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This article presents topological genealogy (TG) as a methodology to research transnational digital governance, and particularly how digital infrastructures are implicated in enacting such forms of governance. Inspired by the field of social topology, TG is centrally interested in investigating the conjoined production of digital infrastructures and present-day education policymaking as governance; as well as how both produce, and are produced by, processes of flows and change. Notably, the TG methodology helps to disentangle digital governance in, through and as change. Through a worked example of the European Commission's eTwinning platform, the article shows TG in action, and complements the topological analysis with methodological foregroundings. These show how the methodology impacts as much the fabrication of research data and its subsequent analysis as it impacts the doings of the researcher.

This paper interrogates whether technical democracy is well-suited to contend with possible technical controversies, including the increasing prevalence of EdTech in public schooling. Drawing across Habermasian 'deliberative democracy' that seeks consensus-derived resolution, as well as more agonistic approaches that embrace conflict as the means for pursuing pluralistic values, we use this paper to problematise technical democracy for its potential to produce agonistic and pluralistic im/possibilities. Drawing on case studies developed from our previous research into digital platforms and infrastructures, we consider what an alternative to technical democracy might offer towards realising democratic ideals through what we call technical agonism. Using these thinking tools, we argue that a move towards technical agonism would centre dissension and scepticism as fundamental features of liberal democratic institutions, while also providing opportunities for schooling to be reimagined in ways that are more democratic and ethical.

Clerkships are defining experiences for medical students in which students integrate basic science knowledge with clinical information as they gain experience in diagnosing and treating patients in a variety of clinical settings. Among the basic sciences, there is broad agreement that anatomy is foundational for medical practice. Unfortunately, there are longstanding concerns that student knowledge of anatomy is below the expectations of clerkship directors and clinical faculty. Most allopathic medical schools require eight "core" clerkships: internal medicine (IM), pediatrics (PD), general surgery (GS), obstetrics and gynecology (OB), psychiatry (PS), family medicine (FM), neurology (NU), and emergency medicine (EM). A targeted needs assessment was conducted to determine the anatomy considered important for each core clerkship based on the perspective of clinicians teaching in those clerkships. A total of 525 clinical faculty were surveyed at 24 United States allopathic medical schools. Participants rated 97 anatomical structure groups across all body regions on a 1-4 Likert-type scale (1 = not important, 4 = essential). Non-parametric ANOVAs determined if differences existed between clerkships. Combining all responses, 91% of anatomical structure groups were classified as "essential" or "more important." Clinicians in FM, EM, and GS rated anatomical structures in most body regions significantly higher than at least one other clerkship (p = 0.006). This study provides an evidence-base of anatomy content that should be considered important for each core clerkship and may assist in the development and/or revision of preclinical curricula to support the clinical training of medical students.

This paper focuses on the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) "PISA for Schools" assessment. Our first substantive focus is a descriptive and analytical account of changes and developments in the functioning of this ground-breaking assessment since its creation in 2012. These changes include an expansion of the number and diversity of participating schools and countries, the introduction of a 'user-pays' model, the enhanced role of edtech firms and an explicit capacity-building focus, which we argue helps to strengthen an instrument constituency for the broader OECD testing regime. The second focus of the paper is the impact of PISA for Schools on changing modes of educational governance, situated against emerging spatialities of globalisation. Here, we provide an analysis using the concept of 'by-passes', which we elaborate as "spatial," "governance" and "systemic," to understand the new topological spatialities of globalisation and the global governance effects of these specific by-passes.

Purpose: To refine a motor competence assessment app prototype, enabling its redesign. Method: Workshops were conducted to inform the prototype development. App's usability was evaluated on its ability to communicate relevant information to the teachers (n = 9). A "think out loud" protocol was applied by the users. Results: Both workshops refined the app, namely: interface, background, acceptability/feasibility, results, teachers themselves, and effectiveness. Competitor analysis revealed recommendations for the wireframe, visuals, and proposedskills to be assessed. The need to include a demonstration for first-time users, video guidance, and links to more information for each skill was also raised. There was a recommendation on the design brief features and experiences. Conclusions: This study will provide guidance in discovering how digital solutions may shape motor competence assessment. The usability testing process with the teachers provides insight on the essential/desirable features required on these apps, enabling the prototype's redesign to meet the users' needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon the growing datafication of contemporary schooling, our purpose in this article is to use topological thinking as an analytical device to better understand the professionals and practices within emergent data infrastructures. We address this by attending to an influential national (and subnational) data infrastructure of school monitoring in the United States, managed by the federal Department of Education, known as "EDFacts." Informed by policy documents relating to EDFacts, as well as by various related software platforms and portals, we explore the "whom" and "how" of datafication, and expose the increasing presence and influence of otherwise 'hidden' technology mediators, or 'shadow professionals'. In particular, we argue that the increasing dependency of EDFacts on data has necessitated the introduction of new professional roles associated with optimising the flow of data, and thus stabilising and normalising the topological space of the infrastructure. We conclude by suggesting that EDFacts encourages teaching professionals and shadow professionals alike to engage in "acts of data submission"; that is, providing data to EDFacts and, at the same time, positioning themselves as wholly responsive to the infrastructure and its datafied renderings of schooling.

Continuing professional development (CPD) is important to ensure teachers continuously maintain and update the best practice knowledge and skills needed for the profession. Limited research into CPD in physical education (PE-CPD) suggests that current provisions are largely ineffective, particularly regarding access, and the specific teaching of motor skills (e.g. throw, catch, run). Improved PE-CPD is clearly needed, and online programmes may provide a promising avenue for more accessible and effective delivery. Digital models of PE-CPD are in the early stages of use, and as yet we know very little about PE teachers' experiences of online CPD. Thus, the present study aimed to (i) explore elementary school PE teachers' perceptions of online PE-CPD; and (ii) provide recommendations on the development and provision of future online PE-CPD, with a particular focus on motor skill instruction and assessment. Twenty-two PE teachers participated in focus group discussions, which were analysed in NVivo 11 using an inductive thematic approach. Three major themes and several subthemes were developed from the data. First, there was significant teacher motivation and perceived need for online PE-CPD, mainly in relation to accessibility. Second, and despite this perceived need, teachers reported considerable caution around its use, especially regarding a perceived lack of a 'community of practice'. Third, teachers provided multiple suggestions for future online PE-CPD design and delivery, including that it: (i) be evidence-based; (ii) provide pedagogical content knowledge and not just content knowledge; (iii) be informed by teachers and translatable to practice; (iv) facilitate communities of practice; (v) be interactive; (vi) be simple to navigate; and (vii) be highly visual. It is clear from teacher feedback that while online PE-CPD provides new opportunities, there are still significant limitations. This research provides novel insights and valuable recommendations that could optimise the success of future online PE-CPD offerings.

Each year vast international resources are wasted on irreproducible research. The scientific community has been slow to adopt standard software engineering practices, despite the increases in high-dimensional data, complexities of workflows, and computational environments. Here we show how scientific software applications can be created in a reproducible manner when simple design goals for reproducibility are met. We describe the implementation of a test server framework and 40 scientific benchmarks, covering numerous applications in Rosetta bio-macromolecular modeling. High performance computing cluster integration allows these benchmarks to run continuously and automatically. Detailed protocol captures are useful for developers and users of Rosetta and other macromolecular modeling tools. The framework and design concepts presented here are valuable for developers and users of any type of scientific software and for the scientific community to create reproducible methods. Specific examples highlight the utility of this framework, and the comprehensive documentation illustrates the ease of adding new tests in a matter of hours.

The Rosetta software for macromolecular modeling, docking and design is extensively used in laboratories worldwide. During two decades of development by a community of laboratories at more than 60 institutions, Rosetta has been continuously refactored and extended. Its advantages are its performance and interoperability between broad modeling capabilities. Here we review tools developed in the last 5 years, including over 80 methods. We discuss improvements to the score function, user interfaces and usability. Rosetta is available at http://www.rosettacommons.org.

This paper examines the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) "PISA for Schools," a new variant of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) that compares school-level performance on reading, math and science with international schooling systems (e.g., Shanghai-China, Finland). Specifically, I focus here on a professional learning community--the "Global Learning Network" (GLN)--of U.S. schools and districts that have voluntarily participated in PISA for Schools, and how this, arguably, helps to normatively determine "what works" in education. Drawing suggestively across diverse thinking around contemporary modes of governance, and emerging topological spaces and relations associated with globalization, and informed by interviews with 33 policy actors across the PISA for Schools policy cycle, my analyses suggest that GLN allows the OECD to discursively and normatively constrain how "world-class" schools and systems, and their policies and practices, are defined. However, and in light of the productive capacities of power relations, I also argue that GLN provides opportunities for local educators and leaders to undertake meaningful collaboration and sharing, and to find policy spaces outside of those defined by more performative discursive framings of school accountability. To this end, I explore how GLN may help to foster alternative policy spaces from which educators can "talk back" to national and state authorities, and potentially promote more "authentic" understandings of, and possibilities for, schooling accountability.

In this special issue response paper, we pick up from prior discussions to suggest areas where we think policy sociology can benefit from further conversation and research. In particular, we bring together our respective readings and work on policy mobilities, in conversation with the contributions of this special issue, to think further about what policy mobilities and related orientations can bring to the development of policy sociology. We specifically focus our attention on four areas for further conceptual and methodological extension in relation to policy mobilities and related approaches in policy sociology of education: (1) temporality; (2) scale; (3) land; and, finally, (4) methodological diversity. In doing so, we advocate against 'fast' readings of literature from other fields, while emphasizing the value of transdisciplinary work in policy sociology and critical policy studies.

This paper reflects critically upon how the 'mobilities turn' in the social sciences, and its subsequent contribution towards 'policy mobilities', offers theoretical and methodological resources that can be usefully harnessed in education policy sociology. Just as there are new ways in which policy is being made and moved, there are equally new ways to "be" a researcher of education policy who seeks to understand these processes. My purpose here is to help crystallise and make explicit these new mobilities-informed approaches, not only for the purpose of considering how mobility can help reconsider how to think and practise policy sociology, but also to better reflect and accommodate the empirical changes inherent in contemporary policymaking and enactment. I first survey the literature around the mobilities turn and emphasise its implications for social science research, before turning to how policy mobilities theories and methodologies can be employed within policy sociology. Finally, I close the paper by reflecting on the implications of conducting policy sociology with a policy mobility lens and outline the issues that come from foregrounding movement in the research of education policy.