Editorial

Ohne Zusammenfassung

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Editorial

     

Ethnically Speaking

Today more than ever, as citizens of the world face unknown threats and seemingly irresoluble, disparate philosophical views, examination of ethical issues is essential. In our technological age, educators and researchers in the field of educational technology bear the responsibility for engaging in thoughtful debates about topical issues that call for rationale judgements. Teachers from K-university levels can contribute to such endeavors by encouraging discussions among their students about personal and social responsibility within and across cultures. These resources are but one beginning. Scholarly commentary related to this effort is welcome.     

Visual discrimination learning and memory in nocturnal prosimians

The ability of two nocturnal prosimians—greater galago and slow loris—to learn and to remember two-dimensional black-white pattern discriminations was investigated. There was no significant species difference. Both were found to be: sensitive to the number of visual cues available, able to benefit from repeated exposure to similar problems, capable of retaining previously learned material over a long period of time. Although they are individually quite variable in performance, these primitive primates are by no means untrainable on visual discrimination problems, as previous reports have suggested.     

Social and dimensional comparison effects on academic self-concepts and self-perceptions of effort in elementary school children

By focusing on the domains of math and German, the present study with 200 elementary school children investigated the specific relationships of self-reported grades with academic self-concepts and self-perceptions of effort within the competence-affective separation of academic self-concepts. In addition, possible mediator effects of academic self-concepts were explored. In both domains, self-reported grades positively predicted academic self-concepts of corresponding domains, which, in turn, positively predicted self-perceptions of effort of corresponding domains. However, there were no negative cross-domain achievement effects on academic self-concepts and no negative cross-domain self-concept effects on self-perceptions of effort. Both academic self-concepts mediated the effects from self-reported grades to self-perceptions of effort in corresponding domains. This research indicates that children’s self-perceptions of effort can be inferred by their competence and affective self-concepts.

• Highlights

• Self-reported grades positively predict academic self-concepts of corresponding domains.

• Academic self-concepts positively predict self-perceptions of effort of corresponding domains.

• There are no negative cross-domain achievement effects on academic self-concepts and no cross-domain self-concept effects on self-perceptions of effort.

• Academic self-concepts mediate the effects from self-reported grades to self-perceptions of effort in corresponding domains.

     

Prospective teachers navigating intersecting communities of practice: early school placement

An issue of particular concern in mathematics teacher education is the relationship between theory and practice, and the nature of university–school partnerships. We report here on results from a research project answering the call for a more systematic understanding of the practice learning context. The study focuses on the new Norwegian elementary teacher education programme and highlights the difficulties involved in connecting theory and practice and how prospective teachers may be supported in this respect. Focus group interviews involving 51 first-year prospective teachers and 25 teacher–mentors investigated early school placements, specifically prospective teachers’ positions in the classroom as teachers of mathematics, and the ways in which the mentoring relationship supported their developing role. Taking a communities of practice perspective, we found that the idea of movement across intersecting and sometimes conflicting communities of practice is helpful in aiding our understanding of the difficulty of connecting theory and practice. Additionally, variations in mentoring styles and perceptions of prospective teachers’ mathematics and pedagogic knowledge competencies play a part in some prospective teachers’ difficulties in taking up a role as legitimate peripheral participant in the school. We conclude by considering ways in which prospective teachers might be better supported to cope with school placement.     

The role of values in pre-service teachers’ intentions for professional engagement

This study investigated inclusion of epistemic value into Richardson and Watt Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-Choice) framework to produce a more robust, useful teacher motivation model. We specifically examined pre-service teachers’ social utility value (SUV), personal utility value (PUV) and epistemic value regarding pursuing future professional engagement and development. Using principal axis factoring, we found four main factors: PUV, SUV, epistemic value—future value of knowledge (EVF) and persistence/satisfaction. These factors were then used in a structural equation model (SEM) to predict pre-service teachers’ intentions to pursue future professional engagement. Results provided the following three insights: (a) SUV was the most consistent, positive predictor of professional engagement and predicted all dependent variables; (b) EVF was a newly identified factor and a positive predictor of pre-service teachers’ desire to pursue a leadership position and (c) PUV negatively predicted planned effort and a desire to pursue a leadership position.     

Students’ confidence and perceived value for participating in cross-cultural wiki-based collaborations

An international wiki-based collaboration was integrated into a large introductory educational technology course enrolling 346 students, divided into 43 teams. Student teams participated in a 5-week project in which they created wiki chapters about the educational uses of specific Web 2.0 tools. Two to four international students, located in their home countries, participated on each team, collaborating via the evolving wiki, as well as other Web 2.0 tools. Using expectancy-value as our motivational framework, we gathered pre- and post-survey data, triangulated with focus group interview data, to examine changes in students’ confidence and perceived value for using these tools to facilitate international collaborations. Survey results showed significant changes in confidence and perceived value, while qualitative results provided insights into students’ perceptions of critical project components. We discuss students’ perceptions of project barriers as well as the strategies they implemented to achieve success.     

Tradutore,traditore: Can the aect code of ethics “speak” across cultures?

Conclusion Although many questions remain unanswered, these early translations of the AECT Code of Ethics will be available at the AECT Web site to ensure that access to the principles is offered in languages other than English. As they become available, more translations will be added to the English, Farsi, French, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, and Spanish versions. The translations will be saved as PDF files to retain the unique characters of each language. Additional translators with expertise in both educational technology and the targeted languages will be identified. Exploration of ways to encourage debate regarding the viability of the translations within diverse cultures continues. The ultimate hope is that collaboration among members of the professional ethics committee of AECT, the translators, and interested educators will result in the development of a Code of Ethics that “speaks” across cultures and establishes a meaningful guide to professional conduct around the world. Authors’ Note: This article expands on earlier work published in the (2002) Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, edited by M, Simonson.