Developing and managing school human capital for information and communication technology integration: a case study of a school-based e-learning project in Hong Kong

The application of information and communication technology (ICT) in education has been gaining attention worldwide. Educators and school administrators are interested in the myriad possibilities offered by new technologies to enrich teaching materials and to provide ubiquitous learning environments to enhance students’ learning. This case study examined the implementation of a school-based e-learning initiative in a primary school in Hong Kong by focusing on the development and management of forms of school human capital. The findings drew from interviews with 25 staff members in the case school and elucidated how school reform and transformation were effected through the development and management of intellectual, social, and organisational capitals. The interplay between these three forms of school human capitals highlighted the significance of shared vision, differentiated leadership as well as a culture of learning community in advancing towards ICT integration. Suggestions are made for establishing practices of distributed leadership and professional learning communities in the case school and other settings undertaking ICT integration.     

Quantitative versus qualitative evaluation: A tool to decide which to use

Evaluation is often avoided in human performance technology (HPT), but it is an essential and frequently catalytic activity that adds significant value to projects. Knowing how to approach an evaluation and whether to use qualitative, quantitative, or both methods makes evaluation much easier. In this article, we provide tools to help determine appropriate evaluation methods. Successful evaluation provides insightful data with which to make informed decisions.     

Mothers’ and Fathers’ Reports of Their Supportive Responses to Their Children’s Negative Emotions Over Time

Objective. Parents’ emotion socialization practices are thought to be moderately stable over time; however, a partner’s socialization practices could initiate change. Design. We examined mothers’ and fathers’ reports of their supportive responses to their children’s negative emotions when the target child was 7 years old and again at age 10. We tested a dyadic, longitudinal path model with 111 mother–father pairs. Results. Significant actor and partner effects emerged: Parents’ age 7 responses predicted their own age 10 responses and their partners’ later responses. Conclusions. Parents’ reported responses to children’s negative emotions during middle childhood are predicted by their own earlier responses and by their partners’ responses.     

‘Unboxing’ videos: co-construction of the child as cyberflâneur

This paper draws on data from a study of a four-year-old child, Gareth, in his first year of formal schooling in England. The aim of the study was to identify the nature of Gareth's literacy practices across home and school spaces. The focus for this paper is an analysis of one aspect of Gareth's home digital literacy practices: his repeated viewings at home of ‘unboxing’ videos on YouTube. These include videos that feature the unpacking of commercial products. It is argued that the child viewer/reader is co-constructed in these practices as cyberflâneur and that this mode of cultural transmission is a growing feature of online practices for this age group in the twenty-first century. The paper addresses issues concerning young children's online practices and their relationship to material culture before analysing the growth of interest in peer-to-peer textual production and consumption in the digital age.     

Parental involvement in literacy development: using media texts

This paper reports on a small‐scale project which aimed to build upon the existing home literacy practices of a group of three‐ and four‐year‐old children living in the UK. The purpose of the project was to develop literacy materials and resources which could be borrowed from nursery and used within the home to promote children’s literacy development. Children’s informal literacy practices at home were identified using literacy diaries, which 18 families completed over a four‐week period. These documented children’s reading of both printed and televisual texts. In addition, interviews were conducted with 15 parents and carers. The paper reports on the findings from this stage of the project, which indicate that much of children’s reading was focused on popular cultural and media texts. Media boxes were developed as a literacy resource for use by parents and children in the home. The use of these media boxes by three families was documented and the initial findings, which suggest that the use of such resources draws on families’ cultural capital, discussed.     

'Classification' and 'Judgement': Social class and the 'cognitive structures' of choice of Higher Education

The issue of social-class-related patterns of access to Higher Education (HE) has become a matter of public debate in the UK recently, but is on the whole portrayed one-sidedly in terms of issues of selection (elitism), and the social dimensions of choice are neglected. Here, drawing on an Economic and Social Research Council research study, choice of HE is examined using Bourdieu's concepts of 'classification' and 'judgement'. HE is viewed in terms of its internal status differentiations. Students' positive and negative choices are addressed using qualitative and quantitative data, and the 'accuracy' of status perceptions are also tested. It is argued that choices are infused with class and ethnic meanings and that choice-making plays a crucial role in the reproduction of divisions and hierarchies in HE, but also that the very idea of choice assumes a kind of formal equality that obscures 'the effects of real inequality'. HE choices are embedded in different kinds of biographies and institutional habituses, and different 'opportunity structures'.     

Digital play: a new classification

Abstract

This paper draws on an ESRC-funded study of play and creativity in preschool-aged children’s use of apps in the UK. The main objectives of the study were to collect information about access to and use of apps in the home, establish the most popular apps and identify the features of those apps that are successful in promoting play and creativity. A mixed-method approach was used to collect data, including video filming of children using the most popular apps. In identifying play types that emerged in the analysis of data, the team utilised an established taxonomy, which outlines sixteen play types. This taxonomy was reviewed and adapted to analyse data from the project relating to digital play. Through this process, an additional type of play, transgressive play, was identified and added to the taxonomy. The paper outlines the implications of the revised taxonomy for future studies of play.     

Evolution of an academic–public library partnership

A partnership to improve access to health information via an urban public library system was established in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2011. A multiyear project was outlined that included an information needs assessment, a training class for public library staff, information kiosks at library branches for delivering printed consumer health materials, and a series of health-related programming. The partnership evolved to include social service and community organizations to carry out project goals and establish a sustainable program that met the health and wellness interests of the community.