Teacher professional learning for technology integration in mathematics classrooms through online learning communities : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Information Technology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

The new school curricula in Indonesia emphasise the integration of technology into instructional practices. The infusion of technology in mathematics education requires teachers to align their teaching practices with ongoing technological innovations. Integrating technology into mathematics classrooms requires teachers to have a good knowledge of mathematics content, technology and pedagogy. Teachers also need to consider their school environments. Existing teacher professional development programmes are seen to be failing to meet teacher needs regarding content delivery that sometimes does not match the existing school conditions. The premise underlying this research is that the use of an online learning community (OLC) may present a possible solution to the current challenges. Thus, the intention of this study was to investigate the potential of OLCs to help develop teachers’ learning to fulfil their professional needs in integrating technology with the teaching of mathematics. An ethnographic approach was used to investigate the phenomenon of teacher learning within an OLC and the implementation of the new knowledge acquired in their mathematics teaching practices. Empirical data from five case studies were used to examine how participation in the OLC affected teaching practices for five teachers. The results revealed that teacher participation in an OLC offered opportunities and challenges. Teachers de-privatized their practices as they actively engaged in social learning interactions to share knowledge and help each other with the appropriate use of technology in teaching mathematics. Teachers also faced some challenges, which impeded them. These challenges included differences in school policies, such as restrictions on using social media and limited technical infrastructure, which hindered teachers from fully leveraging the OLC. Teachers with less experience in teaching with technology and with low levels of technology skills tended to be passive in the OLC. Cultural contexts revealed that lack of experience and caution about expressing opinions made teachers feel ewuh pakewuh, a shyness in openly expressing their thoughts. Despite these barriers, the study provided evidence that teachers improvised and dealt with situations as they rose. The findings of this study provided evidence that participation in the OLC had significant impacts on teachers’ professional learning. Teachers altered their mode of using technology either as a partner or as an extension of self as they gained more confidence in their own learning. The teachers gradually transformed their participation from peripheral to full participation in promoting the use of technology for teaching mathematics. The research provides new insights into ways teachers can be helped to develop their professional learning in the use of technology for teaching mathematics through participation in OLCs. Particularly for Indonesia, the findings of this research provide an OLC-based model that could be implemented in other contexts that share similar technology landscapes and sociocultural heritages

New extremal binary self-dual codes of length 68 via short kharaghani array over f_2 + uf_2

In this work, new construction methods for self-dual codes are given. The methods use the short Kharaghani array and a variation of it. These are applicable to any commutative Frobenius ring. We apply the constructions over the ring F_2 + uF_2 and self-dual Type I [64, 32, 12]_2-codes with various weight enumerators obtained as Gray images. By the use of an extension theorem for self-dual codes we were able to construct 27 new extremal binary self-dual codes of length 68. The existence of the extremal binary self-dual codes with these weight enumerators was previously unknown.Comment: 10 pages, 5 table

Kesan penggunaan peta konsep ke atas pencapaian mata pelajaran rekabentuk sistem dalam kalangan pelajar program ijazah sarjana muda teknologi maklumat dan multimedia

Peta konsep adalah satu kaedah persembahan yang menerangkan sesuatu konsep dalam bentuk grafik. Penggunaannya dalam proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran mampu untuk meningkatkan pencapaian pelajar dan mengurangkan pemasalahan di dalam pembelajaran. Kajian ini telah dijalankan untuk mengkaji keberkesanan peta konsep dalam proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran Rekabentuk Sistem bagi pelajar tahun dua semester satu Program Ijazah Saijana Muda Teknologi Maklumat Dan Multimedia. Kajian Kuasi-Eksperimental Bentuk Siri Masa Gangguan Sementara yang dijalankan menggunakan ujian pra dan pos ke atas sampel seramai 25 orang pelajar bagi kumpulan eksperimen dan 25 orang pelajar bagi kumpulan kawalan melalui kawalan secara memadan. Kumpulan eksperimen telah diajar dengan bantuan peta konsep manakala kumpulan kawalan diajar secara konvensional. Instrumen kajian yang digunakan ialah borang soal selidik dan set soalan kuiz. Data dianalisis dengan menggunakan SPSS 16.0 bagi data deskriptif iaitu frekuensi, skor min dan sisihan piawai serta data inferensi melalui Ujian ANOVA sehala. Hasil kajian mendapati bahawa tidak terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan secara statistik Ujian Pra diantara kedua-dua kumpulan (p>0.05) dengan skor min kumpulan eksperimen dan kumpulan kawalan adalah 3.280, manakala terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan secara statistik Ujian Pos diantara kedua-dua kumpulan (p<0.05) dengan skor min tertinggi kumpulan eksperimen adalah 5.760 berbanding kumpulan kawalan iaitu 4.280. Hasil dari kajian ini menunjukkan bahawa penggunaan peta konsep telah meningkatkan keberkesanan pembelajaran Analisis Dan Rekabentuk Sistem. Pelajar juga dapat menerima penggunaan peta konsep dalam proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran

An impulsive noise analyser using amplitude probability distribution (APD) for broadband-wired communication

Electromagnetic interference or noise which is of impulsive nature is known to affect data communication performance. It is useful to correlate the characteristics of the noise with the bit error probability (BEP). The amplitude probability distribution (APD) has been proposed within CISPR for characterisation of the impulsive noise. However, there is no analyser available to perform direct measurement of the noise within the bandwidth of asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL2+) communication. This research presents a novel development of APD analyser for measurements of impulsive noise emission and its impact on ADSL2+ communication. A unique noise APD pattern is obtained from each measurement of noise emission from different electrical and electronic appliances. It is vital to have correct measurement set-up, signal power level, sampling rate, sample points and filter characterisation in order to acquire accurate data representation of the noise patterns. The APD graph is generated by the analyser using the APD algorithm method which employs the envelope sampling technique from actual probability. The noises are characterised using α-stable distribution which exhibits its own distinct APD parameters. The APD curve can be related with the single modulation scheme communication channel performance for estimation of bit error probability. The analyser has been developed successfully with dynamic range of 70 dB higher than the 60 dB CISPR 16 requirement, 0.02 dB amplitude resolution compared to 0.25 dB CISPR 16 requirement and 0.59 dB amplitude accuracy compared with the CISPR 16 standard of +/- 2.7 dB. In addition, the limits for noise in copper cable have been proposed for estimating the severity of the interference towards digital communication performance in ADSL2+ system. An advantage of the analyser is its ability to not only record the noise but the ability to regenerate back the noise which can be used for further analysis. In conclusion, the analyser can provide a comprehensive platform for impulsive noise interference verification towards ADSL2+ communication performance

Structural behaviour of circular concrete filled steel tube column fill with selfcompacting concrete incorporating coal bottom ash as fine aggregate replacement

Lack of compaction may affect the interaction between the steel tube and the concrete, hence influence the behaviour of CFST column. Employing selfcompacting concrete (SCC) in CFST column as an infill concrete remove the necessity for compaction. However, higher volume of fine aggregate required in SCC makes SCC less preferable. The objective of this research was to investigate the behaviour of circular CFST column filled with SCC incorporating coal bottom ash (CBA) as fine aggregate replacement. In this research work, sand was replaced with CBA at 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30% of replacement levels. Tests for compressive strength, split tensile strength, flexural strength, and water absorption were performed on specimens at 7 and 28 days curing age. The testing results show that 15% of CBA was the optimum percentage suitable used in SCC. In studying the behaviour of CFST columns, 18 CFST column specimens were tested to fail under the axial compression loading. From the experimental results, it can be concluded that the utilisation of SCC with CBA in the CFST column able to improve the behaviour of CFST column. From compression testing results, the strength of CFST column filled with SCC with CBA increased about 45-50%. The experimental results were also compared with the design standard of Eurocode 4 (EC4). From the comparison, the EC4 conservatively predicts the strength of the column specimens. For instance, EC4 conservatively predicted the column strength in series I by about 21-31%. The finite element analysis (FEA) was conducted on the long column to verify the experimental results and from the FEA result, the predicted value for specimens with 140 mm diameter is 0.005% closer to the experimental results. These discoveries are significant as they showed that the utilization of CBA in SCC as an infill in CFST column able to provide the same strength as CFST with normal SCC. Besides, the use of CBA as partially replacement to the sand will help in more sustainable SCC production by lowering energy and raw material consumption