A Global Perspective on Technology Integration in Education: Problems and Strategies

Abstract

How to prepare to use the new technologies in education is a challenge to all of us, and in particular how to use PCs. The article looks at these, the curriculum strategies and the problems sometimes faced by conservatism in the instructors, and it concludes with hints for helping with technologies through behaviours.     

The National Technological University

Abstract

Widely shared concerns in the US engineering profession have fostered the evolution of technologies and organizations that today are centred in the National Technological University (NTU). Most engineering graduates enter the workforce with a baccalaureate degree today, as they did in 1900, despite the enormous complexity of modern technology. Furthermore, accelerating technological change makes career‐long learning a necessity. This article looks at the work of the NTU.     

Virtual Reality: Real Promises and False Expectations

Abstract

The article examines the latest development in advanced computer‐graphics termed Virtual Reality (VR), which is a technology that entails a 3‐dimensional artificial environment in which the user perceives a sense of presence. The paper discusses the dilemma of defining VR, and the limitations of the current technology. Furthermore, the author describes his experience with VR and looks at the implications of this new technology for education.     

Telesoftware: Application in Scholastic and Vocational Training

Abstract

This paper looks at the way RAI (Italian Radio) was used to transmit computer programs, and how it helped when the school leaving age was raised in Italy in the 1950s. It also looks at RAI's position vís‐à‐vís the teacher, in which they are joint leaders with complementary functions.     

Supporting and Developing Teachers through Telecommunications

Abstract

This article looks at how knowledge can be accessed using current technologies, so that forms of alternative delivery can be made available. It examines the effect of establishing links between schools and the university producing ‘virtual institutions’, and looks to the future.     

Conceptualizing the use of online technologies for gifted secondary students

In an era where technology is advancing at a rapid pace, and where information is readily accessible on the World Wide Web, educators should be capitalizing on these resources for gifted students. This paper proposes a conceptual framework to support individualized and independent learning within a network of peers that will provide challenging interactions through extensive use of online learning. Online resources and technologies promote the exploration of new concepts and sharing of new learning with a group of motivated and “like‐minded” peers.     

Representation of Virtual Worlds Through Gaming‐Simulation

Abstract

The article looks at how the concept of distance is changing with the use of modern networking. It then looks at the work done by the Télé‐université leading to advances in international working using live television direct by satellite between many nations, and the great advantages for these nations of tele‐conferencing and tele‐working.     

Is this the right answer?

Abstract

The idea that practical work in science is aimed at getting the right answer is strongly ingrained in practice and thinking, particularly those of students. While there are several different purposes for doing practical work, and hence several different kinds of practical work, the pressure to get the ‘right answer’ can affect what students, and teachers do. This paper looks at this issue and discusses two views of manipulation of data done by scientists/teachers, one of which is done for fraudulent purposes while the other is done for simplification. The paper also looks at the assumptions made by students and pressures which lead them to fudge their results. We suggest ways of dealing with these problems by looking inwards at the nature of the subject and trying to understand what constitutes good practice, and by looking outwards at the pressures, particularly those of examinations, which influence practice.     

'Including' permanently excluded students from pupil referral units in further education

This paper considers the growing concern of 'including' permanently excluded students from schools and pupil referral units (PRUs) into a further education environment. The author looks at how further education and PRUs can collaborate to ensure the educational and social success of students who have been permanently excluded from school and some of the issues surrounding it.     

Training Distance Teachers in Denmark

Abstract

Distance teaching is used extensively in introducing information technology (IT), and, in its turn, has entered a new generation of distance teaching by using this IT in its work. In Denmark this new situation has been studied and a course has been developed. The article looks at this course and its organizational and technical set‐up.     

New Dimensions to Psychosocial Development in Traditionally Aged College Students

Why do so many traditionally aged college students engage in inappropriate behaviors, even when they are smart enough to know better? To answer this question, Gregory S. Blimling looks at some of the latest neuroscience research and, in doing so, introduces a new dimension to understanding psychosocial development in college students—developing the capacity for self‐regulatory cognitive control.     

What Drives Successful Technology Planning?

ABSTRACT

Providing computers and in‐servicing staff is not enough to get teachers and students using technology for teaching and learning. Schools of teacher education can prepare teachers better by helping college and university education faculty model technology use throughout the teacher credentialing curriculum. Another approach is to help teachers construct a model for identifying and developing factors that will support their own technology initiatives. The literature on technology integration reveals eight success factors for schools attempting to help teachers adopt technology in their classrooms. This article examines those success factors and looks at strategies for implementing them.     

From Design and Implementation to Impact of Quality Assurance: An Overview of Some Studies into what Impacts Improvement

Abstract

Access to university has improved following the massification of the Australian higher education sector which started in 1989, with the expansion being funded by a widening of the funding base. In the ten years from 1989, Australian universities enrolled an additional 231,000 students, including an extra 189,000 in undergraduate bachelor degrees. Specific equity policies have further attempted to increase opportunities for students previously excluded from higher education. This paper looks at changes in the composition of the student body, and in the patterns of university funding. Using aggregated national student data sets, some of the changes which have arisen from massification are identified, with particular consideration of designated equity groups.     

Report on Day 2

Abstract

This is a ‘view from the coalface’ of someone who runs a large company responsible for the training of other member companies of the Group of which it forms a part. He gives examples from the day‐to‐day work of his company, and looks to the future of open and distance learning in the industrial world.     

The accountability era in US teacher education: looking back,looking forward

Abstract

In keeping with the theme of the 40th anniversary issue of EJTE, this article looks back and forward at US teacher education accountability. It argues that “holding teacher education accountable” has been the major approach to reforming teacher education in the US for the last two decades, assuming that enhanced teacher education quality depends on vigilant public evaluation and monitoring of outcomes related to teacher education institutions, programs, and teacher candidates. This article looks back at the “era of accountability” by examining five policy, political, and professional developments that contributed to its emergence and strong hold on US teacher education. Looking forward to the future of teacher education accountability in the US, the article argues that we need a new approach – democratic accountability in teacher education – which is based on intelligent professional responsibility for students’ learning including democratic knowledge and skills, strong equity, and genuine collaboration with multiple stakeholders.     

Paradigms and Perspectives of Simulation

Abstract

This article looks at the complex and multi‐faceted nature of paradigms and perspectives of gaming and simulation. It provides insight into the discipline by describing various broad categories into which the range of activity can be divided, and concludes by stressing the relevance of its application to contemporary problems.     

Visualizing Humans by Computer

Abstract

This paper gives an overview of the problems involved in visualizing humans in a three‐dimensional scene, and looks at the history and development of human shape modelling, human motion control, and modelling of human characteristics and clothing to produce computer‐generated actors.     

Changes in Initial Teacher Training Students’ Perceptions of the Effectiveness of School‐based Mentoring over Time

This article looks at mentoring in the Open University's Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) course: a distance learning, competence‐based course of part‐time Initial Teacher Training (ITT) for primary and secondary students. It emphasises the importance of school‐based mentoring, and looks at changing student perceptions of mentoring over the duration of the course. Questionnaires and interviews are used to explore a range of issues about mentoring in ITT. The findings suggest that students become more discerning about, and more critical of, their mentors as the course proceeds. Some attempt is made to suggest how these attitudes can be improved. The mentors’ perceptions are compared with those of the students.     

Learning and the ‘F’ Word

Abstract

The article looks at the ‘At‐Risk Program’ set up as a collaboration between teachers in elementary and secondary public schools and the staff of Indiana University.