Twenty‐first century learning: communities,interaction and ubiquitous computing

Advanced technology makes 21st century learning, communities and interactions unique and leads people to an era of ubiquitous computing. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the discussion of learning in the 21st century. The paper will review literature on learning community, community learning, interaction, 21st century learning and ubiquitous computing. It will also present work conducted by a teacher who used a hand‐held device, one of the 21st century tools, in a sixth grade classroom in the USA. The authors suggest that 21st century learning involves five types of interactions: (a) learner–content, (b) learner–teacher, (c) learner–learner, (d) learner–interface and (e) learner–community. They also recommend that professionals explore the potential of hand‐held devices in education and conduct research on its effectiveness in learning.

L’apprentissage au vingt et unième siècle: les communautés, l’interaction et l’ordinateur passe‐partout

La technologie avancée donne leur caractère unique à l’apprentissage, aux communautés et aux interactions et conduit les gens vers l’ère de l’ordinateur passe partout. Le but de cet article est d’apporter une contribution au débat sur l’apprentissage au 21^e siècle. Cet article va passer en revue les publications sur les communautés d’apprentissage, l’apprentissage communautaire, l’interaction, l’apprentissage au 21^e siècle et l’informatique passe partout. Il présente aussi les travaux menés par un enseignant qui a utilisé un ordinateur de poche, un de ces outils du 21^e siècle, dans une classe de 6^e aux Etats‐Unis. Les auteurs pensent que l’apprentissage du 21^e siècle met en jeu cinq types d’interaction différents: a) apprenant/contenu, b)apprenant/enseignant, c)apprenant/apprenant, d)apprenant/interface, et e)apprenant/communauté. Ils recommandent aussi que les professionnels étudient les possibilités des ordinateurs de poche pour l’éducation et mènent des recherches sur leur efficacité en matière d’apprentissage.

Lernen des einundzwanzigsten Jahrhunderts: Gemeinschaften, Interaktion und der allgegenwärtige Einsatz von Computern

Fortschrittliche Technologie macht das Lernen, Gemeinschaften und Interaktionen im 21. Jahrhundert einzigartig und führt die Menschen zu einer Ära allgegenwärtiger Computernutzung. Der Zweck dieses Artikels ist, zur Diskussion über das Lernen im 21. Jahrhundert beizutragen. Das Papier überprüft Literatur über Lernumgebungen, Lernen in Gemeinschaften, Interaktionen, Lernen im 21. Jahrhundert und allgegenwärtige Computerbenutzung. Es zeigt auch den von einem Lehrer durchgeführten Versuch, mit einem “handheld”‐ Gerät, einem der technischen Hilfsmittel des 21.Jahrhunderts, in einer “sixth grade class” in den USA zu arbeiten. Die Autoren behaupten, dass das Lernen in diesem 21. Jahrhundert fünf Arten von Interaktionen umfasst: (a) Lerner – Inhalt, (b) Lerner – Lehrer, (c) Lerner ‐ Lerner, (d) Lerner – Schnittstelle und (e) Lerner ‐ Gemeinschaft. Sie empfehlen auch, dass Fachleute das Potential von “handheld”‐ Geräten im Bildungsbereich untersuchen und eine Einschätzung ihrer Wirksamkeit für das Lernen abgeben.     

Evaluating the impact of R&D tax credits on innovation: A microeconometric study on Canadian firms

This study examines the effect of R&D tax credits on innovation activities of Canadian manufacturing firms. Over the 1997-1999 period the Federal and Provincial R&D tax credit programs were used by more than one third of all manufacturing firms and by close to two thirds of firms in high-technology sectors. We investigate the average effect of R&D tax credits on a series of innovation indicators such as: number of new products, sales with new products, originality of innovation, etc. using a non-parametric matching approach. Compared to a hypothetical situation in the absence of R&D tax credits, recipients of tax credits show significantly better scores on most but not all performance indicators. We therefore conclude that tax credits lead to additional innovation output.     

A boundary-crossing approach to support students’ integration of statistical and work-related knowledge

Vocational students and beginning professionals typically find it hard to integrate the mathematics and statistics that they have learned at school with work-related knowledge. To explore how such an integration process could be supported, we conducted an intervention in secondary vocational laboratory education. Our boundary-crossing approach was informed by the literature on boundary crossing and accompanying learning mechanisms (e.g., reflection in the form of perspective making and taking, and transformation in the form of hybridization). We hypothesized that reflection, as making and taking perspectives on school-taught and work-related knowledge, could lead to transformation, i.e., help students integrate these types of knowledge into a hybridized whole. Data collection included video and audio recordings of five 1-h meetings with three students, the data from their research projects, and interviews with the teacher and two workplace supervisors. The analysis of the students’ reasoning during the meetings revealed that their level of integrating school-taught statistics and work-related knowledge increased significantly and with a medium effect size. This suggests that a boundary-crossing approach can support students in integrating school-taught and work-related knowledge.     

Proportional reasoning in the laboratory: an intervention study in vocational education

Based on insights into the nature of vocational mathematical knowledge, we designed a computer tool with which students in laboratory schools at senior secondary vocational school level could develop a better proficiency in the proportional reasoning involved in dilution. We did so because we had identified computations of concentrations of chemical substances after dilution as a problematic area in the vocational education of laboratory technicians. Pre- and post-test results indeed show that 47 students aged 16–23 significantly improved their proportional reasoning in this domain with brief instruction time (50–90 min). Effect sizes were mostly large. The approach of using a visual tool that foregrounds mathematical aspects of laboratory work thus illustrates how vocational mathematical knowledge can be developed effectively and efficiently.     

Energy and macronutrient intake in adolescent sprint athletes: a follow-up study

Macronutrient intake, height, weight, and body composition of 60 adolescent sprint athletes were estimated every 6 months over 3 years. Seven-day food records were analysed based on the Belgian and Dutch food databanks. The age of participants at the start of the 3-year study was 14.8 ± 1.6 years for female athletes and 14.7 ± 1.9 years for male athletes. Girls and boys gained height (3.4 ± 4.6 cm and 5.9 ± 6.6 cm respectively) and weight (5.6 ± 3.5 kg and 8.7 ± 5.5 kg respectively), whereas percent body fat remained unchanged in both girls and boys (around 17.0% and 8.5% respectively). Mean protein intake of around 1.5 g · kg?1 body weight was within recommendations on each occasion for both sexes. Carbohydrate intakes between 5 and 7 g · kg?1 body weight support a training programme of moderate intensity. Total and saturated fat intakes were high at the start of the study (girls: 31.8 ± 3.5% and 12.2 ± 2.0% of energy intake; boys: 30.3 ± 4.6% and 12.0 ± 1.9% of energy intake) and it appeared to be difficult to achieve and maintain lower intakes. Consistent low fluid intakes around 40 ml · kg?1 body weight were observed. General non-stringent advice for improvement of the diet resulted in significant favourable changes only for the consumption of wholegrain bread, vegetables, and soft drinks. Dietary habits of adolescent sprint athletes are not always according to guidelines and are relatively stable but repeated advice can induce moderate improvements.     

Structural Identity Consultation: Story Telling as a Culture of Faith Transformation

In this contribution we explore processes of Structural Identity Consultation (SIC) with primary school teachers, and the opportunities this kind of team meetings offers for a nontraditional way to live with religious tradition(s). We take our start in everyday classrooms, characterized by religious diversity. The thoughts of Levinas, and his view on the relationship of “I” and “the other,” open our mind for the encounter with the other, and the sensibility for the need of the other, resulting in an “answer-ability” for the other. Structural Identity Consultations in our view create an open space to explore differing narrations on encounter. The narration of a young teacher, and the deconstructive reading of this narration as a text, shows the innovative power of (religious) tradition. It is our conviction that teachers' story telling in Structural Identity Consultations enlarges religious literacy and improves religious sensibility.     

History

THE MAKING OF MODERN ADVERTISING by Daniel Pope (New York: Basic Books, 1983---$18.95)

THE NEW ALCHEMISTS: SILICON VALLEY AND THE MICROELECTRONICS REVOLUTION by Dirk Hanson (Boston: Little, Brown, 1983---$15.95)

THE TIMETABLE OF TECHNOLOGY: A RECORD OF OUR CENTURY'S ACHIEVMENTS (London: Michael Joseph, 1982---$12.95)

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THE PRESS BARONS by Piers Brendon (New York: Atheneum, 1983---$14.95)     

Free daily newspapers ‐ business models and strategies

Abstract

Free daily newspapers, first introduced in Sweden in 1995, have proved to be much more than a passing phenomenon. By 2002, 80 free daily newspapers were introduced in 26 countries, 60 of them still exist. In thirteen countries free papers are responsible for more than ten percent of the total daily weekday circulation. The total circulation of the 60 free papers is almost 10 million copies, every day more than 20 million people read these papers. The success of the free papers is the result of their efficient cost structure and their ability to reach a new and relatively young audience. When looking more closely at the firms that publish these free newspapers two different models emerge; first, the entrepreneur entering a new market, and second the local or national newspaper firm. In the second model, free papers are launched to prevent other firms entering the market or to counter new firms already in the market. In the long run these obstructive tactics may develop into more positive strategies. Most readers are former ‘non‐readers’ or people who read paid and free newspapers Existing firms are developing strategies to benefit from the growing readership of newspapers created by free papers.