Vol. 12, No. 1, March 1996

Collaborative learning and directive software

R. Wegerif, Institute of Educational Technology Open University,

Email: R.B.Wegerif@open.ac.uk

In this paper interactions of groups of school students working with a variety of educational software are analysed to develop an account of the structure of collaborative educational activities supported by directive software. First the application of a quantitative method is described and its results used to question the hypothesis that directive software limits the quality of discussion between groups of users. The nature of the talk occurring around directive software is then explored in more detail. It is argued that the structure of educational activities around directive software can allow for the possibility of embedding exploratory symmetrical pupil discussion within a directed teaching programme: an educationally desirable combination otherwise difficult to achieve.

Keywords: Collaborative learning; Educational software; Exploratory talk; Oracy; Primary Education

Accepted: 5 May 1995

Mental models and computer modelling

M. Wild, Department of Computer Education, Edith Cowan University

Email: m.wild@cowan.edu.au

This paper is concerned with the place of mental models in the process of knowledge construction and in particular, the relationship between mental models and computer models in that process. It identifies what is meant by mental models and outlines why they might be seen to be central to the process of acquiring knowledge. In this context, the second part of the paper analyses and discusses children's use of a spreadsheet to build their own computer models. It is suggested that the process of building models on a computer may provide direct support to the cognitive processes of constructing mental models, although the relationship is not straightforward.

Keywords: Primary; Computer modelling; Mental models

Accepted: 10 July 1995

Promoting IT competences with student Primary teachers

J. Robertson, Department of Curricular Studies, University of Paisley

Initial teacher education centres have a crucial role in promoting the use of information technology (IT) in schools through the opportunity to influence new teachers. There is some concern about the extent to which they are currently fulfilling their role. This paper reviews recent, relevant research with a view to identifying key factors influencing the quality of course provision. Gaps in current research are suggested and recommendations are made for the future.

Keywords: Information technology; Initial teacher training; Primary

Accepted: 15 March 1995

Designing interactive learning environments

Y. Akpinar and J.R. Hartley, Computer Based Learning Unit, Leeds University

Email: j.r.hartley@cbl.leeds.ac.uk

As computers become more prominent in classroom instruction their modes of use are extending, for example as surrogate teachers in tutoring or as curriculum enrichment in simulation applications where students are more investigative in their learning methods. However, within the classroom such programs often have effects and are used in ways that were not always anticipated by their designers. This argues for computer assisted learning (CAL) environments in which the software is interactive but is able to adapt to different styles of learning and teaching. This paper argues for and describes the design principles of such environments, taking as illustration an application in the fraction domain. Following its implementation, initial evaluation data taken from school-children showed marked performance improvements, and indicated how design features of the system (FractionLab) contributed to their understanding.

Keywords: Computer assisted learning; Fraction domain; Interaction languages; Interactive learning environments.

Accepted: 9th May 1995

Adaptation of courses for trans-European tele-learning

B. Collis*, D. Parisi,** M.B. Ligorio**, *University of Twente, The Netherlands; **Consortio Nettuno, Italy

Email: collis@edte.utwente.nl

This paper addresses the problems of adapting instructional courses for trans-European tele-learning and for enlarging the range of students and learning modalities in distance learning. Building on previous work on the portability of educational software, the paper examines various dimensions of adaptation of existing courses: (a) content, (b) instructional materials, (c) language issues, (d) instructional delivery, (e) the instructional setting of the course, and (f) the situation of the course in a programme of study, and considers how those dimensions will particularly affect course adaptation. From this analysis, a set of six guidelines is presented for course adaptation. The Commission of the European Community recently supported a trans-European project, TeleScopia, which aimed at investigating these dimensions as research issues.

Keywords: Adaptation; Trans-European; Tele-learning

Accepted: 31 May 1995