title: Evaluating an online learning community: Intellectual, social and emotional development and transformations

authors: Khoo, Elaine G.L.

subjects: Online teaching

abstract: Developing online learning communities is a promising pedagogical approach in online learning contexts for adult tertiary learners, but it is no easy task. Understanding how learning communities are formed and evaluating their efficacy in supporting teaching-learning involves a complex set of issues that have a bearing on the design and facilitation of successful online learning experiences. This paper presents findings of a case study of a semester-long online graduate course designed to facilitate a learning community at a New Zealand tertiary institution. It adopts a sociocultural analytical framework and argues for a multiple developmental analytical approach to evaluating learning that considers lecturer and student intellectual, social and emotional development and transformations. Implications are presented for online lecturers, course designers and institutional administrators.

text: Evaluating an online learning community: Intellectual, social and emotional development and transformations Developing online learning communities is a promising pedagogical approach in online learning contexts for adult tertiary learners, but it is no easy task. Understanding how learning communities are formed and evaluating their efficacy in supporting teaching-learning involves a complex set of issues that have a bearing on the design and facilitation of successful online learning experiences. This paper presents findings of a case study of a semester-long online graduate course designed to facilitate a learning community at a New Zealand tertiary institution. It adopts a sociocultural analytical framework and argues for a multiple developmental analytical approach to evaluating learning that considers lecturer and student intellectual, social and emotional development and transformations. Implications are presented for online lecturers, course designers and institutional administrators.

year: 2015

title: Row-column block designs: Efficiency and structure

authors: Nie, Xiao

subjects: Latin Squares

abstract: A row-column design is any rearrangement of the blocks of a combinatorial design into a rectangular array. A row-column block design is a row-column design in which the blocks form a balanced incomplete block design; that is, each pair of elements occurs in a constant number of blocks. In this thesis we study the efficiency and structure of row-column block designs. In particular, we use solutions to Heffter’s difference problem to give construct row-column block designs with 3 elements per cell with optimal regularity in rows and columns.
In Section 1 we review definitions and theorems related to Latin squares. We introduce related concepts of balanced incomplete block designs and incidence matrix and concurrence matrix of designs. In Section 2 we give our main results of row-column block designs with block size 3. In Section 3 we use Heffter’s difference problem to give some solutions. In Section 4 we explain efficiency measures for block designs. In Section 5 we introduce Trojan semi-Latin squares. We give efficiency measures for Trojan semi-Latin squares. In Section 6 we show the applications to experimental design. Original results are given in the following theorems: Theorem 2.9, Theorem 3.1, Theorem 3.3, Theorem 3.4, Theorem 4.2, Theorem 5.2, Theorem 5.12.
Results from Section 2 and Section 3 have been submitted as a manuscript for publication [17] (Xiao Nie, Row-column block designs with blocks of size three, Ars Combinatoria, submitted).

text: Row-column block designs: Efficiency and structure A row-column design is any rearrangement of the blocks of a combinatorial design into a rectangular array. A row-column block design is a row-column design in which the blocks form a balanced incomplete block design; that is, each pair of elements occurs in a constant number of blocks. In this thesis we study the efficiency and structure of row-column block designs. In particular, we use solutions to Heffter’s difference problem to give construct row-column block designs with 3 elements per cell with optimal regularity in rows and columns.
In Section 1 we review definitions and theorems related to Latin squares. We introduce related concepts of balanced incomplete block designs and incidence matrix and concurrence matrix of designs. In Section 2 we give our main results of row-column block designs with block size 3. In Section 3 we use Heffter’s difference problem to give some solutions. In Section 4 we explain efficiency measures for block designs. In Section 5 we introduce Trojan semi-Latin squares. We give efficiency measures for Trojan semi-Latin squares. In Section 6 we show the applications to experimental design. Original results are given in the following theorems: Theorem 2.9, Theorem 3.1, Theorem 3.3, Theorem 3.4, Theorem 4.2, Theorem 5.2, Theorem 5.12.
Results from Section 2 and Section 3 have been submitted as a manuscript for publication [17] (Xiao Nie, Row-column block designs with blocks of size three, Ars Combinatoria, submitted).

year: 2024-09-23

title: “Whānau Vibes”: Reclamation of self, space and community within group fitness gyms.

authors: Metekingi, Cydney

abstract: Group fitness gyms are becoming more popular in Aotearoa, New Zealand. This thesis is an investigation of the lived experiences of Māori members within a commercialised fitness space called BFT Hamilton East, located in Kirikiriroa, Hamilton. Drawing on Indigenous anthropology and autoethnography, and grounded in Kaupapa Māori theory, this thesis firstly explores how the gym becomes a site in which Māori members seek to reclaim the narrative around their own bodies. I explore the colonial depictions, the politics of the Indigenous body and how Māori-owned clothing brands contribute to this reclamation. I then examine how Māori gym members use the gym space with a sense of purpose, balancing the values of culture and commercialisation. And finally, I investigate the importance of relational well-being and the use of whanaungatanga and manaakitanga to create a sense of belonging among participants in their search for connection. In foregrounding Indigenous ways of knowing, being and moving in a commercial group fitness gym, this thesis aims to contribute to the anthropological conversations that advocate for the inclusion of Indigenous methodologies into Anthropology, centring Indigenous agency and advocating for the decolonisation of fitness spaces.

text: “Whānau Vibes”: Reclamation of self, space and community within group fitness gyms. Group fitness gyms are becoming more popular in Aotearoa, New Zealand. This thesis is an investigation of the lived experiences of Māori members within a commercialised fitness space called BFT Hamilton East, located in Kirikiriroa, Hamilton. Drawing on Indigenous anthropology and autoethnography, and grounded in Kaupapa Māori theory, this thesis firstly explores how the gym becomes a site in which Māori members seek to reclaim the narrative around their own bodies. I explore the colonial depictions, the politics of the Indigenous body and how Māori-owned clothing brands contribute to this reclamation. I then examine how Māori gym members use the gym space with a sense of purpose, balancing the values of culture and commercialisation. And finally, I investigate the importance of relational well-being and the use of whanaungatanga and manaakitanga to create a sense of belonging among participants in their search for connection. In foregrounding Indigenous ways of knowing, being and moving in a commercial group fitness gym, this thesis aims to contribute to the anthropological conversations that advocate for the inclusion of Indigenous methodologies into Anthropology, centring Indigenous agency and advocating for the decolonisation of fitness spaces.

year: 2025