Issues in the definition and diagnosis of learning disabilities: a perspective on Guckenberger v. Boston University

This article reviews issues related to the definition of learning disabilities in the context of the Guckenberger v. Boston University case. Four major questions are addressed: (a) Who is learning disabled? (b) How should learning disabilities be assessed? (c) Who is qualified to make a decision about whether or not an individual has a learning disability? and (d) What accommodations should be provided by a postsecondary institution and how should they be selected? Although these are complicated and difficult questions, it is possible to develop a simple, reasonable classification system for learning disabilities, and to conduct assessments based on a coherent and relevant set of achievement tests in which individuals who score below a cutoff are considered learning disabled. Scores on IQ tests are irrelevant and not useful and may even be discriminatory. The issues of decision making regarding learning disabilities and appropriate accommodations remain significant dilemmas for the field; resolution of these issues seems virtually impossible without agreement on appropriate procedures for the definition, identification, and assessment of learning disabilities.     

Leadership and engagement in South Cambridgeshire District Council

How can action learning be used as part of an overall approach to changing the culture of an organisation? This article describes some of the work being done by managers in South Cambridgeshire district to build a more empowered and engaged organisation following the appointment of a new chief executive tasked with raising standards in an organisation which had had a challenging history, where morale was low and where significant reductions in the workforce were taking place. The article describes the purpose of action learning in this particular context, the membership of the action learning groups and the uses to which action learning is being put by managers in the Council.     

Educational Assessment of the Post-Pandemic Age: Chinese Experiences and Trends Based on Large-Scale Online Learning

Owing to the break-out of the COVID-19 pandemic, students have to take more online learning than offline, and large-scale education assessment programs have to be suspended or postponed. How could education assessment adapt to large-scale online learning? How could the effect and safety of online assessment be improved? What role should formative assessment play in student admissions? How could different assessment results be linked? Reflections on and trends of the Chinese experiences are presented in this article. Based on cross-cultural comparison research, measures to be recommended are as follows: reviewing previous theories, improving existing methods continuously, and developing assessment techniques innovatively according to new application scenarios.     

Reflections on working with critical action learning

Critical action learning engages participants in a process of drawing from critical perspectives to make connections between their learning and work experiences, to understand and change interpersonal and organisational practices. But what does this mean in practice? How can critical action learning be expedited? What outcomes can critical action learning have for participants, and can the hopes for critical action learning be fulfilled? The intentions of this paper are to contribute reflections of our empirical experience on working with critical action learning in management development.     

Designing for Differences: Cultural Issues in the Design of WWW-Based Course-Support Sites

Culture is a critical influence on the acceptance, use of, and impact of learning resources. WWW-based course-support sites are becoming an increasingly familiar type of learning resource in higher education. How might different aspects of culture be predicted to affect the institution's, instructor's, and student's reactions to WWW-based course-support sites? How can such sites be designed to adapt to different expectations and learner preferences, especially those related to culture? This article analyses various of these cultural aspects, and argues that WWW-based course-support sites should be designed to be adaptable to different types of cultural differences through the application of a set of ten design guidelines. An example illustrating the design guidelines, the TeleTOP Method from the University of Twente, is described and evaluated relative to the design guidelines. Important considerations related to feasibility as well as to conceptual and strategic choices are included in the scope of the guidelines; the instructor's cultural ecology requires particular attention. But WWW sites and guidelines in themselves are not enough for cultural flexibility; sensitivity and appropriate responsiveness remain human activities.     

Exploring the Secret Garden: the growing importance of ICT in the home

The use of ICT (information and communication technology) in homes is growing faster than its use in schools and colleges—and there are already more systems in homes than in educational settings. This article argues that we should attempt to enter the area which most research on ICT in education tends to ignore: the secret garden of the learner at home. It is based partly on two pilot case-studies of secondary schools and a small sample of their students. Given the paucity of research in this area the article poses more questions than it answers. What are the implications of ICT use at home for teachers in schools? Do home systems interfere with school education or can they be used to enhance it? How should teachers respond to, and assess, work done using home ICT? Is the home situation widening the gap between one set of pupils (the "haves" of ICT) and another? Suggestions for school policies and action research for the future are put forward.     

Following the action in action learning: towards ethnomethodological studies of (critical) action learning

Action learning is a pedagogical practice that helps participants learn by talking about their workplace action with fellow participants (‘comrades in adversity’) in their action learning set. This paper raises questions about the action in action learning, such as: how do members of an action learning set learn from and through each other? How do they learn through their developing conversation and interaction?

To answer such questions, I argue that, ‘ethnomethodology’ (the study of ‘member's methods’ or ‘folk methods’ for doing any kind of practical action) is useful for showing the intricacy of the practical learning process in action learning, as in learning in action, more generally. The paper illustrates the conversational and interactional work of members doing things and learning together in action (for example discovering things in science and in board meetings); and argues that this approach may also be used to study action learning in practice.     

母语在英语教学中的应用

母语与英语教学的关系密不可分。母语不仅能够促进外语学习,还会对外语学习产生负面影响,使学生在外语学习中受到不同程度的干扰。在外语教学中如何使用目标语言和母语,何时使用目标语言和母语,如何避免母语负迁移的不利影响,仍然需要我们进一步探索。     

Promoting access, accommodations, and independence for college students with learning disabilities.

This article focuses on the four primary issues that directly affect service delivery to students with learning disabilities in postsecondary settings, including (a) How are high school and post-secondary settings different? (b) How are eligibility and access determined? (c) How are reasonable accommodations determined? and (d) How can the independence level of college students with learning disabilities be fostered? Each of these issues will be discussed within the context of the student's transition from high school, where Public Law 94-142 is in effect, to college, where Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 applies.     

Principals and teachers as partners in critical,participatory action research

Abstract

This article reports on a two-year study of one principal’s professional learning practices in ‘Transform,’ a professional learning program in Edmonton Catholic Schools, Alberta, Canada. Transform was designed to be a bottom-up, morally-oriented professional learning approach in which principals and teachers worked as partners on critical, participatory action research projects. This article examines the research question ‘How are principals shifting from technically- to morally-oriented professional learning practices in their schools?’ and explores one theme – co-creating social spaces for risk-taking – to illustrate how principals shifted from being managers of teachers’ learning to being partners with teachers in researching and refining classroom practices.     

PowerPoint Presentation Technology and the Dynamics of Teaching

This article presents a wide-ranging analysis of the use of PowerPoint technology in higher education. It addresses four overlapping issues. Has PowerPoint led to more effective learning? What impact has PowerPoint had on the dynamics of classrooms? What are some important aspects of the culture that accompanies PowerPoint? How has PowerPoint affected orality, visuality and literacy? The purpose of our article is to stimulate beneficial conversations about a prevalent educational software technology.     

Reading Foreign Languages in the First Phase of Secondary Education: why,what and how?

In this article it is argued that reading skills in the teaching of a foreign language are much neglected in the first phase of secondary education. In order to show (I) why reading is of great importance for language acquisition in general and (2) how to utilise reading in the initial stages of language learning, the following questions are dealt with: (1) What is the status of reading in the different approaches to foreign language learning? (2) Why not focus on listening in terms of the receptive skills? (3) Which different types of texts (books) can be used? (4) How should these texts be used in order to maximise the contribution to language acquisition?     

Ten Years of Puzzling about Audience Awareness

The decisions evaluators make regarding how to work with teachers through the annual evaluation process can have a positive impact on teacher growth and student learning. In this article, the author examines the quality of feedback and how administrators use and provide this feedback to teachers through the evaluation process. What constitutes quality feedback? How does quality feedback support teachers' instruction? How can the supervision and evaluation process offer both teachers and administrators an opportunity to work together to improve student learning? The evaluation process should support the goal of maintaining a high level of quality instruction. In the end, the goal is to increase student learning by improving the effectiveness of teaching.     

Working locally as a true professional : case studies in the development of local curriculum

Abstract

This article investigates the dynamic overall picture concerning the development of local curriculum in Thailand through action research conducted by 27 Thai elementary school teachers in three private schools in Fang District, Chiang Mai Province. This was the teachers' first experience with action research. The article examines the following questions: ‘How do teachers develop local curriculum through action research?’ and ‘What is the impact of action research on the professional learning of teachers?’ The field research methodology was primarily based on participant observation and informal interviews. The findings illustrate the various factors impacting on the development of local curriculum in Thailand through the action research of the teachers. They also shed light on the main role of the researcher in monitoring the progress of the project and acting as facilitator. The article also discusses the positive impact of the action research process on the professional learning of the teachers and reveals the unique cycle form of the action research process of Thai teachers.     

对高校班级党支部建设的几点思考

班级党支部是新时期高校学生党建工作的一种创新.在班级党支部建设过程中,通常会面临一些新的问题,如:何时组建班级党支部最为合适,如何正确处理班级党支部与团支部、班委会的关系,怎样检验班级党支部建设的成效,如何给予班级党支部以必要的指导,本文对上述一系列问题作了一些粗浅的分析与思考.     

Study of a self-managed action learning set: what makes it last 14 years?

What contributes to longevity in an action learning (AL) set? What holds it together over a long period? The article relates the chronology and reasons why a self-managed set has flourished when so many sets of voluntary membership peter out. Major attributes of successful longevity are the adherence to strong ground rules and disciplined recruitment. The author, a member of the set, uses anecdotal data from interviews of existing and former set members to narrate picture of a group of action learners who attend set meetings regularly and enthusiastically. Another cause of longevity is the flexible employment of AL process serving the needs of professionally qualified people unstintingly learning from, and caring for, each other.     

Using Mobile Technology in the Classroom: A Reflection Based on Teaching Experience in UAE

Smartphones are developing rapidly and continually with new features that make them widely used in many contexts. This paper is to reflect on students’ behaviours of using smartphones spontaneously (unplanned use) in the classroom, in a university in Dubai city in UAE. This reflection shall address the following questions: How can the instructors integrate smartphones into the classroom? How will they know that the students are using their phones in a way that relates to and enhances their learning? What are the implications and restrictions? The answers to these questions will illustrate that smartphones should be utilised as teaching tools since they support students’ learning; and therefore, should be allowed in the classroom.     

Studying studies on teacher reflection and action: An appraisal of research contributions

For decades a substantial body of research on teacher reflection and action has been conducted. This research contains a wealth of information on teachers’ thinking about their daily work in classrooms. But what do these studies tell us about the linkage between thought and action in actual teaching? How do they contribute to our understanding, or do they, in the very selection of their methods, ‘tell only half the story’? To address these concerns, we have engaged in a critical appraisal to learn about the scope and limitations of research contributions and identify criteria that may shed light on exactly what aspects of teacher learning and development are being studied.This appraisal uses an analytic framework to position the various studies that have been conducted. From our analysis, which focuses on the validity criterion of closeness between type of research question and data collection methods, we conclude that the research would profit from a set of more detailed criteria to address some of the limitations inherent in approaches to studying teacher reflection and action.     

Curricular responsiveness to the Covid-19 crisis: The case of Indonesia

This article focuses on the effect of the Covid-19 crisis on education systems in Indonesia. It describes and illuminates various curricular responses, from nation-based actions to policies by the office of the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia. The article asks: How does the Covid-19 crisis affect education systems, activities, policies, and practices in the Indonesia archipelago? How has the central government responded to the Covid-19 crisis within educational institutions? What do these institutions’ curricular responses look like? What are some of the guiding curricular principles of schooling, teaching, and learning emerging and circulating during the Covid-19 crisis and within educational institutions’ efforts to revive educational life, possibilities, and continuance? It is hoped that this article on the case of Indonesia will promote and contribute to new sharing of the global understanding of curriculum responsiveness, teaching, learning, policy, and practice during the current Covid-19 crisis.

     

Moving Science Off the “Back Burner”: Meaning Making Within an Action Research Community of Practice

In this study, the participants conceptualized and implemented an action research project that focused on the infusion of inquiry principles into a neglected science curriculum. Specific objectives were to find (a) What factors challenge and support the evolution of an action research community of practice? (b) How are teachers’ beliefs about science teaching and learning transformed? and (c) How does teachers’ knowledge of curriculum, instruction, assessment, and student learning change as a result of learning within a community of practice? In this instrumental case study (Stake 2000, In N. K. Denzin, &; Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 435–454). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage), a range of data collection sources and methods were adopted. Outcomes focus on how the design principles for cultivating a community of practice emerged in the action research group, as well as the types of teacher learning that occurred by engaging in action research.