Anomalous thermal maturities caused by carbonaceous sediments

Sedimentary rocks such as coal and carbonaceous mudstone which contain abundant carbonaceous matter are characterized by thermal conductivity much lower than that exhibited by other common rock types, by a factor of 5–10. As a result, temperature gradients in such sediments can range up to 0.25 °Cm -1 even under conditions of average heat flow. When such steep gradients extend over a significant sedimentary thickness, temperatures of underlying rock units are elevated, causing both organic and inorganic phases to record what seem to be anomalously high levels of thermal maturity. This carbonaceous blanket insulating effect may help to explain unusual levels of maturity observed at shallow depths in the Appalachian Basin, Michigan Basin and other regions of the world with significant carbonaceous strata.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73579/1/j.1365-2117.1994.tb00074.x.pd

Computer-based technology and student engagement: a critical review of the literature

Computer-based technology has infiltrated many aspects of life and industry, yet there is little understanding of how it can be used to promote student engagement, a concept receiving strong attention in higher education due to its association with a number of positive academic outcomes. The purpose of this article is to present a critical review of the literature from the past 5 years related to how web-conferencing software, blogs, wikis, social networking sites (Facebook and Twitter), and digital games influence student engagement. We prefaced the findings with a substantive overview of student engagement definitions and indicators, which revealed three types of engagement (behavioral, emotional, and cognitive) that informed how we classified articles. Our findings suggest that digital games provide the most far-reaching influence across different types of student engagement, followed by web-conferencing and Facebook. Findings regarding wikis, blogs, and Twitter are less conclusive and significantly limited in number of studies conducted within the past 5 years. Overall, the findings provide preliminary support that computer-based technology influences student engagement, however, additional research is needed to confirm and build on these findings. We conclude the article by providing a list of recommendations for practice, with the intent of increasing understanding of how computer-based technology may be purposefully implemented to achieve the greatest gains in student engagement. © 2017, The Author(s)

Considerations for the development of Computer-assisted Language Learning (CALL) teacher training course: a practical experience from a CALL course development in Indonesia

The need for technology training for teachers will keep on growing in line with the development of technology itself. Although technology nowadays is more and more user friendly and may need no specific training on how to use it, teachers need to possess the knowledge that underpins the idea of using it for teaching and learning process. Teachers need to have solid pedagogical knowledge on how to use the technology to deliver contents to their students. Therefore, a technology-training course for teachers is always necessary. This paper presents the partial results of a design based study/research (DBR) on the development of online technology training for teachers with focus on CALL in Indonesia. Questions regarding factors affecting online CALL course and ways to improve the course in terms of training materials, activities, as well as the administration of the training are addressed in the study. Based on the study, some considerations on how to design such technology-training course are proposed. The considerations are ranging from aspects associated with technology competence for teacher standards, constructivism in online learning, adult learning theory, online instructional models, the technology, pedagogy and content knowledge (TPACK) framework and open educational resources (OER). Information regarding those aspects will be useful to assist other CALL teacher training course developers later to inform their decision in the development of the course which is based on a good theoretical understanding as well as highly practical in learning activitie