Students' personal networks in virtual and personal learning environments: a case study in higher education using learning analytics approach

The main objective of this paper is to analyse the effect of the affordances of a virtual learning environment and a personal learning environment (PLE) in the configuration of the students' personal networks in a higher education context. The results are discussed in light of the adaptation of the students to the learning network made up by two undergraduate, inter-university and online courses. Besides, we also examine the influence of this effect in the learning process. The findings reflect the effectiveness of a PLE for facilitating student participation and for assisting students in the creation of larger and more balanced personal networks with richer social capital. However, the findings do not provide evidences about a difference in the learning performance between the two environments. From a methodological point of view, this paper serves as an illustration of the analysis of personal networks on digital data collected from technology-enhanced learning environments.     

Does secondary school size make a difference?: A systematic review

There is a vast body of literature on school size but comparatively few high quality empirical studies comparing outcomes in schools of different sizes. This systematic review synthesizes the results of the published research from 31 studies on the effects of secondary school size from OECD countries since 1990. Overall the directions and patterns of effect vary for different outcomes. For pupil attainment measured by exam results, and for attendance, larger schools appear to do better up to some optimal school size but estimates of this point or range are insufficiently precise to be useful. The implications of different school sizes on student behaviours are equivocal, but teachers and pupils at smaller schools are more likely to have a positive perception of their ‘school environment’. Costs per pupil appear to decrease as school size increases. The results of the review suggest that there is little empirical evidence to justify policies that aim to ‘change’ or mandate particular school sizes. However, given the evidence that there do appear to be optimal sizes for some outcomes, stakeholders should be made aware that dramatic changes in a school's size may change the characteristics of a school's learning environment.     

Reading research in Hungary

Much recent reading research in Hungary has focused on the formation of readers’attitudes and value judgements. This paper reports the results of a number of such studies, based on research with various groups, including library users, ‘killed-worker’ students, and children. A‘more books’programme has been found to be successful in developing a more discriminating approach to literature, but there is concern over national trends in reading. International studies have shown Hungarian students to be comparatively good at science but poor at reading. More books are being bought, and the proportion of women readers is increasing, but adults are spending less time on reading, and have a growing interest in non-fiction. The results of reading research in Hungary are not regarded as of purely theoretical interest. Such results are regularly used by librarians and by educational administrators.     

The Conceptions of In-service and Prospective Primary School Teachers About the Teaching and Learning of Science

A study was performed to describe and analyze the conceptions about teaching and learning science held by different samples of teachers in Spain. The responses of 265 teachers (107 prospective teachers and 158 active teachers) to items from the Inventory of Scientific and Pedagogical Beliefs (Porlán, 1989) were subjected to multifactorial analysis. The results showed various tendencies in how the teaching/learning process is viewed, ranging from a predominant view based on the transmission-reception of knowledge to a minority constructivist view. There was a greater diversity of viewpoints among the in-service teachers than among the prospective teachers. In both samples, the most representative tendency was learning as appropriation of meanings, followed by a technical view of teaching among the prospective teachers and a more traditional view among the in-service teachers. Finally, some implications for teacher education are discussed.     

Materialism and Deconstructivism: education and the epistemology of identity

Identity is one of the defining terms of the 1990s in England. Currently, academic, political and popular discourses highlight the pervasiveness of the term. However, what is missing from these accounts is an awareness of its philosophical roots. Consequently, most of these accounts are theoretically under‐developed, marked by conceptual confusion and conflation. This paper is concerned with the formation of identities within the context of educational arenas. More specifically, we focus upon the philosophical positions of materialism and deconstructivism, highlighting the particular dynamics of their epistemologies of identity. We suggest that at a time of political retreat and and intellectual self‐doubt among educationists, critical social scientists are making available productive conceptual frameworks within which to explore identity formations in educational sites. Recent theoretical developments in sociology and cultural studies provide an opportunity for philosophy of education to play a vital role here, in engaging with new ways of thinking about old philosophical problems. Within the context of an increasing reductionist policy focus on managerialist solutions, philosophy helps us to challenge the ideological conversion of moral and political questions into technicist ‘problems’.     

How Do Academic Disciplines Use PowerPoint?

How do academic disciplines use PowerPoint? This project analyzed PowerPoint files created by an academic publisher to supplement textbooks. An automated analysis of 30,263 files revealed clear differences by disciplines. Single-paradigm “hard” disciplines used less complex writing but had more words than multi-paradigm “soft” disciplines. The “hard” disciplines also used a greater number of small graphics and fewer large ones. Disciplines identified by students as being more effective users of PowerPoint used larger images and more complex sentences than disciplines identified as being less effective in this regard. This investigation suggests that PowerPoint best practices are not universal and that we need to account for disciplinary differences when creating presentation guidelines.