Ehlers,Ulf‐Daniel (2013) Open learning cultures. Springer (Berlin) isbn 978‐3‐642‐38173‐7 257 pp £62.99 http://www.springer.com/us/book/9783642381737

This monograph, addressed to higher education teachers, concerns learning in a Web 2.0 world, together with new, open forms of assessment and quality development. I find interesting the rich chapters on quality and assessment but less convincing the initial analysis and classification of Web 2.0 learning environments and landscapes. If you are likely to find this book relevant to you, I advise that you will probably find only parts of interest or use. Giuliana Dettori     

`Leadership and Mind': Frederic C. Lane as Cultural Entrepreneur and Diplomat

This paper analyses the life and work of the historian Frederic C. Lane, Assistant Director of the Social Sciences for the Rockefeller Foundation in Europe, 1951–1954. During this period, Lane worked in close contact with Joseph Willits – head of the Social Sciences Division – and contributed to the definition of Rockefeller policies towards Europe during an early stage of the Cold War.     

Inter- and intra-firm effects in the diffusion of new process technology

Using primarily the example of Computerised Numerically Controlled Machine Tools (CNC) in the UK metalworking and engineering industry, it is shown that, even many years after the date of first use of a new technology, although the larger proportion of firms may be using that technology, because the extent of intra-firm diffusion is limited, the proportion of total industry output produced on that technology may be quite small. Using backward projection techniques it is further shown that intra-firm diffusion tends to lag behind inter-firm diffusion over the whole of the diffusion process and inter-firm diffusion patterns and extent may thus be poor indicators of overall diffusion. Although intra-firm diffusion is therefore crucial to the understanding of overall diffusion patterns the existing literature relating to it has severe limitations and there are no associated policy results. It is argued that much greater emphasis should be placed on intra-firm issues in future diffusion research. It is also suggested that discussions of intra-firm policy could usefully proceed within the context of already established general diffusion policy principles.     

Enhancing wayfinding in pre-school children through robot and socio-cognitive conflict

Wayfinding is one of the most important skills that children have to learn in order to safely move in the environment. One problem that 5-year-old children encounter with wayfinding is changing their point of view to that of another person in different position in the same environment, such as that of a person opposite them whose perspective is turned 180° with respect to their own. Robots could help children in learning this skill, since children can instruct them to move in the environment, in predetermined paths, by starting from a rotated perspective. This study compares classic socio-cognitive conflict with a human partner, but in this case with a robot partner, in order to evaluate how a specific activity (instructing a robot to perform a given route) enhances the wayfinding skills of 156 5-year-old children. Using two different robots (humanoid and non-humanoid) and two different conditions (a child and the robot and two children and the robot), the study shows that children who performed the task with the humanoid robot improved their performance significantly better compared with those who used the non-humanoid robot. Furthermore, children engaged in the Socio-Cognitive Conflict situation with another child-outperformed children in the Socio-Cognitive Conflict with robots. Finally, children with low-level performance in the pretest made the greatest improvement both in terms of moves made and time taken to complete the task in comparison with children in the High-Level Group and of the Control Group.     

Multidimensional profiles of learning orientations and school achievement: a person-oriented approach in middle-school students

A person-oriented approach was applied to the study of early adolescents’ learning orientations to identify different profiles and their association with school achievement. A total of 244 middle-school students (male: 128; female: 116; M-age ± SD = 12.51 ± .93) completed a self-report questionnaire to explore cognitive, metacognitive, and affective dimensions of learning orientations. School achievements were collected in a range of school subjects. Cluster analyses and one-way MANOVA were carried out to verify the existence of profiles. Chi-square tests were used to test the association between profiles of learning orientations and school achievement. The results showed two profiles differently associated with school achievement: students “Dragged by the current” (Profile 1) showed low school achievement across school subjects, meanwhile students “At the helm” (Profile 2) reached excellent school achievement. In promoting middle-school students’ achievement, it is important for teachers to consider students’ profiles of learning orientations.