Establishing an online community of inquiry at the Distance Education Centre,Victoria

This pilot intervention focused on three courses that were redesigned to utilize the online environment to establish an online community of inquiry (CoI). The setting for this research study was the Distance Education Centre, Victoria (DECV), an Australian co-educational school with approximately 3000 students who, for a variety of reasons, are studying one or more subjects via distance education. Despite the availability of information and communications technology, many students at the DECV remain socially isolated from their peers. The DECV recognizes that online student collaboration has the potential to bridge this divide. Results of this study suggest that the adaptation of these courses had led to improvements in students’ perception of their educational experience. These findings may be of use to other P–12 education providers who are attempting to promote online collaboration and student connectedness.     

Book review

Handbook of telecommunications economics, volume I. structure, regulation & competition. Cave, M., Majumdar; S. & Vogelsang (eds.). Elsevier Science, B.V., 2002, 726 pages, ISBN 0–444–50389–7, www.elsevier.com

Cost proxy models and telecommunications policy. Farid Gasmi, D. Mark Kennett, Jean‐Jacques Laffont, William W. Sharkey. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 2002, 275 pages, ISBN 0–262–7237–8

Media institutions and audiences: Key concepts in media studies by Nick Lacey. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 2002, 275 pages, ISBN 0–262–7237–8. Palgrave, 2002, 235 pages, ISBN 0–333–65870–1, www.palgrave.com

Copyright in the cultural industries edited by Ruth Towse. Edward Elgar, 2002, 263 + xxii pages, ISBN 1–84064–661–6, www.e‐elgar.co.uk

Telecommunications management. Industry structures and planning structures. by Richard A. Gershon. 365 pages, ISBN 0–8058–3002–2, www.erlbaum.com

Understanding media economics by Gillian Doyle. Sage Publications, 2002, vii +184 pages, ISBN 07619 6874

Media and power by James Curran. Routledge, London and New York, 2002, 308 pages, ISBN 0–415–07740–0, www.routledge.com     

Patterns of compensation of public and private school teachers

General impressions suggest that public school teachers are paid higher salaries than private school teachers. Indeed, the evidence is consistent with this general impression. But why the difference? Do public school teachers have better qualifications? Are private schools better places in which to work, and are they able to pay lower wages for comparable teachers? Do public and private schools even operate in the same market for teaching personnel? Are those individuals who seek employment in the private school sector from the same population as those seeking public school employment? What part does the ownership structure of the school play in the determination of teacher compensation? It is the purpose of this paper to provide some insights into these and related questions about the patterns of variation in compensation of public and private school teachers. Our findings reveal that public school teachers earn more than teachers in non-public schools. Teachers in parochial schools are the lowest paid, while teachers in non-sectarian private schools are the highest paid among non-public school teachers. There appear to be structural differences in the patterns of wage variation between the different sectors. Public school teachers possess greater quantities of those characteristics that are valued in the market than non-public school teachers. Non-public school teachers sacrifice between 10 and 40% of the public school teacher salary to work in the non-public sector (depending on the type of school within the non-public sector) and they are aware of their sacrifice. Organizational and ownership structure of the school also appears to make a difference in salaries, with profit-making schools being among the lowest paying, second only to parochial schools.     

Evaluation of distance learning delivery of health information management and health informatics programmes: a UK perspective

The aim of the article is to review evaluations of distance learning programmes in health information management, in order to identify the critical success factors for such programmes and discuss future directions. The emphasis is on the UK experience, based partly on reflections on the experience of one programme at University of Wales Aberystwyth (now over 10 years old), and partly on a policy review conducted for the NHS Information Authority and the NHS Information Policy Unit. The methods are, as far as possible, those of a systematic review of existing research, with, additionally, an overview of relevant policy developments for lifelong learning. The topics covered include the aims, objectives and educational philosophies of the programmes. The evidence, combined with the UWA experience, indicates the importance of face-to-face interaction, to complement distance or virtual learning. A student-centred approach to curriculum design and delivery is essential.     

Learning to be human in a digital world: a model of values fluency education for physical education

ABSTRACT

It is argued that negotiation and performance of identity in contemporary society is linked with the value-laden spaces in which individuals spend time. Concepts of space, place and identity have become important when looking to understand elements of social practice, in light of the recognition that life is becoming progressively more mobile, varied and challenging. This has resulted in a shift in how subsequent generations experience space and place within digitally-mediated social landscapes. It is asserted that young people in contemporary society can be seen to occupy a hybrid virtual-real world (Jordan, B. (2009). Blurring boundaries: The ‘real’ and the ‘virtual’ in hybrid spaces. Human Organisation, 68.) where they experience the multiplication of place or duplication of space (Papacharissi, Z. (2011). A Networked Self: Identity Community and Culture on Social Network Sites. New York: Routledge). Such complex social geographies, we contend, have important implications for young people’s negotiation and performance of identity, the acquisition of socio-technical capital (Resnick, (2002). Beyond b?owling t?ogether: SocioTechnical c?apital. In J. M. Carroll (Ed.), Human-c?omputer i?nteraction in the n?ew m?illennium (pp. 647–?672). Upper Saddle River, NJ: ACM Press.) and, ultimately, digital well-being. In a time when there is a focus on developing global and connected citizens (Greene, M. (1995). Releasing the Imagination: Essay on education, the arts and social change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.) we argue that pupils need to be both digitally fluent and values fluent as they negotiate spaces of reality and virtual reality. Both constructs require the learner to engage critically with information and misinformation as presented on ever-changing digital interfaces (Kahne, J., & Bowyer, B. (2017). Educating for Democracy in a Partisan Age: Confronting the Challenges of Motivated Reasoning and Misinformation. American Educational Research Journal, 54, 3–34.) and to make value choices. Given that physical education (PE) has been identified as a significant place for meaning-making (Spracklen, K. (2015). Digital Leisure, the Internet and Popular Culture: Communities and Identities in a Digital Age. London: Palgrave Macmillan.) and a core site for values-based education (Mccuaig, L., Marino, M., Gobbi, E., & Macdonald, D. (2015). Taught not Caught: Values based Education through physical education and School Sport: Literature Review. AIESEP Partners for WADA, ICSSPE, IOC, Fairplay & UNESCO.) it is identified as a key context in which to examine some of the challenges posed for students and educators with regard to values-based practices in digitally-mediated spaces. Within this conceptual paper, we propose a praxis model of values fluency to help PE teachers to support young people to recognise and successfully navigate hybrid spaces, to critically engage with sociotechnical capital and become adept at transferring and translating values across and between social contexts.     

The Media Buying Process: Perceptions of Media Sales Representatives

This three-wave e-mail/Web-based survey examined current perceptions of media sales representatives. Media departments from small, medium, and large advertising agencies across the United States answered questions related to the general perception, influence, and role of media sales representatives across media types. Overall, the findings suggested a favorable opinion about media sales representatives with magazine representatives rated as most influential. Trust emerged as a critical component in the buyer–seller relationship. In addition, providers of reliable knowledge and information were found to be critical roles of media sales representatives. The findings are noteworthy and emphasize the importance of educating industry sales representatives regarding the value of relationship building in the media sales process.     

Developing a Topic-Centered First-Year Seminar with an Emphasis on Information Literacy at a Large Regional University

In this article, the authors describe the process through which faculty and staff members at Georgia Southern University (GSU) have collaborated to revamp our First-Year Seminar. In 2006, a university task force reviewed results of GSU self-study data as well as best practices at other institutions to make recommendations for improvements to the first-year experience for our students. The task force made several recommendations that included significantly modifying our First-Year Seminar to include a focus on information literacy and to set a more academic tone. A set of online tutorials was developed to support the learning outcomes related to information literacy within the new seminar. The benefits and challenges of implementing this new seminar are discussed.