Accessing and Browsing Information and Communication,by Ronald E. Rice,Maureen McCreadie,and Shan-Ju L. Chang. Cambridge,MA: MIT Press, 2001. xiii + 357 pp., $45.00. ISBN 0-262-18214-9.

Critics have argued that information and communication technologies (ICTs) disconnect people from their social networks and reduce public participation. Research in support of this perspective has been biased by two assumptions. The first is a tendency to privilege the Internet as a social system removed from the other ways people communicate. The second is a tendency to favor broadly supportive strong social ties. Survey and ethnographic observations from Netville, a 2-year community networking experiment, suggest that weak, not strong ties experience growth as a result of ICTs. By examining a unique and underexplored stage in the life cycle of a community networking project, the end of a networking trial, this article demonstrates how ICTs facilitate community participation and collective action (a) by creating large, dense networks of relatively weak social ties and (b) through the use of ICTs as an organizing tool.     

Peer assessment of oral presentations: effects of student gender,university affiliation and participation in the development of assessment criteria

Peer assessment provides a useful mechanism to develop many positive qualities in students studying in higher education (HE). Potential influences on peer‐awarded marks include student qualities such as gender, HE background (e.g. university affiliation) and participation in the development of the assessment criteria. Many studies that have investigated peer assessment have placed great emphasis on marks from a single tutor, or very few tutors, from a single university. This study examined grades awarded by 11 tutors (affiliated with four universities) to oral presentations delivered on a residential field course by second‐year undergraduate students from two universities studying environmental or biological disciplines. Student assessors awarded marks of fairly high precision (correlating strongly with tutor grades) but averaged 5% higher than their tutors (i.e. of only moderate accuracy). Marginally higher marks (circa 1.6%) were awarded by student assessors to speakers studying at the same university. Gender influences were detected as males tended to grade other male speakers very slightly more highly than female speakers. Marks from females were unaffected by speaker gender. Students who participated in the development of the assessment criteria did not achieve higher grades for their presentations. However, when these ‘participants’ were assessing, they awarded lower marks than their peers (i.e. closer to, but not as low as, those awarded by tutors). Lower marks were also awarded during the middle of sessions, possibly resulting from factors associated with motivation and attention of speakers and markers. Overall, the potential biases in marking by naive assessors examined in this study may influence the validity of marks generated by peer assessment schemes, but the experience of this type of assessment had positive effects on those involved.     

Questioning techniques to promote thinking

Research has shown that children as young as three and four can think on many different levels if they are encouraged to do so (Pepler & Ross, 1981; Turner & Durrett, 1975). Educators can promote young children's thinking by asking appropriate questions and by providing learning activities that require children to think beyond the recall or memorization level (What Works, 1986). Asking good questions is an art — an art that can be learned and refined with practice and with conscious effort.Jean M. Shaw and Mary Jo Puckett Cliatt are associate professors in the School of Education at the University of Mississippi in University, MS.     

A framework for evidencing assessment validity in large-scale,high-stakes international examinations

It is important for educational assessment bodies to demonstrate how they are seeking to meet the demands of validity. The approach to validity taken here assumes a ‘consequentialist’ view where the appropriacy of the inferences made on the basis of assessment results is seen as central. This paper describes the development of a systematic approach to the collection of evidence that can support claims about validity for general qualifications. An operational framework was developed drawing on Kane (2006 Kane, M.T. 2006. “Validation”. In Educational measurement, 4th ed., Edited by: Brennan, R.L. 17–64. Westport, CT: Praeger.  [Google Scholar]). The framework involves a list of inferences to be justified as indicated by a number of linked validation questions. For each question various data would be gathered to provide ‘evidence for validity’ and to identify any ‘threats to validity’. The structure is designed to be accessible for operational users. This paper describes the development of the proposed framework and the types of methods to be used to gather relevant evidence.     

Judging people in the news — unconsciously: Effect of camera angle and bodily activity

The emergence of hermeneutic perspectives which see humans as actors in a continuous effort of reality construction positions scholars as agents of their claims, fully responsible for their contribution to the reality they study.     

The eastern public speaking conference

THE LEGISLATIVE STRUGGLE. By Bertram M. Gross. New York: McGraw‐Hill Book Co., 1953; pp. xviii+472. $6.50.

MASON'S MANUAL OF LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURE. By Paul Mason. New York: McGraw‐Hill Book Co., 1953; pp. 640. $6.50.

I AM HAPPY TO PRESENT. By Guy R. Lyle and Kevin Guinagh. New York: The H. W. Wilson Company, 1953; pp. 265. $3.00.

THE MIRACLE OF LANGUAGE. By Charlton Laird. New York: The World Publishing Co., 1953; pp. xii+308. $4.00.

PHONETICS IN ANCIENT INDIA. By W. S. Allen. London Oriental Series, Volume 1. London: Oxford University Press, 1953; pp. x+96. $3.00.

SUPERVISING PEOPLE. By George D. Halsey. (Revised edition). New York: Harper &; Brothers, 1953; pp. 238. $3.00.

COMMUNICATION IN MANAGEMENT. By Charles E. Redfield. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1953; pp. xvi+290. $3.75.

ADULT EDUCATION, THE COMMUNITY APPROACH. By Paul H. Sheats, Clarence D. Jayne, and Ralph B. Spence. New York: Dryden Press; pp. xiii+530. $5.75.

THE ART OF EFFECTIVE TEACHING. By C. B. Eavey. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, pp. 298. $3.75.

HOW TO BECOME A BETTER READER. By Paul Witty. Chicago: Science Research Associates, Inc., 1953; pp. viii+304. $5.00.

READING ALOUD. By Wayland Maxfield Parrish. (Third Edition). New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1953; pp. iv+572. $4.25.

TIME FOR TRUE TALES AND ALMOST TRUE. By May Hill Arbuthnot. New York: Scott, Foresman and Co., 1953; pp. 396. $3.50.

THE COLLECTED PLAYS OF W. B. YEATS. By W. B. Yeats. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1953; pp. 446. $5.00.

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1953; pp. 344. $5.00.

TILBURY TOWN: SELECTED POEMS OF EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON. By Lawrence Thompson. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1953; pp. xvi+144. $3.50.

THESE THAT I HAVE LOVED. AN ANTHOLOGY OF LIVING POETRY AND PROSE. By Mildred Welker Hufstater. New York: Pageant Press, 1953; pp. xiv+112. $3.00.

LITERARY MASTERPIECES OF THE WESTERN WORLD. Edited by Francis H. Horn. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1953: pp. xix+255. $3.50.     

BOOK REVIEW

This paper describes an investigation in Korea of the extent to which a new general science curriculum, reflecting a constructivist view, has influenced the classroom learning environment in grade 10 science. The Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) was selected for the investigation and translated into Korean. Other objectives of this study were to determine whether the Korean version of the CLES is valid and reliable, differences between students’ perceptions of their actual and preferred learning environment and associations between students’ perceptions of the constructivist learning environment and their attitude to science. The Korean‐language version of the CLES was found to be valid and reliable and grade 10 students did perceive a more constructivist learning environment than grade 11 students who had not been exposed to the new curriculum. This suggested that efforts of curriculum reform had produced some positive effects. Students tended to prefer a more positive environment than what was perceived to be present and statistically significant relationships were found between classroom environment and student attitudes. These relationships suggest that favourable student attitudes could be promoted in classes where students perceive more personal relevance, share control with their teachers and negotiate their learning.     

Interpreting examiners' annotations on examination papers: a sociocultural analysis

In Ireland and the UK it is accepted practice that agencies with formal responsibility for delivering school examinations allow examination candidates, and in many cases their teachers, to see their examination papers once they have been marked. Returned papers can carry various pieces of information; as well as the total score given for a performance, additional information is included in the form of the annotations left on the examination paper by the marking examiner. As far as we know there has been no research into how this information affects those who come into contact with it. The study uses teacher interview and survey data to explore whether a sociocultural approach to analysis can illuminate the factors that might influence their interpretation of those annotations. These analyses suggest that a key influence on the valid interpretation of an examiner's annotations is a teachers' involvement in examining activity. The analyses support further conceptualisation that these teacher-examiners' interpretative capacity is related to their positioning in a boundary zone between two different activity systems.