Students as epistemological agents: claiming life experience as real knowledge in health professional education

Higher Education - University teachers’ practices of resistance against dominant epistemological norms have been described in recent critical higher education literature, but comparatively...     

New Technology and Learning: Policy and Practice in the UK, 1980–2010

A previous version of this paper was first presented in October 1998 as an inaugural professorial lecture at the University of Huddersfield. It focuses mainly upon issues related to policy and practice in schools, with some cross-referencing to higher education. It is divided into three sections: the politicised nature of policy for new technology in education in the UK; key issues from the author's research on new technology and learning; and speculations on re-organising schooling with the help of new technology. The first section provides an analysis of the aspirations of politicians and how these shaped policy, as well as assessing the successes and weaknesses of policy implementation. The second section surveys the outcomes of a number of research studies, carried out over fifteen years, and from these identifies some generic findings about the impact of new technology on learning and ways of maximising its beneficial effects. The third section suggests an approach to re-structuring schooling to make best use of the lightweight, mobile, new technology tools, which are about to be widely available.     

Changing Teacher–Child Dyadic Interactions to Improve Preschool Children's Externalizing Behaviors

A randomized controlled trial was used to examine the impact of an attachment‐based, teacher–child, dyadic intervention (Banking Time) to improve children's externalizing behavior. Participants included 183 teachers and 470 preschool children (3–4 years of age). Classrooms were randomly assigned to Banking Time, child time, or business as usual (BAU). Sparse evidence was found for main effects on child behavior. Teachers in Banking Time demonstrated lower negativity and fewer positive interactions with children compared to BAU teachers at post assessment. The impacts of Banking Time and child time on reductions of parent‐ and teacher‐reported externalizing behavior were greater when teachers evidenced higher‐quality, classroom‐level, teacher–child interactions at baseline. An opposite moderating effect was found for children's positive engagement with teachers.