Motivational readiness and the participation of children with learning and behavior problems in psychoeducational decision making

Efficacy of a brief cognitive-affective intervention to enhance motivational readiness for participating in a psychoeducational decision-making conference was explored. Although outcomes specific to the preconference intervention were not found, findings of relevance to the hypothesized positive relationship between motivational readiness and actual participation in decision making are reported. The positive and negative findings are discussed in terms of implications for enhancing motivational readiness and for understanding the limited impact of skill training to improve participation and decision making.     

Combining feminist pedagogy and transactional distance to create gender-sensitive technology-enhanced learning

In this paper, we argue for a new synthesis of two pedagogic theories: feminist pedagogy and transactional distance, which explain why and how distance education has been such a positive system for women in a national distance learning university. We illustrate this with examples of positive action initiatives for women. The concept of transactional distance allows us to explore distance as a form of psychological and communication space, not simply of geographical distance. Feminist pedagogy, on the other hand, has recognised the importance of gender in structuring disciplines as well as teaching strategies. Both theories implicitly position the face-to-face classroom as the ideal learning environment, with the implication that distance learning has to produce a deficient environment. We argue that the evidence for women does not support this and present examples of feminist distance learning provision that has offered successful technology-enhanced learning and educational opportunities.     

The synthetic instructor: Implementation for Web‐based electronic performance support systems

Electronic performance support systems (EPSS) can accommodate disparate learner knowledge, experiences, and methods of comprehension. However, learners may have ineffective cognitive strategies for using an EPSS environment. The solution described in this article is applied to a Web‐based EPSS that has a simulation core. As the learner works in the environment, a “synthetic instructor” continuously collects information to adapt activities, resources, and representations. It uses critical incidents, which trigger within scenarios that mimic real‐world performance objectives.