Technologies in the education of children and teenagers with autism: evaluation and classification of apps by work areas

Education and Information Technologies - Mobile apps represent a resource with great potential for encouraging the development of many skills, given the high number of apps available and the quick...     

Literacies through media: identity and discourse in the process of constructing a web site

In this research note we explore how children construct their identity in the context of a literacy practice: developing written and audio-visual texts in small-group situation to be published on the Internet. Through their dialogue, a shared identity is growing on the context, and every children create an identity as member of a community in which is included [Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice. Learning meaning and identity. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press].Methodologically we have adopted, on one hand, an ethnographic perspective (Atkinson et al., 2001) and, on the other, an action-research perspective [Reason, P., & Bradbury, H. (Eds.) (2001).Handbook of action research. London, Thousand oaks Sage]. We analysed the data collected in five groups in an after-school workshop, during a one-month period with eight two-hour sessions. It is particularly important to compare the history of every group creates a different identity for its page.Our findings illustrate how the participants, with their multiple identities [Gee, J.P. (1999). An introduction to discovers analysis. Theory and method. London, NewYork: Routledge], generate a collective identity orientated to a common audience writing as a group, and negotiating during their dialogue. We analyse how these multiple identities turn into a shared identity that, finally, is shown in the product (the Web site).The discussion of our results reveals how the process of creating the web pages, in the situation described above, depends on the shared construction of meanings among the participants. Writing on the Internet about the media facilitates multiple dialogues and provides opportunities to educate children in the use of multiliteracies.     

Critical Issues Facing America's Community Colleges: A Summary of the Community College Futures Assembly 2008

Three focus groups consisting of board of trustee members, community college presidents, senior administrators, administrators, and faculty members developed critical issues facing community colleges with respect to instructional planning and services; planning, governance, and finance; and workforce development. Thereafter, the delegation of more than 200 voted on various aspects of the most critical issue divulged in the 2008 Community College Futures Assembly: general education assessment is coming. The findings, including opportunities and challenges, potential implications for community college administrators, and future research topics are also discussed, mostly in the context of workforce development opportunities.     

The Impact of Gatekeeper Training for Suicide Prevention on University Resident Assistants

Resident assistants (RAs) can serve as important suicide prevention gatekeepers. The purpose of the study was to determine if training improved RAs’ crisis communications skills and suicide‐related knowledge and to determine if the knowledge elements predicted crisis communications skills. New RAs showed significant improvement in all areas from pretest to posttest, whereas returning RAs showed no significant increase in any of the areas. None of the knowledge areas predicted communications skills for either group.     

‘Teaching between the lines’: discussing,interpreting and writing stories together / ‘El aula entre líneas’: hablamos,interpretamos y escribimos historias conjuntamente

Abstract

The purpose of our study was to carry out a writing workshop in a collaborative setting in which the teacher and the 14 year-old students made up stories while being observed by a researcher. We used a qualitative methodology similar to the Ethnography of Communication and Discourse Analysis, in which narrative and analytical analyses are seen as complementary, in order to interpret all aspects of the participants’ activities. The analysis of the conversations held in the different working situations defined by the presence or absence of the teacher shows that the guiding role played by the teacher is essential in terms of the students’ acquisition of knowledge concerning the generalization of meanings, the organization of social relations and the structuring of the task. Likewise, within a group of peers involved in working towards a common goal, one or several of them tend to take on the guiding role when the teacher is not present.     

Small fish in a small pond: the impact of collaborative learning on academic success for less-prepared students in a highly selective STEM environment

ABSTRACT

This study examines academic outcomes for university students engaged in a supplemental peer learning program in a selective institution. Using a matched sample of 1266 students, half enrolled in the supplemental program and half not enrolled, we find that participating students on average earned higher grades in linked courses. Using a subsample of students in a chemistry course sequence, we find program participants were more likely to remain in the sequence than non-participants, and that the impact was greater for students with lower levels of preparation.     

The Predictive Value of Non-Referential Beat Gestures: Early Use in Parent–Child Interactions Predicts Narrative Abilities at 5 Years of Age

A longitudinal study with 45 children (Hispanic, 13%; non-Hispanic, 87%) investigated whether the early production of non-referential beat and flip gestures, as opposed to referential iconic gestures, in parent–child naturalistic interactions from 14 to 58 months old predicts narrative abilities at age 5. Results revealed that only non-referential beats significantly (p < .01) predicted later narrative productions. The pragmatic functions of the children’s speech that accompany these gestures were also analyzed in a representative sample of 18 parent-child dyads, revealing that beats were typically associated with biased assertions or questions. These findings show that the early use of beats predicts narrative abilities later in development, and suggest that this relation is likely due to the pragmatic–structuring function that beats reflect in early discourse.     

Understanding student evaluations of teaching in online learning

In this paper, we have developed a classification model for online learning environments that relates the Instructors Overall Performance (IOP) rating (according to students’ perceptions) with the course characteristics, students’ demographics and the effectiveness of the instructor in his/her teaching roles. To that end, a comprehensive Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) instrument is proposed, which includes not only conventional teaching elements, but also items that encourage twenty-first century skills. The goal of the study is twofold: (i) to quantify the extent to which the selected variables explain the IOP rating, and (ii) determine which teaching and non-teaching variables most affect the IOP rating. The best performing classifier achieved a competitive accuracy, highlighting that the selected variables mainly determine the IOP values. Other important findings include: (i) the IOP value is mainly influenced by the effectiveness of the instructor in his/her teaching roles; (ii) teaching strategies that involve the cooperation between the technical and pedagogical roles should be promoted; (iii) the pedagogical role has the highest impact on the final IOP value; and (iv) the most influential demographic variable is the student’s status (working commitments and family responsibilities).     

Education of deaf students in Spain: legal and educational politics developments

This article examines the legal instruments and educational politics affecting deaf persons' educational rights in Spain. We present a historical view of deaf education in Spain before and after the Congress of Milan (1880) and then introduce educational legislation and practices in recent decades. At present, Spanish legislation is moving toward recognition of sign languages and the suitability of bilingual education for deaf students at all educational levels. This is a consequence of taking into account the low academic achievement of two generations of deaf students educated in a monolingual model. Bilingual projects are now run throughout Spain. We emphasize that efforts must be made in the legal sphere to regulate the way in which professionals who know sign language and Deaf culture-teachers, interpreters, deaf adult models-are incorporated in bilingual deaf schools.