SEMA4A: An ontology for emergency notification systems accessibility

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Expert Systems with Applications. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2009 Elsevier B.V.Providing alert communication in emergency situations is vital to reduce the number of victims. Reaching this goal is challenging due to users’ diversity: people with disabilities, elderly and children, and other vulnerable groups. Notifications are critical when an emergency scenario is going to happen (e.g. a typhoon approaching) so the ability to transmit notifications to different kind of users is a crucial feature for such systems. In this work an ontology was developed by investigating different sources: accessibility guidelines, emergency response systems, communication devices and technologies, taking into account the different abilities of people to react to different alarms (e.g. mobile phone vibration as an alarm for deafblind people). We think that the proposed ontology addresses the information needs for sharing and integrating emergency notification messages over distinct emergency response information systems providing accessibility under different conditions and for different kind of users.Ministerio de Educación y Cienci

A User-Centered Approach to the Development of a History Domain Ontology: Helping Teachers Use Digital Primary Sources

The use of primary source materials is recognized as key to supporting inquiry-based history and social studies education. The extensive digitization of library, museum, and other cultural heritage collections represents an important resource for teachers as they strive to develop their students. critical thinking skills. Yet, searching and selecting digital primary sources appropriate for classroom use can be difficult and time-consuming. This study investigates the design requirements and the potential usefulness of a domain-specific ontology to facilitate access to, and use of, a collection of digital primary source materials developed by the University Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH). During a three-phase study an ontology model was designed and evaluated with the involvement of social studies teachers identified as the primary community of end users. The findings revealed that the design of the ontology was appropriate to support the information needs of the teachers and was perceived as a potentially useful tool to enhance access and facilitate inquiry-based instruction. The primary contribution of this dissertation is the introduction of an approach to ontology development that is user-centered and designed to facilitate access to digital cultural heritage materials. This study also contributes to the growing body of literature on teachers. use of digital libraries and primary source materials, especially in the area of social studies education

Technology teachers' perspectives on the Technology curriculum.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.South Africa‟s new democratic government adopted widespread reforms aimed at transforming the country‟s education system and redressing apartheid inequities. The new curriculum framework based on Outcomes Based Education (OBE) introduced nine new learning areas, including Technology. However, many challenges such as contextual constraints, unqualified teachers, inadequate training of teachers, the lack of resources and varied interpretations of the Technology curriculum were encountered during its implementation that led to several curriculum reviews. It is against this backdrop that this study explores Technology teachers‟ perspectives of their experiences in interpreting and implementing the Technology curriculum in the classroom. The conceptual framework that was adopted enabled an understanding of the term perspective, the philosophical background of perspectives and the kind of knowledge that could be obtained from such. The theoretical framework comprised of Nietzsche‟s (1882) theory of „perspectivism‟ on which this study relies heavily to understand Technology teachers‟ perspectives. Perspectives operate on the general notion that that they are altering all the time. Hence, Nietzsche postulates that there should be no stopping points to arrive at an understanding of a perspective. As a result of this, there were various interpretations obtained to synthesise the data obtained. Nietzsche‟s (1882) theory of affects in „perspectivism‟ namely, coherency, legitimacy and practicality, were used in understanding the perspectives of teachers. Thus, the multiplicity of perspectives used in the study crystallised the understanding of this study. The various interpretations of the data obtained as well as the findings align with Nietzsche‟s proliferation of perspectives for interpretation to be correct. A qualitative research design and an interpretive paradigm were adopted to gather rich, detailed data within the participants‟ real contexts. Four participants were purposefully selected from four different school contexts. A case study methodology was employed to gain insight into Technology teachers‟ perspectives. Data collection techniques utilised in the study included individual semi-structured interviews, a video recording of each teacher‟s Technology lesson, followed by a stimulated interview. The semi-structured interviews were believed to provide in-depth information as well as elicit perspectives that would have historical underpinnings of the participants. Video recording of a Technology lesson followed much later by a stimulated interview would ensure that richer data was generated for better understanding of individual teacher‟s perspectives on the curriculum. The data was sorted using thematic analysis. In the data analysis chapters, nine themes were constructed and analysed with the literature and understood using the conceptual and theoretical framework to assist with the ontology. The main finding in this study is that the Technology curriculum is not only widening the gap between the privileged and underprivileged schools, but is implicated in the reproduction of inequalities in South Africa. The findings reveal that South Africa‟s education system as a whole is plagued by several challenges confronting the teaching of the Technology curriculum, which include the disruption of university preparation of Technology teachers due to constant curriculum changes and the constraints of a rigid curriculum which leave little room for flexibility. Learners‟ use of technological devices is disapproved, a universal Technology curriculum for a diversity of school contexts is set and teacher beliefs and Technology curriculum pedagogy are not synchronised. The Technology curriculum is viewed as unfair in terms of its expectations in poorly resourced schools. Assessment was found to be unrealistic, impractical and irrelevant in the Technology curriculum. Furthermore, the Technology curriculum revealed how learners from underprivileged schools lacked cultural capital which hinders them from competing at a global level, creating even further inequalities. Based on these findings, it is recommended that the Department of Education (DoE) keeps Technology teachers up-to-date about curriculum matters and supports teachers during implementation and ensures that the sharing of resource on wheels be implemented so all schools have access to some resources. It is also recommended that Technology teachers should be part of the curriculum design process and that perhaps schools can be used as centres to keep parents of the community up-to-date with technological developments

Developing the scales on evaluation beliefs of student teachers

The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to investigate the validity and the reliability of a newly developed questionnaire named ‘Teacher Evaluation Beliefs’ (TEB). The framework for developing items was provided by the two models. The first model focuses on Student-Centered and Teacher-Centered beliefs about evaluation while the other centers on five dimensions (what/ who/ when/ why/ how). The validity and reliability of the new instrument was investigated using both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis study (n=446). Overall results indicate that the two-factor structure is more reasonable than the five-factor one. Further research needs additional items about the latent dimensions “what” ”who” ”when” ”why” “how” for each existing factor based on Student-centered and Teacher-centered approaches

Designing technology to innovate teaching practices: a critical assessment of a learning design support environment

This thesis, at the meeting point of information systems and education research, starts with a critical assessment of the theoretical assumptions underlying ICTmediated learning research, and takes issue with instrumentalist approaches to technology as a means of encouraging learning through collaboration and of achieving innovation in work practices. I argue that technologies and knowledge (as well as what is considered worth learning) are imbricated in an ongoing “scene of struggle” where different interests, institutional logics, rationalities, and realities are negotiated. This research draws on an empirical case study which follows the efforts of an interdisciplinary research team in a 3-year project while developing and evaluating a Learning Design Support Environment (LDSE). The expected aim of the LDSE project was to foster a community of practice among academics that would share knowledge of teaching practices, and collaboratively discover innovative approaches to technology-enhanced learning. I also bring the broader sociotechnical context into the discussion, to understand the different institutional logics entangled with this technology. A conceptual framework is developed that integrates insights from recent contributions in institutional theory and actor-network theory. The former sensitise us to the broader social context and the complex interaction of different institutional logics. The latter emphasizes the entanglement of technology, knowledge, and practices. This framework offers an effective lens to understand how technologies aimed at supporting collaborative learning at work, and particularly in teaching, are bound up with practices and institutional logics in a given sociopolitical context. Such understanding will reveal the assumptions of straightforward means-to-ends innovation in technological interventions aimed at achieving learning and change, by laying bare the complex sociotechnical processes involved in making “a technology work” and in legitimating knowledge and practices

An exploration of the motivationally-relevant behaviours of coaches, parents and peers across the athletic career span

This thesis aimed to develop an understanding of the social and environmental influences on athlete motivation, and the way these change across the athlete career span. Study 1 set out to explore the social and environmental influences of coaches, parents and peers on the motivation of young athletes (under 12 years old), at the initiation/sampling stage of their careers. Forty participants (7-11 years of age) from a variety of sports were interviewed in focus groups, using a semi-structured format to investigate the roles played by coaches, parents, and peers in influencing athlete motivation. An inductive content analysis was conducted to determine which behaviours among these social agents influenced key motivational outcomes. The young athletes described motivational influences which showed consistencies with existing models of motivation, but which also expanded upon these models in terms of both the specificity of behaviours identified, and also the comprehensive nature of the findings. The influences of coaches related most strongly to the manner in which they perform their roles of instruction and assessment, whereas parents influences were most salient in terms of the way they support the child s participation and learning. Both parents and coaches exerted influences through their leadership styles, affective responses and pre-performance behaviours. Peers influenced participants motivation through competitive behaviours, collaborative behaviours, evaluative communications and through their social relationships. This study provides an insight into the socioenvironmental influences on motivation experienced by young athletes, as well as helping to delineate the different roles of social agents in influencing their motivation at this early stage of development. Study 2 qualitatively examined the motivationally relevant behaviours of key social agents in athletes at the specialising career stage. Seventy-nine participants (9-18 years old) from 26 sports participated in semi-structured focus-groups investigating how coaches, parents, and peers may influence motivation. Using a critical-realist perspective, an inductive content-analysis indicated that specialising athletes perceived a multitude of motivationally-relevant social cues. Coaches and parents influences were related to their specific roles: instruction/assessment for coaches, support-and-facilitation for parents. Peers influenced motivation through competitive behaviours, collaborative behaviours, evaluative communications and through their social relationships. The results were consistent with Study 1 in terms of returning an analysis based around the different roles performed by social agents in relation to the ways that athlete motivation can be influenced. Study 3 examined the socio-environmental influences of coaches, parents and peers on the motivation of elite athletes. Twenty-nine elite sport participants (15-29 years old) took part in semi-structured focus groups or interviews investigating how coaches, parents, and peers influenced their motivation. An inductive content analysis was performed using a critical realist approach. Coaches and peers were reported to be focal influences, whilst the role of parents appeared to be decreased relative to other career-stages; being limited to emotional and moral support. Themes of feedback/evaluation, and pre-performance motivating behaviours were common to all social agents, whilst the coach-athlete and peer-athlete relationships appeared to be important in mediating and directly influencing motivation. The influences of social agents related to their specific roles: instruction/leadership for coaches; whilst peer-influences revolved around collaborative and competitive behaviours and emotional support. The discussion chapter took the form of a meta-interpretive synthesis of research findings concerning social and environmental influences on athlete motivation across the career-span. From a total of 124 papers that qualified for initial consideration 45 contributed to the final analysis. This chapter presents models of motivational processes that are intended to contribute new ideas and stimulate thinking in the area. The final analysis proposes a horizontal structure relating to athletic career developments, and a vertical structure detailing general dimensions of the overall motivationally relevant social environment. From this, the relative influences of coaches, parents and peers were ideographically assessed, suggesting that the influence of peers grows over the athletic career, whilst the relative influence of parents decreases. Finally, a meteorological model is presented, with a view to facilitating the joint consideration of numerous motivationally relevant variables, reflecting the proposed complex interactivity and interdependence identified throughout this thesis. In this chapter, the term motivational atmosphere is proposed in order to represent the extremely broad, complex and interactive nature of the socio-environmental influences on athlete motivation. The thesis concludes with the consideration of the theoretical and applied implications of the studies conducted