Computer conferencing: A new medium for investigating issues in gender and learning

Claims have been made that computer mediated communication (CMC) is a potentially highly participatory and democratic medium because it reduces the requirement to interrupt or wait your turn to speak. Such aspects of discussion have been shown to be relevant to differences in male and female participation in group discussions. In general, men have been found to take more turns and to speak longer than women in mixed sex groups. Men are also said to characteristically speak about things, take centre stage and give opinions. Women on the other hand are more likely to emphasis people rather than things, and to build and maintain relations in the way they talk. These two styles have been described as report talk of men and rapport talk of women.In this paper we describe some preliminary findings on the impact of using CMC and its effect on traditional gender participation differences. We look first at turn taking by men and women in computer conferences, and then how women in particular experience differences in the kind of contributions made to the conferences by men and women. Finally, we look at the actual contributions made by men and women and the extent they differ from each other.     

Prevalence and outcomes for parents with disabilities and their children in an Australian court sample

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to obtain sound prevalence and outcomes data on parents with disabilities and their children in statutory child protection proceedings. METHOD: The court files of all care and protection matters initiated by the statutory child protection authority and finalized in a 9-month period (n=285) at two Children's Courts in NSW, Australia were reviewed. RESULTS: Parents with disabilities featured in almost one-third of the cases (29.5%). Parental psychiatric disability was most prevalent at 21.8% followed by parental intellectual disability (mental retardation) at 8.8%. Significant associations were found between parental disability and court outcome with a disproportionately large number of children of parents with intellectual disability being made wards of the state. CONCLUSIONS: The findings demonstrate that parents with disabilities are significantly over-represented in statutory child protection proceedings and that the outcomes of these proceedings vary according to disability type.     

Distance Teaching by Cyclops: an educational evaluation of the Open University's telewriting system

The trend towards courses with low, widely scattered student populations in the Open University makes the provision of face-to-face tutorials difficult. Telephone tuition is being used as an alternative. One major drawback of this is the lack of a graphics facility for communicating writing and drawings.
To help overcome this the Open University has developed a graphics telewriting terminal called Cyclops which allows for the live transmission of writing and drawing by telephone.
This paper describes the Cyclops telewriting system and explains how it has been used in a two-year trial project, funded by British Telecom, for tutoring Open University students in the East Midlands region of England. Preliminary findings from the evaluation of the trials are discussed and suggestions for setting up similar distance-teaching systems are offered.
The two-year trial of Cyclops is proving that telewriting tutorials are both educationally effective and acceptable to a large number of students and tutors.     

Characterizing and comparing the friendships of anxious-solitary and unsociable preadolescents

Friendships matter for withdrawn youth because the consequences of peer isolation are severe. From a normative sample of 2,437 fifth graders (1,245 females; M age = 10.25), a subset (n = 1,364; 638 female) was classified into 3 groups (anxious-solitary, unsociable, comparison) and followed across a school year. Findings indicated that it was more common for unsociable than anxious-solitary children to have friends, be stably friended, and participate in multiple friendships. For withdrawn as well as nonwithdrawn children, peer rejection predicted friendlessness, but this relation was strongest for anxious-solitary children. The friends of unsociable youth were more accepted by peers than those of anxious-solitary youth. The premise that friendship inhibits peer victimization was substantiated for withdrawn as well as nonwithdrawn youth.     

The “Educated” Consumer: The Formation of Memory,Attention, and Imagination in Consumer Culture

This article offers a critique of consumer culture that draws on Augustine’s vision of human consciousness, exploring consumerism’s formative effects on the memory, attention, and imagination of consumers. Drawing on William Cavanaugh’s analysis of consumers’ disposition of detachment, it explains how consumer culture distorts memory, attention, and imagination in consumers. It addresses the effects of consumerism on declarative, episodic, and procedural memory, on open awareness and concentration, and on intellectual, fantasy, empathy, and strategic imagination. The author suggests that religious educators should consider their work a form of reattachment therapy.     

Addressing violence against teachers: A social-ecological analysis of teachers' perspectives

Much research has been dedicated to supporting school communities in combating the problem of school violence. However, violence directed toward teachers is under-investigated, and knowledge of how to support teachers is limited. This qualitative study used conventional content analysis to assess teachers' recommendations for preventing and improving the response to teacher-directed violence. The sample included 245 prekindergarten through 12th grade teachers, all of whom experienced school violence and participated in a larger national survey study on violence against teachers. Using a social-ecological framework and conventional content analysis, teacher recommendations for addressing teacher victimization were identified and organized at the individual, school, community, and society levels. Themes around conflict resolution strategies; improving policies, resources, and relationships with administrators; increasing parental involvement; and changing culture and laws were highlighted. Implications for research, practice, and policy are discussed.     

Ecologically minded teaching

This study builds upon ongoing research of ecological mindedness by exploring how teachers appraise and incorporate ecological care, interconnectedness, and ecological integrity into lesson planning, as well as how teachers reconcile these qualities with their current professional responsibilities. These topics are explored through educational connoisseurship and criticism, using think alouds to learn from teachers as they plan lessons with the qualities of ecological mindedness as a framework. Findings indicate that teachers view ecological mindedness as relevant for schools in terms of content, engagement, and students’ lives; as compatible with standards and other external mandates; and as a form of character education.     

Learning about sex and relationships among migrant and refugee young people in Sydney,Australia: ‘I never got the talk about the birds and the bees’

In a multicultural nation such as Australia, it is important for young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds to have access to quality relationships and sexuality education, as they are known to be less well engaged with mainstream services. A study was undertaken to explore the complexities and opportunities for engaging this group with sexual and reproductive health information and care in Sydney, Australia. Interviews were undertaken with 27 migrant and refugee young people (aged 16–24 years), and 34 expert informants. Relationships and sexuality education was a dominant theme throughout both data sets. Nearly all young people reported that they were unable to discuss sexuality or sexual health with their parents, and most identified secondary school as the place where they first learned about these issues. Other sources of information were identified as the Internet, friends, health professionals and pornography. Participants appeared to have limited awareness of the different services available to them. Schools, as well as other education settings such as universities, private colleges and intensive English centres, are well placed to deliver relationships and sexuality education, and for migrant and refugee young people these may be valuable settings in which to access information rarely discussed in family or community environments.