Conceptualising the knowledge work of digital professionals through Knorr Cetina's ideas of macro-epistemics and information knowledge

The problem addressed in this paper is the need for analytical resources to theorise the nature of knowledge work and, in the light of a practice turn in social sciences, to consider how knowledge is generated and circulated. The aim of the paper is to contribute to a practice-based rethinking of how to investigate professional knowledge, relating its considerations to a case of digital workers. It suggests that Knorr Cetina's ideas of macro-epistemics and information knowledge offer analytical resources for theorising knowledge as practised. The paper's considerations are drawn from an empirical study of 10 localisers who were digital workers from continental Europe, Ireland, the UK and South America and whose work entailed the linguistic, cultural and software adaptation of digital products to support global communication. The paper first presents localisers and explains their knowledge work, second, it positions its considerations in the field of practice theory, exploring Knorr Cetina's concepts of macro-epistemics and information knowledge. Lastly, it draws on localiser data to consider how these concepts offer analytical resources for researching adults' knowledge. The paper will be relevant to educationalists interested in the implications of new theoretical developments for understanding the generation and circulation of professional knowledge.     

Pupil Talk in Biology Practical Work‐‐a preliminary study

The development of a framework for analysing pupil talk is described and the reliability of scoring transcribed conversations using the framework discussed. Preliminary findings from this study on the talk occurring during small group practical work in biology focus on the forms of verbal interaction that occur, patterns of verbal interactions shown by individuals within groups and the possible link between such patterns and roles within the groups.     

The irrationality of rationalized program development

Conclusions The core of our argument rests in the nature of the relationship between regional and provincial educational authorities and local schools/communities. In the present situation the relationship is ambiguous. On one hand, the province and the boards issue guidelines and demand that local schools develop programs in conformity with them. At the same time the schools are urged to be innovative and to develop programs to meet local needs. Although the drafters of guidelines apparently see no contradiction between these two directives, we, and many practitioners we have talked with, do.It is our position that the local school/community should be primarily accountable to the community it serves for developing learning environments that fairly reflect the community's educational values, expectations, and priorities. The school should be accountable to central authorities for proper expenditure of monies and for observing basic standards of honesty and fair play in its operations. Finally we wish to stress again the importance of providing help rather than advice to developing programs. Advice coming from a source that in the recent past was primarily a legislative and policing agency cannot help but be construed by school practitioners as a thinly disguised directive. Even if this were not the case, advice is of limited value to people who lack the resources and technical expertise to implement their educational ideas. Real help, in the form of needed resources, technical services, and expert consultation, might inject a new spirit of goodwill and cooperation into what has been at best a guarded relationship between the schools and central educational authorities.OISE     

From seeing and hearing to remembering: A conception of the instructional process

This article presents a conceptual schema of the instructional process which is intended to make a number of relevant findings from research more readily understood and applied by designers of instruction and instructional materials. It is based on severll summary sources of research-based findings and principles from the perception, memory, and concept formation literature. The basic conception is that learning is the product of an ongoing interactive process between learner and environment, and that instruction is a temporary and purposeful intervention in that process, the aim of which is the optimization of the learner-environment interaction.The schema is organized around relevant characteristics of the learner, i.e., four basic learner requirements (stimulation, order, strategy, and meaning). These basic learner requirements are subdivided into twenty limitations, particularities and qualities of the human information processing systems. The resulting picture of the human learner provides the basis for describing what the other part of the interaction — the instructional environment — should be like in order to provide an optimum fit between learner and environment. The schema subsumes and interrelates many of the research-based principles found in the literature and hence may make them more memorable and usable.1 Because of the generality of research findings referred to in this schema, few specific references will be given. However, the principles on which the schema is based are all properly credited in the sources noted earlier, e.g. Fleming and Levie (1978).This article is based on a paper presented at the IWAPP Festival 1980, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, January 1980.Note