title: Using Activity Theory to understand contradictions in an online university course facilitated by Moodle

authors: Gedera, Dilani S.P.

subjects: Moodle

abstract: Activity Theory can offer insights into learning processes that are facilitated by Learning Management Systems. Contradictions, as a basic principle of Activity Theory, assist in identifying the tensions and conflicts that emerge in systems of online learning environments. Using Activity Theory as its research framework, this study focuses on the contradictions that emerged in the form of tensions, frustrations, misunderstandings and miscommunication in a fully online university course in New Zealand. The data collection methods of this case study included individual interviews, online activity observation and documents analysis. Outlining some of the findings of the study, this paper will discuss how students’ participation in learning activities facilitated by Moodle was affected by these contradictions.

text: Using Activity Theory to understand contradictions in an online university course facilitated by Moodle Activity Theory can offer insights into learning processes that are facilitated by Learning Management Systems. Contradictions, as a basic principle of Activity Theory, assist in identifying the tensions and conflicts that emerge in systems of online learning environments. Using Activity Theory as its research framework, this study focuses on the contradictions that emerged in the form of tensions, frustrations, misunderstandings and miscommunication in a fully online university course in New Zealand. The data collection methods of this case study included individual interviews, online activity observation and documents analysis. Outlining some of the findings of the study, this paper will discuss how students’ participation in learning activities facilitated by Moodle was affected by these contradictions.

year: 2013

title: Investigation into the palatability of whole wheat versus intermediate wheat grass (Kernza) flour in choice and no-choice feeding paradigms

authors: Glasgow, Lisa

subjects: Agriculture

abstract: The perennial grain Kernza (Thinopyrum intermedium) has environmental advantages over annual wheat, e.g., it grows deeper roots that improve soil stability, and water and nutrient retention. Importantly, Kernza has a distinct composition, including higher fibre and protein levels than wheat, suggesting its consumption might convey health benefits. However, composition affects palatability, which calls into question whether Kernza is as palatable as wheat. Hence, this thesis aimed to investigate the acceptance of and preference for Kernza in comparison to whole wheat flour in rats, an established feeding research model. Three variations of diets were used: mash, slurry, and pellets, to account for processing as a factor affecting palatability. Food intake experiments were followed by the analysis of the reward system’s activation (using a neuronal activation marker, c-Fos) in response to a Kernza vs wheat meal. Acceptance was assessed in the no-choice meal paradigms, in which a single diet was offered to the animals. Regardless of whether meals were given either after or without prior food deprivation, and during the day or at nighttime, rats consumed similar amounts of Kernza- and wheat-based diets. Similarly, a sub-chronic 9-day Kernza vs wheat meal exposure, showed no difference in acceptance. In preference paradigms in which two diets were offered simultaneously, rats preferred Kernza over standard chow, but wheat was preferred over Kernza. Both wheat and Kernza were less preferred than hyperpalatable high-fat high-sugar pellets. Finally, the c-Fos immunoreactivity (IR) analysis in animals that have eaten a similar amount of Kernza or wheat (versus unfed controls), showed that regardless of the diet offered, activation of the ventral tegmental area, nucleus accumbens shell (AcbS), and nucleus accumbens core, is higher in response to food intake. However, consumption of wheat produced greater c-Fos IR the AcbS, which is in line with this grain being preferred over Kernza. Overall, I conclude that Kernza is an accepted and palatable flour, however, the preference of wheat over Kernza and the reward system’s activity changes indicate that Kernza is somewhat less palatable than wheat.

text: Investigation into the palatability of whole wheat versus intermediate wheat grass (Kernza) flour in choice and no-choice feeding paradigms The perennial grain Kernza (Thinopyrum intermedium) has environmental advantages over annual wheat, e.g., it grows deeper roots that improve soil stability, and water and nutrient retention. Importantly, Kernza has a distinct composition, including higher fibre and protein levels than wheat, suggesting its consumption might convey health benefits. However, composition affects palatability, which calls into question whether Kernza is as palatable as wheat. Hence, this thesis aimed to investigate the acceptance of and preference for Kernza in comparison to whole wheat flour in rats, an established feeding research model. Three variations of diets were used: mash, slurry, and pellets, to account for processing as a factor affecting palatability. Food intake experiments were followed by the analysis of the reward system’s activation (using a neuronal activation marker, c-Fos) in response to a Kernza vs wheat meal. Acceptance was assessed in the no-choice meal paradigms, in which a single diet was offered to the animals. Regardless of whether meals were given either after or without prior food deprivation, and during the day or at nighttime, rats consumed similar amounts of Kernza- and wheat-based diets. Similarly, a sub-chronic 9-day Kernza vs wheat meal exposure, showed no difference in acceptance. In preference paradigms in which two diets were offered simultaneously, rats preferred Kernza over standard chow, but wheat was preferred over Kernza. Both wheat and Kernza were less preferred than hyperpalatable high-fat high-sugar pellets. Finally, the c-Fos immunoreactivity (IR) analysis in animals that have eaten a similar amount of Kernza or wheat (versus unfed controls), showed that regardless of the diet offered, activation of the ventral tegmental area, nucleus accumbens shell (AcbS), and nucleus accumbens core, is higher in response to food intake. However, consumption of wheat produced greater c-Fos IR the AcbS, which is in line with this grain being preferred over Kernza. Overall, I conclude that Kernza is an accepted and palatable flour, however, the preference of wheat over Kernza and the reward system’s activity changes indicate that Kernza is somewhat less palatable than wheat.

year: 2023

title: Stop playing up! A critical ethnography of health, physical education and (sub)urban schooling

authors: Fitzpatrick, Katie

subjects: Health

abstract: This thesis explores the place of health and physical education in the lives of Otara youth in New Zealand. Situated in the southern suburbs of New Zealand’s largest city, Otara, South Auckland is known for its cultural diversity, as well as for poverty and crime. It is home to large numbers of indigenous Maori and migrant Pasifika (Pacific Island) youth. Based on a year-long critical ethnography of a multiethnic high school, this thesis explores how these young people engage with and respond to the school subjects of health and physical education. It also discusses broader issues in their lives, including the social geographies within which they reside, and how they understand their bodies, sexuality, health, gender and physicalities. The subjects of health and physical education are compulsory in most schools internationally – in New Zealand they are directly linked in curriculum policy documents and in school practice – but share a somewhat uneasy relationship and differing historical positions. Considered low status in schools, these subjects are also conflated with narrow body and health norms, possibly problematic for young women, and/or are wedded to the social and cultural world of sport. Curriculum policy documents established in the last ten years offer the possibility of critical and social approaches to these subjects, but examples of critical practice remain rare. Health and physical education are thus compulsory, contentious, contradictory and complex subjects within contemporary schooling. Critical ethnographies of schooling are relatively scarce compared with conventional ethnographic accounts, but critical ethnographies of health and physical education (PE) are almost unheard of. The use of such a methodology in this study enabled an indepth account of Otara youth in the subjects of health and PE at school. It also provided a platform for storied accounts of how one teacher, Dan, enacted a critical and culturally connected pedagogy of health and PE with the young people in his classes. This thesis explores the complex potential for health and PE as key sites of learning for Pasifika and Maori youth. It examines health and PE as subjects that are both politically fraught and spaces of hope.

text: Stop playing up! A critical ethnography of health, physical education and (sub)urban schooling This thesis explores the place of health and physical education in the lives of Otara youth in New Zealand. Situated in the southern suburbs of New Zealand’s largest city, Otara, South Auckland is known for its cultural diversity, as well as for poverty and crime. It is home to large numbers of indigenous Maori and migrant Pasifika (Pacific Island) youth. Based on a year-long critical ethnography of a multiethnic high school, this thesis explores how these young people engage with and respond to the school subjects of health and physical education. It also discusses broader issues in their lives, including the social geographies within which they reside, and how they understand their bodies, sexuality, health, gender and physicalities. The subjects of health and physical education are compulsory in most schools internationally – in New Zealand they are directly linked in curriculum policy documents and in school practice – but share a somewhat uneasy relationship and differing historical positions. Considered low status in schools, these subjects are also conflated with narrow body and health norms, possibly problematic for young women, and/or are wedded to the social and cultural world of sport. Curriculum policy documents established in the last ten years offer the possibility of critical and social approaches to these subjects, but examples of critical practice remain rare. Health and physical education are thus compulsory, contentious, contradictory and complex subjects within contemporary schooling. Critical ethnographies of schooling are relatively scarce compared with conventional ethnographic accounts, but critical ethnographies of health and physical education (PE) are almost unheard of. The use of such a methodology in this study enabled an indepth account of Otara youth in the subjects of health and PE at school. It also provided a platform for storied accounts of how one teacher, Dan, enacted a critical and culturally connected pedagogy of health and PE with the young people in his classes. This thesis explores the complex potential for health and PE as key sites of learning for Pasifika and Maori youth. It examines health and PE as subjects that are both politically fraught and spaces of hope.

year: 2010