Teaching and Learning IT in Secondary Schools: Towards a New Pedagogy?

New Technologies, particularly Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs), have caused profound changes throughout society. A generation of children is emerging already immersed in a multimedia 'data storm' (Moshell, 1995). Their understandings and expectations of the world are mediated through their experiences of multimedia and ICTs and these differ from those of preceding generations nourished on linear technologies. Educating these children using models of teaching and learning that are grounded in concepts of knowing and understanding that are linear and finite will not help them succeed in a technological, global future where multi-disciplinary, holistic approaches predominate. The conflict between the traditional and the new in English secondary schools is particularly intense in the teaching and learning of Information Technology (IT). Teaching and learning IT are inherently constructivist activities, and IT teachers who attempt to implement learning programmes designed from predominantly behaviourist perspectives quickly find that these are less effective. A new pedagogy is needed that is theoretically sound, that goes beyond a cookbook approach, and that guides teachers in using constructivist approaches within an education system grounded in an inimical behaviourist paradigm. This paper takes some tentative steps in this direction. © 1999 IFIP, published by Kluwer Academic Publishers     

Are parental concerns about children's inactivity warranted, and are they associated with a supportive home environment?

This paper explores parental concern about children's activity levels and whether parents who are concerned about their child's activity provide a supportive environment. A sample of 615 parents of 5-6-year-old children and 947 parents of 10-12-year-old children completed a questionnaire. Just over 50% of parents reported they were concerned their child was not getting enough activity. Children of concerned parents were less active than those whose parents were not concerned. These findings suggest that parents who are concerned about their child's physical activity levels provided a less supportive environment for physical activity than parents who are not concerned. The challenge for public health will be to harness parental concerns and translate them into action.     

A perplexed story

This piece of life‐story—or, to give it its grand title, auto‐ethnographic research—owes its initial impetus in becoming a written project to a photograph someone took of me in a London secondary school staffroom early on in my teaching career. The young man in the photograph peers out at me from my office wall. Sometime last year, he began to compel me to dig around in filing cabinets for the journals, occasional poems and other dusty relics of a teaching life; it seems he has helped me to recollect the social and historical experiences that have affected my development.     

It's installed ... now get on with it! Looking beyond the software to the cultural change

This case study looks at the lessons learned from the ultimately successful implementation of the Blackboard Managed Learning Environment at Northumbria University and explores how these are now being applied to the matching implementation at a local further education college, which we are supporting. The study identifies key aspects that emerged from Northumbria's experience—the application of models of innovation from both educational and business worlds, the need to take account of the impact of cultural change, the need for effective staff development for all stakeholders, the need for a ‘road map’ for the development, and the need for ongoing dialogue with clients (staff) and customers (students). It reflects upon how Northumbria's approach has led to the emergence of a learning organisation that is adaptive and responsive and how a business approach can be applied to higher and further education innovations.     

Regional health library service in northern Ireland

The regional medical library service provided to physicians, hospitals, nurses, social workers, and health care administrators throughout Northern Ireland by the Queen's University of Belfast is described. A brief outline of the National Health Service in the United Kingdom is given, and the library service is described in terms of collections, cataloging, interlibrary loan, and reference.     

Report on the Modalities of External Evaluation of Higher Education in Europe: 1995‐1997

Several elements make up this report. It begins with a study of policy issues concerning academic quality assessment and accreditation based primarily on a questionnaire sent to thirty‐eight European countries, interviews with key individuals in the field, and a bibliography of pertinent professional literature. The questionnaire is itself reproduced along with a synthesis of the answers received. A short listing of general conclusions suggests that there should be greater agreement on the meaning of terms and on the role and place of autonomy in the structuring of evaluation systems. Also, some suggestions are made in regard to possible roles for CEPES in the area of quality assurance and assessment. A substantial bibliography is provided.     

From ideal to real: Understanding the development of new educational settings

Summary and Conclusion In this paper we presented a framework for viewing the development of new educational settings. We also postulated the necessity of two conditions for the creation of a coherent self-renewing educational program: the development of a community, especially in a linguistic sense, and on-going practical dialog that defines and redefines the setting over time in light of collective action and experience. In doing so, we took the position that educational program and program development mean something more than what is implied in most theories of organizational and program development. We argued that a collection of educational activities constitutes a program only when the activities are grounded in a commonly perceived core of beliefs and values about what is and what ought to be.Clearly, we have only begun to sketch out the nature and operation of the processes by which a new educational setting evolves and develops into an organization. We need to know why development and growth through the application of the dialectic are typically not present in new programs. Our future research efforts are oriented in this direction and we hope that by setting forth our tentative ideas at this point we may encourage others to react to them and perhaps to pursue a similar line of inquiry.OISE