Student-facing learning analytics dashboard for remote lab practical work

The designs of many student-facing learning analytics (SFLA) dashboards are insufficiently informed by educational research and lack rigorous evaluation in authentic learning contexts, including during remote laboratory practical work. We present and evaluate an SFLA dashboard designed using the principles of formative assessment to provide feedback to students during remote lab activities. Feedback is based upon graphical visualisations of student actions performed during lab tasks and comparison to expected procedures using TaskCompare - our custom, asymmetric graph dissimilarity measure that distinguishes students who miss expected actions from those who perform additional actions, a capability missing in existing graph distance (symmetrical dissimilarity) measures. Using a total of N=235 student graphs collected during authentic learning in two different engineering courses, we describe the validation of TaskCompare and evaluate the impact of the SFLA dashboard on task completion during remote lab activities. Additionally, we use components of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) as covariates for propensity score matching (PSM) to account for potential bias in self-selection of use of the dashboard. We find that those students who used the SFLA dashboard achieved significantly better task completion rate (nearly double) than those who did not, with a significant difference in TaskCompare score between the two groups (Mann-Whitney U=453.5 , p<0.01 , Cliff's δ=0.43 , large effect size). This difference remains after accounting for self-selection. We also report students' positive rating of usefulness of the SFLA dashboard for completing lab work is significantly above a neutral response ( S=21.0 , p<0.01 ). These findings provide evidence that our our SFLA dashboard is an effective means of providing formative assessment during remote laboratory activities

Justice at the margins: witches, poisoners, and social accountability in Northern Uganda

Recent responses to people alleged to be ‘witches’ or ‘poisoners’ among the Madi of northern Uganda are compared with those of the 1980s. The extreme violence of past incidents is set in the context of contemporary upheavals and, in effect, encouragement from Catholic and governmental attitudes and initiatives. Mob justice has subsequently become less common. From 2006, a democratic system for dealing with suspects was introduced, whereby those receiving the highest number of votes are expelled from the neighborhood or punished in other ways. These developments are assessed with reference to trends in supporting ‘traditional’ approaches to social accountability and social healing as alternatives to more conventional measures. Caution is required. Locally acceptable hybrid systems may emerge, but when things turn nasty, it is usually the weak and vulnerable that suffer

Scaling the Equipment and Play Area in Children’s Sport to improve Motor Skill Acquisition: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND: This review investigated the influence of scaling sports equipment and play area (e.g., field size) on children’s motor skill acquisition. METHODS: Peer-reviewed studies published prior to February 2015 were searched using SPORTDiscus and MEDLINE. Studies were included if the research (a) was empirical, (b) involved participants younger than 18 years, (c) assessed the efficacy of scaling in relation to one or more factors affecting skill learning (psychological factors, skill performance and skill acquisition factors, biomechanical factors, cognitive processing factors), and (d) had a sport or movement skills context. Risk of bias was assessed in relation to selection bias, detection bias, attrition bias, reporting bias and other bias. RESULTS: Twenty-five studies involving 989 children were reviewed. Studies revealed that children preferred using scaled equipment over adult equipment (n = 3), were more engaged in the task (n = 1) and had greater self-efficacy to execute skills (n = 2). Eighteen studies demonstrated that children performed skills better when the equipment and play area were scaled. Children also acquired skills faster in such conditions (n = 2); albeit the practice interventions were relatively short. Five studies showed that scaling led to children adopting more desirable movement patterns, and one study associated scaling with implicit motor learning. CONCLUSION: Most of the studies reviewed provide evidence in support of equipment and play area scaling. However, the conclusions are limited by the small number of studies that examined learning (n = 5), poor ecological validity and skills tests of few trials

Fast rates in statistical and online learning

The speed with which a learning algorithm converges as it is presented with more data is a central problem in machine learning --- a fast rate of convergence means less data is needed for the same level of performance. The pursuit of fast rates in online and statistical learning has led to the discovery of many conditions in learning theory under which fast learning is possible. We show that most of these conditions are special cases of a single, unifying condition, that comes in two forms: the central condition for 'proper' learning algorithms that always output a hypothesis in the given model, and stochastic mixability for online algorithms that may make predictions outside of the model. We show that under surprisingly weak assumptions both conditions are, in a certain sense, equivalent. The central condition has a re-interpretation in terms of convexity of a set of pseudoprobabilities, linking it to density estimation under misspecification. For bounded losses, we show how the central condition enables a direct proof of fast rates and we prove its equivalence to the Bernstein condition, itself a generalization of the Tsybakov margin condition, both of which have played a central role in obtaining fast rates in statistical learning. Yet, while the Bernstein condition is two-sided, the central condition is one-sided, making it more suitable to deal with unbounded losses. In its stochastic mixability form, our condition generalizes both a stochastic exp-concavity condition identified by Juditsky, Rigollet and Tsybakov and Vovk's notion of mixability. Our unifying conditions thus provide a substantial step towards a characterization of fast rates in statistical learning, similar to how classical mixability characterizes constant regret in the sequential prediction with expert advice setting.Comment: 69 pages, 3 figure

Mormons and evolution : a history of B. H. Roberts and his attempt to reconcile science and religion

Although much has been written describing the various reactions to the origin of Species in America, the Mormon reaction to Darwinism has been largely ignored. This dissertation will recount the history of this reaction as exemplified by the life and works of B. H. Roberts. Roberts's intellectual pursuits early in life reveal a period of Latter-day Saint history when Mormons enjoyed relative intellectual freedom. However, the encroachment of secular knowledge upon the isolation of the Saints resulted in a conservative reaction to secular learning. The LDS response to Roberts's later work, including his own unique theory of evolution, best illustrates the conservative reaction that continues to the present. Roberts's early work is marked by speculation regarding origins and creation. Like many Church leaders who preceded him, Roberts believed that all Latter-day Saints should take full advantage of secular learning in order to best understand the workings of the divine; according to Roberts, science should be a support and supplement to theology. Later in life, the conservative reaction to Roberts's belief in the theory of evolution is illustrative of the changing intellectual climate. In his major theological treatise, The Truth, The Way, The Life, Roberts tries to combine all extant knowledge, including the theory of evolution, into a coherent whole. In April of 1930, Mormon Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith publicly opposed Roberts's evolutionary views in favor of a literal reading of scripture. The public confrontation between Smith and Roberts led to a private debate before the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. After much deliberation, the Quorum of the Twelve decided that nothing could be gained by further consideration of the matter. Reaffirming a statement issued by the First Presidency of the Church in 1909, they agreed that God had created man; anything beyond this was mere speculation. Roberts died of diabetes one year after the debate and his masterwork remained unpublished until 1994

A second look at Alexander Pope and Newtonian science

"This Long Disease, My Life": Alexander Pope and the Sciences by Marjorie Nicolson and G.S. Rousseau has been the standard work on Alexander Pope and Newtonian science ever since it was published in 1968. Literary scholars and biographers continue to be swayed by its influence. Unfortunately, the work they so often rely upon is in need of some revision. The literary evidence offered by Nicolson and Rousseau suggests that Pope was a staunch Newtonian. However, this is an exaggeration. They also claim that his scientific references were almost exclusively Newtonian. Once again, this is not entirely correct. The evidence contained in this thesis attempts to amend the inaccuracies in their work. It suggests that Pope was not as staunch a Newtonian as was formerly believed. Other philosophies influenced Pope's work almost as much as Newtonian science. Pope also participated in scientific satire and voiced some reservations against the new science. This evidence suggests that Pope was a transitional figure. He lived in a world where Newton and his science were beginning to be appreciated; however, many other philosophies continued to be influential and Newton had not yet become the cultural icon that he would later become in the late-eighteenth century. A second look at Alexander Pope and the sciences reveals the actual nature of the period in which he lived. In order to prove this thesis, the first chapter begins by defining the problem. The next two chapters then create a solid foundation upon which the rest of this work is based. Chapter Two discusses the enigmatic nature of Newton's philosophy and the different versions of Newtonian science that emerged as a result. Chapter Three attempts to define a consistent version of Newtonian science. Once defined, this version will be used as the standard throughout the work. Chapter Four will present the evidence that suggests that the literary works of Alexander Pope were influenced by this version of Newtonian science. Chapter Five will exhibit evidence that suggests that other philosophies in general and the work of Bernard Fontenelle in particular also influenced the work of Alexander Pope. Chapter Six will give a short history of the Scriblerus Club and explain how Pope sanctioned the scientific satire of its members. This approach will reveal a man who was influenced by many different ideas and had many different facets to his complex personality

BayesCG As An Uncertainty Aware Version of CG

The Bayesian Conjugate Gradient method (BayesCG) is a probabilistic generalization of the Conjugate Gradient method (CG) for solving linear systems with real symmetric positive definite coefficient matrices. We present a CG-based implementation of BayesCG with a structure-exploiting prior distribution. The BayesCG output consists of CG iterates and posterior covariances that can be propagated to subsequent computations. The covariances are low-rank and maintained in factored form. This allows easy generation of accurate samples to probe uncertainty in subsequent computations. Numerical experiments confirm the effectiveness of the posteriors and their low-rank approximations.Comment: 31 Pages including supplementary material (main paper is 22 pages, supplement is 9 pages). Computer codes are available at https://github.com/treid5/ProbNumCG_Sup