Innovative use of ICT in schools based on the findings in ELFE project

The European e-Learning Forum for Education (ELFE) is a project initiated by the ETUCE (European Trade Union Committee on Education). An important objective of the project has been to study good experiences with implementing the use of ICT in schools. This objective has been broken down in seven operational research questions. Three of these questions will be discussed in this article: (1) What difference does the use of ICT make in schools where ICT is intensively used for instructional/pedagogical purposes? (2) How are the students influenced by this different way of teaching as compared to the traditional classroom education, both individually and as a collective? 3) What factors influence the intensive pedagogical use of ICT? The ELFE study applied a case study approach. Three innovative schools in each of five European countries (Denmark, England, Germany, Norway and Portugal) were purposively selected. Data were collected via questionnaires, interviews, observations and school documents. The findings resulting from the ELFE schools case studies illustrate that the implementation of ICT for teaching and learning may influence the functioning of schools in a number of ways. One can also conclude that students like working with computers and that they have no ‘instrumental’ problems. A number of factors seem to influence the successful implementation of ICT at school level such as a good infrastructure, a clear vision, policy and strategy. A crucial factor is support from national, regional and local authorities, as well as from the school leadership and parents.     

The role of allocentrism on perceptions and reactions to congruity

We investigated how allocentrism, or the tendency to emphasize in-group attributes was related to the amount and the kind (intrinsic vs. extrinsic) of congruity perceived between own and in-group goals. School teachers (N=114) rated the importance of own and coworkers’ intrinsic and extrinsic goals and completed measures of allocentrism and coworker satisfaction. As predicted, allocentrism was positively correlated with extrinsic goal congruity. In general, increasing congruity on intrinsic goals was related to higher coworker satisfaction. However, there were individual differences in reactions to congruity: high allocentrics who perceived congruity on both, intrinsic and extrinsic goals were more satisfied than those who perceived high congruity only on extrinsic goals.     

Effects of Parental Depressive Symptoms on Child Adjustment Moderated by Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal Activity: Within‐ and Between‐Family Risk

Child hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) activity was investigated as a moderator of parental depressive symptom effects on child behavior in an adoption sample (n = 210 families). Adoptive parents' depressive symptoms and child internalizing and externalizing were assessed at 18, 27, and 54 months, and child morning and evening HPA activity measured through salivary cortisol at 54 months. Children's daily cortisol levels and day‐to‐day variability were tested as moderators of longitudinal associations between parent and child symptoms at within‐ and between‐family levels. Mothers' symptoms related directly to child internalizing, but child evening cortisol moderated effects of fathers' symptoms on internalizing, and of both parents' symptoms on externalizing. Different paths of within‐family risk dynamics versus between‐family risk synergy were found for internalizing versus externalizing outcomes.     

Preventing Problem Behaviors in Young Children with Disabilities

Young children with disabilities acquire behavior problems as a result of many factors. When planning interventions, it is important to remember that all children may display stages of inappropriate behaviors at various times during their early development. In most cases, the problems are short-lived and typically improve with guidance and age. There are children with continuing or increasing problem behaviors that result in injury to self or others or that cause damage to the environment; interfere with development, learning, and acquisition of new skills; or socially isolate the child. We discuss interventions and prevention strategies for young children with persistent and consistent behavior problems and present directions for future research.     

Sustaining professional learning communities: Case studies

The purpose is to document the ongoing development of two schools in becoming professional learning communities and the effects of meaningful collaboration on teacher learning. The question that guides this research is: How does a school become a sustainable professional learning community? The theoretical framework is based on the work of Senge, Hord, Fullan, Hargreaves and Fink, and Stoll, McMahon and Thomas and includes the areas of professional learning community, change and sustainability. Finally, the study addresses the relationship between professional learning community and school culture. The methodology involves a qualitative case study approach designed to gain information regarding two emerging schools in their journeys toward developing learning community cultures. Findings reveal the stories of each school as they evolved as PLCs and the similarities and differences that emerged. Knowing that sustaining the culture of a PLC is complex, and not to be achieved without determination and growth, we look ahead at challenges to be addressed and further research to be conducted. Finally, we offer some concluding statements and attempt to relate findings to the literature on PLCs. The intent is to identify some of the intricacies in building cultures of learning for adults and students. As we have learned through these two stories, many things happen simultaneously, to greater or lesser degrees, at varying points in time over a period of years that seem to influence the development of a PLC. Such development seems so complex that to be able to describe discrete steps or stages is unlikely. Still we are beginning to see that some categories of activities and issues must be developed before others can emerge.     

First Trimester Maternal Serum Screening Using Biochemical Markers PAPP-A and Free β-hCG for Down Syndrome, Patau Syndrome and Edward Syndrome

The first trimester screening programme offers a noninvasive option for the early detection of aneuploidy pregnancies. This screening is done by a combination of two biochemical markers i.e. serum free β-human chorionic gonadotrophin (free β-hCG) and pregnancy associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A), maternal age and fetal nuchal translucency (NT) thickness at 11 + 0–13 + 6 weeks of gestation. A beneficial consequence of screening is the early diagnosis or trisomies 21, 18 and 13. At 11 + 0–13 + 6 weeks, the relative prevalence of trisomies 18 and 13 to trisomy 21 are found to be one to three and one to seven, respectively. All three trisomies are associated with increased maternal age, increased fetal NT and decreased PAPP-A, but in trisomy 21 serum free β-hCG is increased whereas in trisomies 18 and 13 free β-hCG is decreased.     

Measuring peer feedback in face-to-face and online public-speaking workshops

This study explores the use of a survey instrument relating to feedback within the organizational context to measure student perceptions of peer feedback in a speech workshop activity conducted in a public-speaking class. A 20-item instrument was adapted from Steelman, Levy, and Snell’s Feedback Environment Scale (FES) for coworker feedback (The Feedback Environment Scale: Construct definition, measurement, and validation. Educational and Psychological Measurement 2004; 64: 165–184. doi: 10.1177/0013164403258440). Results suggest that four constructs adopted from Steelman et al. (source credibility, feedback quality, favorable feedback, and unfavorable feedback) appear suited to gauge student perceptions of peer feedback. Further analyses on the variables indicated no significant differences, regardless of whether the activity took place face-to-face or online.