Using Learning Activity Management Systems (LAMS) with pre-service secondary teachers: An authentic task.

Within an authentic learning framework, second year pre-service teachers were introduced to LAMS (the Learning Activity Management System) as part of one of the information and communication technology (ICT) units they are required to complete as part of their course. Using case study methodology, the students returned some interesting results: LAMS helped the students plan all aspects of their lesson and allowed them to preview their lesson from the learner’s perspective. Additionally, the software provided a visual overview of the lesson which assisted them to identify the learning styles that were addressed with the activities employed. Students also saw the benefit in the production of standardised templates of activities that could easily be modified for future re-use

Introducing learning design and LAMS to pre-service teachers: When is the best time to do this?

Pre-service education students are exposed to a variety of technology while studying at university. This generally occurs as part of the course they study, while on practicum and informally, both at home and socially. This paper focuses on the experiences of students studying an educational technology course at one Australian university in Sydney and using data from two different studies and presents a case for determining the best time that pre-service education students are exposed to learning design and the Learning Activity Management System (LAMS). The data suggests that students may be more able to integrate skills learnt with content knowledge in later years at university

Alla ricerca... dei rifiuti interrati

Alcune metodologie geofisiche permettono di individuare rifiuti interrati illegalmente nel sottosuolo e di studiare alcune forme di inquinamento sotterraneo. Tali tecniche sono state sviluppate presso il Laboratorio di Geofisica Ambientale dell’Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia e vengono applicate su richiesta dei Carabinieri per la Tutela dell’Ambiente e del Corpo Forestale dello Stato. I rifiuti tossici interrati illegalmente nel sottosuolo sono molto pericolosi perché inquinano il terreno e le falde acquifere; inoltre queste sostanze tossiche possono entrare nella catena alimentare e nuocere alla salute umana

Learning designs: A pre-service teacher perspective

Novice teachers are often looking for good learning designs on which to model their own teaching and learning environments. Additionally, they need the opportunity to discuss and reflect on their original designs and the designs of others to gain confidence and skills in teaching (Cameron, 2006; Kearney, 2007). However, as the research this paper describes found, our pre-service teachers are not been given this opportunity in their practicum schools. Encouraging these pre-service teachers to share and discuss their learning designs will facilitate these inexperienced teachers’ evaluation of the efficiencies, value and limitations of the individual learning designs and their experience in using them. If given this opportunity, these teachers would then take these insights with them into their professional lives

Gender mainstreaming in action? The Scottish Structural and Investment Funding Program 2014-2020

Since its inception, the European Union (EU) has been at the forefront of the promotion of gender equality. A key feature of the EUs approach to gender equality was the development and promotion of Gender Mainstreaming (GM) as an innovative approach to achieving gender equality. GM has been used as an approach to integrate gender into programme formulation, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation across the EU policy programmes, including the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), which plays a key role for both the inclusion and promotion of the contributions of women in economic development. GM is a well-researched gender equality strategy, however there is little consensus on its effectiveness and its ability to transform the policy paradigm and attempts to operationalise GM have been limited. Despite a large body of academic literature, there is limited recent research which links GM and the ESIF, specifically at a local level. Therefore, this article aims to do that by considering whether GM as part of regional development policy can be utilised as a tool for delivering transformative changes. Scotland’s approach to GM within the ESIF is analysed utilising process tracing and semi-structured interviews with ESIF stakeholders in Scotland. Key findings are outlined for the 2014-2020 funding period at the national and project level.Desde su inicio, la Unión Europea (UE) ha estado a la vanguardia de la promoción de la igualdad de género. Una característica clave del enfoque de la UE sobre la igualdad de género fue el desarrollo y la promoción de la integración de la Perspectiva de Género (PG) como un enfoque innovador para lograr la igualdad de género. La PG se ha utilizado como un enfoque para integrar el género en la formulación, diseño, implementación, monitoreo y evaluación de programas de la agenda política de la UE, incluidos los Fondos Estructurales y de Inversión Europeos (FEIE) que desempeñan un papel clave tanto para la inclusión como para promover las contribuciones de mujeres en el desarrollo económico. La PG es una estrategia de igualdad de género ampliamente investigada, sin embargo, hay poco consenso sobre su efectividad y su capacidad para transformar el paradigma de decisiones políticas. Además, los intentos de operacionalizar la PG han sido limitados. A pesar de una gran cantidad de literatura académica, existe una limitación de investigaciones recientes que vinculan la PG y FEIE, específicamente a nivel local. Por lo tanto, este artículo tiene como objetivo analizar si la PG integrada en la política de desarrollo regional se puede utilizar como una herramienta para generar cambios transformadores. La experiencia en Escocia sobre los GM dentro del FEIE se analiza utilizando el seguimiento del proceso y entrevistas semiestructuradas con las partes interesadas del FEIE en Escocia. Los resultados clave se describen para el período de financiación 2014-2020 a nivel nacional y de proyecto

Learning design research in action

The new field of Learning Design is gaining traction in higher education, aiming to address a number of challenges in technology enhanced learning and teaching. This symposium seeks to build on the national Learning Design Research strengths and help highlight Australian Learning Design theory and practice expertise. It also aims to further consolidate the Australian and international Learning Design community. The content of this submission directly addresses the following topics: An introduction of the Learning Design Framework, Generic Templates, Teacher Design Thinking in Higher Education, Connecting Connectivism and Learning Design, and Translating Learning Outcomes into Learning Designs. The symposium will be divided into five topic-based presentations. The topic discussions will be led by members of the Australian Learning Design network. Discussion will be open and audience interaction will be encouraged

Governance in the age of social machines: the web observatory

The World Wide Web has provided unprecedented access to information; as humans and machines increasingly interact with it they provide more and more data. The challenge is how to analyse and interpret this data within the context that it was created, and to present it in a way that both researchers and practitioners can more easily make sense of. The first step is to have access to open and interoperable data sets, which Governments around the world are increasingly subscribing to. But having ‘open’ data is just the beginning and does not necessarily lead to better decision making or policy development. This is because data do not provide the answers – they need to be analysed, interpreted and understood within the context of their creation, and the business imperative of the organisation using them. The major corporate entities, such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and Facebook, have the capabilities to do this, but are driven by their own commercial imperatives, and their data are largely siloed and held within ‘walled gardens’ of information. All too often governments and non-profit groups lack these capabilities, and are driven by very different mandates. In addition they have far more complex community relationships, and must abide by regulatory constraints which dictate how they can use the data they hold. As such they struggle to maximise the value of this emerging ‘digital currency’ and are therefore largely beholden to commercial vendors. What has emerged is a public-private data ecosystem that has huge policy implications (including the twin challenges of privacy and security). Many within the public sector lack the skills to address these challenges because they lack the literacy required within the digital context. This project seeks to address some of these problems by bringing together a safe and secure Australian-based data platform (facilitating the sharing of data, analytics and visualisation) with policy analysis and governance expertise in order to create a collaborative working model of a ‘Government Web Observatory’. This neutral space, hosted by an Australian university, can serve as a powerful complement to existing Open Data initiatives in Australia, and enable research and education to combine to support the development of a more digitally literate public service. The project aims to explore where, and in which contexts, people, things, data and the Internet meet and result in evolving observable phenomena which can inform better government policy development and service delivery.&nbsp

Content, Social, and Metacognitive Statements: An Empirical Study Comparing Human-Human and Human-Computer Tutorial Dialogue

We present a study which compares human-human computer-mediated tutoring with two computer tutoring systems based on the same materials but differing in the type of feedback they provide. Our results show that there are significant differences in interaction style between human-human and human-computer tutoring, as well as between the two computer tutors, and that different dialogue characteristics predict learning gain in different conditions. We show that there are significant differences in the non-content statements that students make to human and computer tutors, but also to different types of computer tutors. These differences also affect which factors are correlated with learning gain and user satisfaction. We argue that ITS designers should pay particular attention to strategies for dealing with negative social and metacognitive statements, and also conduct further research on how interaction style affects human-computer tutoring. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

What is best practice in sex and relationship education? A synthesis of evidence, including stakeholders' views.

OBJECTIVES: Sex and relationship education (SRE) is regarded as vital to improving young people's sexual health, but a third of schools in England lacks good SRE and government guidance is outdated. We aimed to identify what makes SRE programmes effective, acceptable, sustainable and capable of faithful implementation. DESIGN: This is a synthesis of findings from five research packages that we conducted (practitioner interviews, case study investigation, National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles, review of reviews and qualitative synthesis). We also gained feedback on our research from stakeholder consultations. SETTINGS: Primary research and stakeholder consultations were conducted in the UK. Secondary research draws on studies worldwide. RESULTS: Our findings indicate that school-based SRE and school-linked sexual health services can be effective at improving sexual health. We found professional consensus that good programmes start in primary school. Professionals and young people agreed that good programmes are age-appropriate, interactive and take place in a safe environment. Some young women reported preferring single-sex classes, but young men appeared to want mixed classes. Young people and professionals agreed that SRE should take a 'life skills' approach and not focus on abstinence. Young people advocated a 'sex-positive' approach but reported this was lacking. Young people and professionals agreed that SRE should discuss risks, but young people indicated that approaches to risk need revising. Professionals felt teachers should be involved in SRE delivery, but many young people reported disliking having their teachers deliver SRE and we found that key messages could become lost when interpreted by teachers. The divergence between young people and professionals was echoed by stakeholders. We developed criteria for best practice based on the evidence. CONCLUSIONS: We identified key features of effective and acceptable SRE. Our best practice criteria can be used to evaluate existing programmes, contribute to the development of new programmes and inform consultations around statutory SRE