The role of video in teacher professional development

This literature review focuses on the e-use of video in teacher initial and continuing professional development. There is evidence that video technology used synchronously, and particularly asynchronously, can extend the quantity and quality of classroom observation experience, which in turn supports the development of observation, analysis and reflection in viewers. Theorising on these gains, the authors describe how the linking of theory to practice, the development of pedagogical language and collaborative learning through communities of practice might all be related to video-enhanced teacher education. Claims for gains in codified subject knowledge are less convincing.     

Creating an Institutional Repository: Elements for Success!

ABSTRACT

The institutional repository (IR) can be a dynamic, online collection of research, writing, and projects conducted by a university’s faculty and students. IRs are also important tools that allow a library to create a connection with faculty and students. This report will identify the services and content essential to a successful institutional repository, discuss how to build a team of talented experts to build and market the repository, address the creation of a business plan and strategies for marketing and building social media presence, and conclude with thoughts on how to develop, process, and publish journals locally and sustainably.     

Batman and Batwoman go to School: popular culture in the literacy curriculum

This case study is an investigation into the effects of the introduction of a theme from popular culture into a socio‐dramatic role play area, focusing on the effects on children's literacy activities. A Batman and Batwoman HQ was set up in a base containing two classes of 6‐ and 7‐year‐olds and a range of literacy materials was placed within it. Methods included participant observation, interviews, use of video camera and collection of statistics. The findings indicate that the incorporation of themes from popular culture into the curriculum can motivate children whose interests are usually excluded from the classroom.     

Enhance learning on software project management through a role-play game in a virtual world†

This article presents a role-play game for software project management (SPM) in a three-dimensional online multiuser virtual world. The Opensimulator platform is used for the creation of an immersive virtual environment that facilitates students' collaboration and realistic interaction, in order to manage unexpected events occurring during the development of a software project. Through the simulation of a real-life company, the game aims to enhance experiential learning of human-related issues, such as project team members’ communication and collaboration, which are not easy to be taught through ordinary teaching methods. Roles are assigned to the participating students, who have to overcome problems initiated by non-player-units (software controlled units) while collaborating with other students and the instructor. The instructor, holding a key role in the game, is able to observe the players, intervene and dynamically alter specific game scenario parameters adapting to player encounter difficulties. The environment is combining the experience of a typical game (based on an event-driven SPM scenario and interaction with non-player-units), with the experience of a virtual world (interacting with other players) and has been positively evaluated by the participants regarding the overall game experience and the learning effect.     

Individual Differences and Similarities in the Stability,Timing Consistency,and Natural Frequency of Rhythmic Coordinated Actions

Abstract

Silhouette ratings of actual and ideal body fat (N = 258 high school students) were related to 4 self-concept scales (Body Fat, Physical Appearance, General Physical, Esteem) and objective body composition measures in order to test predictions from actual-ideal discrepancy models. Actual-ideal discrepancy scores were more strongly related to self-concept than actual scores alone, thus supporting the traditional discrepancy model. However, multiple regression analyses demonstrated that more sophisticated actual- ideal discrepancy models that considered discrepancies in either direction (feeling too fat or too thin) did significantly better. Because the traditional discrepancy model is a special case of this more general discrepancy model, the more general model should have broad applicability. Important aspects of this task were (a) that discrepancies were evaluated along a continuum in which the ideal was not one of the endpoints of the continuum, (b) that there was reasonable variation in ideal ratings, and (c) that positive and negative discrepancies were reported.     

Can Middle School Students with Serious Reading Difficulties Help Each Other and Learn Anything?

This investigation was intended to examine the effects of teaching middle school students with learning disabilities and mild mental retardation to tutor one another in reading comprehension strategies. All students were reading significantly below grade level and many students exhibited behavior problems in addition to their primary disability area. Students were randomly assigned to a tutoring or traditional reading instruction condition. Within the tutoring condition, students were matched into tutoring dyads, trained in the tutoring procedures, and taught specific reading comprehension strategies. Reciprocal tutoring was employed, such that students assumed roles of both tutor and tutee during daily reading periods. Performance on reading comprehension tests following tutoring yielded significant performance advantages for students involved in tutoring. Observational, survey, and interview data revealed that students enjoyed tutoring more than their traditional instruction, appeared to see the value and benefits of the tutoring, and wanted to include tutoring as part of their other classes, such as science and social studies. Findings are discussed with respect to the strengths and challenges associated with the use of tutoring to provide strategic instruction to students with special learning needs.     

Contents of Volume 11

Science &; Education -     

We're playing Jeremy Kyle'! Television talk shows in the playground

This paper focuses on an episode of play in a primary school playground in England, which featured a group of children re-enacting elements of the television talk show The Jeremy Kyle Show. The episode is analysed in the light of work that has identified the key elements of the talk show genre and the children's play is examined in relation to conceptualisations of talk shows as cruelty-verité, carnivalesque spectacle and vehicles of social class anxiety. The paper explores the children's playful re-enactment not only as a parody of adult worlds, but also as a confirmation of the ‘ordinariness’ of everyday life. It is argued that in episodes such as these, the functions of play are multiple and complex, but include a desire to construct collective moral sensibilities and reinforce normative discourses relating to sexuality and what it means to be a ‘good citizen’. The paper identifies spaces of continuity and discontinuity in such traditions and suggests that in play which draws from contemporary media we see the reconstruction of traditional play themes, but can also trace newer elements that are closely related to the generic conventions of reality television.