Self-modeling as an intervention to increase student classroom participation

The effect of self-modeling as an intervention to increase individual participatory behavior in the classroom was investigated using a multiple baseline design across three second grade students with a follow-up. In addition, a control student was employed to further investigate the effects of the intervention. Self-modeling is defined as the positive change in behavior resulting from spaced viewing of oneself on edited tapes depicting exemplary behavior. Students viewed edited videotapes of themselves successfully volunteering to participate in class by raising their hand. The three students, during baseline, had a mean participation rate ranging between 8% and 24% compared with the control student's rate ranging between 53% and 63%. During intervention, the mean participation rate ranged between 28% and 60% compared with the control student's rate ranging between 43% and 46%. At follow-up, students had a mean percentage rate ranging between 44% and 64% compared with the control student's rate of 53%. Thus, they more closely approximated or surpassed the control student's mean rate of participation during intervention and follow-up, suggesting that the self-modeling intervention was effective in increasing individual participatory behavior in the classroom. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.