Is support really necessary within educational games?
Games can be powerful learning devices because of their interactive and multimedia capabilities, and their abilities to keep students motivated, active, deeply immersed and engaged for sustained periods of time. Yet the extent to which this translates into more effective knowledge and skill acquisition is not clear from the research reported so far. Several researchers have stressed that support tools should be added to game environments to ensure that learning takes place. In this paper we will
An Integrated Approach for Analysing and Assessing the Performance of Virtual Learning Groups
Collaborative distance learning involves a variety of elements and factors that have to be considered and measured in order to analyse and assess group and individual performance more effectively and objectively. This paper presents an approach that integrates qualitative, social network analysis (SNA) and quantitative techniques for evaluating online collaborative learning interactions. Integration of various different data sources, tools and techniques provides a more complete and robust frame
Imagine... a new generation of Logo : programmable pictures
In 2000 we completed the development of a new generation of Logo environments containing a radical combination of the direct manipulation interface and rich interactive programming language. The Imagine environment will be released by Pearson Education, see http://www.logo.com.
How To Use GRID Technology for Building Next Generation Learning Environments
Grid technologies promise to improve the way we think about e-learning allow-ing wide-scale learning resources sharing in heterogeneous and geographi-cally distributed environments consenting, in this way, the implementation of distributed learning spaces where different organizations and individuals are able to cooperate in pursuing similar and complementary learning and training objectives. But is the e-learning ready for this evolution? In this paper we try, starting from an existing e-learni
Between arithmetic and algebra : a space for the spreadsheet ? Contribution to an instrumental appro
In this research work, we have a didactical look on the integration of a computer tool into mathematics teaching: the spreadsheet. We have related research about spreadsheet to an instrumental approach perceived as essential to analyze the questions of technological integration. This approach allowed us to extend to this technology the theoretical framework of instrumentation. These theoretical elements are being used in the analysis of the professional resources and the teaching practices, in o
Using Ontological Engineering to Overcome Common AI-ED Problems
This paper discusses long-term prospects of AI-ED research with the aim of giving a clear view of what we need for further promotion of the research from both the AI and ED points of view. An analysis of the current status of AI-ED research is done in the light of intelligence, conceptualization, standardization and theory-awareness. Following this, an ontology-based architecture with appropriate ontologies is proposed. Ontological engineering of IS/ID is next discussed followed by a road map to
Mastering by the teacher of the instrumental genesis in CAS environments: necessity of instrumental
In this article, we study didactic phenomena identified in integration experiments within our classes, CAS(implemented in calculators). From this study, we show the interest of an instrumental approach to understand the influence of tools on the mathematical approach and on the building of students' knowledge: through a process - instrumental genesis - a calculator becomes a mathematical work tool; this process depends on the tool's constraints and potentialities, on students' knowledge, and on
Analyse didactique de protocoles obtenus dans un EIAH en algèbre
Le micromonde APLUSIX permet de garder des traces de l'activité des élèves qui l'utilisent. En effet, il enregistre, dans leur totalité, aussi bien les événements du clavier, que les actions de la souris. Il est ensuite possible de suivre à l'aide d'un "magnétoscope" les évolutions des élèves. Nous avons conduit des expérimentations destinées à établir un état des lieux des connaissances des élèves en algèbre en début d'année scolaire, dans des classes de troisième, seconde
Knowledge, the keystone of TEL design
This talk outlines the arguments supporting the claim that knowledge is the keystone of the design of Technology enhanced learning (TEL) environments. First, I consider the meaning we could attach to knowledge and knowing, and I introduce the notion of conception. Second, I explore how far the problématique of validation is central in our research. And to conclude, I introduce a characterisation of conceptions, which could help in addressing the problem of TEL design at a theoretical level.
Intensive case studies for practice across the foundation stage
This paper will provide an introductory overview of the EPPE methodology and findings and focus upon the particular effects of specific teaching and learning practices in pre-schools.
Where settings view educational and social development as complementary and equal in importance, children make better all round progress. Freely chosen play activities often provided the best opportunities for adults to extend children’s thinking, but it seems that a balance between child-initiated play and the
Early Career Learning - the LiNEA project. Interim report for Accountancy
This report on the learning and development of trainee accountants covers the first two years of a four-year project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council’s Teaching and Learning Research Programme. Its findings are based on evidence collected from fourteen trainee accountants in their first year of training and from some of their mentors and managers. The main themes have been selected in order to facilitate discussions about the progress of the research with our employer partner
Informal learning in the workplace
This paper focuses mainly on theoretical frameworks for understanding and investigating informal learning in the workplace, which have been developed through a series of large and small scale projects. The main conclusions are included but readers are referred to other publications for more detailed accounts of individual projects. Two types of framework are discussed. The first group seek to deconstruct the “key concepts” of informal learning, learning from experience, tacit knowledge, tran
Learning during the first three years of postgraduate employment - the LiNEA Project
This paper is based on findings from the first phase of a four-year research project funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council as part of its Teaching and Learning Research Programme. The major component of this project is a longitudinal study of trainee accountants, graduate trainee engineers, and newly qualified nurses in England. This critical period of introduction to professional work has not been previously studied by a longitudinal series of observations and interviews, though
What does multimodality mean for English?: creative tensions in teaching new texts and new literacie
The argument for a pedagogy which embraces visual and multimodal representation is well established in academic circles (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 1996; New London Group, 1996; Cope & Kalantzis, 2000) and a plethora of literacies congregate around the ever-expanding subject English as the prime site for innovation and development. This paper will focus on one exploratory case study from the Economic and Social Research Council InterActive Education Project1 to examine how working with multimodal text
Professional learning in the educational research community: initial reflections on the experience o
Research capacity-building is a key element in the political economy of research in the social sciences. This can be seen, amongst other things, in the development of the ESRC Research Methods Programme and the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods. More specifically, concerns over research capacity reflect the criticisms that have been made of educational research, both within academia and, more particularly, the world of policy and professional practice. As a consequence within the educati
Standards and inclusive education: schools squaring the circle
It can be argued that inclusion is the major challenge facing the English education service. This presentation will report on the findings of a collaborative action research project involving teams from twenty-five schools in three LEAs working with researchers from three universities in an attempt to develop more inclusive practices. Unusually in this field, the schools were not selected because of any exceptional commitment to inclusion and the notion of inclusion was defined broadly as the at
Intensive quantities: why they matter to mathematics education
Ever since Piaget's (1952) classic work on number, a fundamental distinction has been drawn in the mathematics literature between extensive and intensive quantities. Extensive quantities (for example, volume, distance) are based on the logic of part-whole relations. Adding 20 decilitres of orange squash to 60 decilitres produces 80 decilitres of orange squash, since the whole is the sum of the parts. Intensive quantities (for example, density, speed) are based on the logic of co-variation. Addin
