Current educational policy in Mexico, as in many other parts of the world, leans heavily on teachers to use computers in their classrooms. This article explores under what conditions teachers are willing to learn about and use digital technology in their work. The authors' central premise is that incorporating technology into teaching is a complex process that includes redefining classroom relationships, re-interpreting the curriculum, and expanding the notion of academic literacy beyond written texts. Using a social practice framework, they present data from a collaborative experience between teachers and researchers who share knowledge and know-how about how to use computers for academic purposes and co-participate in the design of academic activities for their classrooms. This article shows that in order for teachers to use digital technology, they need to participate in viable transitional practices that allow them to foray into the new, take risks in a safe environment, and construct new approaches to what counts as academic work, classroom interaction, curriculum and evaluation.For more than a decade, researchers have presented us with evidence that both quantifies and qualifies how much digital technology is now in schools and how little it is used

An elderly person who lives alone must often be autonomous and self-sufficient in daily living activities. We explored if living alone and marital status were associated with mild cognitive impairment and low cognitive reserve in a sample of Mexican women aged 60+ attending continuing education courses using a cross-sectional design. Objective cognitive functions were assessed using the MMSE and Blessed Dementia Scale. We administered the Cognitive Reserve Questionnaire. Independence skills were assessed with the Katz index and Lawton index. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used. We recruited 269 participants (x¯ = 69.0 ± 5.8 years). Single, widowed, separated, and divorced women comprised 73% of the participants. A third lived alone and 84% had completed high school. Mild cognitive deficit was observed among 24.5–29.0%; the upper range for cognitive reserve was 61.7%. Living alone versus living with someone was associated with cognitive impairment (OR = 0.51, p = 0.04) and with low to medium cognitive reserve (OR = 0.51, p = 0.02) after adjusting for confounding variables. Living alone was an independent factor associated with a lower probability of displaying mild cognitive impairment and a higher probability of displaying high cognitive reserve. Women living alone in this study had a more robust cognitive framework and had built their own support networks.

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