Norm Friesen

Attention has long concerned philosophers and spiritual traditions, but recent technologies (e.g., social media, gaming) and pathologies (e.g., ADHD) foreground it in education. This paper reconstructs the awareness implied in Kant’s logical tact and Herbart’s pedagogical tact, then delineates tactful forms of awareness phenomenologically and via Gestalt psychology, including Freud’s notion of ‘free‑floating attention.’ It concludes by outlining characteristics of awareness requisite for tactful pedagogical decision and action—an attention receptive to the world yet modulated by the one attending.

The article sketches a descriptive, inductive account of pedagogy as a distinct topos structured by tensions (e.g., protection–exposure, proximity–distance, freedom–constraint) that shape adult–child engagements beyond classroom instrumentalities. It situates pedagogy as an intensely interpersonal realm in which reflective judgment is needed, complementing dominant Anglo‑American emphases on outcomes and techniques. The framework helps locate and interpret diverse ‘pedagogies’ by bringing latent antinomies to the surface.

Tracks the 90‑year history of the ‘pedagogical relation’ from Nohl’s formulation to contemporary interpretations. Argues that teacher fallibility—moments of interruption and hesitation—must be seen as integral to pedagogy, not accidental, and complements child‑centered accounts by attending to educator subjectivity and responsibility.

Through a historical–theoretical lens informed by Raymond Williams, the article argues that dominant commercial social networking sites constrain debate and, thus, learning. It proposes updating Williams’s concepts (sequence, rhythm, flow) with ‘information design,’ ‘architecture,’ and especially ‘algorithm’ to describe how advertising‑driven platforms shape interaction in ways misaligned with educational aims.

Often maligned yet enduring, the lecture is analyzed as a pedagogical genre where media differences are negotiated across time. Rather than being superseded by electronic and digital forms, the lecture bridges oral communication with writing and newer media, combining textual record and ephemeral event in a robust, adaptable form that meets practical and epistemological demands.

Provides a primer on e‑learning standards bodies and processes relevant to learning objects and related infrastructures, focusing on IMS Global, IEEE LTSC, and ISO/IEC. Clarifies how specifications and standards interrelate and the implications for discoverability, reusability, and interoperability in public education contexts.