20,264 research outputs found
An investigation into the use of a blended model of learning
The weaknesses of ātraditionalā modes of instruction in accounting education have been widely discussed. Many contend that the traditional approach limits the ability to provide opportunities for students to raise their competency level and allow them to apply knowledge and skills in professional problem solving situations. However, the recent body of literature suggests that accounting educators are indeed actively experimenting with ānon-traditionalā and āinnovativeā instructional approaches, where some authors clearly favour one approach over another. But can one instructional approach alone meet the necessary conditions for different learning objectives? Taking into account the ever changing landscape of not only business environments, but also the higher education sector, the premise guiding the collaborators in this research is that it is perhaps counter productive to promote competing dichotomous views of ātraditionalā and ānon-traditionalā instructional approaches to accounting education, and that the notion of āblended learningā might provide a useful framework to enhance the learning and teaching of accounting. This paper reports on the first cycle of a longitudinal study, which explores the possibility of using blended learning in first year accounting at one campus of a large regional university. The critical elements of blended learning which emerged in the study are discussed and, consistent with the design-based research framework, the paper also identifies key design modifications for successive cycles of the research
Science teachers' transformations of the use of computer modeling in the classroom: using research to inform training
This paper, from the UK group in the STTIS (Science Teacher Training in an Information Society) project, describes research into the nature of teachers' transformations of computer modeling, and the development of related teacher training materials. Eight teacher case studies help to identify factors that favor or hinder the take-up of innovative computer tools in science classes, and to show how teachers incorporate these tools in the curriculum. The training materials use the results to provide activities enabling teachers to learn about the tools and about the outcomes of the research into their implementation, and help them to take account of these ideas in their own implementation of the innovations
A multi-modal study into studentsā timing and learning regulation: time is ticking
Purpose
This empirical study aims to demonstrate how the combination of trace data derived from technology-enhanced learning environments and self-response survey data can contribute to the investigation of self-regulated learning processes.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a showcase based on 1,027 studentsā learning in a blended introductory quantitative course, the authors analysed the learning regulation and especially the timing of learning by trace data. Next, the authors connected these learning patterns with self-reports based on multiple contemporary social-cognitive theories.
Findings
The authors found that several behavioural facets of maladaptive learning orientations, such as lack of regulation, self-sabotage or disengagement negatively impacted the amount of practising, as well as timely practising. On the adaptive side of learning dispositions, the picture was less clear. Where some adaptive dispositions, such as the willingness to invest efforts in learning and self-perceived planning skills, positively impacted learning regulation and timing of learning, other dispositions such as valuing school or academic buoyancy lacked the expected positive effects.
Research limitations/implications
Due to the blended design, there is a strong asymmetry between what one can observe on learning in both modes.
Practical implications
This study demonstrates that in a blended setup, one needs to distinguish the grand effect on learning from the partial effect on learning in the digital mode: the most adaptive students might be less dependent for their learning on the use of the digital learning mode.
Originality/value
The paper presents an application of embodied motivation in the context of blended learning
A mass-loss rate determination for zeta Puppis from the quantitative analysis of X-ray emission line profiles
We fit every emission line in the high-resolution Chandra grating spectrum of
zeta Pup with an empirical line profile model that accounts for the effects of
Doppler broadening and attenuation by the bulk wind. For each of sixteen lines
or line complexes that can be reliably measured, we determine a best-fitting
fiducial optical depth, tau_* = kappa*Mdot/4{pi}R_{\ast}v_{\infty}, and place
confidence limits on this parameter. These sixteen lines include seven that
have not previously been reported on in the literature. The extended wavelength
range of these lines allows us to infer, for the first time, a clear increase
in tau_* with line wavelength, as expected from the wavelength increase of
bound-free absorption opacity. The small overall values of tau_*, reflected in
the rather modest asymmetry in the line profiles, can moreover all be fit
simultaneously by simply assuming a moderate mass-loss rate of 3.5 \pm 0.3
\times 10^{-6} Msun/yr, without any need to invoke porosity effects in the
wind. The quoted uncertainty is statistical, but the largest source of
uncertainty in the derived mass-loss rate is due to the uncertainty in the
elemental abundances of zeta Pup, which affects the continuum opacity of the
wind, and which we estimate to be a factor of two. Even so, the mass-loss rate
we find is significantly below the most recent smooth-wind H-alpha mass-loss
rate determinations for zeta Pup, but is in line with newer determinations that
account for small-scale wind clumping. If zeta Pup is representative of other
massive stars, these results will have important implications for stellar and
galactic evolution.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal
Astronomical Society. 17 pages, including 14 figures (7 color
Sustainable eLearning in a Changing Landscape: A Scoping Study (SeLScope)
The report begins by exploring the concept of sustainable e-learning - defining it and establishing its characteristics in the context of Higher Education. To ensure a sound and systematic process, the review is informed by a five-phase methodological framework for scoping reviews by Arksey and O'Malley (2005). Examples and perspectives on the concept of sustainable e-learning are summarised and key factors impacting on sustainability are abstracted. highlights potential gaps and suggests directions for further research on the topic
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