The Impact of High Stakes Testing on School Leadership

As I observed and recorded a classroom teacher at the beginning of the spring semester, I remembered how much I enjoyed working with teachers to help them grow and become master teachers. While reflecting on this master teacher\u27s lesson, I pondered how drastically things have changed since I became a school administrator in 2001. I was amazed when the advanced academics teacher mentioned the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) need a source for ST AAR on a number of occasions throughout her lesson. The intent of her comments was to bring awareness to these young learners about the upcoming tests

E-Learning as a Cultural Artifact. An empirical study of Iranian Virtual Institutions

Choice, design and use of technology in education settings can be dependent on culturally embedded norms, i.e., assumptions about the nature of knowledge, ways of communications, kinds of teaching and learning strategies\ud and methods, etc. By discussing the culturally inscribed norms in this article, it is argued that on the design and use of e-learning in the perspective of globalization it is critically important to recognize, understand and thus take into account the cultural situatedness. Drawing on the literature, we present a model of culturalpedagogical paradigms in higher education in general and e-learning in particular. We use this model to explore cultural-pedagogical orientations in Iranian Virtual Institutions as an instance of a developing country. This is done in a comparative perspective, looking for similarities of the teacher’s and learner’s points of view

Concept mapping and other formalisms as mindtools for representing knowledge

We seek to provide an alternative theoretical perspective on concept mapping (a formalism for representing structural knowledge) to that provided by Ray McAleese in this issue of ALT-J (auto-monitoring). We begin with an overview of concept maps as a means of describing a learner's knowledge constructs, and then discuss a broader class of tools, Mindtools, of which concept maps are a member. We proceed by defining Mindtools as formalisms for representing knowledge, and further elaborate on concept maps as a formalism for representing a particular kind of knowledge: structural knowledge. We then address McAleese's use of the term auto-monitoring and some of the steps in his model of concept maps. Finally, we describe some limitations of concept mapping as a formalism and as a cognitive learning strategy

An evaluation of constructivism for learners with ADHD: Development of a constructivist pedagogy for special needs

We examine whether constructivist eLearning tools can be used to help learners cope with special educational needs, such as difficulties with attention and concentration. Preliminary work is reported here, in which we seek to determine the reasons why a constructivist approach is difficult for learners with ADHD. This work is intended to lead to recommendations of how learners with ADHD could benefit from constructivist eLearning systems, e.g. through the managed use of multimedia technology. A preliminary model has been developed that illustrates the areas in which constructivist pedagogies need to address the limitations of ADHD learners. Further work will expand this model and eventually test it in a real environment (e.g. in a school with ADHD learners). The outcome will encourage a reconsideration of existing multimedia theories as they relate to learners with special needs, and provide new directions in order to support learners with ADHD

The Role of Technology in Music Education: a Survey of Computer Usage in Teaching Music in Colleges of Education in The Volta Region, Ghana

The study sought to find out the role of computer technology in music education in Colleges of Education in the Volta Region of Ghana. It aimed at surveying the use of computer technology for teaching music and exploring the instructional prospects for computer technology usage in music in Colleges of Education. The study employed Rogers’ Diffusion Innovation theory and descriptive survey research method. Data was collected from the respondents using questionnaire, interview, and observation. The study revealed that even though about 90% of the music tutors have good academic qualification and over five years teaching experience, lack of competence in handling computer technology in teaching music among some music tutors and incoherent ICT initiatives hindered proper application of computer technology in the field of music education. It is however envisaged that increasing access and coherent computer technology initiatives will be paramount for the teaching of music in the Colleges of Education

An Assessment of Education and Training Needs for Bibliographic Instruction Librarians

A study was conducted in 1986 by the Education and Library Use Committee of the Wisconsin Association of Academic Librarians to determine the educational backgrounds and characteristics of bibliographic instruction (BI) librarians in Wisconsin. The results of the survey indicated that the education for BI has been insufficient and that there is a very real need for additional and/or supplemental education in this area. The methods most preferred for educational enhancement are self-study and workshops. A recommendation was made for one approach to resolving the dilemma: offering a series of courses, in the form of one- to three-day seminars, through the University of Wisconsin Certificate of Professional Development Program. This organized program of study now offers a bibliographic instruction track, consisting of four core courses, which is to be supplemented with additional electives. Until such time as library instruction is standard fare and fully integrated into our library school offerings, it is the hope that this approach may serve as a model for one method of accommodating the educational needs of instruction librarians

Adoption of technology in teaching of language: A critical assessment of Punjabi(mother tongue)

Mother-tongue plays a paramount role in child’s development. It is the heart and soul of child's education. It is the foundation on which the personality of the child is built. The study of mother- tongue is of dire necessity on psychological, intellectual, emotional and cultural grounds. It is our duty to adopt and adapt mother-tongue as medium of all non-linguistic subjects, thereby making it easy and interesting for the child to learn these subjects. Teachers rarely use teaching technology like multimedia, instructional technology etc. They adopt lecture cum text book method-a boring procedure. Students are made to mug up even stories and poems. Students are passive partners in the learning process. No attempt is made to arouse their creativeness or encourage their self-expression so what they learn is poor learning. This calls for drastic changes. Language learning is a part of education in the wider sense. One of the important causes for the deterioration of the standard of mother-tongue (Punjabi) in Punjab is inadequate provision of teaching aids. In the present study, an attempt has been made to arrive at some precise conclusions.Punjabi,mother tongue, technology

Personalised trails and learner profiling within e-learning environments

This deliverable focuses on personalisation and personalised trails. We begin by introducing and defining the concepts of personalisation and personalised trails. Personalisation requires that a user profile be stored, and so we assess currently available standard profile schemas and discuss the requirements for a profile to support personalised learning. We then review techniques for providing personalisation and some systems that implement these techniques, and discuss some of the issues around evaluating personalisation systems. We look especially at the use of learning and cognitive styles to support personalised learning, and also consider personalisation in the field of mobile learning, which has a slightly different take on the subject, and in commercially available systems, where personalisation support is found to currently be only at quite a low level. We conclude with a summary of the lessons to be learned from our review of personalisation and personalised trails