Quasi Indexicals

I argue that not all context dependent expressions are alike. Pure (or ordinary) indexicals behave more or less as Kaplan thought. But quasi indexicals behave in some ways like indexicals and in other ways not like indexicals. A quasi indexical sentence φ allows for cases in which one party utters φ and the other its negation, and neither party’s claim has to be false. In this sense, quasi indexicals are like pure indexicals (think: “I am a doctor”/“I am not a doctor” as uttered by different individuals). In such cases involving a pure indexical sentence, it is not appropriate for the two parties to reject each other’s claims by saying, “No.” However, in such cases involving a quasi indexical sentence, it is appropriate for the par- ties to reject each other’s claims. In this sense, quasi indexicals are not like pure indexicals. Drawing on experimental evidence, I argue that gradable adjectives like “rich” are quasi indexicals in this sense. e existence of quasi indexicals raises trouble for many existing theories of context dependence, including standard contextualist and relativist theories. I propose an alternative semantic and pragmatic theory of quasi indexicals, negotiated contextualism, that combines insights from Kaplan 1989 and Lewis 1979. On my theory, rejection is licensed with quasi indexicals (even when neither of the claims involved has to be false) because the two utterances involve conflicting proposals about how to update the conversational score. I also adduce evidence that conflicting truth value assessments of a single quasi indexical utterance exhibit the same behavior. I argue that negotiated contextualism can account for this puzzling property of quasi indexicals as well

To what extent could Business Process Management Suite (BPMS) contribute positively to e-learning?

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of Business Process Management Suite (BPMS) as a teaching-learning technology with the lens of the conversational framework (Laurillard 2002). The paper hopes to link commercial technological development with research in teaching-learning technologies and bring about better collaboration between the two. This theoretical evaluation aims to address the preliminary question - could educational communities adopt BPMS, a tool that has evolved from the commercial world to further enhance teaching-learning process? The scope of this paper and its evaluative study will be limited to using the conversational framework. The paper will briefly discuss BPMS and its relation to business process and business process management to provide a brief introduction. The main section of this paper will be a detailed analysis of key BPMS components against the conversational framework. The conclusion will provide a summary of the effectiveness of BPMS as a teaching-learning tool based on the requirements set out by the conversational framework. The results of the conclusion could lead to further empirical research on BPMS as a teaching-learning technology tool and may be the opportunity to request funding to carry out a proof of concept

Computer-based library or computer-based learning?

Traditionally, libraries have played the role of repository of published information resources and, more recently, gateway to online subscription databases. The library online catalog and digital library interface serve an intermediary function to help users locate information resources available through the library. With competition from Web search engines and Web portals of various kinds available for free, the library has to step up to play a more active role as guide and coach to help users make use of information resources for learning or to accomplish particular tasks. It is no longer sufficient for computer-based library systems to provide just search and access functions. They must provide the functionality and environment to support learning and become computer-based learning systems. This paper examines the kind of learning support that can be incorporated in library online catalogs and digital libraries, including 1) enhanced support for information browsing and synthesis through linking by shared meta-data, references and concepts; 2) visualization of related information; 3) adoption of Library 2.0 and social technologies; 4) adoption of Library 3.0 technologies including intelligent processing and text mining

New Horizons for a Theory of Epistemic Modals

ABSTRACTRecent debate over the semantics and pragmatics of epistemic modals has focused on intuitions about cross-contextual truth-value assessments. In this paper, we advocate a different approach to evaluating theories of epistemic modals. Our strategy focuses on judgments of the incompatibility of two different epistemic possibility claims, or two different truth value assessments of a single epistemic possibility claim. We subject the predictions of existing theories to empirical scrutiny, and argue that existing contextualist and relativist theories are unable to account for the full pattern of observed judgments. As a way of illustrating the theoretical upshot of these results, we conclude by developing a novel theory of epistemic modals that is able to predict the results

Social movements and the crisis of neoliberalism in Malaysia and Thailand

Of the Southeast Asian countries most badly affected by the 1997 financial crisis, Malaysia and Thailand remain the most unsettled by its political fallout. Their present political situations are not akin to 'politics as usual'. Instead, they capture the unpredicted outcomes of post-crisis struggles to reorganize structures of economic and political power. Comparing the situations in Malaysia and Thailand, this paper focuses on their differing state and civil society engagements with neoliberalism. It is suggested that the post-crisis contestations, sometimes tied to pre-crisis conflicts in political economy, left something of a stalemate: neither neoliberalism nor the social movements satisfactorily fulfilled their agendas in either country.Southeast Asia, Malaysia, Thailand, Social movements, Economic policy, Financial crises, Neoliberalism, East Asian financial crisis

Editorial: Assessment and ICT, innovative practices and future possibilities

The New Zealand Curriculum [NZC] document states that information and communication technology [ICT] and eLearning have considerable potential to support the teaching approaches recommended in the curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007). In this special issue, we explore the potential for ICTs to support innovative assessment practices that complement effective teaching approaches. Such innovations can enrich the opportunities students have to demonstrate their developing understandings and knowledge, and foster a sense of responsibility for their own and group/class learning. Designed thoughtfully, they can also promote positive student attitudes and motivation towards learning in curriculum learning areas, and towards learning in general

Digital tools disrupting tertiary students’ notions of disciplinary knowledge: Cases in history and tourism

This paper reports on the findings from a two year research project that explored the potential of digital tools in support of teaching–learning across different disciplinary areas at a New Zealand university. Two courses (in History and Tourism) are case studied using data collected through interviews with lecturers, tutors and their students, and an online student survey. Findings from the research revealed that both lecturers and students were challenged in learning about the affordances and use of the lecturer selected digital tools as a mediational means. The tools were not initially transparent to them, nor were they able to be easily deployed to undertake their primary task—teaching for the lecturers, and, learning and demonstrating learning for the students completing assigned tasks. The process of learning and using the tools disrupted participants’ prior thinking and led to new understandings of both disciplines and of effective pedagogies for the two disciplines. The findings increase our understanding of the ways digital tools can develop, challenge and expand tertiary students learning and have implications for practice

Theory of voltammetry in charged porous media

We couple the Leaky Membrane Model, which describes the diffusion and electromigration of ions in a homogenized porous medium of fixed background charge, with Butler-Volmer reaction kinetics for flat electrodes separated by such a medium in a simple mathematical theory of voltammetry. The model is illustrated for the prototypical case of copper electro-deposition/dissolution in aqueous charged porous media. We first consider the steady state with three different experimentally relevant boundary conditions and derive analytical or semi-analytical expressions for concentration profiles, electric potential profiles, current-voltage relations and overlimiting conductances. Next, we perform nonlinear least squares fitting on experimental data, consider the transient response for linear sweep voltammetry and demonstrate good agreement of the model predictions with experimental data. The experimental datasets are for copper electrodeposition from copper(II) sulfate solutions in a variety of nanoporous media, such as anodic aluminum oxide, cellulose nitrate and polyethylene battery separators, whose internal surfaces are functionalized with positively and negatively charged polyelectrolyte polymers.Comment: 39 pages, 12 figures, 5 tables; clarified where other parameters are taken from and fixed typo

A framework for developing and implementing an online learning community

Developing online learning communities is a promising pedagogical approach in online learning contexts for adult tertiary learners, but it is no easy task. Understanding how learning communities are formed and evaluating their efficacy in supporting learning involves a complex set of issues that have a bearing on the design and facilitation of successful online learning experiences. This paper describes the development of a framework for understanding and developing an online learning community for adult tertiary learners in a New Zealand tertiary institution. In accord with sociocultural views of learning and practices, the framework depicts learning as a mediated, situated, distributed, goal-directed, and participatory activity within a socially and culturally determined learning community. Evidence for the value of the framework is grounded in the findings of a case study of a semester-long fully online asynchronous graduate course. The framework informs our understanding of appropriate conditions for the development and conduct of online learning communities. Implications are presented for the design and facilitation of learning in such contexts