Thinking Strategically about Assessment

Drawing upon the literature on strategy formulation in organisations, this paper argues for a focus on strategy as process. It relates this to the need to think strategically about assessment, a need engendered by resource pressures, developments in learning and the demands of external stakeholders. It is argued that in practice assessment strategies are often formed at the level of practice, but that this produces contradiction and confusion at higher levels. Such tensions cannot be managed away, but they can be reflected on and mitigated. The paper suggests a framework for the construction of assessment strategies at different levels of an institution. However, the main conclusion is that the process of constructing such strategies should be an opportunity for learning and reflection, rather than one of compliance.     

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE PRIOR ECONOMIC EXPERIENCE OF PRIMARY EDUCATION STUDENTS

In a previous paper (AEHE vol. 17(2) pp. 69‐88) Alistair Ross explored student teachers’ backgrounds and economic experiences, relating this to their economic and industrial understanding.

In this complementary paper he draws on the work of his research group and its EATE‐sponsored project to examine student teachers’ attitudes to economic issues and to their perceptions of teaching as work. In particular, the paper discusses students’ attitudes to the English and Welsh national curriculum cross‐curricular theme: economic and Industrial understanding (EITJ).     

The Victorian Information Society: Surveillance, Bureaucracy, and Public Librarianship in 19th-Century Britain

Contrary to the "retro" image often awarded them, and despite their continuing enthusiasm and responsibility for the organization of printed materials, librarians are upbeat about the prospects of an information society driven primarily by electronic technologies, but in which libraries can play an important part. Public librarians detect a natural correlation between the historic democratic mission of their institution and the increased accessibility made possible by digitalized sources. The library community's acceptance of the information society idea as a "given" social phenomenon supports discourses that play down historical continuities and herald the dawn of a new age. Such discourses ignore or reject historical evidence that points to the existence of past information societies, revolutions, and infrastructures defined, in part, by the operation of indirect surveillance, constituted by the bureaucratic information systems of modernity. Victorian Britain serves as a good example of an early information society, to which public libraries, themselves micro-information societies, contributed significantly. The role played by public librarians in the Victorian information society, illustrated in this article by evidence drawn from the contemporary library press, is seen in their preoccupation with the surveillance and ordering of knowledge; their adoption for library operations of the businesslike, bureaucratic procedures described recently by business historians; and their panoptic tracking of users and their activities.     

Relational epistemologies in land-based learning environments: reasoning about ecological systems and spatial indexing in motion

Cultural Studies of Science Education - Social and cultural practices in learning settings are sites for leveraging and/or remediating sustainable and just conceptions of nature–culture...     

Video email: a method of speeding up assignment feedback for visual arts subjects in distance education

The type of asynchronous communication offered by electronic mail has been shown to be particularly effective for providing feedback on assignments in distance education. However, the use of electronic mail has generally been restricted to the exchange of textual information. For practical assignments which include a large visual component, a method of providing feedback which enables the tutor to point to features of the student's work is needed. This paper reports the results of a recent investigation into the feasibility of providing visual feedback to students in practical art subjects by sending compressed digital video clips as attachments to email messages. It concludes that transmission of video by email is now technically feasible, although bandwidth constraints of dial-up links and the time taken for compression put a tight limit on the amount of video that it is practicable to transmit. Nevertheless, developments in technology are expected to improve this situation quickly. Many of the issues that are examined are relevant to other areas of multimedia delivery     

Strategies for professional reading in L1 and L2

Reading strategies of future professionals, both in native language (L1) and in one or more foreign languages (L2), have been little explored. Findings from research concerning the transfer of L1 reading strategies to the L2 context are contradictory. Our hypothesis is that relative performance in L1 and L2 reading is associated with two key variables involved in successful L2 reading comprehension: L1 reading proficiency and L2 language competency, the latter being the stronger predictor. 39 students were divided into three groups by strength or weakness on each independent variable. Their reading strategies, explored by questionnaire, were compared within and between groups, both in L1 and L2, and were correlated to text recall comprehension scores. Readers strong on both key variables were equally effective in both languages. Strong L1 readers weak in L2 were poor L2 readers but fared better than readers weak on both variables. General reading strategies differentiated efficient readers from poor ones both in L1 and L2, but specific problem-solving strategies were the main obstacle in L2. Comprehending – the process, or strategic approach employed – correlated very strongly with comprehension – the product, or score – in L2 and fairly strongly in L1. Pedagogical implications suggest individualised reading training in the light of relative difficulties.     

Three Gorges Dam: friend or foe of riverine greenhouse gases?

Dams are often regarded as greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters. However, our study indicated that the world''s largest dam, the Three Gorges Dam (TGD), has caused significant drops in annual average emissions of CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O over 4300 km along the Yangtze River, accompanied by remarkable reductions in the annual export of CO₂ (79%), CH₄ (50%) and N₂O (9%) to the sea. Since the commencement of its operation in 2003, the TGD has altered the carbonate equilibrium in the reservoir area, enhanced methanogenesis in the upstream, and restrained methanogenesis and denitrification via modifying anoxic habitats through long-distance scouring in the downstream. These findings suggest that ‘large-dam effects’ are far beyond our previous understanding spatiotemporally, which highlights the fundamental importance of whole-system budgeting of GHGs under the profound impacts of huge dams.     

lol: new language and spelling in instant messaging

Written communication in instant messaging, text messaging, chat, and other forms of electronic communication appears to have generated a “new language” of abbreviations, acronyms, word combinations, and punctuation. In this naturalistic study, adolescents collected their instant messaging conversations for a 1-week period and then completed a spelling test delivered over instant messaging. We used the conversations to develop a taxonomy of new language use in instant messaging. Short-cuts, including abbreviations, acronyms, and unique spellings were most prevalent in the instant message conversation, followed by pragmatic signals, such use of emoticons, emotion words, and punctuation, and typographical and spelling errors were relatively uncommon. With rare exceptions, notably true spelling errors, spelling ability was not related to use of new language in instant messaging. The taxonomy provides an important tool for investigating new language use and the results provide partial evidence that new language does not have a harmful effect on conventional written language.     

Improving outcomes for young children: can we narrow the gap?

This article explores the considerable developments in both early years policy and in the provision of services for young children in England since 1997, noting the role that such services have had in informing the broader Every child matters agenda. Many challenges remain, however, not least the numbers of children and families who still live in poverty and the continuing gap between those children who do well and those who do not. In examining how this gap can be narrowed, through intervention and support during the early years, the work of the Narrowing the Gap project is described, a project that continues with the Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children’s Services (C4EO). Whilst high‐quality early years services provide a very positive start in life for young children, reducing inequality remains the key priority.