Knowledge-based Content Linking for Online Textbooks

Although the volume of online educational resources has dramatically increased in recent years, many of these resources are isolated and distributed in diverse websites and databases. This hinders the discovery and overall usage of online educational resources. By using linking between related subsections of online textbooks as a testbed, this paper explores multiple knowledge-based content linking algorithms for connecting online educational resources. We focus on examining semantic-based methods for identifying important knowledge components in textbooks and their usefulness in linking book subsections. To overcome the data sparsity in representing textbook content, we evaluated the utility of external corpuses, such as more textbooks or other online educational resources in the same domain. Our results show that semantic modeling can be integrated with a term-based approach for additional performance improvement, and that using extra textbooks significantly benefits semantic modeling. Similar results are obtained when we applied the same approach to other domains

Redesigning Information Resources for Digital Natives

The influx of Digital Natives into higher education, combined with the introduction of virtual learning environments as the primary means of interaction between students and universities, will have a transformational effect on learning and on library services. This paper examines the e-book market-place and the main UK responses to it (the Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium’s tender and the JISC E-Books Observatory project). Within this context the innovative measures already taken by Bournemouth University are discussed, as are plans to develop innovative pedagogic frameworks and an e-reading strategy through a Higher Education Academy-funded pathfinder project, Innovative E-Learning with E-Resources (eRes)

Audiences, Intertextuality and New Media Literacy

This article explores intertextuality as a technique that can be used to bridge old and new media literacies for teachers and students who hope to move beyond the textbook model of instruction into a world of online resources, flexible pedagogies and innovative designs for learning. These include the uses of online archives, media studies techniques, participatory knowledge creation, and multimedia analysis and production.Radio-Television-Fil

Revisiting materials for teaching languages for specific purposes

Teaching materials in languages for specific purposes have evolved in the last few years dramatically. The Internet currently plays a significant role in such development and has permitted both a wider range of resources and its free availability almost anywhere in the World. This paper presents a selection of different types of recent materials for English for Specific Purposes. The paper begins by defining ESP. Then it approaches how materials should shape the student’s own learning, how materials should be selected according to the different skills and then emphasizes the importance of the Internet as a source of materials. The paper concludes with a set of ideas for the future development of ESP materials. The final goal of this paper is to provide the readers with valuable tools that can enhance their teaching through accessible mean

Learning the Lessons of Openness

The Open Educational Resources (OER) movement has built up a record of experience and achievements since it was formed 10 years ago as an identifiable approach to sharing online learning materials. In its initial phase, much activity was driven by ideals and interest in finding new ways to release content, with less direct research and reflection on the process. It is now important to consider the impact of OER and the types of evidence that are being generated across initiatives, organisations and individuals. Drawing on the work of OLnet (http://olnet.org) in bringing people together through fellowships, research projects and supporting collective intelligence about OER, we discuss the key challenges facing the OER movement. We go on to consider these challenges in the context of another project, Bridge to Success (http://b2s.aacc.edu), identifying the services which can support open education in the future

Adaptation “in the Wild”: Ontology-Based Personalization of Open-Corpus Learning Material

Abstract. Teacher and students can use WWW as a limitless source of learning material for nearly any subject. Yet, such abundance of content comes with the problem of finding the right piece at the right time. Conventional adaptive educational systems cannot support personalized access to open-corpus learning material as they rely on manually constructed content models. This paper presents an approach to this problem that does not require intervention from a human expert. The approach has been implemented in an adaptive system that recommends students supplementary reading material and adaptively annotates it. The results of the evaluation experiment have demonstrated several significant effects of using the system on students ’ learning

Adaptation “in the Wild”: Ontology-Based Personalization of Open-Corpus Learning Material

Teacher and students can use WWW as a limitless source of learning material for nearly any subject. Yet, such abundance of content comes with the problem of finding the right piece at the right time. Conventional adaptive educational systems cannot support personalized access to open-corpus learning material as they rely on manually constructed content models. This paper presents an approach to this problem that does not require intervention from a human expert. The approach has been implemented in an adaptive system that recommends students supplementary reading material and adaptively annotates it. The results of the evaluation experiment have demonstrated several significant effects of using the system on students’ learning.\u

Instructional Materials and Implementation of Next Generation Science Standards: Demand, Supply, and Strategic Opportunities

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are in demand, but the supply of high quality K-12 instructional materials in science is lacking. This disconnect comes at a critical time in the implementation of new science standards, which are now influencing the teaching and learning of more than 50 percent of the students in American schools.  As of spring 2017, 18 states plus the District of Columbia have adopted the NGSS, and 16 states have adapted their state science standards based on the Framework for K-12 Science Education and the NGSS. As part of Carnegie Corporation of New York's Education Program, we have observed the growing need to improve the supply and demand for high quality K-12 instructional materials and professional learning designed for the NGSS. To inform the grantmaking in our Leadership and Teaching to Advance Learning portfolio, the Corporation recently held a convening of science curriculum developers, experts in professional learning, state and district science leaders, and other educators to discuss these challenges

Complete LibTech 2013 Print Program

PDF of the complete print program from the 2013 Library Technology Conferenc