School subject paradigms and teaching practice in lower secondary Swedish schools influenced by ICT and media

This article deals with how school subjects’ paradigms, i.e. the established content of the teaching and the way in which the teaching is traditionally organised, are influenced when digital media are becoming increasingly common in educational contexts. The study is based on interviews in so-called focus groups with teachers of different school subjects in a Swedish lower secondary school about issues concerning how much they use media and ICT in their teaching and how they think this affects the content of their subject, relations in the classroom, working methods and the role of the teacher. The theoretical point of departure is Basil Bernstein’s concepts of ‘recontextualisation’, ‘framing’, ‘classification’, and ‘the sacred and the profane’. The study shows that the teachers in the lower secondary school where the investigation was conducted use so-called new media to a relatively limited extent but that they are ready to develop their use if resources are made available. They also think that the content, working methods, relations and the role of the teacher are changing, usually for the better. Drawing on Durkheim’s concepts of ‘the sacred’ and ‘the profane’ it appears in this study that the sacred in schools is often associated with the physical and practical.     

Investigating teacher stress when using technology

In this study we use a model which we refer to as the ‘teacher–technology environment interaction model’ to explore the issue of the stress experienced by teachers whilst using ICT in the classroom. The methodology we used involved a comparison of three datasets obtained from: direct observation and video-logging of the teachers in the classroom; recordings of their galvanic skin response (GSR) taken whilst teaching; and interviews. Data were obtained from nine teachers, and in total, approximately 32 h of teaching activities were observed. The main results of this study were (a) the demonstration that teachers do suffer stress associated with the use of technology in the classroom (i.e. technostress) (b) the identification of causes, symptoms and coping strategies associated with technostress in the classroom. This study, therefore, points to an alternative way of thinking about the problems of implementing e-learning by conceptualizing some of these implementation problems in terms of technostress (and in particular of teacher–technology environment fit).     

The fair use doctrine: History, application, and implications for (new media) writing teachers

Writing teachers have always had to contend with plagiarism. However, the technology of the Internet and the thorny issues of copyright law complicate how we teach legal and ethical use of others’ materials in the networked classroom. Our pedagogy and curriculum choices and our students’ writing practices are shaped by a legal infrastructure that includes the fair use doctrine. Our understanding and knowledge of the fair use doctrine should become second nature to us. Critical awareness of fair use, the four-factor test, and how to conduct appropriate analyses when using others’ materials must become part of the everyday digital writing/new media classroom curriculum. To this end, the author summarizes the salient points of law and practice of fair use and demonstrates, in small ways, how the fair use doctrine can inform the teaching of writing in digital contexts. As teachers, researchers, and experts of writing, the discourse of fair use must be considered in addition to the discourse of plagiarism.     

World of Warcraft and the impact of game culture and play in an undergraduate game design course

During the past two decades, digital games have become an increasingly popular source of study for academics, educational researchers and instructional designers. Much has been written about the potential of games for teaching and learning, both in the design of educational/serious games and the implementation of off-the-shelf games for learning. Yet relatively little research has been conducted about how game culture and the enmeshed practice of play may impact classroom dynamics. The purpose of this study is to present a case study about how the use of World of Warcraft (WoW) as a teaching tool and medium of play impacted class dynamics in an undergraduate university-level course for game design. Specifically, this study will address how WoW’s game culture and the practice of play impacted (a) student-to-student dynamics and (b) class dynamics. The goal of this study is to explore some of the dynamics of play as a component of learning.     

The gorilla in the room: The impacts of video-game play on visual attention

Early studies of visual attention noted a phenomenon termed ‘inattention blindness’ – the inability of participants to see clear stimuli enter the visual field when attending to something else in that field – and sought to expand the understanding of the phenomenon (,  and ). Other research has focused on the changes to the human brain and cognitive functions as a result of video game play, both in positive and negative contexts (Howard-Jones, Ott, van Leeuwen, and De Smedt (2010)). This quasi-experimental study sought to corroborate some of the findings that tie together these seemingly disparate lines of research, adapting the methodology of the most cited inattention blindness experiment (Simons & Chabris, 1999).     

Constructions of dynamic geometry: A study of the interpretative flexibility of educational software in classroom practice

The idea of ‘interpretative flexibility’ underpins new approaches to studying technological artefacts and curricular resources in use. This paper opens by reviewing – in this light – the evolving design of dynamic geometry, its pioneering use within classroom projects, and early sketches of its mainstream use in ordinary classrooms. After examining curricular context and its instrumental dimension, the paper then reports a study of teacher constructions of dynamic geometry in classroom practice, conducted in professionally well-regarded mathematics departments in English secondary schools. From departmental focus-group interviews, four teacher-nominated examples of successful practice were selected for study in depth through lesson observation and post-lesson interview. Iterative thematic analysis was employed, first to establish a narrative outline of each case, and then the ideas and issues salient across cases. The study illustrates the interpretative flexibility surrounding the emergent use of dynamic geometry. It found important differences in practical elaboration of the widespread idea of employing dynamic geometry to support guided discovery. The process of evaluating the costs and benefits of student software use was influenced by the extent to which such use was seen as providing experience of a mathematical reference model, and more fundamentally as promoting mathematically disciplined interaction. Approaches to handling apparent mathematical anomalies of software operation depended on whether these were seen as providing opportunities to develop students’ mathematical understanding, in line with a more fundamental pedagogical orientation towards supporting learning through analysis of mathematical discrepancies. Such variation was associated with differences in positioning dynamic geometry in relation to curricular norms and in privileging a mathematical register for framing figural properties. Across all cases, however, incorporating dynamic manipulation into mathematical discourse moved implicitly beyond established norms when dragging was used to focus attention on continuous dynamic variation, rather than being treated as an efficient means of generating multiple static figures.     

Using the theory of habitus to move beyond the study of barriers to technology integration

The integration of technology by K-12 teachers was promoted to aid the shift to a more student-centered classroom (e.g., Roblyer, M. D., & Edwards, J. (2000). Integrating educational technology into teaching (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill). However, growth in the power of and access to technology in schools has not been accompanied by an equal growth in technology integration. Research into reasons for minimal technology integration has traditionally focused on post-teacher-education barriers to technology integration (e.g., Ertmer, P. A. (2005). Teacher pedagogical beliefs: The final frontier in our quest for technology integration? Educational Technology Research and Development, 53(4), 25–39; Ertmer, P. A., Gopalakrishnan, S., & Ross, E. M. (2001). Technology-using teachers: Comparing perceptions of exemplary use to best practice [Electronic copy]. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 33(3) 1–2; Hew, K. F., & Brush, T. (2007). Integrating technology into K-12 teaching and learning: Current knowledge gaps and recommendations for future research. Educational Technology, Research and Development, 55(3), 223–252). In this paper, I first clarify the definition of technology integration and question the contention that barriers, particularly those related to teacher beliefs, are behind the lack of technology integration. Using the sociological concept of habitus, or set of dispositions, I then explore preservice teachers’ past experiences as a possible explanation for minimal technology integration and discuss implications for future research and teacher education.     

Formative e-assessment: Practitioner cases

This paper reports on one aspect of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)-funded project ‘Scoping a vision of formative e-assessment’, namely on cases of formative e-assessment developed iteratively with the UK education practitioner community. The project, which took place from June 2008 to January 2009, aimed to identify current theories and practices relating to formative assessment of learning where technologies play a key role. The project aimed to scope the ‘domain’ of formative e-assessment, by developing cases of practice and identifying key formative processes within them, which are affected by the use of technologies. From this analysis, patterns were extracted to inform future software design. A discussion of the key issues emerging from the review of the literature on formative e-assessment, a full account of the project methodology – the design pattern methodology – as well as a critical discussion of the findings – namely the patterns and the role of technology – are the focus of a separate paper (see Daly, Pachler, Mor, and Mellar (in press). This paper documents how cases of formative e-assessment were developed during the project by a collaborative methodology involving practitioners from a range of post-16 education contexts. The cases were analysed with reference to key theoretical perspectives on formative assessment, particularly the work of Black and Wiliam (2009). In addition, Laurillard’s Conversational Framework (2002, 2007) was used to locate practices of formative assessment within a wider concept of learning and teaching involving technologies, although a detailed discussion of the latter is not within the scope of this paper¹.     

Musical rhetoric in integrated-media composition

Rhetorical analyses of popular music in film can guide composition teachers to develop an anticipatory pedagogy for transforming ready-made musical materials into coherent and persuasive psychologically interactive, integrated-media compositions. This essay offers an analysis of The Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” as the thesis of Lawrence Kasdan's The Big Chill and an examination of a student-produced digital video homage to David Fincher's Fight Club that employs The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” as a vehicle for its argument. Scholarly attention to visual rhetoric has helped composition teachers and theorists envision new possibilities for composing in new media. Careful consideration of musical rhetoric may enable us to hear new possibilities for integrated-media composition as well.     

IDR: A participatory methodology for interdisciplinary design in technology enhanced learning

One of the important themes that emerged from the CAL’07 conference was the failure of technology to bring about the expected disruptive effect to learning and teaching. We identify one of the causes as an inherent weakness in prevalent development methodologies. While the problem of designing technology for learning is irreducibly multi-dimensional, design processes often lack true interdisciplinarity. To address this problem we present IDR, a participatory methodology for interdisciplinary techno-pedagogical design, drawing on the design patterns tradition [Alexander, C., Silverstein, M., & Ishikawa, S. (1977). A pattern language: Towns, buildings, construction (Center for environmental structure series). New York, NY: Oxford University Press] and the design research paradigm [DiSessa, A. A., & Cobb, P. (2004) Ontological innovation and the role of theory in design experiments. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13(1), 77–103]. We discuss the iterative development and use of our methodology by a pan-European project team of educational researchers, software developers and teachers. We reflect on our experiences of the participatory nature of pattern design and discuss how, as a distributed team, we developed a set of over 120 design patterns, created using our freely available open source web toolkit. Furthermore, we detail how our methodology is applicable to the wider community through a workshop model, which has been run and iteratively refined at five major international conferences, involving over 200 participants.     

Invisible success: Problems with the grand technological innovation in higher education

This paper investigates a ‘grand’ educational technology innovation through theoretical lenses inspired by 10 and 11 work. Through taking this approach it is possible to show how ideas about the form of the innovation and perceptions of its ultimate ‘success’ or ‘failure’, varied between stakeholder groups. The project was pedagogically effective and popular with students, but was difficult to ‘sell’ to academics, had no senior management sponsor, and was unable to bring about cultural change in the institution despite the capital funding designed to do just that. Although many pedagogical lessons were learned, and have since been applied in other learning spaces around the host campus and elsewhere, these successful disseminations of changed practice were not in accordance with the objectives of key stakeholders. Therefore, they went unconsidered when decisions were taken about the project’s sustainability: hence the notion of ‘invisible success’. The project’s ‘failure’ is only apparent when viewed from certain perspectives; nevertheless, these perspectives are those of the powerful (or in 8 and 9 terms, those possessing capital and academic power) and are the consequence of deeply-rooted structural features in HE, which include funding models, risk-averseness, and fragmented responsibilities.     

Multiset rewriting over Fibonacci and Tribonacci numbers

We show how techniques from the formal logic, can be applied directly to the problems studied completely independently in the world of combinatorics, the theory of integer partitions. We characterize equinumerous partition ideals in terms of the minimal elements generating the complementary order filters. Here we apply a general rewriting methodology to the case of filters having overlapping minimal elements. In addition to a ‘bijective proof ’ for Zeckendorf-like theorems – that every positive integer is uniquely representable within the Fibonacci, Tribonacci and k-Bonacci numeration systems, we establish ‘bijective proofs’ for a new series of partition identities related to Fibonacci, Tribonacci and k-step Fibonacci numbers. The main result is proved with the help of a multiset rewriting system such that the system itself and the system consisting of its reverse rewriting rules, both have the Church–Rosser property, which provides an explicit bijection between partitions of two different types (represented by the two normal forms).     

Why Teachers Must Learn: Student Innovation as a Driving Factor in the Future of the Web

User innovation is the key to the development and vitality of technology. As Huatong Sun wrote, “expanding the scope of localization practices and linking user localization efforts” to design cycles—including pedagogical design—will help bridge the gap between what teachers/designers create and what skills users/students need and want. This article theorizes the role of modern composition students and teachers as co-constructors of productive spaces for learning critical inquiry based on students’ statuses as digital natives. It focuses on a class of first-year composition students who reshaped an assignment to fit their own needs within the physical classroom and also enacted a shift to a virtual classroom. While doing so, they provided ways for each class member to individualize space within that digital environment, and they focused their project on examining the ways in which social networking forums colonize their daily lives. This article argues that by letting student innovation drive pedagogical practice—just as social media creators let user innovation drive the digital structures they produce—composition teachers can be assured of having a text for critique that blurs the lines between “private” student underlife and “public” classroom practice and legitimizes the creation of student-produced learning spaces. Using critical and cyberfeminist theories as lenses, this article draws conclusions about the future of computer usage in composition pedagogy based on students’ abilities to re-appropriate physical and digital classroom space.     

Design with part behaviors: behavior model, representation and applications

A part is primarily characterized by its ‘function(s)’. The function of the part is achieved through its ‘interactions’ with other parts in an assembly under a set of operating conditions. These ‘interactions’ constitute the ‘behavior’ of the part. The ‘part behavior’ is achieved through a set of spatial and design functional relationships between the interacting surfaces of the parts. The set of spatial and design functional relationships for a part constitutes the Part Function Model (PFM) of that part. In this paper, the nature and role of part ‘functions’ and ‘behaviors’ have been studied in the context of a product design system. The paper addresses the following issues: (i) relationship between function, behavior, and geometry of a part; (ii) importance of ‘part behavior’ over ‘part function’, and development of a ‘part behavior’ model; (iii) methodology for transforming the part behaviors into the PFM model of the part; (iv) product model framework for storing the PFM model information with an Object Oriented Programming (OOP) based CAD system (Concentra's Concept Modeller); (v) importance of the PFM model within the product development process; and (vi) application of the PFM model for generating various product specifications of the part. The prototype implementation of a Functional Design System for transforming part behaviors into different types of part specifications has also been presented in this paper.     

The impact of synchronous inter-networked teacher training in Information and Communication Technology integration

This paper summarises the outcomes of research that recorded and interpreted change in pre-service teachers’ pedagogical beliefs when immersed in unique synchronous networked collaboration. The pre-service teachers were involved in the design and implementation of synchronous networked tasks, supported by the theoretical and pragmatic application of ‘informed’ Information and Communications Technology (ICT) integration. The pre-service teachers’ use of digital technology graduated from a didactic, broadcast delivery of information to more constructivist strategies that involved interaction, collaboration and ‘good’ learning. Moreover, the pre-service teachers gained competencies during a 12-week programme that led to the development of a suggested framework for ICT task development able to effectively promote and support improvements in learning.     

In the mind and in the technology: The vicarious presence of the teacher in pupil’s learning of science in collaborative group activity at the interactive whiteboard

The focus of research into the use of the interactive whiteboard (IWB) in the classroom has been largely in relation to teacher–pupil interaction, with very little consideration of its possible use as a tool for pupils’ collaborative endeavour. This paper is based upon an ESRC-funded project,¹ which considers how pupils use the interactive whiteboard when working together on science-related activities. It provides an analysis of video and other data from science lessons in UK Years 4 and 5 primary classrooms (pupils aged 8–10 years). Concentrating on a series of lessons constructed by three (out of 12) of the project teachers, together with their written and spoken commentaries, it takes each set of lessons as a case for study and comparison.     

Teachers' acceptance and use of an educational portal

In this study, teachers' acceptance and use of an educational portal is assessed based on data from two sources: usage data (number of logins, downloads, uploads, reactions and pages viewed) and an online acceptance questionnaire. The usage data is extracted on two occasions from the portal's database: at survey completion (T1) and twenty-two months later (T2). Framework for this study is C-TAM-TPB (Combined Technology Acceptance Model and Theory of Planned Behavior). 919 usable responses from teachers are obtained. Based on the observed use data at T1, four types of portal users are distinguished: ‘new’ (N = 37), ‘light’ (N = 641), ‘medium’ (N = 201), and ‘heavy’ (N = 40). Path analyses show that all predictor variables in C-TAM-TPB influence teachers' portal acceptance, but their significance level varies depending on the user type. The strongest predictors of behavioral intention to use the portal are attitude (‘new’) and perceived usefulness (‘light’, ‘medium’ and ‘heavy’), with variance explained ranging from .39 (‘medium’) to .71 (‘heavy’). The observed use data show that the portal is primarily used to search for and download material, rather than for sharing material or information. The use data at T2 show that teachers become more efficient in their search behavior and that the majority of the teachers use the portal more frequently. Guidelines are proposed to policymakers and school boards aiming to introduce a similar technology to teachers.     

Drawing curves onto a cloud of points for point-based modelling

Point-based geometric models are gaining popularity in both the computer graphics and CAD fields. A related design/modelling problem is the focus of the reported research: drawing curves onto digital surfaces represented by clouds of points. The problem is analyzed and solved, and a set of ‘design tools’ are proposed which allow the user/designer to efficiently perform ‘product development’ (alternative name: ‘detail design’) tasks which require efficient processing of a ‘digital surface’. The primary tool is a robust and efficient point projection algorithm combined with a smoothing technique for producing smooth ‘digital curves’ lying onto the cloud surface. The new design tools are tested on a real-life industrial example with very satisfactory results, which are thoroughly presented in the paper.     

E-Homebook System: A web-based interactive education interface

Children’s academic performance and social competence in school is positively associated with parent involvement. However, the researches about educational learning models often ignore the parent part. Moreover, Internet forms a new paradigm, education and communication approach is more complicated than ever. In this paper, we would like to introduce an Education Wheel model (EWM) which includes students, teachers and parents in the education environment. Under EWM framework, we design an E-Homebook System (EHS) with agents which provide a teacher–parent–student communication interface through Internet. The EHS comprises intelligent agents: interaction agent, instruction agent, information agent, evaluation agent and log agent. The agents manage a learning portfolio conception, observe and record students’ e-learning behavior through the web log, and provide teachers a reference of portfolio information. The agents adopt a trigger function to analyze the students’ learning behavior from Internet as well as from classroom, evaluate overall performance, then send an e-mail message automatically to the teachers and parents to guide and assist the students who need to revise their learning attitude. Similarly, the agents will record parents’ participation portfolio, then teachers may draft better communication strategy. The EHS provides a better communication role between students–parents–teachers, implements an integrated performance measurement method, and conducts a better teaching strategy support interface for elementary education.     

Bringing Commercial Games into the Classroom

One of the challenges facing us when we try to bring commercial materials such as video games into the classroom to be used as educational tools is to identify appropriate strategies of collaboration with teachers, families, and even industries. This paper explores how multimedia contexts can be created in which children become active participants in a digital universe where multiple technologies are present (so that video games are just one of several digital tools). We present several examples derived from specific projects carried out in formal and informal educational contexts, in action research and from ethnographical perspectives. As participant observers in and outside the classroom, we designed workshops as innovative educational contexts; all the sessions were video and audio recorded. Our analysis adopted a socio-cultural perspective. Several preliminary results clearly appeared: (a) Children playing commercial games inside and outside classrooms produce different writing texts depending of the context in which they are generated; (b) using video games combined with other digital technologies seems to be an effective way of introducing children to the content and structure of games considered as dynamic systems; (c) using and reflecting on video games in and outside the school, via discussions in digital media such as blogs or pictures, can contribute to the development of digital literacies as a way of using multimodal discourses. Our main goal at this moment is to design digital materials capable of supporting teachers’ and families’ use of games and in particular, to reveal the rules that organize their structure, codes and symbolic universe.