The growing popularity of game addiction discourse has necessitated study of how video game critics rhetorically construct addiction. In the following thesis, I analyze contemporary examples of texts that link game addiction to drug abuse. I use Robert Cover’s analysis of how game addiction stereotypes form in conjunction with Aristotle’s rhetorical principles to isolate the persuasive appeals used by authors to rhetorically construct game play as addictive. These addiction arguments, however, are rooted in a larger historical context, and I present examples of game guidebooks and comic books published in the late 1970s and early 1980s to illustrate their rhetorical responses to game addiction rhetoric. I found addiction arguments utilize fear appeals combined with ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade audiences to reject games as potentially dangerous and worthless virtual pursuits. The authors of early game texts use ethos, pathos, and logos to dismantle fear appeals and present video games as a new genre that can be mastered through skill and practice rather than a meaningless virtual experience. This research provides ground for further explorations of game addiction rhetoric, and implications for the continued study of video games.

Significant changes to the British Columbia's educational system have been caused by new curriculums that are based on a resource-based learning and teaching model. The Ministry of Education evaluates learning resources and allocates funding to support the acquisition of learning resources at the district and school level. Learning resources selected for classroom use are to support the Principles of Learning: • learning requires the active participation of the student; • people learn in a variety of ways and at different rates; • learning is both an individual and a group process. The Ministry recommends that schools have a Learning Resource Committee to develop a school vision for learning resources, evaluate current school resources, establish selection priorities, evaluate resources and make recommendations for purchase, and identify learning resource management systems. A survey of Vancouver elementary and secondary schools indicates that 41% of the schools have Learning Resource Committees, but that their activities rarely include all the recommendations of the Ministry. The survey shows that only 25% of the Committees have an established procedure for selecting learning resources. This study includes an analysis of Learning Resources Committees at two secondary and one elementary school where interviews were done with administrators, teacher-librarians, teachers and staff assistants provide a picture of how learning resources are selected and managed and their impact on resource-based learning and teaching. This study found that systems for selecting and managing learning resources are in the developmental stage as teachers move from primarily print formats to a broad range of print and non-print learning resources.

This dissertation examines the contribution that media make in quality distance education and seeks explanations for poor media selection processes. Distance education is viewed in policy documents as playing a crucial role in the development of South Africa and the provision of a wide range of education opportunities through distance methods has increased rapidly. There are however grave concerns about the quality of much of this provision. This reflects global disappointment where many technology-based educational operations failing to meet expectations. In Part One, the study scrutinizes the role of media in distance education and concludes that conceptually and in practice technology is indeed viewed as a crucial component of distance provision and consequently decision around the selection and usage of media will be significant in quality distance education. Thereafter the study analyses possible reasons for poor media choices, highlighting aspects such as over-enthusiastic beliefs in technology, a neglect of educational issues and an under theorized approach. Given that there has been considerable research activity into media usage, the study then examines why previous research has not been influential in media decisions, concluding that the research is conceptually flawed and overly crude. Having identified and discussed bad practice, Part Two moves into the positive and identifies basic principles in making better choices (such as examining our own beliefs, conceptualizing the relationship between education and technology and mobilizing team approaches). Developing more sophisticated understandings of education and technology and ways in which can be utilized forms the bulk of this section and includes a focus on current notions of quality education. Rather than concluding with strong recommendations, two specific areas for consideration - convergence and media combinations- are suggested. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2000.

The research reported here is a qualitative case study aimed to identify the position of digital game-based learning (DGBL) in the public and private preschools of Stockholm. The research is placed within the broader framework of digital game-based learning and the practical implementation of digital games in education, while the emphasis of the study is given to the role of the teachers in the practical implementation of digital games into the classroom. The research examines the attitude of the teachers towards digital games and investigates the role of these attitudes in the implementation of DGBL. The empirical findings of the study are analyzed and discussed through the prism of the existing literature on the field.The study shows that the perception of teachers on digital games and on the use of technology in early childhood education is the main factor that influences the implementation of digital games in preschools. The attitudes of the teachers can be distinguished in two categories: the positive teachers and the sceptical teachers. Furthermore, there are several other barriers that prevent the spreading of DGBL in the education institutions. Regardless of the teachers’ stance and the existing barriers, teachers are aware of the existence of digital games applicable to the early childhood education and many of them do make use of them. In this study, the ways of implementation of the digital games are also presented. However, teachers do not discuss digital games with the parents, while the discussion among colleagues is limited. The lack of information and appropriate training reveal a gap between the research community and the educational practice of DGBL.

Thesis (MPhil) -- University of Stellenbosch, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study focused on the representation of the University of the North in the national media during the period 1994-1999. A preliminary survey of newspaper reports indicated that during the post 1994 elections period the University had been getting negative coverage from the national media, especially the Mai/&Guardian.This period was also characterized by the intensification of transformation processes and other challenges within tertiary institutions. The aim of the study was to investigate how the national print media portrayed the university during the period 1994-1999 and to find out what role the Media Directorate of the division Development and Public Relations has played in the whole process. Both internal and external factors which had an impact on the representation of the university were also explored. This study is important in the sense that media relations is regarded as a strategic management tool whose purpose is to create mutual understanding between an organization and its internal and external stakeholders - more especially during the period when organisations are facing both internal and external changes. Communication is therefore seen as a central tool which is facilitating the transformation process. Seen against the tendency of the media to concentrate on conflict and events as major news stories - a conflict of interests then emerges. Content analysis was used to analyse newspaper articles (from the Mai/&Guardian and Independent Online/Star) covering the university between the period 1994-1999 and interviews were conducted with respondents who had been chosen purposely or specifically because their activities had a direct bearing on the media situation. The major themes or issues which had been the major focus of the media during the said period were then identified and evaluated in terms of the nature of the portrayal of the university . The study showed that the University of the North had been negatively portrayed in the media and that the absence of a Media Relations Officer, Media Relations Policy and the tendency of the media to focus on conflict as a news value contributed to the negative image of the university. It is hoped that the study will contribute towards the formulation of a media relations policy at the university, the assessment of the pace of and the whole transformation process and will highlight the major challenges facing public relations departments (and specifically the media sections) of historically black institutions in the current political dispensation. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die studie ondersoek die mediadekking van die Universiteit van die Noorde in die pers gedurende die tydperk 1994-1999 landwyd. Voorafgaande oorsig oor koerantberigte het aangedui dat na die 1994 nasionale verkiesings die landwye pers In baie negatiewe beeld van die universiteit geskep het. Die nasion ale koerant Mail &Guardian het veral die Universiteit in In negatiewe lig geplaas. Gedurende hierdie tydperk het tersiere instellings 'n verheweging van transformasie-prosesse, gekoppel met ander uitdagings, ondervind. Die doelwit was om die beeld te ondersoek wat nasionale koerante van die Universiteit geskep het en die rol wat hierin gespeel is deur die Media Direktoraat, In onderafdeling van die Universiteit se Ontwikkelings- en Skakelafdeling. Interne en eksterne faktore wat 'n invloed op hierdie beeld kon he, is ondersoek. Organisasies se verhouding met die pers is 'n strategiese kwessie. 'n Wederkerige verstandhouding met interne en eksterne belanghebbendes is onder meer belangrik veral wanneer organisasies interne en eksterne verandering ondervind. Die pers se neiging om op konfliksituasies en soortgelyke gebeurtenisse te konsentreer, vereis des te meer goeie kommunikasie. Die inhoud van koerantberigte oor die Universiteit wat verskyn het in die Mail&Guardian en Independent Online/Star vanaf 1994 tot 1999 is ontleed. Die hooftemas uit die koerantberigte is ge·identifiseer en geevalueer teen die agtergrond van die beeld wat geskep is van die Universiteit. Daarna is onderhoude uitgevoer met werknemers wie se werk 'n direkte uitwerking het op die perssituasie. Die navorser het bevind dat die pers In slegte beeld van die Universiteit geskep het. Die afwesigheid van In persbeleid en 'n skakelbeampte wat spesifiek met die pers onderhandel, gepaard met die pers se neiging om konflik-situasies as nuus te beskou, het daartoe bygedra. Daar word gehoop dat die studie die bepaling van 'n persbeleid vir die Universiteit van die Noorde sal aanhelp. Verder word gehoop dat die Universiteit se benadering tot die transformasiesproses, asook die pas waarop dit plaasvind, geevalueer sal word. Laastens word gehoop dat dit die vernaamste uitdagings wat skakelafdelings (veral die pers-afdelings) van historiese swart instellings in die huidige politiek bedeling in die gesig staar, sal beklemtoon.

The thesis focuses on the issue of civic attitudes adopted by students of vocational schools. The author presents an overview of previous Czech research which shows that students of vocational schools are placed at the bottom of international surveys inquiring civic and political knowledge. Moreover, the results reveal that the students of vocational schools express their support for democracy as a way of government the least. The goal of the thesis is to describe civic and political opinions of concrete students and show who influences them and how. It is designed as a multiple case study. Six students of vocational schools from Prague, a smaller town and a village in Central Bohemian Region were chosen to participate in the study. The core of the work is the description of the individual cases in a detailed context including their family, community, school and friends. The findings indicate that the studied students are usually not interested in politics. Their political beliefs are heavily formed by their family and peers. School as an institution does not have any influence, not even through civic education which is compulsory during the first years of high school education. It is most of all caused by fewer opportunities for an open discussion about basic topics in classes. Media have only...

Among the teachers functions in online education, the tutoring plays an important role. The tutor establishes the closest relations with the student, mediating the pedagogical actions which are developed in the online course, with in order to achieve the principles of autonomy and learning, contributing to the creation of collaborative learning spaces, permeated by the interactivity and affection. This research focuses on the role of tutors in the Continued Training Programme for Educational Media searching for the improvement in the practice of tutoring since the studies of practice and the individuals who practice them can contribute to understanding and better structuring of this expanding area. This study aimed to verify the contribution of tutors to promote interactivity and building emotional bonds through the forum interface, as constitutive elements of learning communities in the basic cycle of the Media in Education Programme, in its first offer in Alagoas. The methodology used was case study, and data collecting involved multiple sources of evidence such as questionnaires, interviews and consultations. In the research achieved revise of literature, procedures for data collection, tabulation and analysis of data collected. The results showed that the performance of the tutors was very positive, but there are aspects that need improvement in order to have a truly interactive feature of a learning community, and reach the goal of collaborative learning in online education. / Entre as funções docentes na educação online, a tutoria ocupa um lugar importante. O tutor estabelece as relações mais próximas com o aluno, mediando as ações pedagógicas que se desenvolvem no curso online, tendo em vista a concretização dos princípios da autonomia e da aprendizagem, contribuindo para a criação de espaços colaborativos de aprendizagem, permeados pela interatividade e afetividade. Esta pesquisa enfoca a atuação dos tutores no Programa de Formação Continuada em Mídias na Educação tendo em vista a busca de subsídios para a melhoria da prática da tutoria, uma vez que os estudos sobre as práticas e os sujeitos que as exercem podem contribuir para a compreensão e melhor estruturação dessa área em expansão. Teve como objetivo verificar qual a contribuição dos tutores na promoção da interatividade e da construção de vínculos afetivos, através da interface fórum, como elementos constitutivos de comunidades de aprendizagem no ciclo básico do Mídias na Educação, em sua primeira oferta em Alagoas. A metodologia utilizada foi o estudo de caso, envolvendo várias fontes de evidências como questionários, entrevistas e consultas para coleta de dados. Na pesquisa realizou-se revisão de literatura, procedimentos de coleta de dados, tabulação e análise dos dados coletados. Os resultados demonstraram que a atuação dos tutores foi bastante positiva, mas há aspectos que precisam melhorar para que se tenha de fato a interatividade característica de uma comunidade de aprendizagem, e se alcance o objetivo da aprendizagem colaborativa na educação online.

This thesis deals with the teaching of media education at the upper primary school from the perspective of the future teacher of civic education. The first section defines some of the topics that are part of media education and media literacy, they provide the reader basic information about this issue. The practical part contains my own research, whose aim is to identify and compare the development of media education in different schools from the perspective of both pupils of the 9th class and the future teacher of civic education. Part of this practice section are results of the research whose aim was to investigate if teachers systematically and purposefully work with the cross-cutting theme of media education and how they integrate it into education. For the research there was used direct observation in the lessons and questionnaires for pupils of the 9th forms of primary school.

This thesis outlines the current state of adult media literacy and education in the Czech Republic. It defines basic concepts, present and historical approaches of media literacy and its anchoring in the Czech legal order and international documents. It further focuses on current phenomena of media world and selected media institutions involved in media literacy development. The analytical part compares and evaluates Pan-European and Czech research aimed at measuring the level of media literacy of adults. Key words media literacy, media education, media, adult education, longlife learning, civic education

Significant changes to the British Columbia's educational system have been caused by new curriculums that are based on a resource-based learning and teaching model. The Ministry of Education evaluates learning resources and allocates funding to support the acquisition of learning resources at the district and school level. Learning resources selected for classroom use are to support the Principles of Learning: • learning requires the active participation of the student; • people learn in a variety of ways and at different rates; • learning is both an individual and a group process. The Ministry recommends that schools have a Learning Resource Committee to develop a school vision for learning resources, evaluate current school resources, establish selection priorities, evaluate resources and make recommendations for purchase, and identify learning resource management systems. A survey of Vancouver elementary and secondary schools indicates that 41% of the schools have Learning Resource Committees, but that their activities rarely include all the recommendations of the Ministry. The survey shows that only 25% of the Committees have an established procedure for selecting learning resources. This study includes an analysis of Learning Resources Committees at two secondary and one elementary school where interviews were done with administrators, teacher-librarians, teachers and staff assistants provide a picture of how learning resources are selected and managed and their impact on resource-based learning and teaching. This study found that systems for selecting and managing learning resources are in the developmental stage as teachers move from primarily print formats to a broad range of print and non-print learning resources. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate