Educational Media

As computer games are becoming more widespread, there is a tendency for young people to spend a growing amount of time playing games. The market is steadily expanding with new games coming onto it daily, and there is a question raised on whether it has been beneficial to issue all of them.

Zusammenfassung: Die veränderten Rahmenbedingungen des kompetenzorientierten Geographieunterrichts stellen gemeinsam mit den technischen Möglichkeiten digitaler Medienträger wie Tablets und Smart-phones das Verbundmedium Schulbuch vor Herausforderungen. Während die ersten iBooks bereits auf dem Markt sind, setzte sich die Geographie-didaktik bislang weder in Forschung noch in der Praxis (z.B. in Form von Bewertungsrastern für Praktiker und Praktikerinnen) mit iBooks aus-einander. Vor diesem Hintergrund nahm sich diese Arbeit vor zu prüfen, inwiefern digitale Schulbücher oder iBooks den fachspezifischen Erwar-tungen des kompetenzorientierten Geographieunterrichts bei gleichzeitiger Ausschöpfung technischer Möglichkeiten entsprechen. Der Schwerpunkt lag zunächst auf dem letzteren Aspekt. Zwei iBooks für das Fach Geographie wurden einer qualitativen und quantitativen Analyse unterworfen. Eine erweiterte und adaptierte Fassung der gängigen Raster zur Schulbuchbe-wertung bildete das Instrument. Neben den allgemeinen und besonderen Merkmalen von iBooks wurden Aspekte der Gestaltung und Ausstattung bewertet. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass eine grundsätzliche Neukonzipierung der Lehrwerke unter der Berücksichtigung der Funktionen von Tablets noch nicht erfolgt ist. Auch zeigen die Ergebnisse die Herausforderungen, denen sich Autorenteams mit homogenem fachlichem Hintergrund stellen müssen. Abstract: Educational media are challenged by a number of new factors shaping formal education, such as skill-based constructivist paedagogies and digital media (e.g. tablets, smartphones). While the first iBooks already entered the market, both research in Geography Education on educational media and widely-used literature on textbook evaluation require a transition into the digital age. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to verify to what extent the digital textbooks or iBooks match the 83 iBooks für den Geographieunterricht standards of skills-based Geography Education and utilze simultaneously the possibilities offered by digital media. The latter aspect remained at the heart of this paper. The two Geography textbooks, which constituted the sample, were subjected to qualitative and quantitative text analysis. The research instrument consisted of an updated version of the established rasters of textbook evaluation and focused on the general features of iBooks along with their design and layout. The preliminary results show on the one hand that textbooks have not been adapted yet to the features of tablet and smartphones. On the other hand, results reflect a number of challenges emerging from homogenously constituted authors teams with a background either in Geography or Design.

Peer assessment (PA) provides opportunities for authentic assessment, autonomy and collaboration. Several authors advocate that students can benefit from PA and put forward the effects of PA on the students' learning outcomes. Questions concerning the validity and reliability of PA and PA competences are also addressed by different researchers. This qualitative study is part of a wider project that seeks to develop and test evaluation and assessment strategies in online contexts. In a doctoral module, PA was used for summative and formative purposes. Formative PA aimed to give feedback about the ongoing group work, but also to increase online interaction between the different groups of students. The main module task was to write a literature review, about a selected topic, using a wiki. Criteria and indicators to assess the literature review were negotiated with the students. Different criteria were used to assess the quality of PA, such as, the use of the negotiated criteria, the adequacy of the chosen vocabulary or the provision of constructive feedback. The results show that overall the quality of PA can be improved. Groups did not provide sufficient criticism, questions and suggestions for improvement.

This paper examines how a game-like 3D Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE), Quest Atlantis (QA), is used in an after-school programme to engage a group of 14 academically at-risk primary students in their learning. It adopts an activity theoretical perspective to identify the ...

In the distance teaching institutions where e-learning initiatives are underway and where the planners and administrators grapple with effective adoption and deployment of technology-enabled education, faculty attitude and motivation assume considerable significance. Attitudinal pre-dispositions and institutional and allied barriers (including appropriate policy initiatives) are assumed to play a crucial role in making an effective shift from traditional distance education delivery to web-enabled education and training. Such issues are especially critical to single mode mega universities like the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). This article reports the findings of a study conducted to examine the attitudes of faculty members from IGNOU towards e-learning, and to identify barriers and motivators of e-learning adoption and use. IGNOU, with about 1.5 million students scattered over 32 countries, has been offering e-learning programs for almost a decade. The findings suggest that extensive use of computers and email has a high relationship with positive attitudes towards e-learning. The most significant barriers perceived by the faculty included poor internet access by students and lack of training on e-learning, followed by institutional policy on and instructional design for e-learning. The important motivators included personal interest to use technology, intellectual challenge, and sufficient provision for technology infrastructure.

Online learning often requires learners to be self-directed and engaged. The present study examined students’ self-regulatory behaviors in online video-based learning environments. Using an experimental design, this study investigated the effects of a newly designed enhanced video learning environment, which was designed to support or scaffold students’ self-regulated or self-directed learning on students’ learning behaviors and outcomes. In addition, correspondence between students’ self-regulation strategies in traditional learning environments and observed self-regulated learning behaviors in the enhanced video environment were examined. A cross-sectional experimental research design with systematic random assignment of participants to either the control condition (common video) or the experimental condition (enhanced video) was utilized. Undergraduate and graduate students participated in the study (N = 80). Study results indicate that the newly designed enhanced video learning environment was a superior instructional tool than the common video learning environment in terms students’ learning performance. In addition, there was correspondence between graduate students’ self-reported self-regulation and observed self-regulation, with those high on seeking/learning information and managing their environment/behavior more likely to engage more in interactive note-taking.

Oral History, also die gesprochene Geschichte oder kommunizierte Erinnerung über historische Ereignisse, eröffnet der Bildungsmedienforschung eine zusätzliche Perspektive. Interviews bieten sich dabei als Quellen an, um eine Vielzahl von Fragen zu untersuchen, die den Entstehungsprozess und die Nutzung des Bildungsmediums betreffen. Allerdings müssen bei der Durchführung und Interpretation dieser Interviews verschiedene Aspekte beachtet werden, die deren Informationsgehalt einschränken: Intersubjektivität,
Erinnerung, Narrativität und Performanz. In diesem Essay geht es vor allem um die ersten beiden Charakteristika, da sie die Forscherin oder den Forscher, anders etwa als die offensichtlicher wirkende Performanz, vor besondere Herausforderungen in der Analyse stellen und zudem in der Vergangenheit von einer auf Inhalte und Verständlichkeit fokussierten Bildungsmedienforschung vernachlässigt wurden, was sich im Zuge einer empirisch ausgerichteten Bildungsmedienforschung allmählich ändert und zu ändern ist.

One of the major objectives of the earliest print media in Nigeria, particularly those established by the missionaries, was to promote education. The coming of broadcasting media before the independence of Nigeria followed similar pattern until the later part of the last century when there was paradigm shift from information-education media objective to entertainment value so as to keep abreast of the world trends. The paradigm shift has given birth to broadcasting channels that specialised in various sectors of the media functions such as: sport, entertainment, documentary, education, news, traffic, and others. Establishing such broadcast media is meant to give adequate coverage and due airtime to the sector in question. To support this, some higher institutions of learning were given licences to operate radio stations for the promotion of youth education in the country. This paper therefore, did a content analysis of the programmes of some institution-owned radio stations to ascertain whether their programme contents are educationally inclined or not. It also did a survey on radio station preference among youth to establish their level of acceptability of educational radio stations.

Recently, there has been a great deal of interest in the use of video games for education because of the high level of engagement of players. This article blends research on game engagement from the media flow perspective with current pedagogical theory to advance 2 core design principles for a model educational game design: model matching and layering.

This article considers the radio programme for kindergarten-aged children that the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) launched during the Second World War and continued to broadcast until 1985. Kindergarten of the Air, thought to be the ‘first of its kind in the world’, was to inspire interest from, and similar programmes throughout, the British empire and beyond. The article examines the imperial and
international broadcasting networks that enabled the exchange of ideas and initiatives within the field of educational broadcasting, and the export of one of Australia’s most successful radio initiatives, while also considering the willingness of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to be influenced by a dominion broadcaster.

The increased availability of digital post-production techniques to educational and domestic markets and the proliferation of media broadcasting channels reinforce the need to develop media literate learners who are producers as well as consumers. Such an approach reflects the key concept underlying media literacy education (MLE), which is also referred to in this study as critical media literacy education (CMLE). Thus, the aim of the study presented in this paper was to examine critical thinking (CT) abilities about the mediathe level of CML -among elementary school pupils (aged 10-12) in Israel. It was tested through their systematic exposure to a media program based on the critical inquiry approach of the BFI model (Bazalgette, 1989). This model was chosen because it offers a flexible and open learning-instruction environment. It encourages learners to engage in constant investigation of media texts taken from their daily socio-cultural milieu through skeptical questions. In this sense, the model concepts follow the purpose and main notions of CT education: to equip learners with the power to reflect and to probe through skeptical questioning and to develop thinking skills for deliberating about reason and truth behind events in daily life (Haloren, 1995).

It is generally observed that the textbooks employed in the classroom play a crucial role in the process of teaching and learning. In the EFL context in Iran, where Iranian EFL learners rarely have access to native speakers, the teacher mediates between the learner and the text. Accordingly, a textbook plays more important roles in this context and textbook evaluation is critical. Nowadays, under the influence of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), most global materials try to involve learners in the process of learning by introducing several types of tasks and activities whose aim is to promote learners' interaction. However, most teachers and instructors are using the global materials without being aware of the task types used in them and whether these task types really involve learners in the communication process or not. The purposes of this study was to evaluate and compare the two most popular global course books (Top Notch and Interchange) which are taught in Iranian E...

This proposal superimposes the history of Philippine dance research to technological revolutions in the 20th century. It moves the study to the 21st century paradigm where digital technology is the emerging trend in education and indigenous media is sound practice. Using digital technologies and mixed methods, this paper shall evaluate the use of indigenous research methodology, deconstruct the narrative structure of Radzmina’s indigenous knowledge, find emerging themes in indigenous media production and feedback of culture-interested Facebook users, develop a working model for educational digital media production and, finally, contribute to new educational media in dance research.

The ISO 9001 (2000) define "Quality" as the ability of a set of inherent properties and characteristics of a product, system or process to fulfill requirements of customers and other interested parties. The "Plan de Calidad de Obra (PCO)" is an instrument that follows to get the necessary quality in Civil Works contracts. Graphical documentation generated during construction project elaboration or even during Civil Engineering works execution with planes, makes obligatory a meticulous treatment of this information that results transcendental in the consecution of the definitive products (projects or works) quality objective. In this work it's shown the principal graphical documentation procedures defined in the PCO attending to the edition, modification, distribution, storage, and other relevant aspects related to graphical information.

In order to establish appropriate approaches for effectively communicating climate change with youth, scholars and practitioners have become interested in harnessing the potential of informal education for the communication of climate change. This study has two aims. The first is to establish the presence of climate change in children’s educational television in the U.S. The second is to propose a set of criteria that can be used to analyse the communicative features of children’s television programs with climate change content. To illustrate how the criteria can be used, I conducted a qualitative content analysis on a sample of television episodes. The findings reveal some positive trends in how the issue of climate change is communicated in children’s television. Overall, the episodes incorporate several critical recommended practices in constructing content that is age-appropriate and supports comprehension, including the use of trusted messengers and featuring examples of youth taking positive actions against climate change. Areas for improvement were also found, in particular, the types of images and frames used to communicate the issue.

A general model for motivational design of instruction is described and reviewed in terms of its application to E-learning contexts. Following a description of what is meant by E-learning environments and an overview of the four category model and design process known as the ARCS model, a variety of studies are summarized. The ARCS model is based on a synthesis of motivational concepts and a problem-solving approach to design, rather than the application of specific motivational solutions that are advocated without regard to the specific characteristics of a given situation. The first group of reviewed studies illustrates the results of testing the motivational design process in several different E-learning settings, in relation to learner self-regulation and in terms of the interaction of personality characteristics and motivational strategies. The second group of studies includes tests of the validity of a simplified motivational design process that has been used in diverse types of E-learning settings, including multiple countries and cultures. Overall, the results of these empirical studies have confirmed the validity of this model for the systematic design of motivationally enhanced instruction in E-learning settings with regard to lowering drop-out rates and other positive motivational outcomes.

In the distance teaching institutions where e-learning initiatives are underway and where the planners and administrators grapple with effective adoption and deployment of technology-enabled education, faculty attitude and motivation assume considerable significance. Attitudinal pre-dispositions and institutional and allied barriers (including appropriate policy initiatives) are assumed to play a crucial role in making an effective shift from traditional distance education delivery to web-enabled education and training. Such issues are especially critical to single mode mega universities like the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). This article reports the findings of a study conducted to examine the attitudes of faculty members from IGNOU towards e-learning, and to identify barriers and motivators of e-learning adoption and use. IGNOU, with about 1.5 million students scattered over 32 countries, has been offering e-learning programs for almost a decade. The findings suggest that extensive use of computers and email has a high relationship with positive attitudes towards e-learning. The most significant barriers perceived by the faculty included poor internet access by students and lack of training on e-learning, followed by institutional policy on and instructional design for e-learning. The important motivators included personal interest to use technology, intellectual challenge, and sufficient provision for technology infrastructure.

Representations of colonialism in textbooks are currently the subject of considerable academic interest. This chapter seeks to establish whether, and if so, how, knowledge about Africa and Africans entered textbooks during the historical period of decolonization and the transition to the postcolonial age; its focus is on what is known as the ‘Scramble for Africa’. The chapter is based on comparative analysis of history textbooks from England and the Federal Republic of Germany and places particular emphasis on maps as integral elements of the textbooks’ chapters on imperialism. The analysis uncovers incremental inclusion of knowledge about Africa and African people in textbooks from both countries, with differences related in part to their divergent systems governing the production and use of textbooks.


in: Péter Bagoly-Simó, Zuzana Sikorová (Ed.): Textbooks and Educational Media: Perspectives from Subject Education, pp 361-375.

PENDAHULUAN Pengenalan isu Melalui penerapan kurikulum KSSR dalam sistem pendidikan di negara kita, kaedah pengajaran dan pembelajaran (PdP) yang memusatkan murid, bahan media serta berasaskan aktiviti telah menjadi fokus utama dalam PdP Matematik di sekolah rendah. Oleh yang demikian, kursus-kursus dan siri latihan telah diberikan kepada guru-guru bagi melahirkan guru-guru bukan sahaja mempunyai pengetahuan isi kandungan yang tinggi malah dapat menguasai kemahiran pedagogi dalam melaksanakan pengajaran yang memusatkan media, murid dan aktiviti. Bagi menilai sejauh mana guru mengoptimumkan penggunaan media dalam pengajaran dan pembelajaran Matematik, persoalan yang sering diutarakan adalah sejauh manakah guru mempraktikkan pengajaran dan pembelajaran menggunakan media? Adakah amalan guru dalam pengajaran dan pembelajaran di bilik darjah dipengaruhi oleh faktor-faktor lain seperti kelengkapan sumber dan bahan pengajaran, saiz kelas dan faktor masa? Apakah persepsi guru-guru dalam melaksanakan pengajaran dan pembelajaran menggunakan media di bilik darjah?

Mugisha JF Using information and communication technology to revitalise continuing professional development for rural health professionals: evidence from a pilot project Rural and Remote Health 9: 1222. (Online), 2009 Available from: http://www.rrh.org.au

Why are the basics of education so little changed in our era of digital technology? Does it mean that education is remarkably resilient or that it's obsolete? These questions can best be answered not by imagining an uncertain high-tech future, but by examining a well-documented past—a history of instruction and media that extends from Gilgamesh to Google. In this book, Norm Friesen looks to the combination and reconfiguration of oral, textual, and more recent media forms to understand the longevity of so many educational arrangements and practices.

Vocabulary learning is an important and indispensable part of any language learning process. The author of this thesis focuses on effective vocabulary teaching strategies in the English for Academic Purposes ESL classroom. Drawing on findings obtained from observing three English for Academic Purposes ESL classrooms across the U.S.A, several current databases and his personal experience as a teacher and learner, the author discusses various effective vocabulary teaching strategies in the English for Academic Purposes classroom which could greatly assist English language learners in their journey of language acquisition and therefore expedite the language learning process.

The chapter 'Textbook Effects and Efficacy' aims to provide a brief overview of current research approaches on the effects and efficacy of textbooks, aligned to the major areas of research in this field such as textbook language; socio-cultural and socioeconomic factors; visual textbook parameters; cognitive, affective and behavioural effects; and new technological and/or methodological approaches. In doing so, it summarises empirical evidence produced in a range of fields dedicated to textbooks and educational media. The emphasis here is on experimental and quasi-experimental studies. The concluding remarks suggest potential approaches for new directions in research.

The didactic, psychological and cultural principles and approaches to the problem of creating a database of writers of the school curriculum are considered in this thesis work. The author of the work has estimated Literature as one of the central school subject thus it could have great potential for the use of Internet technologies in the learning process. Any subject can not distance itself from the global pedagogical and methodological trends.

The article deals with the development of the concept of “educational journalism” in Ukrainian and European journalism, defines the concept of “educational content”, typology and functions of the education media outlets. The study is relevant because it is the first time in Ukrainian
journalism a thorough attempt was made to study the concept of “educational journalism”. The study aims to define the concept of “educational journalism” in the Ukrainian media discourse and analyze the typological and genre features (sampled by the selected online publications on educational topics). The research method is quantitative content analysis. It allows us to understand a range of problems in the field of education, which is the core focus of the analyzed media outlets, as well as the fields of education that are covered least of all. The novelty is connected with introduction of the concepts of “education media outlets”, “the path of educational journalism” into Ukrainian journalism and with the development of the structure of the multimedia
editorial office that is specialized in education. The complexity of work on educational content is that educational journalism per se is a specialized field of knowledge, however, preschool, secondary education, higher education, inclusive education (among others are oligophrenic education, deaf education and blindness and education), postgraduate education, andragogy are defined among the fields of education. The study presents the results of quantitative content analysis of online education media outlets “Osvita.ua”, “Pedpress”, “Osvitoria” and “NUS” (6623 publications of these education media outlets were analyzed), which allowed to identify themes and genres that prevail in journalistic materials on educational topics, as well as the sources of origin of these materials — the author's or borrowed ones from other resources (in particular,
The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine). The results of the study are not only of theoretical but also practical relevance, since they can be taken into consideration during the development of curricula for the training of education journalists, conclusion of terminology and
formation of recommendations for the work of education journalists..
Keywords: educational journalism; education media outlets; path of educational journalism; Pedpress; Osvita.ua; NUS; Osvitoria.

In recent years, students in the high schools in Ghana continue to perform poorly in English Language examinations,
especially for students at the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE). Various stakeholders in the
education sector continue to deliberate to find answers to this unfortunate development. Some scholars have suggested
that students' failure in the English Language examination is as a result of the readability and comprehensibility levels of
the comprehension passages presented to students in their examinations. English language examination questions that
cannot be read easily cannot be well understood. Determining the level of readability is of great importance if
comprehension is aimed at. The authors made use of two Readability Indexes which include the Flesch-Kincaid Reading
Ease and Gunning Fog Scale to carry out document analysis of the reading ease of seven comprehension passages
presented to candidates from 2014 to 2020 in the WASSCE, to carry out the readability analysis and how that may have
affected their Comprehensibility. The key findings from this study indicate that the readability of the comprehension
passages analyzed between 2014 and 2020 was either very difficult or difficult for the students to comprehend. In
conclusion, the researchers believe that the high level of readability of the comprehension passages has partly
contributed to the low pass rate of the student in the English language at the WASSCE.
Keywords: Readability, comprehensibility, students, stakeholders, Ghana

Kompetenzorientierung statt bloßer Wissensvermittlung soll die Qualität von institutionalisiertem Lehren künftig kennzeichnen. Die Differenz von Wissen und Kompetenz liegt insbesondere in der geforderten Fähigkeit, erworbenes Wissen auch in Handlungskontexten performant werden lassen zu können. Der Beitrag geht den Implikationen dieser Umorientierung nach. Es werden ein gegenwärtig dominantes naturwissenschaftlich geprägtes und ein pädagogisches Kompetenzverständnis gegenüber- gestellt. Aus einem pädagogischen Kompetenzverständnis – so wird dar- gelegt – ergeben sich notwendige, wenn auch nicht unproblematische Ausweitungen des Kompetenzbegriffs, die speziell das Feld der Medienkompetenz und der Gestaltung Neuer Medien für Bildung betreffen. Da Kompetenz auch in der verwendeten Technik „steckt“, werden Überlegungen entwickelt, wie aus pädagogischer Sicht die Frage nach einer dem traditionellen Bildungsanspruch genügenden Relation zwischen kompetentem Subjekt und kompetenter Technik beantwortet werden kann. Die Problematik einer pädagogischen „Kompetenzüberschreitung“, insofern diese Überlegungen nicht nur das Lernen des Subjekts, sondern auch die „Verfügbarkeit“ der Technik betreffen, wird abschließend erörtert.

Instead of just the transfer of knowledge, focus on competence should, in the future, denote the quality of institutionalised teachings. Generally, the difference between knowledge and competence is seen to lie especially in the stipulated ability to make acquired knowledge become performative in operational contexts. This article pursues the implications of this new orientation; in particular, it focuses on the volitional dimension of acts regarding their voluntariness. A currently dominating understanding of competence that is relying heavily on natural science and can do without the presumption of the free will, is being confronted with a pedagogic understanding of competence, which cannot be conceived without the notion of free will. From a pedagogic understanding of competence, as it will be argued, arise inevitable, if also not unproblematic expansions of the concept of competence, which especially affect the field of media competence and also the designing and development of New Media for Education. Since competence is also embodied in the technology applied, it is being contemplated, how – from a pedagogic point of view – the relation between competent subject and competent technology can be described in a manner that meets the criteria of traditional educational intent, called “Bildung”. These are the fundamental characteristics of competence understood in this new way/fashion:
• The availability of technology;
• Knowledge contained within technology, but also always limited po- tential for an effective perception, extended reasonable operational options;
• The required know-how for the handling of technology;
• Space of manoeuvre, to be able to exhaust the potential of the availa-
ble technology;
• One’s own potential to develop the required skills for the expansion of one’s own scope;
• The courage to really exercise the claimed right of use of one’s own reason;
• The ability and willingness to take responsibility for the resulting outcomes and effects of one’s own actions.
The difficulty of a pedagogic “competence overstepping” is concluding discussed, in respect to these considerations; not only relating to the lear- ning of the subject but also to the “availability” of technology.

Social media are fundamentally changing core practices in various industries. Although surveys indicate that social media are impacting social scientists, we know little about how education scholars, specifically, use social media for their work or professional learning. This article explores how educational scholars incorporated the social media, Twitter, as a conference backchannel. Using qualitative interview data collected from members of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and considering previous analysis of AERA conference tweet data, we describe participants' purposes and practices and their perceptions of how using this social media impacts participation in the conference community. We discuss implications for those concerned with research dissemination, faculty professional development, and academic identity.

Graphs, charts, cartograms… and thematic maps are common tools for handling and communicating quantitative information in contemporary society” (Åberg-Bengtsson and Ottosson 2006, 43). Modern school geography, as a discipline that intensely relies on media, often utilises graphic visualisations to communicate information (Haubrich et al. 2006). Consequently, current geography textbooks contain a high ratio of graphic visualisations, including maps, satellite images, diagrams, and infographics (Janko and Knecht, 2014).
Studies from pedagogical psychology, however, have revealed a disparity between the growing utilisation of graphic visualisations in learning materials and students’ abilities to process information from graphics (Hochpöchler et al. 2012; Mayer 2010; Schnotz and Baadte 2014). Moreover, a 2013 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development study on adult literacy skills reported difficulties amongst more than 30 percent of the adult population in understanding complex graphic visualisations (OECD 2013). Furthermore, although the “multimedia principle” (Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning; Mayer 2009) states that adding graphics to text can improve learning, not all graphics in textbooks are learning effective (Sung and Mayer 2012).
Notwithstanding the widespread use of graphics in contemporary geography textbooks, little is currently known about learners’ attention paid to them. Only a few studies have evaluated students’ perceptions of maps and graphic outputs from GIS (e.g. Brus, Voženílek, and Popelka 2013; Brychtová, Popelka and Voženílek 2012; Ooms et al. 2012; Ooms, Maeyer, and Fack 2014). Although Janko and Peskova (2013) analysed types of visuals utilised in geography textbooks, and Janko and Knecht (2014) developed a research instrument for categorizing visuals in geography textbooks and assessing their instructional qualities, they also emphasised the need to conduct further research.
This chapter therefore takes as its horizons the investigation of potential learning-related challenges posed by complex graphic visualisations in geography textbooks by investigating the following questions:
1. To what extent do the participants pay attention to graphics while solving a task?
2. In what way does the information design of graphic visualisations influence the participants’ visual attention to depicted graphics in geography textbooks?
For this purpose, interdisciplinary observation methods were applied to interlink aspects of geography education and information design with aspects ofpedagogical psychology and textbook research.

This background paper on rural labour markets and migration in South Asia has been prepared for the 2008 World Development Report. The paper focuses on the question of how rural labour markets and migration can be made to work better for poverty reduction. Using select case studies and longitudinal studies from five parts of India and Bangladesh we first discuss the key processes that shape rural labour markets and how these have evolved over time with the changing macroeconomic, policy, agro-ecological and infrastructural context. Each region is discussed separately to draw out the influence of location specific factors and illustrate the complexity of labour markets in South Asia. Under each we examine factors that have enabled rural labouring households to improve their asset base and wealth status. We find that while agricultural wages have remained relatively low, a few rural labouring households have been able to break out of poverty through household diversification strategies that use a combination of two or more of the following: accessing regular work (not necessarily well-paid) inside or outside the village; leasing in land or being given a land by a patron for cultivating; and starting up a small business. Skills, education, strong intra-family cooperation with pooling of labour and resources; being able to use social networks to one's advantage and the capacity to "shift" occupations from traditional to modern ones are critical in accessing better paid jobs and more work. The stage in the lifecycle of the household and the number of dependents play an important role in enabling households to establish themselves on an upward trajectory of accumulation. Ultimately the prospects for achieving an "exit" from poverty depend very much on the political, social and natural resource context which shape the institutions that allocate resources and set the terms of trade and exchange for the poor.

Au travers d'entretiens semi-directifs et de l'analyse de messages envoyés dans deux listes de diffusion institutionnelles par des professeurs de sciences physiques, nous tentons d'appréhender leurs nouveaux rôles et leurs nouvelles pratiques après l'introduction des TPE et des TICE dans les lycées. La création de véritables réseaux pédagogiques par ces enseignants compte parmi les premiers éléments pertinents de ces types de communautés virtuelles. Les enseignants de sciences physiques présentent l'utilisation des TICE et des listes de diffusion comme des éléments qui sont apparus tout naturellement dans leur pratique quotidienne. Pour eux, les listes constituent une sorte de formation permanente à distance. Ils redistribuent rapidement leurs informations et leurs méthodes, créant ainsi une sorte d'apprentissage de la communauté par la pratique. Is the use of new forms of communication by application of ICT in education leading to a new job outline for French science teachers? Through semi-directive interviews and content analysis of emails exchanged between physics teachers using two institutional mailing lists, we have tried to evaluate the new and changing roles and practices of teachers since the introduction of TPE and ICT in French high schools. The real and functioning teaching networks created by physics teachers count among the first relevant and concrete examples of such virtual communities. The interviewed physics teachers consider ICT and the use of mailing lists as elements which have inserted themselves naturally alongside other more traditional teaching methods and practices. For them, the lists can thus be likened to a kind of ongoing at distance training course. Furthermore, participating teachers are in the process of rapidly sharing and redistributing information and methods, this contributes to the ongoing training of the community based on practical experience. Führen die neuen Kommunikationsformen, die mit Gebrauch von TICE und TPE in Frankreich einhergehen, auch zu einem neuen Berufsbild bei den Physik-lehrern? Durch gelenkte Interviews und Inhaltsanalysen der zwischen Physiklehrern ausgetauschten e-Mails, die zwei institutionelle Mailinglisten benutzten, haben wir versucht, herauszufinden, wie sich die Rollen und Praktiken der Lehrer seit Einführung von TPE (travaux personnels encadrés) und TICE (l'information et de la communication pour l'éducation) im höheren Bildungswesen Frankreichs erneuert bzw. verändert haben. Die real vorhandenen und auch funktionierenden, von Physiklehrern aufgebauten Unterrichtsnetzwerke zählen zu den ersten relevanten vorzeigbaren Beispielen dieser virtuellen Communities. Die befragten Physiklehrer betrachten die Nutzung von TICE und den Gebrauch von Mailinglisten als Elemente, die natürlich einen eigenen Weg gegenüber den mehr traditionellen Methoden und Praktiken darstellen. Für sie bedeuten der Einsatz dieser Elemente erste Schritte zu so etwas wie Distance-Training-Lehrgängen. Die teilnehmenden Lehrer sind auch weiterhin in den Prozess eingeschlossen, sich schnell Informationen und Methoden auszutauschen und diese weiterzuverbreiten. Sie tragen damit zu der auf praktischen Erfahrungen beruhenden Weiterentwicklung der Community bei.

In this article I describe how twelfth grade high school pupils in a German small town responded to video-graphed interviews with Shoah survivors, focusing on emotions and empathy; concepts that are viewed critically within German history education. The pupils’ responses were based on two focus group interviews and a small questionnaire. Results indicate that this was a new way for them to learn about this history and that they were willing to engage emotionally and empathetically with the stories, which helped them to reflect deeper on the horrors of the Shoah. However, the most traumatic parts of the stories were beyond their ability to imagine. In addition, accessing this history empathetically could not answer pressing moral and political questions.

(The uploaded file is a preprint with different page numbers. The page numbers of the final printed version are 102-111).