El uso de los objetos de aprendizaje reutilizables en la enseñanza de la poesía inglesa: explorando la influencia de las prácticas pedagógicas predominantes

peer-reviewedDespite the attempts to integrate ICT across the curriculum of all post-primary education systems in the developed world there remains low levels of use. One of the major reasons for this low level of use is the availability of curriculum relevant software. In recent years the availability of high quality authoring tools has provided opportunities for the low-cost development of highly reusable curricular relevant materials. The increasing use of educational repositories can now facilitate the wide-scale distribution of these resources. This has the potential to reconceptualise use of ICT across the curriculum in schools, particularly in the Humanities area. This research aimed to design curriculum specific educational software and explore the ways in which it was used by Irish post-primary teachers in their teaching of English. The research found that teachers used the software in different ways largely mirroring existing pedagogical practices. The research raises a number of issues for the development of such tailor-made solutions and highlights opportunities for future developers. The research concludes by presenting a tentative conceptual model of the nature of Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs) use and the implications for future development and use of reusable learning objects

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

Digital repositories and their associated services: from capacity building to sustainability

At the time of writing this chapter the Irish National Digital Learning Resources (NDLR) service may be incorporated into the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. The capacity for a service such as the NDLR has been proven; now it remains to be seen how it can be sustained. The NDLR was established as a collaborative pilot service project in 2004 largely by the University sector with little representation from the Institutes of Technologies. By 2006, the NDLR had grown considerably as 21 of the Irish institutions of higher education became involved. By 2010, many members were registering from organisations outside of the 21 main institutions of higher education in Ireland. These organisations included other educational institutions and bodies in the wider public sector. This chapter will provide an overview of Open Educational Resources (OERs) and the NDLR service in the context of the role that OER services can play in teaching and learning at higher level. It will also explore the legacy of the NDLR and the issues around its sustainability in a changing higher education landscape

Observing the use of RLOs in the English post-primary classroom

Despite the attempts to integrate ICT across the curriculum of all post-primary education systems in the developed world there remains low levels of use. One of the major reasons for this low level of use is the availability of curriculum relevant software. In recent years the availability of high quality authoring tools has provided opportunities for the low-cost development of highly reusable curricular relevant materials. The increasing use of educational repositories can now facilitate the widescale distribution of these resources. This has the potential to radically reconceptualise use of ICT across the curriculum in Irish schools, particularly in the Humanities area, an area that has not traditionally incorporated ICT. The research aimed to develop curricular specific courseware for the teaching of poetry at Junior Certificate level in Irish post-primary schools. It aimed to capture the collaborative design and development process used in the development of the courseware and describe and evaluate the implementation of the resource by teachers in different educational contexts. The research employed a case study approach as it was seen as the most suitable methodological approach to capture the richness of the design and implementation of the resource. The resource was developed in collaboration with six practicing teachers and implemented in three different schools in very different classroom settings. Through the use of semi-structured teachers interviews, student questionnaires and classroom observations the research methodology employed aimed to capture the richness of the experience from the participants’ perspective. The research found that despite the low levels of ICT use in schools the participating teachers were enthusiastic users of the resource. While it was evident that the students had limited experience of using ICT in schools they nonetheless enjoyed the experience and appeared to benefit from use of the resource. The research also found that the resource was highly reusable and was interpreted and used by teachers in different ways to best suit their needs and the needs of their students. The findings of this research suggest that the framework used in the collaborative development of the resource has enhanced the reusable nature of the object and that future resources should employ a similar collaborative approach. The research also suggests that the reusability of the resource is dependent of the curricular and pedagogical coherence of the learning object. The research raises a number of issues for the development of such tailor-made solutions and highlights opportunities for future developers

An evaluation of independent learning of the Japanese hiragana system using an interactive CD

Abstract As Japanese uses three writing systems (hiragana, katakana, and the ideograms known as kanji), and as materials in the target language include all three, it is a major challenge to learn to read and write quickly. This paper focuses on interactive multi-media methods of teaching Japanese reading which foster learner autonomy. As little has been published on interactive multi-media methods of teaching Japanese reading, it seems likely that traditional resources are generally used for this activity. The courseware includes sound files showing the pronunciation of each kana as well as simultaneous animation showing how to write each character. This paper investigates whether interactive courseware, used independently of classroom interaction, results in measurably greater recognition of the hiragana syllabary than more traditional methods. After briefly situating the study in the context of research on the teaching of Japanese reading and learner autonomy, the paper will present the courseware as well as an empirical study comparing the results of the use of the courseware by learners at beginners&apos; level: one group using the courseware, and the other using paper-based materials. This is followed by an account of learner diaries written by zero-beginner level learners of Japanese using the courseware. The study indicates that acquisition of a recognition-level knowledge of hiragana is approximately twice as fast using the courseware as using paper-based materials. Learners also learned to write the hiragana without explicit instruction. Keywords: Hiragana, multimedia courseware, Flash, blended learning, interactive materials, learner autonomy The Japanese writing system The writing system is one of the great challenges in learning and teaching Japanese. This paper will describe a CALL adaptation of a colour-based method of teaching one of the Japanese syllabaries as well as the results of a study comparing learning using computer-based materials to learning using paper-based materials. Japanese has three writing systems: two phonetic syllabaries, hiragana and katakana, and the logographic system imported from China, kanji. In general, the rounder hiragana are used to write inflections as well as words that cannot be writte

The EU Web Accessibility Directive – and what it means for school websites

Since the 1990s, the majority of post-primary schools in Ireland have had an online presence. For many schools this is now a school website. Everyone involved in the school community will have some interaction with the school website, whether it is to check the school calendar or to read a school policy (Gilleece & Eivers, 2018; Lalchandani et al, 2022). However, for some, this task is much more difficult than for others (Orero & Quested, 2022). </p

Exploring the possibilities of automated feedback for third level students

There are a multitude of methods of providing third level students with feedback on their performance. Feedback can take many forms, from handwritten comments, to individual verbal feedback delivered face to face, and some educators are providing recorded audio feedback delivered using an institutional Virtual Learning Environment. One of the challenges at third level is providing substantive and constructive formative and/or terminal feedback in a timely fashion. Students are becoming more self-directed in terms of their learning and they are becoming more demanding regarding feedback. This paper discusses the use of a free open source solution (Auto Multiple Choice, AMC) to provide constructive feedback to students in an effective and timely manner. This method of automated assessment feedback has been used by faculty in Physics at the University of Limerick to reduce the turnaround time in making comments available to students since 2014. The experience of using AMC has also resulted in a number of unanticipated results around student motivation and prediction of exam performance which are also discussed

Digital Educational Content– identifying the true cost and requirements

Digital teaching and learning material has become much more prevalent in recent years. However, the quality of such material is rarely audited and accessibility can be a huge problem for some students. The impact of the EU Web Accessibility Directive (2016) is improving the online experience for many using public sector websites. Digital educational content must now be viewed through this lens

Learning objects in MOOC: good practice for learning objects

Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC) are still in their infancy on the surface they look like the necessary silver bullet to provide alternate pathways to education. However, when completion rates and retention figures were published in 2013 the whole concept of the MOOC came under criticism. This criticism has grown largely as a result of the uncertainty and lack of detail about what a MOOC actually is; yet there appears to be a global drive behind MOOC. The ubiquitous presence of technology may be seen as a change agent and there is arguably sufficient demand for a new delivery model to provide education to a modern market. MOOC could fulfil this requirement for an alternate model. Central to the success of MOOC is the availability of high quality learning objects or Open Educational resources (OERs). This chapter provides a background to learning objects and MOOC and looks at good practices in the design, development and management of learning objects in MOOC