Toward a script theory of guidance in computer-supported collaborative learning

This article presents an outline of a script theory of guidance for computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). With its four types of components of internal and external scripts (play, scene, role, and scriptlet) and seven principles, this theory addresses the question how CSCL practices are shaped by dynamically re-configured internal collaboration scripts of the participating learners. Furthermore, it explains how internal collaboration scripts develop through participation in CSCL practices. It emphasizes the importance of active application of subject matter knowledge in CSCL practices, and it prioritizes transactive over non-transactive forms of knowledge application in order to facilitate learning. Further, the theory explains how external collaboration scripts modify CSCL practices and how they influence the development of internal collaboration scripts. The principles specify an optimal scaffolding level for external collaboration scripts and allow for the formulation of hypotheses about the fading of external collaboration scripts. Finally, the article points towards conceptual challenges and future research questions

Literacy practices of primary education children in Andalusia (Spain): a family-based perspective

Primary school children develop literacy practices in various domains and situations in everyday life. This study focused on the analysis of literacy practices of children aged 8–12 years from the perspec- tive of their families. 1,843 families participated in the non-experimental explanatory study. The children in these families speak Spanish as a first language and are schooled in this language. The instrument used was a self-report questionnaire about children’s home-literacy practices. The data obtained were analysed using categorical principal components analysis (CATPCA) and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results show the complex relationship between literacy practices developed by children in the domains of home and school and the limited development of a literacy-promoting ‘third space’. In conclusion, the families in our study had limited awareness of their role as literacy- promoting agents and thought of literacy learning as restricted to formal or academic spaces

Framing-effects approach: A theoretical and methodological critique

The article deals with research on framing effects. First, I will start with classifying different approaches on framing. Subsequently, I will provide a definition of the concepts of frame, schema and framing, expand on framing research conducted so far - both theoretically and operationally. Having this equipment at hand, I will initiate a discussion on studies of framing-effects in terms of theory, methods and empirical results. This discussion leads to the conclusion that studies on framing effects are insufficiently concerned with the more recent psychological constructs and theories. In merely focusing on the activation of schemata, most studies ignore the more elaborate types of framing-effects. Therefore, several empirical questions remain unanswered and some methodical chances seem to be wasted

Jane Austen fan fiction and the situated fantext: the example of Pamela Aidan's Fitzwilliam darcy, gentleman

Building on recent findings in the field of fan fiction studies, I claim that Pamela Aidan’s Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman is indirectly influenced by three cultural phenomena which centre around Jane Austen and her work. Aidan’s fan fiction text stays close to the spirit of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice because she “reimagines” the novel according to the interpretive conventions of the Republic of Pemberley, a fan community. These conventions demand respect for Austen and her novels because they are shaped by the broader, cultural conventions of Janeitism and Austen criticism. Similarly, Aidan’s text is more individualistic and “Harlequinesque” than Austen’s novel, because the Republic allows writers to reproduce the cultural reading which underlies BBC / A&E’s adaptation of Austen’s novel

Still seeking the audience

The changing capacities to connect generated through contemporary media have implications for an understanding of the idea of ‘audience’. This paper begins a new search for an understanding of the contemporary audience and seeks this through an engagement with a few key ideas that sign-post a reconsideration of my own understanding of what an audience might become. Massumi’s idea of intensity, Bennett’s use of assemblage and the focus on event to emphasize the dynamic nature of an audience help to guide my trajectory. Finally I attempt to apply these ideas to a personal experience of becoming an audience to see how useful they might be as I continue to question my own habituated conceptualisations

Narratives of power: bringing ideology to the fore of planning analysis

This Special Issue starts from the premise that the concept of ideology holds significant analytical potential for planning but that this potential can only be realised if ideology is brought to the fore of analysis. By naming ideology and rendering it visible, we hope to bring it out from the shadows and into the open to examine its value and what it can tell us about the politics of contemporary planning. The papers in this Special Issue therefore seek to contribute to established academic debates by exploring some of the ways ideology can be deployed as a tool in the analysis of planning problems. This article introduces the Special Issue by exploring the various accounts in the papers of i. what ideology is; ii. what its effects are; iii. where ideology may be identified and iv. what different theories of ideology can tell us about planning. There inevitably remain many un-answered questions, paths not taken and debates left unaddressed. We hope other scholars will be inspired (or provoked) to address these omissions in the future

Spatial theory and method for the study of religion

From an examination of recent social and cultural theory and selected work on place and space by scholars of religion I draw together resources for the development of a spatial methodology for the study of religion. In order to identify the key elements of this methodology, I discuss relations between the body and space, the dimensions, properties and aspects of space, and its dynamics, including the mutual imbrication of space, the “sacred” and sacralization. Consideration is given briefly to the application of a spatial approach, its strengths and weaknesses

Visualising Discourse Coherence in Non-Linear Documents

To produce coherent linear documents, Natural Language Generation systems have traditionally exploited the structuring role of textual discourse markers such as relational and referential phrases. These coherence markers of the traditional notion of text, however, do not work in non-linear documents: a new set of graphical devices is needed together with formation rules to govern their usage, supported by sound theoretical frameworks. If in linear documents graphical devices such as layout and formatting complement textual devices in the expression of discourse coherence, in non-linear documents they play a more important role. In this paper, we present our theoretical and empirical work in progress, which explores new possibilities for expressing coherence in the generation of hypertext documents