26,132 research outputs found

    The role of unit evaluation, learning and culture dimensions related to student cognitive style in hypermedia learning

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    Recent developments in learning technologies such as hypermedia are\ud becoming widespread and offer significant contributions to improving the delivery\ud of learning and teaching materials. A key factor in the development of hypermedia\ud learning systems is cognitive style (CS) as it relates to users‟ information\ud processing habits, representing individual users‟ typical modes of perceiving,\ud thinking, remembering and problem solving.\ud \ud \ud \ud \ud A total of 97 students from Australian (45) and Malaysian (52) universities\ud participated in a survey. Five types of predictor variables were investigated with\ud the CS: (i) three learning dimensions; (ii) five culture dimensions; (iii) evaluation\ud of units; (iv) demographics of students; and (v) country in which students studied.\ud Both multiple regression models and tree-based regression were used to analyse\ud the direct effect of the five types of predictor variables, and the interactions within\ud each type of predictor variable. When comparing both models, tree-based\ud regression outperformed the generalized linear model in this study. The research\ud findings indicate that unit evaluation is the primary variable to determine students‟\ud CS. A secondary variable is learning dimension and, among the three dimensions,\ud only nonlinear learning and learner control dimensions have an effect on students‟\ud CS. The last variable is culture and, among the five culture dimensions, only\ud power distance, long term orientation, and individualism have effects on students‟\ud CS. Neither demographics nor country have an effect on students‟ CS.\ud These overall findings suggest that traditional unit evaluation, students‟\ud preference for learning dimensions (such as linear vs non-linear), level of learner\ud control and culture orientation must be taken into consideration in order to enrich\ud students‟ quality of education. This enrichment includes motivating students to\ud acquire subject matter through individualized instruction when designing,\ud developing and delivering educational resources

    Understanding confounding effects in linguistic coordination: an information-theoretic approach

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    We suggest an information-theoretic approach for measuring stylistic coordination in dialogues. The proposed measure has a simple predictive interpretation and can account for various confounding factors through proper conditioning. We revisit some of the previous studies that reported strong signatures of stylistic accommodation, and find that a significant part of the observed coordination can be attributed to a simple confounding effect - length coordination. Specifically, longer utterances tend to be followed by longer responses, which gives rise to spurious correlations in the other stylistic features. We propose a test to distinguish correlations in length due to contextual factors (topic of conversation, user verbosity, etc.) and turn-by-turn coordination. We also suggest a test to identify whether stylistic coordination persists even after accounting for length coordination and contextual factors

    The motivational profiles and perceptions of schooling of Asian students in Australia

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    Asian-background students are performing better than other groups within the Australian educational setting. In order to investigate the reasons for this achievement advantage, this study examines the motivational profiles of Asian-background and Anglo-background students in New South Wales Australia. The research utilises personal investment theory and self-concept theory to provide a research framework. 283 Asian-background and 887 Anglo-background students were administered the Inventory of School Motivation, the General Achievement Goal Orientation Survey, the Facilitating Conditions Survey, and the Academic Self Description Questionnaire. While the motivational and self-concept profiles of the two groups were surprisingly similar, there are core significant differences that help explain the Asian students’ achievement advantage. Asian-background students are highly task oriented and significantly more effort oriented, more competitive, praise and token oriented than the Anglo-background students. They have a significantly stronger sense of purpose for schooling and are more performance oriented. Asian-background students also have a stronger intention to go on to university and further study, value school and like school more than their Anglo peers. These results are consistent with those reported in earlier studies with Asian American students

    The Cooperation Link: Power and Context Moderate Verbal Mimicry

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    Drawing on theories of mimicry as a schema-driven process, we tested whether the degree of verbal mimicry is dependent on the congruence between interactants’ power dynamic (symmetric vs. asymmetric), task type (cooperative vs. competitive) and interaction context (negotiation vs. social). Experiment 1 found higher verbal mimicry amongst dyads who successfully completed a cooperative problem-solving task compared to those who did not, but only under conditions of symmetric, not asymmetric, power. Experiment 2 had dyads complete either a cooperative or a competitive negotiation task, under conditions of symmetric vs. asymmetric power. Verbal mimicry was associated with improved negotiation outcomes under conditions of cooperation and symmetry, and competition and asymmetry. Experiment 3 completes this picture by separating cooperative-competitive orientation from the interaction context. Consistent with Experiment 2, verbal mimicry was associated with task success during a negotiation context with asymmetric power, and during a social interaction context with symmetric power. Our results point to the contextual link between verbal mimicry and task outcome

    Are All Successful Communities Alike? Characterizing and Predicting the Success of Online Communities

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    The proliferation of online communities has created exciting opportunities to study the mechanisms that explain group success. While a growing body of research investigates community success through a single measure -- typically, the number of members -- we argue that there are multiple ways of measuring success. Here, we present a systematic study to understand the relations between these success definitions and test how well they can be predicted based on community properties and behaviors from the earliest period of a community's lifetime. We identify four success measures that are desirable for most communities: (i) growth in the number of members; (ii) retention of members; (iii) long term survival of the community; and (iv) volume of activities within the community. Surprisingly, we find that our measures do not exhibit very high correlations, suggesting that they capture different types of success. Additionally, we find that different success measures are predicted by different attributes of online communities, suggesting that success can be achieved through different behaviors. Our work sheds light on the basic understanding of what success represents in online communities and what predicts it. Our results suggest that success is multi-faceted and cannot be measured nor predicted by a single measurement. This insight has practical implications for the creation of new online communities and the design of platforms that facilitate such communities.Comment: To appear at The Web Conference 201

    The Repertoire of Understanding: The Linguistic Patterning of Repetition and Alignment within Supportive Conversations

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    This dissertation explores a fundamental feature of all human interaction, behavioral coordination. Since early work on motor mimicry, scholars of human communication have invested tremendous energy to discover patterns of behavioral adaptation and the impact these patterns have on individual and relational outcomes. Outcomes such as individual health and well-being, as well as relationship satisfaction and divorce are all contingent on the ability to adapt and coordinate actions (Niederhoffer & Pennebaker, 2002; Stehl et al., 2008; Kulesza et al., 2013; Ireland et al., 2011). Several decades of research have advanced our understanding of specific characteristics of supportive messages and their relationship to important outcomes (for review see MacGeorge, Feng, & Burleson, 2011), and work by communication scientists has uncovered the importance of supportive relationships to health and well-being (Holt et al., 2010). This dissertation focuses on a set of language behaviors and how people repeat, paraphrase, and align language use during supportive conversations. Conversations between friends, strangers, and active listeners all engaged in a supportive conversation were analyzed. The analysis of transcripts of conversations between listeners and disclosers engaged in a 5-minute supportive interaction were conducted in two ways. First, two measures of linguistic coordination, Language Style Matching (LSM) (Ireland & Pennebaker, 2010) and Local Lexical Repetition (LLR) (Cannava & Bodie, 2015) were computed using textual analysis software. Results show that LSM was a significant variable in explaining supportive outcomes, whereas LLR failed to have predictive power. Second, stance analysis (Du Bois, 2007) was used to address supportive communication from a discourse analytic perspective. Results revealed that each relational group accomplished supportive conversations that varied on boundaries of coordination, investment, and affiliation. In general, this dissertation provides full or partial empirical support for the application and conceptualization of LSM and LLR. LSM is shown to be a positive predictor of supportive outcomes, whereas LLR is not. While providing three discourse analytic profiles of alignment, his dissertation also showed that dyads enact linguistic coordination and alignment in variety of ways depending on relationship type. Finally, this dissertation seeks to represent the repertoire of linguistic coordination used during a supportive interaction

    The desire for socio-cultural similarity in a mate

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    Various socio-cultural domains were investigated for the influence they may have on mating decisions. 102 male and 114 female university students were presented potential dates from a mock Internet dating service. Potential dates were described in terms of their ethnicity, music interest, education, leisure interest, occupation, religious affiliation, political affiliation, language, socio-economic status, and style of dress. Potential dates\u27 socio-cultural traits were determined randomly according to a computer program. For each of these domains, information was gathered regarding the level of similarity between participant and potential date. After reviewing all traits, participants rated the potential date in terms of how desirable he/she was as a romantic partner. Ratings of similarity were used to predict desirability judgments. A multiple regression analysis revealed that socio-cultural similarity was a substantial predictor of desirability. In particular, similar music interest was the best predictor of desirability, followed by dress style, education, and political affiliation
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