An historical and comparative study of schools television in Britain and Iran: analysing the production criteria for teaching mathematics in primary school as case study to examine how to enhance the quality of schools television in Iran

The population growth in Iran over the last three decades has made it enormously difficult for the government to provide equality of educational opportunity. Accordingly, the government, in 2002, re-established a national education television network as one component of the solution to the problem of mass education. However, due to the scarcity of experience in the production and distribution of educational and Schools Television programming in Iran there is need to benefit from the practice of other cultures. This research explores the benefit of half a century of experience of schools broadcasting in Britain. In order to see whether or not the production criteria and models of British schools broadcasting might be useful to enhance the quality of Schools Television production in Iran, this research has employed a tripartite system of investigation. First, an extensive historical survey of the educational and school broadcasting provision in both Britain and Iran was conducted, in order to establish significant similarities and differences. Second, research was conducted into relevant pedagogical theories, cultural context, and aspects of the effectiveness of television as pedagogy to explore how learning from television takes place. Third, a comparative study was made of the production processes, values and textual strategies used by current Schools Television in Britain and in Iran. This was carried out through a case study on mathematics in primary schools in order to understand how to simplify abstract concepts in complicated areas, where ideas are difficult to illustrate. The results indicate that Schools Television in Britain benefits from the extensive educational backgrounds of programme makers, the work of education advisers, consultants, and close relations between broadcasters and educational authorities across the whole production process. However, the benefit of this history does not generally result in the direct use of any prescriptive pedagogical theory. The schools programmes of the BBC and Channel 4 use textual and televisual techniques that combine entertainment and learning materials in the style of mainstream channels, where the producers try to make the educational contents 'invisible', following the philosophy of 'learning through fun'. In contrast, Schools Television in Iran, through a long history of delivering a curriculum prescribed by the government, tends to be more rigidly influenced by the traditional, monotonic and lecturing styles of the formal classrooms. Therefore, Schools Television is being used generally as a 'container' for instructive content, delivered through 'talking head' sequences. In conclusion it is proposed that school broadcasting in Britain played a pioneering part in creating a democratic environment in the classroom, where the teaching process changed from a pyramidal into a more horizontal model. It is found that, as long as the educational system in Iran is following a teacher-centred,'banking' education policy, Schools Television cannot take full advantage of the medium. However, despite significant historical, cultural and political differences, Schools Television in Iran can learn lessons from Britain. This is not preserving a western cultural primacy but understanding and practicing whatever is best for the context of particular educational needs, social and cultural values

Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Technology in Mathematics Teaching ICTMT 12

Innovation, inclusion, sharing and diversity are some of the words that briefly and suitably characterize the ICTMT series of biennial international conferences – the International Conference on Technology in Mathematics Teaching. Being the twelfth of a series which began in Birmingham, UK, in 1993, under the influential enterprise of Professor Bert Waits from Ohio State University, this conference was held in Portugal for the first time. The 12th International Conference on Technology in Mathematics Teaching was hosted by the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Algarve, in the city of Faro, from 24 to 27 June 2015, and was guided by the original spirit of its foundation. The integration of digital technologies in mathematics education across school levels and countries, from primary to tertiary education, together with the understanding of the phenomena involved in the teaching and learning of mathematics in technological environments have always been driving forces in the transformation of pedagogical practices. The possibility of joining at an international conference a wide diversity of participants, including school mathematics teachers, lecturers, mathematicians, mathematics educators and researchers, software designers, and curriculum developers, is one facet that makes this conference rather unique. At the same time, it seeks to foster the sharing of ideas, experiences, projects and studies while providing opportunities to try-out and assess tools or didactical proposals during times of hands-on work. The ICTMT 12 had this same ambition, when embracing and welcoming just over 120 delegates who actively and enthusiastically contributed to a very packed program of scientific proposals and sessions on various topics

Workplace-based assessment in clinical radiology in the UK - a validity study

In 2010, the Royal College of Radiologists introduced workplace-based assessments to the postgraduate training pathway for clinical radiologists in the UK. Whilst the system served the purpose of contributing to high-stakes annual judgements about radiology trainees’ progression into subsequent years of training, it was primarily intended to be formative. This study was prompted by an interest in whether the new system fulfilled this formative role. Data collection and analysis spanned the first three years of the new system and followed a multi-methods approach. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to explore important parameters such as the timing and number of assessments undertaken by trainees and assessors. Using the literature and an iterative analysis of a large sample of trainee data, a coding framework for categories of feedback quality enabled assessors’ written comments to be explored using deductive and inductive qualitative analysis, with inferential statistical analysis of coded assessor feedback statements. For example, Ragin’s (1987, 2000, 2008) qualitative comparative analysis, QCA, was used to explore whether the assessments met necessary and/or sufficient conditions for high quality feedback. Pairs of assessor-trainee feedback comments were also analysed to establish whether any dialogic feedback interactions occurred. The study presents evidence that despite its intentions, the new system is generally failing to meet its primary, formative aim. As a consequence, the influence of negative washback on assessment practice was reflected in a number of findings. For example, there was evidence of trainees taking an instrumental approach to the assessments, undertaking only the prescribed minimum of assessments or completing assessments in the later stages of placements. Combined with evidence of retrospective assessment, i.e. after completion of the placements, the observed patterns of assessment over the three years are consistent with a box-ticking approach. This study explores the contextual policy and practice dimensions underpinning these and related findings and discusses the implications and recommendations for future arrangements

A test case generation framework based on UML statechart diagram

Early software fault detection offers more flexibility to correct errors in the early development stages. Unfortunately, existing studies in this domain are not sufficiently comprehensive in describing the major processes of the automated test case generation. Furthermore, the algorithms used for test case generation are not provided or well described. Current studies also hardly address loops and parallel paths issues, and achieved low coverage criteria. Therefore, this study proposes a test case generation framework that generates minimized and prioritized test cases from UML statechart diagram with higher coverage criteria. This study, conducted a review of the previous research to identify the issues and gaps related to test case generation, model-based testing, and coverage criteria. The proposed framework was designed from the gathered information based on the reviews and consists of eight components that represent a comprehensive test case generation processes. They are relation table, relation graph, consistency checking, test path minimization, test path prioritization, path pruning, test path generation, and test case generation. In addition, a prototype to implement the framework was developed. The evaluation of the framework was conducted in three phases: prototyping, comparison with previous studies, and expert review. The results reveal that the most suitable coverage criteria for UML statechart diagram are all-states coverage, all-transitions coverage, alltransition-pairs coverage, and all-loop-free-paths coverage. Furthermore, this study achieves higher coverage criteria in all coverage criteria, except for all-state coverage, when compared with the previous studies. The results of the experts’ review show that the framework is practical, easy to implement due to it is suitability to generate the test cases. The proposed algorithms provide correct results, and the prototype is able to generate test case effectively. Generally, the proposed system is well accepted by experts owing to its usefulness, usability, and accuracy. This study contributes to both theory and practice by providing an early alternative test case generation framework that achieves high coverage and can effectively generate test cases from UML statechart diagrams. This research adds new knowledge to the software testing field, especially for testing processes in the model-based techniques, testing activity, and testing tool support

Interpersonal communication

Husband and wife, parent and child, priest and penitent, supervisor and employee, the \u27happy hour\u27 regulars at the corner pub - almost all of us communicate interpersonally every day. Important decisions can depend on success or failure in carrying out this process. Ultimately, it probably is of far more practical importance than mass media communication. But what do we really know about it? As the author of this issue points out, only three of the last forty issues of Trends have focussed on topics which can be labelled \u27interpersonal communication\u27. Most of the other\u27s have been devoted to various aspects of mass communication. While trying to rectify this neglect, we have to recognize some obstacles. Those studying interpersonal communication often are not able to define just where it ends and other categories of communication begin. The field is handled differently in different countries. In the United States it has been welcomed within the fold of communication science, although others, such as psychologists and anthropologists, have long been interested in it. In Europe and elsewhere it is most often a part of psychology. To describe the study of interpersonal communication on a worldwide basis therefore is a challenging task. We have elected, for the sake of coherence, to limit our survey to the North American perspective: interpersonal communication treated as a subfield of communication studies. The references, bibliography and current research sections do try to suggest the broader geographic and disciplinary range of relevant efforts, and hopefully a future issue of Trends will be able to deal with the same topic as it is more characteristically studied in other academic traditions

Game-Based Learning, Gamification in Education and Serious Games

The aim of this book is to present and discuss new advances in serious games to show how they could enhance the effectiveness and outreach of education, advertising, social awareness, health, policies, etc. We present their use in structured learning activities, not only with a focus on game-based learning, but also on the use of game elements and game design techniques to gamify the learning process. The published contributions really demonstrate the wide scope of application of game-based approaches in terms of purpose, target groups, technologies and domains and one aspect they have in common is that they provide evidence of how effective serious games, game-based learning and gamification can be

Personal Learning Environments for Inquiry-Based Learning

Personal Learning Environments have recently emerged as a novel approach to learning, putting learners in the spotlight and providing them with the tools for building their own learning environments according to their specific learning needs and aspirations. This approach enables learners to take complete control over their learning, thus becoming self-regulated and independent. This paper introduces a new European initiative for supporting and enhancing inquiry-based learning through Personal Learning Environments consisting of personal and social inquiry tools. This approach aims at supporting students in developing their self-regulated learning skills by conducting their scientific inquiries in collaboration with their peers