The Use of Computers in the Education of Open University Students with Disabilities     

Alistair D. N. Edwards 《Educational Media International》2013,50(2):100-103

Abstract

In 1988 the Open University is implementing a major new policy on the use of computers in its courses; students taking certain courses will be obliged to have access to a microcomputer. This new policy has many far‐reaching consequences, not least for students who are disabled. In the past most computing in Open University courses has been done by students using terminals in local study centres, linked to the University's mainframe computers. Also, a number of students who are disabled have used computers in their studies, principally for word‐processing written work. By interviewing disabled students who have taken such courses, and surveying other disabled students, it has been possible to anticipate to some extent the likely impact of the home‐computing (HC) policy. Results suggest that for many disabled‐ students the HC policy represents an improvement in their opportunities; now they will be able to study courses involving computers entirely at home. However, a number of problems have also been identified. Hopefully, as many of these have been recognised at an early stage, it will be possible to address them before they affect students directly.  相似文献   

Looking at action research through the lenses of sociocultural psychology and activity theory     

Anne Edwards 《Educational Action Research》2013,21(1):195-204

Sociocultural research and activity theory (SCRAT) are developments of the work of Vygotsky, which aim to capture how minds and actions are shaped by, and shape the opportunities for thinking and action available. SCRAT requires a rethinking of commonly held interpretations of relationships between culture and mind, and knowledge and action, so that attention is paid to how learners interpret and respond to the opportunities available to them. Like action research, SCRAT emphasises the development of a capacity to make informed interpretations of cultural contexts and the importance of collaborative or systemic responses to those interpretations. It adds to these concerns, a focus on the historical construction of possible interpretations and responses, and so offers a potentially useful way of mapping the developments being made by action researchers in their institutional settings. It is not suggested, however, that SCRAT is a substitute for action research, but that it may illuminate explorations of informed action and institutional change in action research  相似文献   

Toward a Model for Early Childhood Environmental Education: Foregrounding,Developing, and Connecting Knowledge Through Play-Based Learning     

Amy Cutter-Mackenzie  Susan Edwards 《The Journal of environmental education》2013,44(3):195-213

Environmental education represents a growing area of interest in early childhood education, especially since the inclusion of environmental principles and practices in the Australian Early Years Learning Framework. Traditionally, these two fields of education have been characterized by diverse pedagogical emphases. This article considers how teachers in particular see different types of pedagogical play, such as open-ended play, modeled play, and purposefully framed play as providing opportunities for young children and teachers to develop knowledge through experiences about environmental education in early childhood settings. As a result of findings based on our qualitative research study involving early childhood teachers and children, an emerging model for thinking about environmental education in early childhood is proposed as a way of integrating these pedagogical emphases traditionally associated with environmental and early childhood education. Avenues for future research associated with this model are also identified.  相似文献   

Visual Literacy and Visual Politics: Photojournalism and the 2004 Presidential Debates     

Janis L. Edwards 《Communication quarterly》2013,61(5):681-697

While newspapers use conventional images to accompany reporting on presidential debates, the rhetorical aspect of these images is illustrated through an examination of the 2004 debates. In this essay, the author first establishes oppositional positioning and mirroring as visual literacy conventions that augment those previously identified by Paul Messaris in his examination of advertising images. Second, a critical analysis of the photographs depicting the first 2004 debate, in particular, demonstrates how photo editors deployed visual conventions that either intensified clash or neutralized candidate performance fragments to produce a false symmetry despite a discordant reality. In subsequent debates, however, many editors employed alternate visual conventions that provided an improved visual balance between fairness and accuracy.  相似文献   

Critique and Politics: A sociomaterialist intervention     

Richard Edwards  Tara Fenwick 《Educational Philosophy and Theory》2013,45(13-14):1385-1404

Sociomaterial theories, including actor–network theory (ANT), materialist feminism and posthumanism, are sometimes argued to not be addressing or unable to address sufficiently the political and are therefore dismissed as irrelevant to educational research. Through an extended discussion of writers across the social sciences, this article seeks to counter such a view. Drawing specifically on the work of Latour on the nature of critique and on examples of political analysis from writers such as Barad, Bennett, Braidotti, Marres and Whatmore, we suggest that sociomaterialist approaches to the more-than-human open up extended understandings and productive alternative practices of politics. While recognising that this is a work in progress and not without difficulties and challenges, we argue that there is much to be gained for educational researchers from engaging with such approaches.  相似文献   

Knowledge development in adult learning groups     

Neil Mercer  Derek Edwards 《Open Learning》2013,28(2):22-28

Adult learning groups have often been studied in terms of the inter‐personal relations and problems which they generate. But how do adults develop, and build on, a shared understanding in such groups ‐ which is, after all, their main purpose ‐ and how can tutors best facilitate these processes? Neil Mercer, of the Open University's School of Education, and Derek Edwards, of Loughborough University's Social Sciences Department, address these questions here by applying research methods developed in schools. A tutor group at a recent Open University summer school is analysed as an example, but the implications of the study are more general.  相似文献   

The competitive advantages of distance teaching universities   总被引：1，自引：1，他引：0  

Richard Edwards 《Open Learning》2013,28(2):36-42

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Children's understandings of home-school relations     

Rosalind Edwards  Pam Alldred 《Education 3-13》2013,41(3):41-45

There is a consensus that close home-school links are beneficial for children's education. However, there is a silence about any part that children may play in, and their views on, this process. This paper reports on research in schools with diverse social intakes, looking at children's understandings and experience of home-school relations. Those in inner city schools were far more likely to talk about separation between their home and school lives, as were working class and ethnic minority children generally, as well as older children. However, all the children expressed strong views about the privacy of their home life in relation to schools and teachers.  相似文献   

Selecting Software with Caution: An Empirical Evaluation of Popular Beginning Reading Software for Children with Early Literacy Difficulties     

Lana Edwards Santoro  M. J. Bishop 《学校用计算机》2013,30(2):99-120

It seems appropriate, if not necessary, to use empirically supported criteria to evaluate reading software applications. This study's purpose was to develop a research-based evaluation framework and review selected beginning reading software that might be used with struggling beginning readers. Thirty-one products were reviewed according to criteria that addressed interface design, instructional design, and beginning reading content. Findings suggested that the software sample generally did not meet the evaluation standards. Results also indicated that software rating highly on interface design tended to rate lower on beginning reading content. Based on these results, implications for practice and next steps for research are also discussed.  相似文献   

Integrating Visual and Verbal Literacies in the Early Childhood Classroom     

Carolyn Pope Edwards  Linda Mayo Willis 《Early Childhood Education Journal》2000,27(4):259-265

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