Web-based video and frame theory in the professional development of teachers: some implications for distance education

This study explores the use of video vignettes as a tool for the professional development of teachers. It is postulated that teachers' professional frames prime them to view vignettes through multiple “lenses,” and that teachers may not recognize exemplary practice when presented with it. Think-aloud and interview data are collected as 11 pre-service and 11 experienced teachers observe exemplary astronomy teaching video vignettes. Quantitative analyses suggest that teachers rarely recognized the exemplary qualities of practice presented to them. Furthermore, teaching experience significantly influences the type of lens through which a teacher will observe exemplary practice vignettes. There is also some evidence to suggest that priming teachers with instructions may be helpful. Implications for the design of video on the Web are discussed.     

The mass production of translation— For a limited market

The mass production of translation for a limited market was a concept initiated at Consultants Bureau in 1946 by the author, a concept that evolved over a period of several years amid trying circumstances. At each juncture, where it seemed the enterprise might fail, fresh thinking added further dimension. Even the potential threat that Robert Maxwell would either bury or swallow Consultants Bureau led to further orderliness in the end, not only of the process, but in international affairs, all the more remarkable since these events took place during and even at the height(s) of the Cold War, and without the possibility of intervention by any justice system or government influence. Earl Maxwell Coleman is the former president and CEO of the Plenum Publishing Corporation.     

A Modern Arsenal for Mental Assessment

The all purpose intelligence test ought to be a thing of the past. Psychology does not need another battery of tests; rather, it needs an armory of tests, each suited for a different purpose. The armory should contain tests based on three different views of intelligence: (a) intelligence as a general reasoning ability, (b) intelligence as a collection of domain-specific skills (with emphasis on verbal and visual-spatial domains), and (c) intelligence as an information-processing concept. Measurement procedures derived from each of these views are discussed. Comments are made about the kinds of research required to further the concept of an armory of tests, rather than a battery of tests.     

EDITOR'S COLUMN

… the forces of corporate culture have adopted a much more radical agenda … . to transform public education from a public good, benefiting all students, to a private good designed to expand the profits of investors, educate students as consumers, and train young people for the low-paying jobs of the new global marketplace. Henry Giroux