Profile transformation in mobile technology based educational systems : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Information Science in Information Systems at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

In order to meet the learning needs from various types of students, computer aided education systems try to include new methods to provide personalized education to every student. From the early 1970s, a lot of adaptive educational systems have been created to provide training on a variety of subjects. Combined with the Internet, the adaptive educational systems have become web-based and even more popular. Recently, the development of mobile technology has made the web-based adaptive educational systems accessible through mobile phones. It is necessary that the students can also receive adaptive educational contents on mobile phones. This research project investigated the possible student's preference differences between Personal Computer (PC) and mobile phone, and then proposed a student profile transformation framework to address such differences. This research project conducted two surveys on the student profile transformation between PC and mobile phone. A demo web-based educational system that could be accessed from both PC and mobile phone was also developed for participants of the surveys to give more real and precise responses. Based on Felder-Silverman Learning Style Theory (Felder, 1993; Felder & Silverman, 1988) and the results of the surveys, this thesis proposes a student profile template and a student profile transformation framework, which both fully considered the influences of device capabilities and locations on students' preferences on mobile phones. Furthermore, the proposed framework integrates a solution for unsupported preferences and preference conflicts. By implementing the proposed template and framework, the students' preference changes between PC and mobile phone are automatically updated according to various device capabilities and locations, and then the students can receive adaptive educational contents that meet their updated preferences

Modelling human teaching tactics and strategies for tutoring systems

One of the promises of ITSs and ILEs is that they will teach and assist learning in an intelligent manner. Historically this has tended to mean concentrating on the interface, on the representation of the domain and on the representation of the student’s knowledge. So systems have attempted to provide students with reifications both of what is to be learned and of the learning process, as well as optimally sequencing and adjusting activities, problems and feedback to best help them learn that domain. We now have embodied (and disembodied) teaching agents and computer-based peers, and the field demonstrates a much greater interest in metacognition and in collaborative activities and tools to support that collaboration. Nevertheless the issue of the teaching competence of ITSs and ILEs is still important, as well as the more specific question as to whether systems can and should mimic human teachers. Indeed increasing interest in embodied agents has thrown the spotlight back on how such agents should behave with respect to learners. In the mid 1980s Ohlsson and others offered critiques of ITSs and ILEs in terms of the limited range and adaptability of their teaching actions as compared to the wealth of tactics and strategies employed by human expert teachers. So are we in any better position in modelling teaching than we were in the 80s? Are these criticisms still as valid today as they were then? This paper reviews progress in understanding certain aspects of human expert teaching and in developing tutoring systems that implement those human teaching strategies and tactics. It concentrates particularly on how systems have dealt with student answers and how they have dealt with motivational issues, referring particularly to work carried out at Sussex: for example, on responding effectively to the student’s motivational state, on contingent and Vygotskian inspired teaching strategies and on the plausibility problem. This latter is concerned with whether tactics that are effectively applied by human teachers can be as effective when embodied in machine teachers

Walking the talk : an investigation of the pedagogical practices and discourses of an international broadcasting organisation : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in Adult Education, Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

Increasingly our knowledge of the world around us comes from the media, mediated by professional broadcasters. As the education and training of broadcasters has progressively become associated with educational institutions there has been more theorising about what broadcasters should know and how they should be educated, however the actual educational and training practices of broadcasting organisations remains under researched and under theorised. This research looks at the educational and training practices of an international broadcasting organisation and how they are sustained by the organisational ethos through a series of interviews with people directly involved in the organisation‟s training practices and an examination of a selection of the organisation‟s promotional and policy documents. From this comes a picture of an organisation committed to excellence and also a vision of broadcasting as an emancipatory activity. This commitment and vision is reflected in its inhouse training practices and also its media development work. The interviews with trainers, project managers, administrators and researchers reveal broadcasters who are pragmatic idealists and reflective practitioners and whose passion and commitment to the transformative powers of education and training are undeniable

What Cognitive Processes Are Triggered by Input Enhancement

Recently in Second Language Acquisition research much attention has been focused upon the cognitive mechanisms that underpin learner processing of input. In studies of how second language instruction has an effect on L2 learner’s subsequent processing of input, researchers have examined how external manipulation of input can affect intake and subsequent learning. In this literature review, input enhancement (an instantiation of manipulated input) will be examined in light of current cognitive psychological models of attention and memory. After reviewing current models of attention and memory as they pertain to SLA, previous input enhancement studies will be analyzed in order to see how input enhancement could affect L2 learner processing. Particular attention will be paid to the potential triggering effects of input enhancement as well as its impact upon second language learning

An intelligent tutoring system for operators’ training in power system control centres

The activity of Control Center operators is important to guarantee the effective performance of Power Systems. Operators’ actions are crucial to deal with incidents, especially severe faults, like blackouts. In this paper we present an Intelligent Tutoring approach for training Portuguese Control Centre operators in tasks like incident analysis and diagnosis, and service restoration of Power Systems. Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) approach is used in the training of the operators, taking into account context awareness and the unobtrusive integration in the working environment

From e-Lexicography to Electronic Lexicography. A Joint Review

Two recently published books outline the main issues of the current debate on lexi­cography. The first, e-Lexicography edited by Fuertes-Olivera and Bergenholtz in 2011, presents the standpoints of the lexicographical function theory on the future developments of dictionaries, while, in some chapters, current innovative tools are described, tools which allow customizations according to the user's type of need. The second volume, Electronic Lexicography edited by Granger and Paquot in 2012, presents different opposing views on what the dictionaries of the future will look like, such as the linguistic-oriented stance of Hanks and that of Tarp concerning theoretical lexi­cography. The dictionary projects that are described within these pages offer an interesting basis of comparison with those developed by the representatives of the function theory. Keywords: computer assisted language learning (call), corpus lin­guis­tics, customization, databases, dictionary survey, dictionary use, effi­cacy, efficiency, electronic lexicography, information science, lan­guages for special purposes, lexicographical function theory, linguistic theory, monofunctional diction­ary, p-dictionaries, practical lexicog­raphy, usability testin

Protocols and Software for Simplified Educational Video Capture and Editing

Recently, educational videos have become important parts of e-learning systems which have in turn become widely used due to their flexibility. These videos should be of high quality since higher production values lead to superior learning outcomes. However, creating high-quality video is a difficult task for teachers since it needs technical knowledge that includes video recording and timeline usage. Hence, creating educational video production software, that is at the same time easy-to-use and able to produce high-quality educational videos, is very advantageous. In this paper, we developed protocols for an easy-to-use piece of software that enables teachers who have little technological background to produce their own educational videos autonomously. In fact, our contribution is to reduce the complexity of the whole video production process by introducing a preparation step based on micro-teaching and upstream specification. An evaluation of the software with six teachers is performed. This evaluation, based on think-aloud protocol and quantitative measurements, showed that the introduction of the preparation step allowed the participant teachers to produce high-quality educational videos in less than three hours

Reading Comprehension Strategies and Comprehension Level of Proficient and Low Proficient ESL Readers

This study is both quantitative and qualitative in nature. The study focuses on the use of reading comprehension strategies and comprehension level of proficient and low proficient ESL readers in the TESL Matriculation programme of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). The think-aloud technique was used to investigate the use of reading comprehension strategies. The product of reading (comprehension level) was assessed by the means of oral retelling. The findings illustrate that both groups of readers depended much on bottom-up text processing, especially the low proficient ESL readers. The proficient ESL readers however, used significantly more metacognitive and top-down strategies than the low proficient ESL readers. The findings of this study further indicate that the proficient ESL readers tended to use more bottom-up strategies than the low proficient ESL readers. This contradicts findings of previous studies which illustrated that the low proficient ESL readers used more bottom-up strategies than the proficient ESL readers. However, this difference is attributable to the lack of competence in L2 among the low proficient ESL readers. This made them unable to report their thoughts frequently hence perhaps producing bottom-up strategies less than the proficient ESL readers. The findings also illustrate that the proficient ESL readers had a significantly higher level of comprehension than the low proficient ESL readers. The results of the qualitative analysis of think-aloud protocols suggest that the major problem faced by the ESL readers of this study seems to be their inadequate control over grammar and vocabulary in English. This also hindered the subjects' comprehension of the text especially among the low proficient ESL readers. Thus in order to derive meaning from the text, the ESL readers relied on bottom-up strategies. The results of the study also suggest that there is a need to enhance the students' linguistic knowledge in vocabulary and grammar of English as a second language to improve the students' efficient use of the reading strategies