Fedora Goes to School: Experiences Creating a Curriculum Customization Service for K-12 Teachers

4th International Conference on Open RepositoriesThis presentation was part of the session : Fedora User Group PresentationsDate: 2009-05-20 01:30 PM – 03:00 PMEducational digital libraries provide a rich array of learning resources uniquely suited to support teachers to customize instruction. The problem we address is how to customize instruction to meet the learning needs of increasingly diverse student populations while ensuring that district learning goals and national and state standards are being met. This tension between supporting customization while supporting standards is further complicated by the challenges of scale: large urban school districts need technology infrastructure to support teachers district-wide to tailor curriculum, while still ensuring fidelity to learning goals. In partnership with Denver Public Schools (DPS), we are using open source digital library infrastructure available through the NSF-funded National Science Digital Library program to create a scalable Curriculum Customization Service. We are building on top of the Fedora-based NCore EduPak, which consists of the NSDL Collection System, the Digital Discovery System, and the NSDL Data Repository. DPS teachers will use this Service to (1) customize curriculum with digital library resources, formative assessments, and district-developed materials to aid student learning, (2) share their customizations as part of an online learning community and professional development program, and (3) discover, remix, and reuse other teachers' contributions. In this presentation, we will describe the Curriculum Customization Service and lessons learned from building an e-learning application supporting instructional planning and collaboration on top of Fedora. The Service uses learning goals as the central organizing concept of the interface. Organized around these are several curricular components including digital versions of the student textbook, digitized components of the associated teachers' guide (formative assessments, teaching tips, instructional resources, and background knowledge readings), and digital library resources. Digital library resources are further broken down by Top Picks (recommended), Images/Visuals, Animations, Additional Activities, and Working with Data. We will also present results from a 10 week pilot study with DPS middle and high school teachers (completed in Fall 2008) and plans for a large-scale, district-wide field study commencing in Fall 2009. In the pilot study, we used interviews, reflective essays, usage logs, and pop-up and email surveys to develop a detailed picture of how teachers were using the Service, and to examine how their usage of the Service changed over the course of the 10 week study. Results suggest the Service offers a powerful model for: (1) embedding digital library resources into mainstream teaching and learning practices and (2) enabling teachers to customize instruction to improve learner engagement and learning outcomes.NS

Dynamical virial masses of Lyman-break galaxy haloes at z=3

We improve on our earlier dynamical estimate of the virial masses of the haloes of Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) at redshift z=3 by accounting for the effects of seeing, slit width, and observational uncertainties. From an analysis of the small number of available rotation curves for LBGs we determine a relation Vc7=(1.9+/-0.2)sigma between circular velocity at a radius of 7kpc, and central line velocity width. We use this relation to transform the measured velocity widths of 32 LBGs to the distribution of circular velocities, for the population of LBGs brighter than R=25.5. We compare this distribution against the predicted distribution for the 'massive-halo' model in which LBGs pinpoint all of the highest mass dark matter haloes at that epoch. The observed LBG circular velocities are smaller than the predicted circular velocities by a factor >1.4+/-0.15. This is a lower limit as we have ignored any increase of circular velocity caused by baryonic dissipation. The massive-halo model predicts a median halo virial mass of 10^12.3 Msol, and a small spread of circular velocities. Our median estimated dynamical mass is <10^(11.6+/-0.3) Msol, which is significantly smaller; furthermore, the spread of our circular velocities is much larger than the massive-halo prediction. These results are consistent with a picture which leaves some of the most-massive haloes available for occupation by other populations which do not meet the LBG selection criteria. The median halo mass recently estimated by Adelberger et al. from the measured clustering of LBGs is 10^(11.86+/-0.3) Msol. Our dynamical analysis appears to favour lower masses and to be more in line with the median mass predicted by the collisional starburst model of Somerville et al., of 10^11.3 Msol. [abridged]Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, MNRAS Letters, Accepte

NSDL EduPak: An Open Source Education Repository Solution

4th International Conference on Open RepositoriesThis presentation was part of the session : Conference PostersEducational organizations and institutions focused on establishing specialized digital collections, conducting educational research, or providing students, teachers and instructors with discipline-oriented pedagogical products and tools require basic technology to begin building educational digital repositories. To help meet these needs, the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) has announced the release of NSDL EduPak. Specifically designed for education, NSDL EduPak packages technology for digital storage, access, and workflow into a convenient bundle. This poster reviews three core EduPak components with examples of how they are used by education communities.National Science Foundatio

From Entitlement to Contract: Reshaping the Welfare State in Australia

Australia has sought to contain social welfare expenditures through more stringent targeting of benefits, increased scrutiny of applicants, and by requiring more vigorous job search and training activities. The changes implemented since the Labor Party assumed office in 1983 represent the most sweeping restructuring of the Australian welfare state in 50 years. They mark a shift from an individualistic, rights-based view of welfare state entitlements to one stressing reciprocal obligations. This article examines the origin and implications of this reshaping of Australia\u27s welfare state programs. It considers the dilemmas of enforcing workrelated obligations and other compliance measures in an era of persistent, high unemployment

Reanalysis of the spectrum of the z=10 galaxy

In a recent paper Pello et al. reported observations of a faint galaxy, gravitationally lensed by the galaxy cluster Abell 1835. Deep J-band spectroscopy revealed a weak emission line near 1.34 microns, detected in two spectra with different central wavelengths. The line was interpreted as Lyman-alpha at redshift z=10.0. This interpretation is supported by the broad-band photometric spectral energy distribution, and by the location of the galaxy close to the lens critical line for this redshift. We have reanalysed the two spectra, just released from the data archive. Our analysis includes allowance for wavelength shifts due to transverse drift of the object in the slit. We do not detect a significant emission line at the reported location, or nearby, at either grating setting, nor in the combined spectrum. We provide a possible explanation for the reported detection as due to spurious positive flux introduced in the sky-subtraction stage as a result of variable hot pixels. We provide our final reduced 2D frame, and corresponding error array.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. To appear in A&A Letters. Added possible explanation for reported emission line as due to variable hot pixel

Teenage Pregnancy, Professional Agendas, and Problem Definitions

Many of the adverse consequences associated with adolescent childbearing are due to poverty and inadequate health care. Historically, definitions of the problem have emphasized individual, female culpability. Underlying social and economic factors have received less attention. For many adolescents, the early initiation of sexual activity and the failure to use birth control is associated with their perception of limited life opportunities, as well as sex role socialization inhibiting contraceptive initiative. This paper considers the role of professional groups and service advocates in defining the problem and developing policy alternatives. It examines the processes through which an issue having significant redistributive implications has been defined as one of individual female deviance

Avatars of Gendered Societal Constructs in Seventeenth-Century Contes de fées

This dissertation considers the contes de fées written towards the end of the seventeenth century. These tales have been the focus of research and interest for the last thirty years, but much of the research has been concentrated on the work on Madame d'&rsquo Aulnoy. By widening the selection of works considered, the writer argues that the attitudes expressed about the roles assigned to women and men find an echo in many other fairy tales written during this period. By using close textual analysis, the study considers the depiction of women and their lives in a patriarchal society. It further shows that the tales'&rsquo challenge to the hierarchical society was broader, and a concern not only of women writers, but also of the males. The world that the authors depict is sumptuous, a regal world in which aristocrats rule and govern. However, although the stories usually end in a &rsquo `happy ever after&rsquothe princes and princesses, and their parents, often go through life-changing experiences. The authors use metamorphosis and cross-dressing, to move their heroes and heroines into situations that challenge them. Shape-shifting becomes a didactic tool, and the story-tellers use an amazing variety of symbols to reflect the changes and discoveries that were being made at the end of the century. The adoption of the persona of the opposite gender, a trope in seventeenth-century literature, questions the assumptions of what gender implies in society. The depiction of women who can fight and be brave is unsurprising, particularly since there is the historical example of the frondeuses, but women are often shown as being necessary for the functioning of good government and are not confined to the purely domestic sphere. Man dressed as woman sets different parameters. Such disguise may be used as a means to access a woman in her private space and attempt seduction or suggest emasculation, or a desire for egalitarianism. Both male and female authors contend that equal status provides better governance, and argue for freedom from a paternalistic and authoritarian society