This study investigates patterns in the language and type of social sciences and humanities (SSH) publications in non-English speaking European countries to demonstrate that such patterns are related ...not only to discipline but also to each country’s cultural and historic heritage. We investigate publication patterns that occur across SSH publications of the whole of the SSH and of economics and business, law, and philosophy and theology publications in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Flanders (Belgium), Norway, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. We use data from 74,022 peer-reviewed publications from 2014 registered in at least one of the eight countries’ national databases and for 272,376 peer-reviewed publications from the period of 2011–2014 registered in at least one of the seven countries’ national databases (for all countries except Slovakia). Our findings show that publication patterns differ both between fields (e.g. patterns in law differ from those in economics and business in the same way in Flanders and Finland) and within fields (e.g. patterns in law in the Czech Republic differ from patterns in law in Finland). We observe that the publication patterns are stable and quite similar in West European and Nordic countries, whereas in Central and Eastern European countries the publication patterns demonstrate considerable changes. Nevertheless, in all countries, the share of articles and the share of publications in English is on the rise. We conclude with recommendations for science policy and highlight that internationalization policies in non-English speaking countries should consider various starting points and cultural heritages in different countries.
A significant criticism made of preservice teacher education is that it fails to prepare teachers in such a way that they would feel confident in the use of information and communication technology ...(ICT) in teaching, despite the assumed digital literacy of student‐teachers and the children they will eventually teach. New technologies have enabled multimodal design and digital storytelling in meaning‐making and communication and are now often instrumental and influential in shaping students' social practices and identities. The purpose of this study was to explore an integrative approach in applying ICT in learning with specific reference to the formation of mathematics teaching capability in preservice teachers. It takes into consideration student‐teachers' lived experiences when introducing ICT supported learning into their classrooms as well as their exposure to related university courses such as educational technology, special didactics of mathematics and mathematics. This paper describes the instructional design framework and assessment criteria for mathematical problem solving and digital storytelling introduced to an ICT course for student‐teachers. Based on the analysis of pre‐ and posttesting of the subjects' capabilities and reports of their perceptions, it is suggested that preservice teachers can efficiently develop their content knowledge in mathematics problem solving and that an integrative approach such as that described here may facilitate both mathematical problem‐solving competences and pedagogical competences for applying digital storytelling in solving mathematical problems. The cohort of preservice teachers had no prior experiences of digital storytelling or multimodal design and perceived them as new practices. Their conceptions changed during the course from the passive recipients to active producers of media content. They demonstrated reflection relative to learning‐by‐design and representation modelling. They perceived digital storytelling as a strategy and means for empowering the “student‐voice” and the active construction of knowledge. The findings of the study contribute to preservice teacher education indicating that an integrated approach of instruction that deploys digital storytelling and multimodal design can help facilitate preservice teachers' pedagogical competencies and mathematical content knowledge.
Many contemporary online learning resources use more than one sensory modality (audio, visual) or presentation mode (pictures, text). Multimedia learning material is often recommended for and adopted ...by students with dyslexia. However, there are not many empirical studies that support the benefits of multimedia for this group. Due to the variety of difficulties that these students may experience, multimedia may not be the most appropriate type of online content for them. Our study aimed to identify the most appropriate combination of multimedia content for them from among three commonly-used types of online learning resources. An experiment was conducted in which 27 students with dyslexia learned about a topic under one of three conditions: a scroll-down website with onscreen text and static pictures, video lecture and subtitled video lecture. No significant differences in learning outcomes were found between the groups. However, the effect sizes indicated the superiority of the website over the other two conditions. Because of the small sample size, further research is needed.
The contemporary digital divide is characterised by the uneven distribution of access to information communication technology (ICT), originating in the different motivation, physical access and ...skills of users. We synthesised existing theories and frameworks to develop and then empirically validate a theoretical model to predict university students' use of online learning resources (OLRs) at the crossroads of formal and informal learning. Because access to digital content may be a bigger issue for students with special educational needs (SEN), we also examined OLR use among this group. Fifty‐six students with SEN and 1642 mainstream students participated in the survey. Our main conclusions are as follows. In the whole sample, personal socio‐cognitive factors (beliefs, self‐efficacy) are the only significant predictors of OLR use. The results suggest that motivational and skills‐related differences between students contribute more to the digital divide than do either differences related to unpleasant environmental conditions (eg, inaccessibility, high prices, etc.) or personal context (eg, study‐fit, learning preferences, etc.). Separate regressions show that beliefs were significant predictors for both SEN students and their peers, while self‐efficacy was a significant predictor for the mainstream students only. Measuring unpleasant environmental factors as a continuum (environmental and contextual barriers) explained OLRs better than solely differentiating between SEN and mainstream students.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the evolution in terms of shares of scholarly book publications in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in five European countries, i.e. Flanders ...(Belgium), Finland, Norway, Poland and Slovenia. In addition to aggregate results for the whole of the social sciences and the humanities, the authors focus on two well-established fields, namely, economics & business and history.
Design/methodology/approach
Comprehensive coverage databases of SSH scholarly output have been set up in Flanders (VABB-SHW), Finland (VIRTA), Norway (NSI), Poland (PBN) and Slovenia (COBISS). These systems allow to trace the shares of monographs and book chapters among the total volume of scholarly publications in each of these countries.
Findings
As expected, the shares of scholarly monographs and book chapters in the humanities and in the social sciences differ considerably between fields of science and between the five countries studied. In economics & business and in history, the results show similar field-based variations as well as country variations. Most year-to-year and overall variation is rather limited. The data presented illustrate that book publishing is not disappearing from an SSH.
Research limitations/implications
The results presented in this paper illustrate that the polish scholarly evaluation system has influenced scholarly publication patterns considerably, while in the other countries the variations are manifested only slightly. The authors conclude that generalizations like “performance-based research funding systems (PRFS) are bad for book publishing” are flawed. Research evaluation systems need to take book publishing fully into account because of the crucial epistemic and social roles it serves in an SSH.
Originality/value
The authors present data on monographs and book chapters from five comprehensive coverage databases in Europe and analyze the data in view of the debates regarding the perceived detrimental effects of research evaluation systems on scholarly book publishing. The authors show that there is little reason to suspect a dramatic decline of scholarly book publishing in an SSH.
We investigate the state of multilingualism across the social sciences and humanities (SSH) using a comprehensive data set of research outputs from seven European countries (Czech Republic, Denmark, ...Finland, Flanders Belgium, Norway, Poland, and Slovenia). Although English tends to be the dominant language of science, SSH researchers often produce culturally and societally relevant work in their local languages. We collected and analyzed a set of 164,218 peer‐reviewed journal articles (produced by 51,063 researchers from 2013 to 2015) and found that multilingualism is prevalent despite geographical location and field. Among the researchers who published at least three journal articles during this time period, over one‐third from the various countries had written their work in at least two languages. The highest share of researchers who published in only one language were from Flanders (80.9%), whereas the lowest shares were from Slovenia (57.2%) and Poland (59.3%). Our findings show that multilingual publishing is an ongoing practice in many SSH research fields regardless of geographical location, political situation, and/or historical heritage. Here we argue that research is international, but multilingual publishing keeps locally relevant research alive with the added potential for creating impact.
This study examined the impact of tablet-based cross-curricular maths activities on the acquisition of higher-order learning outcomes over seven months in twelve third grade classrooms in Slovenia. ...In the experimental group (N = 124), classroom practice included tablet-based cross-curricular maths activities with post-participation testing to identify the effect on learning outcomes, and observations were conducted to identify the affordance and ergonomic characteristics of tablets for student learning. In the control group (N = 135) maths was taught as a discrete subject with traditional paper and pencil technology using manipulation of concrete objects. Groups were matched with respect to gender, ownership of a tablet computer and previous knowledge and understanding of maths. The instructional design of process-outcome strategies incorporated Bruner's (1966) three stage process with learning outcomes in the cognitive, affective-social and psychomotor domains. The affordance of tablet-based cross-curricular apps was examined with respect to domains of learning and ergonomics. The findings indicate that the tablet supported group had better outcomes, with a small effect size for conceptual knowledge (r = 0.10) and medium effect size for procedural knowledge (r = 0.33) and problem-solving abilities (r = 0.30). The authors therefore argue for the introduction of tablets in schools because their multi-sensory human-computer touch interaction provides interactive manipulatives supporting transition between representations on the concrete, visual and abstract level. The authors concluded that in cross-curricular maths teaching, tablets offers efficient use of resources from different subjects and multiple representations which facilitate learning outcomes in the cognitive, affective-social and psychomotor learning domains.
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•Tablet-based cross-curricular maths is examined for higher-order learning outcomes.•Procedural and problem-solving knowledge post-test scores are higher for test group.•Research examines tablets' ergonomic affordance for learning domains and process.•Tablets' ergonomic affordance is manifested in all domains of learning.•Tablet use supports transition between concrete, visual and abstract representations.
Experiential learning was introduced to support a child’s concept development towards evolution scientific literacy. This study examined the effect of an experiential learning model (The Mobile ...Natural Science Learning - MNSL) on the knowledge of 4th grade primary school students in Slovenia, during natural science school lessons at the seashore through the use of tablets. Mobile technology provides authentic learning, assisting outdoor lessons providing material and environmental context in learning, which support the experience of a learner. In the experimental group (N = 95), outdoor learning in the seashore included Kolb’s experiential learning cycle with the integration of tablets. In the control group (N=97), the teachers used concrete experience for exploring the seashore, excluding the Kolb’s cycle. The data were collected by using two science knowledge pre and post – tests. The test items were classified into three TIMSS’ cognitive domains: 1) factual knowledge, 2) conceptual understanding, and 3) reasoning and analysis. Differences between groups were analysed through Mann-Whitney U-test and showed that the experimental group had better learning outcomes than the control group. Findings indicate that the MNSL-model had a positive effect on students’ achievement in science, more precisely in knowledge on marine organisms and life at the seashore.
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