Beyond discovery: a case study of teacher interaction,young children and computer tasks

The integration of computer technologies into everyday classroom life continues to provide pedagogical challenges for school systems, teachers and administrators. Data from an exploratory case study of one teacher and a multiage class of children in the first years of schooling in Australia show that when young children are using computers for set tasks in small groups, they require ongoing support from teachers, and to engage in peer interactions that are meaningful and productive. Classroom organization and the nature of teacher–child talk are key factors in engaging children in set tasks and producing desirable learning and teaching outcomes.     

Early Childhood Educational Software: Specific Features and Issues of Localization

The computer has now become a recognized tool in the education of young children and when used appropriately can reinforce their learning experiences. This paper reviews specific features (relating to pedagogic design, software content and user-interface design) of early childhood educational software and discusses issues in favor of its localization. Specific features in favor of its localization include the dominance of pictures, animation and sound, the culture-independent content and the neutrality of graphical, interface and story-line features. Children’s software worth being adapted to fit another country’s curriculum needs to be developmentally appropriate. The quality of the software will need to be combined with other factors, such as the role of the teacher, in order to contribute to young children’s learning and development.     

The 2004 and 2005 Gulf Coast Hurricanes: Evolving Roles and Lessons Learned for Public Libraries in Disaster Preparedness and Community Services

SUMMARY

In the aftermath of the 2004 and 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes, public libraries played many important roles in their communities, though ensuring access to vital information may have been the most critical service. This article explores the participation of public libraries in the recovery of their communities, the implications of this involvement for the place of public libraries in society, and lessons learned and recommendations for public library disaster planning. As this article demonstrates, public libraries successfully provided a range of disaster preparedness and recovery services that were not provided and could not have been provided by other government agencies.     

Wired shut: copyright and the shape of digital culture

This paper addresses the impact of computers on the nuclear arms race and argues that improvements in computer technology have directly led to the diminishing warning and decision period available to human commanders in the event of an accidental outbreak of nuclear war. To support this thesis, a brief and general history of the application of computers to strategic weapons systems is given and evidence is presented which confirms the unreliability and error proneness of current computer-based weapons control systems. The main point of discussion however, involves an emerging proposal to completely automate the strategic systems of the United States and the associated problems and dangers, given present inadequacies.     

Using Hypermedia to Assist Language Minority Learners in Achieving Academic Success

No abstract available for this article.     

When Marketing Really Matters: The Survival of a Russian Post-Graduate Institute

ABSTRACT

The fundamental changes which swept through the former Soviet Union in 1991 and 1992 dramatically affected the system of higher education. Within the space of 12–18 months, institutions which had operated in a completely stable and predictable environment for many years were suddenly required to drastically reconfigure themselves and their curricular offerings in order to survive. This article describes how one such institution applied classical marketing principles of market segmentation and target marketing in order to remake itself into a viable institution in a fundamentally changed environment.     

The Turing Triage Test

If, as a number of writers have predicted, the computers of the future will possess intelligence and capacities that exceed our own then it seems as though they will be worthy of a moral respect at least equal to, and perhaps greater than, human beings. In this paper I propose a test to determine when we have reached that point. Inspired by Alan Turing’s (1950) original “Turing test”, which argued that we would be justified in conceding that machines could think if they could fill the role of a person in a conversation, I propose a test for when computers have achieved moral standing by asking when a computer might take the place of a human being in a moral dilemma, such as a “triage” situation in which a choice must be made as to which of two human lives to save. We will know that machines have achieved moral standing comparable to a human when the replacement of one of these people with an artificial intelligence leaves the character of the dilemma intact. That is, when we might sometimes judge that it is reasonable to preserve the continuing existence of a machine over the life of a human being. This is the “Turing Triage Test”. I argue that if personhood is understood as a matter of possessing a set of important cognitive capacities then it seems likely that future AIs will be able to pass this test. However this conclusion serves as a reductio of this account of the nature of persons. I set out an alternative account of the nature of persons, which places the concept of a person at the centre of an interdependent network of moral and affective responses, such as remorse, grief and sympathy. I argue that according to this second, superior, account of the nature of persons, machines will be unable to pass the Turing Triage Test until they possess bodies and faces with expressive capacities akin to those of the human form.     

A case study of low‐status women’s attitudes towards computers

This study investigates the attitudes of a group of low‐status women towards computers through a deliberately designed computer training programme. Four aspects of the women’s attitudes were examined, including computer anxiety, confidence, liking and usefulness. Data sources consist of pre‐ and post‐surveys and interviews with the participants. The results show that the participants’ attitudes towards computers improved greatly after attending the training course, especially in terms of the aspect of anxiety. It was also found that the instructor’s patience, repeated step‐by‐step demonstrations, detailed notes presented with screen‐image snapshots, stand‐by tutors and a friendly learning environment were the main elements that effectively helped the learners increase their positive feelings towards learning to use computers. The study reveals that once women have opportunities to use computers and once they are adequately instructed, the majority will be connected to the digital world in no time.     

Observing Interprofessional Collaboration: Impact on Attitude and Knowledge Acquisition

Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) in the medical field is an important factor for good clinical outcomes and should be taught as early as in undergraduate medical education. Since implementing IPC training is an organizational challenge, students are often limited in their opportunities to experience real-life IPC. Therefore, an approach where students observe successful IPC activities of role models in an applied anatomical format was proposed. It was studied whether observing IPC activities in undergraduate anatomical education has an impact on both students' attitude toward IPC and on knowledge acquisition. Further, it was examined whether the attitudes and knowledge of students from different medical disciplines were influenced in different ways. Therefore, 75 medical students and thirty-eight physiotherapy students participated in a study with the task of observing a live broadcast of an interprofessional teaching session. Participants were asked about their attitudes toward interprofessional learning, their evaluation of professional responsibilities, and their profession-specific knowledge before and after observing the IPC session. The participants' attitude toward interprofessional learning improved for both groups of students. Moreover, students of physiotherapy adjusted their evaluation of their own and others' professional responsibilities after observing IPC. In both student groups, knowledge increased, in particular, with respect to the field of knowledge in other professions. So, observing IPC can modify students' attitudes and support knowledge acquisition. The implementation of IPC observations provides students from various healthcare disciplines with a clearer impression of professionals' responsibilities and gives learners the opportunity to acquire knowledge from healthcare fields unfamiliar to them.     

Portable Computers & Interactive Multimedia: A New Paradigm for Interpreting Museum Collections

This paper describes a GEMISIS doctoral research project nearing completion at the University of Salford, U.K. and offers some preliminary findings. The aim of the project was to design an interactive multimedia application for a portable computer in a museum setting, to assess the application as an aid to interpretation and to examine its impact on the visitor's understanding and enjoyment of the museum experience. It will discuss the introduction of portable computers into museum galleries, briefly describe the design and development process of the interactive multimedia application, review the methodology employed and provide a summary of preliminary findings.