Scholarship and ideology in education policy studies

Devolution and Choice in Education: the school, the state and the market, GEOFF WHITTY, SALLY POWER & DAVID HALPIN, 1998, Buckingham: Open University Press. £15.99, 170 pp., ISBN 0 335 19711 6     

ANALYSIS OF INSTRUCTIONAL CONSULTANTS' QUESTIONS AND ALTERNATIVES TO QUESTIONS DURING THE PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION INTERVIEW

This study sought to determine the relation between Instructional Consultants' communication skills and competence using videotapes of simulated Problem Identification interviews. A quantitative analysis identified the frequencies of questions and alternatives to questions used, and the qualitative analysis examined the content of the verbalizations in the context of the session. Few quantitative differences were observed across consultants' competency levels, with the exception that Competent consultants posed the most clarifying statements and fewest expert opinions. However, the qualitative analysis indicated that the quality of the verbalizations best accounted for the consultants' communication skill levels. These results suggest that it is the familiarity with the Instructional Consultation model that enabled the consultant to guide the session and use effective communication. Training recommendations include building an understanding of the underlying assumptions of the consultation model and rehearsing communication skills within that context.     

Canadian and US adult learning (1945–1970) and the cultural politics and place of lifelong learning

This essay examines adult learning in Canada and the USA (1945–1970). It explores this emergence in relation to moves to establish academic adult education as a cultural force that could help citizen learners to negotiate a way forward amid the collision of instrumental, social, and cultural change forces altering life, learning, and work in the emerging postindustrial society. In this regard, it focuses centrally on lifelong learning as an idea designed to have broad appeal in rapid-change postindustrial culture. In particular, it attempts to explicate a cultural politics of lifelong learning, which academic adult educators hoped would give the field a higher profile within what they perceived to be an emerging change culture of crisis and challenge. Two key factors are considered in these deliberations. First, this essay explores the relationship between public education (understood as schooling for children) and adult education. It takes up how this problematic relationship interfered with a post-war turn to lifelong learning. Second, it examines the shift in the meaning of the social in understanding adult education as social education in postindustrial society. It argues that the post-war discourse of democracy delimited this meaning, locating the social predominantly within a concern with preserving the dominant culture and society.     

Community Education and child-care programs

The Community Education Services (CES) division of the Children's Television Workshop (CTW) is CTW's community-outreach arm. This article describes how CES works with parents, children, experts, and local groups to develop special multimedia products, four of which are discussed. Two of the products—a fire-safety kit and a natural-hazards packet—were designed to teach young children how to protect themselves in life-threatening emergencies. Two other products—CES'sSesame Street preschool education materials and its3-2-1 Contact andSquare One TV after-school materials—are attempts by CTW to respond to societal changes that have increasingly shifted the burden of child care onto preschool and after-school programs.     

五美元的秘密生活

“Stacie” “Yes!” Stacie thought to herself as she picked up the five-dollar bill on the sidewalk, "I know it's just five dollars, but that can get you rich! You could invest in some underdog idea. It would have to be a good idea. One that's thought out and that people really need."     

Windows into Children’s Thinking: A Guide to Storytelling and Dramatization

Telling and dramatizing stories is an increasingly popular addition to the preschool curriculum, largely due to the attention this activity has received through the writings of Vivian Paley (Bad guys don’t have birthdays: fantasy play at four. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1988; The boy who would be a helicopter: the uses of storytelling in the kindergarten. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1990; A child’s work: the importance of fantasy play. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2004). While the writings of Paley and others (Cooper, When stories come to school: telling, writing, and performing stories in the early childhood classroom. Teachers & Writers Collaborative, New York, 1993; Engel 1999) focus on the social and cognitive outcomes children experience as a result of storytelling, less has been written about the process of writing and dramatizing stories with young children. This article discusses procedures and considerations that enhance storytelling with preschool children, including effective prompts for encouraging children’s creativity, potential trouble spots such as aggression in stories, and ways that storytelling can enhance home-school relationships.     

Environmental learning in online social networks: adopting environmentally responsible behaviors

Online social networks are increasingly important information and communication tools for young people and for the environmental movement. Networks may provide the motivation for young adults to increase environmental behaviors by increasing their knowledge of environmental issues and of the specific actions they can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This study examined an application within Facebook.com – the largest online social network in the world – that allowed users to post climate change news stories from other websites and comment on those stories. A survey revealed that users of the social networking application reported above average knowledge of climate change science and that self‐reported environmental behaviors increased during young people's involvement with the Facebook application. Focus groups indicated that peer role modeling through interaction on the site motivated pro‐environmental behaviors, that is, behavior that seeks to minimize the negative impact of one's actions on the natural and built world. Participation in a community of like‐minded users spurred many participants to learn more about climate change and do more to limit its impact.     

一个中国球迷的超级星期一

温布顿是所有网球迷心中的圣殿,自从2002年开始看网球以来,那片绿草就承载着我对网球的所有梦想。在网球界,似乎只有温布顿才配的上“经典”这一修饰语。又因为我最喜爱的球员费德勒一直将温布顿视作他自己的后花园,我对这片场地的情感更加深沉。我一直梦想着可以亲临温布顿见证费天王捧起金杯,这个梦想支撑着我对网球的所有热情。     

Knowledge and utilization of the United States National Library of Medicine's biomedical information products and services among African health sciences librarians

The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) has the largest collection of biomedical information products and services in the world. Little is known of the extent to which librarians in sub-Saharan Africa are aware of and use these resources. The study's aim was to assess knowledge and frequency of use of NLM's biomedical information products and services among African librarians. Forty-three of the 50 delegates at the 11th biannual Congress of the Association of Health Information and Libraries in Africa (AHILA) participated in the study. The findings showed that participants' knowledge of NLM information products and services was low and that there is a need for increased awareness and training in the use of NLM's information products and services in order for users on the African continent to effectively benefit from them.     

The level of Internet access and ICT training for health information professionals in sub-Saharan Africa

BACKGROUND: Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are important tools for development. Despite its significant growth on a global scale, Internet access is limited in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Few studies have explored Internet access, use of electronic resources and ICT training among health information professionals in Africa. OBJECTIVE: The study assessed Internet access, use of electronic resources and ICT training among health information professionals in SSA. METHODS: A 26-item self-administered questionnaire in English and French was used for data collection. The questionnaire was completed by health information professionals from five Listservs and delegates at the 10th biannual Congress of the Association of Health Information and Libraries in Africa (AHILA). RESULTS: A total of 121 respondents participated in the study and, of those, 68% lived in their countries' capital. The majority (85.1%) had Internet access at work and 40.8% used cybercafes as alternative access points. Slightly less than two-thirds (61.2%) first learned to use ICT through self-teaching, whilst 70.2% had not received any formal training in the previous year. Eighty-eight per cent of respondents required further ICT training. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: In SSA, freely available digital information resources are underutilized by health information professionals. ICT training is recommended to optimize use of digital resources. To harness these resources, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations must play a key role.