Reclaiming the students – coping with social media in 1:1 schools

There is a debate about the advantages and disadvantages of using social media in education. Drawing on interviews and surveys with students and teachers in three Swedish schools, this study finds that students as well as teachers find much of the students' social media use distractive to learning. We investigate this by means of an interpretative study of students' and teachers' experiences. We find that concerns relate to how social media use makes students less social, how weaker students are more likely to get distracted, how teachers lack strategies for tackling the problem and how the responsibility of the use is delegated to the students. We discuss how the distractive use of social media is made possible as a result of education policies requiring a higher degree of individual work, individual responsibility, and educational choices for students. Teachers and school leaders need to jointly reclaim the students and coping strategies for the distractive use are urgently needed.     

Videoconferencing to help build a state network

Conclusion The experience gained by AETC and the staff at Arizona State University in the production of the videoconference and the details of establishing a network of meeting sites has opened the door to future use of this medium to reach a statewide audience for other educational forums. Encouraged by this first success, the staff at University Media Systems produced a statewide videoconference on foreign language instruction in the elementary schools in the Spring of 1990. The videoconference introduced hundreds of education, business, and government professionals to the potential of telecommunications for instruction. Now that they have been excited by the capabilities of these media, the continuing challenge for AETC members and the Arizona educational community will be working together to persuade the Arizona legislature of the need to fund the creation and maintenance of a statewide educational telecommunications system.     

How do different types of schools prepare students for life at Cambridge?

Twenty students from different educational backgrounds within the UK were interviewed to investigate how well they considered their secondary school education had prepared them for the educational and social demands of an ‘elite’ university and life within its most traditional colleges. The study asked them how they perceived students from different educational backgrounds and how they thought they were perceived. Entering a traditional Cambridge college was found to be easiest for students from prestigious ‘public schools’ within the private educational sector. State school students were more likely to experience anxiety, and those who adapted successfully were likely to have strong independent learning skills and a robust sense of self-efficacy. The study suggests that students coming from state schools to Cambridge are making a more difficult academic and social transition than students from private schools, for which they are given no special support.     

The Struggle for Culture: a sociological case study of the development of a national music curriculum

The article presents a case study of the development of the National Curriculum for music in English schools. This illustrates a relatively rare phenomenon, whereby the content of academic debates within the sociology of education, music education and musicology attain national importance through widespread coverage in the media. It is argued that the very public nature of the debates concerning what should count as school music exemplify an ideological struggle concerning the nature of ‘Englishness’ and what should lie at the heart of English culture. The analysis suggests that the precise role which institutions or the State play in the maintenance and reproduction of societies is contradictory and elusive. It also illustrates the ways in which the unintended consequences of government intervention in the educational process may provide outcomes severely at odds with their ideological intentions.     

Instructional practices of teachers enrolled in educational technology and general education programs

This study investigated classroom practices of 38 teachers enrolled in university masters' degree programs in educational technology and in other areas of education. The classroom practices related to five key concepts associated with educational technology: (a) learner-centered instruction, (b) instructional design, (c) media and technology, (d) assessment, and (e) instructional alignment. Teachers rated their frequency of use of desirable practices in these five areas on a 30-item Likert type survey. In addition, one class of students per teacher rated its own teacher's frequency of use of the practices on 20 items parallel to items on the teacher survey. The mean overall rating across all teachers for the classroom practice items was very close to Often, or 4.0, on the 5-point scale. There were few reported differences between the teachers enrolled in educational technology programs and those enrolled in other education programs. Student ratings indicated less frequent teacher use of the desirable practices on 16 of the 20 common items, with significantly lower student ratings on 8 of these items. However, there was strong teacher-student agreement on several other comparisons.The study reported in this article was conducted as a doctoral dissertation at Arizona State University.     

军政时期“关东州”日本人小学校教育政策探析

在日本确立了对"关东州"的殖民统治之后,为解决日本移民子女的学习问题而创办了专门招收日本人的小学校,并且很快就形成了寻常小学校、寻常高等小学校、高等小学校补习科的教育制度,日本在"关东州"小学教育中所实行的政策,不论是从教育制度方面或者是从教育方针方面而言,都具有殖民地色彩和特征,是为巩固日本对"关东州"的殖民统治服务的.     

Media/ting change: the print media's role in mediating education policy in a period of radical reform in Victoria,Australia

This paper draws upon critical discourse analysis, cultural studies and communication theory, studies on media and educational reform, and the work of Bernstein, Bourdieu and Luhmann in particular, to explore how the print and media ‘mediated’ a period of educational change marked by moves to self‐management in schools in Victoria, Australia. It considers how the media was mobilized by various education stakeholders, and in turn informed relations between schools and government, through policy discourses and texts. It considers why and how particular themes became media ‘issues’, how schools and teachers responded to these issues, and how the media was used by various stakeholders in education to shape policy debates. It is based on a year‐long qualitative study that explored critical incidents and representations about education in the print media over a year in the daily press. It illustrates the ways in which a neo‐liberal Victorian government mobilized the media to gain strategic advantage to promote radical education reform policies, considers the media effects of this media/tion process on schools and teachers, and conceptualizes how school and system performance is fed from and into media representations, public perceptions and community understandings of schools and teachers' work.     

论媒介素养对西部教育资源建设的意义和作用

西部教育资源因种种原因存在着开发、利用不足,资源配置不合理,人力资源匮乏等问题.在国家和地方政府有限的投入下,如何正确而充分利用大众媒介信息资源十分重要.本文提出了媒介素养对西部教育资源有着建设性作用,正确有效地获取大众媒介信息可以促使西部教育资源的开发,科学准确地分析评判媒介信息有利于西部教育资源的优化,健康的信息传播则有利于西部教育资源的整合.     

Do school context,student composition and school leadership affect school practice and outcomes in secondary education?

This study examined effects of school context, student composition and school leadership on school practice and outcomes in secondary education in Flanders. The study reveals that relations between school characteristics do exist and that it is possible to explain an important part of the differences in mean effort and mathematics achievement of schools by means of these school characteristics. Furthermore, it was found that school size positively affects school outcomes and that its effect is mediated by school practice characteristics like the amount of cooperation between teachers, which affects school climate and outcomes. School leadership did not affect the school practice much, perhaps because of a lack of a strong educational leadership in most of the Flemish secondary schools. However, the student composition of schools seemed to be very important for school practice, as well as for school outcomes. Nevertheless, the study revealed that schools can affect the outcomes of their students independently of their student composition and context by means of school practice.     

Video game discourses and implications for game-based education

Increasingly prevalent educational discourses promote the use of video games in schools and universities. At the same time, populist discourses persist, particularly in print media, which condemn video games because of putative negative effects on behaviour and socialisation. These contested discourses, we suggest, influence the acceptability of games and limit critical analysis of their effectiveness as pedagogic tools. This article focuses on the representation of video games in media discourse. We present insights from a small-scale study of the construction of video game discourses in the UK print media in 2013, and discuss three areas that emerged. First, the assumptions inherent in the representation of the ‘video game’; second, the implied lack of agency in the behaviour of ‘the gamer’; and third, the way in which blame is manipulated. Finally, we consider the implications for game-based education.     

Comparison of performance and attitude in traditional and computer conferencing classes

Abstract

A 1992 survey of the thirty‐five Oklahoma schools that received satellite downlinks as part of the 1988–1990 Midlands Consortium Star Schools grant investigated the extent to which schools were continuing to use the equipment and the impact of satellite access on their educational programs. Four schools did not use their downlinks in 1991–92, and two of the four also did not use the equipment in 1990–91; thirty‐one schools were continuing to use the equipment to receive student and/or staff development programming. Sixty‐one percent of thirty‐three respondents believe satellite access has very significantly or significantly improved the educational program for students at their school; 39% believe it has very significantly or significantly improved their overall staff development program. Forty‐eight percent of respondents reported a decrease in use since the first year of operation; 76% of respondents anticipate an increase in use in the future.     

Impact of facilities on academic performance of students with special needs in mainstreamed public schools in Southwestern Nigeria

Facilities have a great impact on academic performances of students, and inadequate facilities translate to poor performance. The study examined the availability and convenience of the facilities that were provided to students with special educational needs in mainstreamed schools. It ascertained the qualifications of teachers teaching in mainstreamed public secondary schools. It determined the relationship between availability of facilities and academic performance of students with special educational needs; and also compared the academic performance of male and female students with special educational needs. The results showed that essential facilities and materials like hand railings, hearing aids, Braille, instructional materials, and lower toilets were not available, although the few that were available (typewriters, resource rooms, wheel chairs) were in poor condition. The study showed that specialist teachers were inadequate in mainstreamed public schools in Southwestern Nigeria. There was a significant relationship between availability of facilities and academic performance of students with special educational needs. However, there was no significant difference between the academic performance of male and female students with special educational needs. The study concluded that inadequate provision of facilities and materials to mainstreamed public schools would lead to poor academic performances of students with special educational needs. Finally, adequate funding of integrated schools would help to overcome the problem of provision and maintenance of special equipment and materials for the use of students with special educational needs.     

International coproduction

Dealing with international coproduction of educational films in an article like this asks for a certain introudction. The ever-increasing influence of visual media on the community today and the intensified use of these media in all forms of instruction and education in schools and other educational institutions constitute an inducement to examine the possibilities of international cooperation in the production of these media.     

固原市中小学教师教育技术能力现状分析与对策

通过问卷调查、访谈等方法对固原市中小学教师教育技术能力的实际情况进行调查、分析和研究,发现固原市中小学教师教育技术能力整体不高,在教育技术标准的四个指标中,没有一个指标完全达到要求．教师在教学中使用教育技术的意识不强,能将教育技术恰当用于教学过程的很少．应在加强交流合作、教师队伍建设和改善办学条件等方面不断努力．     

Shaping landscape identity in Jewish state education during the 1950s to 1960s

This paper discusses the attempts of Israeli education, in a similar fashion to other national educational systems, to shape a territorial identity for the pupils of the new State. The Israeli school used a variety of educational means to shape a person who would be modelled on his new birthplace’s landscape, including the use of textbooks, illustrations, and maps, to aid in the process of creating a desired image of the homeland’s landscape. The hidden curriculum used textbooks employing mathematics questions to learn details about the geographical expanse. Alongside the use of a written curriculum, Israeli education made use of the extra curriculum by becoming physically familiar with a place and creating a local time based on the seasons of the year. Local nature was studied during moledet (homeland) lessons, similar to the Weimar Republic of Germany’s Heimatkunde studies, as well as during other subjects, such as nature studies and Bible. These studies integrated national goals and progressive humanistic educational schools of thought which viewed a child’s encounter with nature as a vital part of his or her education. The readers, which were built on a timeline of the seasons and the school celebrating nature festivals, created a natural time frame for the pupils in which they acted and studied. The discussion about the ways territorial identity was structured by the Israeli education system is another chapter in the wider debate about national education and illustrates the schools’ function as one of the State’s national social agents, particularly in its early years.     

Residential school placements and disabled children: the contrasting views of local education authorities and of parents

Despite government commitment to the inclusion of children with special educational needs in mainstream schools, significant numbers of disabled children are placed in residential special schools. In the face of a distinct lack of information about the numbers or needs of these children, or about their experiences of living away from home at residential schools, the authors carried out research to examine why disabled children went to residential school, and their experiences of being there. This article focuses on the circumstances leading to a residential school placement, and the decision-making process from the point of view of local education authorities, and of parents. The paper reveals wide variations in the use of residential schools by local authorities, and conflicting views between and within authorities on the suitability of such placements. Parents' experiences are characterised by a lack of support in making very difficult decisions about the best place for their child to be, and a decision-making process dominated by delays, lack of information and conflict.     

Primary teachers and policy innovation in India: Some neglected issues

This paper draws on data from three case study sites in Gujarat State to examine primary teachers' motivation and ability to adapt to major new policy initiatives. It uses the 1986 policy innovation of Operation Blackboard as a medium through which to explore the problems attending widescale and rapid purposive change. As part of the newly defined minimum facilities in primary schools, Operation Blackboard supplied a second teacher to many existing single teacher, single room establishments. Through this programme, policy-makers intended to upgrade the quality of school education and effect a major revision of teaching methods. But, although the policy acknowledged teachers' centrality to educational change, the innovation arising from it failed to prepare teachers to adapt to its demands. Centrally conceived, it allowed neither State-level administrators nor teachers any sense of ownership or participation in decision-making. No allowance for teachers' generally low professional competence, training and motivation was made; and nor was it recognised that differences in socio-economic contexts would affect teachers' capacity to utilise what was provided. The implications of findings made in three very different socio-economic locations within a single District of Gujarat State can be generalised to the State level, and are significant also at a national level for policy-makers seeking to initiate educational innovations in the current circumstances.     

Online pornography – Should schools be teaching young people about the risks? An exploration of the views of young people and teaching professionals

The Internet has made sexually explicit media more accessible to young people. Online pornography is diverse, can be very graphic, and a large amount is available free of charge with restrictions varying by country. Many young people are accessing online pornography, intentionally or unintentionally, and there are fears that this could impact on their sexual development and future relationships. Current research into the effects of viewing pornography on attitudes and behaviours of young people is patchy and often contradictory. Via an anonymous survey of 218 young people and focus group discussions with 23 teaching professionals in outer London schools, this study examines whether young people and teaching professionals consider pornography use to have harmful effects, and if they feel schools should be incorporating teaching about online pornography in their educational programmes. Findings reveal that young people and teachers perceive there to be many negative effects of viewing pornography, particularly at a young age. Young people and teachers agree that schools should teach about the risks associated with online pornography viewing. Recommendations for schools about how to facilitate discussion of issues surrounding pornography use as part of the wider sex education programme are made, including the involvement of parents.     

Perceptions of inequalities in access and usage of ICT in Islamic faith schools

Although the educational experiences of South Asian Muslim women have been studied, little is known regarding the role of technology and its effects on education in this population. This study explores the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in British Muslim girls’ schools and its effect on learning. It uses primary data from semi-structured interviews with 14–19-year-olds in three Islamic faith schools. Template analysis was used to identify emerging themes. Participants had access to a wide range of technologies and applications; however, access was often limited to classroom settings. Participants also used subject-specific resources available from learning platforms, although this was not consistent across schools and subjects. The participants felt that the range of resources was limited because of their gender and religion, and wanted greater access to ICT, and more online collaboration and social communication. A didactic approach to instruction was prevalent and for many, exacerbated a ‘digital disconnect’. Our findings suggest that Islamic faith schools reinforce lack of home ICT use. The current didactic approach highlights differences with the student-centred pedagogical techniques of early Qur’anic schools. This study encourages a discussion of the challenges of open access to information, religious freedoms and ensuring equality of learning.