Technology-enhanced learning: evidence-based improvement

The design of learning materials and researching their efficacy involves the application of both theoretical learning principles and ways of working or practices to move towards evidence based improvement. This paper abstracts 4 categories from our on-going work of educational technology research which we have found to be important in considering what constitutes a successful Technology-Enhanced Learning implementation. These considerations influence the likelihood or feasibility of the wider adoption a particular Technology-Enhanced Learning implementation in the longer term. We also discuss how these considerations relate to the scalability of the development

“Give Me Back My Children!”: Traumatic Reenactment and Tenuous Democratic Public Spheres

In this essay, I briefly review the cultural history of “historical reenactments” and consider one 19th century prelude to present-day traumatic reenactments. I then turn to three recent case studies, drawn from my fieldwork: first, the annual reenactment of a horrific 1946 mass lynching in Walton, County, Georgia; second, the daily mounting of a “historical experience” of slavery in Selma, Alabama; and third, a reenacted slave auction in St. Louis, Missouri. All these events were deeply painful for participants and observers alike, yet all opened up highly dynamic zones for cross-racial conversation, exchange, and reflection. All hold the promise, amidst great difficulty, of creating renewed microcos- mic sites of democratic co-participation

Resenha da Enciclopédia da Floresta - o Alto Juruá: Práticas e Conhecimentos das Populações

Resenha crítica redigida por Claude Levi-Strauss sobre o livro Enciclopédia da Floresta. O Alto Juruá – Práticas e conhecimentos das populações, organizado por Manuela Carneiro da Cunha e Mauro Barbosa de Almeida, e publicado originalmente na na revista L´Homme, n. 167-168, 2003, pp. 365-367. Versão traduzida por Mauro W.B. de Almeida e revisada por Manuela Carneira da Cunha com a autorização da revista L’Homme

Social Exchange Theory

In this chapter we will begin with the basics of social exchange theory as they were developed from an application of principles drawn from economics, psychology, and sociology particularly as related to small groups. We will then turn our attention to how this theory has been specifically applied to communication and personal relationships

What do you think this is? "Conceptual uncertainty" in geoscience interpretation

Interpretations of seismic images are used to analyze sub-surface geology and form the basis for many exploration and extraction decisions, but the uncertainty that arises from human bias in seismic data interpretation has not previously been quantified. All geological data sets are spatially limited and have limited resolution. Geoscientists who interpret such data sets must, therefore, rely upon their previous experience and apply a limited set of geological concepts. We have documented the range of interpretations to a single data set, and in doing so have quantified the �conceptual uncertainty� inherent in seismic interpretation. In this experiment, 412 interpretations of a synthetic seismic image were analyzed. Only 21% of the participants interpreted the �correct� tectonic setting of the original model, and only 23% highlighted the three main fault strands in the image. These results illustrate that conceptual uncertainty exists, which in turn explains the large range of interpretations that can result from a single data set. We consider the role of prior knowledge in biasing individuals in their interpretation of the synthetic seismic section, and our results demonstrate that conceptual uncertainty has a critical influence on resource exploration and other areas of geoscience. Practices should be developed to minimize the effects of conceptual uncertainty, and it should be accounted for in risk analysis

Improving the Measurement of Shared Cultural Schemas with Correlational Class Analysis: Theory and Method

Measurement of shared cultural schemas is a central methodological challenge for the sociology of culture. Relational Class Analysis (RCA) is a recently developed technique for identifying such schemas in survey data. However, existing work lacks a clear definition of such schemas, which leaves RCA’s accuracy largely unknown. Here, I build on the theoretical intuitions behind RCA to arrive at this definition. I demonstrate that shared schemas should result in linear dependencies between survey rows—the relationship usually measured with Pearson’s correlation. I thus modify RCA into a “Correlational Class Analysis” (CCA). When I compare the methods using a broad set of simulations, results show that CCA is reliably more accurate at detecting shared schemas than RCA, even in scenarios that substantially violate CCA’s assumptions. I find no evidence of theoretical settings where RCA is more accurate. I then revisit a previous RCA analysis of the 1993 General Social Survey musical tastes module. Whereas RCA partitioned these data into three schematic classes, CCA partitions them into four. I compare these results with a multiple-groups analysis in structural equation modeling and find that CCA’s partition yields greatly improved model fit over RCA. I conclude with a parsimonious framework for future work