Learning Environment

The vast majority of contemporary research on music cognition has focussed on perceptual processes in the listener 1-4 . This is unsurprising and defensible: the musical experience of the listener is at the heart of all musical activity. Without heard experience composition and performance would have no purpose. In addition, the vast majority of the population in contemporary industrialized nations are listeners rather than performers. It makes sense to focus scientific effort on processes that are shared by the majority of a population. Taking into account performers as well as listeners, the core questions for the study of music cognition are: what representational and control processes underlie people's ability to recognize, store, recall, transform and generate musical materials?

In this paper, the implementation of a neural network-based fuzzy modeling approach to assess aspects of students' learning style in the discovery learning environment “Vectors in Physics and Mathematics” is presented. Fuzzy logic is used to provide a linguistic description of ...

The enhanced accessibility, affordability and capability of the Internet has created enormous possibilities in terms of designing, developing and implementing innovative teaching methods in the classroom. As existing pedagogies are revamped and new ones are added, there is a need to assess the effectiveness of these approaches from the students' perspective. For more than three decades, proven qualitative and quantitative research methods associated with learning environments research have yielded productive results for educators. This paper presents the findings of a study in which Getsmart; a teacher designed website was blended into science and physics lessons at an Australian High School. Students' perceptions of such an environment are discussed. It also highlights the differences in the perceptions of students in junior and senior years of schooling. The paper also explores the impact of teachers in such an environment. The investigation undertaken in this study also gave an indication of how effective Getsmart was as a teaching model in such environments.

Background: Practical hands-on learning opportunities are viewed as a vital component of the education of health science students, but there is a critical shortage of fieldwork placement experiences. It is therefore important that these clinical learning environments are well suited to students' perceptions and expectations. Purpose: To investigate how undergraduate students enrolled in health-related education programs view their clinical learning environments and specifically to compare students' perception of their 'actual' clinical learning environment to that of their 'preferred/ideal' clinical learning environment. Method: The Clinical Learning Environment Inventory (CLEI) was used to collect data from 548 undergraduate students (55% response rate) enrolled in all year levels of paramedics, midwifery, radiography and medical imaging, occupational therapy, pharmacy, nutrition and dietetics, physiotherapy and social work at Monash University via convenience sampling. Students were asked to rate their perception of the clinical learning environment at the completion of their placements using the CLEI. Results: Satisfaction of the students enrolled in the health-related disciplines was closely linked with the five constructs measured by the CLEI: Personalization, Student Involvement, Task Orientation, Innovation, and Individualization. Significant differences were found between the student's perception of their 'actual' clinical learning environment and their 'ideal' clinical learning environment. Conclusion: The study highlights the importance of a supportive clinical learning environment that places emphasis on effective two-way communication. A thorough understanding of students' perceptions of their clinical learning environments is essential.

The effective use of cloud computing has been proved in various sectors including the education sector of our society. In education sector, learning environment plays a vital role in meeting the goals of a particular programme of study. Scope of the learning environment is very much dependent on the needs of a particular programme of study. This research is focused on the practical requirements of software engineering students as part of their learning environment. For most of the software engineering courses classrooms, laboratories and libraries are some of the key components of the learning environment and are absolutely crucial in the entire study period of software engineering students. Since the setup, configuration and use of the computing lab is very important for software engineering students, finding a way to provide the lab facilities available for the students at all times and at all places without any constraints would be a great idea. Cloud computing could be explored ...

An innovative and interactive educational process is being developed in engi-neering classes at the University of Washington, using newly devised learn-ing strategies from industry and academia combined with a unique teaching approach: integrated teams. The teams have evolved in such a way that they currently consist of professors and industry leaders as integrators and cata-lysts; senior graduate students and field specialists as facilitators; and other graduate, undergraduate, and continuing education students with diverse experiences and backgrounds. They are fused together through experiential learning and real life projects in which all are stakeholders and have a chance to influence their outcomes in real time. This non-traditional approach, based on “compete and collaborate ” learning principles, creates a dynamic learning environment by incorporating teaming concepts into teaching, learning, and facilitation. The evolving methodology of this alternative has been applied in s...

This paper describes a location – aware enhancement of a learning environment supported by mobile devices. Such an extension is proposed in order to facilitate the learning process and to provide a solid framework for introducing a more situative approach to learning and teaching into an everyday classroom experience. Introducing location sensing into an existing system creates a framework not only to determine students' locations in a learning environment but to introduce context – awareness and location -awareness into the learning process as well. What is more, location – awareness is a solid base for numerous services in a modern – mobile device supported learning environment since looking into the summary data on students' locations gives a better insight into their habits and needs, both individual and within a group. It is our belief that location – awareness presents a significant step towards creating a learning environment even more oriented to students and their n...

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In the last decade, academic research in u-learning (ubiquitous learning) has brought new opportunities and new challenges. This paper summarizes the proposal of improvement of AdaptWeb e-learning environment, allowing its adaptation according to the users' context, mainly taking in account issues related to the particular situations experienced by the student. This paper describes how content and structure of AdaptWeb can be modified to become an u-learning environment.

We propose a methodology for evaluating second language acquisition in the context of massive multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPG). Careful examination of learning opportunities present in gaming requires us to direct our attention to the characteristics of MMORPGs and how these characteristics support learning. MMORPGs accommodate active learners who assume the role of characters they have selected, create immersive environments that promote the development of conceptual knowledge and engage players in social interaction among a community of players. Since MMORPGs support social interaction between players, MMORPGs serve as the catalyst for fostering students language proficiency as students interact in a foreign language while playing the game. For these reasons, we believe that MMORPGs embody an interesting and underutilized learning environment for second language acquisition. Based upon this premise, we introduce a game-language learning model and explore Sony Online Entertainments 3D game Ever Quest II as a pedagogical tool for students learning English as a second language.

Several simulators ,currently ,available ,that teach computer organization are described in [1, 2, 3]. There are also professional tools, such as debuggers, available for the development ,of assembly ,language ,programs. However, these tools are generally too sophisticated and complex,to meet ,the special needs of introductory-level students. This paper ,describes ,an interactive ,visual learning environment ,EasyCPU especially designed for teaching,Computer

The majority of artificial neural networks are static and lifeless and do not change themselves within a learning environment. In these models learning is seen as the process of obtaining the strengths of connections between neurons (i.e. weights). We refer to this as the 'synaptic dogma'. This is in marked contrast with biological networks which have time dependent morphology and in which practically all neural aspects can change or be shaped by mutual interactions and interactions with an external environment. Inspired by this and many aspects of neuroscience, we have designed a new kind of neural network. In this model, neurons are represented by seven evolved programs that model particular components and aspects of biological neurons (dendrites, soma, axons, synapses, electrical and developmental behaviour). Each network begins as a small randomly generated network of neurons. When the seven programs are run, the neurons, dendrites, axons and synapses can increase or decrease in number and change in interaction with an external environment. Our aim is to show that it is possible to evolve programs that allow a network to learn through experience (i.e. encode the ability to learn). We report on our continuing investigations in the context of learning how to play checkers.

  Classroom environment influences each student's educational experience. The aim of this classroom evaluation was to gain a better understanding of how each gender functions in an introductory robotics class, where LEGOs and ROBOLAB were used as a tool to teach engineering principles and basic robotics concepts. A better understanding of how each gender performs in reaction to the classroom setup will hopefully lead to the development of a learning environment that is mutually beneficial to each gender. The course, a general freshman introduction to engineering, targeted for this evaluation required students to complete robotic challenges while working within groups and participating in design competitions. The present evaluation explored gender differences in self-confidence levels related to robotic tasks, feelings toward competitions as a component of the course, and differences in the way males and females interact within groups. Assessment was conducted through interviews, observations, and written questionnaires. Competency in robotics activities was found to be similar although males were found to be more confident of their own abilities. Both genders felt the competitions were enjoyable and integral to the atmosphere of the class. Males in the class took the competitions more seriously than did the females. Building and programming robots were thought to be their greatest areas of learning by the women. Males, on the other hand, cited working in groups and learning to compromise as the areas where they made the greatest improvements.

Issues that will shape the future of higher education institutions and new trends in campus architecture were the themes of a recent international seminar. Francisco Marmolejo, former consultant to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), presents here an ...

In this paper an overview is given of current developments in the Netherlands. The second part starts with some educational fundaments for Digital Learning Environments (DLE's). The elements of DLE's are described by the different interactions and communications between the student and participants and materials in learning environments. The paper finishes with some concrete examples and some considerations about choices to make for schools.

To date, hardly any evidence is available on the quality of adult education programs for vulnerable adults. Evaluation instruments or models mostly focussed on regular education and less on programs of adult education aiming to enhance social inclusion. This study presents a first exploration of the construct validity of a newly developed instrument, called the SIT-instrument (social inclusion after transfer) for the evaluation of educational programs for vulnerable adults and their impact on increasing social inclusion. The sample consisted of 308 respondents belonging to the target-group of vulnerable adults. The results of the validation study indicate a reliable instrument consisting of elements of a learning-environment for ''vulnerable'' adults influencing 4 specified categories of social inclusion. ß

The present paper contends that children with learning disabilities are better served when assessment and intervention are conceptualized within an ecological neuropsychology perspective than within the traditional deficit model perspective, which is the predominant approach to intervention in medical and educational settings. The deficit method conceptualizes problems as within the child, and the major consequence of this approach is that little time is spent analyzing the learning environment or other systems that might impact the child's ability to be successful in an academic setting. Therefore, rehabilitation efforts have had limited success. In contrast, ecological neuropsychology is a strengthbased approach that considers the child, as well as the systems within which he/she interacts, when assessing, diagnosing, and intervening with students who are experiencing learning difficulties.

For some time there has been a focus in higher education research towards understanding the student experience of learning. This article presents a narrative analysis of the experience of a teacher who re-entered the learning world of undergraduate students by enrolling in a challenging chemical engineering course. The analysis identifies multiple lenses in the narrative: of student, of researcher, of teacher, and of mature student. A personal reflective genre was noted which displayed an overriding emotional tenor, linked both to the emotions associated with the individual experience of struggling with difficult tasks and those arising from negotiating the social interactions of the learning environment. This hermeneutic engagement points to the value in teachers exploring their own learning, as well as new possibilities for critically examining the implications of apparently progressive teaching methodologies.

The purpose of this study was to design a learning environment based on Transformative Learning Theory for high school students. The research method was across-stage mixed model. For this purpose, the data were collected and analyzed by qualitative method, in addition to consider validity and reliability by quantitative method. Also, to extract the dimensions, components and indicators of learning environment based on Transformative Learning Theory, all texts, books, journal articles and conferences were analyzed by content analysis method and qualitative data were collected. Education and psychology experts then confirmed, rejected, or confirmed the findings. After considering the validity and reliability of the researcher-made questionnaire on the obtained dimensions, components and indices, a model of transformative learning based learning environment was presented. The results showed that the model of learning environment based on Transformative Learning Theory has 84 items (indices), 16 components and 5 dimensions. Based on the results of this model, five indicators of learning environment are: 1) Dimensions of educational factors including: teacher role components, change in teacher preparation and research methods, change in Proofism, knowledge-based environment, learner-centered environment, practical activities and problem-based teaching. 2) Supporting dimensions include components of artistic and creative cultural activities, support factors, and synergies of experiences and interactions. 3) Dimensions of non-educational factors, including the components of significant life changes and social factors. 4) Axial Critical dimension includes the components of critical thinking, discourse and emancipation. 5) Dimensions of self-knowledge include components of the self-process and emotional intelligence.

Communication skills development is one of the main goals of engineering education. We propose an integrated student-centered collaborative learning environment for developing communication skills, using project-based learning methods and peer assessment. In our learning environment, projects are assigned to small groups of students under teacher supervision, documented in a wiki-editing tool and presented during a public poster session. By combining wiki entries and poster presentations, we intend to facilitate students (1) to gain access to the project of their peers and share their results, (2) to analyze and comment critically the project of their peers and provide them with feedback, and (3) to enhance their writing and oral skills. Previous experiences encourage us to promote this integrated learning environment. Wiki environments allowed students to improve the quality of their projects and to develop a critical attitude towards their projects and the projects of their peers. The poster session was found to be more dynamic than traditional oral presentations. Students got engaged in a more open and critical manner with the project of their peers, and students presenting their project had the chance to improve the quality of their presentation on the fly, by presenting their work several times in the duration of the session. In future courses, we will implement a learning environment that combines both wikibased and poster session approaches. We expect that the implementation of both approaches will help to develop the communication skills of engineering students.

Both science and technology education have a commitment to teaching process; investigations or scientific method in science, design in technology, and problem solving in both areas. The separate debates in science and technology education reveal different curricular emphases in processes and content, reflecting different goals, and pedagogic and educational research traditions. This paper explores these differences and argues that each curriculum area can learn from the other. Despite the interest in processes, problem solving remains neglected in each area, particularly with respect to empirical accounts of student problem-solving activities and the supporting pedagogy. This paper draws on the situated learning and social constructivist literature to provide insights into problem solving in technology education. The research reported here, gives accounts of the problem-solving strategies of English secondary school students. These strategies represent their responses to technology activities and the learning environment created by teachers.

This paper describes the design and development of an on-line problem-based learning environment designed to provide a means for creating a converged learning environment for on and off-campus students. The paper describes the environment and the intended implementation strategies as well as results from its initial implementation with a large cohort.

Off-the-shelf GIS toolboxes are inadequate for pedagogic purposes. Urban Worh', an Arcview application, attempts to address this shortcoming by including special features designed to foster student progress towards a better understanding of urban environments. This paper provides context for the Urban World system in an active, authentic learning environment for students of urban geography and planning at junior and senior levels in undergraduate curricula at universities in the United States. The paper describes the rationale for, and implementation of, several components of Urban WorM a special g r a p h i d user interface; productivity tools for facilitating the acquisition of practical skills of mapping and spatial analysis; tools for accessing, undertaking, and submitting homework assignments in a paper-less class;

The objective of this study was to explore perceptions of dental student clinicians and clinical teachers about dental clinical teaching to provide primary data for dental researchers and educators. Student focus group data provided background for development of a questionnaire that explored three themes related to clinical teaching. Twenty-one teachers and forty-five student respondents completed the twenty-five-item questionnaire in 2003. In the theme of the teacher/student relationship, no statistically significant differences were seen between teacher and student group perceptions. In the theme of educational theory applied in dental clinical teaching, a statistically significant difference was seen between teacher and student groups in the value of preclinical instruction in senior clinical years and in the value of a clinical log book. In the theme of skills required for clinical dental practice, a statistically significant difference was seen between teacher and student groups in the value of a critical appreciation of evidence-based practice as one of the skills. The study overall indicates that the dental clinical learning environment supports close perceptual conformity between students and clinical teachers in regard to what each group considers to be "good practice" in clinical teaching. The findings of this study indicate that some techniques that have been advocated to enhance clinical learning, such as evidence-based teaching methods, require further investigation.

Complex learning aims at the integration of knowledge, skills, and attitudes; the coordination of qualitatively different constituent skills; and the transfer of what is learned to daily life or work settings. Recent instructional theories stress authentic learning tasks as the driving force for learning; but due to the complexity of those tasks, learning may be hampered by the limited processing capacity of the human mind. In this article we present a framework for scaffolding practice and just-in-time information presentation, aiming to control cognitive ...

A case study of student engagement with simulations in a materials engineering course is presented. The aim of the work was to better understand the characteristics of simulations which support learning: the attributes, qualities, and circumstances of their use which lead to improved understanding . Simulations were introduced into the teaching of engineering heat transfer in 2000 and were modified for 2001 based on feedback received in 2000. The response of the two student cohorts to the simulations were recorded by observation and questioning during class sessions, questionnaires administered before, during, and after the teaching period, and by informal interviews after the teaching period. The responses of the two cohorts on the final questionnaire were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. The features which were found in the current study to be important for engagement were: complexity of the simulation; the learning environment as a whole (as distinct from simply the software), and overcoming the 'barrier' of navigational opacity. Allowing sufficient time for engagement to develop was found to be critical to achieving learning outcomes. Significantly, the study highlights the need to differentiate carefully between the replication of a scenario and the provision of a simulation designed with learning as the primary goal. The objective of the simulation must be congruent with the objective of the learner, and must support the learner's objective. #

In this article, the actual impact on students' instructional and epistemological beliefs of systematic attempts to implement a problem‐based, collaborative and technologically‐rich learning environment in regular, internationally‐spread, secondary school classrooms is described. Although the literature suggests that learning environments do affect both categories of beliefs, empirical evidence is currently limited. To study the effects of learning environments, classroom‐based learning environments were redesigned in various respects. The change entailed the implementation of a problem‐based, collaborative and technologically‐rich environment to replace the more regular content‐driven, teacher‐centred and textbook‐based environment. The implementation of the innovation was hypothesised to result in a change of both the instructional and epistemological beliefs of students. Moreover, these beliefs were expected to evolve in the direction of the assumptions underlying the innovative environment. A classical pretest and posttest study resulted in the confirmation of the first hypothesis. However, for the second hypothesis, the opposite was found: students' beliefs strengthened in a direction that contradicts the basic principles underlying the designed environment. The study highlights that a poor implementation of potentially powerful learning environments can result in unexpected and even undesirable side effects.

This paper reports on the results of a planning grant that studied the effects of a highly rated curriculum unit on a diverse student population. The treatment was introduced to 1500 8 th grade students in five middle schools selected for their ethnic, linguistic, and socio-economic diversity. Students were given pre-, post-and delayed posttests on a Conservation of Matter Assessment and measures of motivation and engagement. This quasi-experiment found statistically significant posttest results for achievement, basic learning engagement, and goal orientation. Analysis of disaggregated data showed that subgroups of students in the treatment condition outscored their comparison group peers (n =1500) in achievement in all cases, except for students currently enrolled in ESOL.

famously defined cultural capital as the accumulated cultural knowledge that confers power and status. Their original work explained many of the intangible advantages that allowed the upper class to obtain better status jobs, education, etc. Here we extend this concept to include "computational capital"-the concepts, skills, and other resources that facilitate participation in computing activities, education and careers. We posit that hidden sources of computational capital can be found in some cultural practices of disadvantaged groups, and that a suitable learning environment can make this capital available to its owners. In the study presented here, the cultural practice is cornrow hairstyles, and the learning environment is based on Cornrow Curves, a web applet that allows children to use math and computing principles to simulate the patterns of these braids. This paper analyzes the interactions of African-American children with Cornrow Curves, in particular their reflections on the relationship between their heritage identity and the experience of learning math and computing through cultural resources. We use concept of "design agency" to describe the ways in which the students' creative explorations in this computational geometry converge with their cultural construction of the self.

We report the results of usability testing on a professional modeling tool designed to support students' learning about climate change impacts. Using a questionnaire and test responses as data sources, we evaluated the efficacy of an interactive map activity that was completed by 84 middle school students. An analysis of the data showed that students had difficulties manipulating simple data overlays when answering questions about tree distributions with the model. The findings from this study have implications for researchers who wish to design interactive map-based activities for science education, and for technology developers seeking to improve the usability of complex learning environments for middle school students.

Theoretical analysis highlights the complexity of the relationship between education and entertainment in educational leisure settings and indicates the need for research in this area. This paper contributes to developing an understanding of the connections between, and compatibility of, education and entertainment, from the perspective of visitors to educational leisure settings. Questionnaire data were collected from 499 visitors to six educational leisure settings in South-East Queensland, and an additional 52 visitors were interviewed. The data were analysed using three different methods: examination of visitors' own ratings of the extent to which education and entertainment are compatible; statistical examination of relationships between education and entertainment in visitors' goals, perceptions of the learning environment and learning experiences; and analysis of qualitative visitor interview responses. The findings support the proposition that education and entertainment are not only compatible, but synergistic, in the context of educational leisure settings. The importance of providing visitors with an experience that transcends both education and entertainment is discussed.

Background: We have witnessed a rapid increase in the use of Web-based 'collaborationware' in recent years. These Web 2.0 applications, particularly wikis, blogs and podcasts, have been increasingly adopted by many online health-related professional and educational services. Because of their ease of use and rapidity of deployment, they offer the opportunity for powerful information sharing and ease of collaboration. Wikis are Web sites that can be edited by anyone who has access to them. The word 'blog' is a contraction of 'Web Log'-an online Web journal that can offer a resource rich multimedia environment. Podcasts are repositories of audio and video materials that can be "pushed" to subscribers, even without user intervention. These audio and video files can be downloaded to portable media players that can be taken anywhere, providing the potential for "anytime, anywhere" learning experiences (mobile learning). Discussion: Wikis, blogs and podcasts are all relatively easy to use, which partly accounts for their proliferation. The fact that there are many free and Open Source versions of these tools may also be responsible for their explosive growth. Thus it would be relatively easy to implement any or all within a Health Professions' Educational Environment. Paradoxically, some of their disadvantages also relate to their openness and ease of use. With virtually anybody able to alter, edit or otherwise contribute to the collaborative Web pages, it can be problematic to gauge the reliability and accuracy of such resources. While arguably, the very process of collaboration leads to a Darwinian type 'survival of the fittest' content within a Web page, the veracity of these resources can be assured through careful monitoring, moderation, and operation of the collaborationware in a closed and secure digital environment. Empirical research is still needed to build our pedagogic evidence base about the different aspects of these tools in the context of medical/health education. Summary and conclusion: If effectively deployed, wikis, blogs and podcasts could offer a way to enhance students', clinicians' and patients' learning experiences, and deepen levels of learners' engagement and collaboration within digital learning environments. Therefore, research should be conducted to determine the best ways to integrate these tools into existing e-Learning programmes for students, health professionals and patients, taking into account the different, but also overlapping, needs of these three audience classes and the opportunities of virtual collaboration between them. Of particular importance is research into novel integrative applications, to serve as the "glue" to bind the different forms of Web-based collaborationware synergistically in order to provide a coherent wholesome learning experience.

Abstract. Developing e-Learning applications concerns issues of human communication and facilitating technology. One of the key research issues in Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) is the participation of remote audience in a communicative activity. This is particularly important in learning contexts. In the two studies reported here, we discuss systems infrastructure by presenting the concept of the Virtual Observatory through the AstroGrid project. We explore how such a Grid can be used in the future as an e- ...

This course is designed to give students a foundation in the awareness, knowledge, understanding, and skills needed to effectively carry out multicultural social work practice with populations who are culturally diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, class, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, ability status, and national origin. In particular, students will gain skills in facilitating multicultural group interactions and in resolving conflicts or resistance that may emerge due to cultural misunderstandings or oppressive dynamics. The topics of this course include social identity group development; prejudice and stereotyping and their effects on groups; difference and dominance and the nature of social oppression; our personal and interpersonal connections to power, privilege, and oppression; understanding and resolving conflicts or resistance; methods of dialoguing and coalition building across differences; and basic group facilitation skills and their applications in multicultural settings.

The EPPE 3-11 Project builds on the work of the earlier Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) project, which was the first major longitudinal study in Europe to investigate the impact of pre-school provision on a national sample of young children, tracing their development between the ages of 3 and 7 years. EPPE 3-11 follows the same sample of 2500 plus children to age 11 years, the end of Key Stage 2 (KS2). This research brief reports the results of detailed observations of practice conducted in 125 Year 5 classes attended by EPPE children, and measures the variation in teachers' organisation and pedagogy and in pupils' responses. The brief describes patterns of association between indicators of primary school effectiveness (measured using value added approaches and national assessment results) and quality (measured by Ofsted inspection grades) and differences between Year 5 classes in observed practice and behaviour. The observations were conducted in a range of lessons with a particular emphasis on the core subjects.

Video games and new communication metaphors are quickly changing today's young people habits. Considering the actual e-learning scenarios, embedded in a fully technological enabled environment it is crucial to take advantage of this kind of capabilities to let learning process gain best results. This paper presents a virtual campus created using Second Life which provides four distinct types of virtual space: common student campus, collaborative zones, lecture rooms and recreational areas. Second Life environments and objects have been designed and programmed to support synchronous lectures and collaborative learning. The Second Life virtual world has also been equipped with supporting tools enabling students and teachers to navigate among multimedia contents. Second Life and an ad-hoc developed Moodle plug-in have been integrated to naturally enrich the environment with LMS services, exploiting this 3D world to increase the interaction and communication opportunities between teachers and students, and among students, principally favoring planned and unplanned social encounters.

This paper reports on the inclusion of extensive reading in three separate 12-week courses taught by different teachers on an EAP programme at a New Zealand university. The inclusion of extensive reading was experimental and sought answers to two questions: would students respond positively to the extensive reading component, and how could extensive reading be included? On each iteration of the extensive reading component a different approach was taken. On the first occasion, the reading was a stand-alone part of the teaching programme but on the second and third occasions the reading was integrated into the programme. In each of the three classes the students responded positively to the inclusion of extensive reading. The integration of the reading reflected teacher and learner differences, and supported the belief that the way in which extensive reading is included in a programme should be determined by the specific language learning environment.

The rapid proliferation of mobile devices nationally coupled with high levels of individual ownership both nationally and internationally provide many opportunities for exploring ways in which students own mobile devices might be integrated into teaching and learning activities in higher education. Amongst other benefits, mobile learning is seen as providing considerable opportunities to link formal and informal learning across a range of educational contexts. Equally, rich media such as vodcasts (video podcasts) and videoconferencing are increasingly seen as supporting a range of teaching and learning activities, particularly in distance learning situations. This paper describes two case studies that explored the implementation of mobile devices and rich media in the Health Sciences and concludes that mobile learning can make valuable contributions to linking different learning environments. The motivation for the exploration of mobile connectivity came from the need to find ways to better support students on clinical placement in two different contexts.

Today's military flight simulators have dramatically reduced the cost of training by providing cheaper, effective alternatives to training on a real aircraft. However, flight training is still limited by the availability of instructor pilots. The adage "practice makes perfect" is nowhere truer than in the learning psychomotor skills such as flying. Ideally, trainees should be able to practice flying skills on their own to complement instructor-led training. Most flight simulators do not have any automated assessment and tutoring facilities, making them ineffective as selfpaced learning environments.