Professional standards support for curriculum mentors: report on the TDA funded ‘Professional Standards Support for Curriculum mentors’ at the University of Southampton

A revised framework of professional standards for teachers was published by the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA). These standards replaced existing teacher standards in September 2007 and form a clear, progressive framework of standards for teachers. The standards are statements of a teacher's professional attributes, knowledge and understanding, and skills. Importantly they clarify expectations at each career stage helping teachers identify how they need to develop professionally to progress in their careers.• the awards of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) (Q)• teachers on the main scale (Core) (C)• teachers on the upper pay scale (Post Threshold Teachers) (P)• Excellent Teachers (E)• Advanced Skills Teachers (ASTs) (A)The Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) made funding available to help support initial teacher training (ITT) providers in meeting the revised qualified teacher status (QTS) standards which came into effect in September 2007. A Guidance to accompany the standards for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) was also produced by the TDA<br/

The potential of wiki technology as an e-learning tool in science and education; perspectives of undergraduate students in Al-Baha university, Saudi Arabia

This paper examines the potential of wiki technology as an e-learning tool in Al-Baha University, Saudi Arabia with a random sample in two colleges: science and education. 24 male students participated in this survey. The data is collected through interviewer-administered questionnaires with 16 questions divided into four axes. The data is analysed to reveal the students’ perceptions of using wiki technology in learning. The results indicate that, students prefer to learn collaboratively with positive perceptions of wiki. These results lead us to determine the possible potential of wiki technology as an e-learning tool for undergraduate students in similar context

Educational/training situated e-learning

A small selection of the range of educational/training situated e-learning in Southampton Education Schoo

The developing concept of “computational thinking”.

A table referencing work related to the developing concept of “computational thinking”

How is technology accepted by users? A review of technology acceptance models and theories

This paper provides a literature review of the popular theories and models of technology acceptance of relevance to today’s technology developments in the 4E context. The original technology acceptance model (TAM) was derived from the theory of reasoned action and has since been developed and extended to include factors of age, gender, prior experience, ability, etc. It provides the framework to measure users’ perceptions of and intentions to use technology within and across organisations. Through research TAM has been empirically proven to be a robust model for understanding end-user adoption of technology and for examining the acceptance of new and developing technology by users with different characteristics in different organisations. The flexibility of TAM to be extended and modified to take into account other relevant factors makes it a powerful framework. This paper identifies the underpinning theories and potential application in a concise way and concludes that TAM has and will provide underpinning for further understanding of the pedagogy-technology-epistemology relationship in the development of technology use<br/

Computing at school: an emergent community of practice for a re-emergent subject

The Computing at School (CAS) working group was formed in 2009 as a grassroots organisation with members drawn from schools, higher education and the computing industry. Their concern was the drop in applications for undergraduate computing courses and a dearth of specialists entering related professions. This paper studies the development of the organisation with respect to models of communities of practice. The methodology is a retrospective reflexive study based analysis of e-mail transactions to review the association’s activities and relationships with other stakeholders in computing education. Through this, the formation of a new professional community of practice is tracked and its characteristics established

Developing computational thinking in the classroom: a framework

Computational thinking sits at the heart of the new statutory programme of study for Computing: “A high quality computing education equips pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world” (Department for Education, 2013, p. 188). This document aims to support teachers to teach computational thinking. It describes a framework that helps explain what computational thinking is, describes pedagogic approaches for teaching it and gives ways to assess it. Pupil progression with the previous ICT curriculum was often demonstrated through ‘how’ (for example, a software usage skill) or ‘what’ the pupil produced (for example, a poster). This was partly due to the needs of the business world for office skills. Such use of precious curriculum time however has several weaknesses. Firstly, the country’s economy depends on technological innovation not just on use of technology. Secondly, the pace of technology and organisational change is fast in that the ICT skills learnt are out of date before a pupil leaves school. Thirdly, technology invades all aspects of our life and the typically taught office practice is only a small part of technology use today

When the game becomes serious: what are the rights and responsibilities of the learner’s avatar in the virtual world?

“I am my avatar; my avatar is me. I am beholden by any promises my Avatar makes on my behalf and my Avatar will honour any contract I make.” There is an ever-increasing use of virtual worlds such as Second Life™, OpenSim and SmallWorlds in which learners explore, experience, communicate and act. In these 3D immersive (3Di) environments the learner adopts an avatar and becomes the new persona they devise. The appearance, actions and location of the avatar are under the control of the owner but are also affected by objects in the environment and other avatars. The immersive element results directly from the cognitive, dextrous, social and emotional aspects of the experience. Virtual worlds are becoming the home for serious learning as well as still retaining their more vicarious activities<br/

Mobile learning in Malaysian schools: opportunities and challenges

This study established the emerging themes in implementing mobile learning via mobile phones to support English Language learning in Malaysian schools. The findings were gathered from English subject leaders, ICT subject leaders, head teachers and deputy head teachers from 4 schools in the United Kingdom. In addition, the study also gathered the perspectives from English subject leaders, ICT subject leaders, head teachers, deputy head teachers from 9 schools and the officers in the Ministry of Education Malaysia.It has been established that there are opportunities and challenges to implement mobile learning via mobile phones in Malaysian schools. The opportunities to implement mobile learning are based on the following key points: mobile phone as a teaching and learning tool to support English subject, mobile phone as a common device among students, mobile phone as a future teaching and learning tool, mobile phone as a tool to support various learning activities, mobile phone as an affordable tool, mobile phone as an engaging and motivational tool and mobile phone as a tool to prepare students for their future.With regard to the challenges to implement mobile learning in Malaysian schools, these are based on the following key points: issue with misuse, issue with current policy, issue with management and maintenance, issue with stakeholders, issue with digital divide and issue with personal space invasion.This study contributes towards the body of knowledge of mobile learning in Malaysia as a developing country where mobile learning is still in its infancy. It adds value in understanding the situation of mobile learning in Malaysia, which could be replicated to other developing countries in embracing the potential of mobile learning in mainstream education<br/

Review of Creative Nature (part 2)

The short monograph Creative Nature (Francisco Javier Novo, Rubén Pereda, and Javier Sánchez-Cañizares. 2018. Naturaleza Creativa. Madrid: Rialp. ISBN: 978-84-321-4916-0. 196 pp. Paperback, €14.25) is a welcome contribution to the philosophy of nature that arose from interdisciplinary conversations between authors who are both up-to-date in the scientific literature and deeply grounded in the western intellectual tradition. In this second part of our review essay, we offer three themes for further reflection: (1) seeing the whole: synergy between philosophy of nature and empirical studies, (2) boundary questions: philosophy of nature as a mediator of dialogue between science and religion, and (3) whether the book helps defend a natural philosophy of form and finality. In conclusion, we recommend this book as a way to bridge science and philosophy and as a point of departure for theological reflection.The short monograph Creative Nature (Francisco Javier Novo, Rubén Pereda, and Javier Sánchez-Cañizares. 2018. Naturaleza Creativa. Madrid: Rialp. ISBN: 978-84-321-4916-0. 196 pp. Paperback, €14.25) is a welcome contribution to the philosophy of nature that arose from interdisciplinary conversations between authors who are both up-to-date in the scientific literature and deeply grounded in the western intellectual tradition. In this second part of our review essay, we offer three themes for further reflection: (1) seeing the whole: synergy between philosophy of nature and empirical studies, (2) boundary questions: philosophy of nature as a mediator of dialogue between science and religion, and (3) whether the book helps defend a natural philosophy of form and finality. In conclusion, we recommend this book as a way to bridge science and philosophy and as a point of departure for theological reflection