”A remark you made” is the title of a wonderful tune by the famous jazz-rock group “Weather Report”, issued on the influential “Heavy weather” LP some 30 years ago. In an age where planning and rationalizing is the main issue in most contexts, whether it’s a matter of studying, teaching, doing research or using a diet, “A remark you made” is a symbol of attending to the unplanned, unforeseen and often, unwanted. In most accounts on cognitive development one is overtly focused on the manageable, on the predictable and expected, and not so attentive to the opposite. “A remark you made” makes us think again and reconsider what might be of value, in what we otherwise might neglect.
AnnBritt Enochson presents her findings from a study she made on how tweens - children between 11 and thirteen - address each other on a very busy Swedish site for children: LunarStorm. While most attention is given in the media to the misuse of the Internet, this report suggests that in the vast majority of instances, kids address each other in a polite and inviting manner. AnnBritt works as a researcher at The Interactive Institute, Stockholm and as an associate professor in pedagogy at Karlstad University.
Joakim Samuelsson suggests in his article that using computer technology in the classroom not necessarily contributes to increased communication, or a more sophisticated communication. His context is the teaching of mathematics. Joakim Samuelson is an associate professor in pedagogy at Linkøping University, Sweden.
Lars Qvortrup presents a proposal for understanding the emerging discipline of “Media pedagogy”. He sketches out a variety of perspectives on media education, how it has been researched upon, and how it has been considered as an intellectual field, as well as an area of practical application. Qvortrup presents this within the theoretical framework of Niklas Luhmann. Lars Qvortrup is a professor in media studies, and was formerly the director of KnowledgeLab.dk. He is presently the rector of the Danish “Royal School of Library and Information Science” in Copenhagen. Professor Qvortrup is also a co-editor of Seminar.net.
In this article Professor Stephen Dobson and PhD-candidate Rune Sarroma Hausstätter tell a story about how the changes educational knowledge. Their frame of reference is not the classroom, but public debate. Dobson and Hausstätter discuss how this knowledge is interpreted and codified according to the schemes of the sociology of education. Both authors work at Lillehammer University College.