A creative approach to educational computing : Key incidents in a typical life cycle

This auto-ethnographical narrative traces the history of an educational computing professional. Christina Preston describes her experience of computers began in the 1950s as her father was a computer professional. After graduating, she developed her skills as a journalist and short story writer for women’s magazines at the same time as teaching English, Drama and Media studies in London secondary school. Her late introduction to computers through her own children was typical of UK teachers in the early nineteen eighties who suddenly found that they were expected to train in Information Technology and to teach the subject as part of the curriculum although this had not been included in their teacher training. Christina Preston is now the chair of the international industrial and government funded MirandaNet Fellowship, which is a community of practice for teachers, advisors, teacher educators, software designers and ICT policy makers. In this ethnographical study she uses her women’s magazine writing skills to recreate her own experiences in a way that will help advisers and teacher educators to understand how the history of many teachers who are middle aged in 2006 has affected their attitude to computers and their willingness to use them in classrooms. Critical incidents include her introduction to mainframes as a child, her own children’s experiences, her first ICT training, the first lesson she give and her authorship of educational software. The unexpected death of her daughter opens her mind to the potential of computers in democratic participation and active citizenship between local, regional and national community.2nd IFIP Conference on the History of Computing and EducationRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Developing Educational Software: a professional tool perspective

The selection, and use of educational software and its impact in schools are still controversial issues. In this paper we present an alternative conceptualisation of educational software based on considering the software as an instrument for teachers’ professional performance. We review previous work in the areas of the design, development and evaluation of educational software and of the process of educational innovation. The review of these four areas converges to demonstrate the need for knowing and considering the context of use of educational software and for understanding users' perspectives about its roles and possibilities and hence supports a consideration a perspective on educational software which sees it as a professional tool for teachers performance of their teaching role

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

A creative approach to educational computing : Key incidents in a typical life cycle

This auto-ethnographical narrative traces the history of an educational computing professional. Christina Preston describes her experience of computers began in the 1950s as her father was a computer professional. After graduating, she developed her skills as a journalist and short story writer for women’s magazines at the same time as teaching English, Drama and Media studies in London secondary school. Her late introduction to computers through her own children was typical of UK teachers in the early nineteen eighties who suddenly found that they were expected to train in Information Technology and to teach the subject as part of the curriculum although this had not been included in their teacher training. Christina Preston is now the chair of the international industrial and government funded MirandaNet Fellowship, which is a community of practice for teachers, advisors, teacher educators, software designers and ICT policy makers. In this ethnographical study she uses her women’s magazine writing skills to recreate her own experiences in a way that will help advisers and teacher educators to understand how the history of many teachers who are middle aged in 2006 has affected their attitude to computers and their willingness to use them in classrooms. Critical incidents include her introduction to mainframes as a child, her own children’s experiences, her first ICT training, the first lesson she give and her authorship of educational software. The unexpected death of her daughter opens her mind to the potential of computers in democratic participation and active citizenship between local, regional and national community.2nd IFIP Conference on the History of Computing and EducationRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Technology to provide educational practitioners with the expertise they need

The book brings together researchers, technologists and educators to explore and show how technology can be designed and used for learning and teaching to best effect

Opening the Black Box of Family-Based Treatments: an artificial intelligence Framework to Examine therapeutic alliance and therapist Empathy

The evidence-based treatment (EBT) movement has primarily focused on core intervention content or treatment fidelity and has largely ignored practitioner skills to manage interpersonal process issues that emerge during treatment, especially with difficult-to-treat adolescents (delinquent, substance-using, medical non-adherence) and those of color. A chief complaint of real world practitioners about manualized treatments is the lack of correspondence between following a manual and managing microsocial interpersonal processes (e.g. negative affect) that arise in treating real world clients. Although family-based EBTs share core similarities (e.g. focus on family interactions, emphasis on practitioner engagement, family involvement), most of these treatments do not have an evidence base regarding common implementation and treatment process problems that practitioners experience in delivering particular models, especially in mid-treatment when demands on families to change their behavior is greatest in treatment - a lack that characterizes the field as a whole. Failure to effectively address common interpersonal processes with difficult-to-treat families likely undermines treatment fidelity and sustained use of EBTs, treatment outcome, and contributes to treatment dropout and treatment nonadherence. Recent advancements in wearables, sensing technologies, multivariate time-series analyses, and machine learning allow scientists to make significant advancements in the study of psychotherapy processes by looking under the skin of the provider-client interpersonal interactions that define therapeutic alliance, empathy, and empathic accuracy, along with the predictive validity of these therapy processes (therapeutic alliance, therapist empathy) to treatment outcome. Moreover, assessment of these processes can be extended to develop procedures for training providers to manage difficult interpersonal processes while maintaining a physiological profile that is consistent with astute skills in psychotherapeutic processes. This paper argues for opening the black box of therapy to advance the science of evidence-based psychotherapy by examining the clinical interior of evidence-based treatments to develop the next generation of audit- and feedback- (i.e., systemic review of professional performance) supervision systems

Reducing loneliness among migrant and ethnic minority people: a participatory evidence synthesis

Background: To date, there has been little research into the causes of, and solutions to, loneliness among migrant and ethnic minority people. Objectives: The objectives were to synthesise available evidence and produce new insights relating to initiatives that aim to address loneliness among these populations, plus the logic, functioning and effects of such initiatives. Data sources: Electronic database searches (MEDLINE, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts and Social Science Citation Index via Web of Science – no date restrictions were applied), grey literature searches, and citation and reference searching were conducted. Data were generated via nine workshops with three consultation panels involving 34 public contributors, and one practitioner workshop involving 50 participants. Review methods: Guided by ‘systems thinking’, a theory-driven synthesis was combined with an effectiveness review to integrate evidence on the nature and causes of loneliness, interventional types and programme theory, and intervention implementation and effectiveness. Results: The theory review indicated that common conceptualisations of ‘loneliness’ can be usefully extended to recognise four proximate determinants when focusing on migrant and ethnic minority populations: positive social ties and interactions, negative social ties and interactions, self-worth, and appraisal of existing ties. A total of 170 interventions were included. A typology of eight interventions was developed. Detailed logic models were developed for three common types of intervention: befriending, shared-identity social support groups and intercultural encounters. The models for the first two types were generally well supported by empirical data; the third was more tentative. Evaluation of intervention processes and outcomes was limited by study content and quality. Evidence from 19 qualitative and six quantitative studies suggested that social support groups have a positive impact on dimensions of loneliness for participants. Evidence from nine qualitative and three quantitative studies suggested that befriending can have positive impacts on loneliness. However, inconsistent achievements of the befriending model meant that some initiatives were ineffective. Few studies on intercultural encounters reported relevant outcomes, although four provided some qualitative evidence and three provided quantitative evidence of improvement. Looking across intervention types, evidence suggests that initiatives targeting the proximate determinants – particularly boosting self-worth – are more effective than those that do not. No evidence was available on the long-term effects of any initiatives. UK intervention (n = 41) and non-intervention (n = 65) studies, together with consultation panel workshop data, contributed to a narrative synthesis of system processes. Interlocking factors operating at individual, family, community, organisational and wider societal levels increase risk of loneliness, and undermine access to, and the impact of, interventions. Racism operates in various ways throughout the system to increase risk of loneliness. Limitations: There was a lack of high-quality quantitative studies, and there were no studies with longer-term follow-up. UK evidence was very limited. Studies addressing upstream determinants operating at the community and societal levels did not link through to individual outcome measures. Some elements of the search approach may mean that relevant literature was overlooked. Conclusions: Theory regarding the causes of loneliness, and functioning of interventions, among migrant and ethnic minority populations was usefully developed. Evidence of positive impact on loneliness was strongest for shared-identity social support groups. Quantitative evidence was inadequate. The UK evidence base was extremely limited. Future work: UK research in this area is desperately needed. Co-production of interventional approaches with migrant and ethnic minority people and evaluation of existing community-based initiatives are priorities

Development of a Mobile Ecogenomic Sensor

Abstract-Modern ocean microbial research utilizes advanced molecular analytical techniques, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), DNA and protein probe arrays, and nucleic acid sequencing (etc.). Applying or at least initiating these techniques at the point and time of sample collection can enhance their effectiveness. To that end, in-situ sample processing and real-time molecular detection schemes have been implemented using deployable autonomous systems that can be operated in diverse ocean environments from shallow coastal waters to the deep sea. Such devices have been termed "ecogenomic sensors." The size of these instruments currently requires that they be moored in a fixed location or passively mobile, drifting at fixed depth and observing microbial communities in a moving frame of reference with ocean currents. With the highly dynamic motion of open water and microbial life, the next frontier of ocean microbial research requires the improved capability of an actively mobile asset. A mobile ecogenomic sensor encompasses a fully maneuverable vehicle with weeks of persistence, environmental data analysis, detection of physical and biological features, autonomous sampling and in situ analysis, and near-real-time data reporting. This system is now being developed by integrating three components: a compact molecular analytical instrument (the 3rd generation Environmental Sample Processor), a long-range autonomous underwater vehicle, and software algorithms for AUV-based feature detection and sampling. A summary of the system and its initial application is presented. Index Terms-Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), ecogenomic sensor, harmful algae bloom, in situ instrumentation, microbe, PCR, sample collection