This paper analyses laughter in spoken academic discourse, with the aim of discovering why lecturers provoke laughter in their lectures. A further purpose of the paper is to identify episodes in British data which may differ from those in other cultural contexts where other lecturing practices prevail, and thus to inform the design of study skills…

Digital educational games (DEGs) possess the potential of providing an appealing and intrinsically motivating learning context. Usually this potential is either taken for granted or examined through questionnaires or interviews in the course of evaluation studies. However, an "adaptive" game would increase the probability of a DEG being…

Dunblane Primary School, Scotland, and Columbine High School, USA. Two headline tragedies that have led to trauma for their pupils and staff. Trauma that could be devastating because of the psychological impact and the practical requirements a crisis brings. Children's social and personal development can be negatively affected, their academic…