Developing Online Learning Materials for Higher Education: An Overview of Current Issues

The changing roles and challenges for higher education and the increased productivity required of faculty are driving forces for the development of more diverse and efficient teaching methods. Educational trends are toward more learner-centered materials. In response to these trends, colleges and universities are now offering courses at a distance and in forms other than traditional delivery. Online courseware materials may be a viable means of fulfilling these numerous requirements but are very resource-intensive to develop. Multiple approaches to developing online learning have been tried, with limited success. The primary approach has been for faculty to enter their own course materials into the computer. To maximize university resources, the most effective approach for developing online learning materials must be determined and institutionalized. While faculty are the most logical persons to provide course content and design, faculty should not be expected to complete the technical tasks associated with developing online learning materials

INTELLIGENCE AND HIGHER STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY

When William James (1890) introduced the concept of consciousness into American psychology, he argued that beyond the range of normal waking consciousness there is the possibility of exceptional states of consciousness that are completely "discontinuous" with discursive thought. He argued that these heightened states of awareness could be induced under specifiable conditions, could influence thought and behavior profoundly, and could be adaptive for the individual. He challenged psychology to investigate these states scientifically

Temperature acclimatisation of swimming performance in the European Queen Scallop

The phenotypic plasticity of muscle performance and locomotory physiology allows the maintenance of essential activity capacity in the face of environmental change, and has been demonstrated in a wide phylogenetic range of eurythermal vertebrates. This study used the scallop, Aequipecten opercularis, as a model eurythermal invertebrate. Animals caught in different seasons demonstrated marked differences in their swimming performance and the relationship between, temperature and performance. When stimulated to swim at natural ranges of temperature, Winter (cold acclimatised), animals accelerated faster than autumn collected animals swimming at the same temperature (x 2 at 11degreesC) and attained higher velocities during jetting. The effects of acclimatisation were confined to the jetting phase and may be a mechanism for the maintenance of acceleration during predator-prey interactions. This is the first demonstration of the thermal acclimatisation of muscle performance in a mollusc and one of very few studies in invertebrates