Does a focal firm's technology entry timing depend on the impact of the technology on co-opetitors?

In this paper, I explore the role that the impact of a technological change on a firm's co-opetitors plays in the firm's technology entry timing. I hypothesize that where a co-opetitor dominates in the co-opetitor-firm relationship, a firm's technology entry timing does not depend on the impact of the technology on the firm's capabilities as predicted by previous research. Rather, it depends on the impact of the change on the dominant co-opetitor. If the change is incremental to a dominant customer, for example, the focal incumbent firm will start development of the new technology before new entrants, irrespective of whether it is radical or incremental to focal firms. If the change is radical to the dominant co-opetitor, new entrant focal firms will start development of the new technology before incumbent focal firms. I explore these hypotheses using the case of three major technological changes in supercomputers: vector processors, minisupercomputers, and massively parallel processors.     

Curriculum Continuity and Transfer from Primary to Secondary School: the case of history

The transfer of children from primary school to secondary school has long been seen as a problematic area. The National Curriculum was depicted as offering a solution to some of the transfer problems by providing for curriculum continuity across the primary-secondary divide. This paper reports the results of a study of curriculum continuity in one subject, history, now that a National Curriculum has been in place for several years. It reports that teachers continue to see problems with the transfer and that secondary school teachers still incline to a ‘fresh start’ approach to year 7 pupils. There is also some evidence of a lack of curriculum consistency within the secondary schools involved in the research, there are differences between primary and secondary schools in the range of teaching and learning methods employed, there is some decline in pupils’ ratings of their experience of secondary education across year 7 and there are signs of some gender differences in these ratings. The conclusion is that there is a case for saying that the new arrangements have not alleviated the problems associated with the transfer.     

钮琇《觚剩·睐娘》本事考

本文对清代作家钮琇所撰《觚剩》中的名篇《睐娘》进行考证,包括故事的发生地、人物原型、姓氏、家族关系、作者与故事人物的关系、历史背景等。另外,本文也对《睐娘》中的虚构成分作出适当的评介。     

The importance of being a ‘lady’: hyper‐femininity and heterosexuality in the private,single‐sex primary school

Drawing on recent ethnographic research in one single‐sex, private primary school, this paper will explore what it meant for the girls in this setting to embody the discourse of the ‘lady’. The paper will propose that classed and gendered discourses of respectability featured strongly in the girls’ lives, as they were expected to behave like ‘proper’ upper‐middle‐class ladies. However, the paper will also suggest that these discourses were being reworked through post‐feminist, neo‐liberal notions of modern girlhood, meaning that the girls also felt compelled to make themselves as heterofeminine ‘girly’ girls; as sassy, sexy and successful, as well as respectable and upper‐middle‐class(y) enough. By exploring the clash between these two sets of discourse, the paper will specifically seek to examine the lived embodiment of intersections of class, gender and sexuality and to explore the relevance of Judith Butler’s heterosexual matrix for these upper‐middle‐class girls.     

The Impact of Globalization on Teacher Education: The Philippine Perspective

This qualitative study is an attempt to describe how administrators, teachers and researchers in a select group of teacher education institutions (TEIs) in the capital of the Philippines collectively view globalization. Specifically, concepts of a globalized teacher education, impact of globalization in teacher education, and problems of teacher education in the context of globalization were the delineated factors investigated in this study. A total of 23 respondents comprising 13 university teachers, 6 deans and 4 educational researchers were asked to participate in an audio-taped interview and written responses. Data yielded by the interview were transcribed and categorized based on saliency, meaning and homogeneity. Clearly, this study has disclosed efforts initiated at both pre-service and in-service education levels in response to the challenges of globalization consistent with the collective view of the various sectors. This research segment is part of a research project submitted to the Asia-Pacific Education Policy Research Initiative/KEDI (AP-EPRI/KEDI) and funded by the World Bank/GDN.     

Competency, capability, complexity and computers: exploring a new model for conceptualising end-user computer education

Notions of competency have dominated the computer education literature, and have underpinned Competency‐Based Training (CBT) in information technology at all levels of education and training. The emergence of counter‐narratives underpinned by the capability movement, have as yet had minimal impact on practice in computer education. New discourses in educational theory and practice which are founded on non‐linear approaches to learning and teaching provide added impetus to engage in the competency/capability debate, and re‐examine our approaches to computer education. This paper explores complexity theories and demonstrates how complexity's pedagogical implications can lead to new models for understanding computer learning and teaching. A new model for conceptualising end‐user computer education is presented that was derived from a three‐year action research initiative with pre‐service teachers.     

A Guide to Analyzing Message–Response Sequences and Group Interaction Patterns in Computer‐mediated Communication

This paper proposes a set of methods and a framework for evaluating, modeling, and predicting group interactions in computer‐mediated communication. The method of sequential analysis is described along with specific software tools and techniques to facilitate the analysis of message–response sequences. In addition, the Dialogic Theory and its assumptions are presented to establish a theoretical framework and guide to using sequential analysis in computer‐mediated communication research. Step‐by‐step instructions are presented to illustrate how sequential analysis can be used to measure the way latent variables (e.g., message function, response latency, communication style) and exogenous variables (e.g., gender, discourse rules, context) affect how likely a message is to elicit a response, the types of responses elicited by the message, and whether or not the elicited sequence of responses (e.g., claim → challenge → explain) mirror the processes that support group decision‐making, problem‐solving, and learning.     

Towards Research-based Innovation and Reform: Singapore schooling in transition

The challenges facing the Singapore education system in the new millennium are unique and unprecedented in Asia. Demands for new skills, knowledges, and flexible competencies for globalised economies and cosmopolitan cultures will require system-wide innovation and reform. But there is a dearth of international benchmarks and prototypes for such reforms. This paper describes the current Core Research Program underway at the National Institute of Education in Singapore, a multilevel analysis of Singaporean schooling, pedagogy, youth and educational outcomes. It describes student background, performance, classroom practices, student artefacts and outcomes, and student longitudinal life pathways. The case is made that a systematic focus on teachers' and students' work in everyday classroom contexts is the necessary starting point for pedagogical innovation and change. This, it is argued, can constitute a rich multidisciplinary evidence base for educational policy.     

Exploring the use of multiple analogical models when teaching and learning chemical equilibrium

This study describes the multiple analogical models used to introduce and teach Grade 12 chemical equilibrium. We examine the teacher's reasons for using models, explain each model's development during the lessons, and analyze the understandings students derived from the models. A case study approach was used and the data were drawn from the observation of three consecutive Grade 12 lessons on chemical equilibrium, pre‐ and post‐lesson interviews, and delayed student interviews. The key analogical models used in teaching were: the “school dance”; the “sugar in a teacup”; the “pot of curry”; and the “busy highway.” The lesson and interview data were subject to multiple, independent analyses and yielded the following outcomes: The teacher planned to use the students' prior knowledge wherever possible and he responded to student questions with stories and extended and enriched analogies. He planned to discuss where each analogy broke down but did not. The students enjoyed the teaching but built variable mental models of equilibrium and some of their analogical mappings were unreliable. A female student disliked masculine analogies, other students tended to see elements of the multiple models in isolation, and some did not recognize all the analogical mappings embedded in the teaching plan. Most students learned that equilibrium reactions are dynamic, occur in closed systems, and the forward and reverse reactions are balanced. We recommend the use of multiple analogies like these and insist that teachers always show where the analogy breaks down and carefully negotiate the conceptual outcomes. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 1135–1159, 2005     

Democratic Communities and Business/Education “Partnerships” in Secondary Education

Democratic ideals of equality, freedom, and common problem-solving help ensure that schools are governed as communities, in Dewey's sense of the term, wherein all members share in defining the purposes and processes of the group. In this paper, qualitative case study data of a business–public school partnership is examined in order to describe, analyze, and evaluate this partnership based upon democratic criteria established by Deweyan pragmatism. The analysis of the business/education partnership enables educators to better understand the potential for, and inhibitors of, the kind of genuine social growth among school and corporate partners that can serve public agendas rather than private profits.