Towards a heuristic frame for transferring e-government technology

This article addresses challenges in accomplishing technology transfer process involving the adaptation and implementation of e-government applications from a donor country to a recipient country. Here it is claimed that prior e-government research has overlooked existing technology transfer literature from the field of knowledge management. This work is aimed at addressing the underlying issues associated with the transfer of e-government technology, given different characteristics of donor and recipient organizations in terms of the socio-economic context and the dynamics of the technological infrastructure. Based on a review, interpretation, and synthesis of a broad range of both technology transfer, e-government and knowledge management literature, we extend the Information Technology Transfer Life-Cycle Model, as this well-known model was derived entirely based on empirical evidence. To this end, we propose a heuristic frame for e-government technology transfer. Finally, five propositions accrued from both the literature review and the proposed heuristic frame are set forth to be further tested, in order to better understand the process dynamics of e-government technology transfer between countries.     

Public Sector Research: A Growing Role in Innovation Systems

This essay highlights three converging trendsexperienced by `public sector research' duringthe past decade. Looking especially at France,our discussion draws attention to the new rolesof universities, the blurring of relationshipsbetween types of research institutions andresearch activities, and the development of`research collectives' as an organizationalfeature now emerging throughout Europe.     

The viralization of online education: Learning beyond the time of the coronavirus

PROSPECTS - In response to the global crisis resulted from the spread of the coronavirus in Brazil, many schools and universities suspended face-to-face classes and began to offer remote classes...     

The role of word recognition,oral reading fluency and listening comprehension in the simple view of reading: a study in an intermediate depth orthography

Empirical research has provided evidence for the simple view of reading across a variety of orthographies, but the role of oral reading fluency in the model is unclear. Moreover, the relative weight of listening comprehension, oral reading fluency and word recognition in reading comprehension seems to vary across orthographies and schooling years. This study aims to examine the direct effects of these three variables on reading comprehension and to test for the existence of indirect effects of word recognition and listening comprehension on reading comprehension via oral reading fluency in European Portuguese, an orthography of intermediate depth. A sample of 264 students was assessed at the end of grades 2 and 4. Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that listening comprehension, word recognition and oral reading fluency predicted reading comprehension in both grade 2 and grade 4. Moreover, the three variables measured in grade 2 predicted later reading comprehension in grade 4. Listening comprehension was always the strongest predictor. Oral reading fluency mediated the relationship between word recognition and reading comprehension, but it was not a mediator variable in the relationship between listening comprehension and reading comprehension. These findings indicate that, similarly to what has been found for other orthographies, the simple view of reading is a valid framework to account for reading comprehension variability in European Portuguese and that interventions to increase reading comprehension levels should focus on word recognition, fluency, and, especially, listening comprehension.     

The complex development of student-teachers' thinking

Studies of student-teacher development have tended to suggest a three-stage model of development in which the novices' concerns shift outwards from an initial preoccupation with self, to a focus on tasks and teaching situations, and finally to consideration of pupil learning. This paper, based on sequence of post-lesson interviews conducted with 25 student teachers following 1-year postgraduate courses within school-based partnership schemes of initial teacher education, questions the adequacy of such a model. Analysis of the reasons that the student-teachers offered for their teaching decisions, and of their lesson evaluations suggests a high level of concern for pupils' learning and an awareness of the complexity of teaching from very early in their training. The implications of these findings are explored; in particular, the challenges that they pose to teacher educators in terms of course structure and curricula, and the need to be responsive to individual learners.     

Teaching and learning conceptions in Engineering Education: an innovative approach on Mathematics

A worldwide problem in Engineering education is the high rates of students' failure and drop out particularly at the beginning of the course. This is related to the process by which students learn Mathematics. An innovative methodology of teaching calculus was developed and it is presented in this paper. The approach, based on both course modularisation and the error theory, is student centred. It fosters student/lecturer commitment and emphasizes continuous assessment of the process. Knowledge, in this work, is regarded as a construction and reconstruction process based on phenomenological and hermeneutic concepts. Survey results demonstrated the effectiveness of the applied methodology.     

Science learning in the context of discourse

The original article by Kamberelis and Wehunt (2012) discusses an interesting and important research subject in science education as it focus on classroom interactions and the characteristics of the discourse production of interlocutors. The authors start from the premise that discourse heterogeneity is constitutive of social activities, which is supported by others like Mikhail Bakhtin (Speech genres and other late essays. University of Texas Press, Austin, 1981) and Erving Goffman (Frame analysis: an essay on the organization of experience. Harper and Row, London, 1974). They also present the definitions of three key elements that organize hybrid discourse: (a) lamination of multiple cultural frames, (b) shifting relations between people and their discourse, and (c) shifting power relations between people. Finally, the authors analyze how these three elements organize students’ science discourse in the classroom and how it contributes to the creation of a micro-community of practice capable of helping the emergence of a disciplinary knowledge that is legitimized by and strengthens the identity of the group. In the present commentary, I discuss how Michael Foucault’s (1970) concept of discursive procedure may help us to analyze the (often neglected) teacher’s role in the development of hybrid discourse practices.     

Logics of integration and actors’ strategies in European joint programs

This paper analyses how the interaction between social institutions on the one hand and actors’ strategies and interests on the other hand is shaping European integration in research policy. We specifically focus on the implications of the existence of different conceptions of European integration (logics) on the emerging landscape of research funding programs jointly managed by the European Union (EU) and National States (joint programs). Our results display the central role of the introduction of a logic of coordination by the EU; it created a breeding ground for a new generation of programs and, at the same time, allowed to make the integration model more flexible and acceptable to National States (as funding became only virtually integrated). Most newly created programs were characterized by largely symbolic commitments and very small budgets, while stronger commitments had to be constructed through successive steps of integration. This process was highly selective and dependent on the presence of strong interests from the research community; additional funding from the EU was critical to ensure stability of national commitments. Further, National States by large delegated to independent funding agencies the management of national participations: delegation allowed to achieve greater homogeneity among national participants, but also to decouple decisions to participate (driven by compliance to institutional pressures) from the level of resources to be committed (driven by national interests). While in the year 2000, the European Research Area (ERA) strategy of coordinating national research policies was largely an empty concept, our case study shows how in the following decade, it was filled in with specific experiences and practices, led to the redefinition of actors’ understanding of European integration and roles in European research policies and, ultimately, to the emergence of original models of integration.