Student participation in learning environment improvement: analysis of a co-design project in a Finnish upper secondary school

The present educational design research involved analysing Finnish upper secondary school students’ participation in the improvement of their psychosocial and technology-enhanced physical learning environment (LE). It examined which LE characteristics students considered important when redesigning their LE, and whether they felt that their ideas for improvement had been taken into account in the LE change process and if there was an improvement in these characteristics. A Learning Environment Design (LED) framework balancing the various LE dimensions, namely, communality and individuality, comfort and health, novelty and conventionality, was utilised in the analysis for four sets of data collected for four cycles: (a) co-design activities (students, n = 11) and (b) student feedback (n = 175); (c) professional design evaluation (students, n = 2); and (d) student satisfaction survey (n = 83). Students considered all LE dimensions important. In addition, they felt that their wishes were generally taken into account in the redesign and also they perceived an improvement in most of the LE characteristics. Student involvement helped to avoid overly radical changes, fostered a participatory culture, and contributed to understanding what students view as important to their learning and wellbeing. The study demonstrated the usefulness of the LED-framework for LE design and suggests content-related design principles to serve as a starting point in LE improvement projects involving learners.     

Faith schools and pupils' progress through primary education

The impact of faith schools on the performance and progress of their pupils has been studied using data from the National Pupil Database (NPD). The value‐added analysis was carried out using multilevel modelling, controlling for prior attainment as well as a range of background variables, including ethnicity, sex, eligibility for free school meals (FSM), alternative measures of deprivation based on census information, special educational needs (SEN) and English as an additional language (EAL). The analysis confirmed that all faith schools, in particular, Roman Catholic and Church of England schools, made slightly more progress with their pupils than non‐faith schools. It also showed that pupils with SEN attending faith schools performed better at key stage 2 than pupils with SEN in non‐faith schools.     

LPL夏季赛精彩场次解析

LPL夏季赛的战火终于燃起,12支劲旅的激烈厮杀让这个夏天变得更加充实,尤其对于刚高考完的读者朋友来说,接下来的暑假就可以好好享受一番了。此次LPL夏季赛涌现了QG、RNG和UP这三只新队伍,且各个战队的阵容都有一定的调整补强,这比赛一定比上赛季要更加激烈精彩。     

Value,violence, and the ethics of gaming

I argue for two theses. First, many arguments against violent gaming rely on what I call the contamination thesis, drawing their conclusions by claiming that violent gaming contaminates real world interactions. I argue that this thesis is empirically and philosophically problematic. Second, I argue that rejecting the contamination thesis does not entail that all video games are morally unobjectionable. The violence within a game can be evaluated in terms of the values the game cultivates, reinforces, denigrates, or disrespects. Games which present violence in ways that disrespect objects of values are more objectionable than violent games that reinforce or cultivate those values. The resulting analysis evaluates games on a case-by-case basis and pays particular attention to the representational context of the violence.