Reviews _1080 58..

65
We apologise for a double error with our March 2010 (41(2)) review of Atkins, Liz (2009) Invisible
students, impossible dreams Trentham. The correct ISBN is 978-1-85856-451-7 and the publishers
w-address for the book is http://www.trentham-books.co.uk/acatalog/Invisible_Students__
Impossible_Dreams.html. Thanks to Inge Martin for telling us about this.
Anderson, Neil (2009) Equity and information com-
munication technology in education Peter Lang
(NewYork & Bern) ISBN 978-0-8204-5243-2 211
pp 21.20)
http://www.peterlangusa.com/index.cfm?vID=
310051&vLang=E&vHR=1&vUR=2&vUUR=1
Neil Anderson has succeeded in raising awareness of
equity issues surrounding the use of ICT (informa-
tion technology as a subject of study, rather than IT,
a tool) in education and more generally. The rst
part deals with gender biases towards or against ICT,
perceived and real, and is an engaging read which
all trainee secondary (high) school teachers special-
ising in teaching ICT should consider mandatory.
That many girls are not opting for further education
and careers in the subject should be a cause for
concern for workforce planners and careers advisers
alike.
In Part 2, the inclusion of students with disabilities
in mainstream education offers another source of
insight and critique for the place of ICT. The case
study of Linda is enlightening and will resonate
with many educators whose role includes learners
with special needs.
The thirdpart, onassistive technology, highlights the
future possibilities for individuals witha broad range
of physical, sensory and cognitive needs but withina
realistic frame that discusses the personal and social
barriers that hinder realisation of such exciting pos-
sibilities. In particular, lack of funding is a critical
factor that combines withlowsocio-economic status
and attitudinal and other barriers to compound slow
participation growth. The increased exibility her-
alded by mobilisation and increased ease of use
arising from unied design movements may be a
catalyst for a surge in participation and thus
improved educational and life outcomes.
Moving from the personal to the societal, the fourth
section raises issues of the rural / urban divide and
socioeconomic disadvantage. It begins witha discus-
sion about how computers are used and the impact
of how students are taught to use them (cognitive
engagement) on overall educational achievement,
including in standardised tests. The various digital
divide elements such as poverty and barriers imped-
ing developing nations are discussed alongside
revealing case studies from across the developing
world that highlight how successful grass roots ini-
tiatives can be. The impact of ICT for teacher train-
ing and support in rural and remote Queensland
illustrates how the emergence of digital rich media
technologies has beenof benet to traditional modes
of professional development. Social computing is
forecast as an emerging area for research into these
potentially powerful tools that may be useful to over-
come disadvantage.
The potential of open source software is the subject
of the fth section, which explores the motivation to
develop and proliferate open source applications,
including games. Interestingly, it is the current lack
of digital means of fostering knowledge of tradi-
tional cultures that provides the source of a case
study involving Torres Strait Islander students who
engage in play-based learning with a view to reduc-
ing the learner frustration often associated with tra-
ditional approaches.
International knowledge transfer is the subject of
the nal section of this useful book. Here, the com-
plexity of knowledge sharing and transfer is
unpacked through case studies based on research
with Chinese and Australian as well as Chinese and
American participants. Social skills such as the
development of trust and building of relationships
rather than the role of ICT emerged as critical
factors.
Anderson, with the aid of some colleagues, has pre-
sented a thoughtful critique of issues that we need to
attend to if the promise of ICT is to be shared equally
among all people globally.
Dr Robyn Smyth (received February 2010)
Senior Lecturer, University of New England, Australia
rsmyth@une.edu.au
British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 41 No 3 2010 E58E65
2010 The Authors. Journal compilation 2010 Becta. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350
Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
Andrade, Heidi L & Cizek, Gregory J ed (2010)
Handbook of formative assessment Routledge (New
York & London) ISBN 978-0-415-99320-3 377 pp
65
http://routledgeeducation.com/isbn9780415993203
To be comprehensive, integrative, practical, global,
and accessible, and to comprehensively prole this
burgeoning but loosely coupled eld is the mission
of this book. Written for the textbook and profes-
sional markets, it is a practical guide and a critical
reference book for trainee teachers, teacher trainers,
policy-makers and researchers in teacher prepara-
tion, assessment, curriculum, educational adminis-
tration and educational policy studies. It is for all
with an interest in supportive uses of assessment
that enhance learning and student achievement. It
examines challenges for teachers and researchers
around psychometric issues, assessment literacy,
technology-aided formative assessment, and visions
for linking formative classroom assessment to large-
scale assessments.
School transformation, supportingdiverselearners,
reform-based teaching, improved learning, self-
motivated learning, self-regulated learning, assess-
ment literacy, alternative assessment for students
with disabilities, curriculum alignment through
classroom assessment, educational measurement
and assessment, test development, technology-based
learning environments is a small cross-section of
interests that distinguishthe contributing authors of
this book, andwill helpyourecognise your ownareas
of interest for development. The handbook includes
these topics. Formative assessment plays a pivotal
role in making teaching more inclusiveand learn-
ing more accessible to a wider range of learners
and thereby in improving student achievement.
Formative assessment is not new, yet after decades of
assessing levels of knowledge in large-scale, end-of-
term summative tests (for grading), a formative
process for assessing learning at source (during
units of instruction) is becoming more widespread.
The shift from evaluating for grading to making
learning fair and accessible to a wide diversity of
learners, in any mainstream classroom, is timely.
This reform promises an exciting, creative and inno-
vative time in education; a new phase: accessible
learning! Applied during instruction, this mutually
benecial process of formative assessment becomes
a two-way indicator, a non-threatening assessment
/ dialogue that allows for early instructional modi-
cation and improved student achievement. It can
also lead to a learners condence for developing life-
long positive learning strategies.
This compilation of robustly researched, authorita-
tive, well craftedandaccessible studies, looselylinked
aspects on the theme of formative assessment, are
drawn from the gaze of 31 highly respected, much
published, peer-reviewed international academics.
Its these discrete perspectives that make this a com-
prehensive, current and highly perceptive piece of
work. It is a reliable resource in twenty chapters for
implementing an effective, multifaceted, interdisci-
plinary learning and teaching reform. The nal
chapter expands on Summing up and moving
forward: Key challenges and future directions for
researchand development informative assessment.
In practice, the gap between early awareness raising
and the implementation stages of large-scale educa-
tion reforms is long. The book recognises this and
points to the barriers. It demonstrates how intra-
and inter-departmental environments, leadership
styles and assessment literacy of policy-makers
affect the rigour and sustainability of the formative
assessment reform. The rationale (supportive assess-
ment for enhanced learning is more benecial for
improved learning and student achievement than
large-scale assessments to evaluate levels of knowl-
edge) makes obvious sense. More importantly, the
reader will more fully appreciate that a shift from
grading levels of knowledge to an assessment
process in support of learning results in issues for
staff development that require enormous consider-
ation, resources and planning. Maintaining assess-
ment validity across the wholecurriculumis possibly
the most challenging task to master. For universal
assessment validity, issues relating to socio-
economic and socio-cultural factors, non-native
language learners, and disability-related aspects
all in one mainstream classroomhave to be con-
sidered. The Handbook of formative assessment
addresses these challenges in a balanced, well
crafted, and accessible study. It is an excellent read!
Inge Martin (received March 2010)
Librarian: Workers Educational Association (WEA)
Burnhams Branch, Norfolk, UK
ingmar.ccat@btinternet.com
Chao, Lee (2009) Utilizing open source tools for
online teaching and learning Information Science
(Hershey PA & London) ISBN 978-1-60566-376-0
344 pp $165 ($250 online)
http://www.igi-global.com/Bookstore/TitleDetails.
aspx?TitleId=1026
The 21
st
century has already witnessed paradigm
shifts in IT service provision. The large corporate
software suppliers dominance is being challenged
by Web 2.0 technologies, with alternative operating
systems that are more effective and less demanding
on hardware. The vicious circle of heavyweight
operating systems requiring faster and more power-
ful computers can be broken. Once the dogma was
Reviews E59
2010 The Authors. Journal compilation 2010 Becta.
abandoned that service provision had to be run
in-house, the realisation dawned that as good, if not
better, options were available in the cloud of ser-
vices hosted by third parties on the Internet.
Attention switched to services such as learning
management systems (LMSs), for which there was
only a handful of suppliers whose reaction to a
changing world of elearning, with its demands for
more social tools, was at best far too slow. Much of
the new software is free to use, modify and improve.
Above all, it offers freedomof choice. Welcome to the
world of open source.
Chao writes about howto use open source technolo-
gies in online learning and teaching. He notes the
trend for more and more learning materials to be
available online and how organisations can provide
Web-based solutions at minimum cost, provided
they can acquire a broad range of new technical
skills. He begins Section I with historical back-
ground about how this stage of openness has arived
and howopen sources developers have drawn on the
ethos of the Internets founding fathers. He contin-
ues with the tasks that underpin many ventures in
this eld: needs analysis, project management,
resources, and system analysis. He ends the section
with a review of physical hardware required includ-
ing the all-important network requirements.
Although open source software is free, LMSs require
sophisticated hardware and network connectivity. If
anyone thought that the open source route would be
easy, this section outlines the complexity of the path
ahead and sets the tone for Section II. Faint-hearted
readers, turn back now!
Section II is the meat of the book. Chao takes us on a
journey of discovery starting at the network level,
through server installation and management, soft-
ware installation and management, authentication,
administration, security management, and virus
attack management, and culminating with the
users desktop machines. The journey is easier
because of excellent external references and
examples of installation processes. His commentary
gives the reader condence that the end is achiev-
able, but this is a book about IT rather than ET.
Section III, made up of two chapters on materials
development, lacks the examples that peppered
Section II. Chao identies a good eclectic selection of
currently available open source tools for courseware
production, but does not mention the growing
number of Web 2.0 tools available to courseware
authors. Perhaps he feels these are too volatile and
that open source tools will give his book longer
currency.
Section IV is merely a short chapter on trends such
as the mobility of our learners and how wireless
networking will be at the forefront. Apity, then, that
Chao does not cover (e)portfolios or personal learn-
ing environments, now crucial to any LMSsuch
tools are available via open source.
Although the software is free, the choice of an open
source solution has hidden complexities and costs in
the recruitment and training of appropriate staff.
Those who venture down this route using Chaos
book as a guide will be assured of a exible and
adaptable LMS that is reactive to teacher require-
ments and user demands.
Richard Mobbs (Learning Technologist) and David
Hawkridge (Visiting Professor) (received March 2010)
Beyond Distance Research Alliance, University of
Leicester, UK
RJM1@le.ac.uk
Dreyfus, Hubert L (2009) On the internet Rout-
ledge (New York & London) ISBN 978-0-414-
77516-8 168 pp 12.99
http://www.routledge.com/books/On-the-Internet-
isbn9780415775168
New electronic forms of discourse have been exert-
ing a profound inuence on communication and
community development, swept along by a dis-
course of technological determinism that has little
time for an historical or patient philosophical per-
spective. Much has changed in this respect in the
world of digital technologies in the eight years sepa-
rating the rst from the latest edition of this short
philosophical book on the way the internet increas-
ingly mediates these patterns of human communi-
cation and collaboration. The author is Professor of
Philosophy at the University of California at Berke-
ley and his narrative weaves together a fascinating
humanistic perspective on online communication,
incorporating thinkers from Descartes, Nietzsche
and Kiekegaard to Heidegger, Rorty and Habermas.
Enduring philosophical problems such as the sepa-
ration of mind and body and the problems of exis-
tential isolation and the public sphere, raised by
these philosophers prior to the internet, are shown
still to be highly relevant to contemporary discus-
sions of the so-called network society and the
problems faced by its inhabitants.
As Dreyfus himself acknowledges in the preface to
this revised second edition, he has scrapped some of
the earlier and more pessimistic predictions and
added extra sections and chapters relating to Google,
Wikipedia, iTunesU, and, latterly, virtual worlds.
Nevertheless, his rather curious insistence that dis-
tance learning has failed remains, as does the sense
of isolation rather than connectedness that the net
brings with it. The seemingly denitive judgement
on distance education in particular is an argument
that sits rather awkwardly with the authors newly
E60 British Journal of Educational Technology
2010 The Authors. Journal compilation 2010 Becta.
found enthusiasm for Web 2.0 technologies such as
podcasting (described in the Appendix) and virtual
worlds like Second Life (the subject of the new
Chapter 5)and the opportunities these afford for
collaboration. While acknowledging the allure of
Web 2.0, the book is still somewhat pessimistic, and
this uneasy balance between these two poles is one
of the strongest points of the book.
One of the central questions of the book appears as
follows. Can the bodily presence required for
acquiring skills in various domains and for acquir-
ing mastery of ones culture be delivered by means
of the internet? (p 47). Each of the books ve chap-
ters looks at this question, answering mostly in the
negative, as only real-world embodiment can deliver
the sense of risk required to give life serious
meaning. By losing our physical bodies and the
concomitant emotional, intuitive, situated, vulner-
able, embodied selves (p 6), Dreyfus argues, we lose
something essential to our human existencean
argument that resonates strongly with some
research studies on chatroomusage and net surng.
However, there is an increasing amount of research
onembodiment invirtual worlds, some of whichwill
no doubt take issue with Dreyfuss rather simple
binary thinking in this respect. This is equally true of
the emerging research on social networking sites,
whichthe book does not fully consider. Where online
learning is concerned, he also fails to acknowledge
the increasing relevance of more nuanced and
blendedapproaches tobothface-to-face anddistance
modes. Nevertheless, this short book provides some
valuable historical and critical perspectives that are
all too often sorely missing from the quasi-
deterministic andevangelistic rhetoric pushingtech-
nology in education and society today. The economy
of technology, and its unrelenting speed and per-
ceived importance to globalisationhave little time for
the patient, rigorous analysis of history and philoso-
phythis book asks us to make room for a different
sense of temporality, and for this alone it is a valuable
addition to discussions on the subject.
Michael Thomas (received January 2010)
Nagoya University of Commerce & Business, Japan
michael.thomas@gmx.co.uk
Gonzlez-Pueyo, Isabel et al (2009) Teaching aca-
demic and professional English online Peter Lang
(NewYork & Bern) ISBN 978-3-03991-582-2 228
pp 31.90)
http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?vID=11582&
vLang=E&vHR=1&vUR=2&vUUR=1
One of the unexpected consequences of reviewing
books is the amazing number of times a book arrives
onmy desk at nearly the same moment I amassigned
a design and development task that the book
addresses. That is the case withTeaching academic and
professional English online. Inthe time betweenagree-
ing to review it and its arrival in my ofce I was
assigned to work ona medical Spanishproject. Right
about now you might be checking back at the title
and wondering how a book on professional English
helped with a Spanish project. I am happy to report
thatwith a little work on transferthis book is full
of ideas that would help anyone concerned with
teaching a second language in a profession.
As I have said, it would be a mistake for anyone
interested in teaching a second language in a profes-
sional area to avoid this book if they are not focusing
on English. The good ideas that are to be found here
makeit worththeeffort toconsider howtheycouldbe
used with different languages. Teaching academic and
professional English online begins with an article
focusing onpedagogical principles inonline learning
environments looking at activities, input, output,
and learners and how they process information in
this context. Much of the book provides active help
and encouragement for computer-supported col-
laborative learning, withspecic guidance to design-
ing the teachers role in offering learning tools to the
students at the appropriate time. One specic
instance of this is the use of wikis to help language
learners negotiate meaning of these new ideas and
participate in the social community necessary for
success, and the process of producing makes thing
real inanother language. There are alsoseveral URLs
providedfor the reader whowishes toexplore further.
My only real concern was that the section on design-
ing a virtual learning environment was not, as I
thought it would be, about virtual worlds. I was
looking forward to seeing lawyers or other profes-
sionals battling it out as avatars in virtual court-
rooms. While that was not the case, the information
was useful none the less as it carefully describes the
process of learners moving from tightly controlled,
formal settings to greater learning control over their
learning. This book is a resource that needs to be on
your bookshelf if you are interested in this area of
educational technology.
William Brescia, PhD (received January 2010)
Director of Instructional Technology and Assistant Pro-
fessor of Preventive Medicine, University of Tennessee
Health Science Center, USA
bbrescia@uthsc.edu
Holzman, Lois (2009) Vygotsky at work and play
Routledge (New York & London) ISBN 978-0-415-
42294-9 146 pp 29.95)
http://www.routledge.com/0415422949
The inuence of Lev Vygotskys thought, particu-
larly in relation to social constructivism and socio-
Reviews E61
2010 The Authors. Journal compilation 2010 Becta.
cultural theory, has become one of the most
prominent methodologies associated with a reorien-
tation of learning in the digital age. This book exam-
ines the development and impact of Vygotskys
thought using an engaging rst person narrative
and personal account, and examines how it has
been applied to a range of learning situations both
inside and outside of traditional educational con-
texts. Although this is not a conventional academic
introduction to Vygotskys thought then, key con-
cepts suchas the zone of proximal development (and
the authors idea of the zone of emotional develop-
ment) are introduced, and Holzman skillfully inter-
weaves theory and practice throughout the books
six chapters.
These chapters focus on a wealth of intellectual
and applied contexts that Vygotskys thought has
inuenced to date and has the potential to inu-
ence to a greater extent in the future. This includes
its methodological beginnings and afliations with
Marxism (Chapter 1); applications in therapy
(Chapter 2); implications in traditional classroom
environments (Chapter 3); outside of school
(Chapter 4); in the workplace (Chapter 5); and the
nal chapter that reects on the Vygotsky-inspired
approach at the East Side Institute for Group and
Short Term Psychotherapy in New York where the
author works.
Running throughout the whole book is a reorienta-
tion towards alternative and radically humanistic
approaches to the environments discussed in the
book (psychology, therapeutics, pedagogy), in an
attempt to provide a synthesis of academic theory
with the lives of people in real community-based
projects. Holzmans view of Vygotskys socio-
cultural activity theory is informed by Marxs
understanding of the social nature of human devel-
opmentpsychology is not therefore concerned
with an individuals psychic state but with the
social activity of producing their becoming (p
107).
Vygotskys circumvention of the cognition-
emotion dualism of western thought, the replace-
ment of the problem-solving paradigm typically
found in the western scientic worldview with the
tool-and-result method, and the deconstruction
of the institutional biases that support the notion
that psychology is an academic science, have led
Holzman to practice a Vygotskian psychology
which she calls a cultural-performatory activity.
The notion of performativity allied to learning pro-
vides a particularly strong bond between the types
of psychotherapy and education advocated and
described across these chapters. Through short
case studies and personal vignettes, Holzman
shows how a curriculum provides not only mate-
rial to be learned, but also material for the creation
of ongoing improvised performances (p 66); in
this way, learning is an active, interdisciplinary
process that attempts to engage learners in a
process rather than merely transmit content that
cannot be changed or contribute to changing the
learners themselves.
Consequently, the personal tone is rather refreshing
for an academic book dealing with such a theoreti-
cal subject, and Holzmans attempt to explore the
story of bringing Vygotsky from the scientic labo-
ratory to ordinary people and their communities (p
xix) is in general successful. As a concise volume
(only 115 pages excluding notes and references), it
manages to avoid becoming a dry engagement with
the subject matter, and, in discussing the wider sig-
nicance of the Vygotskian approach to education
and child development, the book should be of inter-
est to academics from a range of interdisciplinary
research areas.
Michael Thomas (received January 2010)
Professor, Nagoya University of Commerce & Business,
Japan
michael.thomas@nucba.ac.jp
Ito, Mizuko (2009) Engineering play MIT Press
(Cambridge MA & London) ISBN 978-0-262-
01335-2 234 pp 18.95)
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?
ttype=2&tid=11869
This book sets out to map the complex eld of dis-
course shaping childrens use of games by address-
ing the typical binary logic that opposes play to
learning. It focuses on three main genres of edu-
cational software in particular: those focused on
academic achievement; those whose primary role is
entertainment; and those games framed by a con-
structionist methodology of interactivity, author-
ship and participation. Addressing the rise of the
so-called digital native, Ito outlines a rich
ethnographic and sociocultural perspective that
locates the emergence of these genres in their
cultural, commercial, pedagogical and historical
contexts.
A key concern is the attempt to understand the
developing narratives and tropes that underpin the
history of childrens gaming software in the United
States, particularly since the early 1980s. The
books ethnographic analysis and commitment to
examine the socially embedded nature of technol-
ogy places the author in the line of researchers
from Larry Cuban to Mark Warschauer. Although
the books supporting endorsements indicate this is
E62 British Journal of Educational Technology
2010 The Authors. Journal compilation 2010 Becta.
a new approach, Cubans earlier ethnographic
studies of computers and technology in American
schools are clear examples of this form of cultural
history. And, though the book is written clearly, its
style is rather like a doctoral dissertation or report at
times and it lacks Cubans more compelling prose
and turn of phrase as well as Warschauers breadth
of analysis.
The book has three main chapters to which an
introduction (Chapter 1) and conclusion (Chapter
4) have been added. Portions of the book have been
previously published in a book chapter in 2007
and academic journal articles dating from 2006
(Chapter 2) and 2005 (Chapter 3). The main study
presented in the book is based on eldwork dating
from the late 1990s with the Fifth Dimension
(5thD), an educational foundation based in Califor-
nia. The organisation develops pedagogical envi-
ronments related to ongoing research on
Vygotskian approaches to learning, in which chil-
dren collaborate with undergraduates who act as
guides in their zone of proximal development.
Other data based on interviews and documents
from the software and publishing industries are
also an integral part of the historical narrative Ito
weaves.
Using multiple sites for her ethnography of gaming,
Ito hones in on the different genres that span pro-
duction, distribution, marketing, consumption,
appropriation, and domestication of software (p
16). Concrete examples are used to discuss the three
genres, examining in particular games such as
SimCity 2000 (constructionist genre), The magic
school bus explores the human body (entertainment
genre), and Dr. Brain (academic genre). Each is used
to highlight a number of critical episodes of learner
engagement, indicating that the simple binary oppo-
sition between play and learning is not static, but
constantly undergoing renegotiation in a variety of
different contexts. One of the main insights of the
research is that in place of the former parental rejec-
tion of gaming as entertainment or dangerous dis-
traction, a new generation of digital media is
producing shifts in the way educational value is
understood.
One criticism of the book in this respect, however,
is that the research appears largely to be based on
ethnographic studies dating from the late 1990s
and one survey used to corroborate Itos ndings,
quoted in the conclusion, dates from 2004. For a
book published in 2009, a lot has happened in the
last ve years in relation to games-based
researchthe rise of Web 2.0, virtual worlds, and
games such as the Nintendo Wii, as well as mas-
sively multiplayer online games (MMOGs)none of
which receive a signicant place in the book, index
or scholarly references. The book deserves atten-
tion for its sociocultural approach: the attempt to
disentangle and understand the inuences that
shape the discourses of learning technologies in
and outside of formal education. Nevertheless, its
focus on an exclusively American perspective ought
perhaps to have been included in the books sub-
title. It is to be hoped that the books methodologi-
cal framework can be developed and used to
replicate similar cultural histories of learning tech-
nologies by researchers in other parts of the world
also.
Michael Thomas (received February 2010)
Professor, Nagoya University of Commerce & Business,
Japan
michael.thomas@gmx.co.uk
Miller, William & Pellen, Rita ed (2009) Google
Scholar and more Routledge (New York & London)
ISBN 978-0-7890-3614-8 218 pp 80)
http://www.routledge.com/books/Google-Scholar-and-
More-isbn9780789036155
If you wish to learn more about the Google (which
has progressed fromthe title of search giant), then
this book is for you. In addition to an introduction
about various Google applications, Google Scholar
and more spans (in twelve chapters) different aspects
of Google tools that library users need and apply for
knowledge management. This book is a collection of
papers published in a special issue of the Journal of
library administration.
It provides a detailed chronology of how Google
developed and over a period of time occupied the top
slot of search engines. But Google is now beyond
search algorithms. It offers many applications, tools
and gadgets to its registered userssuch as provid-
ing gigabytes of storage space, the launch of Google
Answers, or how Blogger can be used as an instruc-
tional tool. Different applications and tools (Google
Scholar, Google Book Search and many others) area
here analysed by the editors in terms of their cover-
age, usability and performance and then they make
recommendations. They further discuss what Goo-
gles future directions of development may be. With
increasing interactivity and online collaboration
and use of social media, Google has greatly trans-
formed the instructions, interactions and collabora-
tion over the internet. Not only collaboration,
indeed, but the integration of different online appli-
cations also has had a facelift.
Google Docs and Spreadsheets, Calendar, Groups
and Chat form such a suite of applications where
users can carry out different tasks like managing
Reviews E63
2010 The Authors. Journal compilation 2010 Becta.
documents, calendar, email, listserv, online discus-
sion board and instant messaging. The authors have
not only described the features, functionalities and
limitations of various applications, but also com-
pared them with other such products.
Overall, this book traces the history of Google, the
factors for success of Googles Blogger, the failure of
Google Answers, how Google News creates stories,
and so on, and howit can be used as a reference and
research tool. The facts mentioned in the book are
supported by citing relevant researches or online
links. The conversational style makes reading
interesting.
If you are looking to learn how to share text docu-
ments and spreadsheets through Google Docs and
Spreadsheets, express yourself by creating your own
blog through Blogger, share photos with PICASA,
join in social networking through Google Groups,
customise search engines and topics through Google
Co-op ... and so on, this book is for you. But be aware
that it is not a step by step manual on these applica-
tions and that Google has introduced lot of more
owers in its bouquet since the authors wrote this
book.
Ramesh C Sharma (received January 2010)
Director, Institute of Distance and Continuing Educa-
tion, University of Guyana, Guyana
rc_sharma@yahoo.com
ODonoghue, Tom & Clarke, Simon (2010)
Leading learning Routledge (New York & London)
ISBN 978-0-415-33613-0 188 pp 22.99)
http://www.routledge.com/books/Leading-Learning-
isbn9780415336130
This book focuses on the leaders of learningall
those people working in schools to improve the
quality of classroomlearning. The authors present a
coherent and persuasive argument for distributed
leadership based on the premise that the potential
for leadership resides in the intellectual and social
capital available within an organisation. They argue
that this type of leadership can enhance learning at
three interdependent levelsthe learner level, the
teacher level, and the level of the schooland can
realistically effect incremental pedagogic change
without the need for concurrent systemic education
reform.
Following the three-fold structure common to the
Leadership for learning series to which it belongs, this
book provides an in-depth analysis of the concept of
leading learning under three main headings
process, themes and issues. The rst section of four
chapters covers the process, including broad inter-
national trends, and concludes with an analysis of
the concept of distributed leadership. The authors
intend this section to contextualise the next two sec-
tions, each three chapters long. The second section
deals in detail with the themes of the levels of learn-
ing. The third and nal section examines such issues
as the pragmatic approach of distributed leadership
and the need to enthuse leaders through raising
awareness of inspirational developments globally.
Interestingly, this section (Chapter 9) also offers case
studies of bad practice, caused by failing to give voice
to key stakeholders at school level.
By focusing on schools and on the need to rethink
school leadership in an era of profound change, the
book strikes a timely note. It sends out a clear
message about the need for schools to move their
emphases from the management of teaching,
centred on one exceptional leader, to distributed
leadership for learning. The modest claim is that
this bottom-up incremental approach to change
meets with less resistance than attempts at total
system changeand is therefore more likely to
eventuate, while being a potential rst small step
towards major school and whole system culture
change. This may not be exactly new, but it is
strongly argued here and is supported by explicit
references to the work of a wide range of critical
theorists and by real life examples of good practice
from around the globe. Within the broad argument,
the authors deal with a host of important aspects of
learningsuch as exible learners, the intelligent
school, assessment for, rather than of, learning,
surface and deep learning, and particularly life-
long learning based on UNESCOs ve pillarsall of
which greatly strengthen the books value and
appeal.
I am, however, somewhat disconcerted to nd only
minimal consideration of the issue of leading learn-
ing with technology. While professing to be acutely
aware (p 83) of the importance of technology in
the learning process and offering two international
case studies on the integration of technology in
schoolsone successful and one a failurethe
authors provide no in-depth analysis of how distrib-
uted leadership might address the acute need to
optimise the affordances of technology for the
improvement of student-centred learning. I feel that
in the digital world of the 21
st
century such consid-
eration could have further enhanced the books
already very considerable value to its target audi-
ence of academics and others working in the eld of
educational leadership.
Marie Martin, Ed.D (received March 2010)
Education consultant, Omagh, N.Ireland
mmartin@martech.org.uk
E64 British Journal of Educational Technology
2010 The Authors. Journal compilation 2010 Becta.
Oxford, Raquel & Oxford, Jeffrey ed (2009)
Second language teaching and learning in the net genera-
tion NFLRC (University of Hawaii) ISBN 978-0-
9800459-2-5 220 pp $30)
http://nrc.hawaii.edu/get_publication.cfm?id=256&
scriptname=searchsite_pub&keyword=net+gen&
display_order=alphabetic
The editors of this new collection published by the
National Foreign Language Resource Center at the
University of Hawaii at Manoa accept that a demo-
graphic and technological shift ... has occurred over
the last two decades and that the learning para-
digm has evolved into something totally different
from that of the educators generation (p 1). The
response as outlined in this book is to improve teach-
ing and learning by understanding the impact of
these changes in the nature of literacy and to inte-
grate technologyinapedagogicallysoundfashion.
While the research focus is not newthere is an
increasing number of existing research studies on
digital literacies, digital natives and their technology
habits vis--vis social networking sites and social
media in generalthe specic focus is new, in that
this appears to be the rst collection investigating
the implications specically for foreign language
learning.
The book is therefore a welcome addition to the dis-
cussion that is all too often directed by the uncritical
buzzwords of educational journalism rather than
educational researchstudies. At the same time, then,
the editors are aware of an increasingly sceptical
body of research that questions the taken-for-
grantednatureof digital nativesanddigital immi-
grants. In acknowledging both the overly idealistic
pictureof todays youngusers of theWebwhileat the
same time trying carefully to contextualise these
developments with a series of empirical studies
predominantly set in the United Statesthe book
provides abalancedappraisal that shouldbevaluable
to educational and foreign language researchers
alike.
The book contains fourteen chapters in total and the
overall effect is to offer concrete advice on how ...
[digital technologies] can be successfully imple-
mented in the second-language curriculum (p 3).
The chapters include a range of formats, from
empirical research studies to those engaging with
policy and curriculumissues and professional devel-
opment. Likewise the themes are wide-ranging and
highly relevant to current debates about the nature
of digital literacies and multimodality, including an
impressive range of topics such as online writing,
e-portfolios, video conferences, e-mail, instant mes-
saging, and familiar Web 2.0 and social media tech-
nologies such a podcasting, wikis, video and photo
sharing and virtual worlds. In all of these the con-
nection between learning technologies and second
language acquisition is seen to be central to
informed use, and examples of projects in English
in the main as well as in French, German and
Spanish are presented in an accessible style.
One criticism of the book is that it could have been
divided into more appropriate sectionsas it is,
there is merely an unsorted list of fourteen
chaptersand while the introduction comprehen-
sively sets the scene, there is no conclusion or after-
word to reect on the content from a new angle. In
addition, the book has no index, thereby making
searching for keywords rather difcult and there
does not seem to be an e-version available to over-
come this obstacle. Nevertheless, this does not
detract too much from the overall effect and the
books main achievement is to be one of the rst to
examine the debate about digital natives in both a
specic disciplinary as well as a national pedagogical
context.
Michael Thomas (received November 2009)
Nagoya University of Commerce & Business, Japan
michael.thomas@gmx.co.uk
Reviews E65
2010 The Authors. Journal compilation 2010 Becta.