Let them eat Shakespeare: prescribed authors and the National Curriculum

In this article, we examine the debate that surrounds prescribed reading lists in the English National Curriculum. In particular, we attempt to locate the role which ideas about heritage and social and moral values have played in constructing this debate. We begin by examining the English National Curriculum's origin in the 1980s as a conservative exercise in stemming cultural crisis, and the discourse about literature's role in the curriculum which this helped construct. We then examine how this discourse has influenced, and continues to influence, the educational policy of prescribing a list of authors and consider the assumptions that are embedded in this policy. Finally, we reflect upon how the material conditions of the classroom provide a site of resistance, or difficulty, for the officially sanctioned discourse concerning literature's role in the curriculum.     

Being unreal: Epistemology,ontology, and phenomenology in a virtual educational world

Abstract

This paper addresses new flexibility in educational programs and delivery in terms of the possibilities now available for extending the body and the mind through electronic communications. Issues are raised regarding what is true and the nature of reality in the virtual world of the Internet. Finally, the article discusses the ability of people to cope with these issues in terms of the education required, the development of ‘information literacy’, and the implications for personal responses to them. These ideas are developed within the context of the “World Brain/World Mind” concept first set forth by H. G. Wells in 1938.     

Reflections on “child temperament effects on special education process and outcomes”

The stories of 3 young people from low socioeconomic backgrounds highlight significant issues in educating gifted students living in poverty. Major themes uncovered across the 3 cases included educators who looked beyond the circumstances of the students and maintained high expectations, the positive influence of enriched teaching-learning opportunities and extracurricular activities, and the success of a mentoring approach with the students. Based on these findings, implications for educating children living in poverty are also discussed.     

Developing University Teachers: an account of a scheme designed for postgraduate researchers on a lecturing career path

Abstract

There is a growing recognition within higher education institutions of the importance of teaching as a core activity for trainee academics. This paper outlines and reports on a scheme which has been established to address the needs of postgraduate researchers who wish to build a career as university teachers. The scheme, now under review at the close of its first year of operation, is one which provides a potential model for other institutions. The paper includes extracts from a frank discussion involving participants in the scheme and highlights some of the practical difficulties which have occurred, in addition to the many benefits which are both expected in the future as well as some which are currently accruing     

Distributed by Design: On the Promises and Pitfalls of Collaborative Learning with Multiple Representations

This article presents a designed learning environment intended to engage students in learning about the relationships among multiple representations as they work together on a shared task. Over the course of several extended problem-solving sessions, groups developed several successive alignments of participants and representations as they learned to solve increasingly difficult tasks. Our findings highlight the emergent and often unexpected meanings that learners established for representational tools as their groups reorganized into increasingly effective problem-solving ensembles. Our findings echo those of prior research regarding learners' considerable competence and creativity in interpreting and applying distributed representational tools, as well as the careful coordination among learners involved in establishing and acting on those interpretations. Challenges in this design space include instances in our data where students capitalized on connections among representations without really trying to understand those connections, temporarily undermined the distributed character of the representations, and worked more efficiently by reducing the number of participants actively involved in breaking codes. Our findings indicate that managing these challenges requires presenting groups with regular opportunities to reconsider and reorganize their roles, and to experiment with different meanings and uses of flexible tools in the context of tasks with carefully sequenced levels of difficulty.     

Research methods and Guides

The Territory of the Historian by E.. Le Roy Ladurie(Chicago: University of Chicago Press,1979 —S21.00)

Harvard Guide to American History edited by Frank Freidel, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Universiry Press, 1974 with 1479 as first date for this paperback edition—$12.50 (on tne book cover) or 39.95 (in the slip inside from the publisher)

Witham Katz Your Library: A Reference Guide (New: York: Holt. Rinehart & Winston, 1919—price not given, gaper)

Alan E. Thompson, Understanding Futurology: An Introduction. to Futures Study (Newton Abbot, U.R /North Pomfret, Vt. : David & ,1979 —$12.50)     

Engaging LIS Students in Reference Work Through Online Answer Boards

In 2007, public librarian Dave Pardue launched Slam the Boards!, a monthly call for librarians to enter online answer boards such as Yahoo! Answers and answer questions, announcing to the public that they are librarians. Graduate library and information students participated in this required assignment in a basic reference class. Students reported that this experience caused them to reflect on guiding reference documents and their own career plans as they gained confidence in engaging in remote reference service. Recommendations for future involvement calls for in-class demonstration of answer boards, rehearsal, and monitoring of answer boards.