An investigation into the impact of coaching strategies with respect to physical and performance characteristics of male youth of varying biological maturation

This thesis will be presented as two standalone experimental chapters which will culminate in a thesis discussion linking the two papers under the overarching concept of maturation in male youth. Chapter 2 is currently under review in ‘Cogent Medicine’, and the intention of Chapter 2 is to identify physical, injury and performance-based differences between maturational groups within a general school-based population of 8 youth. These observed differences within Chapter 2 will then inform the methodology and coaching strategies utilised within Chapter 3, which will investigate the effectiveness of various coaching methods in order to maximise adaptation, motor ability and injury prevention within each maturational group. The outcome of this thesis hopes to inform practitioners as to how they can best implement their training programmes to maximise learning and adaptation across a range of biological maturation levels. Rather than just knowing when training should occur which has been investigated previously, it is hoped this thesis will provide insight into how coaching should occur to maximise learning within this diverse adolescent population. Due to the layout of this thesis with the individual papers, there is an element of content repetition throughout Chapters 1,2,3 and 4 which needs to be acknowledged, although the various contexts provides uniqueness throughout

Using a Cloud Based Collaboration Technology in a Systems Analysis and Design Course

In order to effectively prepare the next generation of IT professionals and systems analysts, it is important to incorporate cloud based online collaboration tools into the coursework for developing the students' cooperative skills as well as for storing and sharing content. For these pedagogical and practical reasons, Google Drive has been used at a medium-sized institution of higher education in New Zealand during the Systems Analysis and Design course. Ongoing and successful use of any learning technology requires gathering meaningful feedback from students, and acting as a mentor during their learning journey. This study has been developed and implemented to help students enjoy the collaborative technology and to help increase their satisfaction and commitment. In order to overcome the obstacles that may prevent students from using Google Drive optimally, an initial survey has been conducted to better understand the influential factors and issues. Furthermore, this study aims at promoting various types of collaboration and sharing: seeing and learning from other students' work, receiving direct suggestions from others, and allowing others to edit documents that belong to them. Following the results of the first quantitative survey, numerous teaching strategies were formulated and implemented. A final qualitative survey was done at the end of the course for students to evaluate their project work. The results of this study also provide original practical and theoretical implications that may be of interest to other researchers, course designers, and teachers

Real-time adaptive track generation in racing games

Real-time Adaptive Track Generation in Racing Game

Kako učitelji-trenerji vplivajo na pomembne spremembe v vedenju športnih trenerjev?

This article provides an overview of how coach educators influence meaningful behavior change in sports coaches. Drawing upon the extant research, we outline gaps in the literature before reviewing key factors that influence behavior change in sport coaches. The framework for this article provides examples of five specific hypotheses, including: H1: Ensure coach education programs are structured and sequenced; H2: Coach characteristics drive behaviors: H3: Behavior change is more likely to occur when coaches understand the impact of their behavior: H4: The learning environment must align with needs of coaches; and H5: Delivering and receiving feedback appropriately informs coach education practice. We include evidence of how an experienced coach educator influences meaningful behavior change in sports coaches. We conclude with recommendations for sport coach development programs and future researchers.//Prispevek obsega pregled, kako učitelji-trenerji vplivajo na pomembne spremembe v vedenju športnih trenerjev. Na podlagi obstoječih raziskav smo prikazali vrzeli v literaturi, nato pa smo pregledali glavne dejavnike, ki vplivajo na spremembo vedenja športnih trenerjev. Okvir tega prispevka so primeri petih specifičnih hipotez, in sicer H1: zagotovitev, da so programi izobraževanja trenerjev strukturirani in izvedeni zaporedno; H2: značilnosti trenerjev pogojujejo njihovo vedenje; H3: sprememba vedenja se bolj verjetno pojavi, kadar trenerji razumejo vpliv svojega vedenja; H4: učno okolje je treba uskladiti s potrebami trenerjev in H5: ustrezno dajanje in prejemanje povratnih informacij izpopolnjuje prakso izobraževanja trenerjev. Predstavljamo tudi dokaze, kako izkušen učitelj-trener vpliva na pomembne spremembe vedenja športnih trenerjev. Prispevek se zaključi s priporočili za programe razvoja športnih trenerjev in bodočih raziskovalcev

Persuasive design of a mobile energy conservation game with direct feedback and social cues

Pervasive gaming has the potential of transforming the home into a persuasive environment in which the user can learn about appliances and their electricity consumption. Power Explorer is a mobile game with a special sensing approach that provides real-time electricity measurements and feedback when the user switches on and off devices in the home. The game was developed based on persuasive principles to provide an engaging means to learn about energy with positive and negative feedback and social feedback from peers on real energy actions in the home. We present the design and rationale of this game and discuss how pervasive games can be viewed from a persuasive and learning point of view

Online learning and fun with databases

In this paper, we explore how online learning can support face-to-face teaching in fundamental database theory and the contributions it can make towards motivating and enhancing the student learning experience. We show how we have used WebCT for a third level database module and present student feedback to our approach. While online participation is high overall, motivation for self-learning is increased by the use of self-assessment exercises and summative assessment was also considered to be more fun online than using paper based equivalents. Evidence exists to link greater online participation of course materials to improved performance. We complement our feedback by presenting and discussing a number of software tools which help students practice important methods in database systems, including SQL. After evaluating these against known methods for improving student motivation, we suggest ideas for further development of more game-like learning tools