Group Awareness of Social and Cognitive Behavior in a CSCL Environment

Phielix, C., Prins, F. J., & Kirschner, P. A. (2010). Group awareness of social and cognitive behavior in a CSCL environment. In K. Gomez, L. Lyons, & J. Radinsky (Eds.), Learning in the Disciplines: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS 2010): Volume 1 (pp. 230-237). Chicago IL, USA: International Society of the Learning Sciences.This study investigated whether a peer feedback tool and a reflection tool would enhance group performance in a computer-supported collaborative learning environment. The underlying assumption was that group performance can be positively influenced by making group members aware of how their social and cognitive behavior is perceived by themselves, their peers, and the group as a whole. Participants were 120 fourth-year high school students working, with or without the tools, in dyads, triads and groups of 4 on a collaborative writing task. Results show that groups using tools perceived their team as being better developed, experienced higher levels of group satisfaction and lower levels of conflicts, than groups not using the tools. Results demonstrate that awareness, stimulated by peer assessment and reflection tools, enhances the social performance of a CSCL-group

What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been: A Comparison of Authors, Abstracts, and References in the 1991 and 2010 ICLS Proceedings

We examine differences in authorship, word usage, and references in full papers from the 1991 and 2010 ICLS proceedings. Through a series of analyses, we observe that, while authors largely hail from the US, national and regional participation in the LS community has broadened. Word usage suggests a shift in emphasis from cognitive issues to ones that are both cognitive and cultural. Reference analysis indicates a shift in core literatures and influential authors

Eye on Collaborative Creativity : Insights From Multiple-Person Mobile Gaze Tracking in the Context of Collaborative Design

Early Career WorkshopNon peer reviewe

Knowledge building international project (KBIP): a nested network of learning and knowledge creation

Conference Theme: Learning in the DisciplinesThe Knowledge Building International Project (KBIP 2007-2009) operates on the basis of locally based networks of innovation distributed around the globe. Catalunya (Comconèixer), Hong Kong (KBTN), Quebec (RNS), and Toronto (IKIT) are currently the four main sites. This work represents work primarily within a formal, classroom learning context. Nevertheless, while this work is connected with classroom learning, this work is unique in that it reaches beyond activity within individual classrooms or campus communities to build digital bridges between classrooms in different countries.published_or_final_versio

Determinants of crop-livestock integration by small farmers in Benin

Despite the numerous work conducted on integrated crop-livestock systems, very little is known about factors determining farmers’ trend to integrate. Our study aimed at a socioeconomic characterization of endogenous crop-livestock integration in Benin and identification of determinants of farmers’ decision to use these practices. Two hundred and forty farmers were surveyed in three agro- ecological regions randomly selected. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect information on farmer’s characteristics, production factors and agriculture and breeding by-products valorization practices. On the basis of main links between both productions, three integration levels (no integration, NI: 36%; partial integration, PI: 55%; total integration, TI: 9%) were identified and characterized according to socioeconomic characteristics of farmers. Then the multinomial logistic regression technique was used to predict the integration level of a given farmer in function of its socioeconomic characteristics. The three integration levels differ significantly (p<0.001) according to variables such as membership in farmers’ association, educational level, weight of agricultural experience, farming equipment and size of herds. The decision by a farmer to choose the total integration type significantly depends (p <0.001) on the size of his cattle herd, his membership in farmers’ association, the weight of his agricultural experience and his equipment value. Thus, integration is a practice used by small farmers with good experience in agriculture. Strategies for improving integration of cropping and breeding are to motivated farmers for cattle keeping and membership in an association.© 2015 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved.Keywords: Animal feeding, integrated soil fertility management, resilience, sustainabilit

The student-produced electronic portfolio in craft education

The authors studied primary school students’ experiences of using an electronic portfolio in their craft education over four years. A stimulated recall interview was applied to collect user experiences and qualitative content analysis to analyse the collected data. The results indicate that the electronic portfolio was experienced as a multipurpose tool to support learning. It makes the learning process visible and in that way helps focus on and improves the quality of learning. © ISLS.Peer reviewe

High-Brilliance, High-Flux Compact Inverse Compton Light Source

The Old Dominion University Compact Light Source (ODU CLS) design concept is presented-a compact Inverse Compton Light Source (ICLS) with flux and brilliance orders of magnitude beyond conventional laboratory-scale sources and greater than other compact ICLS designs. This concept utilizes the physics of inverse Compton scattering of an extremely low emittance electron beam by a laser pulse of rms length of approximately two-thirds of a picosecond (2/3 ps). The accelerator is composed of a superconducting radio frequency (SRF) reentrant gun followed by four double-spoke SRF cavities. After the linac are three quadrupole magnets to focus the electron beam to the interaction point (IP). The distance from cathode surface to 1P is less than 6 m, with the cathode producing electron bunches with a bunch charge of 10 pC and a few picoseconds in length. The incident laser has 1 MW circulating power, a 1 micron wavelength, and a spot size of 3.2 microns at the IP. The repetition rate of this source is 100 MHz, in order to achieve a high flux despite the low bunch charge. The anticipated x-ray source parameters include an energy of 12 keV, with a total flux of 2.2 x 10(13) ph/s, the flux into a 0.1% bandwidth of 3.3 x 10(10) ph/(s0.1%BW), and the average brilliance of 3.4 x 10(14) ph/ (s mm(2 )mrad(2) 0.1%BW)

Advances in Design-Based Research

Design-based research is a core methodology of the Learning Sciences. Historically rooted as a movement away from the methods of experimental psychology, it is a means to develop “humble” theory that takes into account numerous contextual effects for understanding how and why a design supported learning. DBR involves iterative refinement of both designs for learning and theory; this process is illustrated with retrospective analysis of six DBR cycles. Calls for educational research to parallel medical research has led learning scientists to strive for more specific standards about what constitutes DBR and what makes it desirable, especially regarding robustness and rigor. A recent trend in DBR involves efforts to extend the reach through scalability. These developments potentially endanger the designerly nature of DBR by orienting focus toward generalizability, meaning researchers must be vigilant in their pursuit of understanding how and why learning occurs in complex context

Structures of atypical chemokine receptor 3 reveal the basis for its promiscuity and signaling bias

Both CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) and atypical chemokine receptor 3 (ACKR3) are activated by the chemokine CXCL12 yet evoke distinct cellular responses. CXCR4 is a canonical G protein–coupled receptor (GPCR), whereas ACKR3 is intrinsically biased for arrestin. The molecular basis for this difference is not understood. Here, we describe cryo-EM structures of ACKR3 in complex with CXCL12, a more potent CXCL12 variant, and a small-molecule agonist. The bound chemokines adopt an unexpected pose relative to those established for CXCR4 and observed in other receptor-chemokine complexes. Along with functional studies, these structures provide insight into the ligand-binding promiscuity of ACKR3, why it fails to couple to G proteins, and its bias toward β-arrestin. The results lay the groundwork for understanding the physiological interplay of ACKR3 with other GPCRs