Theorising the academic viva in higher education: the argument for a qualitative approach

The argument made in this essay is that it is necessary to theorize a form of assessment—the academic viva in higher education. It is threatened with extinction because of its high cost compared with written exams, multiple choice and other forms of assessment. However, little empirical research, both in Norway and internationally, has been undertaken to reveal what is actually going on in the viva. This has partly been because it has been difficult to gain access to systematically observe the viva examination as it takes place. In the qualitative research presented by the author, on the higher education viva in Norway, permission was obtained to film a number of master’s in education vivas where candidates defended 50,000‐word dissertations. Three research questions were asked: how was the viva talked into being, what kinds of judgements were made by examiners, and, lastly, what would a validity argument look like for the viva? Answering these research questions moves some way to proposing a theory of the viva and hence providing a foundation for determining whether its continued existence is legitimate, at least from a theoretical and qualitatively researched point of view.     

Learning to design and analyze Materials Handling systems: developing multimedia tools

In this paper, we describe aspects related to learning and learning assessment including pedagogy, cognition, pilot study and results from the study. This study is conducted for an educational module on '10 Principles of Materials Handling'. This module along with another on 'Analysis and Design of Integrated Materials Handling Systems' constitute a system of multimedia educational tools for use in materials handling classes. The former is described in Heragu et al. (2003) along with results of an evaluation conducted by a project evaluation team, whose main focus was to determine the impact of educational technology on students in their understanding of materials handling principles. The study reported in this paper, however, is entirely devoted to cognition, learning and learning assessment.     

Highly integrated model assessment technology and tools

Effective and efficient measurement of the development of skill and knowledge, especially in domains of human activity that involve complex and challenging problems, is important with regard to workplace and academic performance. However, there has been little progress in the area of practical measurement and assessment, due in part to the lack of automated tools that are appropriate for assessing the acquisition and development of complex cognitive skills. In the last 2 years, an international team of researchers has developed and validated an integrated set of assessment tools called highly integrated model assessment technology and tools (HIMATT) which addresses this deficiency. HIMATT is web-based and has been shown to scale up for practical use in educational and workplace settings, unlike many of the research tools developed solely to study basic issues in human learning and performance. In this paper, we describe the functions of HIMATT and demonstrate several applications for its use. Additionally, we present two studies on the quality and usability of HIMATT. We conclude with research suggestions for the use of HIMATT and for its further development.     

Interactive technology and authoring tools: A historical review and analysis

Computer systems, interactive technologies, and the software tools for authoring multimedia programs have evolved over the past several decades. The evolution of multimedia technology is discussed and current alternatives for authoring multimedia programs are described. Issues related to analyzing authoring tool requirements and selecting software are presented and trends in the evolution of authoring tools are identified. Many factors affecting the selection and use of authoring software are exogenous to the technology itself. Both technological trends and market forces must be considered.     

机床误差及其误差补偿技术

采用误差补偿技术是提高机床加工精度的一个重要发展趋势。文章主要介绍并分析了误差补偿技术的研究及其应用现状、关键技术和应用过程中存在的问题以及将来的发展前景。     

Theorising Inner-city Masculinities: 'Race', class,gender and education

Inner-city boys continue to be stereotypically associated with a range of social and educational 'problems', despite feminist calls for more nuanced and complex analyses to be undertaken of the racialised and classed aspects of masculinities. This article engages with the question of how to theorise diverse, working-class male pupils' masculinities within an inner-city, multicultural context. Data drawn from discussions with boys at one inner-city London school are used to illustrate the boys' complex constructions of 'culturally entangled' masculinities. Particular attention is given to the boys' constructions of 'bad boy' masculinities that are positioned in opposition to education and which we discuss in relation to themes of hegemony, patriarchy and racial/class inequalities.     

Learning about technology: Family vs. peer pairings

Recently a number of institutions have begun sponsoring nondeficit science and/or technology learning experiences for parents and their middle school-aged children which are intended to be enriching rather than remedial or compensatory in purpose. Very little research documenting the effects of parental involvement in the education of older children has been reported, however. The intent of this article was to present two studies designed to determine whether middle school-aged children's attitudes and content achievement are different when they take a technology course with their parents (parent-child treatment) or with their peers (child-child treatment). The first study focused on learning about communications technology (primarily telegraphs, telephones and radios); the second study focused on microcomputers. Results indicate that parents have little affect in helping their children learn the subject matter of technology courses. Likewise, parents do not affect children's attitudes toward computers. Both results were attenuated by the fact that the students in the studies were high achievers who were interested in and motivated to learn the subject matter, regardless of treatment. Significant differences were noted for computer literacy favoring the parent-child group, however. Parents also seemed to effect children's attitudes toward the subject matter of the courses. Further research needs to be done with less appealing course content or with less motivated students to fully determine the effect of parent-child and child groupings in science and technology courses.     

Learning from programmed instruction: Examining implications for modern instructional technology

This article reports a theoretical examination of several parallels between contemporary instructional technology (as manifest in one of its most current manifestations, online learning) and one of its direct predecessors, programmed instruction. We place particular focus on the unterlying assumptions of the two movements. Our analysis suggests that four assumptions that contributed to the historical demise of programmed instruction—(a) ontological determinisms, (b) materialism (c) social efficiency, and (d) technological determinism—also underlie contemporary instructional technology theory and practice and threaten its long-term viability as an educational resource. Based on this examination, we offer several recommendations for practicing instructional technologists and make a call for innovative assumptions and make a call for innovative assumptions and theories not widely visible in the field of instructional technology.     

Rules, roles and tools: Activity theory and the comparative study of e-learning

Activity theory (AT) is a powerful tool for investigating 'artefacts in use', ie, the ways technologies interrelate with their local context. AT reveals the interfaces between e-learning at the macro- (strategy, policy, 'campus-wide' solutions) and the micro-organisational levels (everyday working practice, iterative change, individual adaptation). In AT, contexts are conceived of as activity systems in which human, technological and organisational elements are interrelated and largely inseparable. Both the subjects of the activity system (internal) and the wider community (external) mediate their activities through tools, rules and roles. This paper shows how a course management system (CMS) exerts an influence over all three of these mediators, though the exact nature of this influence depends on the particular configuration of each activity system. This is illustrated with reference to two case study programmes, both of which used Moodle as their CMS, but which had activity systems structured in quite different ways; the programmes also had different relationships with their external organisational environment.     

Theorising the relationship between older people and their immediate social living environment

This article presents a theoretical framework for exploring the dynamics between older people and their immediate social living environment. After introducing a gerontological perspective that goes beyond microfication, a literature review presents findings from studies that have explored the role of place and locality for older people. Next, this contribution seeks to broaden the conceptual field by introducing key dimensions of the relationship between older people and their social environment. A critical investigation of underlying assumptions and constructions of older people within certain research traditions that address the social environment is presented. In conclusion, the role of the social environment is underlined as a dynamic, multi-dimensional, historically and spatially contextualized process that both shapes and is shaped by the experiences and practices of older people.     

Curriculum authoring tools and inclusive classroom teaching practice: a longitudinal study

The purpose of this study was to investigate the longitudinal application of a suite of curriculum authoring tools (CATs) to inclusive classroom teaching practice in a secondary school setting. The study sought to establish whether the incorporation of the CATs into the teachers’ curriculum development and implementation covaried with improved implementation integrity of classroom teaching practice over time. A repeated measures design was used to establish whether those teachers with high levels of tool use also recorded higher levels of implementation integrity in their use of specific inclusive teaching practices. The effects of the tools were measured using 578 50‐minute classroom observations gathered over a 2.5‐year period. The results indicated that higher levels of implementation integrity in classroom practice covaried with the extent to which the tools were used for the design and implementation of curriculum.