A Comparison of Three Approaches to Electronic Media Diaries

This project compared the richness of reporting and reflection of three approaches to electronic media diaries. For 1 week, 145 students were randomly assigned to keep daily diaries about their media use and perceptions of media content using one of three methods: (a) a traditional daily journaling approach conducted online, (b) an experience sampling method (ESM) approach that combined daily journaling with multiple daily message prompts, and (c) an approach that combined online peer-group discussion with online daily journaling. The goal was to determine if the supplementary diary activities yielded more detailed, emotive, and cognitive responses. Diary content was analyzed using traditional manual content analysis and linguistic software. Results indicated that the ESM condition elicited less cognitive- and affective-oriented language than the other conditions. The group discussion condition evidenced some advantage over the diary-only group in terms of number of media channels and specific content mentioned.     

New Visuality in Art/Science: A Pedagogy of Connection for Cognitive Growth and Creativity

New visuality in art/science pedagogies challenges teachers to rethink their curriculum and the role of digital new media in facilitating conceptual thinking and the role of the creative representation of knowledge. Recent neuroscientific research on cognition, perception, memory, and emotion inform and provoke implications for 21st-century learning. Analysis of student artwork uncovers pedagogical challenges for teachers. Teachers use visual learning and its forms of higher process thinking to allow students to make cognitive connections with images, giving them the capacity to integrate concepts for the communication of art/science learning. Examples of student learning from years 3–5 and 15–17 illustrate these ideas.     

Challenges for Educational Research: International development,partnerships and capacity building in small states

Educational research is being increasingly challenged for not contributing effectively enough to the improvement of policy and practice worldwide. Critics call for more relevant, cumulative, accessible and cost-effective studies. This paper examines the implications of this contemporary debate for small states, as they engage with increasingly powerful international development agenda's while dealing with their own distinctive educational needs and priorities. Specific attention is given to different conceptions and traditions of educational research; to the potential of participatory and partnership models; to the process of educational research and evaluation capacity building; to the sociopolitical implications of 'genuine' North-South partnerships; and to the lessons that can be learned by all engaged in educational research from the comparative and international experience.