Creating a model to examine motivation for sustained engagement in online communities

This paper considers factors that influenced long-term engagement in an online community. It draws on a case study of a 6 year online collaboration amongst a group of European teachers. The email interchange between these teachers was, with their agreement, saved and used as research data; intensive group interviews were also conducted, involving all the participants in the online group. Dynamic motivation models and Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of motivational flow were used to create a theoretical framework to analyse the email interchanges and group interview data so as to build an understanding of the teachers’ commitment to the online community. As a result of the analysis, the existing theoretical models were modified to produce a new combined model. This incorporates ideas grounded in the participants’ reasons for their sustained engagement in the collaboration. This combined model could provide a basis for planning future virtual interactions and for assessing their sustainability.     

The interface between mathematics and design and technology in secondary schools

ABSTRACT

This article suggests that there are important connections between design and technology and mathematics curricula and that these are not fully made in the United Kingdom National Curriculum. Using three examples, the authors show how there are real opportunities in design and technology teaching for incorporating mathematical learning, but that all too often these are lost because they are not made explicit. Again, the authors argue that too much mathematics teaching is dominated by abstract investigation rather than practical problem‐solving. They conclude by suggesting that teaching should transcend subject boundaries and be concerned with real‐life situations.     

The Earlier the Better? Individual Participant Data and Traditional Meta-analysis of Age Effects of Parenting Interventions

Strong arguments have been made for early intervention for child problems, stating that early is more effective than later, as the brain is more malleable, and costs are lower. However, there is scant evidence from trials to support this hypothesis, which we therefore tested in two well-powered, state-of-the-art meta-analyses with complementary strengths: (a) Individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis of European trials of Incredible Years parenting intervention (k = 13, n = 1696; age = 2–11); (b) Larger, trial-level robust variance estimation meta-analysis of a wider range of parenting programs (k = 156, n = 13,378, M_age = 2–10) for reducing disruptive behavior. Both analyses found no evidence that intervention earlier in childhood was more effective; programs targeted at a narrower age range were no more effective than general ones.     

The dimensionality of attitude scales: a widely misunderstood idea

Summated rating scales to measure attitudes (and other human characteristics) commonly consist of numerous items whose scores are summed to yield a total score. A central assumption underlying the use of this technique is that the items in the scale reflect a common construct. If this assumption is not met, the scoring procedure produces largely meaningless, uninterpretable data. Although this important psychometric principle has been known for a long time, numerous studies in the research literature demonstrate a neglect of this principle. Some studies make no attempt at all to conceptualise the construct to be measured; others conceptualise the construct but then ignore the possibility that it may be multi‐dimensional; still others actually contain evidence which indicates that the construct is multi‐dimensional and then proceed to ignore that evidence. A possible contributor to the confusion is the widespread misunderstanding about the related yet distinct concepts of internal consistency and uni‐dimensionality. This paper presents case studies of poor and good instrument design, in the (forlorn?) hope that clarification of the issues might make a difference in the future.     

The global classroom: advancing cultural awareness in special schools through collaborative work using ICT

This paper reports research on cross‐national collaboration through Information and Communications Technology (ICT) within the statutory curricula of 10 special schools in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Working in north–south paired classes, the pupils carried out joint tasks using asynchronous computer conferencing and videoconferencing. The full spectrum of learning difficulty and disability was represented amongst the participating pupils. Interviews were conducted to elicit the views and experiences of the teachers in the 2002/03 cohort. The main aims were to discover whether cultural awareness developed through joint tasks using the two technologies, if computer conferencing improved literacy and ICT skills, and if videoconferencing enhanced oral communication. The results showed that cultural awareness developed as far as cognition allowed, when pupils in partner schools became aware of similarities as well as differences. Those with sufficient keyboard ability benefited from computer conferencing and ICT competence improved, but the much preferred medium for collaborative, inter‐school work was videoconferencing. All but the most dependent pupils could participate, and valuable, transferable social and communication skills were acquired.