Group decision making is essential in organizations. Group Support Systems (GSS) can aide groups in making decisions by providing tools and process support. GSS is especially useful for geographically or temporally distributed groups. Researchers of GSS have pointed out that convergence processes are hard to accomplish in GSS. Voting tools in GSS…

This study examined the effects of Adventure Based Counseling (i.e., a low-element challenge program) on the cohesion of a collegiate women's volleyball team. Results suggest postintervention improvements in team cohesion. The support created in the challenge experience also transferred to the players helping one another to grieve the untimely…

This research looked at five intergenerational projects focusing on football, arts, knife crime, living history and personal and social education. Two projects ran in schools, one in a health centre, one in a youth drop-in centre and one at a football club. Each project had its own aims, but in addition to these, the projects aimed to improve…

A Canadian anthropologist describes how "rituals of respect" permeate the indigenous culture of a remote mountainous village in Peru. When children's needs for belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity are met, they thrive and achieve their full potential.

The purpose of this paper was to investigate a model for describing the relationships between the extent to which learning environments are activating and students' interaction with teachers and peers, sense of belonging, and study success. It was tested whether this model holds true for both ethnic minority students and ethnic majority students.…

The purpose of this quantitative research study was to determine the relative impact school culture has on student achievement (specifically AYP status, dropout rates and graduation rates) in select urban and suburban Georgia high schools. To examine this relationship, the researcher reviewed data collected from the School Culture Survey (SCS)…

"Research Library Issues" ("RLI") is a bimonthly report from ARL (Association of Research Libraries), CNI (Coalition of Networked Information), and SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition). This issue includes the following articles: (1) Strategies for Opening Up Content: Laying the Groundwork for an Open…

The present study explored the process and experience of online group counseling using a text-based synchronous program, particularly addressing how the process compares to face-to-face group counseling. Six students in a masters-level group counseling class voluntarily chose to participate for eight sixty minute online sessions on a weekly basis,…

This paper considers the social significance and interaction between sport and the allied themes of citizenship, civic identity and social control in contemporary Britain. It is set against a backdrop of an emerging cosmopolitanism and politics of difference and is posed in response to renewed interest in notions of "Britishness",…

Following serious disturbances in some northern cities in England in 2001, concerns about possible rising inter-communal tension have led to a statutory duty to promote community cohesion being placed on schools. Inspectors from the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) are required to make judgements in the leadership and management section…

The impetus for curriculum change should ultimately be to improve student learning. Implementing change can be very stressful and diminish a teachers' sense of well-being and thereby minimise the chances of successful or effective change. Drawing on a recent study that investigated how faculty leaders managed curriculum change in religious…

This research investigates the process through which individuals build cohesive relationships in positively connected exchange relations. Positive connections exist any time exchange in one relation must precede exchange in another. Such situations arise through gatekeeping, in generalized exchange contexts, and when resources diffuse across a…

The authors examined relations among student perceptions of classroom achievement goals, self-efficacy, perceived instrumentality of classroom work, and sense of belonging within a classroom. Participants were 249 high school students. The authors also examined how cognitive engagement was predicted by those variables along with personal…

American youth who participate in both school-based and community-based programs during high school remain more civically engaged than their contemporaries throughout adulthood. However, few studies have examined the developmental processes through which participation in a youth directed program promotes civic responsibility. In this qualitative…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among the attitudinal brand loyalty variables (i.e., cognitive, affective, and conative components), team identification, and customer satisfaction by developing a structural equation model, based on Oliver's (1997) attitudinal brand loyalty model. The results of this study confirmed…