“To make the tacit explicit”: Teacher education, emerging discourse, and conceptions of teaching

The influence of teacher education on teaching is a problematic area, both in practice and in research. Often, because much research adopts a “first-order” perspective which focuses on teachers' behaviors, influences of teacher education are seen as temporary, negligible, or difficult to determine. The study reported here grew out of a general concern to document, via a “second-order” perspective which examines their thinking and perceptions, how teachers modify or improve what they do through formal teacher education. It addresses three important areas which have received little attention in recent research: foreign language teaching, in-service graduate education, and the role of a shared, professional discourse in developing teachers' conceptions of teaching. The paper presents a summary of the findings of an 18-month longitudinal study which examined how foreign language teachers' conceptions of their classroom practice developed as they took part in an in-service teacher education program. The paper discusses how the program's shared professional discourse contributes to increasing the complexity of the teachers' thinking about their teaching and suggests that as they learn to articulate their de facto ways of thinking in the shared discourse, the teachers gain greater control over their classroom practice and are thus more able to shape it to their own ends.     

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Reading Recovery: a critique

This paper attempts to examine critically evaluation studies concerned with the implementation of Reading Recovery, an intensive individualised early intervention programme, by focusing on teacher, child and systemic change. Some conceptual and methodological shortcomings which have characterised many evaluations to date are discussed, together with ways in which these weaknesses could be redressed in future studies.     

Delay discounting in rhesus monkeys: equivalent discounting of more and less preferred sucrose concentrations

Humans discount larger amounts of a delayed reinforcer less steeply than smaller amounts, but studies with pigeons and rats have yet to reveal such a magnitude effect, suggesting that the effect may be unique to humans. The present study examined whether the magnitude effect is observed in a species phylogenetically closer to humans, by comparing the rates at which rhesus monkeys discounted 10% and 20% concentrations of sucrose. There were no systematic differences in the rates at which the monkeys discounted the two sucrose concentrations, despite the fact that they strongly preferred the 20% concentration. Interestingly, the monkeys discounted delayed sucrose at a rate higher than was observed with delayed cocaine, and lower than was observed with delayed saccharin in previous studies (Freeman et al. Behavioural Processes, 82, 214-218, 2009; Woolverton et al. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 15, 238-244, 2007). Taken together, these findings suggest that although both quantitative and qualitative differences can affect monkeys’ preferences between immediate reinforcers, qualitative differences between types of reinforcers (e.g., sucrose vs. cocaine) can affect monkeys’ discounting rates in a way that quantitative differences within a reinforcer (e.g., 10% vs. 20% sucrose) do not.     

国际教育信息化2013地平线报告（高等教育版）

国际新媒体联盟（New Media Consortium,简称NMC）所发布的年度地平线报告已经成为全球范围内教育信息化发展的显示器与风向标。2012年10月,北京开放大学与美国新媒体联盟签署协议,授权北京开放大学作为其在中国发行其年度报告中文版的唯一官方机构。本期学报正式刊出的2013年度地平线报告显示,未来五年内影响高等教育的六大技术为：大规模开放网络课程、平板电脑、游戏和游戏化、学习分析技术、3D打印技术、可穿戴技术。这些新技术对于我们生活中的沟通交流、获取信息、社会交往、日常学习等方面正在产生重大而深远的影响。希望本报告能够有助于国内同行及时了解国际范围内教育信息化的发展趋势、新技术应用,为促进信息技术更有效地提高教学质量服务提供有益借鉴。新媒体联盟总裁莱瑞博士（Larry Johnson）专门写信祝贺2013年度地平线报告（中文版）刊出：“北京开放大学与新媒体联盟的合作已使成千上万的中国教育界同行有机会围绕教育技术及其在大学和中小学课堂应用问题参与全球对话。北京开放大学以其在教育技术、在线学习的实践探索及开展的国际合作等方面取得的业绩成为国际地平线项目有价值的合作者。你们为地平线专题研究做出了贡献,还承担了地平线报告（中文版）的翻译出版。借助你们的帮助,许多国外同行开始了解信息技术如何在中国这一人口大国的大学和中小学得到应用;同时,也使中国教育界了解世界各国同行正在开展的信息化实践探索。”     

An Alternative Counseling Model for Alcohol Abuse in College: A Case Study

Abstinence education remains a prevailing approach for addressing college student alcohol abuse. This case study illustrates an alternative method of intervening that combines motivational interviewing, harm reduction, and a brief solution‐focused model. The counseling approach illustrated emphasizes reduction in, rather than abstinence from, drinking behaviors and therefore may be especially useful on campuses where cultural context rejects abstinence and where many student constituents resist engaging in traditional abstinence approaches.