Volume 4 - issue 3 - 2008

E-publishing and multimodalities

In the literature of e-publishing there has been a consistent call from the advent of e-publishing on, until now, to explore new ways of expressing ideas through the new media. It has been claimed that the Internet opens an alley of possibilities and opportunites for publishing that will change the ways of publishing once and for all. In the area of publication of e-journals, however, the call for changes has received very modest responds.

The thing is, it appears, that the conventional paper journal has a solid grip on the accepted formats of publishing. In a published research paper Mayernik (2007) explaines some of the reasons for that. Although pioneers of e-publishing suggested various areas where academic publishing could be expanded on, the opportunities given are scarsely used. Mayernik outlines "Non-linearity", "Multimedia", "Multiple use", "Interactivity" and "Rapid Publication" as areas of expansion for the academic e-journal. (2007). The paper deserves a thorough reading in itself, and I will briefly quote from his conclusion: "It is likely that the traditional linear article will continue to be the prevalent format for scholarly journals, both print and electronic, for the foreseeable future, and while electronic features will garner more and more use as technology improves, they will continue to be used to supplement, and not supplant, the traditional article."

Developing professional competence by internet-based reflection

Marianne Aars is an Associate professor and Physiotherapist, at Tromsø University College. In this paper she aims at giving an example of how practical, clinical knowledge can be explored by the use of a tailor-made Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-tool: Physio-Net. In constructing content to this particular internet- based resource a clinician expert physiotherapist contributed with a detailed analysis of her own practice and its underpinning rationale, displayed by film and text simultaneously. The paper investigates the ways that led to how her "looking into her own practice" with "critical friends", mediated in a transparent mode showed a valuable learning potential for her self - as well as for other members of a professional community who would seek ways of making professional practice more open and easier to discuss and develop.

On the hidden curriculum of the mouse click: An anthropologically drama

Dr. Tobias Werler is an associate professor of education at The University of Agder, Norway. In this essay he explores the philosophical and anthropological grounds of why media and ICT changes the ways we experience and learn in the digital age. It pinpoints the "click of the mouse" as one of the basic control options of how man and machine interact. He question how "Bildung" needs to be reformulated and reinvented in this context of mediated experiences. He claims that the "iconic turn" needs to have educational consequences, and that the mastery of images and pictures should expand our notion of "Bildung".

Distance learning students in -communities of practice-

An analysis of nursing education offered in three different learning programmes.

Dr. Trine Ungermann Fredskild is a Senior Lecturer at the University College Syd, Denmark. In this article she investigates differences in attitudes among nursing students toward particular ways of performing their studies. She compares nursing education offered in three different learning programmes: full time, distance education students and credit transfer students and how they cope with issues of independent study, discipline of studying and cooperative activities. She demonstrate significant differences on a variety of factors and relates this also to how they use their respective Learning Management Systems.

Gender Profiles of Internet and Mobile Phone Use among Norwegian Adolescents

This group of authors, Reidulf G. Watten, Jo Kleiven, Knut Inge Fostervold, Halvor Fauskeand Frode Volden are all faculty at the Lillehammer University College, at the Department of Health and Social Science - section for Psychology. Knut Fostervold also holds a position at the University of Oslo, Institute of Psychology, and Frode Volden is also employed at the Institute of Media Design and Communication, Gjøvik University College.

In this paper they look into gender profiles in the use of ICT among Norwegian teenagers. A large number were asked about their use of the Internet and Mobile Phones, primarily. The results showed that Norwegian girls used the internet far more often for social activities such as chatting and e-mail while boys preferred to use it for entertainment and computational activities, such as gaming, e-commerce, viewing multimedia,, and for programming. Girls used their mobile phones far more often for texting than boys, who used their mobile phones more for technical functions. There was no gender gap in everyday phone usage.