Current trends in teaching written composition

Recent theory, research, and teaching in written composition indicate an important shift away from viewing the text as a static product, toward investigating the process of writing and the interaction of writer and reader to create meaning in the text. Studies of the writing process, theories and pedagogies of invention, style, and arrangement, and efforts to expand writing instruction beyond traditional courses and disciplines all reflect the current extension in composition toward more comprehensive rhetorical concerns. This survey describes these recent developments in the field of written composition.     

Using Appleworks in the Geography Class:

This study investigated whether using multimedia-based instructional material in a problem-based social studies simulation enhances student learning about world issues, increases interest in social studies, and generates positive attitudes toward the instruction. The GlobalEd Project, a Web-based international negotiation simulation embedded in the middle school social studies curriculum, was used in this investigation. The study employed a quasi-experimental design with a multimedia group (MG) and a text group (TG). A total of 190 students participated in the study. Results indicated that students in the MG had marginally larger gains in knowledge and interest than their counterparts in the TG. In addition, students in the MG used the Web site more extensively than students in the TG. Directions for future research and multimedia developers are discussed.     

Implementing multicultural and global studies: Selected resources about materials and their uses by teacher educators,inservice providers,and K‐12 educators

We conducted a content analysis of 27 assessment textbooks to determine how assessment planning was framed in texts for preservice teachers. We identified eight assessment planning themes: alignment, assessment purpose and types, reliability and validity, writing goals and objectives, planning specific assessments, unpacking, overall assessment plan, and other. Themes were used to code the all texts and evaluated the depth of coverage each theme received: mentioning, elaboration, and how to. Findings indicate that classroom assessment textbooks (a) lack a clear focus on assessment planning, (b) demonstrate wide variation in the depth of coverage with little focus on “how to” related to assessment planning, and (c) lack theoretical connections between assessment and instructional practices.     

Balancing Plan-Driven and Agile Methods in Software Engineering Project Courses

Abstraction is a major concept in computer science and serves as a powerful tool in software development. Pattern-oriented instruction (POI) is a pedagogical approach that incorporates patterns in an introductory computer science course in order to structure the learning of algorithmic problem solving. This paper examines abstraction processes in the course of solving an algorithmic problem and highlights three distinct, although interrelated, facets of abstraction: pattern recognition, black-boxing, and structure identification. A study that examined the influence of the POI approach on students' abstraction skills is described; students who learned according to the POI approach were compared with students who learned in a traditional manner with regard to analogical reasoning and problem decomposition and solution, as well as verbal expression. The three facets of abstraction were used to analyze students' abstraction skills and their competency in algorithmic problem solving.     

Still flies in buttermilk: black male faculty,critical race theory,and composite counterstorytelling

Driven by critical race theory, this essay employs composite counterstorytelling to narrate the experiences of black male faculty on traditionally white campuses. Situated at the intersections of race and gender, our composite counterstory is richly informed by 11 interviews with black male faculty alongside critical race scholarship that documents the omnipresence of black misandric ideology. Through our protagonist Dr Timesnow, a black male Assistant Professor, we reflect on how his daily experiences incite racial battle fatigue, feed into imposter syndrome, and circumvent an inclusive campus community.     

Understanding Cross-Cultural Meaning through Visual Media

Lack of shared meaning can make communication difficult for people of different cultures. Perceptions and practical experience are important influences when devising and developing online learning experiences in cross-cultural contexts. In this study, 15 educational designers studying for their Masters Degree were asked to contribute their interpretations to an ongoing study of what meaning and interpretations were generated from a series of different learning environments offered via the Web. Course materials were designed in Australia and delivered into Hong Kong, SAR, and China. Students did not always interpret the visual information in the manner expected by the original designers. This paper discusses the outcomes of the investigation relating students' perceptions of the appropriateness of the western interface design guidelines as they applied them to a number of exemplary Chinese WWW sites, highlighting the cultural differences in meaning and representation. Comprendre les diversités culturelles À travers les images. Le manque de sens partagé peut rendre difficile la communication entre peuples de différentes cultures. L'expérience pratique et les diverses perceptions peuvent avoir leur importance lors de la conception et le développement de projets de formation en ligne dans des contextes multiculturels. Dans cette étude, quinze concepteurs multimédias, du niveau de la maîtrise, ont été sollicités pour étudier les différentes interprétations et perceptions générées par différents cours offerts sur le Web. Les cours ont été produits en Australie et diffusés À Hong Kong, en SAR, et en Chine. Les étudiants n'ont pas toujours décodé les informations visuelles selon les voeux de leurs concepteurs. Cet article analyse les résultats de cette investigation portant sur la perception qu'ont les étudiants chinois, par exemple, de directives proposées par des auteurs occidentaux, laissant apparaître d'importants écarts dans la représentation qu'ils s'en font. Interkulturelle Bedeutung durch visuelle Medien verstehen> Kommunikation zwischen Menschen verschiedener Kulturen kann durch die Verwendung von Begriffen mit nicht gemeinsamer Bedeutung erschwert werden. Eigene Wahrnehmungen und praktische Erfahrungen sind wichtige Grundlagen für den Entwurf und die Entwicklung von Online-Lehrgängen in interkulturellen Kontexten. In dieser Studie wurden fünfzehn Kursdesigner, die für ihre Masters Degrees studierten, darum gebeten, ihre Interpretationen einer laufenden Studie über die Frage, welche Bedeutung und Interpretationen durch eine Serie von über das Netz angebotenen verschiedenen Lernumgebungen generiert wurden, abzugeben. Die Kursmaterialien wurden in Australien gestaltet und nach Hongkong, SAR China, übermittelt. Die Studenten interpretierten die visuelle Information nicht immer in der Weise, wie das von den Original Designern erwartete worden war. Dieses Papier erörtert die Ergebnisse der Untersuchung, die die Wahrnehmungen der Studenten über die Sinnentsprechung der westlichen Schnittstellenentwurfsrichtlinien in Beziehung setzt, indem sie sie auf eine Anzahl vorbildlicher chinesischer Web-Sites anwandten und damit die kulturellen Unterschiede in Bedeutung und Darstellung hervorhoben.     

Developing multiliteracies in a technology-mediated environment

Evolving technologies and globalisation presents educators with the challenge of creating learning experiences to help students develop competencies to enable them to function successfully in a dynamic society. Today’s learner is expected to be multiliterate – able to analyse and construct multi-modal texts. A qualitative embedded multi-case study was conducted to investigate the learning experiences and multiliteracy outcomes for students engaged in an educational program with a media studies focus. The program, designed for a secondary school English curriculum, was underpinned by multiliteracies pedagogy and delivered within a technology-mediated environment. This paper reports a single class case drawing upon examples from small group cases embedded within the class. The findings suggest that educational programs underpinned by multiliteracy pedagogy supported by technology can provide meaningful learning experiences for students whilst achieving multiliteracies focused learning outcomes. For this to occur important factors such as teacher technology competencies and expertise, access and integration of technology and facilitation of effective learning scaffolds should be considered.     

A grand day out: towards a mode of interrogation of non-school pedagogic sites

Interest is increasingly being taken in educational sites which extend or which are located beyond the school. These include sites associated with developing information and communications technologies and mass media organizations as well as institutions of longer standing, such as museums, galleries and so forth. In this article we shall deploy a sociological framework originally developed for the analysis of school texts to such non-school sites. Our focus will include considerations of heritage and conservation sites in the form of castles and zoos. We contend that in operating in terms of both pedagogic and exchange relations, such sites may have something to teach as well as something to learn from schooling.