Classroom-based use of two educational technologies: A sociocultural perspective

This paper describes the fit between educational technologies and teacher views and pedagogies in light of two recently completed research projects. These studies focused on observed pedagogies associated with the classroom-based use of two learning technologies: digital video (student-generated), and interactive whiteboards. The paper considers the use of these two technologies from a sociocultural perspective, recognizing that the nature of tools and the nature of societal use of these tools are mutually dependent. Questions are raised about how the inherent nature of different technologies might shape different learning experiences and outcomes and whether certain technologies fit better with some pedagogical approaches than others

Investigating Prospective Teachers as Learning Design Authors

This chapter reports on findings from a recent project situated in the area of preservice teacher education. The project investigated prospective teachers authoring and using their own contextualised learning designs. The chapter describes how 17 secondary and primary preservice teachers adapted existing, well-researched learning strategies to inform the design of their own specific online learning tasks and how they implemented these tasks in the context of their teaching practicum. The prospective teachers used an online learning design authoring system as a tool and flexible `test-bed for their learning designs and implementation. An account of the ways in which the prospective teachers developed sophisticated understandings of their chosen learning strategy and developed fresh insights into online and face-toface teaching issues is present

Education, opportunities and challenges for generation OurSpace: Taming the beast

The paper discusses the opportunities and challenges presented for current notions of schooling by adolescent online cultures. Young people are increasingly active Web 2.0 users and their interactions through these technologies are altering their social identities, styles of learning, and exchanges with others around the world. The paper argues for the need for more research to investigate this phenomenon through the use of virtual ethnography and identifies the ethical challenges that lie therein. It raises questions for school education and presents an argument for the need to study the area in culturally sensitive ways that privilege adolescents voices

Web 2.0 in the classroom? Dilemmas and opportunities inherent in adolescent web 2.0 engagement.

The paper discusses the implications of the current phenomenon of adolescent engagement in digital spaces. Young people are increasingly active Web 2.0 users, and their interactions through these technologies are altering their social identities, styles of learning, and exchanges with others around the world. The paper argues for more research to investigate this phenomenon through the use of virtual ethnography and identifies the ethical challenges that lie therein. It raises questions for school education and presents an argument for studying the area in culturally sensitive ways that privilege adolescents voices

An emerging learning design for student-generated 'iVideos'

This paper describes an emerging learning design for a popular genre of learner-generated video projects: Ideas Videos or iVideos. These advocacy-style videos are short, two-minute, digital videos designed âto evoke powerful experiences about educative ideasâ (Wong, Mishra, Koehler & Siebenthal, 2007, p1). We draw on a recent study in teacher education to present a structured description of a pedagogical approach to iVideo filmmaking. A visual learning design representation (Agostinho, Harper, Oliver, Hedberg & Wills, 2008) and a LAMS-based generic learning design template (Cameron, 2008) form part of this description

Fully automated grey and white matter segmentation of the cervical cord in vivo

We propose and validate a new fully automated spinal cord (SC) segmentation technique that incorporates two different multi-atlas segmentation propagation and fusion techniques: Optimized PatchMatch Label fusion (OPAL) and Similarity and Truth Estimation for Propagated Segmentations (STEPS). We collaboratively join the advantages of each method to obtain the most accurate SC segmentation. The new method reaches the inter-rater variability, providing automatic segmentations equivalents to inter-rater segmentations in terms of DSC 0.97 for whole cord for any subject

Fully automated grey and white matter spinal cord segmentation

Axonal loss in the spinal cord is one of the main contributing factors to irreversible clinical disability in multiple sclerosis (MS). In vivo axonal loss can be assessed indirectly by estimating a reduction in the cervical cross-sectional area (CSA) of the spinal cord over time, which is indicative of spinal cord atrophy, and such a measure may be obtained by means of image segmentation using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In this work, we propose a new fully automated spinal cord segmentation technique that incorporates two different multi-atlas segmentation propagation and fusion techniques: The Optimized PatchMatch Label fusion (OPAL) algorithm for localising and approximately segmenting the spinal cord, and the Similarity and Truth Estimation for Propagated Segmentations (STEPS) algorithm for segmenting white and grey matter simultaneously. In a retrospective analysis of MRI data, the proposed method facilitated CSA measurements with accuracy equivalent to the inter-rater variability, with a Dice score (DSC) of 0.967 at C2/C3 level. The segmentation performance for grey matter at C2/C3 level was close to inter-rater variability, reaching an accuracy (DSC) of 0.826 for healthy subjects and 0.835 people with clinically isolated syndrome MS

Quality of life among symptomatic compared to PSA-detected prostate cancer survivors - results from a UK wide patient-reported outcomes study

Background: Quality of life among prostate cancer survivors varies by socio-demographic factors and treatment type received; however, less in known about differences in functional outcomes by method of presentation. We investigate differences in reported urinary, bowel, sexual and hormone-related problems between symptomatic and PSA-detected prostate cancer survivors. Methods: A UK wide cross-sectional postal survey of prostate cancer survivors conducted 18-42 months post-diagnosis. Questions were included on presentation method and treatment. Functional outcome was determined using the EPIC-26 questionnaire. Reported outcomes were compared for symptomatic and PSA-detected survivors using ANOVA and multivariable log-linear regression. Results: Thirty-five thousand eight hundred twenty-three men responded (response rate: 60.8%). Of these, 31.3% reported presenting via PSA test and 59.7% symptomatically. In multivariable analysis, symptomatic men reported more difficulty with urinary incontinence (Adjusted mean ratio (AMR): 0.96, 95% CI: 0.96-0.97), urinary irritation (AMR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.95-0.96), bowel function (AMR: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.97-0.98), sexual function (AMR: 0.90, 95% CI: 0.88-0.92), and vitality/hormonal function (AMR: 0.96, 95% CI: 0.96-0.96) than PSA-detected men. Differences were consistent across respondents of differing age, stage, Gleason score and treatment type. Conclusion: Prostate cancer survivors presenting symptomatically report poorer functional outcomes than PSA-detected survivors. Differences were not explained by socio-demographic or clinical factors. Clinicians should be aware that men presenting with symptoms are more likely to report functional difficulties after prostate cancer treatment and may need additional aftercare if these difficulties persist. Method of presentation should be considered as a covariate in patient-reported outcome studies of prostate cancer

Adrenergic Alpha-1 Pathway Is Associated with Hypertension among Nigerians in a Pathway-focused Analysis

The pathway-focused association approach offers a hypothesis driven alternative to the agnostic genome-wide association study. Here we apply the pathway-focused approach to an association study of hypertension, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in 1614 Nigerians with genome-wide data.Testing of 28 pathways with biological relevance to hypertension, selected a priori, containing a total of 101 unique genes and 4,349 unique single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) showed an association for the adrenergic alpha 1 (ADRA1) receptor pathway with hypertension (p<0.0009) and diastolic blood pressure (p<0.0007). Within the ADRA1 pathway, the genes PNMT (hypertension P(gene)<0.004, DBP P(gene)<0.004, and SBP P(gene)<0.009, and ADRA1B (hypertension P(gene)<0.005, DBP P(gene)<0.02, and SBP P(gene)<0.02) displayed the strongest associations. Neither ADRA1B nor PNMT could be the sole mediator of the observed pathway association as the ADRA1 pathway remained significant after removing ADRA1B, and other pathways involving PNMT did not reach pathway significance.We conclude that multiple variants in several genes in the ADRA1 pathway led to associations with hypertension and DBP. SNPs in ADRA1B and PNMT have not previously been linked to hypertension in a genome-wide association study, but both genes have shown associations with hypertension through linkage or model organism studies. The identification of moderately significant (10(-2)>p>10(-5)) SNPs offers a novel method for detecting the "missing heritability" of hypertension. These findings warrant further studies in similar and other populations to assess the generalizability of our results, and illustrate the potential of the pathway-focused approach to investigate genetic variation in hypertension