An Exploratory Study of Cyberbullying with Undergraduate University Students

Understanding the covert events surrounding the undergraduate students’ experience is essential to educators’ and counselors’ involvement in their success. Research into bullying behaviors has documented victims’ feelings of anger, sadness and poor concentration. Affordable technologies have propagated this concern into cyberspace. This exploratory study evaluated the instances of cyberbullying experienced by undergraduate students. Additionally, the forms of technology utilized in cyberbullying were queried. A 27-item survey was distributed to 120 undergraduate students in social science, technology and education departments. The majority of all respondents (54%) and 100% of male respondents indicated they knew someone who had been cyberbullied. The perpetrators primarily used cell phones, Facebook and instant messaging. The study results provide legitimate concerns regarding the undergraduate students’ exposure to cyberbullying and numerous areas for future research.     

The Effectiveness of Coursework and Onsite Coaching at Improving the Quality of Care in Infant–Toddler Settings

Research Findings: This study evaluated the effectiveness of 2 professional development interventions aimed at improving the quality of care provided by caregivers in ordinary infant–toddler child care settings, both center- and home-based. In all, 183 participants in a community college course on infant–toddler theory and practice, an in-service community model of a 48-hr course plus various levels of 1-on-1 coaching (participants were randomly assigned to 0, 5, or 15 hr), or a no-intervention comparison group were compared on their changes across 3 time points in their job-related self-efficacy, their knowledge of best practices, and the quality of their interactions with children as assessed by objective observers. Results indicated that the group with the most intensive intervention (course plus 15 hr of coaching) displayed the most consistent pattern of improvements, which met multiple analytical criteria for substantiveness. Furthermore, these findings were most apparent in the quality of interactions outcomes, and these were further still concentrated in the area of support for language and learning, the domain that showed the greatest need for improvement in infant–toddler caregivers in this sample as well as in previous research. Practice or Policy: Implications of the study results for systemic improvements to infant–toddler care are discussed, such as the importance of individual-level professional development, minimum dosage of coaching, and in-service supports to prevent declines in the quality of teacher–child interactions.     

Evaluating sustainability education: lessons from international development experience

Since the mid 1970s, a series of international declarations that recognize the critical link between environmental sustainability and higher education have been endorsed and signed by universities around the world. While academic initiatives in sustainability are blossoming, higher education lacks a comprehensive evaluation framework that is specifically tailored to the challenges of assessing sustainability programs. The article elaborates a novel framework for assessing the diverse set of higher-education curricular, research, and community-outreach programs devoted to sustainability based on critical review of quantitative- and qualitative-evaluation methods and on lessons drawn from experience in international development. The proposed multidimensional evaluation framework links process, outputs, outcomes, impacts, and continuous programmatic improvement based on sustained, contextually relevant observations. It engages three core purposes: management evaluation, capacity- and capability-development evaluation, and sustainability evaluation. Embedded in these purposes are key evaluation criteria adapted from an assessment of UNDP contributions to national development: long-term outcomes and impacts; evidence of cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional synergy; and resource mobilization for program enhancement. Along with practical examples of evaluation approaches used by universities in Europe, Japan, and the United States and the lessons that academic sustainability evaluators can draw from these practices, competencies required of graduates from sustainability programs are identified. The specific evaluative questions and methods presented offer universities a useful, conceptually grounded framework for adaptation and application in academic-sustainability assessments.     

Donors and higher education partners: a critical assessment of US and Canadian support for transnational research and sustainable development

Linking key policy themes of interest in the published literature on development studies and comparative education, the article initially explores the potential benefits and risks of partnering transnationally for contextually informed research and sustainable development from the perspective of Southern and Northern higher education institutions. Higher education partnerships recently supported by the development-assistance agencies of Canada and the United States are compared and critically assessed according to the internationally relevant themes of external and internal funding, the involvement of additional partners and funders, and project duration. Comparative analysis of datasets compiled from AUCC- and HED-managed sources that encompass 74 CIDA-supported and 186 USAID-supported university partnerships active during 2007–2009 shows that CIDA awards tend to be substantially larger in amount and longer in duration than most USAID awards and that participating universities have contributed impressive cost-share resources. The concluding section draws out wider implications of study findings for North–South higher education partnerships with sustainable-development objectives and for the literature on the possibilities and limitations they embody.     

Mental Health Provision in Northern Canada: Practitioners’ Views on Negotiations and Opportunities in Remote Practice

The focus of this article is on the final expanded qualitative findings and meta-analysis of a northern Canada study involving a four-phase, 3-year research design. The qualitative findings from interviews with twenty informal and formal mental health practitioners focus on the broader themes found within the meta-analysis in an attempt to answer a recent call for more proactive literature emphasizing opportunities for counselling and mental health support. The results explored included helping professional and paraprofessional development within remote settings, visions for the provision of community supports to assist them in providing services, and components of a conceptual model of mental health practice in the Canadian North.     

The relationships of trait verbal aggressiveness and frequency of viewing and enjoyment of television sitcoms

Verbal aggressiveness is the tendency to attack the self‐concept of another person with the intent to inflict psychological pain (Infante & Wigley, 1986). This study focused on how low and high verbally aggressives differ in the television sitcoms they watch and how enjoyable they find those shows. Participants (N = 555) first completed the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale. Then they were asked how often they watch particular television sitcoms and if they watched a given sitcom, how entertaining they found that show to be. The sitcoms included in this study were those that were televised in April 1996. Of the 33 shows included in the analyses, low verbal aggressives differed from high verbal aggressives on 8 shows for frequency of watching and on 11 shows for entertainment value.     

Childbirth education outcomes: an integrative review of the literature

The purpose of this literature review was to identify and describe recent empirical studies of childbirth education outcomes and to identify areas for further study. The search produced 63 studies; only 12 met the inclusion criteria. The literature demonstrated inconclusive evidence regarding the effectiveness of childbirth education. None of the studies used a theoretical framework that proposed multiple factors, as opposed to childbirth education alone, that impact the outcomes. Health-focused versus illness-focused outcomes were also addressed.