Information Theoretical Estimators Toolbox

We present ITE (information theoretical estimators) a free and open source, multi-platform, Matlab/Octave toolbox that is capable of estimating many different variants of entropy, mutual information, divergence, association measures, cross quantities, and kernels on distributions. Thanks to its highly modular design, ITE supports additionally (i) the combinations of the estimation techniques, (ii) the easy construction and embedding of novel information theoretical estimators, and (iii) their immediate application in information theoretical optimization problems. ITE also includes a prototype application in a central problem class of signal processing, independent subspace analysis and its extensions.Comment: 5 pages; ITE toolbox: https://bitbucket.org/szzoli/ite

Introduction to special edition.

This special issue of the Waikato Journal of Education arose from a symposium held at The University of Waikato in June, 2009. The symposium, Initial Teacher Education and the New Zealand Curriculum–Te Marautanga o Aotearoa Symposium, was attended by delegates from all major initial teacher education (ITE) providers in New Zealand. ITE refers to pre-service teacher education, that is, programmes that prepare student teachers to become beginning teachers. Curriculum includes the school and the ITE curriculum

Initial teacher education for the education and training sector in England: development and change in generic and subject specialist provision

This report reviews the current system of initial teacher education (ITE) for the education and training sector and its development from earlier systems. The report also discusses subject-specialist teaching in the education and training sector, leading to a provisional assessment of the potential of the current ITE system for enhancing subject-specialist pedagogy. The report begins by contextualising the development of ITE from the post-war period to the beginning of the New Labour years, followed by a more detailed discussion of the reforms introduced by Labour governments in 2001 and 2007 and the moves away from regulation introduced by the Conservative–Liberal Democrat Coalition government. The report then discusses the main features of the qualifications framework established following the Lingfield Review of 2011-12. The final part of the report focuses on the development of subject-specialist pedagogy in ITE courses, relating concerns expressed by Ofsted to debates about teacher knowledge and vocational pedagogies. A model for understanding approaches to subject-specialist pedagogy is developed, and applied to consider the potential of the current ITE system for strengthening this area of professional development

Connecting key competencies and social inquiry in primary social studies pedagogy: initial teacher education students' planning decisions and reflections.

Over 2007-2009 we have worked with the national curriculum's key competencies to establish their place and purpose in the social sciences learning area. As a result, our initial teacher education (ITE) primary social studies programmes involve pedagogy that conceives key competencies as analogous to social inquiry thinking and skills processes. Our team was keen to research ways ITE students identify and embed key competencies in their social inquiry planning decisions. The research also sought student reflection of how engagement with key competencies might influence their future social studies teaching and learning. The article offers a storying of ways the curriculum element of key competencies has been developed, implemented, researched and reflected upon within ITE primary social studies curriculum

Success of Implementation of Computer Crime Act (UU Ite No.11 2008) (a Case Study in the Higher Education Institution in Indonesia)

Computer crime rate grow rapidly along with the development of the digital world that has touched almost all aspects of human life. Institutions of higher education cannot be separated from the problem of computer crime activities. The paper analyses the implementation of Indonesia Computer Crime Act (UU ITE NO.11 2008) in the Higher Education Institution in Indonesia. It aims to investigate the level of computer crimes that occurred in the higher education institution environment and the act (UU ITE 11, 2008) successfully applied to prevent the crime that would arise. In this research, the analysis using Descriptive Statistics, Binary logistic regression. This paper also describes the success implementation of the Information System Security Policy (ISSP) as a computer crime prevention policy in higher education institution in Indonesia. In factor of act, clarity of objectives and purpose of the UU ITE 11, 2008 was low, the communication and socialization activities are still low to the society especially to the higher education institution, moreover the control process has been running on UU ITE 11, 2008, but at a low level

Beginner teacher preparedness for inclusion : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Psychology

The exclusion of students who experience disability is a social justice issue that persists in New Zealand despite efforts to establish a fully inclusive education system. Although there has been some research into the teaching of inclusive practice in initial teacher education (ITE) in New Zealand, little research examining beginner teachers’ feelings of preparedness for inclusion has been undertaken. This mixed-methods study investigated the role of ITE in preparing beginner, secondary school teachers for including diverse groups of learners by capturing their experiences of ITE and early career. Phase one involved an online questionnaire to secondary school teachers in the first three years of their career. Phase two involved conducting four follow-up interviews exploring salient findings from the questionnaire. The findings of this study suggest that while ITE recognises the diversity of the classroom, it falls short when it comes to the pragmatic implications for teaching and learning. The vast majority of participants felt their ITE did little or nothing to help them develop their knowledge of legislation and policy as it relates to inclusion. Two-thirds of participants felt that their ITE did little or nothing to help them develop their knowledge of supports available for students who experience disability while the majority had little to no experience teaching such students on practicum. Teachers’ sense of preparedness to include learners varied significantly according to their personal connection with a person with a disability. Several key themes which align with literature in the field of teacher education for inclusion emerged, namely: knowledge about, and understanding of inclusive pedagogy; lack of focus on legislation, policy and human rights; lack of focus on collaborative practice; and beginner teachers not identifying as lifelong learners. Research-driven practices that are beneficial in preparing teachers to make sociallyjust decisions are discussed in light of the themes. These include: (1) critical reflection about experiences gained during practicum and service-learning opportunities; (2) explicit teaching of human rights; (3) explicit teaching about effective collaboration with professionals, teacher aides and whānau

Initial teacher education and the New Zealand curriculum.

New Zealand teacher educators are faced with the challenge of how to prepare their student teachers to become beginning teachers who are able to base their teaching upon the national curriculum. To meet this challenge, designers of initial teacher education (ITE) programmes need to consider the interface between ITE curriculum and the legislated curriculum for schools. This paper looks at some of the historical influences upon the curriculum in both initial teacher education and schools by examining wider contextual influences. We point out that in ITE there has been an ongoing search for the most appropriate knowledge base for teaching, a search that is made problematic due to differing views of knowledge, teaching and learning We argue that in spite of these differences, there is benefit in an ITE curriculum that has a close relationship with the school curriculum in terms of what is learned and the teaching and learning approaches. New Zealand has a revised national curriculum for schools (Ministry of Education, 2007) that schools are expected to implement from 2010. In preparing student teachers to become beginning teachers, ITE providers are in a phase of designing learning experiences that link ITE curriculum and school curriculum. This process is problematic, for there are various internal and external pressures that lead to a crowded ITE curriculum and challenge ITE autonomy and innovation in curriculum decision-making