The Identification of Digital Book Content

This article analyzes current industry practices toward the identification of digital book content. It highlights key technology trends, workflow considerations and supply chain behaviors, and examines the implications of these trends and behaviors on the production, discoverability, purchasing and consumption of digital book products.

SOCIAL CAPITAL, SOCIAL INCLUSION AND CHANGING SCHOOL CONTEXTS: A SCOTTISH PERSPECTIVE

ABSTRACT:  This paper synthesises a collaborative review of social capital theory, with particular regard for its relevance to the changing educational landscape within Scotland. The review considers the common and distinctive elements of social capital, developed by the founding fathers – Putnam, Bourdieu and Coleman – and explores how these might help to understand the changing contexts and pursue opportunities for growth.     

The Cooperative Classroom Environment Measure (CCEM): Refining a Measure that Assesses Factors Motivating Student Prosociality

A classroom’s social environment and student dispositions towards social interaction together exert a substantial influence on academic outcomes. The strength of this effect is highlighted by research showing the positive effect of cooperative learning on student achievement, but can also be seen in the contribution that student social dispositions, specifically one’s disposition toward helping others (i.e. prosocial), has on individual achievement. The current study sought to assess the psychometric properties of the original Cooperative Classroom Environment Measure (CCEM) and refine the measure to increase its validity for use in the classroom. The CCEM was developed to provide information to educators about factors in the classroom environment contributing to student prosociality. The original form was answered by 431 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory life science class. Following data collection, both exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Rasch analysis were used to remove problematic items and generate a refined form. The psychometric properties of this refined form were examined using Rasch and confirmatory factor analysis, and supported the presence of six (out of eight originally hypothesized) subscale constructs analogous to those influencing prosociality in other contexts. Additional evidence showed the presence of a single prominent underlying latent factor (termed Prosocial) that could account for significant variance in all subscale constructs. These findings provided preliminary evidence for the use of both the CCEM subscales and whole survey measures for investigations into optimizing classroom social environments for prosocial action.     

Sustainability of educational change: The role of social geographies

The paper examines the conceptual and strategicrole of social geographies in contributing toor undermining sustainable school improvement.It develops a four-fold definition ofsustainability as involving improvement overtime, within available or achievable resourcesthat does not impact negatively on thesurrounding environment and that promotesecological diversity and capacity more widely.A conceptual framework of social geographies isdeveloped along with its implications forsustainability. This analysis is then appliedto a further framework of seven strategicgeographies of educational change whichdeliberately try to arrange, order or exploitspace in particular ways to secure schoolchange. These are market geographies, networkgeographies, virtual geographies, geographiesof scaling up, standardized geographies,differential geographies and geographies ofsocial movements. The paper concludes byreviewing the other contributions to the volumeon the theme of social geographies ofeducational change, and describes the SpencerFoundation funded conference from which theysprang.     

人草大战

我突然怀念起曾经住过的在城市陋屋区的旧房子来,陋室在12层的公寓上,没有电梯,只有一间屋子,半个卫生间。事情是这样的:这一切发生得非常简单。我们搬到乡下后不久,我的妻子,詹妮弗,觉得后院需要一次彻底的整理。“后院怎么了?”我问道“,看看我们院子里的草长得多壮实,多招摇。我敢打赌,这一带可没有哪家能比得上我们。”这时候詹妮弗透露了一个小秘密,我们草坪上的根本就不是草,只有壮实、招摇的毒葛。我认为,毒葛长得欣欣向荣,可不像后院的其他植物,我们也许应该除掉其他东西,比如说那个看起来病怏怏的玫瑰。我据理力争“:为什么要把真…