Evaluating the effectiveness of academic development – Edited by Lorraine Stefani

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Alvermann, Donna E ed (2010) Adolescents’ onlineliteracies Peter Lang (New York & Bern) ISBN 978-1-4331-0551-7 222 pp £19.70http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.ccc.seitenstruktur.detailseiten&seitentyp=produkt&pk=53962&cid=5

What are these “online literacies” that this substan-tial book talks about in the context of their posses-sion by adolescent learners? By analogy with“computer literacy” and “IT literacy”, you mayexpect the phrase to mean the young users’ fluencywith IT applications to solve their problems. Not so!In fact, neither the book’s editor nor the variousauthors give an explicit definition of what they meanby the term. The way in which this phrase is used inthe book is, in fact, closer to the traditional meaningof ″literacy″ than to fluency with IT applications. Iwould define it on that basis as the young people’sability to express themselves and interact with oth-ers—and by this means make sense of themselves,their experiences and the contexts in which they live.

In this case, the skills set is not just their expressiveability to read and write standard plain text butinvolves a range of other expressive tools—both ofmaterial (including, for instance, pictures, movies,audio) and of conceptual nature (such as song textswhich belong to popular culture—not literary piecesbut ones that help the youths to focus on real issuesand to make sense of life). In the same way, the con-struction of a personal space in a web-based socialenvironment does not involve much literary produc-tion but leads the users to tackle self-identity issuesand find the best way to present information of dif-ferent kinds about themselves.

This edited book includes ten chapters by authorsfrom Australia, Europe and North America; theydiscuss various aspects of adolescents’ onlineliteracies.

The authors, as well as the intended readers, areteachers, researchers, graduate students, educa-tional media specialists, and librarians. The chaptersdo not form a fixed sequence but nicely complementeach other and still stand alone, allowing the readerto proceed in any order without losing sight of theoverall message. Together, they discuss how adoles-cents use traditional literacies in virtual spaces andwhat kinds of (new) literacies must come into playthrough virtual engagement. They argue howmeaning is made across traditional and digital lit-eracies, yet manage to avoid having to create rigidand superficial boundaries between old and new.

Analysing online literacies is a current and relevantissue, because online activities are now occupying agood amount of the students’ time and attentionthat was once devoted to books. Even though usualonline literacy practices are often considered trivial,they are actually providing a suitable arena for thedevelopment of relevant skills and understanding.Online literacy practices provide examples of power-ful cultural productions and enable adolescents toappropriate discursive resources. For instance, insocial environments, adolescents are involvedin processes of making and remaking self-presentations, hence creatively and productivelyexploring aspects of identity and contributing toconstruct meanings in relation to their contexts andexperiences. The ability of multimedia and web tech-nology to bring a variety of modes together in thesame text opens up new possibilities to conveymeaning in different ways and allows people to tellindividual messages and stories in personalised andductile ways. The unlimited access to a variety ofmultimodal resources, among which are artefacts ofpopular culture, provide opportunities to work oncultural texts that may be richer and more stimulat-ing than those addressed by traditional literacies.Moreover, bringing out-of-school literacies into theclass increases students’ motivation by proposingactivities and issues that they perceive to be real andrelevant for them. Engagement in virtual spaces cantherefore provide interesting opportunities toexplore complex, meaningful issues and gives rise tosocially and culturally situated literacy practices.

The book’s overall message is that we shouldbroaden the concepts of text and literacy to includethe wealth of meaning-making forms that arecreated by the use of information and media tech-nologies; academic literacy goals can effectively bemerged with students’ desire and need to make senseof their world. It is necessary to avoid both roman-ticising online spaces and dismissing as irrelevantthe skills and habits of mind that can be developedwhile pursuing online literacies. This may lead us todesign more sensitive and effective instruction andto develop powerful alternative pedagogies.

I enjoyed reading this book, which I find stimulatingfor the variety of points of view discussed, as well asfor the careful and interesting analysis of the con-sidered issues.

Giuliana Dettori (received January 2011)Researcher at the Institute for Educational Technology ofCNR, Genoa, [email protected]

British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 42 No 2 2011 E42–E49

© 2011 The Authors. British Journal of Educational Technology © 2011 Bera. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, OxfordOX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.

Barnett, Ronald (2011) Being a university Rout-ledge (London & New York) ISBN 978-0-415-59268-0 188 pp £24.99http://linguistics.routledge.com/books/details/9780415592680/

For centuries, the university has been a place forteaching, research, and extension activities in alldomains of knowledge. It differs from a single disci-pline research centre, a college focusing on teach-ing, and even from an advocacy agency. It should bean independent institution that has the moral andcultural capacity to pursue knowledge in its purestform. In the process, the university performs mul-tiple roles and functions, and, therefore, it is also in aconstant state of change.

In particular, to be relevant to its society, the univer-sity has to reinvent itself. Thus, Professor Barnettsays that there is no single idea of the university. Hedwells on this topic at the conceptual level in anexploratory manner and informs us that the explo-ration is a critique and reflection on the attributes ofa university in both philosophical and speculativeways. While the ideas about the university areutopian, Professor Barnett proposes four feasibleutopias—the liquid university, the therapeuticuniversity, the authentic university, and the ecologicaluniversity.

The book is divided into three parts, and twelvechapters. In Part I, the author analyses the differentforms of “being” that have characterised the univer-sity in historical and contemporary contexts. Thesefour chapters discuss the metaphysical, scientific,entrepreneurial and bureaucratic aspects of the uni-versity respectively. These can be lead to the conceptof four types of university; but the aspects are notexclusive: many times we find all these characteris-tics interwoven in a complex structure called—theuniversity.

In Part II Barnett moves on to the key concepts onwhich a university depends. The four chapters herediscuss “being and becoming”, “space and time”,“culture and anarchy”, and “authenticity andresponsibility”. While becoming a university is agradual process, being is imaginative. Both require adeep understanding of the fundamental ethicalvirtues and concerns that uphold the status of beinga university. In order to understand the university, itis important to understand that the university livesin multiple spaces and timeframes that bring in thequestions of autonomy and academic freedom thatresult in constant friction between the “communityof teachers” and the “community of administra-tors”. Sometimes, these manifest as “culturalanarchy”. But the university is a space that shows aculture of critical discourse and dissensus. The

chapter on authenticity and responsibility questionsthe nature of responsibility and authenticity thatthe university should uphold and portray. To beauthentic, the university should be responsible,leading to a situation of “responsible authenticity”.

In Part III, the author discusses those four feasibleutopias in different chapters. The “liquid university”is ready to adopt and adapt new forms and proce-dures and is not limited. So it “opens itself to theworld”. In fact, the idea of a “therapeutic university”is the most acceptable one, as its impact is mostlytransformative. Though the concept of authenticuniversity is utopian, it is possible to strive to makethe academy as realistic as possible for the societalrelevance. The idea of “ecological university” isfuturistic, but it is a “necessary utopia”. It cansubsume the other three utopian ideas of theuniversity.

Professor Barnett presents to us a complex array ofconcepts and thoughts built around the idea of theuniversity. While the book is a complex explorationof philosophical inquiry, it is not judgmental. I per-sonally would have preferred discussion on “openuniversity” and “virtual university” as forms withinthe liquid university. Barnett believes that the uni-versity is a dynamic institution that is alwaysunfolding itself and therefore is in a constantprocess of becoming.

The book is very good for academics in highereducation to understand themselves and studyhigher education.

Sanjaya Mishra (received December 2010)Associate Professor (Distance Education), Staff Trainingand Research Institute of Distance Education, IndiraGandhi National Open University, New Delhi, [email protected]

Cambridge, Darren et al ed (2009) Electronic port-folios 2.0 Stylus (Sterling VA, & Eurospan, London)ISBN 978-1-57922-321-2 202 pp £27.95http://stylus.styluspub.com/books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=183392

Sub-titled “Emergent research on implementationand impact”, this is a truly excellent book on thesubject of electronic portfolios, e-portfolios. It drawson a number of authors from across the world topresent their experiences, findings and insights intoe-portfolios, their potential applications and possibleimplementations. The book presents a significantbody of theory and research about reflective learn-ing and the possible different purposes and uses forany kind of portfolio, backed up with case studies toillustrate ideas and concepts.

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© 2011 The Authors. British Journal of Educational Technology © 2011 Bera.

Electronic portfolios 2.0 starts with a detailed look atreflective learning and the role an e-portfolio canhave in helping learners to reflect. This includesquantitative and qualitative data on the beneficialeffects an e-portfolio may have on learning.

The book then goes on to introduce the concepts oflife-long and life-wide learning, and the importanceof reflective learning and portfolio learning on theseconcepts. In particular, the editors and writers placesignificant emphasis on the potential to shift fromreflection on short-term, specific episodes—such asan assignment or learning experience—to reflectionon wider and longer term outcomes, such as con-tinuing professional development and lifelong per-sonal development and the benefits such a shift mayhave to offer.

The final section of the book discusses the technol-ogy involved with electronic portfolios and the rangeof features and potentials of such technology.

Probably the clearest message the book has to offer isthe need for clarity of purpose for any portfolio. Thepurpose of any portfolio has a significant effect onthe way the learners use and view portfolios, andon how to implement any e-portfolio system. Theauthors also stress the need for proper integration ofa portfolio (and its defined outcomes) within the cur-riculum and the overall student experience.

The book presents these key themes through aninformative mix of research findings and casestudies. The case studies come from both sides of theAtlantic, though there is a heavy bias towards USinstitutions. The case studies provide some excellentand inspiring examples of good portfolio practice,particularly when looking at setting up e-portfoliosat institutional level.

In summary, this book is an excellent guide to thesubject of e-portfolios and is of interest to learningtechnologists, curriculum leaders and other manag-ers looking to go into this field. The book is clear toread, well laid out and easy to follow.

Nicholas Webb (received November 2010)eLearning Programme Manager, Cardiff School ofMedicine, [email protected]

Cohen, Louis et al (2010) A guide to teaching prac-tice Routledge (New York & London) ISBN 978-0-415-48558-6 539 pp £23.99http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415306751/

This is the revised fifth edition of a massive, tightlyprinted tome that first appeared in 1977; previous

editions have deserved to be highly popular, despitethe big book’s big price; that is, of course, because ahuge and continuing effort—one that is generallysuccessful—has been made to meet the now wellspecified needs of people training to be school teach-ers in the UK.

Especially in these times of recession, there is anover-high demand for teacher training places in theUK, at least in the majority of subject areas. Greateffort has been made by the teacher training pro-viders (mainly university schools of education) toprovide competitive programmes—ones defined byeffective quality control and an output of newlyqualified teachers that the schools recognise inturn as being effective and of high quality. It is notat all easy to attain and maintain that quality—well over a third of entrants to those programmesdo not reach employment as teachers (perhapstwice as many in the case of some programmes),and well over a third of those who do becometeachers do not survive in the classroom for morethan a few years.

This almost encyclopaedic book—“encyclopaedic”at least in its bulk—recognises at least some of thetrainees’ problems: from the inability to plan effec-tive lessons (and then to implement the plans) tostress; from sometimes highly confrontational ill-discipline to stress; from too great a gap betweentheir programmes’ theory provision and the realityof teaching life to stress; from juggling too manycompeting needs to stress . . . . It is very good inhandling some of those problem areas (such asbehaviour management, primary school teaching,the main ones of the many forms of assessment, theuses of IT to improve teaching and learning,resource management); it is less good on others(such as the organisation of educational visits,health and safety, stress management, and timemanagement).

But overall the book is very good. That statementdoes not, however, allow me to avoid noting a coupleof main areas of concern.

The first is that the writing is unduly academic,doubtless for historical reasons (the authors havebeen practising for over three decades). “You willhave deduced from what you have just read that theissue of behavioural objectives has incurred adegree of odium scholasticum in some quarters. Thereasons why some are inimical to their use arenumerous.” (p 125) (Indeed, surely most pro-grammes, tutors and teachers call them “learning”,rather than “behavioural”, objectives nowadays,and for very good reason.) Too often, the writersglory in such beautiful text, and forget that themajority of the readers are not people with good

E44 British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 42 No 2 2011


study skills, good English, and plenty of time. Thesame point shows in the more than seventy tightlypacked pages of notes, references, and so on . . .compared to a very skimpy index of less than a halfdozen pages.

The second concern is that the authors have decidednot to base their work on formal standards forteacher training and formal criteria for assessing theprogress of individual trainees. By far the majority ofthe book’s readers will be training to teach inEngland—and their training is set out in the form offorty fairly precise statements of the standards to beachieved before a trainee can become a newly quali-fied teacher (plus long lists of assessment criteria).Love them or hate them (and I love them, eventhough the standards are now down to a page of A4rather than the thick books with which theystarted), the standards must be met and the traineesmust have good evidence of having met them. Thisbook does not provide guidance on meeting thestandards, even though that is what most readersmainly need. Yet maybe this is further evidence ofthat over-academic approach?

Or maybe it is evidence of a brave attempt to makethe book, in many ways so wonderful, of value toEnglish-speaking teacher trainees in the many partsof the world where schooling is explicitly learner-centred? It is of great value in those contexts forsure; having the standards explicitly in attendancewould enhance it even more in all contexts, and notdetract from it at all.

Eric Deeson (received January 2011)Reviews editor, British Journal of Educational Tech-nology (and a teacher trainer on and off for over fortyyears)[email protected]

Goodman, Greg S ed (2010) Educational psychologyreader Peter Lang (New York & Bern) ISBN 978-3-4331-0627-9 725 pp £40.60http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.cst.ebooks.datasheet&id=54347&concordeid=311072

I expect that most reviewers will enthuse justifiablyabout the content coverage of this text, about thedepth of insights provided by the writers whoat the same time manage to express a myriad ofconcepts with helpful clarity, and about the usefulrelation of the text to likely curricula. Certainly thework is scholarly, wide ranging and comprehensive.But it is comprehensive only in North Americanterms.

This reader was startled as he read the openingpages, which bluntly made it clear from the outset

that the text is about North American psychology,and aimed at the setting of North America and itsschool culture. It is therefore seemingly blind tothe possibility that there might be any worthwhilescholarship in educational psychology on theeastern side of the Atlantic, or educational psycho-logy which relates to adult as well as children’slearning. The assertion by one of the reviewersquoted on the back cover, that “editor Goodmanhas assembled some of the best international schol-ars,” seemed barely justified by the few papers fromChinese contributors, the remainder of the writersseemingly being based in North American institu-tions. The absence of such people as Marton,Anderson, Gibbs, Hartley, Meyer, Pressley and Säljöas contributors or simply as sources will be signifi-cant for a European academic reader, whetherstudent or teacher.

Regrettably, the volume also lacks a comprehensiveindex. European readers who seek to find coverageof topics and mention of researchers of which theyknow in terms of European usage, will have tostruggle to use the contents list as a guide towardswhat they may seek. It will prove difficult for them,as for this reviewer, to find out if and where reflec-tive learning is covered, or, for instance, how andwhere the writers deal for the learner-reader withthe great debates between Skinner and Rogers (whowere also, note, both North Americans). Equallyregrettably, the sub-title—“The art and science of howpeople learn”—does not make it clear that these“people” do not seem to include college students orother adults.

It is probably churlish for this review in an inter-national journal to make over much of the particu-larly national rather than international coverage ofthe collection of articles selected in this text forreading—and of the wording of many of themwhich have this American purpose made overt.It is also only incidental to point out the slight cov-erage of educational technology in these contribu-tions. However it seems fair to advise prospectivereaders, as the editor has frankly done, that thistext is “an ambitious dream of hope for our (sic)school children and their teachers and an amalgamof diverse realities representing the pluralistic com-munity of America’s schools.” For those who wishto read and learn with that priority in mind, it isindeed a rich, well assembled and comprehensivesource. For others who merely hope to encounter abalanced collection of readings in educationalpsychology, it is—to say the least—somewhatrestricted.

John Cowan (received December 2010)Emeritus Professor of Learning Development, [email protected]

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Littleton, Karen & Howe, Christine (2010) Edu-cational dialogues Routledge (New York & London)ISBN 978-0-415-46216-7 356 pp £24.99http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415462167/

If you like symmetry, note that this book has foursections, each with four chapters:

1. Productive dialogue2. Understanding productive interaction in specific

curricular contexts3. Social context4. Promoting productive educational dialogues

When just two of the sixteen chapters, both in thelast section, deal explicitly with technology and dia-logue, why is this exactly the sort of book all learn-ing technologists should read, even though themajority of contributions are from research withchildren?

In spite of the best attempts to automate (or script)computer supported collaborative learning, the“ghost in the machine” retains the power to injectdynamism, creativity, and all the potential ofhuman relationships. Dialogue is elemental to learn-ing, socio-culturally defined, and, by that measure,the extent to which technologies can facilitate dia-logue is the extent to which they succeed as educa-tional tools.

If dialogue is one of the most powerful forces forlearning, it is also one of the most elusive andtricky. Difficult enough to facilitate in class, orches-trating dialogue online is much harder. Yet, as withother hopeful terms like “community” or “collabo-ration”, dialogue’s appeal endures, luring unsus-pecting innovators with promises of “improvingcognition, developing understanding and learning”(Lefstein, Chapter 9). The “dark side” of “strain,tension and silence” is never far away. Establishingopportunities for dialogue may simply hand oneperson the opportunity to dominate, whetheronline or face-to-face. And from Lehman’s evidence(Chapter 11), that someone is likely to be—youguessed it—male.

I was further intrigued when contributors notedthat sustained dialogue requires the “fuel” of differ-ence. Once all questions are answered, dialogueends. In some ways, this is the key threat that aprescribed curriculum poses. But Lefstein is morepositive, asserting that there are ways of treating“curriculum as conversation” as the opening gambitin dialogue. But whose role is it to generate the ques-tions, and how should they be asked and answered?

If the instructor leads the “dialogue”, her innatelyhegemonic role may reduce an exchange to mere

performance or “cognitively restricting rituals”.And, as Howe (Chapter 2) warns, answering ques-tions too quickly cuts the developmental opportuni-ties arising from the delayed resolution ofconflicting dialogue. There is further advice inChapter 7, where Rojas-Drummond et al discussframing group tasks and how they can lead to dif-ferent dialogic styles. Divergent tasks are more openand encourage “co-constructive talk”. But a conver-gent tasks, for which there is a definite right orwrong answer, is likely to require participants toarticulate their arguments.

Closer to home for BJET readers, Sawyer andGoldman (Chapter 16) argue that the choice oftechnology is as important as task design—the onepromotes or confounds the other. In my own expe-rience, an attempt to use social media lifted a seriesof questions into a wiki for students to complete“collaboratively”. But there was no obvious way forstudents at a distance to engage in dialogue abouttheir response. The wiki alone could not facilitate“exploratory talk” (it is claimed), and staff were noteven aware of the problem: students would simply“respond” . . . . Admittedly, such chat in a wiki ispossible, through creatively editing wiki pages oradding comments to them, and perhaps usersmight even have made the leap to using IRCChat—but, really, students were unlikely to simplyfall into dialogue about the answers without addi-tional tools and direction. As Wegerif says inChapter 15, “for effective shared thinking it is notenough just to place people in groups—they needto be prepared for working together in groupsbeforehand.”

Mike Johnson (received November 2010)Lecturer, Cardiff School of Nursing and MidwiferyStudies, [email protected]

Meece, Judith L & Eccles, Jacqueline S ed (2010)Handbook of research on schools, schooling, and humandevelopment Routledge (New York & London) ISBN978-0-8058-5949-2 515 pp £85http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780805859492/

The opening statement of this edited text clearly setsthe tone for the remainder of the book. Meece andSchaefer begin by reminding readers of the impor-tance of children’s school experiences for their sub-sequent development by highlighting the amount oftime children spend actually in school during theirformative years.

Following the two introductory chapters, the restare organised in six parts that:



• highlight the importance of classroom contexts;• consider schools as a social context for

development;• reflect on developmental effects of school

transitions;• make links between schooling and educational

equality;• address issues pertaining to school organisation

and educational policy; and• review school-based interventions.

This diverse and broad content is one of the refresh-ing aspects of the text. A second is that whilst itprovides readers with a wealth of research evidenceon the topics covered, the practical implications ofthe material are also discussed. Such an approachallows readers to understand how the research find-ings have been translated into practice and willappeal to educational practitioners. For example,there is a chapter discussing what the “Steps” inter-vention is and how it has been used to enhance chil-dren’s social relationships with their classmates.Whilst the book goes into a wide range of topicspertinent to schools there is not an extensive cover-age of the role of technology within education, asthis appears to be beyond its scope. That may not bewise, but it should not put readers off—as thevolume highlights a number of important andsalient factors for children’s experiences at school.

This is a truly multidisciplinary book thatapproaches the subject of children’s schooling froma range of disciplines; these include psychology, soci-ology, psychiatry, and education. Each of the chap-ters includes a clear summary of the relevant recentresearch evidence and thus gives readers an insightinto some of the key theoretical debates within theresearch literature.

Further, the authors of the chapters adopt a criticalapproach to the material they present; this allowsreaders to evaluate the strength of the evidence thatis offered to them and to draw their own wellinformed conclusions.

The chapters are clearly written, defining key termsas appropriate; they are also engaging, capturingand keeping the readers’ attention. Therefore, thebook as a whole provides readers with a comprehen-sive account of the main issues influencingchildren’s experience of school from a broad per-spective. Consequently, it will appeal to those withan interest in children’s schooling from a researchperspective and also a practitioner perspective.

Lucy R Betts (received December 2010)Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Nottingham TrentUniversity, [email protected]

Stefani, Lorraine ed (2011) Evaluating the effective-ness of academic development Routledge (London &New York) ISBN 978-0-415-87207-2 242 pp£27.99http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415872072/

The cover of this book, featuring two chilies and thename of the shrewd Lorraine Stefani as editor,implies hot and outspoken stuff on a relevant topic ofconsiderable concern at present. I began to readwith keen interest. However I was soon to find that“practice” encompassed rather more detail of prac-tice in academic development, than of practice inthe evaluation of it.

In her opening chapter the editor restricts herselfto a somewhat over-detailed summary of the sec-tions which follow, which most readers will prob-ably be prepared and eager to assimilate forthemselves. The next three chapters, according tothe section title, should have been devoted totheory; but they mainly offer familiar informationand perspectives. Debowski locates academic devel-opment in university settings, summarises how itswork operates, and reports the challenges faced bythose who would evaluate its impact and effective-ness. Gordon labours somewhat over identifyingwhere academic development sits in the qualityagenda. Kreber elaborates discursively on thedichotomy between Aristotle’s phronesis (sic,perhaps best given as practical wisdom) andauthenticity as possible overarching purposes foracademic development. She sums up her contribu-tion to the promised theory of evaluation as “nomore than a sketch”, and confesses that “I have notyet fully worked out in my own mind what a criti-cally inspired phronetic evaluation study wouldlook like in detail.”

At this point, fortunately, the theory section offerswhat many readers will be seeking. Krause effec-tively presents “ways in which student survey datamay be used to shape the priorities and approachesof academic development.” Her accounts ofprinciples and strategies for an evidence-basedapproach, both formative and summative, provideappropriate food for thought. More of thisfocus and standard emerges in a rousing con-tribution by Gunn, who engages in an en-grossing way with current evaluative challengesassociated with e-learning. She offers sharp think-ing and pertinent suggestions—coupled with aconvincing and helpful argument for drawingboth on theory and on data drawn from currentexperiences.

Section II contains eight recent case studies, comingfrom what is clearly an impressive Centre for

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Academic Development at Auckland. Seven of thesedetailed descriptions of activities concentrated,albeit sometimes apologetically, on evaluation of theachievement of the chosen outcomes. One admittedthat “the evaluation is pretty basic”. Half offeredthoughts on developing evaluation processes to bemore valid for the institution. Gunn, joined withDonald, set out a dynamic holistic approach whichcombined formative and summative evaluations,and only dwelt in part on specific intended objec-tives. I was left wondering why this approach wasnot more generally apparent in a Centre seeking tomeet “′their objective in helping the organisation toachieve their goals.”

Stanny and Halonen, who, unhelpfully, write of“assessment” rather than “evaluation” (as usedelsewhere in this volume), take the Section III off toa strong start. Recognising the reality that “institu-tional change is notorious for moving at a glacialpace”, they present detailed and appropriate strat-egies for engaging with those staff who are resis-tant, neutral and enthusiastic about evaluation.Bamber, writing from work completed, makes agood case for a combination of national-levelevaluations to provide benchmarks and satisfy edu-cative requirements; and small scale, local evalua-tions which meet the need to work within aparticular socio-political context, despite the limita-tions of “backyard research.” Naidoo and Holmespresent an account of their research to evaluatethe impact on teachers, academic developers andlearners, while evaluating project processes. Theyfound that “extensive and iterative evaluation ofacademic development inputs and processes isstrenuous, complex and time consuming;” but(firmly) that “evaluation matters.” Equally definitewere Gray and Radloff in reporting a study of anacademic development unit in a large Australianuniversity. They found use of the term “impact”(see above) to be “loose, overly focused on goodnews and curiously at odds with less optimisticusage in relation to other elements of change inHigher Education.” They advised academic devel-opers to eschew their use of this term and concept,and prefer “effectiveness”.

In closing, Stefani points out that the various con-tributions have affirmed the problematic nature ofthe evaluation of the effectiveness of academicdevelopment. She urges further exploration ofwhether and how well the processes we use arealigned with our institutional outcomes. Thevolume closes more helpfully, for this reader, than itopened.

John Cowan (received December 2010)Emeritus Professor of Learning Development, [email protected]

Tomei, Lawrence A ed (2008) Encyclopedia ofinformation technology curriculum integrationInformation Science (Hershey PA & Londonwww.igi-global.com) ISBN 978-1-59904881-9 1020pp £122.50http://bit.ly/hdmz3t

The first thing that strikes the new user of thisheavy, two-tome publication is that it was notwritten with a specific target audience in mind.Readers from a wide range of disciplines and withmany different research interests can benefit fromsome of the concepts and definitions contained inthe book, as well as from the academic articles inwhich those definitions are grounded, exemplifiedand used. Topics covered range from andragogy towireless networks, from critical thinking to desktoppublishing, from computer fraud to geo-trekking,from active learning to data mining, and from activ-ity theory to collaborative technologies for learning.

The book consists of over 150 short papers, eachtypically of five to eight pages in length, in alphabeti-cal order of title. Thus, for example, “Fundamentalsof learning theories” follows “Fair use and thedigital age”. The writers are based worldwide, butthe vast majority of the contributions come from theUnited States.

There is a long index of “key terms” at the back ofthe book. Searching for “behaviourism”, “digital lit-eracy”, “Gagné” or “synchronous distance learn-ing” will take you to the pages where each termappears in context. At the end of those chapters, wefind the relevant definitions for those terms.However, the index suffers from notable omissionsand gaps. For instance, the entry for ‘Blackboard’refers the reader to one page (477) when in fact theterm is also used elsewhere in the book (forexample, on page 679). Readers would also expectan encyclopedia to include terms such as “VLE” for“virtual learning environment”, but it does not.“CMS” normally refers to “content managementsystem”, but in this book it means “course manage-ment system”. There is also some sloppiness in thepresentation of the index, where, for instance, eachapostrophe appears as Õ. One would not expect toencounter errors like those in such an expensivebook.

One of the aims of the book is to seek clarity in howmany of these key terms are used. Finding defini-tions in conjunction with the articles where theterms are used is helpful. Different definitions for thesame term can be found, each relating to a specificcontext. For example, there are two different defini-tions of “information literacy” (Pages 234 and 412)and several for computer-mediated communication.Some definitions are debatable. For instance,



“discussion board” is defined as a “method” (Page676) and “assessment rubrics” are defined as “a setof assessment criteria or standards” (Page 737).

In sum, this is a valuable reference resource forthose with an interest in areas such as curriculumdesign, communities of practice, computer science,distance education, educational change, learninginnovation, learning technology, and pedagogy . . .among others. It is not a book most readers would

read from cover to cover. The word “encyclopedia” inthe title perhaps promises a bit more than the bookactually delivers. Its value lies in the provision of acontext, rationale and evidence base for each defini-tion offered and the diverse range of contributorsinvolved.

Dr Alejandro Armellini (received November 2010)Senior Learning Designer, University of Leicester, [email protected]

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Evaluating the effectiveness of academic development – Edited by Lorraine Stefani