Assessing the efficacy of online teaching with the Constructivist online learning environment survey

Teachers of science, mathematics and technology Australia wide are being required to transform their established epistemologies of practice in order to engage learners as active conceptualisers within socially interactive learning environments. Many teachers are enrolling in postgraduate distance education programs to assist them with this challenging task. Curtin University is responding by using computer mediated communication to speed up the exchange of distance study materials and to provide online interactive learning environments (via chat groups, bulletin boards and email). For the past three years, the authors have been using the Internet to teach online Masters degree students studying at a distance from Curtin. The major pedagogical goal is to engage students (professional teachers) in reflective and collaborative learning. The web sites provide Activity Rooms in which the teachers engage students in frequent and focused discourse with each other and with their online tutors. As reflective teachers, the authors are keen to evaluate their own innovative practices and constantly improve them. To this end, they have designed the Constructivist On-Line Learning Environment Survey (COLLES), an electronic questionnaire that enables them to readily monitor each student's preferred online learning environment and compare it with her/his actual experiences. In this presentation, they outline the rationale of the questionnaire and present some preliminary analyses that illustrate its usefulness. [Author abstract, ed] Teachers of science, mathematics and technology Australia wide are being required to transform their established epistemologies of practice in order to engage learners as active conceptualisers within socially interactive learning environments. Many teachers are enrolling in postgraduate distance education programs to assist them with this challenging task. Curtin University is responding by using computer mediated communication to speed up the exchange of distance study materials and to provide online interactive learning environments (via chat groups, bulletin boards and email). For the past three years, the Internet has been used to teach online Masters degree students studying at a distance from Curtin. The major pedagogical goal is to engage the students (professional teachers) in reflective and collaborative learning. Curtin's web sites provide Activity Rooms in which students are engaged in frequent and focused discourse with each other and with their online tutors. To evaluate and improve on their teaching practice, the academic staff designed the Constructivist On-Line Learning Environment Survey (COLLES), an electronic questionnaire that enables them to readily monitor each student's preferred online learning environment and compare it with her/his actual experiences. This paper outlines the rationale of the questionnaire and presents some preliminary analyses that illustrate its usefulness

Employee voice and collective formation in the Indian ITES-BPO industry

The growth of the information technology enabled services-business process outsourcing industry calls for attention to employees' working conditions and rights. Can an independent organisation such as unites Pro (the union of information technology enabled services professionals) represent employees' interests and effectively work towards protecting their rights and improving their working conditions? A survey of unites members indicates that they identify with the need for such an organisation to deal with poor supervisory and managerial treatment, concerns for employee safety, grievances related to pay and workload, and even the indignities of favouritism

A microcontroller system for investigating the catch effect: Functional electrical stimulation of the common peroneal nerve

Correction of drop foot in hemiplegic gait is achieved by electrical stimulation of the common peroneal nerve with a series of pulses at a fixed frequency. However, during normal gait, the electromyographic signals from the tibialis anterior muscle indicate that muscle force is not constant but varies during the swing phase. The application of double pulses for the correction of drop foot may enhance the gait by generating greater torque at the ankle and thereby increase the efficiency of the stimulation with reduced fatigue. A flexible controller has been designed around the Odstock Drop Foot Stimulator to deliver different profiles of pulses implementing doublets and optimum series. A peripheral interface controller (PIC) microcontroller with some external circuits has been designed and tested to accommodate six profiles. Preliminary results of the measurements from a normal subject seated in a multi-moment chair (an isometric torque measurement device) indicate that profiles containing doublets and optimum spaced pulses look favourable for clinical use

What determines self-employment? : a comparative study

This article consists of a comparative study of the incidence of self-employment (SE) between Greece, which has the highest rate of SE in the European Union and the United Kingdom, which has amongst the lowest. Data from the Greek and the UK Labour Force Surveys are used in order to assess how personal attributes of an individual have an impact on the incidence of SE. It is found that common patterns exist between these two countries. In particular, it is found that for both countries, males have greater odds of being self-employed than females, older people have greater odds than younger, individuals employed in the primary and tertiary sectors have greater odds than the ones employed in the secondary, and that individuals with primary or secondary education have greater odds of being self-employed than individuals holding higher degrees. The incidence of SE is also found to differ according to the occupation of the individual. On the other hand, the findings indicate that individuals, residing in London, have greater odds of being self-employed than individuals working outside UK's capital, whereas in Greece the pattern is reversed

Taxonomy of the fouling cheilostome bryozoans, Schizoporella unicornis, (Johnston) and Schizoporella errata (Waters)

Figure 1. (A–D) Images of Wood's Pliocene specimen from the Coralline Crag, Suffolk (NHM B1675) described in Busk (1859). (A) Group of autozooids at growing edge of colony within small bivalve shell. (B) Autozooids exhibiting deep V-shaped sinus. (C) Frontal shield with paired avicularia and deep V-shaped sinus. (D) Detail of primary orifice and sinus. (E, F) Lectotype of Schizoporella unicornis [NHM 1847.16.174 (a)] bleached portion. (E) Group of autozooids at the distal edge of colony with adventitious avicularia, paired, single or absent. (F) Ovicellate autozooids showing radially aligned scalloped grooves. Scale bars: 500 µm (A); 250 µm (B); 100 µm (C, E); 50 µm (D,F).Published as part of Tompsett, Scott, Porter, Joanne S. & Taylor, Paul D., 2009, Taxonomy of the fouling cheilostome bryozoans Schizoporella unicornis (Johnston) and Schizoporella errata (Waters), pp. 2227-2243 in Journal of Natural History 43 (35-36) on page 2231, DOI: 10.1080/00222930903090140, http://zenodo.org/record/521715

Atmospheric ozone measurements made from B-747 AIRLINERS: Spring 1975

Atmospheric ozone in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere north of the equator has been registered aboard two commercial B-747 airliners. The composite ozone, flight and meteorological data are reported. Attention is drawn particularly to the vertical profiles of atmospheric ozone mixing ratio as a function of both distance from the tropopause and curvature of the streamlines. The GASP observations suggest that ozone levels typical of the lower stratosphere are often embedded in the upper troposphere, principally during occassions when cyclonic wind curvature was noted

Spectral properties of the tandem Jackson network, seen as a quasi-birth-and-death process

Quasi-birth-and-death (QBD) processes with infinite ``phase spaces'' can exhibit unusual and interesting behavior. One of the simplest examples of such a process is the two-node tandem Jackson network, with the ``phase'' giving the state of the first queue and the ``level'' giving the state of the second queue. In this paper, we undertake an extensive analysis of the properties of this QBD. In particular, we investigate the spectral properties of Neuts's R-matrix and show that the decay rate of the stationary distribution of the ``level'' process is not always equal to the convergence norm of R. In fact, we show that we can obtain any decay rate from a certain range by controlling only the transition structure at level zero, which is independent of R. We also consider the sequence of tandem queues that is constructed by restricting the waiting room of the first queue to some finite capacity, and then allowing this capacity to increase to infinity. We show that the decay rates for the finite truncations converge to a value, which is not necessarily the decay rate in the infinite waiting room case. Finally, we show that the probability that the process hits level n before level 0 given that it starts in level 1 decays at a rate which is not necessarily the same as the decay rate for the stationary distribution.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/105051604000000477 in the Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Methods of resistance estimation in permanent magnet synchronous motors for real-time thermal management

Real-time thermal management of electrical ma- chines relies on sufficiently accurate indicators of internal tem- perature. One indicator of temperature in a permanent-magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) is the stator winding resistance. Detection of PMSM winding resistance in the literature has been made on machines with relatively high resistances, where the resistive voltage vector is significant under load. This paper describes two techniques which can be applied to detect the winding resistance, through ‘Fixed Angle’ and ‘Fixed Mag- nitude’ current injection. Two further methods are described which discriminate injected current and voltages from motoring currents and voltages: ‘Unipolar’ and ‘Bipolar’ separation. These enable the resistance to be determined, and hence the winding temperature in permanent-magnet machines. These methods can be applied under load, and in a manner that does not disturb motor torque or speed. The method distinguishes between changes in the electro-motive force (EMF) constant and the resistive voltage. This paper introduces the techniques, whilst a companion paper covers the application of one of the methods to a PMSM drive system

The CHIME graduate programme in health informatics

In 1999 University College London inaugurated a programme of graduate part-time Health Informatics courses to support the UK National Health Service?s Information for Health strategy. The programme has attracted students from across the UK and abroad, with a diverse range of backgrounds and skills and has proved a challenging and rewarding experience for students and tutors alike. The modular programme aims to provide a thorough grounding in the theory and practice of Health Informatics and addresses important application areas. The guiding principle is that Health Informatics graduates need to understand computers and programming but that, since the majority are not going to become programmers, programming methods should not dominate the curriculum.In the taught phase of the programme students attend college for 3 days a month and complete an assignment each month, based on home study. Students may graduate with a certificate or diploma, or go on to tackle a dissertation leading to an MSc. Research projects have included a patient record system based on speech input, a mathematical model for illustrating to patients the risks associated with smoking, an analysis of Trust staff's preparedness for Information for Health and a patient information leaflet giving advice about drug related information on the Web. As we move towards our fifth intake of students, we are in the process of evaluating our programme and carrying out a follow up study of our graduates? subsequent career pathways

Community learning and development training for professionals engaged in community regeneration and community planning

The study was commissioned by the Scottish Executive Development Department to identify training needs and current provision of community learning and development (CLD) training for a range of professionals (other than those formally qualified in CLD) who are engaged in community regeneration and community planning (Local Government in Scotland Act 2003). It was one of a series of studies emanating from the Scottish Executive response to the review: „Empowered to Practice – the future of community learning and development training in Scotland‟. One of the themes of the report taken up by the Scottish Executive was the need for; „wider opportunities for joint training with other disciplines such as teachers, librarians, college lecturers, health workers and social workers‟