Rhetoric and reality: using ICT to enhance pupil learning—Harry Potter and the Warley Woods Mystery—Case study 2

How can we use ICT to enhance the quality of pupil learning? The case study below deliberately embedded ICT within the context of an existing scheme of work to develop 11–12 year olds’ understanding of the skills and processes of historical investigation. It also mapped onto the existing teaching styles of the teachers involved, and reflected their orientation—beliefs and values. The role for the ICT was to present the pupils with a problem that would intrigue, excite and motivate them. Accordingly, we asked them to act in role as assistants to Harry and Hermione in investigating the strange death of Sam Woodhouse in 1822. The pupils carried out the investigation using a hyperlinked set of clues. They had undertaken two identical kinds of investigation earlier in the year. One was a murder mystery, the other the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower in 1483. For both these mysteries the clues were on cards. Comparisons of the results of the ICT mystery with those of the earlier two investigations suggest that the hyperlink version was equally effective in terms of developing understanding, with some clear advantages in developing pupils’ overall understanding of the problem and ability to make links between disparate clues and pieces of information.     

Lifewide learning in the city: novel big data approaches to exploring learning with large-scale surveys,GPS, and social media

ABSTRACT

Despite UNESCO’s Learning Cities agenda, which argues for the mobilisation of resources to promote education across all sectors and environments, there is little evaluative research on Learning City engagement which is both naturalistic and empirically rigorous. The research on informal adult learning in urban contexts is particularly sparse. This paper provides a case study of informal learning and lifewide literacies amongst Glaswegian adults using three distinct approaches to data collection: a household survey capturing rich data on learning attitudes, behaviours, and literacies; GPS trails that track mobility around the city; and the capture of naturally occurring social media. The work operationalises Learning City indicators, and explores domains beyond education, some of which have not previously been considered in surveys of adult learning, for example, physical mobilities and transportation patterns. We use theoretical concepts of social identity and capital to situate inclusion within explanatory frameworks of marginalisation in less tangible domains of informal learning using multi-stranded data. A triangulated analysis of city-wide participation in lifewide learning reveals a demographic picture of groups marginalised from learning opportunities and practices. We conclude with a call for new approaches to exploring learning participation which offer novel methods to evidence informal learning and lifewide literacies.     

What's in a name? A comparison of methods for classifying predominant type of maltreatment

OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of the study was to identify a classification scheme, for determining the predominant type of maltreatment in a child's history that best predicts differences in developmental outcomes. METHOD: Three different predominant type classification schemes were examined in a sample of 519 children with a history of alleged maltreatment. Cases were classified into predominant maltreatment types according to three different schemes: Hierarchical regression analyses examined whether the HT, SFT, and EHT type classifications contributed to prediction of child behavior problems, trauma symptoms and adaptive functioning. RESULTS: After controlling for demographic factors, the HT definitions predicted four outcomes, while the SFT definitions predicted three, and the EHT classifications contributed to the prediction of five child outcomes. The co-occurrence of multiple types of maltreatment was robustly related to outcomes. However, the HT and SFT classifications predicted outcomes even after accounting for the co-occurrence of multiple maltreatment subtypes. CONCLUSION: A classification scheme that differentiates between type combinations and single maltreatment types may have the greatest predictive validity. Over and above knowing about co-occurrence of maltreatment sub-types, it is important to understand what type, or constellation of types, of maltreatment have been alleged in a child's history.     

Modification of a mother's verbal abuse

In this study an abusive parent was instructed in techniques of behavior modification. It was hypothesized that the parent-child interactions would improve as the mother, Mrs. X, began modifying her daughter Jan's behavior.An A-B - A-B reversal design was implemented. Baseline data was collected to determine the frequency with which Jan interrupted Mrs. X. During the treatment phase, Mrs. X was to ignore Jan's interruptions and positively reinforce Jan when she spoke to Mrs. X without interrupting. However, Mrs. X did not apply the treatment consistently and the frequency of Jan's interruptions did not change significantly. Thus a return to baseline and reimplementation of the treatment was not necessary.In order to ascertain whether the parent-child interactions chanqed, two thirty-minute tapes of the baseline sessions were made and two thirty-minute tapes of the treatment sessions were made. The tapes were transcribed and assessed according to the Kasprin-Burrelli, Egolf, and Shames Parent-Child Interaction Scale (Kasprin-Burrelli, et al., 1972).The quality of the parent-child interactions, as measured by the Kasprin-Burrelli, et al., Parent-Child Interaction Scale, improved throughout the study. Thus, it is impossible to state that the treatment was responsible for the improvement. It is hypothesized that the presence of the examiner resulted in the improvement. Mrs. X is a college-educated woman and appears to need adult stimulation. When Mrs. X's need for adult stimulation was met, then her interactions with Jan improved. Thus, although Mrs. X did not modify Jan's interruption behavior, her interactions with Jan did improve throughout the experiment.     

Recognising and promoting collaboration in an online asynchronous discussion

This paper reports on a study involving the identification and measurement of collaboration in an online asynchronous discussion (OAD). A conceptual framework served for the development of a model which conceptualises collaboration on a continuum of processes that move from social presence to production of an artefact. From this model, a preliminary instrument with six processes was developed. Through application of the instrument to an OAD, the instrument was further developed with indicators added for each process. Use of the instrument to analyse an OAD showed that it is effective for gaining insight into collaborative processes in which discussants in an OAD do or do not engage. Use of the instrument in other contexts would test and potentially strengthen its reliability and provide further insight into the collaborative processes in which individuals engage in OADs. Analysis of an OAD using the instrument revealed that participants engaged primarily in processes related to social presence and articulating individual perspectives, and did not reach a stage of sharing goals and producing shared artefacts. The results suggest that the higher‐level processes related to collaboration in an OAD may need to be more explicitly and effectively promoted in order to counteract a tendency on the part of participants to remain at the level of individual rather than group or collaborative effort.     

Inference making ability and its relation to comprehension failure in young children

Young children's reading comprehension skill is associated with their ability to draw inferences (Oakhill 1982, 1984). An experiment was conducted to investigate the direction of this relation and to explore possible sources of inferential failure. Three groups of children participated: Same-age skilled and less skilled comprehenders, and a comprehension-age match group. The pattern of performance indicated that the ability to make inferences was not a by-product of good reading comprehension, rather that good inference skills are a plausible cause of good reading comprehension ability. Failure to make inferences could not be attributed to lack of relevant general knowledge. Instead, the pattern of errors indicated that differences in reading strategy were the most likely source of these group differences.     

CPD: what The Library Association offers

This paper explores the role of The Library Association in providing and supporting opportunities for continuing professional development. Formal requirements for gaining qualifications are explained. The services and products of the Association designed specifically to meet the needs of those seeking formal professional development are outlined. Emphasis is placed on the opportunities offered to gain practical skills through active participation in professional activities. A brief conclusion points to the increasing emphasis on the need for continuing professional development at national level and within the profession.