The Computer: a Tool for Communication

Abstract

This article describes the background to telematics, the equipment needed for its use, and the methods of operation. It also gives information about a ‘CIME‐ICEM’ line in the host computer at the Belgian Ministry of Information.     

Developing and Researching Information and Communication Technology as a Research Tool

Abstract

In 2000–2001, the authors derived a 13-category classification system for Web-based educational resources, based on analysis of 199 educational resources recognized as “exemplary” by four national entities. In 2004, we re-examined that classification system, analyzing a stratified random sample of 40 exemplary Web-based resources from the same entities. While the classification system still accommodated categorizing current educational resources, we detected some overlap among categories. Through combination and redefinition, we reduced the number of categories to eleven. This article addresses the initial and modified classification systems, the analysis procedures employed, examples of resources in each category, and future applications of the classification system.     

Using Extraction Experiment as a Tool for Teaching Scientific Process Skills

Laboratory work educates students about the ＂processes of science＂. But it is suggested that students＇ learning level is low because of limited application of science processes in their laboratory work. Extraction experiment was chosen as the topic since it allows students to apply many of their basic chemistry knowledge, and it can be readily to gain understanding of scientific proceses required for an investigation. This study has been carried out with 40 students who are in the first year of Science Teaching Division at Trakya University, Faculty of Education. These students were divided into two groups of the experimental group and the control group, each group containing 20 students. The students of the experimental group were given knowledge about basic scientific process skills, and a procedure in detail to follow was given. But the students of the control group was given a standard procedure. The students of both groups were asked about what and why they did while they were performing the laboratory investigation. We observed that the experimental group students used the basic process skills, understood the extraction experiment, and realized what and why they did from this activity better than the control group students. The control group students did not know why they did laboratory work and they tended to focus on completing the task rather than learning from it. We considered that the experience would be helpful for students to improve scientific process skills if the students successfully acquired procedural understanding. Students＂ scientific processskills will develop as long as they use the skills.     

Conceptualising Resources as a Theme for Teacher Education

In this report, I examine resources and their use in school mathematics. I do so from the perspective of mathematics teacher education and with a view to the practice of school mathematics. I argue that the effectiveness of resources for mathematical learning lies in their use, that is, in the classroom teaching and learning context. The argument pivots on the concepts of school mathematics as a hybrid practice and on the transparency of resources in use. These concepts are elaborated by examples of resource use within an in-service teacher education research project in South Africa. I propose that mathematics teacher education needs to focus more attention on resources, on what they are and how they work as an extension of the teacher in school mathematics practice. In so doing, the report provides a language with which mathematics teacher educators and mathematics teachers can investigate teachers' use of resources to support mathematical learning in particular and diverse contexts. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Collaborative Online Teamwork: Exploring Students' Satisfaction and Attitudes with Google Hangouts as a Supplementary Communication Tool

This study examined differences in student satisfaction and perceptions of online teamwork in two cohorts of an undergraduate educational technology course: one delivered fully asynchronously and the other incorporating synchronous Google Hangouts sessions in student online teamwork. Participants included 50 undergraduate students at a large university in the northeastern United States. Results indicated that the cohort that used synchronous Google Hangouts as a tool supplementary to the asynchronous communication components such as discussion boards and e-mails had a higher level of satisfaction with online teamwork when compared with the cohort that used only asynchronous communication tools. In addition, students reported that synchronous communication using Google Hangouts helped them develop a sense of community. Implications of the results are discussed.     

Metaphor as a Tool for Evaluation

This paper analyses the use of metaphor as a tool for evaluation through the case study of a cohort of students on the first year of a Diploma in Social Work/Diploma in Higher Education, a professional social work training programme. It concludes that such a use can generate energy and images containing clear messages which are less constrained than those which arise from some more traditional evaluative techniques. The considerable restraints imposed on the use of metaphor in the case study are evaluated. Several suggestions are made for developing its use into personal and academic assessment and into group and individual supervision.     

'Bully Dance': Animation as a Tool for Conflict Resolution

This paper presents the outcomes of a 4-hour activity day centred upon a short film entitled Bully Dance , a non-verbal animation featuring a unique soundtrack that focuses on identifying bullying behaviours and coping strategies, and understanding the role of the bystander. Participants were 34 year 6 children, aged 10/11 years old, from one primary school in a London Local Education Authority. The activity day consisted of an initial brainstorming session, with the whole class, entitled 'what is bullying?' followed by a viewing of the film. In groups of five or six, subsequent structured activities (brainstorming, poster making, letter writing, role-play, worksheets) were facilitated with the aim of stimulating discussion. Using the Children's Attitudes to Bullying scale, data were collected both before and after the activity day. Overall, the results suggested that children mostly expressed anti-bullying attitudes about bullying in schools; however, a minority reported pro-bullying attitudes. Anti-bullying attitudes did not significantly increase and, in the case of males, anti-bullying attitudes actually decreased. Females expressed higher anti-bullying attitudes than males, both before and after the activity day. The authors suggest that participating in the activity day may have had an impact upon knowledge and understanding of bullying, rather than attitudes as such. Furthermore, the results indicate that further consideration of the design and delivery of structured activities is required so that boys can be reached as effectively as girls can.     

Positive Ignorance: Unknowing as a Tool for Education and Educational Research

Positive ignorance is the putting in to question of, and sometimes moving on from, the knowledge we think we have, and asking where it might be just or helpful to do so. Drawing primarily on the work of Barbara Johnson, this article shows how the notion of positive ignorance might be offered as a tool in the context of education and educational research. Partly a critical development of Richard Smith's argument in ‘The Virtues of Unknowing’, I attempt to understand ‘unknowing’ as an active rather than passive form of ‘not knowing’, in a manner that challenges some aspects of ‘the virtues of unknowing’ and its concomitant epistemological and ethical positions, not least those tied to Smith's advocacy for what he calls the ‘well‐stocked mind’. Unknowing, in my reading, is not a dispositional acceptance of the desirability of nonknowledge, instead, unknowing is a means of epistemological resistance, especially against that which, often with very real social and political consequences, is presented as self‐evident.     

Communication Intervention for Students with Severe Disability: results of a partner training program

This paper reports on the evaluation of a professional development program designed for communication partners of students with severe disability. The program aimed to facilitate the translation of reported best practice in the area of communication to classroom practice. A model of case application was used to enhance partner acquisition of targeted skills and knowledge, thereby addressing perceived concerns in this area. Participants including teachers, teacher aides, and speech pathologists completed pre‐ and post‐intervention questionnaires measuring skills, knowledge, and concerns. Data were analysed on the basis of participant role to determine the significance of change between groups. Results suggest that the professional development program was effective. Teachers and teacher aides reported increased skills and knowledge, accompanied by reduced concerns. Speech pathologists indicated minimal change in either area. These findings are explored in the context of the current research literature on partner training in communication intervention.     

交谈语体作为主题连接性语言的内涵

本文主要考察了现代汉语交谈语体中影响主题的建立方式和分布形式的诸超语言因素,进而将交谈语体和独白语体作了比较,提出了交谈语体是主题连接型语言的假设,并指出在语言的多语体化趋势下,语言所分化出的诸功能语体也许丧失了对话的表现形式,但却保留了一定的对话性.由此对交谈语体乃至整个语体研究中存在的相关问题进行了几点思考.     

Concept-Mapping as a Research Tool: A Study of Primary Children's Representations of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

This paper presents an approach to concept-mapping that was used in an EU-funded project to study ten year old pupils' representations of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The research task – to draw a concept map of computers in today's world – was administered to children in six EU countries twice. In England this took place immediately before and after the introduction of networked PCs in their schools. They were asked to use their maps to communicate their ideas through drawing to the researchers and other children who did not all speak the same language as them. The maps were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively, using phenomenographic methods combined with semiotic interpretation. The maps showed that the children had well-developed mental representations (secondary artifacts) of the role of ICT in today's world, even when they had little or no practical experience of using the Internet. Psychological theories suggest that learning depends to a considerable extent on the development of secondary artifacts of this kind. The extent and variety of knowledge about computers demonstrated by all children in the cohort came as a surprise and suggested that they would be very well prepared to develop sophisticated ICT skills once they had good access to ICT tools. Current approaches to ICT use in primary schools, involving explicit, systematic teaching of ICT skills, may therefore not be making the most cost-effective use of scarce resources. Exploratory use of ICT within open-ended project work, reflecting the kind of use that computer-literate adults make of ICT, might be more likely to provide the context for children's rapid development of a complex range of ICT skills.     

Active Listening: Web-based Assessment Tool for Communication and Active Listening Skill Development

The Instructional Design Portfolio

Active Listening: Web-based Assessment Tool for Communication and Active Listening Skill Development     

The Creative Consultant: The Potential Use of Consultancy as a Method of Teacher Education

This article contends that it is important for educational leaders to understand and reown the historical roots of modern democracy. In particular, it highlights a foundational human capacity for shared ethical insight which characterizes the rich conception of democracy that can be traced in this historical development. Implications for educational leadership are considered and the idea of recentring school cultures on the narrative and ideals of developmental democracy is elaborated.     

Positioning Mentoring as a Coach Development Tool: Recommendations for Future Practice and Research

Current thinking in coach education advocates mentoring as a development tool to connect theory and practice. However, little empirical evidence exists to evaluate the effectiveness of mentoring as a coach development tool. Business, education, and nursing precede the coaching industry in their mentoring practice, and research findings offered in these domains could be drawn upon to position mentoring as sports coaching development tool. Given the remote basis of some of mentor–coach relationships in sports coaching, additional learning can be drawn from mentoring conducted by virtual or electronic mediums. This article concludes with a series of reflective questions arising from research findings in other domains, designed to engage the potential coaching organization with the mentoring process.     

Cognitive Load Theory as a Tool for Expertise Development

This special issue is dedicated to recentdevelopments within cognitive load theory (CLT)and identifies some instructional implicationsof the interaction between informationstructures and cognitive architecture. Thepresent article discusses the different studiesin this special issue. An important conclusionis that recent CLT research recognizes thelearners' level of expertise as an importantfactor mediating the relation between cognitivearchitecture, information structures, andlearning outcomes. In this context, we discussthe role of expertise in CLT research and therole of CLT in expertise research. Based onthis discussion, the use of CLT as a tool todevelop expertise is identified as a verypromising approach.     

Evaluating Portfolio Use as a Learning Tool for Professionals

We have earlier reported overall teacher emphases on six general educational goals. In the present study we present school level analyses of the same goal variables. The new focus of the present study was on possible school differences in teacher goal emphases. It is assumed that school differences may indicate a process of teacher socialisation in schools, particularly if these characteristics are relatively stable over time. About 40 schools were analysed at two points in time and they were represented by two different samples of teachers (144 and 157 teachers). We analysed both individual goal variables and goal profiles defined by how the teachers ranked the six goals. Only the 'profile approach' indicated school-specific goal priorities. The results also showed that the degree of goal consensus in schools should not be regarded as an aspect of the school climate. In addition, the measure of school goal consensus was weakly related to other examined aspects of the school climate.     

Performance Assessment as a Diagnostic Tool for Science Teachers

Research in Science Education - Information on students’ development of science skills is essential for teachers to evaluate and improve their own education, as well as to provide adequate...