Abstracts of Doctoral Dissertations In Religious Education, 1960‐1961

There is great art in some commercially produced motion pictures, often with religious significance. There are ways of using such films educationally     

Learning about Interface Design through Peer Assessment

Peer assessment is recognised as a useful learning activity, not merely as a means by which assignments can be marked. In a design subject such as Human-computer Interaction, peer-assessment offers a unique opportunity for students to be exposed to a wide range of different designs in an environment that ensures that they reflect on these designs. However, it is important that the marking criteria are well specified and unambiguous. This paper reports on the use of peer-assessment as an effective learning activity for revealing the wide range of design issues and dimensions in interface design, where formal marking is based on clear, functional criteria. Subjective consideration of the interfaces is encouraged through a ranking system and the subsequent elicitation of interface design principles. The successful implementation of this scheme demonstrates its benefits both as a learning activity and as an opportunity for student reflection.     

Assimilation, Faith and Identity: Educational Implications of Change and Continuity

In England, the presence of an established church places its adherents within the social mainstream. Other religious groups have been tolerated though suffering social and educational disadvantages. With the passage of time through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, minority religious groups such as Irish Catholics have been assimilated into the host culture, and allowed to have their own schools.
However, it would appear that contemporary movements of people to the United Kingdom have retained loyalties not only to their own religion, but, in some instances to their own language, which they perceive as a vital element of their own culture and identity. Demands for schools, within the state-funded system, for minority religious groups have not lessened. As faith schools in England increase in number, their role in a multicultural society becomes increasingly problematic. Lessons about changing models of assimilation and identity can be learnt from a brief review of the historic Irish Catholic experience that, in turn, can illuminate the current experience of a Greek Orthodox school in south London.     

Television—the Housewife's Choice? The 1949 Mass Observation Television Directive,Reluctance and Revision

This article considers the responses of women, many of whom describe themselves as housewives, in the 1949 Mass Observation Television Directive, in order to interrogate some of the broader assumptions around television's relationship with ‘the housewife’ as key to its success. Against the backcloth of social histories revising ideas about gender, modernity and suburbia in the post-war period, this article considers some of the ways in which initial reluctance towards television was recorded and negotiated. It presents three themes around tensions between home and leisure, the domestication of entertainment and ‘going out’, and the appreciation of particular genre, which suggest that the adoption of television as mass entertainment by women might not have been as smooth a process as we have come to understand.     

Using game‐based learning to support struggling readers at home

Significant numbers of children (6% of 11‐year‐olds) have difficulties learning to read. Meanwhile, children who receive appropriate support from their parents do better in literacy than those who do not. This study uses a case study approach to investigate how digital games designed to support struggling readers in school were used at home, by the parents of six children to support their children’s literacy. Mostly, the children enjoyed playing the games and believe that it helped improve their reading. The parents all valued the opportunity to participate in their child’s learning and believe that the games’ approach to learning is effective. The study considers key influences on the successful use of games to support struggling readers (repetition, feedback, motivation, self‐efficacy, parental beliefs) and raises questions, further consideration of which might usefully inform the future development of effective game‐based learning.