To Moscow with Love: Partial Reconstruction of Vygotsky’s Trip to London

The Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) left the Soviet Union only once to attend a conference on the education of the deaf in London. So far almost nothing was known about this trip, which took place in a period when Vygotsky was still completely unknown as a psychologist, both inside his own country and abroad. Making use of a newly discovered notebook, it proved possible to partially reconstruct Vygotsky’s journey and stay in London. Vygotsky’s very personal remarks show him to have been a very sensitive and spirited man, who was prey to strong emotions during the conference and afterwards. Rather surprisingly, Vygotsky’s own paper about the education of the deaf was never presented during the conference and the stay in London appears to have had a limited value for his own scientific development

Vygotsky in English: What Still Needs to Be Done

At present readers of English have still limited access to Vygotsky’s writings. Existing translations are marred by mistakes and outright falsifications. Analyses of Vygotsky’s work tend to downplay the collaborative and experimental nature of his research. Several suggestions are made to improve this situation. New translations are certainly needed and new analyses should pay attention to the contextual nature of Vygotsky’s thinking and research practice

New perspectives on health professions students' e-learning:Looking through the lens of the "visitor and resident" model

<p><b>Background:</b> The growth of e-learning in health professional education reflects expansion of personal use of online resources. Understanding the user perspective in a fast-changing digital world is essential to maintain the currency of our approach.</p> <p><b>Methods:</b> Mixed methods were used to investigate a cohort of postgraduate, e-learning healthcare students’ perspectives on their use of online resources for personal and/or professional roles, via questionnaire and student-constructed diagrams, capturing use of online resources (underpinned by White’s model of “resident” and “visitor” online engagement). Semistructured interviews explored the use and value of resources afforded via the online environment.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> The 45 study participants described a range of prior experiences with online resources in personal and professional capacities, but overall students tended to use online “tools” (“visitor” mode) rather than highly collaborative networks (“resident” mode). In relation to e-learning, the dominant interview theme was valuing knowledge transfer from the tutor and using “visitor” behaviors to maximize knowledge acquisition. Peer-learning opportunities were less valued and barriers to collaborative “resident” modes were identified.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> These findings help to inform e-learning course design to promote engagement. The results enable recommendations for use of the “Visitor and Residents” model and for planning activities that learners might utilize effectively.</p

Why do we talk to ourselves?

Human beings talk to themselves; sometimes out-loud, other times in inner speech. In this paper, I present a resolution to the following dilemma that arises from self-talk. If self-talk exists then either, (i) we know what we are going to say and self-talk serves no communicative purpose, and must serve some other purpose, or (ii) we don’t know what we are going to say, and self-talk does serve a communicative purpose, namely, it is an instance of us communicating with ourselves. Adopting (i) was the strategy taken by Bart Geurts, who claims that the primary purpose of self-talk is to entrain commitments, and is not (primarily) communicative. While accepting that self-talk can usefully play this role, I criticise the view that entraining commitments is self-talk’s fundamental role. I argue that adopting the view that we are self-blind, at least to a significant degree, means that we can accept that self-talk does play a communicative role

Looking back and moving forward

This chapter brings together the research on teacher resilience and approaches to supporting resilience and wellbeing discussed in this volume. As many of the approaches utilised aspects of the BRiTE and Staying BRiTE projects, I highlight common themes as well as the different ways the authors developed and implemented their work to reflect their specific contexts and participants. I also reflect on broader issues related to conceptualisation of resilience, consider where responsibility for resilience lies, and explore future directions. The chapter also provides some insights regarding the collegial collaboration that has made the body of work possible

Emerging technologies in physics education

Three emerging technologies in physics education are evaluated from the interdisciplinary perspective of cognitive science and physics education research. The technologies - Physlet Physics, the Andes Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS), and Microcomputer-Based Laboratory (MBL) Tools - are assessed particularly in terms of their potential at promoting conceptual change, developing expert-like problem-solving skills, and achieving the goals of the traditional physics laboratory. Pedagogical methods to maximize the potential of each educational technology are suggested.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Journal of Science Education and Technology; 20 page

Developing tools to promote culturally competent compassion, courage, and intercultural communication in healthcare

Background: Compassion is an important concept in healthcare, and in addition, care should be delivered in a culturally competent manner, taking into account the values, culture, and health beliefs of the individual. However, the training of nurses and other healthcare professionals may not adequately equip them to practice in a manner which is both compassionate and culturally competent. In this paper, we report on the development of three learning tools, designed to promote the skills and strengthen the capacity of nurses and healthcare professionals to provide culturally competent and compassionate care. Methods: The project involved the participation of six European countries in the development of three learning tools, covering culturally competent compassion, culturally competent courage, and intercultural communication. The principles which informed the methodology derive from the previous work on the Papadopoulos, Tilki and Taylor (PTT) model of transcultural nursing and cultural competence, and were also informed by the Intercultural Education of Nurses in Europe (IENE1 & IENE2) projects. Each partner country was required to produce one tool for each topic area, based on guidance provided by the project co-ordinator, leading to the development of eighteen tools in total. The tools were administered mainly to student nurses to test their feasibility. Results: The emerging tools contained important theoretical and practical components, whereby innovative learning methods and case studies were included. Student nurses enjoyed using the tools, and enjoyed their flexibility. The learning tools enabled students to become stimulated and to engage together leading to a positive learning experience. Discussion: The tools allow for a positive learning experience and reflection of good practice to take place. The flexibility and content of the tools allows for them to be of equal value to other healthcare professionals as well as nursing staff. Conclusion: The tools were initially utilised mainly with student nurses and were received with a positive response. Work is now in place to further implement the tools and evaluate the longer term effects among a range of healthcare professionals and service user health outcomes

Motive-demand dynamics creating a social context for students’ learning experiences in a making and design environment

Making and design environments, often referred to as makerspaces, have aroused recent educational interest. These environments typically consist of spaces that support interest-driven engagement in hands-on creative activities with a range of digital artefacts. Although a variety of benefits from participating in making and design activities have been proposed, we currently have limited understanding of students’ learning experiences in makerspaces situated in schools. Following Hedegaards’ conceptualisations, we investigate motive-demand dynamics in students’ social activity in a school-based digital making and design environment, ‘The FUSE Studio’. We highlight our findings via vignettes selected from 65 h of video recordings of 94 students (aged between 9 and 12 years old) carrying out activities; the recordings were collected intermittently from an elective course over one semester. Our study illustrates how the students’ learning experiences were shaped through tension-laden interplay between the motives and demands of their activity situated across personal, relational and institutional contexts. The findings make visible how established ways of working and being at school interacted and came into tension with the students’ motive orientations, thereby limiting and at times transforming the social context of their learning. Our work also demonstrates how the analysis of motive-demand dynamics offers one useful conceptual tool to unpack students’ learning experiences in novel learning environments.Peer reviewe

VR as Library Technology: Early Faculty and Student feedback on Educational Use of Immersive Technology

In developing a Virtual Reality (VR) project, the library creates a democratic home for ateaching and lab space for a visiting Fulbright scholar to build energy and community aroundthis new immersive technology. Following three academic quarters of VR teaching, workshops,community outreach and awareness building, interviews of volunteer faculty and studentparticipants provides valuable feedback on their reflection as to the potential of Virtual Realityexperiences to scaffold and supplement student learning and their value of the positioning ofsuch technology within the library as a central location. Faculty (N = 5) each provide uniquelenses on the importance of the immersive technology within their areas of practice. In addition,two advanced students in the paired Communication Studies VR courses discussed theirexperiences. Advanced students explained after intensive use of VR software and final projectdevelopment, the experience changed their thinking about education and future careeropportunities. Additional pre-medicine students provided written reflective responses following aVR biology experience (N = 13). Future study is recommended to explore the library as atechnology hub and further nuanced details of how immersive technology can expand andscaffold student learning outcomes across a variety of subject areas

Young children engaging with technologies at home: the influence of family context

This paper is about with the ways in which young children engage with technological toys and resources at home and, in particular, the ways in which the family context makes a difference to young children&rsquo;s engagement with these technologies. The data reviewed come from family interviews and parent-recorded video of four case study children as they used specific resources: a screen-based games console designed for family use, a technology-mediated reading scheme, a child&rsquo;s games console and two technological &lsquo;pets&rsquo;. We found the same repertoire of direct pedagogical actions across the families when they supported their children&rsquo;s use of the resources, yet the evidence makes it clear that the child&rsquo;s experience was different in each home. The paper goes on to present evidence that four dimensions of family context made a difference to children&rsquo;s engagement with technological toys and resources at home. We argue that understanding children&rsquo;s experiences with technologies at home necessitates finding out about the distinct family contexts in which they engage with the resources