Patrick Dillon

A Psychometric Approach to Investigating the Environmental Beliefs, Intentions and Behaviours of Pre‐service Teachers

SUMMARY The importance of attitudes and values in determining human behaviour towards the environment is widely recognised, but their relationship to knowledge and understanding of environmental issues is less well understood. However, attitudes are theoretical constructs and cannot be measured through direct observation; instead, a psychometric model of enquiry has been used to investigate environmental beliefs, intentions and behaviours. Using self‐reporting methods, the model has been used in relation to a broad range of environmental issues with a cohort of post‐graduate students training to become teachers. Some results of the investigation are presented and the potential of the model for relating cognitive and affective elements of environmental education is discussed.

Use of Information Technology by English University Teachers: Development and Trends at the Time of the National Inquiry into Higher Education

Abstract The National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education was informed by a research study on information technology assisted teaching and learning in higher education in England led by the Telematics Centre at the University of Exeter. Evidence on educational quality and economic value was sought through literature reviews, case studies, seminars and a set of questions put out on the World Wide Web. This article presents a generalised summary of the working methods and outcomes of the institutional case studies, focusing mainly on educational rather than economic contexts and issues. The research confirmed that information technology assisted teaching and learning should be viewed as an intricate and repeated set of innovations applied to complex and rapidly changing interdependent systems. As a result, the full costs and benefits have not been considered by institutions. It is recommended that staff and institutional developments are synchronised through strategic management of change and that ai...

Technological education and the environment

Abstract In this paper, a generalized, long‐term view of the relationship between technology and the environment is set out. The environment is seen as changing in response to resource demands determined by economic conditions and available technology. A framework for technological education is proposed which is compatible with this long‐term view. The educational contexts of consumptive, sustainable, management, nostalgic, revived and information technologies are explored. The centrality of economics and value issues to technological education is emphasized.

Teaching and learning with telematics: an overview of the literature

A review of telematics (information and communication technologies) in teaching and learning with particular reference to developments in higher education in the United Kingdom (UK) is presented. Five themes are developed: the context of teaching and learning, the measurement of learning, the development of core curricula, the design of courseware and emergent educational frameworks; themes and issues are established in each. It is suggested that the current educational paradigm in which telematics operates, which is influenced by both behaviourist and constructivist theories of learning, is problematic in a field which is both complex and chaotic.

Multidisciplinary Collaboration and the Development of Multimedia Resources: The Images for Teaching Education Project.

SUMMARY The University of Exeter heads the Images for Teaching Education Project which has developed multimedia products under Phase 2 of the Teaching and Learning Technology Programme. An aim of the project was to investigate the educational potential of a range of image‐based multimedia formats. Products include videodiscs, videotapes, Photo CDs, and Photo CD portfolios with computer‐ and paper‐based support materials; some of the latter are linked to images through barcodes. The management of the project and the development of the products, which involved specialists in subjects, the design and use of educational materials, the production and use of images and sound, and the evaluation of teaching and learning, are described in a national context. The processes and outcomes of collaboration are discussed and the importance of a multidisciplinary approach is emphasized.

Education and Business Partnerships in the United Kingdom: Initiatives in Search of a Rationale.

Education-business partnership in the United Kingdom has a long history. The promotion of links between the partners at all levels and in all sectors of the economy has become a service industry in its own right. In 1991, the UK government established a regional network of Education-Business Partnerships (EBPs) in an attempt to coordinate these activities. Education-business links embrace curriculum enrichment for students at all levels of education; professional development for teachers, lecturers, and business employees; and institutional development and mutual benefits arising from collaboration between educational institutions, business, and the wider community. The authors review the development of education-business links in the United Kingdom and raise a number of issues about definition and purpose. They discuss the difficulties of establishing an educational framework for industrial, commercial, and business enterprises and the economic and technological processes which operate within them.

Some Applications of Interactive Video in Initial Teacher Training.

This paper describes disc‐based interactive video applications in initial teacher training which have arisen out of materials developed under the Interactive Video in Schools Project and Interactive Video in Education Awareness Scheme, sponsored by the Department of Trade and Industry. Interactive video is examined in the context of applications in five types of learning environment; as a presentation system for conventional lecturing or small‐group teaching, as a vehicle for independent student learning, as a resource for students on teaching practice, as an information source and as a surrogate tutor. In each case development work is described and future possibilities are discussed.

The Images for Teaching Education Project: developing multimedia resources within an integrative educational framework

The University of Exeter heads a consortium which has developed multimedia resources primarily for initial teacher education. Amongst a range of resources produced are Critical Encounters in Secondary Education, which deals with critical incidents in the classroom and how to deal with them, Multimedia in the Learning Environment, which deals with both the nature of multimedia and how it may be used in support of a range of approaches to teaching and learning and English Chalklands which deals with interpretational and judgemental responses to landscape. The resources are described and discussed in the context of the educational framework which has been developed to guide their use.