Group Reflection Tools for Virtual Expert Community - REFLEX Project
The aim of this project is to improve work quality, creativity and performance in various professional communities of knowledge-intensive companies by integrating teamwork and learning in collectively designed information spaces. This project will provide a pedagogical model for building and sharing expert knowledge within physically distributed teams that have a need to collaborate and co-ordinate information. The project will utilize latest information and communication technologies in develop
Teaching proof in a dynamic geometry environment: what mediation?
This paper aims to discuss two issues. First we intend to analyse if and how dynamic geometry software prove to be a communication space for students and how they support students towards proving. Second, we reflect about the use of video-tapes as source of information both for Mathematics Education research and for the teaching practice. In particular we approach the question: how do video-tapes help in the construction of a shared experience in the classroom?
Problem-solving and Web resources at tertiary level
We organised two experimental teaching designs involving web resources in two different French universities. In this paper, we describe these experiments and analyse the students' behaviours. Our aim is to observe whether the use of specific online resources favours the development of problem-solving activities.
Students' and teachers' perceptions of motivation and learning through the use in schools of multime
This article is the result of interviews with teachers, students, and school librarians in eight UK secondary schools regarding their use of multimedia encyclopaedias on CD-ROM. It focuses on a content analysis of their comments on how having access to multimedia encyclopaedias changes the way students work and learn in school, how they perceive it enhances their learning, and how it hinders it. Teachers reported that they used multimedia encyclopaedias as an additional information resource, or
A comparison of preferred learning styles, approaches and methods between information science and co
In recent years the two disciplines of Information and Library Studies and Computing Science have drawn closer together to the extent that now there are several Universities where they are combined in a single school of Information and Computing Science or Informatics. Currently, a single Higher Education Academy Subject Centre serves the two disciplines. However, there are marked differences between the disciplines observable immediately in the gender balance of their respective undergraduate c
The impact of problem order: Sequencing problems as a strategy for improving one's performance
Two experiments investigated the impact of problem order and problem sequencing on performance. In experiment 1 subjects were either presented with a suitable or an unsuitable presentation sequence where they were free to deviate from. Presentation sequence had an impact on performance and rearranging problems improved performance for high priorknowledge subjects whereas low prior-knowledge subjects' performance deteriorated. Experiment 2 yielded evidence that effects of problem sequence have to
New Types of Careers in the Knowledge Economy ? Networks and boundaryless jobs as a career strategy
Over the last few decades, many countries have found themselves in a context characterized by the spread of the knowledge-based economy (OECD, 1996; Foray and Lundvall, 1995; Soete, 1996; Storper, 1995). The Knowledge Economy implies a farreaching transformation of the labour market, particularly in terms of job mobility and career development (Christensen, 1989). In this context, careers are increasingly fragmented, and people are more mobile in the labour market, with social networks playing a
A Plug-In Architecture for Graph Based Collaborative Modeling Systems
This paper presents ongoing work on a graphical modeling and discussion support system. One of the properties of the presented approach is that it tries to implement a "collaborative mind tool" approach, bridging the gap between a communication means and a system with AI functionality. The paper also points out the XML based plug-in mechanism of the system and illustrates it by several categorized examples.
ICT-onderwijsmonitor studiejaar 2002/2003: Strategische keuzen bij ICT-innovatie van het Hoger onder
In het najaar van 2002 heeft het ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap opdracht gegeven aan Research voor Beleid en het SCO-Kohnstamm Instituut voor het uitvoeren van een ict-monitor hoger onderwijs. Doel van de ict-monitor is het verschaffen van een integraal beeld van de toepassing van ict voor onderwijsdoeleinden in het Nederlandse hoger onderwijs. Als eerste studie binnen de ict-monitor hoger onderwijs is een reviewstudie naar Nederlandse praktijkvoorbeelden uitgevoerd (Schoonenboo
Framework for integrated learning
In this paper we outline the instructional approach of scripting CSCL. Scripts are didactic scenarios that structure collaborative learning activities in a number of phases. The scripts may define for each phase what task the students have to perform, the composition of the group, the way the task is distributed, the mode of interaction, and the timing of the phase. CSCL scripts can be further differentiated with regard to the design dimensions granularity, degree of coercion, locus of control,
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.
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
Distance training, a key mode to support teachers in the integration of ICT ? Towards collaborative
The integration of ICT into the teaching and learning of school subjects remains still rather weak, even in highschools. Changes in users' practices required by such integration have probably been underestimated: teachers are obliged to question and change their professional practices. It turns out that standard training sessions towards ICT have been found to be unsuited for supporting teachers in overcoming their difficulties with this integration. This document describes a specific distance,
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
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
'Obsessive compulsive font disorder': the challenge of supporting pupils writing with the computer
Writing with the computer provokes and enables pupils to engage with aspects of multimodal design [Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures, Routledge, London, 2000]. At the same time the traditional stages of the writing process become much more fluid and integrated [Aust. J. Language Literacy 17(3) (1994) 183]. These consequences of technology are not recognised within the curriculum, the assessment system or current models of teaching the writing process in the
Integrating conceptions of learning for advancing educational practices
Introduction: I have argued elsewhere (Desforges, 2000b) that the core function of educational research is to make a contribution to the educational enterprise. Education is society's commitment to enhancing the human condition through capitalising on human potential for learning. There are many factors involved in such a mission. Better education entails better resourcing, creativity, will, energy and resourcefulness. Researchers must make their contribution by adding to the base of knowledge a
Technical Paper 4 - The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Project: Parent, Family a
Information on the characteristics of the parents, families, and children was collected by parental interview at the start of the study. This information was used to describe the sample in terms of the parents (labour market participation, socio-economic characteristics, qualifications, marital status and age), the family (composition, ethnicity and language), the child’s health, development and behaviour, the child’s activities in the home, the use of pre-school provision and childcare hist
Analysing User Generated Content for social science. Generational "we sense" in the Italian blogosph
This was a presentation given at the 4th International Conference on e-Social Science, held in Manchester between 18th and 20th July 2008. This video is 15 minutes 20 seconds long....
JISC Information Environment Portal Activity. Supporting the Needs of e-Research: Scenarios, Use Cas
This is the scenarios, use cases and reference models section of the final report of the JISC Information Environment Portal Activity: supporting the needs of e-Research. The aims and objectives of this study were: To scope the requirements of e-Research within the area of resource discovery with...
