Adaptive intelligent personalised learning (AIPL) environment

As individuals the ideal learning scenario would be a learning environment tailored just for how we like to learn, personalised to our requirements. This has previously been almost inconceivable given the complexities of learning, the constraints within the environments in which we teach, and the need for global repositories of knowledge to facilitate this process. Whilst it is still not necessarily achievable in its full sense this research project represents a path towards this ideal.In this thesis, findings from research into the development of a model (the Adaptive Intelligent Personalised Learning (AIPL)), the creation of a prototype implementation of a system designed around this model (the AIPL environment) and the construction of a suite of intelligent algorithms (Personalised Adaptive Filtering System (PAFS)) for personalised learning are presented and evaluated. A mixed methods approach is used in the evaluation of the AIPL environment. The AIPL model is built on the premise of an ideal system being one which does not just consider the individual but also considers groupings of likeminded individuals and their power to influence learner choice. The results show that: (1) There is a positive correlation for using group-learning-paradigms. (2) Using personalisation as a learning aid can help to facilitate individual learning and encourage learning on-line. (3) Using learning styles as a way of identifying and categorising the individuals can improve their on-line learning experience. (4) Using Adaptive Information Retrieval techniques linked to group-learning-paradigms can reduce and improve the problem of mis-matching. A number of approaches for further work to extend and expand upon the work presented are highlighted at the end of the Thesis

Using the edTPA as a Model for Teacher Research and Reflective Practice: An Honors Thesis

Teacher research engages educators in inquiry to enhance their practice, initiate evidence-based change in their classroom and become more reflective practitioners in order to best support the learning of their students’ individual strengths and needs. The edTPA is a national teaching performance assessment that determines teachers’ effective practices as they are on the cusp of entering the educational profession. Aspiring teachers must demonstrate that they are prepared to enter the educational profession with the skills and knowledge needed to help each of their individual students learn. The edTPA was completed and submitted during the high school student teaching clinical experience, then scored by national Pearson edTPA Mathematics Content scorers based on fifteen subject-specific rubrics. The submission score was reviewed and analyzed through the perspective of the next generation of aspiring teachers who will complete the edTPA and by cross-referencing curriculum in the Butler University teaching preparation program. What was found was that students in the middle/secondary education program are prepared to engage in the cycle of planning, instructing and assessing student work in order to use data to make teaching decisions for student-centered instruction over the course of their four years. The active participation in teacher research such as the edTPA develops and strengthens aspiring or novice teachers’ work towards becoming a reflective practitioner. New teachers continue to become purposeful educators by supporting their students’ strengths and needs in lessons, engaging students in meaningful learning experiences, analyzing student progress or growth, and modifying future instruction to provide more effective instruction

Information and Communication-Based Collaborative Learning and Behavior Modeling Using Machine Learning Algorithm

Rapid growth of smart phone industries has led people to use more technology and thus aided in adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) in educational purposes for enhancing students? performance. This chapter shows that students use social media platform or virtual environment for learning, especially in Open University or online learning system. In such environment, the students? drop rate is extremely high. This work primarily aims at reducing students? dropout or students? fails to finish course within prerequisite time using student behavior styles. For addressing research problems, this research aims in building efficient student behavior learning model for improving the performance of student applying machine learning (ML) models. The behavior extraction and study have been carried utilizing decision tree (DT) ML algorithm. Further, a model has been proposed for provisioning student contextual information to different students utilizing VLE platform interaction (collaborative learning) using DT algorithm which considered bagging. The DT with bagging is an ensemble learning (EL) model that depicts bootstrap aggregating (BA), which is modeled for enhancing accuracies and stabilities of every distinct predictive trees. Bagging aids DT in influencing overfitting problems and minimizes its variance. The proposed method is efficient in extracting learning styles and intrinsic behavior of students

Chapter 6: Culture and Ethics

The OTiS (Online Teaching in Scotland) programme, run by the now defunct Scotcit programme, ran an International e-Workshop on Developing Online Tutoring Skills which was held between 8–12 May 2000. It was organised by Heriot–Watt University, Edinburgh and The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK. Out of this workshop came the seminal Online Tutoring E-Book, a generic primer on e-learning pedagogy and methodology, full of practical implementation guidelines. Although the Scotcit programme ended some years ago, the E-Book has been copied to the SONET site as a series of PDF files, which are now available via the ALT Open Access Repository. The editor, Carol Higgison, is currently working in e-learning at the University of Bradford (see her staff profile) and is the Chair of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT)

Dynamic group formation in mobile computer supported collaborative learning environment

Forming suitable learning groups is one of the factors that determine the efficiency of collaborative learning activities. However, only a few studies were carried out to address this problem in the mobile learning environments. In this paper, we propose a new approach for an automatic, customized, and dynamic group formation in Mobile Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (MCSCL) contexts. The proposed solution is based on the combination of three types of grouping criteria: learner’s personal characteristics, learner’s behaviours, and context information. The instructors can freely select the type, the number, and the weight of grouping criteria, together with other settings such as the number, the size, and the type of learning groups (homogeneous or heterogeneous). Apart from a grouping mechanism, the proposed approach represents a flexible tool to control each learner, and to manage the learning processes from the beginning to the end of collaborative learning activities. In order to evaluate the quality of the implemented group formation algorithm, we compare its Average Intra-cluster Distance (AID) with the one of a random group formation method. The results show a higher effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in forming homogenous and heterogeneous groups compared to the random method.(undefined

Improving School Improvement

PREFACEIn opening this volume, you might be thinking:Is another book on school improvement really needed?Clearly our answer is yes. Our analyses of prevailing school improvement legislation, planning, and literature indicates fundamental deficiencies, especially with respect to enhancing equity of opportunity and closing the achievement gap.Here is what our work uniquely brings to policy and planning tables:(1) An expanded framework for school improvement – We highlight that moving from a two- to a three-component policy and practice framework is essential for closing the opportunity and achievement gaps. (That is, expanding from focusing primarily on instruction and management/government concerns by establishing a third primary component to improve how schools address barriers to learning and teaching.)(2) An emphasis on integrating a deep understanding of motivation – We underscore that concerns about engagement, management of behavior, school climate, equity of opportunity, and student outcomes require an up-to-date grasp of motivation and especially intrinsic motivation.(3) Clarification of the nature and scope of personalized teaching – We define personalization as the process of matching learner motivation and capabilities and stress that it is the learner's perception that determines whether the match is a good one.(4) A reframing of remediation and special education – We formulate these processes as personalized special assistance that is applied in and out of classrooms and practiced in a sequential and hierarchical manner.(5) A prototype for transforming student and learning supports – We provide a framework for a unified, comprehensive, and equitable system designed to address barriers to learning and teaching and re-engage disconnected students and families.(6) A reworking of the leadership structure for whole school improvement --We outline how the operational infrastructure can and must be realigned in keeping with a three component school improvement framework.(7) A systemic approach to enhancing school-community collaboration – We delineate a leadership role for schools in outreaching to communities in order to work on shared concerns through a formal collaborative operational infrastructure that enables weaving together resources to advance the work.(8) An expanded framework for school accountability – We reframe school accountability to ensure a balanced approach that accounts for a shift to a three component school improvement policy.(9) Guidance for substantive, scalable, and sustainable systemic changes –We frame mechanisms and discuss lessons learned related to facilitating fundamental systemic changes and replicating and sustaining them across a district.The frameworks and practices presented are based on our many years of work in schools and from efforts to enhance school-community collaboration. We incorporate insights from various theories and the large body of relevant research and from lessons learned and shared by many school leaders and staff who strive everyday to do their best for children.Our emphasis on new directions in no way is meant to demean current efforts. We know that the demands placed on those working in schools go well beyond what anyone should be asked to do. Given the current working conditions in many schools, our intent is to help make the hard work generate better results. To this end, we highlight new directions and systemic pathways for improving school outcomes.Some of what we propose is difficult to accomplish. Hopefully, the fact that there are schools, districts, and state agencies already trailblazing the way will engender a sense of hope and encouragement to those committed to innovation.It will be obvious that our work owes much to many. We are especially grateful to those who are pioneering major systemic changes across the country. These leaders and so many in the field have generously offered their insights and wisdom. And, of course, we are indebted to hundreds of scholars whose research and writing is a shared treasure. As always, we take this opportunity to thank Perry Nelson and the host of graduate and undergraduate students at UCLA who contribute so much to our work each day, and to the many young people and their families who continue to teach us all.Respectfully submitted for your consideration,Howard Adelman & Linda Taylo

Incorporating Cooperative Learning Teams and Whole Language in the First Grade

The first purpose of this project was to review current literature regarding whole language and cooperative learning. The second purpose of this project was the development of whole language, cooperative learning strategies and accompanying application lessons for use at the first grade level. Ten cooperative learning strategies and application lessons were developed utilizing a whole language approach. The lessons were centered around children\u27s literature and focused on reading, writing, listening, and speaking activities that were whole, purposeful, and meaningful