A knock to the system: A new sociotechnical systems approach to sport-related concussion

Broader contextual factors that influence concussion management have tended to be overlooked. To address this, the present study used a sociotechnical systems approach to identify perceived responsibilities and applied strategies for three domains of concussion management (i.e., prevention, identification and treatment). Participants were 118 members of the community rugby union system in Australia (69.2% male). Participants from throughout the rugby system (e.g., players, parents, coaches, club management) were asked open-ended questions about their perceived responsibilities and the strategies they use for concussion management. It was found that (a) proper training, technique correction and education were recurrent prevention themes; (b) the majority of key stakeholders felt that they could consistently identify concussion; however, medical aids (medics) were the only system actors who stated a responsibility to use standardised concussion assessment measures and (c) less than one third of the respondents indicated their involvement in treating concussion. This study identifies specific junctures in the system that prevents effective concussion management strategies. A sociotechnical systems approach improves the understanding of concussion prevention, and management beliefs and behaviours.     

Interactions entre Pairs et Constructions Cognitives: Des Travaux Expérimentaux de Laboratoire au Terrain Pédagogique

European Journal of Psychology of Education -     

The Business Café Project: viewing to browsing?

This paper describes and discusses critically a unique experiment in using a combination of broadcast television and an interactive Web site to reach people interested in business and management. The Open University's Business School, in collaboration with the BBC mounted the project, called The Business Café . The paper outlines the contents of the nine broadcasts and the site, which changed weekly. Developing the broadcasts and maintaining the site required complex procedures and teamwork. The broadcasts attracted an audience of 300,000 UK viewers and the Web site recorded over 60,000 visits during the series. The stakeholders and others who offered much constructive criticism, identified more project outcomes during an evaluation. Useful lessons emerged, in particular about cross-team working and about learning from asynchronous networks like the Web. Web site: http://www.open.ac.uk/businesscafe     

Processing of identity and conditional relations in monkeys (Cebus apella) and pigeons (Columba livid)

Learning & Behavior - As a test of differential processing of identity and conditional relations, subjects were first highly trained on 0-sec delay identity matching (IM) and conditional...     

Social routines,pragmatic schemas,and schemes in how children distribute objects between the ages of three and six

Past research on social marking and pragmatic reasoning schemas suggest that cognitive processing modes are first elaborated by children when are carying out regulating social routines in the course of which they learn to produce the responses that satisfy the demand of their environment. The data of five experimental studies with 3–6 year old children, for object distribution tasks, are reported here. The data of the three first experiments show that the social routines evoked by the objects to be processed have a dual effect, influencing both the representation of the partition to be made, as well as the procedures used to make them. The data of the two last experiments seems to attest that, in training situations, the utilization of routine-evoking tasks promotes the construction of more general schemas, by the attribution of an operative meaning to the linguistic expressions used to characterize the states to be attained, and the transformations to be applied in order to attain them.     

A Review of “RDA Vocabularies for a Twenty-First-Century Data Environment”

Automation and economic cutbacks are forcing many large libraries to alter traditional organizational structures. This paper describes the reorganization of technical and public service activities in the University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign. The decentralization of original cataloging functions is examined, particularly as implemented in the Education and Social Science Library (ESSL), and the effect on management of original cataloging activities and cataloging norms is discussed.     

Resources In Review

Abstract

The RFF Reader in Environmental Science and Resource Management , edited by Wallace E. Oates. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future. 1999. Paperback. $22.95. ISBN 0-915707-96-9.

Science through Multiple Intelligences: Patterns that Inspire Inquiry , by Robert Barkman. Tucson, AZ: Zephyr Press, Inc. 1999. Paperback. 165 pages. $39.00. ISBN 1-56976-096-9.

Earth Report 2000: Revisiting the True State of the Planet , edited by Ronald Bailey. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2000. Paperback. 362 pages. $19.95. ISBN 0-07-134260-5.

Hard Green: Saving the Environment from the Environmentalists (A Conservative Manifesto) , by Peter Huber. New York: Basic Books. 1999. Hardcover. $25.00. ISBN 0-468-03112-9.

Song of the Meadowlark , by James Eggert. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press. 1999. Paperback. 145 pages. $12.95. ISBN 1-58008-034-0.

The Greening of Planet Earth: The Effects of Carbon Dioxide on the Biosphere , Greening Earth Society, 4301 Wilson Blvd., Suite 805, Arlington, VA 22203-4193; tel. 703-907-6168; fax 703-907-6161; info@greeningearthsociety.org. 1992. Color. 27 min 50 s. $15.00.

The Greening of Planet Earth Continues: The Promise for the 21st Century & Beyond , Greening Earth Society. 1998. Color. 27 min 30 s. $15.00 (or both for $25.00).

Nature's Nation: An Environmental History of the United States , by John Opie. New York: Harcourt Brace and Company. 1998. Paperback. 515 pages. ISBN 0-15-500219-8.

Visions of Paradise: Glimpses of Our Landscape's Legacy , by John Warfield Simpson. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1999. Clothbound. 387 pages. $35.00. ISBN 0-520-21364-5.

Beyond the Land Ethic: More Essays in Environmental Philosophy , by J. Baird Callicott. Albany: State University of New York Press. 1999. Paperback. 427 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-7914-4084-2.

The Morning After Earth Day , by Mary Graham. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. 1999. Hardcover, 153 pages. ISBN 0-8157-3236-8.

Natural Resource Management and Institutional Change , by Diana Carney and John Farrington. New York: Routledge. 1998. Hardback. 120 pages. $60.00. ISBN 0-415-18604-8.

Green Ink: An Introduction to Environmental Journalism , by Michael Frome. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. 1998. Paperback. 204 pages. $19.95. ISBN 0-87480-582-1.     

Professional development for online university teaching

Almost every higher education institution is challenged to develop increasing numbers of staff to teach online or blended modes of learning. The process needs to be rapid, cost-effective and lead directly to practical outcomes. From our experience, we had little time, opportunity or the need to start from scratch, and we chose to adopt and adapt a course that was based on a well-rehearsed and respected pedagogical model. We offer our experience to date as a case study with some extracted principles for others to explore and follow. We discuss the value of contextualization, incremental innovation, and mentoring of online convenors. This article will be of interest to those seeking to provide effective professional development routes for large numbers of staff.