Being Ethical in Instructional Technology Co nsulting

As new technologies merge everyday and become part of our lives, instructional technology consulting that provides professional services to help clients use technologies for learning and performance improvement becomes more popular and important. Being ethical in consulting has been recognized as a crucial and important part of consulting services by many professional organizations, consulting firms, consulting professionals, and their clients. Corresponding to the theme of AECT Convention 2008, professional ethics, the paper examines the meaning of being ethical in instructional technology consulting from the lived experiences of instructional technology consultants and discusses implications for promoting the ethical practice of instructional technology consulting

Student Response Systems in Higher Education: Moving Beyond Linear Teaching and Surface Learning

Over the past decade, instructors in colleges and universities increasingly have used Student Response Systems (SRSs)--typically in large classes to increase the level of student engagement and learning. Research shows that both students and instructors perceive SRSs to be beneficial, although evidence of improved learning has been less clear. Experts emphasize that instructors must consider how technology might enhance good pedagogy in order for increases in learning to occur. SRSs do increase student engagement and provide prompt feedback—two key practices that promote learning. However, professional groups propose goals for students in higher education that focus on deep learning rather than the knowledge-centered emphasis of many large classes. Recent research shows that SRSs coupled with pedagogical enhancements can promote deep learning when teaching and questioning strategies center on higher-level thinking skills. A framework integrating the levels of student responses with principles for good pedagogical practice is provided as a guide for using SRSs to foster deep learning

Synchronous Communication Technology for Remote Academic Advising at a State University

The use of synchronous communication technology has significantly increased in recent years for communications in online learning and instruction, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Synchronous communication technology, such as Zoom, Google Meets, and Microsoft Teams, is widely adopted by academic advisors to continue their advising services as many universities were forced to move their traditional in-person academic advising to remote academic advising (RAA) in an online format. In this context, we explored the knowledge, experiences, and perceptions of students and academic advisors at a state university using synchronous communication technology for RAA during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study includes data collected from 539 sets of data from students and 28 from advisors. Through descriptive data analysis, the study revealed knowledge and a variation of perception gaps among students, in addition to students and academic advisors for RAA. With research results, we discuss the implications for effective RAA, concluding with suggestions for effective uses of synchronous communication technology to conduct RAA for academic advisors

New Model of Productive Online Discussion and Its Implications for Research and Instruction

We develop a new model of productive online discussion based on a brief review of research literature on online discussion. As compared to previous discussion models, the new model provides a more systematic and comprehensive framework to understand how learning occurs through online discussion. Based on the new model, we propose several directions for research on improving the quality of online discussion and learning

A New Model of Productive Online Discussion and Its Implications for Research and Instruction

We develop a new model of productive online discussion based on a brief review of research literature on online discussion. As compared to previous discussion models, the new model provides a more systematic and comprehensive framework to understand how learning occurs through online discussion. Based on the new model, we propose several directions for research on improving the quality of online discussion and learning

Teaching in an EFL Program in Second Life: Student Teachers’ Perspectives and Implications

Educational researchers have paid considerable attention to the use of multi-user vir­tual environments (MUVEs) to support learning across curricula. Among those MUVEs, Second Life (SL) is one of the most popular. This paper reports on a study of student teachers’ experience of teaching English in an experimental EFL (English as a Foreign Language) program in Second Life (SL) with students in China. This study was a collaborative effort of faculty members and graduate students of both a state university in the USA and a provincial university in China. The study took a case study approach to reveal student teachers’ perceptions of their teaching in SL, what they have learned and discusses the implications for teaching in similar EFL programs in SL

Integrating Second Life into an EFL Program: Students’ Perspectives

Second Life (SL) is a three dimension virtual world imagined and created by its users. To explore various facets of language learning within SL, faculty members of an American university and a Chinese university took an evaluation research approach to search for appropriate ways to integrate SL into an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) program. This paper reports a part of the research efforts with a focus on the Chinese students’ perspectives of an EFL Program in SL. Specifically included in this paper are (a) the Chinese students’ perceived technology readiness to use SL for EFL learning, (b) their perceptions of SL, and (c) the EFL Program implemented in SL. The paper reviews related literature and theoretical support, describes the study’s context and its implementation procedures, and discusses the evaluation results and implications. Finally, the paper shares with the audience some considerations for integrating SL into an EFL progra

Study of the B−→Λc+Λˉc−K−B^{-} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} \bar{\Lambda}_{c}^{-} K^{-} decay

The decay $B^{-} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} \bar{\Lambda}_{c}^{-} K^{-}$ is studied in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ collected by the LHCb experiment. In the $\Lambda_{c}^+ K^{-}$ system, the $\Xi_{c}(2930)^{0}$ state observed at the BaBar and Belle experiments is resolved into two narrower states, $\Xi_{c}(2923)^{0}$ and $\Xi_{c}(2939)^{0}$, whose masses and widths are measured to be $$m(\Xi_{c}(2923)^{0}) = 2924.5 \pm 0.4 \pm 1.1 \,\mathrm{MeV}, \\ m(\Xi_{c}(2939)^{0}) = 2938.5 \pm 0.9 \pm 2.3 \,\mathrm{MeV}, \\ \Gamma(\Xi_{c}(2923)^{0}) = \phantom{000}4.8 \pm 0.9 \pm 1.5 \,\mathrm{MeV},\\ \Gamma(\Xi_{c}(2939)^{0}) = \phantom{00}11.0 \pm 1.9 \pm 7.5 \,\mathrm{MeV},$$ where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic. The results are consistent with a previous LHCb measurement using a prompt $\Lambda_{c}^{+} K^{-}$ sample. Evidence of a new $\Xi_{c}(2880)^{0}$ state is found with a local significance of $3.8\,\sigma$, whose mass and width are measured to be $2881.8 \pm 3.1 \pm 8.5\,\mathrm{MeV}$ and $12.4 \pm 5.3 \pm 5.8 \,\mathrm{MeV}$, respectively. In addition, evidence of a new decay mode $\Xi_{c}(2790)^{0} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} K^{-}$ is found with a significance of $3.7\,\sigma$. The relative branching fraction of $B^{-} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} \bar{\Lambda}_{c}^{-} K^{-}$ with respect to the $B^{-} \to D^{+} D^{-} K^{-}$ decay is measured to be $2.36 \pm 0.11 \pm 0.22 \pm 0.25$, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic and the third originates from the branching fractions of charm hadron decays.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-028.html (LHCb public pages

Multidifferential study of identified charged hadron distributions in ZZ-tagged jets in proton-proton collisions at s=\sqrt{s}=13 TeV

Jet fragmentation functions are measured for the first time in proton-proton collisions for charged pions, kaons, and protons within jets recoiling against a $Z$ boson. The charged-hadron distributions are studied longitudinally and transversely to the jet direction for jets with transverse momentum 20 $< p_{\textrm{T}} < 100$ GeV and in the pseudorapidity range $2.5 < \eta < 4$. The data sample was collected with the LHCb experiment at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.64 fb$^{-1}$. Triple differential distributions as a function of the hadron longitudinal momentum fraction, hadron transverse momentum, and jet transverse momentum are also measured for the first time. This helps constrain transverse-momentum-dependent fragmentation functions. Differences in the shapes and magnitudes of the measured distributions for the different hadron species provide insights into the hadronization process for jets predominantly initiated by light quarks.Comment: All figures and tables, along with machine-readable versions and any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-013.html (LHCb public pages

Measurement of the ratios of branching fractions R(D∗)\mathcal{R}(D^{*}) and R(D0)\mathcal{R}(D^{0})

The ratios of branching fractions $\mathcal{R}(D^{*})\equiv\mathcal{B}(\bar{B}\to D^{*}\tau^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\tau})/\mathcal{B}(\bar{B}\to D^{*}\mu^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\mu})$ and $\mathcal{R}(D^{0})\equiv\mathcal{B}(B^{-}\to D^{0}\tau^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\tau})/\mathcal{B}(B^{-}\to D^{0}\mu^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\mu})$ are measured, assuming isospin symmetry, using a sample of proton-proton collision data corresponding to 3.0 fb${ }^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity recorded by the LHCb experiment during 2011 and 2012. The tau lepton is identified in the decay mode $\tau^{-}\to\mu^{-}\nu_{\tau}\bar{\nu}_{\mu}$. The measured values are $\mathcal{R}(D^{*})=0.281\pm0.018\pm0.024$ and $\mathcal{R}(D^{0})=0.441\pm0.060\pm0.066$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The correlation between these measurements is $\rho=-0.43$. Results are consistent with the current average of these quantities and are at a combined 1.9 standard deviations from the predictions based on lepton flavor universality in the Standard Model.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-039.html (LHCb public pages