ENABLING COMMUNICATION A FOURTH FUNCTION FOR TELEVISION?

The author has worked for six years with two experimental community cable television networks at Swindon and Milton Keynes. He argues that Channel 40, the Milton Keynes network, has become a significant and regularly used communication channel for the local community. It is suggested that such an activity (enabling people to communicate could and should become a fourth function for television, in addition to the three classic functions, to inform, educate and entertain. Such a development is seen as particularly likely in the post‐industrial world we are entering.     

The Institute for Educational Technology (IET) at the University of Surrey

This paper first takes a brief look at the school system and the teaching of biology in Germany. Then a research project is described which is aimed at improving methods of teaching biology. Within the framework of this project, several teaching models are examined and their effectiveness, in both cognitive and affective terms, analysed. This research project includes empirical studies in which more than 2000 school students have been involved. The results of four of these studies will be looked at in detail. The following models were studied and compared: Lab work completed by students compared with lab work demonstrated by the teacher and with pencil and paper lessons. Classroom instruction on the identification of plants compared with outdoor instruction. Lessons using living invertebrates compared with lessons using models, slides and pictures. The effect on the attitudes of students towards AIDS infected children and on their knowledge about AIDS after lessons showing films on the subject compared with lessons on the same subject with no films.     

Changing society using new technologies: Youth participation in the social media revolution and its implications for the development of democracy in sub-Saharan Africa

This paper considers the adequacy of simple access to technology for acquiring active citizenship skills. The paper posits questions and then provides tentative answers to the questions: Is acquiring the latest technology a prerequisite for Kenyan students to join the social media revolution? Is access to the latest developments in digital social media networks an absolute prerequisite for training our students to be responsible citizens in democracies? What other components of good citizenship education for building democracies exist? How can we incorporate them into Kenyan classrooms so that when the digital social media revolution finally arrives in Kenya for all, her young people will more likely to be involved as responsible citizens rather than mindless revolutionaries following a mob without knowing why.     

Teacher as Conceptual Artist

Teachers in arts education frequently struggle with their professional identity. When asked, arts teachers often answer that they believe that their main responsibility is education at the expense of understanding themselves as artists. The Mexican‐American artist and teacher Jorge Lucero questions whether an occupation as teacher necessarily impedes a creative practice. The finding that both progressive pedagogy and conceptual art share certain characteristics forms the basis for his concept of ‘teacher as conceptual artist’. In short, Lucero proposes that a teacher’s practice, in and beyond the classroom, simultaneously can be his or her creative practice. This qualitative intervention study explored whether or not the concept of teacher as conceptual artist holds the possibility to narrow down the gap between teacher and artist identities. The intervention consisted of a three‐day project led by Lucero in which nine arts teacher students were familiarised with modes of operation as a conceptual artist. In the three following months, these students implemented lessons in primary and secondary education based on those modes. Prior to the project, ‘elicitation‐interviews’ were used to explore how students perceived their professional identity and at the end of project semi‐structured interviews were conducted. The findings suggest that through the modes of operation as a conceptual artist, students who mainly identified as an artist were able to integrate a teacher identity in their artist identity, but the modes of operation also gave students who withheld their artist identity from the classroom an opportunity to live their artist identity in the classroom.     

The Effect of Personal Development Planning on Attitudes,Behaviour and Understanding

This paper explores the impact of a personal development planning (PDP) project on the attitudes, behaviour and understanding of students in Years 11 and 12. It examines levels of motivation, personal understanding, communication skills and the responsibility of the students with regard to their own learning at the beginning of the project and again after 6 months. Findings may be of interest to tutors involved in PDP, action planning and similar initiatives driven by the one‐to‐one dialogue.     

Peer Mentoring: A Citizenship Entitlement at Tanfield School

This paper describes the experience and benefits of peer led education at Tanfield School and how this led to the development of a peer mentoring scheme in the school, which was linked to citizenship education. The project aimed to strengthen existing links and ease the transition of pupils from feeder primary schools to the secondary school. The second aim was to improve the key skills of the mentors and have an impact on their learning. The project involved year 10 older students mentoring pupils in year 7. The findings of the evaluation are reported and it is argued that the aims were met.     

The Narrative Approach in Art Education: A Case Study

This case study takes as its focus the work of the Fine Art graduate Dumile Johannes Ndita, who visually narrates his experience of life in contemporary South Africa. The artist graduated from Border Technikon, East London, an institution which teaches the narrative approach. It is the aim of the authors to illustrate how this method enables students to transfer lived experience into image. The three voices in this paper come from different backgrounds. The artist will explain the meaning of his drawings, the teacher will give background information on the community and culture in which he himself and the artist operate and outline teaching methods. Students taught by this method create work that has impact and meaning beyond the confines of the art school. To argue this point, the theoretician will add her voice and reflect on meta‐narratives presented in Dumile Johannes Ndita's drawings. Intricate inter‐textual patterns, shared and interconnecting institutional narratives tie our individual voices to those of the wider community and culture of present‐day South Africa and beyond.     

工业控制系统综合训练平台设计

介绍了南京理工大学自动化学院的工业控制系统综合训练平台的实验室项目建设情况,给出了实验室的设计思路,介绍了实验室的总体设计,和如何对学生进行科研训练等,重点介绍了软硬件仿真被控对象的提出、设计和实现方法。     

机械类专业创新应用型人才培养模式的探讨

目前机械类专业人才培养体系存在偏重理论知识,缺乏创新和实践能力的培养．创新应用型人才培养模式的方案以工程应用能力为主线．．加强师资队伍建设、优化课程体系、强化实践、创新能力环节,提高和培养学生的工程实践能力、创新意识和”大工程”意识,以满足现代制造业的需求。     

‘I – from dreams to reality’: A Case Study of Developing Youngsters’ Self‐Efficacy and Social Skills through an Arts Educational Project in Schools

This is a case study of a one‐year arts educational project ‘I – from dreams to reality’ in which artists worked at school with teachers and learning at the school was planned through arts‐based, co‐operative teamwork during one extra school year of 10th grade students in Finnish basic education. The theme of the year was ‘I’, and so the project was designed to highlight everyone's own way of thinking and expressing art. The research task was to determine whether long‐term holistic arts pedagogy and artist co‐operation at school have any significant connection to students’ self‐efficacy and social skills. Data has been collected through students’ self‐evaluations before and after the school year. Altogether 40 students from 10th grade participated in this case study. Half of the pupils participated in an arts educational project called ‘I – from dreams to reality’ and half formed the control group. Artists worked with the test group weekly during a period of one school year (altogether nine months). Students’ self‐evaluations concerning their self‐efficacy and social behaviour were collected by e‐questionnaire. The measures used were Likert‐based evaluation scores of pupils’ self‐assessment of their self‐efficacy and social behaviour in everyday situations at school. According to the results, artist–teacher co‐operation and learning through the arts can be worthwhile experiences to develop students’ self‐efficacy and social skills.     

Inclusive education in the academy: pedagogical and political imperatives in a master’s course

Many universities offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses in inclusive education. There has been much research into the impact of these courses, but little is written about their design. This article focuses on a master’s course in inclusive education in a South African university. The course positions inclusive education as a critical education project and is designed around the four propositions presented by Slee in The Irregular School (2011. Milton Park: Routledge). Using Bernsteinian ideas about pedagogising knowledge, this article accounts for the pedagogical choices made in content selection and course design. The focal questions in the course are described, together with an indication of the range of additional texts that students read. Given that Slee asserts that inclusive education is a political project, and that Allan (2010. “The Inclusive Teacher Educator: Spaces for Civic Engagement.” Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 31 (4): 411–422) urges inclusive teacher educators to reorientate themselves towards civic duty, I argue that producing a pedagogic discourse of inclusive education is a political task that should result in both the teacher educator and the students being oriented towards a critique of existing exclusionary arrangements and an activism that leads to change.     

Fifth Graders’ Learning About Simple Machines Through Engineering Design-Based Instruction Using LEGO™ Materials

This study is part of a 5-year National Science Foundation-funded project, Transforming Elementary Science Learning Through LEGO? Engineering Design. In this study, we report on the successes and challenges of implementing an engineering design-based and LEGO?-oriented unit in an urban classroom setting and we focus on the impact of the unit on students’ content understanding of simple machines. The LEGO? engineering-based simple machines module, which was developed for fifth graders by our research team, was implemented in an urban school in a large city in the Northeastern region of the USA. Thirty-three fifth grade students participated in the study, and they showed significant growth in content understanding. We measured students’ content knowledge by using identical paper tests and semistructured interviews before and after instruction. Our paired t test analysis results showed that students significantly improved their test and interview scores (t?=??3.62, p?<?0.001 for multiple-choice items and t?=??9.06, p?<?0.000 for the open-ended items in the test and t?=??12.11, p?<?0.000 for the items in interviews). We also identified several alternative conceptions that are held by students on simple machines.     

Using personal construct theory in therapist training — A way of learning about countertransference

In this paper the utilisation of Personal Construct Psychology principles in the experiential training of beginning students in psychotherapy will be discussed. Regardless of theoretical orientation the practice of psychotherapy involves the necessity of attempting to construe the construction processes of the client. This is often made easier when therapist and client construct systems show similarities, but this will not always be the case in a therapeutic setting. It is thus important for therapists to be aware of their own personal and stereotypic constructs as they impinge on their ability to attend to clients. Awareness of these factors may facilitate the ability to monitor the effects of such reactions in the therapeutic setting. A series of exercises whereby students in psychotherapy training are assisted to become aware of the impact of their countertransference reactions on the therapeutic process, is discussed.A similar version of this paper was first presented at the 5th International Congress on Personal Construct Psychology, Boston 1983.     

The Design,Development, and Implementation of LUDA Virtual High School

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present the Large Unit District Association virtual high school (LUDA-VHS) project and discuss its design, development, and implementation. A model developed at the Center for the Application of Information Technologies for designing online classes will be presented and discussed. The focus of the paper will be to present the lessons learned and provide practical recommendations on how to design successful online programs. Issues to be discussed include the following: recruiting, training, and compensating teachers; selecting and supporting students; developing instructional strategies for online learning; building a sense of community; educating the public on the benefits of online education; providing equal access; building quality assurance mechanisms.     

项目教学法在《财经写作》课程体系中的构建

应用写作课堂教学具有特殊性,同时也具备课堂教学的共性。构建项目教学法指导下的《财经写作》课程体系,是实现写作课堂教学成效的必要保证。以建构主义学习理论和情境学习理论为构建财经应用文写作课程项目教学新体系的理论依据。新的教学体系强调：以实际工作为行动导向,以具体情境为项目,以学生为主体组织教学活动,以多途径解决问题的方式来拓展学生思路,做到学生在学习理论的同时,深入参与到具体实践锻炼中,在实践中促进学生理论和综合能力提高。     

以行动为导向,以项目为载体,构建《职业生涯规划》课程体系

《职业生涯规划》课程的构建主要是培养学生的职业生涯管理能力和职业能力。这门课程将把教学与社会实际情境相结合。通过自我认知、职业世界探索等学习领域的实际项目训练,为学生个人的职业生涯规划提供理论和实践指导。通过教学活动唤醒大学生的职业意识,促使学生理性地规划自身未来的发展,逐步确立长远而稳定的发展目标。     

Strategies and Intervening Factors Influencing Student Social Interaction and Experiential Learning in an Interdisciplinary Research Team

Faculty have long incorporated students into interdisciplinary research projects to meet increasingly common demands for collaborative research by federal funding agencies. Despite the critical role of experiential learning in building student research skills and capacity, few have explored social interaction mechanisms used to facilitate student experiential learning in an interdisciplinary research team. Drawing upon the New Rural Economy project as a case study, interviews with 13 students from eight Canadian universities were conducted to explore these social interaction mechanisms. While findings revealed an array of social interaction mechanisms used to develop student learning networks, the quality of these mechanisms were mixed; thereby influencing the utilization of these networks for guidance and feedback. As faculty organize social interaction mechanisms, they should consider factors such as previous experience, student and faculty relationships, finances, language, gender, ethnicity, and other issues, that will have an impact on student engagement with experiential learning.

新建地方本科院校网络教学平台建设策略探讨

新建地方本科院校由于历史原因,在教学信息化建设上起点低、投入少,面对新信息技术带来的教育革命,加快建设网络教学平台是这类高校的必然选择。然而,网络教学平台建设是一个系统工程,建设费用高、周期长,同时对高校教学组织、学生学习等都将产生重大影响,因此,研究网络教学平台的建设策略,对准备建设或正在建设网络教学平台的新建地方本科院校来说都是必要的。文章对此提出了相关策略。