Missing pages? A study of textbooks for Dutch early childhood teacher education

A content analysis of the textbooks used in the Dutch early childhood teacher education shows clear inconsistencies with the intended curriculum. Neither the content standards found in the professional profile for teachers nor the content standards from the educational profile of their training courses are adequately covered in the books. Whilst they pay considerable attention to the teacher's educational duties, other tasks outside the primary work process are either dealt with in much less detail or ignored altogether, including the need for strategic planning, for reflection and evaluation, for the development of educational policy, and for co-operation and liaison with colleagues from other disciplines.     

Researchers and teachers learning together and from each other using video‐based multimodal analysis

This paper discusses a year‐long technology integration project during which teachers and researchers joined forces to explore children's collaborative activities through the use of touch screens. In the research project discussed in this paper, 16 touch screens were integrated into teaching and learning activities in two separate classrooms; the learning and collaborative processes were captured by using a video, collecting over 150 hours of footage. By using digital research technologies and a longitudinal design, the authors of the research project studied how teachers and children gradually integrated touch screens into their teaching and learning. This paper examines the methodological usefulness of video‐based multimodal analysis. Through reflection on the research project, we discuss how, by using video‐based multimodal analysis, researchers and teachers can study children's touch‐screen supported collaboration and how researchers and teachers can learn together.     

General Mass Communication

Richard W. Budd and Brent D. Ruben, Beyond Media: New Approaches to Mass Communication (Rochelle Park, N.J.: Hayden Book Company, 1979—$9.95, paper)

Robert F, Rich,"Knowledge Production and Utilization," a special issue of American Behavioral Scientist 22:3 (January/February 1979)

James and Jean Morrow The Grammar of Media Kit (Rochelle Park, N.J.: Hayden Book Company, 1978—$295 for the complete set which includes 5 super-8mm films, 4 LP records, 20 comic books, 20 student workbooks, and one teacher's handbook, all available on a 30-day examination basis).

Charles U. Larson Persuasion: Reception and Responsibility (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing, 1979– S9.95, paper)

Frank Brady and Joann Lawless' Brady & Lawless's Favorite Bookstores (Mission, Kansas: Sheed Andrews and McMeel, 1978—$12.95)

Alan Wells, Mass Media and Society (Palo Alto, Calif.: Mayfield Publishing Co., 1979—price not given, paper)

John L. Hulteng The News Media: What Makes Them Tick? (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1979—$7.95, paper)

Patrick Williams and Joan Thornton Pearce, The Vital Network: A Theory of Communication and Society (Westport, Ct.: Greenwood Press, 1978—$13.95)

Jack Nachbar, Deborah Weiser, and John L. Wright, eds. The Popular Culture Reader (1978, 323 pp.—S14.95/7.95)

Susan S. Tamke and William H. Cohn, History and Popular Culture (1977, 151 pp.—$3.00, paper)

Daryl Jones, The Dime Novel Western (1978, 186 pp.—$8.95/3.95)

C. David Mortensen, ed. Basic Readings in Communication Theory (New York: Harper & Row, 1978—$7.95, paper)     

The content of educational technology curricula: a cross-curricular state of the art

The purpose of this study is to analyze the content features of educational technology curricula for primary education developed by national governments. A qualitative cross-case document analysis of the national educational technology curriculum of Norway, Flanders and England was conducted. The analysis focuses on the underlying visions, specific aims and instruction related aspects that are integrated in the national educational technology curricula of the three cases under investigation. The results indicate that specific aims mainly focus on the critical use of educational technology; safe and responsible use of educational technology; information retrieval, processing and production; communication by use of educational technology; and use of educational technology for subject learning. It is possible that a discrepancy exists between the concepts of digital literacy and the specific aims that are addressed in educational technology curricula. Moreover, the rationales that underlie educational technology curricula represent a catalytic and social point of view rather than an economic one. The implications of our findings for curriculum developers and researchers are discussed.     

Educational technology on a turning point: curriculum implementation in Flanders and challenges for schools

In this essay, we state that establishing technology curricula by national governments causes a shift in the policy actions of educational technology support: from a technical rationale with a main focus on funding and resources to a pedagogical rationale with a main focus on student competencies. We illustrate our point of view by describing the formal educational technology curriculum recently administered by the government in Flanders. This curriculum is written in terms of attainment targets and has clear implications on the nature of educational technology which is no longer dependent on teachers’ individual efforts or willingness, but is becoming compulsory at the school level. Furthermore, we present two levers that facilitate the integration process of educational technology in general and the realization of technology curricula in particular. Technology coordinators should act more as curriculum managers and change agents, and schools should jointly establish a technology policy plan.

The power of the purse: student funding and the labour market for Dutch Reformed and Catholic theology students, 1800–1880

Several European countries were unable to match student numbers with labour market demand during the nineteenth century. The causes of this mismatch may be found in the organisation of higher education and the funding of students. Drawing on a variety of sources, this paper compares financial support available to Reformed and Catholic theology students in The Netherlands, to examine how differences in student funding affected enrolment and labour-market patterns. While low tuition fees increased access to the public universities, generous student financing provided by numerous parties caused a structural oversupply of Protestant theology students. The private Catholic colleges instead selected students and applied grants specifically to encourage graduation, consequently balancing students more closely with labour-market demand. This relative success of regional colleges over national universities mirrors the primary education history literature on the benefits of local coordination and resource allocation.     

General Communications

Brent D. Ruben, ed. Communication Yearbook 2 (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Books (Rutgers), 1978---$24.95)

Eric A. Havelock and Jackson P. Hershbell, eds. Communication Arts in the Ancient World (New York: Hastings House, J978---$12.50)

Kit Laybourne and Pauline Cianciolo's Doing the Media (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1978---$6.95, paper, with both library and trade hardbacks also available)

Periodicals: just begun under the (temporary) auspices of the Institute of Communication Research (122B Armory, University of Illinois, Champaign, Ill. 61820)

Warren K. Agee, Phillip H. Ault, and Edwin Emery's Introduction to Mass Communications (New York: Harper & Row, 1979---$7.95, paper)

Godwin C. Chu and Brent Cassan, Modern Communication Technology in a Changing Society: A Bibliography (1977, 162 pp., $1.50)

Syed A. Rahim, et al. Planning Methods, Models, and Organization: A Review Study for Communication Policy Making and Planning (1978, 260 pp., $3.00):     

Behavioral assessment of communication competency and the prediction of cross-cultural adaptation

This study explores the relationship between interpersonal and social behaviors and patterns of success and failure in cross-cultural adaptation. Seven interpersonal communication skills often mentioned as being important to cross-cultural adaptation were studied: empathy, respect, role behavior flexibility, orientation to knowledge, interaction posture, interaction management and tolerance for ambiguity. For each dimension, behavioral observation indices were developed. Following a week-long predeparture training program, behavioral assessments were made on these dimensions for each person in a group of technical advisors and spouses assigned to two-year postings in Kenya. One year later, an in-the-field follow up study was conducted to assess shock dynamics, psychological adjustment, and vocational and interactional effectiveness of these individuals. Comparisons of pre and post-test measures indicated that each of the focal dimensions predicted patterns of success and failure in adaptation with varying degrees of adequacy. These results and implications for further research, and cross-cultural training and selection, are explored in the final section of the article.     

Conservation in Transition

ABSTRACT:

An evaluation of four different dissemination modes distributing activities developed through a teaching materials development program was performed. The activities, developed for use in middle schools, focused on Great Lakes topics in science, history, and social studies. It was found that short intensive workshops were more effective than longer workshops both in participant use of materials and in transmission of the materials to other potential users. The difference in usage seems to be related to differences in the professional orientation of teachers attracted into the two different types of workshops. Simply giving activities to prospective users resulted in no usage. Those individuals who took the trouble to mail order the materials used them but at a somewhat lower frequency than those who participated in a workshop. It is concluded that short intensive workshops are the most cost-effective way of ensuring usage of the type of curriculum materials disseminated in this program.