Establishing a support service for educational technology within a university

This paper covers some of the issues associated with the support of learning technology within an institution. It describes the activities of a working support service, and highlights approaches to some of the academic, technological, political and management issues that have helped it perform effectively over a four‐year period

A teacher’s voice: Embracing change to make a difference

The challenge to understand the impact and demands of new forms of literacy for teachers with considerable expertise is intensified when making sense of multiple forms of texts. This paper examines how an experienced teacher made changes to her literacy pedagogy when faced with a class problem for which she felt unprepared. The story is told predominantly through the voice of the teacher using her reflective journal. An example of Web 2.0 technology, specifically the construction of a wiki, is planned and implemented to reflect the teacher’s changing views of literacy. The key focus is how this teacher will transition her practice to meet the new demands of literacy teaching, what critical moves are required of her in order to do this and how does she shift from the traditional role of facilitator to designer of online learning. Through such analysis it is proposed that it is possible for an experienced teacher to theorise, implement and adopt a stance that encompasses a broader view of literacy and literacy instruction

The Center for Teaching & Learning: July 1, 2014 - December 2015

Contents: From the Director New Center Supports Teaching and Learning CTL Supports Scholarly Publishing iCE Platform Fosters Interactive Learning Experience A Physical and Virtual Makeover for Scott Library Reaching Out to Our Users Exhibits & Special Events Staff Highlight

Enhancing performance proficiency at the expert level: Considering the role of 'somaesthetic awareness'

© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. Objectives: Traditional theories of motor learning (e.g., Fitts & Posner, 1967), along with certain contemporary psychological perspectives (e.g., Weiss & Reber, 2012; Wulf, 2013), postulate that expert performers must relinquish paying conscious attention to, and/or attempting to exert control over, their bodily movements in order to achieve optimal performance. Challenging such largely unquestioned conceptual approaches, however, is an emerging body of evidence (e.g., see Montero, 2010; Shusterman, 2011) which indicates that 'somatic reflection' (i.e., a conscious focus on bodily movement) is an important mediator of continuous improvement (i.e., the fact that certain performers continue to improve their skills even after becoming experts) at the elite level of sport. The present position paper seeks to elucidate and resolve this apparent paradox concerning the role of bodily awareness in expertise. Design: Literature review and position statement. Method: To achieve this latter aim, we draw on empirical evidence (e.g., from research on somatic attention) and theory (e.g., Shusterman's, 2008, theory of body consciousness) to elucidate the role of bodily awareness in facilitating continuous improvement at the elite level of sport. Results and conclusion: In doing so, we sketch some theoretical and practical implications of Shusterman's (2008, 2011, 2012) theory of 'somaesthetics' for contemporary research on expertise in sport

Toward an explanation of continuous improvement in expert athletes: The role of consciousness in deliberate practice

In a body of research spanning three decades, Janet Starkes and her colleagues have produced a wealth of empirical evidence on the importance of deliberate practice in the development of elite performers. Within this corpus of work, a number of studies have alluded to the important role that self-focused attention plays in helping skilled athletes to refine inefficient movements during deliberate practice. Unfortunately, these studies have largely under-represented the role that somatic awareness plays in facilitating further improvement amongst sports performers who have already achieved elite status. In seeking to address this issue of continuous improvement in elite athletes, the current paper marshals evidence to suggest that reflective somatic awareness plays an important role in the practice activities of elite performers. In particular, we argue that such awareness enables elite athletes to consciously and deliberately improve their movement proficiency. More generally, we propose that Shusterman’s (2008) theory of “somaesthetic awareness” offers expertise researchers a potentially fruitful theoretical framework for future research on skill advancement at the elite level of sport

A review of literature on communication skills development (CSD) in the engineering curriculum

Engineering education has expanded recently to include emphasis on the development of some very specific non-technical attributes that match a strong technical base to produce well-rounded engineering graduates who are flexible and adaptable to suit the constantly developing and changing requirements of the workplace. These non technical skills include communication skills, the ability to function in teams, knowledge of societal and contemporary issues, development of global perspective, and ethics awareness. A great importance of these abilities to engineering education has emerged over the last decade even within the international and local scene. Within the Malaysian context, the Engineering Accreditation Council’s (EAC) Engineering Program Accreditation Manual(BEM, 2007) , outlines ten learning outcomes that encompasses both the technical and non technical skills which are considered essential for graduating engineers. Similarly, the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) Criterion 3 (ABET, 2000), outlines eleven criterion which targeted many of these as essential program outcomes in order for engineering programs to be accredited and which are seen as critical for the success in the twenty first century. Communication skills development(CSD) is one of the outcomes required by an undergraduate engineering program in the Engineering Accreditation Council (EAC) for Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) in Malaysia as well as in the ABET Engineering Criteria 2000 (ABET, 2000). CSD is essential for an engineer who aspires to carry out his/her professional practice in the global arena and especially in the English language. With an increasingly global economy, the Malaysian education system must produce graduates who can communicate effectively in English. Otherwise, it would lose one of its vital selling points for foreign investors to ensure that skilled labor force are sufficient to support internationally competitive commerce and industry and to provide individuals with opportunities to optimize their potentials (Muhammad Rashid bin Rajuddin, 2006; Riemer, 2002)

Meeting technological challenges? Design and technology in schools 2007–10

Using evidence from Her Majesty’s Inspectors’ focused surveys of primary and secondary schools, this report evaluates the provision of design and technology (D&T) in the curriculum. Most pupils in all of the schools visited enjoyed designing and making products, solving problems and seeing their ideas taking shape. Achievement and provision in D&T were good in about two thirds of the primary schools and just under half of the secondary schools, particularly where up-to-date technologies were used and explained accurately to pupils. However, a lack of subject-specific training for teachers undermined efforts to develop pupils’ knowledge and skills, particularly in using electronics, developing control systems and using computers to aid designing and making. The report also addresses the challenges presented to schools in modernising the D&T curriculum so that it keeps pace with global technological development

Common Ground: Exploring the intersection between information, technology, art and design

University research is becoming increasingly multidisciplinary in both the nature of the problems being investigated and the makeup of the teams of researchers that tackle these complex challenges. Information schools are in a unique position to participate across a range of these projects. This poster describes an initiative to discover potential areas for collaboration between Syracuse University???s iSchool and the College of Visual and Performing Arts, focusing on the synergies between information, technology, art and design

Learning to predict closed questions on stack overflow

The paper deals with the problem of predicting whether the user’s question will be closed by the moderator on Stack Overflow, a popular question answering service devoted to software programming. The task along with data and evaluation metrics was offered as an open machine learning competition on Kaggle platform. To solve this problem, we employed a wide range of classification features related to users, their interactions, and post content. Classification was carried out using several machine learning methods. According to the results of the experiment, the most important features are characteristics of the user and topical features of the question. The best results were obtained using Vowpal Wabbit – an implementation of online learning based on stochastic gradient descent. Our results are among the best ones in overall ranking, although they were obtained after the official competition was over