Using ICT to support reflection in pre-service mathematics teacher education

This paper analyses a virtual supervision setting (e-mail and forum) during the practicum in a pre-service secondary school mathematics teacher education program. It is a study of the authors’ own professional practice using a qualitative-interpretative approach and case studies of student teachers. The results show that the setting was significant for pre-service teachers who had a more reflective attitude, but was seen as a burden by the others. The forum enabled fruitful reflections and discussions and e-mail was mostly used for organizational matters. In the future, attention must be paid to the role of the educational supervisor in fostering participation in the forum and use of e-mail.Este artigo analisa um dispositivo de supervisão virtual (e-mail e fórum) durante o estágio num curso de formação inicial de professores de Matemática do ensino secundário. É um estudo dos autores sobre a sua própria prática profissional usando uma abordagem qualitativa e interpretativa e estudos de casos de futuros professores. Os resultados mostram que o dispositivo foi significativo para os futuros professores que tinham uma atitude mais reflexiva mas foi visto como um “peso” pelos outros futuros professores. O fórum permitiu reflexões frutuosas e discussões e o e-mail foi principalmente usado para matérias organizacionais. No futuro, deve ser dada atenção ao papel do supervisor educacional em promover a participação no fórum e o uso do e-mail

Using ICT to support reflection in pre-service mathematics teacher education

This paper analyses a virtual supervision setting (e-mail and forum), during the practicum, in a pre-service secondary school mathematics teacher education program. It is a research about the authors’ own professional practice using a qualitative-interpretative approach and case studies of student teachers. The results show that the setting was significant for pre-service teachers who had a more reflective attitude but was seen as a burden by the others. The forum enabled fruitful reflections and discussions and the e-mail was mostly used for organization matters. Future attention must be paid to the role of the educational supervisor in establishing a culture of participation in the forum and of fluent use of the e-mail.This paper analyses a virtual supervision setting (e-mail and forum), during the practicum, in a pre-service secondary school mathematics teacher education program. It is a research about the authors’ own professional practice using a qualitative-interpretative approach and case studies of student teachers. The results show that the setting was significant for pre-service teachers who had a more reflective attitude but was seen as a burden by the others. The forum enabled fruitful reflections and discussions and the e-mail was mostly used for organization matters. Future attention must be paid to the role of the educational supervisor in establishing a culture of participation in the forum and of fluent use of the e-mail

Mature and Internet Enabled Communication Technologies: Insights into the Impact of Gender on Legislator Communications

This United States wide survey, sent to all 7,3831 state legislators, examines how state legislator gender impacts the frequency of use and importance of communication technologies (CTs)commonly used by state legislators. The study compares the frequency of use and importance of evolutionarily mature CTs such as face-to-face meetings, handwritten letters, and phone conversations and Internet enabled CTs (IECTs) such as E-Mail, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube,web pages, Blogs, and text messaging. The study uncovers evidence that: 1) Female legislators both use and more highly value Internet enabled communication technologies more than male legislators, 2) Female legislators communicate more frequently with other legislators via E-Mail,Twitter, Facebook, web pages, blogs, and text messaging than male legislators, 3) Female legislators communicate more frequently with their constituents via hard-copy letters, E-Mail,Twitter, Facebook, blogs, YouTube, text messaging, and press releases than male legislators. With respect to CT importance, we find that: 1) Male legislators find face-to-face communications more important when communicating with peers and the telephone more important when communicating with constituents than do female legislators while 2) Female legislators find E-Mail, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and text messaging more important when communicating with peers than male legislators and hard-copy letters E-Mail, Twitter, and Facebook more important when communicating with constituents than male legislators. Our research shows support that the concept of tokenism is reflected in how female legislators communicate

How Do You Feel, Developer? An Explanatory Theory of the Impact of Affects on Programming Performance

Affects---emotions and moods---have an impact on cognitive activities and the working performance of individuals. Development tasks are undertaken through cognitive processes, yet software engineering research lacks theory on affects and their impact on software development activities. In this paper, we report on an interpretive study aimed at broadening our understanding of the psychology of programming in terms of the experience of affects while programming, and the impact of affects on programming performance. We conducted a qualitative interpretive study based on: face-to-face open-ended interviews, in-field observations, and e-mail exchanges. This enabled us to construct a novel explanatory theory of the impact of affects on development performance. The theory is explicated using an established taxonomy framework. The proposed theory builds upon the concepts of events, affects, attractors, focus, goals, and performance. Theoretical and practical implications are given.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figures. Postprin

Continuous Engineering Course Improvement through Synergistic use of Multiple Assessment

During two terms of a fluid power engineering course, four formative and summative course assessments, weekly e-mail feedback journals, midterm e-surveys, focus groups, and departmental student evaluation of instruction (SEI) forms, were used to assess student perceptions of their learning and the instruction methods used. The weekly e-mail feedback journals and midterm e-surveys enabled several course adjustments during each course term. Focus groups were used to explore students\u27 perceptions of both the course and the formative assessments. The SEI provided quantitative measures of student satisfaction that correlated with the focus group discussions. Using multiple formative and summative course assessments techniques had a synergistic effect on gaining insights into the teaching-learning process

Twelve Years of Online Reference Services at Georgia Tech: Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going

The article offers information about the Georgia Institute of Technology Library in Atlanta, Georgia, which is a pioneer in delivering virtual reference. The Library has initiated the ASK a Librarian service in 1994, an e-mail-based electronic reference service which became popular and has received 297 questions during the first year of its implementation. It has also launched the real time or virtual reference in 1999 using the America Online\u27s Instant Messenger chat software. In August 2003, the library purchased Questionpoint to use as a virtual reference system, which enabled the referral of e-mail questions to other librarians and good tracking of questions

Formative and Summative Assessment Techniques for Continuous Agricultural Technology Classroom Improvement

Four formative and summative learning assessment tools were used in two terms of an agricultural technology course. The formative assessment tools were a weekly e-mail feedback journal and a midterm electronic-survey. The summative assessment tools were a focus group and a student evaluation of instruction form administered at the end of each term. The weekly e-mail feedback journal and midterm e-survey assessments enabled several course adjustments during each course term, e.g., adjusting the content of the next class based on e-mail feedback, offering more real-world examples, and providing more example problems. The focus groups were used to explore more deeply students\u27 perceptions of both the course and the formative assessments. The student evaluation of instruction form did not provide as much useful information about student learning and course improvement as the other assessments. Using multiple formative and summative classroom assessment techniques for a course had a synergistic effect on gaining insights into the teaching-learning process

Impact of image personalization on response rate of direct mail advertising

With widespread adoption of full-color digital presses in the commercial printing industry, personalization has been enabled to create one-to-one marketing communication to enhance the effectiveness of print media advertising. Prior researches showed an increase in response rates with data-driven personalized direct mailings. However, the impact of image personalization on response rate of direct mail advertising is still unknown. This research used an experimental design to test the impact of image personalization on response rate of direct mail advertising. A direct mail postcard campaign was created with three levels of personalization (black-and-white name-only personalization, full-color name-only personalization, full-color name and image personalization) to test the hypothesis that there are no statistically significant differences between the response rates of direct mail advertising with name-only personalization and with image personalization. The Cost Per Response (CPR) for three levels personalization was also observed. The experimental results showed that the response rates for postcard with full-color name and image personalization was 2.6%, and 3.0% for full-color name-only personalization. There were no statistically significant differences between the two levels personalization. Black-and-white name-only personalization postcard turned out to be the most cost effective direct mail advertising with a CPR of $20.50 USD, lower than both full-color name-only personalization ($26.33 USD), and full-color name and image personalization ($30.07 USD) postcard in this case. The reasons for observing these results include consumer behavior towards personalized direct mail, advertising objective, postcard design, product category, timing, and limitations of the experiment. Based on the results, commercial printing companies, especially those provide marketing services need to make a Return-On-Investment (ROI) analysis before recommending the direct mail advertising campaign involving image personalization

Charitable State Registration and the Dormant Commerce Clause

Charitable solicitation in the U.S. is regulated by “the several States.” For most of the nation\u27s history, charities tended to be local endeavors, raising money and providing relief in their immediate vicinities. In the latter half of the twentieth century, charities increasingly grew beyond these local origins as new technologies enabled even the smallest charities to develop a national reach with direct mail and telemarketing campaigns. Nevertheless, primary authority for regulating charitable solicitations remained with the states

Charitable State Registration and the Dormant Commerce Clause

Charitable solicitation in the U.S. is regulated by “the several States.” For most of the nation\u27s history, charities tended to be local endeavors, raising money and providing relief in their immediate vicinities. In the latter half of the twentieth century, charities increasingly grew beyond these local origins as new technologies enabled even the smallest charities to develop a national reach with direct mail and telemarketing campaigns. Nevertheless, primary authority for regulating charitable solicitations remained with the states