The Internet, children, and privacy: the case against parental monitoring

It has been recommended that parents should monitor their children’s Internet use, including what sites their children visit, what messages they receive, and what they post. In this paper, I claim that parents ought not to follow this advice, because to do so would violate children’s right to privacy over their on-line information exchanges. In defense of this claim, I argue that children have a right to privacy from their parents, because such a right respects their current capacities and fosters their future capacities for autonomy and relationships.     

Problem-Based Learning for Foundation Computer Science Courses

The foundation courses in computer science pose particular challenges for teacher and learner alike. This paper describes some of these challenges and how we have designed problem-based learning (PBL) courses to address them. We discuss the particular problems we were keen to overcome: the purely technical focus of many courses; the problems of individual learning and the need to establish foundations in a range of areas which are important for computer science graduates. We then outline our course design, showing how we have created problem-based learning courses. The paper reports our evaluation of the approach. This has two parts: assessment of a trial, with a three-year longitudinal follow-up of the students; reports of student learning improve-ment after we had become experienced in full implementation of PBL. We conclude with a summary of our experience over three years of PBL teaching and discuss some of the pragmatic issues around introducing the radical change in teaching, maintaining staff support, and continuing refinement of our PBL teaching. We also discuss some of our approaches to the commonly acknowledged challenges of PBL teaching.     

Associations between Fine Motor and Mathematics Instruction and Kindergarten Mathematics Achievement

Research Findings: This study investigates the role of fine motor and mathematics instruction in mathematics achievement in an international sample of kindergarteners from the United States and China. Multilevel modeling was used to assess the interaction between students’ entering skills and classroom time spent on basic math, higher-order math and fine-motor instruction. For American children, the effect of basic math and higher-order math instruction on student achievement depended on entering skills; however, fine motor instruction had negative average effects on student achievement and did not depend on students’ entering skills. Instruction time was not a significant predictor of achievement for Chinese students. Practice or Policy: Though fine motor skills have a robust correlation with mathematics achievement, a causal link has not been established. Our study indicates that time spent in fine motor instruction does not advance mathematics achievement in kindergarten and in fact may weaken mathematics achievement, given the limited time in the instructional day. American teachers in our sample who spent more time in fine-motor instruction tended to spend less time on basic math and higher-order mathematics instruction. Educators should weigh instructional trade-offs carefully and work to tailor instruction to students’ skill levels.     

Academic boredom among students in higher education: A mixed-methods exploration of characteristics,contributors and consequences

Academic boredom usually contributes adversely towards student engagement and performance across a diverse range of settings including universities. The formal study of academic boredom in higher education remains, however, a relatively underdeveloped field and one surprisingly neglected in the UK. Rooted in Control-Value Theory, details of a mixed-methods exploration of academic boredom among 235 final year undergraduates attending a single university in England are presented. Quantitative data included measurement using the BPS-UKHE, a revised boredom proneness scale developed for use across the sector. Qualitative data arose primarily from 10 research interviews. Findings indicate that about half of all respondents experienced the most common precursors of academic boredom at least occasionally; traditional lectures with a perceived excess and inappropriate use of PowerPoint stimulating the actual onset of boredom more than other interactive forms of delivery. Coping strategies included daydreaming, texting and turning to social media. Academic boredom also occurred during the completion of assignments used to assess modules. Differences between those more prone to academic boredom than others extended to self-study (fewer hours), attendance (good rather than excellent) and degree outcome (lower marks). Findings are considered valuable empirically and theoretically, leading to recommendations surrounding boredom mitigation which challenge cultural traditions and pedagogical norms.     

Merger in Higher Education: learning from Experiences

Political pressure to reduce the number of higher education institutions in Wales has been sustained for over a decade by three successive ministers for education, two of whom, Jane Davidson and the current incumbent, Leighton Andrews, have left the Welsh sector in no doubt about the strength of their personal commitment to the policy of reconfiguration and collaboration. In this paper, an attempt is made to understand and explain how this policy was experienced by some of the people most closely affected by the recent merger between the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the University of Glamorgan in South East Wales. Some of the lessons learned in this particular context are elucidated in the hope that they might be of assistance to both policy‐makers and members of higher education institutions elsewhere that are contemplating merger.