Book reviews

Reviews of the following four books: Literacy teacher educators: preparing teachers for a changing world by Clare Kosnik, Jennifer Rowsell, Peter Williamson, Rob Simon and Clive Beck (eds.). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2013, ISBN: 978-9-462-09198-6. Achieving your Masters in Teaching and Learning by Mary McAteer, Fiona Hallett, Lisa Murtagh and Gavin Turnbull. Exeter: Learning Matters, 2010, ISBN 978-1-844-45214-9. Social pedagogy: heart and head by P. Stephens. Bremen, Germany: EHV, 2013, ISBN: 978-3-86741-830-0. Learning to teach using ICT in the secondary school: A companion to school experience, 3rd edition by Marilyn Leask and Norbert Pachler (eds.). Abingdon: Routledge, 2013, ISBN 978-0-415-51652-5

Learning to Teach Using ICT in the Secondary School. A Companion to School Experience

First published in 1999, this is the latest edition of a textbook in the wide ranging “companion to school experience” in Routledge’s Learning to Teach Subjects in the Secondary School Series. This is designed for teachers in training or involved in developing their technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) in a UK context. The vast majority of contributions are from experts with a teaching and research background at senior university level. A number of chapters are jointly constructed with senior teachers and educational and learning experts. This diversity, together with the relevant case studies that inform each chapter, makes it an appealing and accessible text for both novice and more experienced readers

Gaining insight into educators' understanding of digital technologies: three models for the analysis of multi-dimensional concept maps

The thesis explores the hypothesis that an analysis of a Multi-dimensional Concept Map (MDCM)\ud provides educators and researchers with different and possibly richer and broader insights into\ud understanding of an issue — in this case that of digital technologies in education - than written\ud responses alone. 'Multi-dimensionality' refers to the characteristics of multimodal hand-drawn or\ud digitally produced concept maps, namely multi-layering and (remote) multi-authoring.\ud Forty-eight pairs of concept maps were collected, in three case studies based in England and South\ud Africa, all focusing on gaining insights into educators' understanding of the use of digital\ud technologies in teaching and learning. The three groups of educators were undertaking one-year\ud courses about using computers in classrooms, underpinned by three different perspectives on\ud learning. information transmission, constructivism and social interaction.\ud This study of pre- and post-course concept maps aims to answer the Research Question:\ud How does multimodal concept mapping provide insights into\ud educators' understanding about digital technologies?\ud Both benefits and challenges were evident in the use of the three different methods of analysis that\ud were used. Given the relatively low numbers, a qualitative analysis of scores is revealing whereas a\ud quantitative analysis is unreliable; 'words', where they are used, provide a useful insight; a more\ud encompassing semiotic analysis revealed some underlying 'positions' that surprised even the map\ud makers themselves. A key methodological finding was that in social interaction contexts, concept\ud maps are most valuable used as scaffolds for conversations between participants within\ud `communities of practice' to promote shared insights into professional understanding of digital\ud technologies.\ud The findings were influenced by the four different roles assumed by the researcher: as an objective\ud judge of data; as a community mentor; as an active community member; and as a researcher and\ud community member inviting other members of that community to be co-researchers. The\ud researcher learnt, as the project progressed, that the danger of becoming too close to the 'subjects'\ud to be objective about the data was outweighed by the richness of the insights when the map makers\ud engaged with the researcher and with trusted colleagues in analyzing the meaning of their pairs of\ud concept maps

The end of theory? : a comparative study of the decline of educational theory and professional knowledge in modern foreign languages teacher training in England and France

ABSTRACT Educational theory is no longer a subject of debate in Initial Teacher Training (ITT). The literature that exists shows that the need for theory is contested and the general mood is anti-theoretical. The confused emphasis on 'reflective practice' has led to a situation where 'practice' is re-described as 'theory". This study of ITT modern foreign languages (mfl) courses confirms that, in mfl, where theoretical concerns were once strong, theory, both in terms of the study of education and the applied theory of mfl has been marginalised. This study of higher education (HE) teacher trainers' and student teachers' views of theory is based on extensive interview data and analysis of the content of three programmes: the Post Graduate Certificate in Education: the PGCE/Martrise frangais langue etrangere, and the Certificat d'Aptitude au Professorat de I'Enseignement Secondaire. The findings of the study reflect the contemporary mood. Teacher trainers expressed ambivalent attitudes to theory and thought that it is enough for theory to be implicit in what is taught on their courses. Their notion of 'theory' is, in fact, 'principled guidance for practice'. Both student teachers and teacher trainers expressed an anti-theoretical attitude through an overriding concern for the development of the practical classroom skills related to meeting QTS standards. Student teachers expected mainly practical guidance for teaching from their HE courses. Likewise, their reading was limited to obtaining ideas and practical guidance for teaching and practiceorientated course assignments. However, one course, the PGCE/Martrise fIe shows that student teachers benefit from and value theory and that this makes a perceptible difference to the quality of their ITT experience. The conclusion of this study is that the pessimistic view of ITT implied by the prevailing anti-theoretical mood and a sense that practice is developed through practice can be challenged both programmatically and individually

Architects of the self: Social scientists and the construction of the individual in postwar America.

American social science experienced unprecedented institutional growth during and after the Second World War due in part to the increased need for techniques in human resource management. As a result, scientific representations of the individual underwent reassessment and modification. This dissertation examines the public careers of two prominent social scientists during the postwar period and their contrasting visions of the individual as an efficient automaton and a multidimensional whole. The psychologist Burrhus Frederic (B. F.) Skinner and the cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead each crafted unique visions of humanity and applied them to critiques of postwar American culture. My research on Mead and Skinner as public intellectuals and as representatives of American culture has three objectives. The first is to explore their scientific depictions of self and society in the context of burgeoning technocracy in twentieth century America. In crafting and developing their theories of the self and of society, Mead and Skinner were both influenced by the social reform movements of the progressive era, the Interwar period, and the 1960s social protest movements. While Skinner's vision of future society entailed a mechanized self and a scientific meritocracy, Mead promoted interdisciplinary social science in service of American democracy and human dignity. The second objective is to examine the popularization of Skinnerian and Meadian science, technology, and social ideology in postwar American culture. My research explores some of the specific ways in which mechanistic and holistic visions of the self and society were appropriated and critiqued by Americans. Skinner's vision of the programmable self had a lasting influence on education and training programs in the United States and abroad. Mead's holistic vision of the self became inextricably linked to the politics of feminism and the youth counterculture in the 1960s. The third objective is to examine how conflicting scientific images of human nature in the postwar decades reflect the modern American tension between the desire for human freedom on the one hand, and systems of social control on the other. Americans have used both of these images of the self selectively to explore individual identity and to refine systems of societal management

Dinâmicas de MOODLiz@ção num agrupamento de escolas de Matosinhos: o caso do agrupamento vertical de escolas de Leça da Palmeira/Santa Cruz do Bispo

Doutoramento em Multimédia em EducaçãoO advento da Internet e da Web, na década de 1990, a par da introdução e desenvolvimento das novas TIC e, por consequência, a emergência da Sociedade da Informação e do Conhecimento, implicaram uma profunda alteração na forma de análise dos processos de ensino-aprendizagem, já não apenas segundo um prisma cognitivista, mas, agora, também social, isto é, segundo a(s) perspetiva(s) construtivista(s). Simultaneamente, torna-se imperativo que, para que possam transformar-se em futuros trabalhadores de sucesso, isto é, trabalhadores de conhecimento (Gates, 1999), os sujeitos aprendentes passem a ser efetivamente educados/preparados para a Sociedade da Informação e do Conhecimento e, tanto quanto possível, através da educação/formação ao longo da vida (Moore e Thompson, 1997; Chute, Thompson e Hancock, 1999). Todavia, de acordo com Jorge Reis Lima e Zélia Capitão, não se deve considerar esta mudança de paradigma como uma revolução mas, antes, uma evolução, ou, mais concretamente ainda, uma “conciliação de perspectivas cognitivas e sociais” (Reis Lima e Capitão, 2003:53). Assim, às instituições de ensino/formação cumprirá a tarefa de preparar os alunos para as novas competências da era digital, promovendo “a aprendizagem dos pilares do conhecimento que sustentarão a sua aprendizagem ao longo da vida” (Reis Lima e Capitão, Ibidem:54), isto é, “aprender a conhecer”, “aprender a fazer”, “aprender a viver em comum”, e “aprender a ser” (Equipa de Missão para a Sociedade da Informação, 1997:39; negritos e sublinhados no original). Para outros, a Internet, ao afirmar-se como uma tecnologia ubíqua, cada vez mais acessível, e de elevado potencial, “vem revolucionando a gestão da informação, o funcionamento do mercado de capitais, as cadeias e redes de valor, o comércio mundial, a relação entre governos e cidadãos, os modos de trabalhar e de comunicar, o entretenimento, o contacto intercultural, os estilos de vida, as noções de tempo e de distância. A grande interrogação actual reside em saber se a Internet poderá também provocar alterações fundamentais nos modos de aprender e de ensinar” (Carneiro, 2002:17-18; destaques no original). Trata-se, portanto, como argumenta Armando Rocha Trindade (2004:10), de reconhecer que “Os requisitos obrigatórios para a eficácia da aprendizagem a ser assim assegurada são: a prévia disponibilidade de materiais educativos ou de formação de alta qualidade pedagógica e didáctica, tanto quanto possível auto-suficientes em termos de conteúdos teóricos e aplicados, bem como a previsão de mecanismos capazes de assegurar, permanentemente, um mínimo de interactividade entre docentes e aprendentes, sempre que quaisquer dificuldades destes possam manifestarse”. Esta questão é também equacionada pelo Eng.º Arnaldo Santos, da PT Inovação, quando considera que, à semelhança da “maioria dos países, a formação a distância em ambientes Internet e Intranet, vulgo e-Learning, apresenta-se como uma alternativa pedagógica em franca expansão. Portugal está a despertar para esta nova realidade. São várias as instituições nacionais do sector público e privado que utilizam o e-Learning como ferramenta ou meio para formar as suas pessoas” (Santos, 2002:26). Fernando Ramos acrescenta também que os sistemas de educação/formação que contemplam componentes não presenciais, “isto é que potenciam a flexibilidade espacial, têm vindo a recorrer às mais variadas tecnologias de comunicação para permitir a interacção entre os intervenientes, nomeadamente entre os professores e os estudantes. Um pouco por todo o mundo, e também em Portugal, se têm implantado sistemas (habitualmente designados como sistemas de ensino a distância), recorrendo às mais diversas tecnologias de telecomunicações, de que os sistemas de educação através de televisão ou os sistemas de tutoria por rádio ou telefone são exemplos bem conhecidos” (Ramos, 2002b:138-139). Ora, o nosso estudo entronca precisamente na análise de um sistema ou plataforma tecnológica de gestão de aprendizagens (Learning Management System - LMS), o MOODLE, procurando-se, deste modo, dar resposta ao reconhecimento de que “urge investigar sobre a utilização real e pedagógica da plataforma” (Carvalho, 2007:27). Por outro lado, não descurando o rol de interrogações de outros investigadores em torno da utilização do MOODLE, nem enveredando pelas visões mais céticas que inclusive pressagiam a sua “morte” (Fernandes, 2008b:134), também nós nos questionamos se esta ferramenta nem sequer vai conseguir transpor “a fase de final de entusiasmo, e tornar-se uma ferramenta de minorias e de usos ocasionais?” (Fernandes, Op. cit.:133).The beginning of Internet and of the Web, in the nineties, along with the introduction and development of new ICT and, as a consequence, the emergence of the Information and Knowledge Society, implied a profound change in the ways o of the teaching and learning processes, not any longer according to a single cognitivist prism, but, now, also social, i.e., according to the constructivist perspective(s). Simultaneously it becomes imperative that , so as to become future success workers, that is, knowledge workers (Gates, 1999), learners have to be effectively educated/prepared for the Information and Knowledge Society and, as much as possible, through lifelong education/training (Moore e Thompson, 1997; Chute, Thompson e Hancock, 1999). However, according to Jorge Reis Lima and Zélia Capitão, one cannot consider this change of paradigm as a revolution but rather as an evolution, or, more precisely yet, a “conciliation of cognitive and social perspectives” (Reis Lima and Capitão, 2003:53). Therefore, it is up to the teaching/training institutions to fulfil the task of preparing students for the new competences of the digital era, promoting “the learning of the principles of knowledge that will sustain the learning throughout life” (Reis Lima and Capitão, Ibidem:54), that is, “learning to know”, “learning to do”, “learning to live in common”, and “Learning to be” (Equipa de Missão para a Sociedade da Informação, 1997:39; bold and underlines in the original). For other, the Internet, affirming itself as an ubiquitous technology, more and more accessible and of high potential, “has been revolutionising the management of information, the functioning of the market of capitals, the chains and networks of value, the world commerce, the relationships between governments and citizens, the modes of working and of communicating, entertainment, the intercultural contact, life styles, the notions of time and distance. The great question at present resides in knowing whether the Internet can provoke fundamental changes in the ways of learning and teaching” (Carneiro, 2002:17-18; highlights in the original). We face, therefore, as Armando Rocha Trindade (2004:10) argues, the recognition that “The compulsory requisites for effective learning to be thus assured are: prior availability of educational or training materials of high pedagogical and didactic quality, as far as possible self sufficient in terms of theoretical and applied content, as well as the provision of mechanisms capable of assuring, permanently, a minimum of interactivity between teachers and learners, whenever any difficulty is manifested”. This issue is also equated by Engineer Arnaldo Santos, from PT Inovação, when he considers that, as it happens in the “majority of countries, distance education in Internet and Intranet environments, generally labelled e-Learning, is presented as a pedagogical alternative in overt expansion. Portugal is awakening for this new reality. There are various national public and private sector institutions that use e-Learning as a tool or means to train their people” (Santos, 2002:26). Fernando Ramos also adds that the systems of education/training that contemplate non face-to-face components “that is, that potentiate spatial flexibility, have been resorting to the most varied technologies of communication to allow interaction amongst participants, namely between teachers and students. A little throughout the world, and also in Portugal, have implanted systems (habitually known as distance learning systems), resorting the most diverse telecommunications technologies, of which the systems of education by TV or the tutoring systems by radio or telephone are well known examples” (Ramos, 2002b:138-139). Now, our study is rooted precisely on the analysis of a system or technological platform for the management of learning (Learning Management System - LMS), MOODLE, seeking, therefore, to find answers for the recognition that “it is urgent to study the real and pedagogical use of the platform” (Carvalho, 2007:27). On the other hand, not setting aside the array of questions from other researchers on the use of MOODLE, nor taking for granted the more sceptical views that include the premonition of its “death” (Fernandes, 2008b:134), we also question whether this tool will be able to overcome “the final phase of enthusiasm, and become a tool of the minorities and of occasional use” (Fernandes, Op. cit.:133)