Video Telecommunications for distance education: A field survey of systems in US public education,industry and the military

A field survey was conducted of a representative sample of 13 US educational video telecommunications (VTC) sites in public education, industry, and the military. The majority of educational/training networks use one‐way video with two‐way audio, although the use of two‐way video is increasing. Some systems regularly establish communication with others as ‘open networks’, and others are closed systems. There appears to be a trend for VTC systems to expand in the form of VTC consortia. Poor quality audio is a problem shared by many VTC systems.     

Computer conferencing for guidance and support in the OU

This article describes the UK Open University's FirstClass™ Computer conferencing system and its role in student support taking as an example the particular the way it is used for course choice. It suggests that whilst there are students who use it freely and apparently derive benefit from it, there are also substantial issues to be addressed about its relative unpopularity with students as a support medium. Institutions using computer conferencing may need to address issues about student antipathy towards it     

Development of Scientific Thinking Facilitated by Reflective Self‐Assessment in a Communication‐Intensive Food Science and Human Nutrition Course

A one‐credit seminar on controversies in food science and human nutrition was a platform to introduce students to learning frameworks for thinking‐like‐a‐scientist. We hypothesized that explicitly engaging students in thinking about their thinking abilities within these frameworks would enhance their self‐perception of scientific thinking, an important general ability for food scientists. Our objectives were to assess thinking‐like‐a‐scientist using a student self‐assessment survey, and analyze their self‐reflections for evidence of such thinking. For students enrolled in one of the offerings of this course among 5 semesters from 2012 to 2014, differences in scores on a survey instrument for thinking‐like‐a‐scientist from the beginning to the end of the course showed gains in self‐assessed abilities (N = 21 to 22 students/semester). In each of the first 2 semesters in which we introduced thinking‐like‐a‐scientist frameworks, students thought they were better at defining problems scientifically by 13% to 14%. In the 3rd course offering, students’ self‐assessment of their abilities to seek evidence improved by 10%. In the 4th and 5th semester course offerings, students’ self‐assessed abilities to develop plans based on evidence improved by 7% to 14%. At the end of each semester, students’ self‐reflections on scientific thinking (N = 20 to 24/semester) included specific reference to asking questions (45% to 65% of reflections) and making plans based on evidence (26% to 50% of reflections). These data support the usefulness of self‐reflection tools as well as specific learning frameworks to help students to think about and practice thinking‐like‐a‐scientist.     

Research into the construction of mathematical texts

Investigations of the actual reading process and of the structure of a mathematical text are important for elaborating didactical methods for teaching reading a mathematical text. The article reports on a broader project concerning the structure of a mathematical text. The structure of several hundred texts has been analyzed. Academic textbooks and mathematical monographs (especially in Polish) written by mathematicians have been used as a source. Characteristic features of proof construction, that may influence the course of the reading process, have been isolated. For instance, transmission means have been investigated such as text segmentation which uses delimiters and so called procedure schemes.     

The role of the history of mathematics in the teaching and learning of mathematics: Discussion Document for an ICMI Study (1997–2000)

In recent years there has been growing interest in the role of history of mathematics in improving the teaching and learning of mathematics. ICMI, the International Commission on Mathematics Instruction, has set up a Study on this topic, to report back at the next International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME) in Japan in the year 2000. The present document sketches out some of the concerns to be addressed in the ICMI Study, in the hope that many people across the world will wish to contribute to the international discussions and the growing understandings reached in and about this area.This discussion document will be followed by an invited conference (to be held in France in April 1998), from which a publication will be prepared to appear by 2000. The next section of the present document surveys the questions to be addressed. Your views are solicited both on the questions and on how to take the issues forward as implied in the commentary.     

Higher Education Rankings: Evolution,Acceptance, and Dialogue

Departing from the usual ‘From the Editors' piece, Jamie Merisotis, President of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, and Jan Sadlak, Director of UNESCO‐CEPES, reflect on the content of this issue of the review. At the same time, they outline the essential developments affecting ranking systems and methodologies in higher education. These developments made up the main topic of the meeting jointly organized by the Institute for Higher Education Policy and UNESCO‐CEPES for the project “Higher Education Ranking Systems and Methodologies: How They Work, What They Do”, and held in Washington D.C., USA on 10–11 December 2004. Most of the articles presented in this issue relate to the context of the above‐mentioned meeting.     

Collaboration, integration and change in children's services: critical issues and key ingredients

BACKGROUND: Government and state policy, irrespective of jurisdiction, increasingly require and indeed specify the nature of collaboration with regard to the delivery of child welfare services for maltreated children. The rationale for collaboration appears obvious in as much as it is aimed at promoting multidisciplinary practice in order to meet the needs of the vulnerable child. However, collaboration, whilst a useful and motivating concept, is in reality far from straightforward and contains complexities and ambiguities. AIM: The aim of this paper is to explore these complexities and ambiguities to provide an overview of key developmental frameworks relevant to the creation and maintenance of strategic high-level multiagency partnerships. COMMENTARY: The authors begin by exploring the characteristic features of different levels of multiagency collaboration that is communication, co-operation, co-ordination, coalition, and integration. As the emphasis in a variety of jurisdictions in the Western world is on the highest levels of collaboration namely coalition and service integration this is the focus of the paper. The authors synthesize the main literature in the field to consider the critical elements for effective collaborative endeavors at this level including predisposing factors, mandate, leadership, machinery, process, and outcomes. The paper concludes by recognizing that the drive towards integrated services is occurring in a climate of continuing change. The need to identify the impact of such an environment when managing multiagency partnerships is explored using five steps to change.     

Adding a design perspective to study learning environments in higher professional education

How to design learning environments leading to learning-, thinking, collaboration- and regulation skills which can be applied to transferable, knowledge oriented learning outcomes is still controversial. We studied the designs of learning environments in innovative higher professional education more closely. To characterize learning environments we identify designable elements and position them on a scale ranging from specified, to emergent elements. Next, the main problems with the designs are identified. We introduce adaptive elements as a potential solution. We observed participants adapting such elements to suit their own needs or the needs of others. The designable and adaptive elements fulfill a dual function: they should offer contextual clues that would be available in professional practice and scaffold learners in need of support.     

Diversity Knowledge in Science Teacher Education-Translating Concept to Instruction: An Example Specific to African Americans

Science education reforms promote access to quality science education for all students. Outcome disparities in various measures indicate that such access remains elusive for African Americans. Cultural incongruence is one among many explanations for this previously described inaccessibility. The intent of this article is not to report additional research findings, but to translate the information provided in the literature into an instructional form that science teacher educators can employ in the preparation of prospective science teachers or the further development of practicing ones. Pivoting around a role play, the authors discuss communication within African American communities, its incongruence with the discourse patterns typically valued and reinforced in school science, and the importance of such knowledge for science teacher educators. Lieutenant Colonel Stephanie Foster is now product manager in the U.S. Army Research Development and Engineering Command.

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