From digital native to digital apprentice. A case study of the transmedia skills and informal learning strategies of adolescents in Spain

ABSTRACT

This article presents the results of the Spanish context of a study carried out with adolescents within the Transmedia Literacy project (European Union). The aim of the article is to identify the transmedia skills that teenagers have and the informal learning strategies carried out to acquire them. The results show that teenagers have different transmedia skills, but they have them to very varying degrees. Their acquisition of these skills is conditioned by their motivations, attitudes and their context. YouTube is a key source of information and learning of transmedia skills among the Spanish adolescents of the study. The study findings show that young people rely mostly on ‘imitation’ and ‘learning by teaching’ strategies to learn new skills. Based on these results the myth of the digital native is deconstructed and the concept of ‘digital apprentice’ is considered.     

The influences of language of literacy instruction and vocabulary on the spelling of Spanish–English bilinguals

The relation of language of instruction and vocabulary to the English spelling of bilingual first graders receiving either English or Spanish literacy instruction and of monolinguals in English literacy instruction was explored. Only bilingual students in Spanish literacy instruction (SLI) exhibited Spanish-influenced spelling, indicating a powerful effect of language of literacy instruction. SLI without English literacy instruction (ELI) may be a prerequisite for the appearance of Spanish influences in English spelling. Spanish-influenced spelling appears to be a normal developmental phenomenon only for those bilingual first graders who have received no ELI. The students in ELI, on average, wrote more orthographically plausible English pseudowords than students in SLI, indicating that the students in SLI simply had not yet learned conventional spelling patterns in English. In addition, children with good Spanish vocabulary showed more Spanish-influenced spelling, while English vocabulary predicted more orthographically plausible English spellings. The relationship between English vocabulary and English spelling was similar for children instructed in Spanish and English. English vocabulary and literacy instruction both made unique, positive contributions to English pseudoword␣spelling, while Spanish literacy instruction played a more important role than Spanish vocabulary in the production of Spanish-influenced spelling in English.     

Breaking Free from the Needs Paradigm: A Collaborative Analysis of Inclusion

ABSTRACT

This self-study, based on research, conducted over five years, focuses on my leadership role employing an inclusion model of education in a school in Iceland serving students from ages 6 to 16. In this article, we examine how Edda’s practice helped support inclusion for the students, their families, and the teachers who engage with them. This multilayered self-study research project included feedback and insights from others in order to inform my understanding of my practice within the context of inclusion. Findings reveal Edda’s focus on the discourse of diagnosis as a dominant structural issue within her practice. The resulting themes on perceptions of inclusion, coordination of support, deployment of people, and collaboration across different entities have informed my understanding about my practice and my perspective on the meaning of a support system within inclusive education and improved student performance.     

Urban Teachers’ Perspectives of Strengths and Needs: The Promise of Teacher Responsive Professional Development

The Urban Review - This study examines urban high school teachers’ perceptions (N?=?50) of their strengths and needs in supporting diverse students in their classrooms....     

Learning strategies and self-regulation in context: how higher education students approach different courses,assessments, and challenges

European Journal of Psychology of Education - This study’s aim was to analyse the decisions higher education students make about learning strategies. We focus on research questions related to...     

The Nature of Science and Citizenship: a Delphi Analysis

Research in Science Education - The relationship between science and society has, for many years, been the subject of debate in different fields, and various proposals have been made regarding the...     

In Pursuit of a Connected Way of Knowing: The Case of One Mathematics Teacher

In this paper, we offer illustrations of a mathematics teacher’s difficulties with content knowledge when trying to find connections between school mathematics and science; we do so by describing the development of this teacher’s thinking and learning in her pursuit of connections between the concepts of slope of a line and density of matter. The paper is based on a sub-study that is part of a larger Colombian project, PROMESA (Creating Science and Mathematics Connected Learning Experiences that Open Opportunities for the Promotion of Algebraic Reasoning), which incorporated a Professional Learning Programme (PLP) seeking to integrate school science and mathematics teachers into working teams, in order to create science and mathematics connected learning experiences that considered the promotion of algebraic reasoning. The ‘challenging questions’ that emerged for this teacher, during the workshops of the induction stage of the PLP, became the driving force for her continued engagement in learning mathematics content in a connected way, as opposed to the compartmentalised content-item thinking that she had experienced as a school student. We provide illustrations of first steps in the development of a teacher’s mathematical understanding, which can support growth of mathematical knowledge for teaching.     

A hybrid and flipped version of an introductory mathematics course for higher education

Abstract

This in practice paper describes the experience of seven lecturers in a hybrid and flipped version of an introductory mathematics course for higher education. In a Mexican university, lecturers adapted to this innovation supported by an adjusted Massive Open Online Course. The experience revealed the relevance of leaving conventional assessment processes to make way for an understanding of lecturers as a collaborative team, trying to transform their own perspective about the learning of mathematics. This experience is an example of the reconceptualisation of the teaching of STEM education that contributes towards a non-formal educational context, promoting lecturers’ education and dialogic transformative learning.     

Interrogating Social Justice Paradigms in School Finance Research and Litigation

Interchange - The search for equitable educational opportunities has lead school finance reformers toward solutions conceptualized largely through distributive social justice. Inhibiting justice in...