Co-Operative Inquiry as a basis for Evaluation of Knowledge Management Tools

This paper highlights the changes needed in the practice of IT evaluation when directed towards IT used to support knowledge management. The paper addresses the need for evaluation to recognise the increased emphasis on IT supporting the work of communities of practice in contrast to simply automating organisational processes. A framework that uses a form of action research (co-operative inquiry) is suggested that attempts to widen participation within the evaluation process and to enrich the purpose to which evaluation is put, especially in regard to the IS practitioner and IS users

Conceptualising the research–practice–professional development nexus: mobilising schools as ‘research-engaged’ professional learning communities

This paper argues the need for coherent, holistic frameworks offering insightful understandings as well as viable, connected and synergistic solutions to schools in addressing pressing problems arising from the acknowledged gaps between research, practice and professional development. There is a need to conceptualise a comprehensive conceptual framework that rationalises, constructs and connects salient professional development concepts and practices fit for purpose in twenty-first-century schools. Specifically, three themes conceptualise existing problems faced by schools and their possible solutions: first, bridging the research–policy–practice gap by mobilising knowledge more effectively through knowledge producers and consumers working collaboratively; second, valuing and integrating both tacit knowledge and academic coded knowledge; and third, raising the professionalism and reflectivity of teachers and leaders. However, a new organisational and human infrastructure is needed to enable these solutions to be realised in school practice. Arguably, three responses are critical to this challenge of knowledge mobilisation; all are achievable through the powerful unifying concept of the ‘research-engaged school’. The three responses are: research engagement on the part of all teachers and leaders; creating schools and school networks as professional learning communities; and adopting a workable methodology (namely, research–design–development) for teachers and leaders to put research into practice and tailor innovations to specific school contexts

Introduction to the special section on curriculum.

An introduction to the section on curriculum and curriculum changes is presented

The songwriting coalface: where multiple intelligences collide

This paper investigates pedagogy around songwriting professional practice. Particular focus is given to the multiple intelligence theory of Howard Gardner as a lens through which to view songwriting practice, referenced to recent songwriting‐specific research (e.g. McIntyre, Bennett). Songwriting education provides some unique challenges; firstly, due to the qualitative nature of assessment and the complex and multi‐faceted nature of skills necessary (lyric writing, composing, recording, and performing), and secondly, in some less‐tangible capacities beneficial to the songwriter (creative skills, and nuanced choice‐making). From the perspective of songwriting education, Gardner’s MI theory provides a ‘useful fiction’ (his term) for knowledge transfer in the domain, especially (and for this researcher, surprisingly) in naturalistic intelligence

CMB foregrounds - A brief review

CMB foregrounds consist of all radiation between the surface of last scattering and the detectors, which can interfere with the cosmological interpretation of CMB data. Fortunately, in temperature (intensity), even though the foregrounds are complex they can relatively easily be mitigated. However, in polarization, diffuse Galactic radiation (synchrotron and thermal dust) can be polarized at a level of >10 % making it more of a challenge. In particular, CMB B-modes, which are a smoking-gun signature of inflation, will be dominated by foregrounds. Component separation will therefore be critical for future CMB polarization missions, requiring many channels covering a wide range of frequencies, to ensure that foreground modelling errors are minimised.Comment: Draft proceedings for the conference Rencontres de Moriond 2016 on cosmology. Invited review talk, 9 pages, 6 figure

“A cheap trafficking in human misery”: the reverse Freedom Rides of 1962

Shortly after 7 o'clock on the morning of 20 April 1962, Louis and Dorothy Boyd arrived at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City. The journey from their native New Orleans had taken forty-three hours. With the Boyds were their eight children, five girls and three boys aged between three and twelve years old. Between them the family carried their entire worldly possessions in three cardboard boxes and an old foot locker

Closing Ranks: Montgomery Jews and civil rights, 1954–1960

The arrest of Rosa Parks on 1 December 1955 provided the spark which ignited the long smouldering resentments of black Montgomerians. For 381 days they waged a boycott of the city bus lines, frustrating the opposition of white authorities and financially crippling the local transit company. More profoundly it resulted in a Supreme Court decision outlawing segregation on public transportation. Equally momentous was the emergence of the man who would serve as the spiritual figurehead of the civil rights movement: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In the wake of the Montgomery bus boycott, one national black newspaper acclaimed King as “Alabama's Modern Moses.” Since the darkest days of slavery African-Americans had sought spiritual salvation by comparing their own condition to that of God's Chosen People, the Israelites of the Old Testament. Throughout their years of enslavement they prayed for the Moses who would deliver them from their suffering unto the Promised Land. During the boycott, the black citizens of Montgomery had similarly sustained their morale by singing the old slave spirituals, raising their voices at the nightly mass meetings in rousing renditions of “Go Down Moses, Way Down in Egypt Land.” “As sure as Moses got the children of Israel across the Red Sea,” King exhorted the black community, “we can stick together and win.” Others too drew the analogy between the historical experience of Jews and the contemporary predicament of African-Americans. Looking back on the boycott, white liberal activist Virginia Durr evoked the spectre of Nazi Germany in describing the strength of racist opposition

Observations of Anomalous Microwave Emission from HII regions

In this brief review, I give a summary of the observations of Anomalous Microwave Emission (AME) from HII regions. AME has been detected in, or in the vicinity of, HII regions. Given the difficulties in measuring accurate SEDs over a wide range of frequencies and in complex environments, many of these detections require more data to confirm them as emitting significant AME. The contribution from optically thick free-free emission from UCHII regions may be also be significant in some cases. The AME emissivity, defined as the ratio of the AME brightness to the 100 micron brightness, is comparable to the value observed in high-latitude diffuse cirrus in some regions, but is significantly lower in others. However, this value is dependent on the dust temperature. More data, both at high frequencies (>5 GHz) and high resolution (~1 arcmin or better) is required to disentangle the emission processes in such complex regions.Comment: Published in Advances in Astronomy. Final manuscript can be downloaded from http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aa/2013/162478