Editorial

In this issue the editorial space has been given over to a tribute to David Squires. The
review below gives an outline of some of his research interests and his substantial
contributions to learning technology. In the last issue, as an experiment, we invited
comments on the paper by Davies and Denning. The idea behind this was to try and
encourage more discussion around papers and to look at introducing a more interactive
element to the journal. We will postpone this now until the next issue. If you would like to
contribute to this debate, please email comments to g.conole@bristol.ac.uk by Friday, 14
December. Finally, I would like to welcome Dr Jane Seale and Dr Martin Oliver to the
editorial team. Jane is based at King's College, London and is also editor for ALT-N.
Martin is based at University College, London and has extensive editorial experience. I am
looking forward to working with them both over the next few years.

David Squires, 1948-2001

Professor David Squires took over as editor of ALT-J in 1999. His recent tragic death is a
true loss to learning technology.

David's career spanned the educational spectrum. In the UK, he was one of the original
pioneers in work on considering how computers could be used to enhance learning. He
began his career as a physics teacher and was based for one year at the Latymer School in
Enfield. He moved in the late 1970s into an advisory role and was Adviser for Computers
in Education for Devon Local Education Authority in the early 1980s. He went on to
become Director of Sciences for the seminal project 'Computers in the Curriculum' (one of
the three major posts on the project) based at King's College. This was one of the first
major computers-in-education initiatives in the country. At about the same time he also
took up a post at King's as a Lecturer in Educational Computing within the School of
Education. He remained at King's and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1994 and then
to a chair in 2000.

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His research history shows a commitment over twenty years to scholarly work in the use of
multimedia and information and communication technologies (ICT), in educational
settings at both university and school level. Particular interests included theories of
learning and the design and evaluation of the use of multimedia and ICT in educational
settings, and the use of ICT in academic research. His research was strongly linked to
curriculum development through the design of multimedia learning materials for use in
higher education and schools.

A major, thrust of his research was to articulate a theoretical rationale for the design and
use of educational multimedia. This work featured a synthesis of ideas from a range of
disciplines (software design, human-computer interaction, cognitive development and
theories of learning, curriculum theory and pedagogical practice) with the aim of
identifying synergies between these ideas at a theoretical level, to inform design and
evaluation. In 1994 he co-authored a book which addressed the multi-faceted nature of the
use of multimedia in teaching and learning, and proposed a paradigm for educational
software evaluation, which he took broadly to include theoretically grounded analyses of
validity and practice-orientated assessments of function. The contribution to theory made
by his work was much praised. For example, the following editorial appeared in the Journal
of Information Technology for Teacher Education:

Many papers in this international journal discuss and develop concepts in relation to the
professional development of teachers. In particular, the journal considers the
professional development required by beginning and practising teachers in order to be
able to use IT to encourage learning, to use IT to teach with and to manage the
application of IT in the learning environment. It was therefore with delight that we
received a paper which provided a clear framework. Anne McDougall and David
Squires's paper provides the keystone to this issue of the journal and this editorial. The
framework's title is 'Perspectives Interactions Paradigm'. Within it are five commonly
observed foci for teacher professional development [... ]. I think that many in the field
have already written about aspects of these foci, but this may be the first time they have
been brought together in a clear framework and I suspect that it may apply well beyond
IT to any innovation in education. (Davis, 1997)

He was also particularly interested in the relationship between human computer
interaction and teaching and learning: the use of direct manipulation educational software.
was the focus of his Ph.D. thesis. In December 1996 he hosted a British Computer Society
Human Computer Interaction Special Interest Group meeting on 'Usability and
Educational Software Design'. He also undertook a research fellowship with BT in 1999
on the design of an interface to a Web-based teachers' toolkit for open and distance
learning.

Another strand to his research was an exploration of the use of ICT in academic research,
which included longitudinal analyses and case studies of the use of ICT by academics.
From its inception this work was at the cutting edge: notably the use of state of the art ICT
tools, including on-line bibliographic sources, networked CD-ROMs, bibliographic
management software, Web browsers, email and pre-print bulletin boards.

Methodologies for researching the use of ICT in a research context were ill formed in 1992,
and the work David directed at King's has been acknowledged as making a significant

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Editorial

contribution to this area. His research highlighted that many assumptions about how ICT
is used in research have been shown to be simplistic; for example, beliefs that user support
can be primarily reactive to users' needs rather than proactive in setting an agenda for user
support. These findings have contributed to our understanding of the complex interactions
that characterize the use of ICT in a research context.

Much of his experience of applying ICT in higher education was gained in a European
context. He was a member of the 'AQUA' TEMPUS project based on a collaboration
between King's College, the Institute for Science Education, Kiel and the University of
Hradec in the Czech Republic. This project aimed to develop the use of ICT in
environmental education, with an emphasis on establishing quality-assurance procedures
for curriculum development. During the period 1994-7 he was a managing partner of the
'SITE' TEMPUS project principally involving collaboration with German and Bulgarian
partners. This project focused on educational multimedia development, the analysis of
satellite images using state-of-the-art software applications, and the development of
internationally accredited masters degree programmes in ICT and Environmental Studies.
Prior to this, from 1991 to 1994, he was a managing partner for the 'COBES' TEMPUS
project, which aimed to revise the Environmental Studies curriculum offered to engineer-
ing students at the Technical University in Sofia.

This outline of some of David's key research interests only touches on the range and
breadth of his work. In addition, he was an active member of the University and the higher
education community, serving on innumerable committees, steering groups and advisory
boards, as well as undertaking significant undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and
research supervision. He will be sadly missed, by me personally and by everyone else who
was fortunate enough to have worked with him.

Gráinne Conole
Editor

Reference

Davis, N. (1997), 'Framing teacher professional development', Journal of Information
Technology for Teacher Education, 6 (2), 109-13.

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