Perspectives on gender and sexual diversity (GSD)-inclusive education: comparisons between gay/lesbian/bisexual and straight educators

This paper presents findings from a national study on the beliefs and practices of K-12 educators regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) issues in schools. Over 3400 Canadian educators participated in the study, which took the form of a bilingual (English/French) online survey. Respondents answered questions about their values regarding human rights and LGBTQ-inclusive education, their practices in the classroom, experiences with homophobic and transphobic harassment, and perceptions of support for LGBTQ-inclusive practices. Results indicate that there is a high level of in-principle support for LGBTQ-inclusive education (84.9%); however, actual practice is much lower (61.8%) and there are significant differences in the perspectives and experiences of gay, lesbian, and bisexual identified educators compared with their straight colleagues in terms of curriculum integration and bullying interventions. Findings offer important insights for teacher preparation, curriculum development, and law and policy implementation and reform.     

Awareness within local authorities in England of autism spectrum diagnoses of looked-after children

Educational outcomes for looked-after children on the autism spectrum are significantly poorer than for autistic children not being looked-after by their local authority (those ‘in care’), and poorer than for most other groups of children with special educational needs who are looked-after in England. Such poor outcomes have led to calls for specific attention to be paid to the needs of autistic looked-after children within the care of local authorities. There is also evidence that the numbers of autistic children being looked-after by local authorities could be under-represented in official figures. This study sought to find the current numbers of autistic looked-after children formally recorded across local authorities in England, and whether their needs are given special attention via strategic planning and oversight, using freedom of information (FoI) requests sent to all local authorities in England. From the 147 (97%) local authorities who responded, approximately 3% of looked-after children in England are recorded as having an autism spectrum diagnosis, although this is still very likely to be an underestimation. The majority of local authorities do not routinely monitor or report on the diagnostic status of autistic looked-after children at a strategic level. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Journalism (except writing; see page 141)

Michael F. Wendland's The Arizona Project: How a Team of Investigative Reporters Got Revenge on Deadline (Kansas City: Sheed Adrews & McMeel, 1977—$9.95)

David Frost's "I Gave Them a Sword:" Behind the Scenes of the Nixon Interviews (New York: Morrow, 1978—$9.95)

Tom Wicker's On Press (New York: Viking, 1978—$10.95),

Donald L. Shaw and Maxwell E. McCombs' The Emergence of American Political Issues: The Agenda-Setting Function of the Press (St. Paul, Minn.: 'lest Publishing, 1977—$10.95, paper)

Michael Tracey's The Production of Political Television (London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1977—$10.00, paper)

Donovan H. Bond and - I. Reynolds McLeod, eds. Newsletters to Newspapers: Eighteenth-Century Journalism (Morgantown: West Virginia University School of Journalism, 1977—$10.00, paper)     

A design-based research case study documenting a constructivist ID process and instructional solution for a cross-cultural workforce

As the need for instructing a globalized workforce increases, instructional designers must embrace the constraints and the opportunities these projects provide in order to move the field of cross-cultural instructional design (ID) forward. Cross-cultural projects offer multiple avenues for growth in ID practice, overcoming cultural barriers, and a venue to apply and test contemporary models, methodologies, and theories in ID. This design-based research case study employed a rapid prototyping methodology and the constructivist ID model, Layers of Negotiation, to collect critical cultural information for the design of this cross-cultural instruction. Instructional strategies deemed effective for instructing an unskilled workforce in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, included job aids, situated learning and apprenticeship principles consisting of modeling, coaching and scaffolding. Use of the constructivist ID model and instructional solution for a cross-cultural workforce for The Dubai Mall are presented. Evaluation results indicate the success of the instructional strategies varied dependent upon worker culture, and the sequential nature of the instructional strategies.     

The UK market for travel E-books

Research was undertaken amongst publishers and potential users of e-book travel guides. In addition, a major UK consultant in electronic publishing was interviewed on the subject. The research demonstrated that, despite the considerable hype and enthusiasm about e-books, there is some way to go before a viable market is likely to be realised. In particular, issues of standardisation are holding up the launch of a realistic number of titles. Copyright is also a concern for the publishers. Publishers appear to be over-concerned with the book metaphor, and are not yet thinking ambitiously enough about multimedia and other added value possibilities. Unless these value added enhancements are supplied, users are unlikely to switch from print volumes.     

Does media affect learning: where are we now?

Conclusion A careful review of the arguments and counter arguments presented by Clark (1983; 1994) and Kozma (1991; 1994), responses published in the past 20 years (Jonassen, Campbell & Davidson, 1994; Morrison, 1994; Reiser, 1994; Shrock, 1994) and existing instructional design literature (Morrison, Ross & Kemp, 2001; Reiser & Dick, 1996; Smith & Ragan, 1999) indicates there is, and always has been, significantly more agreement on this subject than the debate would indicate. Clark never said that a textbook could deliver an instructional method requiring the use of a 3-dimensional graphic representation as effectively as a computer, nor did Kozma maintain that the computer was the only medium with the capabilities to do so. Both acknowledged that the two instructional components — the instructional methods and the delivery medium — must be aligned to facilitate learning. The debate is, and always has been, about the ability of more than one medium to support a selected instructional method, whether or not any given medium has capabilities that cannot be replicated by another medium, and the validity of the research. We believe that today, in 2005: • Computers are capable of supporting instructional methods that other media are not • Computers, by means of their unique capabilities, affect learning • Computers are often the most cost-effective, efficient delivery method for any given unit of instruction We also: • Acknowledge the limitations of media comparison studies • Acknowledge the need to align the message, the medium and the learning task • Agree that some media are interchangeable and • Support the use of the most cost-effective, efficient delivery method for any given unit of instruction We believe that after 22 years it is time to reframe the original debate to ask, not if, but how media affects learning. We agree that media comparison studies are inherently flawed and support the argument that we must identify research designs that will provide answers to this question in significantly less time.     

Teacher adaptation to flexible learning environments

Learning Environments Research - Teaching practices respond to the prompts, resources and inherent potential of a school’s physical, social and cultural landscape. This study involved how...     

Making a Neighbourhood the Sesame Street Way: developing a methodology to evaluate children's understanding of race

Since its inception, Sesame Street has modelled racial harmony; however, as a result of the rising racial unrest in the United States in 1989, we launched a four-year race relations curriculum initiative designed to be more explicit about physical and cultural differences, and to encourage friendship between people of different races and cultures. To assess children's basic knowledge and attitudes about diverse children living and playing together a variety of methods were developed, including a game 'Make a Neighborhood', to assess how living in a segregated environment influences preschoolers' understanding of race relations. The game allowed us to observe how preschoolers sort drawings of children who differ by race, clothing and hairstyle into places in the neighbourhood. Results indicated that Chinese American, African American, Puerto Rican and Crow Indian preschoolers integrated homes, schools, playgrounds, churches and stores when given drawings of children from their own groups and White children. White preschoolers integrated Chinese American and White, Puerto Rican and White and Crow Indian and White children in every structure. However, White preschoolers were significantly more likely to segregate African American and White children in the homes, schools, playgrounds, churches and stores. Based on these results, segments were produced which show White children visiting an African American friend's home.