Syllabus

INTRODUCTION TO MODERN RESEARCHES OF EXERCISE SCIENCE

Li Li, PhD, FACSM

Honorary professor of Shanghai University of Sport

Jo Ellen Levy Yates professor of Louisiana State University

Goal of the class: Through this class, students would gain 1). a better understanding of the contemporary research literature in exercise science; 2). a comprehensive understanding of theoretical and conceptual development in their subject of study; 3). a deeper appreciation of newly developed methodological issues on the topics of their concern; and 4). a renewed view on the application of their research projects.

Organization and Structure of the Class: The class will meet once every week for three hours every time. The class will be seminar style with instructor led discussion most of times. We will employ the concepts of “service learning” and “communication intensive”. Students in the class will learning how to search literature, how to identify important publications, topics, and researches on their self defined research topic; how to read literature reviews and how to write literature reviews.

Service Learning: Students learn the contents of the class through applicable service. Literature discussion in this class will be student specific. Each student should discuss with their advisors on the relevant topic he / she should focus in this class. The literature review generated in this class should be relevant to the research he /she is (or will) conduct as a graduate students of Shanghai University of Sport.

Communication Intensive: In addition to the discussion in and out the class between the instructor and the students, among the students, the following two types of communication will be strongly encouraged. First, the students should frequently communicate with their advisors in regarding the progress of this class. The class activity should be closely related to their research activity as defined by their advisors. Second, the instructor will facilitate class communication with international renowned experts on relevant research topics. This communication, wherever possible, will be carried out in the form of internet video calls via different internet protocols, such as Skype, MSN, Yahoo, etc.

Schedule of the Class:

September:

1. Organizational, introduction;

2. Each student will go back to their own professor and identify a topic within their field, which extensive English literature review can be helpful (SL requires learning with the objective of provide service to the community need);

3. Students present to the class what is the topic that they would like to work on; class discussion (SL requires reflection, CI requires extensive communication);

Students will discuss their presentation and class discussion with their advisor, and then hand in their edited presentations for class documentation.

4. Literature search use all the available means for the student. Each student will be required to come up with titles and abstracts of five most important papers about their topic;

5. Present search results to the class and class discussion, the selection of the research papers need to be justified (CI);

6. Go back to students discipline group and talk to the professors about their class work and collect the professors comments and suggestions (SL- reflection);

Students will discuss their presentation and class discussion with their advisor, and then hand in their edited presentations for class evaluation (CI, SL).

October:

7. Two objectives: 1). class discussion and identify potential direction/method for further literature search (SL- reflection); and 2). Each student identify 1-2 experts on their topic of research worldwide, Then the instructor will be responsible to set up video conferencing (webcam?) with these experts in the following weeks with the class. Have the experts talk to the class for 20-30 minutes in regarding the most important researches/researchers about the topic of their choice (CI);

8. Student should read the selected important literature reviews of their choice and discuss these papers in class and individually with the instructor (CI);

9. Each student will present 2-3 selected review papers to the class and participate class discussion;

Students will discuss their presentation and class discussion with their advisor, and then hand in their edited presentations for class evaluation (CI, SL).

November:

10. Based on the works of previous two months, students select 5-10 important modern research publications on their selected research topics;

11. Read and discuss the significance of the research topics in class;

12. Read and discuss theoretical and conceptual developments of the research topics;

13. Read and discuss the methodological developments of the research topics;

14. Read and discuss the important applications of the research topics;

15. Each student will present a summary of the research papers to the class and participate class discussion;

Students will discuss their presentation and class discussion with their advisor, and then hand in their edited presentations for class evaluation (CI, SL).

December:

16. Student will prepare a comprehensive literature review on their selected research topics. The review should include a testable hypothesis (hypotheses) at the end of the review, and all the evidences that support such hypothesis (hypothesis);

17. Present their literature review to the class and invited guests: professors of their discipline, fellow graduate students of their discipline, other professors and professionals who might like to come (SL reflection, CI);

Students will discuss their presentation and class discussion with their advisor, and then hand in their edited presentations for class evaluation (CI, SL).

January:

18. Based on their work, students should write a review paper on their selected topics (10 to 20 pages) and hand it in to the instructor.

Student performance in the class will be evaluated through the following method:

1. 15 points each presentation. 5 point on the verbal presentation (peer evaluation) and ten point on the material handed in; total 4 presentations and 60 points;

2. 40 points for the final review paper.

3. Final score of the class will be graded on a total score of 100.

Students are encouraged to communicate with the instructor at any time with any questions.