Disciplinary digital capabilities of professionals : Networked learning in engineering and management

This paper is concerned with the digital practices of professionals, and the ways in which educators can support higher education (HE) students with successfully transitioning into professional life by developing relevant digital capabilities according to their disciplines. Digital capabilities have received significant attention in recent years, with various attempts made to develop digital frameworks to support curriculum design in HE. However, few studies have articulated these generic capabilities in terms of specific disciplines. This paper addresses the gap of disciplinary conceptualisations of digital capabilities by exploring how they are planned in HE curricula in two professional disciplines, engineering and management. Originality of the study is achieved in part through a conceptual framework that weaves together Shulman’s notion of signature pedagogies with JISC’s Digital Capability Framework (DigiCap). The study employed a multiple-case study methodology with each discipline as a case, and four undergraduate/postgraduate modules as the units of analysis, drawing on documentary sources, and academic, professional and student perspectives via interviews and focus groups. The research design section presents a practical manifestation of this conceptual framework in the form interview questions, which is one main outcome of this study. The study offers insight into the digital capabilities in engineering and management education, as well as the digital practices of engineers and managers. Findings report on which digital capability elements are prioritised, and how, in the two professions, followed by a discussion of their most distinct, 'signature digital capabilities'. These indicate that the development of digital capabilities is aligned with the respective discipline’s signature pedagogies. In engineering, digital problem-solving and collaboration/communication, followed by data and information literacy, appear to be most prominent. In management, data and information literacy overlap with problem-solving, and, together with digital content communication, form its prominent digital capabilities. The study also identifies management’s overarching signature digital capability. The paper argues that simply just using a descriptive, typological framework (e.g. DigiCap) is not sufficient to identify signature digital capabilities of a subject without tending to their disciplinary aspects. It is the combination of a typological digital capability framework through the lens of signature pedagogies, which can be effective in identifying disciplinary digital capabilities

Making new connections: Interactive network graph to enhance sharing opportunities for TEL practice

This focus of this preliminary study is located in continuing professional development of university-based teaching practitioners. The study reports on the design of a prototype tool, an interactive visual network diagram. The purpose of the diagram is to enhance the sharing of technology-enhanced learning (TEL) practice between teaching practitioners. It enables them to identify fellow practitioners who use a particular technology in their teaching for problem-solving and sharing TEL practice. Design principles combine two theoretical approaches: Communities of Practice and Social Network Analysis. This paper argues that the complementarity nature (Cummings and van Zee 2005; Wenger, Trayner and de Laat 2011) of the two frameworks can offer good design principles for the prototype diagram to share TEL practice. For a system to identify potential connections made between professionals with the same topic of interest (a particular technology) within a wider domain (teaching practice), concepts from both theories are needed. Such a visual representation would need utilise the concept of nodes and ties from Social Network Analysis, extend domain of interest to represent sub-domains from communities of practice as well as signalling potential connections to be made. Findings of the preliminary stage of design-based research methodology included the potential usefulness of the prototype to identify peers' help for solving a problem, getting ideas on how people use a particular technology, sharing teaching practice and also practical tips for introducing the technology to students. Procedures to be supported included populating the diagram with data, maintaining the currency of data, user interactions such as viewing the visualisation, selecting relevant nodes/links, contacting selected contacts or downloading/exporting data. Another key feature of the diagram should be to visualise the potential value of future links to be made for the user. Participants also reported challenges of such a visual prototype. Firstly, whether practitioners would actually contact those whom they do not yet know and secondly, how would practitioners become aware of the diagram's existence? The paper concludes with implications to theory and practice, pointing towards the strength of combining two theoretical approaches, Social Network Analysis or Communities of Practice, in exploring the informal sharing of practice in organisations

Blurring the Boundaries of Verbal and Visual, Low and Elite Art

Nemzetközi Magyarság-tudományi Társaság által megrendezett nemzetközi doktor-jelölt konferenciák tanulmánya

Weak if any effect of estrogen on spatial memory in rats

In a number of species, males appear to have spatial abilities that are superior to those of females. The favored explanation for this cognitive difference is hormonal: higher testosterone levels in males than in females. An alternative explanation focuses on the role of varying levels of estrogens in females during the estrus cycle; females perform as well as males on days of low estrogen, but more poorly on days of high estrogen. Other investigators have reported that estrogens improve both types of memory processes, which depend on the striatal (nonspatial navigation) and hippocampal (spatial) memory systems. Additionally, estrogens have been found to protect the working memory. These contradictory results initiated the present study, in which ovariectomized female rats were trained to escape in a Morris water maze. The daily trials were preceded by estradiol application in low doses (Experiment I) or in higher doses (Experiment II). In Experiment I, no differences at all were found between the latencies of the treated and control groups to reach a submerged platform in a Morris water maze. In Experiment II, however, the animals treated with the higher dose of estradiol showed a small deficit in the acquisition of the Morris water maze task. This study indicates that estradiol at around the physiological level has no effect on spatial learning and memory functions

Tanítástól tanulásig ‒ új paradigmák a matematika oktatásban

A paradigma egy adott időszakban a tudomány művelői között kialakult és intézményesült közmegegyezés. T. S. Kuhn munkájában megállapította, hogy a tudományos területek időszakonként paradigmaváltáson mennek keresztül. A tudomány fejlődése és a társadalmi változások az oktatásban is szemléletváltást eredményeznek. Ebben a tanulmányban áttekintjük a matematika tanítása területén bekövetkezett legfontosabb paradigma váltásokat a 20. század elejétől a koronavírus járvány megjelenéséig