Review of periodical articles

[First Paragraph] There is only one true city, wrote St Augustine, and it is not of this world. The pessimistic Christian response to the fall of Rome in AD 410, epitomized in Augustine's City of God, affected the development of the later medieval city to a degree which has yet, even now, to be fully appreciated. In the Christian city of the Middle Ages the divinity was normally confined to the sanctuaries of his churches, whose topographical prominence and harmonious proportions made manifest an otherwise hidden spiritual order. Outside the cloister gates, disorder reigned: a general lack of planning revealed the meaninglessness of the outward, secular life. This dichotomy between an inner world of spirit and a public world of transient matter was embodied in the recurrent tensions between spiritual and secular space which ran as a motif throughout the history of medieval towns. Modern studies which have emphasized (not, of course, without reason) the secular political and economic power of ecclesiastical institutions in the medieval city have perhaps distracted attention unduly from the real differences of ethos which, within the town, distinguished religious space from that of the surrounding lay world

Review of periodical articles

One of the attractions of medieval urban history is the fact that major conceptual problems in the field continue to be debated. In a stimulating review article by J.H. Mundy, ’Philip Jones and the medieval Italian city-state‘, J. of European Economic History, 28 (1999), 185–200, one distinguished scholar is taxed for holding views now dismissed by some, but of which he is by no means a unique surviving representative. One of these views assumes a clear distinction between the antique city, supposedly a bureaucratic centre with limited economic functions, and the medieval city, as the home of industrious artisans and nascent capitalism. The image of the non-profit-making ancient town may be overly indebted to the nature of the literary sources and to the prevalent interests of classicists; but, although many would now agree that both the elements in the above equation need qualifying, a more focused comparison is presently lacking, and a fine book is still waiting to be written on the transition from the ancient world to the middle ages in urban history

Reflections on the Ecolab and the Zone of Proximal Development

In 1999 we reported a study that explored the way that Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development could be used to inform the design of an Interactive Learning Environment called the Ecolab. Two aspects of this work have subsequently been used for further research. Firstly, there is the interpretation of the ZPD and its associated theory that was used to operationalize the ZPD so that it could be implemented in software. This interpretation has informed further research about how one can model context and its impact on learning, which has produced a design framework that has been successfully applied across a range of educational settings. Secondly, there is the Ecolab software itself. The software has been adapted into a variety of versions that have supported explorations into how to scaffold learners’ metacognition, how to scaffold learners’ motivation and the implications of a learner’s goal orientation upon their use of the software. The findings from these studies have informed our understanding of learner scaffolding and have produced consistent results to demonstrate the importance of providing learners with appropriately challenging tasks and flexible support. Vygotsky’s work is as relevant now as it was in 1999: it still has an important role to play in the development of educational software

Understanding teenagers' personal contexts to design technology that supports learning about energy consumption

© 2013 Taylor & Francis. Energy sustainability is prevalent in political and popular rhetoric and yet energy consumption is rising. Teenagers are an important category of future energy consumers, but little is known of their conceptions about energy and energy saving. We report on empirical research with two groups of teenagers. This is part of ongoing work to design learning technologies that support teenagers learn about personal energy consumption. In this paper we describe our analysis and methodology, which are shaped by the Ecology of Resources (EoR) design framework [Luckin, R. (2010). Re-designing learning contexts: Technology-rich, learner-centred ecologies. London and New York, NY: Routledge]. Our findings informed the development of an EoR model of the participants' personal context, which includes their world resources (people, tools, knowledge, skills, and environment) and their personal resources (conceptions, motivations and concerns around energy consumption). We discuss the range of methods we employed to understand learners' personal contexts. These findings contribute to our understanding of how to explore teenagers' personal contexts and have implications for the design of technology to support learning about personal energy consumption

Up and down the number line: modelling collaboration in contrasting school and home environments

This paper is concerned with user modelling issues such as adaptive educational environments, adaptive information retrieval, and support for collaboration. The HomeWork project is examining the use of learner modelling strategies within both school and home environments for young children aged 5 – 7 years. The learning experience within the home context can vary considerably from school especially for very young learners, and this project focuses on the use of modelling which can take into account the informality and potentially contrasting learning styles experienced within the home and school

Making it real: exploring the potential of Augmented Reality for teaching primary school science

The use of Augmented Reality (AR) in formal education could prove a key component in future learning environments that are richly populated with a blend of hardware and software applications. However, relatively little is known about the potential of this technology to support teaching and learning with groups of young children in the classroom. Analysis of teacher-child dialogue in a comparative study between use of an AR virtual mirror interface and more traditional science teaching methods for 10-year-old children, revealed that the children using AR were less engaged than those using traditional resources. We suggest four design requirements that need to be considered if AR is to be successfully adopted into classroom practice. These requirements are: flexible content that teachers can adapt to the needs of their children, guided exploration so learning opportunities can be maximised, in a limited time, and attention to the needs of institutional and curricular requirements

On how Unsupervised Machine Learning Can Shape Minds: a Brief Overview

This paper briefly examines the relationship between unsupervised machine learning models, the learning affordances that such models offer, and the mental models of those who use them. We consider the unsupervised models as learning affordances. We use a case study involving unsupervised modelling via commonly used methods such as clustering, to argue that unsupervised models can be used as learning affordances, bychanging participants’ mental models, precisely because the models are unsupervised, and thus potentially lead to learning from unexpected or inexplicit patterns

Current Understanding, Support Systems, and Technology-led Interventions for Specific Learning Difficulties

In January 2019, the Government Office for Science commissioned a series of 4 rapid evidence reviews to explore how technology and research can help improve educational outcomes for learners with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLDs). This review examined: 1) current understanding of the causes and identification of SpLDs, 2)the support system for learners with SpLDs, 3)technology-based interventions for SpLDs 4) a case study approach focusing on dyscalculia to explore all 3 theme

Empowering educators to be AI-ready

In this paper. we present the concept of AI Readiness, along with a framework for developing AI Readiness training. ‘AI Readiness’ can be framed as a contextualised way of helping people to understand AI, in particular, AI that is data driven. The nature of AI Readiness training is not the same as merely learning about AI. Rather, AI Readiness recognises the diversity of the professions, workplaces and sectors for whom AI has a potential impact. For example, AI Readiness for lawyers may be based on the same principles as AI Readiness for Educators. However, the details will be contextualised differently. AI Readiness recognises that such contextualisation is not an option: it is essential due to the multiple intricacies, sensitivities and variations between different sectors and their settings, which all impact on the application of AI. To embrace such contextualisation, AI Readiness needs to be an active, participatory training process and aims to empower people to be more able to leverage AI to meet their needs. The text that follows focusses on AI Readiness within the Education and Training sector and starts with a discussion of the current state of AI within education and training, and the need for AI Readiness. We then problematize the concept of AI Readiness, why AI Readiness is needed, and what it means. We expand upon the nature of AI Readiness through a discussion of the difference between human and Artificial Intelligence, before presenting a 7-step framework for helping people to become AI Ready. Finally, we use an example of AI Readiness in action within Higher Education to exemplify AI Readiness