The Role of Educational Psychology in Teacher Education: Three Challenges for Educational Psychologists

Data-driven decision making has become an essential component of educational practice across all levels, from chief state school officers to classroom teachers, and has received unprecedented attention in terms of policy and financial support. It was included as one of the four pillars in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (2009), indicating that federal education officials seek to ensure that data and evidence are used to inform policy and practice. This article describes the emergence of data-driven decision making as a topic of interest, some of the challenges to and opportunities for data use, and how the principles of educational psychology can and must be used to inform how educators are using data and the examination of its impact on educational practice.     

The SIMPLE_1 Simulation Environment: Experiences in Teaching and Research

An overview of the PC-based SIMPLE_1 simulation environment is presented, with an emphasis on features that make it easy to learn and use. The author draws from personal experience with the language in teaching, research and consulting. Examples are drawn from classroom assignments which illustrate features of the language and underscore its ease of use. The ability to create easily custom screens for user interaction via the keyboard for animation during the simulation and for reporting the results is emphasized and illustrated     

English as a Foreign Language: Reflections on a Novel Aspect

'Paddy' Creber, author of Sense and Sensitivity, University of London Press, 1965, is writing, on behalf of NATE, a book to be entitled Lost for Words to be published by Penguin Books 1971 which will consider further some of the implications of the Walsall Seminar of 1968. Mr. Creber is n Lecturer in Education at the University of Exeter.     

English-in-the-workplace for Garment Workers: A feminist project?

This article draws on a recent study of an English-in-the-workplace (EWP) programme currently in operation at three Canadian garment factories. The EWP programme offers formal instruction in English during the workday to a labour force comprised mainly of immigrant women employed as sewing machine operators. Among other things, results from the study suggest that newly acquired English skills may be reinforcing linguistic behaviour that reconstitutes traditional relations between workers and management, men and women. The article highlights a possible connection between workers' linguistic behaviour and the pedagogical practices evident in the EWP classes. We suggest that an exclusive and/or particular emphasis on the 'personal' in the form and content of lessons, taken up as it is in the EWP classes is problematic and may not ultimately work in the best interests of women workers. We look to the development of more critical EWP programmes.     

LIFE: Costing the Digital Preservation Lifecycle

The LIFE project creates a digital lifecycle model based on previous work undertaken on the lifecycle of paper-based material.Web Archiving, Voluntarity Deposited Electronic Publications (VDEP), and E-Journal are chosen as case study for application and evaluation of the LIFE Mode.Case studies show its potential for further use in a numble of roles,such as improving assessment of the financial commitment,more effective planning for preservation activities etc.The LIFE Mode will be revised and refined in LIFE2 Project.