Academic literacies in the digital university

Academic Literacies is an international field of study concerned with literacies and learning in tertiary education. Some recent work in this field has focused on online and elearning environments. In our book of 2007 (Goodfellow & Lea 2007) we used an academic literacies perspective to critique what we see as the focus in much elearning practice on the 'management of learning' at the expense of disciplinary pedagogies. We argued for attention to be paid to the centrality of texts, however mediated, in the construction of knowledge and the practices of learning. Our current focus on the 'digital' extends this critique to engage with three major discourses of technology currently constructing the 'digital age' in relation to education. The first is the metaphor of the 'digital native' or 'net generation'. The second is the discourse of 'Learning 2.0, the third is the trope of the 'unbundled university'. We conclude that we need to pay much more attention to textual practice around learning and scholarship,and that, as researchers and scholars, we need to work for the reconciliation of new discourses of the digital with the continuing development of critical pedagogical and social practice in the academy and the public sphere

1:1 Laptop Experience And High-Stakes Testing: Effects On Eighth-Grade Student Achievement

Research on 1:1 laptop implementations is missing key information about student achievement on high-stakes assessment. This post hoc, quasi-experimental, quantitative study explores how 1:1 laptop access affects student achievement on the mandated eighth-grade online science assessment in five Mississippi school districts throughout the state. Fifth-grade science assessment results are used as a baseline for student achievement. Three research questions examined mean scale scores on the science assessment, change in scores from fifth to eighth-grade, and the effect on scale scores as the duration of the 1:1 laptop implementation increased. Two of the three experimental districts shoa significant difference in the mean scale scores. All three experimental districts shostatistically significant change in scale scores from fifth to eighth-grade. However, one of the control districts had higher scale scores than the comparable experimental district. Because of the mixed finding among the school districts, additional research should be conducted. Helpful information is provided for school administrators who are considering a 1:1 laptop implementation for their schools

Jisc Digital Literacy Webinar: Textual Practices in the New Media Digital Landscape

Webinar slides and recordin

Exploring notions of genre in 'academic literacies' and 'writing across the curriculum': approaches across countries and contexts

The SIGET IV panel on genre in Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) and “academic literacies” (ACLITS) has set rolling a discussion of the similarities and differences in the two traditions, the former originating in the US in the early 1970s, the latter originating in England in the early 1990s. This paper maps out some elements of each in relation to the other and to genre, which we hope will set in motion further discussions and cross-fertilization

Translations: experiments in dialogic representation of cultural diversity in three museum sound installations

Using the example of three experimental museum sound installations, this paper discusses the translation into practice of the intention to make meaningful connections between diverse social positions and experiences. We use the term ‘dialogic’ to theorise these interactive intentions and show them at work in the content, development processes and form of the sound installations. Our discussion is framed by the collaboration between the authors across the disciplines of museum studies and creative practice

Autonomous control procedures for shuttle rendezvous proximity operations

The results are presented of a study which uses fuzzy sets to model a Space Shuttle pilot's reasoning and actions while performing rendezvous proximity operation maneuvers. In this model fuzzy sets are used to simulate smooth and continuous actions as would be expected from an experienced pilot and to simulate common sense reasoning in the decision process. The present model assumes visual information available to the Shuttle pilot from the Shuttle Crew Optical Alignment Sighting (COAS) device and the overhead window and rendezvous radar sensor information available to him from an onboard display. This model will be used in a flight analysis simulator to perform studies requiring a large number of runs, each of which currently needs an engineer in the loop to supply the piloting decisions. This work has much broader implications in control of robots such as the Flight Telerobotic Servicer, in automated pilot control and attitude control, and in advisory and evaluation functions that could be used for flight data monitoring or for testing of various rule sets in flight preparation

Rustic Speech and Folklore

Estudio sobre la fonología dialectal inglesa, la gramática dialectal inglesa y el folklore inglés. -- Pertenece a la colección Varia del Salamanca Corpus. -- Elizabeth Mary Wright, 1863-1958. -- Elizabeth Mary Lea , 1864-1958. -- Rustic Speech and Folklore. -- 1913.[ES]Estudio general sobre la fonología, la gramática y el folklore dialectales ingleses. [EN] Monograph on English dialect phonology, grammar and folklore

American Government in Action

This AVD project will focus on the development of student-centered learning activities and instructional strategies for a secondary government and economics teacher, Mary Ford, at Southside High School in Greenville, SC. The materials were created to provide more opportunity for students to be involved in their own learning process, analyze primary sources, and participate in self-guided learning in an effort for Government and Economics to be understood by students with varying interests and learning styles. This project was completed in three separate sections which each provide diverse lessons and address varying standards. The first section contains multi-purpose supplementary materials for the classroom as well as an interactive lesson utilizing Political Cartoons. The second section contains lessons analyzing primary sources as well as artwork and can be used within a unit on the Legislative Branch of Government in the US. The third section includes case studies of amendments to the Constitution of the United States. For this third activity each student will receive a modified court case pertaining to one of the Amendments to the Constitution. Students are to review their court case and submit in writing which Amendment they believe the case deals with

Complex Factors in the Etiology of Gulf War Illness: Wartime Exposures and Risk Factors in Veteran Subgroups

Background: At least one-fourth of U.S. veterans who served in the 1990–1991 Gulf War are affected by the chronic symptomatic illness known as Gulf War illness (GWI). Clear determination of the causes of GWI has been hindered by many factors, including limitations in how epidemiologic studies have assessed the impact of the complex deployment environment on veterans’ health