Assessment in Software Development for Competitive Environments: An AI Strategy Development Case Study

Competitions are being widely used to motivate students in diverse learning processes, including those in computer programming. This paper presents a methodology for designing and assessing competitive learning scenarios that allow students to develop three different coding skills: the ability to compete against unknown competitors, the ability to compete against known competitors and the ability to compete against refined versions of known competitors. The proposal is based on peer code review, implemented as an improvement cycle after the dissemination of the code among participants. A case study evaluating the methodology was conducted with two cohorts of students in an undergraduate course. The analysis of the obtained grades suggests that while performance after our assistance was improved, students could still fail or succeed independently of the assistance. Complementary data from student questionnaires and supervisor observations are aligned with this finding. As a conclusion, the evidence supports the validity of the methodology. Additionally, several guidelines based on the experience are provided to transfer the proposal to other environments.This research was funded by Spanish National Research Agency (AEI), through the project VISAIGLE (TIN2017-85797-R) with ERDF funds

"Integrity and the corruption debate in sport: where is the integrity?

Research question: The paper is based on the contention that ‘integrity’ is a significantly under-theorised and under-conceptualised value within sports particularly in its use by a range of organisations fighting corruption in sport, which constitute what can be termed the ‘sports integrity industry’. The ‘sports integrity industry’ reveals: different narratives about integrity amongst the different groups; a lack of integration between the different views of integrity in sport; and the danger of imposing a corporate model of (behavioural-based) integrity. Research methods: The approach adopted in the research is two-fold. Initially, a brief examination will be made of the use of the term integrity by a range of bodies within Europe and wider internationally as part of the sports integrity industry. This identifies different level of depth and sophistication of the meanings given to the term. The second part of the paper clears the conceptual ground, examining the different philosophical and psychological views of integrity. Results and findings: This analysis will distinguish moral and behavioural integrity and examine the theoretical basis for the different understandings of integrity that have been developed in literature around business and public sector activities. The paper concludes that as far as effective engagement with corruption, sport needs to look beyond its own experience and be conscious of the wider debate concerning integrity. Implications: There is an urgent need for the development of the concept and practice of integrity and effective governance in sport that recognises the inherent integrity of sport itself; personal integrity; organisational integrity and procedural integrity in sports events

The Origins, Governance and Social Structure of Club Cross Country Running in Scotland, 1885 – 1914

The study examines a particular aspect of the development of athletics in Scotland. The first organised clubs for the sole purpose of purely athletic competition in the contemporary sense, were cross country clubs known as harrier clubs. Through investigation of the origins, governance and the social structure of harriers clubs, the study connects these three fundamental themes in understanding sport within broader social historical study. In this study the origins of cross country running are set within a theoretical framework which recognises the nature of the urban and rural environments which defined the sport. The sport’s early growth and governance in Scotland is set alongside the broader ideological position of the ‘amateur’. Additionally, club organisation promoted the clubs as cultural institutions. Clubs served as a focus for male sociability and elevated the status of membership of the harriers. Membership meant more than just sporting engagement; it included social and civic standing. The purpose and function therefore of early clubs extended beyond participation. This study demonstrates how membership of cross country clubs conferred upon its members a status, establishing harriers clubs as important social institutions. This research shows how social networks within sport replicated society more broadly. The significance of the contribution of cross country clubs to the development of Scottish sporting culture is therefore implicit. Harriers clubs were the epitome of the complexity of sporting engagement representing both respectability and liminal behaviour

Global Media Sport

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. How has globalization impacted on sports media? What are the economic ramifications? And what is the future of sports media? In order to answer these questions, this book investigates the constituents, dimensions and implications of the flows of media sport from the Global West to the Global East, and in the reverse direction. At an historical moment when the relative stability of the Western media sport order is under challenge, it analyses a range of key structures, practices and issues whose ramifications extend far beyond the fields of play and national contexts in which sport events take place. The book will appraise and analyse the state of sports television, rise of new sports media, emergence of hybrid sport cultural forms, eruption of sport-related political controversies, scandals and power struggles, mutations of forms of global sport fandom, and projections of the future of global media sport. In bringing together the latest research from across a number of disciplines, this book offers an exciting contribution to the emerging field of global sports media

Ethics, Nanotechnology and Elite Sport - The Need For A Precautionary Approach

Elite sport is a competitive industry, with athletes continuously striving for innovative ways to gain advantages over their competitors. The increasing impact of sport sciences over recent decades has contributed much to this ethos, and has recently been witnessed in the application of sports engineering, working to integrate new technologies in order to enhance levels of athletic performance and also athlete safety. The application of nanotechnology offers a sport engineer the potential to improve equipment used both in and out of competition. Nevertheless, despite its emerging integration into sports sciences, limited attention has been paid to the ethical impacts this technology may have on elite sport. To address this problem, an eclectic normative approach is pursued, allowing for the range of nanotechnological application to elite sport to be considered, in order to generate critical ethical evaluations in relation to its current and potential use within elite sport. The issues were framed variously through consequentialist and deontological analysis. Three nanotechnological case studies are presented, highlighting potential benefits and disbenefits that nanotechnology may present, and to additionally determine whether, and if so, what, deontologically framed regulatory action were required to govern its use within elite sport. The first case study considered nanotechnology's application to the sport of road cycling; the second considered nanotechnology's application to performance analysis; and the third considered nanotechnology's application to horse race betting. The analysis of the case studies revealed that nanotechnology presents a number of benefits for elite sport, such as improved levels of performance and enhanced safety; but also disbenefits, such as those relating to fairness and corruption. Despite this, it is argued that, at present, nanotechnology does not pose a significant risk to the integrity of sport. But in order to reduce any future risk, the disbenefits should be addressed. A case is consequently argued for the application of a weak version of the Precautionary Principle applied through an original ethical analytical tool, in order to govern the initial integration phase of nanotechnology. The work concludes by outlining more specific regulatory actions that could be taken in order to inform the development of a 'nano' specific regulatory framework, in order to govern nanotechnology's continued long term safe and ethical use within elite sport

Online User Feedback in Early Phases of the Design Process: Lessons Learnt from Four Design Cases

Online user feedback, collected by means of internet survey tools, is a promising approach to obtain early user feedback on concepts and early prototypes. In this study, the collection and utilization of online user feedback was investigated in four design cases: all master student projects for industry clients involving seven student designers. A total of 272 user participants provided quantitative feedback. Half of these also provided qualitative feedback. One third of the qualitative feedback was perceived as useful by the student designers. The main usefulness of the feedback was related to strategic concept decisions rather than the interaction design of the early prototype. Lessons learnt are provided