Roadkill on the electronic highway? The threat to the mathematical literature

This article begins with an analysis of reliability and usability in the mathematical literature. Mathematical practice is seen to be adapted to very high standards in these respects, and quite sensitive to even modest declines in quality. Unfortunately most scenarios for the transition to electronic publication suggest serious loss of quality. This is a problem special to mathematics: other sciences are adapted to lower standards, and should be much less sensitive to changes. Some ways to prevent this decline are suggested. A condensed version of this article appeared inNotices of the American Mathematical Society, 42, 1, January 1995. Published with permission of the American Mathematical Society.     

Evaluating efforts to enhance health and wellbeing in Scottish secondary schools

Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland outlines a policy vision of a more progressive, integrated and holistic form of education; a commitment which contains an obligation for health and well-being (HWB) to be a responsibility of all teachers. A critical policy analysis approach was utilized in order to review school-level progress in different stages of policy development, i.e. policy formulation, legitimation, implementation and evaluation. Evidence was collected through 15 semi-structured interviews with head teachers, teacher education academics and staff with national and local authority quality improvement remits. Questions focused on: aims and curriculum goals; school culture; learning and teaching; partnership relationships and evaluations of practice. Findings suggest a high degree of support for curriculum aims, however, there were often problems communicating policy expectations (policy formulation). Thus, despite impressive examples of innovative practice in relation to school ethos, wider achievement and pupils’ broader general education (policy legitimation), there were also examples of HWB being constrained by senior school examinations and the backwash effect this had on curriculum planning and engagement with interdisciplinary learning approaches (policy implementation/evaluation). These findings have implications in terms of policy to practice coherence as well as highlighting the need for further more specific research evaluations.     

Course teams: myth and actuality

This article argues for the development of group intervention techniques to improve the efficacy of course teams in the preparation of distance education materials. A review of recent commentaries on course teams is presented along with an initial selection and discussion of course team issues. These are presented in the refreshingly frank domestic context of actual interactions. The irritations generated by these will be familiar to practitioners. The author concludes with a series of recommendations to enrich the quality of course team life and output. It is hoped that this provocative analysis of the course team method of producing distance education materials will generate a lively response.     

Angle and rotation: Effects of different types of feedback on the quality of response

The study compares the levels of response to angle/rotation problems presented on screen with a Logo microworld with the levels of response to similar problems presented on paper. Pairs of children aged from 9 to 11 who had little or no experience of Logo completed the problems in about 40 minutes. Pairs of children completed the problems over a period of eight weeks. The responses, classified using the SOLO taxonomy (Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes), suggested that the effect of the immediate feedback of the screen turtle heading was to inhibit moves to a higher level of response compared to those levels of response reached when responding to paper tests.     

Real education in non-real time: The use of electronic message systems for instruction

Education in different communication media takes place with functional differences that have consequences for the course of instructional interaction. In this paper, we examine instructional interaction among people using a computer-based electronic message system, contrasting it with conventional face-to-face discussion in a college level class. Interaction via the non-real time message system contained multiple “threads of discourse,” a higher proportion of student turns to teacher turns, and other deviations from the “initiation-response-evaluation” sequences usually found in face-to-face classroom interactions. Based on the results of our contrast, we describe ways to organize instruction using electronic message systems to take advantage of new properties and to avoid shortcomings of these new instructional media.     

A leisure counseling model for addicted persons

Conclusion This leisure counseling model provides a general framework for the counseling process rather than a strict guideline. While some clients may progress orderly through the stages, other clients may move back and forth amongst different stages. The specific counseling needs of each client should guide the client's progress through the model accordingly. In short, within the model's framework the counseling process has a great deal of flexibility.The purpose of this article has been to emphasize the importance of leisure counseling for addicted persons and to present a corresponding model that can supplement existing programs and support groups. Thus, the model is designed in such a way that it can be implemented in either individual or group settings. Whatever the particular application of this leisure counseling model, it adds an important extra dimension to existing addiction treatment approaches.The importance of leisure counseling for addicted persons in recovery cannot be overemphasized. Because the addiction was the center of their lives, recovering addicts must forge a new lifestyle without their drug of choice: their best friend and greatest source of security and reassurance. Recognizing their struggle, the addiction leisure counseling model should help counselors facilitate this transition by enabling addicted clients to begin using leisure to satisfy many of their unmet needs.