Western influences on the East, Eastern influences on the West: Lessons for the East and West

Professor Julian (Joe) Elliott, Durham University, England

As we gain increasing access to differing cultures around the word it is hardly surprising that we often seek to learn from one another. This is particularly likely to be the case in those domains where other societies appear to be more successful.

This keynote address will open by discussing the eagerness of policymakers in the US and UK to cherry-pick educational practices of high performing countries in Asia and Eastern Europe. Here, the focus was largely upon pedagogy, in particular, whole class interactive teaching - a common feature of many of these societies’ educational practices. The address will then draw upon developments in Russia over the past two decades to illustrate that more meaningful reasons for educational success concern attitudes and behaviour, not only those of students and teachers, but also those of the wider society. In the light of the Russian experience, I will highlight a number of risks to Asian education systems that are posed by rapid social change underpinned by globalising influences. I shall suggest that, for many Asian societies, an inevitable reduction of teachers’ traditional authority is likely to necessitate a greater emphasis upon the demonstration of professional authority. Finally, key interpersonal skills that underpin teacher expertise and authority will be outlined and discussed.
 

Initiatives for New Learning: Integration, Sustainability & Creativity

Professor Yin Cheong Cheng, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong

Numerous reforms and initiatives for new learning have been launched in different parts of the Asia-Pacific Region. This keynote speech aims to address the critical issues in theory development, policy formulation and practical implementation of these initiatives in relation to their effectiveness for new learning. The application of a new paradigm of learning for re-designing learning activities and related initiatives will be elaborated in terms of integration, sustainability and creativity. In particular, how multiple models of integrated learning can be used to maximize learning opportunities and sustain development of high-level learning and creativity of students will be discussed. At the end, the speech will also draw implications for future research and practice in curriculum design, IT application, teacher development and school leadership in the Region and beyond.

New Directions: Assessment, Learning and Transformative Media

Professor Eva L. Baker, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, USA

The presentation will discuss how programmatic research findings from education and psychology, in particular, from assessment, learning, and motivation, can improve the utility and effectiveness of media intended to improve human performance.  The presentation will consider a small and not exhaustive list of secure research findings, and identify classes of media and human system interactions that would qualify as “transformative” at the present.  With full knowledge that the media available is rapidly changing and ever wider in adoption, the presentation will provide illustrations of how research can be applied to explore, improve, and assess the impact of use in a variety of settings.  Examples involving games and other simulations will be given.

 

Building a Science Culture

Professor Bienvenido F. Nebres, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines

 

Self-directed Learning Oriented Assessment: Evolution and Innovation

Professor Magdalena Mo-Ching Mok, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong

Mediating Learning Strategies and Children’s Cognitive Plasticity

Professor David Tzuriel, Bar Ilan University, Israel

Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) processes refer to interactions in which parents, teachers, and peers interpose themselves between a set of stimuli and the developing child (learner) and modify them to enhance learning and cognitive plasticity. The MLE processes are gradually internalized by the learner and become an integrated mechanism of change within the child. The more MLE the child receives, the more he/she is able to learn from direct exposure to formal and informal learning situations. The quality of mediation may indicate future changes in the child's cognitive structures, deficient cognitive functions, and the ability to benefit from mediation in other contexts. Recent research has shown the efficacy of MLE processes in facilitating children’s cognitive plasticity in family and school settings. Mother-child MLE interactions, especially mediation for expanding (transcendence) predicted children’s cognitive modifiability in dynamic assessment setting. Children participating in cognitive education programs guided by MLE principles (e.g., Bright Start, Peer Mediation with Young Children) showed higher levels of cognitive flexibility and metacognitive skills than control children. They could learn the principles of mediation, apply them with their peers, and become better learners on both thinking skills and academic areas. Mediation processes within dynamic assessment were found to be effective in revealing potential for giftedness and cognitive modifiability, predicting emergent literacy, school achievements, and ego identity, and decreasing gender differences in spatial abilities.

 

Education Research in an International Context - Trends

Dr. Felice J. Levine, Executive Director, American Educational Research Association