Geodesign meets curriculum design: integrating geodesign approaches into undergraduate programs

The recent emergence of geodesign elicits broad questions about what to teach our students, and how to teach it. Geodesign bridges the geospatial sciences and geographical information system (GIS)-related techniques with the design professions to inform better land-use decisions. With its emphasis on real-world applications, information technologies, and cross-disciplinary problem-solving, geodesign lends itself to a variety of experiential, active learning strategies collectively known as learner-centered education (LCE). This paper explores how LCE, outcomes assessment, and curriculum design can together support geodesign-oriented undergraduate programs. Looking specifically at a new degree program at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, the authors view geodesign education as a platform for promoting learner-centered approaches that at once transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries and are becoming increasingly important for employment opportunities. The example discussed herein illustrates how promising practices in curriculum design and LCE can inform geodesign education, thereby enabling other faculties to discover their own educational opportunities in geodesign.     

Canada's Medicare--At the crossroads?

Canadians' support for the underlying values and structures of medicare still remains extremely high, according to all recent public opinion studies. However, their confidence is being tested by the persistent advocacy that increased private-for-profit payment and delivery be introduced in order to guarantee medicare's future sustainability. Patience is further being challenged as the public eagerly awaits (but does not yet sees) productive reforms actually being implemented into the system. Delay erodes public support. Alternative "solutions" gain currency. Thus, the public-private debate must be engaged fully and emerge from the shadows of public policy so that Canadians can determine its efficacy and its compatibility with our society's values. Therefore, the long overdue reforms also need to be advanced. One of the most urgent reforms to medicare should address mental health needs and concerns, which I have described as being "an orphan of medicare." An essential first step would be to construct a basic platform of care and research on issues of mental health. This platform would provide necessary, immediate services for those in need and, at another level, would provide the impetus for further solutions to the wide-ranging needs in this field. Overall, the snail's pace of reforms has caused many Canadians to speculate that the future of medicare is at the crossroads on mental health policies and other issues, like accountability, quality, adequate reporting and health outcomes. The time to act is now. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Group psychotherapy focusing on self-concept change following acquired brain injury: A pilot investigation.

Objective: The current study explored the effectiveness of a group therapy intervention that was focused specifically on self-concept changes following acquired brain injury (ABI). Method: Eighteen individuals in the postacute phase of recovery underwent a 6-week group therapy intervention and were administered a self-concept measure before and after the intervention. Results: Group members showed a significant increase (improvement) in self-concept ratings at the end of the group intervention. Conclusions: Although the results of this study suggest that this intervention may be helpful in improving self-concept following ABI, further exploration is clearly warranted. Future research is needed to investigate the impact of self-concept on emotional adjustment, participation in rehabilitation activities, and functional outcome. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does solitary substance use increase adolescents' risk for poor psychosocial and behavioral outcomes? A 9-year longitudinal study comparing solitary and social users.

This longitudinal study compared Grade 8 solitary cigarette smokers (n = 541), drinkers (n = 577), and marijuana users (n = 148) with adolescents who restricted their use of these substances to social settings (ns = 562, 1,426, and 388, respectively) on adolescent functioning and young adult outcomes. In Grade 8, solitary users held more positive beliefs about the consequences of substance use, earned poorer grades, engaged in more deviant behavior, and devoted less time to school and more time to social activities. By age 23, these solitary users had lower educational attainment, poorer self-rated health, and greater substance use problems. Results indicate the importance of better understanding and addressing the needs of this understudied group of high-risk youth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The use of background and ability profiles to predict college student outcomes.

To determine whether profiles of predictor variables provide incremental prediction of college student outcomes, the authors 1st applied an empirical clustering method to profiles based on the scores of 2,771 entering college students on a battery of biographical data and situational judgment measures, along with SAT and American College Test scores and high school grade point average, which resulted in 5 student groups. Performance of the students in these clusters was meaningfully different on a set of external variables, including college grade point average, self-rated performance, class absenteeism, organizational citizenship behavior, intent to quit their university, and satisfaction with college. The 14 variables in the profile were all significantly correlated with 1 or more of the outcome measures; however, nonlinear prediction of these outcomes on the basis of cluster membership did not add incrementally to a linear-regression-based combination of these 14 variables as predictors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectancy, homework compliance, and initial change in cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxiety.

Belief in one's ability to change is an important cognitive variable related to treatment gains. This study investigated pretreatment expectancy for anxiety change and early homework compliance in relation to initial and total cognitive change in group cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety. Participants, who met diagnostic criteria for at least 1 anxiety disorder, completed 10 sessions of group CBT. Early homework compliance mediated the relationship between expectancy for anxiety change at baseline and initial change in CBT. In addition, initial cognitive symptom improvement mediated the relationship between homework compliance and posttreatment outcome. These results suggest that expectancy for change is an important cognitive variable that may provide the initial impetus and subsequent momentum for therapeutic involvement and gains. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Investigating e-learning system usage outcomes in the university context

This paper investigates the outcomes of e-learning systems adoption and use by conceptualizing three e-learning systems adoption outcome constructs namely perceived learning assistance, perceived community building assistance and perceived academic performance. Utilizing these constructs, the paper proposes a research model for assessing the possible outcomes of e-learning systems adoption and use. The study collected longitudinal survey data from 249 university students participating in hybrid courses using a popular learning management system, Moodle. Partial least squares (PLS) approach was then used to test the research model.The findings suggest that beliefs about perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, and how an e-learning system is used influence students' perceived learning assistance and perceived community building assistance. In turn, perceived learning assistance and perceived community building assistance influence the students' perceived academic performance.     

Is social capital effective for online learning?

The popularity of online social networking has heightened academic interest in social capital. However, few studies have investigated the role of social capital in online learning. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of data from online MIS classes, we find that online learning facilitates social capital formation mostly in terms of the dimensions of community, trust, collective action and cooperation, communication, and sociability and inclusion, depending on the media-based human interaction forms of online learning employed. Structural equation modeling confirms a causal effect of social capital on student satisfaction. Social capital is also found to positively affect learning outcomes as measured by students’ group project scores but not class scores. The study's contribution to the literature and practice are discussed.     

Why people benefit from e-learning differently: The effects of psychological processes on e-learning outcomes

Using social cognitive theory, we opened up the black box of psychological processes in which e-learners engage. We believed that prior experience with ICT and virtual competence were two influential factors that affected e-learning and had a positive influence on its outcomes. We tested our hypotheses on a sample of 383 Chinese students participating in online courses. Our findings confirmed the effect of virtual competence and revealed a nuanced mechanism by which experiences with ICT affected e-learning outcomes. We discussed the implications of this in e-learning practice.