Variations in the Work and Lives of Teachers: Relative and Relational Effectiveness

The VITAE project is a four‐year (2001–2005) research study, commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills, conducted with 300 teachers in 100 schools in seven local education authorities in England. The project aimed to identify factors that may affect their work and lives over time and how these factors may, in turn, impact on their teaching and subsequent pupil progress and outcomes. It combined quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis in order to define and examine notions of teachers' relational and relative effectiveness. The first part of the paper addresses the nature of effectiveness and three key themes relating to the changing contexts of teachers' work, lives and effectiveness: the challenge of reform to notions of professionalism; professional identities; changes in teachers' work and lives. The research design and early findings and their effects upon the development of the research form the second part. The final part of the paper discusses three sets of understandings which are fundamental to any consideration of teachers' work, lives and effectiveness: relative and relational effectiveness; teacher identities; teachers' life and work contexts. The research suggests that policy‐makers, school leaders and teachers themselves need to attend to these if teacher recruitment, retention and standards are to improve.

The Usability of a Commercial Game Physics Engine to Develop Physics Educational Materials: an Investigation

Commercial computer games contain “physics engine” components, responsible for providing realistic interactions among game objects. The question naturally arises of whether these engines can be used to develop educational materials for high school and university physics education. To answer this question, the author's group recently conducted a detailed scientific investigation of the physics engine of Unreal Tournament 2004 (UT2004). This article presents their motivation, methodology, and results. The author presents the findings of experiments that probed the accessibility and fidelity of UT2004's physics engine, examples of educational materials developed, and an evaluation of their use in high school classes. The associated pedagogical implications of this approach are discussed, and the author suggests guidelines for educators on how to deploy the approach. Key resources are presented on an associated Web site.

Drawing in Duos: The Journeys and Intersections Collaboration Project Between Istanbul and Worcester

This paper focuses on a collaborative drawing project carried out between two undergraduate drawing courses, one in İstanbul and the other in Worcester, during the Fall 2015 semester. Duos -teams of two working remotely- took turns to work on the same drawing in correspondence for three months by means of communication and sharing the changing images on-line with one another. The project introduced a collaborative method of learning based on drawing, initiated cultural exchange and cooperation. The role of drawing in the project was critical due to the direct but gradual nature of transmitting meaning onto paper. Outcomes of this project consisted of a flexible and playful creation process for students making use of the element of chance. They sought alternate ways to finalize a drawing and experienced the benefits of artistic co-production. The project has the capacity to inspire artists, instructors and others interested in creative partnership in different disciplines and can be of value as an educational model.