Sexual Socialization Messages on Television Programs Most Popular Among Teens

This paper examines the portrayal of sexual messages in the top 20 most popular television programs among teenagers in the United States. It compares findings from the 2001–2002 and 2004–2005 seasons. Results show that these programs contained a large number of sexual messages, though their frequency decreased over time. Most messages about sex were in the form of conversations. About 1 in 2 shows included portrayals of sexual behaviors, mostly precursory behaviors. Sexual risk and responsibility concerns were rarely addressed. Most consequences for sexual intercourse portrayed in 2004–2005 were negative, a significant change from 2001–2002. The findings' implications for adolescents' sexual socialization are discussed.     

Designing for discovery learning of complexity principles of congestion by driving together in the TrafficJams simulation

We propose and evaluate a framework supporting collaborative discovery learning of complex systems. The framework blends five design principles: (1) individual action: amidst (2) social interactions; challenged with (3) multiple tasks; set in a (4) a constrained interactive learning environment that draws attention to (5) highlighted target relations. The framework addresses a persistent tension in discovery-based pedagogy between offering students the freedom to initiate, experiment, and explore and providing them with tailored experiences with many instances of particular relations underlying the target conceptual structure. The framework was realized with TrafficJams, a participatory simulation in which students drive together. A class of high-school students worked with TrafficJams over 2.5 h. The teacher’s role was to orchestrate the activity but there was no explicit instruction of the traffic and complexity principles. The students completed pre- and post-test questionnaires and their activities were observed and logged. In terms of driving in the simulation, the students learned to drive in ways that reduced congestion in traffic by decreasing lane and speed changes, and keeping their speed down. Even though there was no explicit teaching, half of the students learned that car speed distribution alone can generate traffic jams with no additional causes; and, keeping a safe following distance from the next driver increases everyone’s speed. Our study suggests that the learning environment partially met both the overarching design goal of constrained discovery and the specific content goal of systems reasoning.     

The cathedral’s ivory tower and the open education bazaar – catalyzing innovation in the higher education sector

ABSTRACT

Will open education replace traditional higher education, or augment it? Digital innovation in the higher education sector is fuelling speculation about the transformation of higher education and the future role of universities. Much of the speculation makes questionable implicit assumptions about current and future business models in the higher education sector. This conceptual paper applies an innovation management perspective to critically examine the use and misuse of the business model concept in the context of digital innovation in the higher education sector. Using Raymond’s metaphor of the cathedral and the bazaar which contrasted traditional commercial software development (the cathedral) with open source software development (the bazaar). We analogise this relationship with the relationship between ‘cathedral-type’ business models in traditional higher education (e.g. universities) and ‘bazaar-type’ business models in open education (e.g. open educational resource publishers). Using the historical perspective we now have on the software industry’s evolution we critique the ubiquitous replacement narrative of destruction and disruption of the sector, and propose an alternative narrative of interdependence and mutual innovative catalysis. We predict that higher education ecosystems will be based on synergistic relationships between organisations that represent many gradations on the continuum between ‘cathedral-type’ and ‘bazaar-type’ organisations.     

The seductive details effect in technology‐delivered instruction

Seductive details are highly interesting information tangential to course objectives. The inclusion of seductive details generally harms performance on recall tests, but few studies have used multimedia training or investigated effects on performance on recognition tests or transfer tasks. We conducted two studies using computer‐based training, instructing college students to use either Excel or Word mail merge. Contrary to most prior results, we found no negative effect for seductive details on recognition tests, and we found a facilitative effect on transfer performance. We discuss implications for theories of learning and transfer, and practical implications for instructional design and delivery.     

An information system for dropout prevention

Reducing student dropout from school is one of the most important challenges faced by the education system. This study examines the effectiveness of a Local Authority Information Center (LAIC) that was developed in Israel to help prevent this phenomenon. The research population embraced 418 regular attendance officers (RAOs), educators dealing with students dropping out and with those who at risk of dropping out. The RAOs were divided into an experimental group, that executed its work using the LAIC, and a control group that accomplished its work manually. The research findings show that the use of an LAIC system reduced the dropout rate and raised the number of students studying to the school’s satisfaction. This improvement even intensified 3 years later when the size of the experimental group was increased. The RAOs in the experimental group employ most of the LAIC’s facilities and they present positive attitudes towards the LAIC’s contribution to their work. The LAIC system seems to have a real and direct impact on reducing dropping out.