A reappraisal of online mathematics teaching using LaTeX

The mathematics language LaTeX is often seen outside of academic circles as a legacy technology that is awkward to use. MathML - a verbose language designed for data-exchange, and to be written and understood by machines - is sometimes by contrast seen as something that will aid online mathematics and lack of browser support for it bemoaned. However LaTeX can already do many of the things that MathML might promise. LaTeX is here proposed as a language from which small fragments, with concise syntax, can be used by people to easily create and share mathematical expressions online. The capability to embed fragments of LaTeX code in online discussions is described here and its impact on a group of educators and learners evaluated. Here LaTeX is posited as a useful tool for facilitating asynchronous, online, collaborative learning of mathematics

Reducing Automatic Stereotype Activation: European- And African American Photos In Situational Attribution Training

Previous research has shown that training rooted in attribution theory, Situational Attribution Training (SAT), is effective in reducing automatic stereotyping. reduces automatic stereotyping by asking participants to consider the situation when making attributional judgments of negative behaviors stereotypical of African Americans. The focus of the present research is to examine the repeated stereotype-consistent pairings of African American photos with the negative behaviors stereotypical of African Americans, seen during SAT, which may limit the maximum effectiveness of the training. As a methodological modification to the previous version of SAT, white participants were trained extensively to choose situational over dispositional explanations for negative behaviors stereotypical of African Americans paired with photos of both African- and European American men. By teaching participants to consider situational attributions for negative behaviors stereotypical of African Americans, paired with pictures of both African American and European American photos, I expected stronger stereotype reduction effects than has been previously shown. Participants who completed both Traditional (all African American photos), and Diverse (African- and European American photos), demonstrated reduced automatic racial stereotyping on a person categorization task, relative to participants that did not complete any training who exhibited substantial automatic stereotyping. However, the addition of European American photos did not increase the effectiveness of the traditional training paradigm. Implications for stereotype reduction are discussed

ViCoCITY – A virtual company environment used in distance education to teach key professional skills

This paper will discuss the background and rationale for the introduction of ViCoCITY to the Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSc in IT) degree offered through distance education by Oscail, Dublin City University (DCU)

How to foster collaboration in an eLearning environment - Lessons from Oscail.

This paper details how social interaction was integrated into a degree programme run by Oscail - the National Distance Education Centre (DCU). While a key objective was to introduce an element of mandatory group work into a module of the distance education programme, the course designers also held the opinion that (given the discursive nature of the content of the chosen module) student learning would benefit greatly from engaging in online discussions on the content of the module. A major challenge was the process of the integration of group work while (as far as possible) maintaining the time and place independence of distance education. After a substantial review of the 2004 presentation, the function of group work was changed radically in the 2005 academic year. In particular, the assessment of students’ online social interaction was radically changed. This paper will focus on the outcomes of the 2005 implementation and discuss the (less radical) changes that have been introduced for the 2006 presentation

AN INITIAL EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INTREO ACTIVATION REFORMS. ESRI RESEARCH SERIES NUMBER 81 MARCH 2019

This report presents results from an initial evaluation that the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has undertaken of the effectiveness of the most recent set of activation reforms that have been made to Ireland’s public employment services (PES). The modifications, which are known as the Intreo activation process reforms, were first introduced in 2012 for all newly unemployed Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) and Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB) recipients only. The reforms have focused on making changes to how benefit and employment services are delivered to jobseekers as opposed to what types of employment services are delivered (i.e., job search assistance, training, education courses, etc.)

A Physics-Aware Dead Reckoning Technique for Entity State Updates in Distributed Interactive Applications

This paper proposes a novel entity state update technique for physics-rich environments in peer-to-peer Distributed Interactive Applications. The proposed technique consists of a dynamic authority scheme for shared objects and a physics-aware dead reckoning model with an adaptive error threshold. The former is employed to place a bound on the overall inconsistency present in shared objects, while the latter is implemented to minimise the instantaneous inconsistency during users’ interactions with shared objects. The performance of the proposed entity state update mechanism is validated using a simulated application

IDENTIFICATION OF INDIVIDUALS AT RISK OF BECOMING LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED. ESRI Research Bulletin 2009/4/5

Unemployment has risen sharply during the current recession – from 4.5 per cent at the end of 2007 to 12.5 per cent in November 2009, with forecasts for 2010 in the region of 15 per cent. When unemployment last reached these levels, long-term unemployment also rose sharply. Preventing long-term unemployment is important from both economic and social perspectives, especially because long-term unemployment tends to lead to erosion of skills and self-confidence, and damages future employment prospects. Effective prevention depends on being able to identify those at risk of becoming long-term unemployed at an early stage, and referring them to appropriate labour market programmes to improve their chances of obtaining employment. This was the motivation for a recently published ESRI report1 which developed a statistical profiling model for Ireland that would identify those individuals with a high risk of becoming long-term unemployed

Introducing Wimba to Oscail online programmes

This paper reports on a pilot project that investigated the potential for providing synchronous web-based tutorial support for distance education students, and the evaluation of that pilot project. A key challenge for distance education providers is the provision of quality academic support to all students regardless of location. The proven, positive link between attendance at tutorials and academic achievement highlights this aspect of academic support as crucial to distance education student success. In response to student difficulties in attending tutorials and diminishing numbers of tutorial centres, it has become increasingly important to investigate alternative methods of providing tutorial support to distance education students. Following an evaluation of a number of web-based conferencing software, Dublin City University opted to use Wimba Classroom in providing live, virtual classrooms to students. The pilot project involved the adaption of the existing, synchronous, face-to-face tutorial support system, provided to distance education students on the Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSc in IT) degree programme from Oscail – DCU Distance Education, such that students attended live, virtual classrooms instead. A particular focus of this paper is the “Enterprise and Emerging Technologies” module of the BSc in IT programme which was specifically redesigned and rewritten for this pilot project. The most successful feature of this software was the archived versions of the live tutorials with 83% of students accessing the archives. The results of this project will have a significant impact on the future delivery of tutorial support, course delivery and assessment in Oscail – DCU Distance Education

An application of HOMER and ACMANT for homogenising monthly precipitation records in Ireland.

Climate change studies based only on raw long-term data are potentially flawed due to the many breaks introduced from non-climatic sources, consequently quality controlled and homogenised climate data is desirable for basing climate related decision making on. Seasonal cycles of precipitation in Ireland and the UK are projected to become more marked as the climate changes, and regional extremes in summer dry spells and winter precipitation have been recorded in recent years. Therefore to analyse and monitor the evolution of precipitation patterns across Ireland, quality controlled and homogenous climate series are needed

An application of HOMER and ACMANT for homogenising monthly precipitation records in Ireland.

Climate change studies based only on raw long-term data are potentially flawed due to the many breaks introduced from non-climatic sources, consequently quality controlled and homogenised climate data is desirable for basing climate related decision making on. Seasonal cycles of precipitation in Ireland and the UK are projected to become more marked as the climate changes, and regional extremes in summer dry spells and winter precipitation have been recorded in recent years. Therefore to analyse and monitor the evolution of precipitation patterns across Ireland, quality controlled and homogenous climate series are needed