Mobile Learning Perception and Attitude of Secondary School Students in the Pacific Islands

A new educational paradigm referred to as mobile learning is gaining popularity in the Pacific region. The use of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets enables students to learn at their own pace and time. With the rapid growth of this new paradigm and adoption by higher education institutes in the learning and teaching pedagogy, it is important that the students mobile learning perception and attitude is known. Therefore, this case study investigates the current Pacific Island secondary school student’s mobile learning perception and attitude. The findings of this study indicate that the students have a positive perception and attitude to mobile learning. In addition to this, a significant number of students have already started to use their mobile devices for learning purpose which indicates that the secondary school students would be able to quickly adapt to mobile learning platform when they enter higher education institutes

Assistive technologies: saviour of Mathematics in higher education

The pervasion and inclusion of new technologies into teaching and learning processes are continuously changing the higher education landscape. Selected and specific technologies termed as “assistive technologies” are being used as key tools for enabling students to access education and actively and independently participate in the education process, improving learning and supporting inclusive education. This paper presents students’ perception of the use of various assistive technologies such as mobile learning, tablet learning, lecture capture, gamification, and online intelligent systems that have been developed for learning and student support at a higher education institute. There is also a broad discussion on how these can be adopted and adapted in mathematics learning in higher education. It is well documented that students have low-esteem toward or while doing the subject and have math phobia, particularly in higher education. An online questionnaire on the students’ perception of using assistive technologies was deployed to the mathematics students. The results show that assistive technologies are indeed a saviour of mathematics with a significantly positive attitude garnered toward using them for learning mathematics

Readiness and Perception of Pacific Students to Mobile Phones for Higher Education

The emergence and advancement of Information Communication Technologies have transformed facilitation and content delivery in higher education worldwide, the Pacific region being no exception. The extensive use of mobile phones in the Pacific, especially with the student-aged populace, is gradually creating a niche for mobile learning in the education landscape. However, there is a growing concern on the effectiveness of this innovative intervention keeping in mind the digital intelligence of Pacific students. This paper explores the readiness and perception of the Pacific students using mobile devices for learning. An online questionnaire was used to collect data for this exploratory research. While the results revealed the student’s willingness and positive perception to leverage on mobile phones for learning in higher education, their readiness for the mobile-driven education is rather dependent on various factors which are explored in detail. The paper concludes with recommendations for the higher education institutes and education ministries in the Pacific region

Educational Technology: Relevance to a Fijian Classroom

Educational technology has emerged as a necessary tool for classrooms in the developing world. Educational technology is the considered implementation of appropriate tools, techniques, or processes that facilitate the application of senses, memory, and cognition to enhance teaching practices and improve learning outcomes. It is defined as “the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources.” This research intends to identify educational technologies that are popular around the world and elaborate upon them. The research project further used a case study to sample schools in Fiji to determine their use of educational technologies in the Fijian classroom. Various uses, benefits, implementations, and challenges were identified together with the limitations of how educational technologies’ relevance to the Fijian classroom could be affected. The findings indicate that the Fijian classroom is not quite ready to completely embrace educational technologies into their operations given the challenges are few but immense. Questions suggesting future activities were also identified

Combinational problem decomposition method for Cooperative Coevolution of Recurrent Networks for Time Series Prediction

The breaking down of a particular problem through problem decomposition has enabled complex problems to be solved efficiently. The two major problem decomposition methods used in cooperative coevolution are synapse and neuron level. The combination of both the problem decomposition as a hybrid problem decomposition has been seen applied in time series prediction. The different problem decomposition methods applied at particular area of a network can share its strengths to solve the problem better, which forms the major motivation. In this paper, we are proposing a combination utilization of two hybrid problem decomposition method for Elman recurrent neural networks and applied to time series prediction. The results reveal that the proposed method has got better results in some datasets when compared to its standalone methods. The results are better in selected cases for proposed method when compared to several other approaches from the literature

Intentionality and players of effective online courses in Mathematics

Mathematics is the engine, vehicle, driver, and language of today’s initiatives, innovations, and human endeavors. In this mathematical-driven world, the ability to perform mathematical tasks and logical reasoning is also essential in solving quotidian tasks and problems. Therefore, mathematical competency and problem-solving skills are kept as an integral component in almost every educational curriculum around the globe. However, there are numerous stumbling blocks along the way to successful teaching, conducive learning environment, and good student performances in almost all disciplines, but more prevalent and visible in mathematics. The major concerns of educators responsible for teaching mathematics and mathematics-related courses are to find effective and innovative ways to deliver mathematical content, to extend the concepts and theories beyond the classrooms, to integrate mathematics with important concepts such as gamification, data mining, learning analytics, deep learning, and effective tools such as mobile devices, learning management systems, and digital technology, and to maintain a good record of students’ performance. In online deliveries, these concerns are further escalated due to no or limited one-to-one interactions and lack of face time, to mention a few. This article investigates the efficacy and effectiveness of traditional and innovative pedagogical practices used in online mathematic courses at the University of the South Pacific (USP). It examines the interdependence of embedded activities and students’ achievement. The results indicate that these online mathematics courses were highly dominated by conventional approaches and were less interactive and engaging, resulting in lower success rates when compared to the courses from other disciplines. To recommend possible ways to enhance the quality of learning and teaching in online mathematics courses, selected online courses from the information system discipline were explored. The reasons for the high online presence in the course were investigated and activities that could lead to collaborative and active learning beyond the passive materials were data mined. The evidence drawn from the statistical analysis highlights the importance of including selected interactive and engaging activities in online learning space of mathematics courses to promote student engagement and help create a sense of community among geographically dispersed students. Overall, based on the observations and theoretical foundation from literature, it can be said that including regular and frequent active assessment strategies, such as weekly quizzes and discussion forums, could extend and promote interactive and engaging learning in online learning space

Data Mining Students' performance in a Higher Learning Environment

Student performance in higher education has become one of the most widely studied area. While modelling students' performance, data plays a pivotal role in forecasting their performance and this is where the data mining applications are now becoming widely used. There are various factors which determine the student performance. In this study, eight attributes are used as inputs which are considered most influential in determining students' performance in the Pacific. Statistical analysis is done to find out which attribute has the highest influence to student performance. In this research, different algorithms are utilized for building the classification model, each of them using various classification techniques. The classification techniques used are Artificial Neural Network, Decision Tree, Decision Table, and Naïve Bayes. The dataset of 651 records used in this research is an imbalanced set, which is later transformed to balance set through under sampling. Neural Network is one of the classification techniques that has performed well on both, imbalanced and balanced datasets with the highest prediction accuracy of 96.8%. The analysis further shows that internal assessment has weak positive relationship with student performance while demographic data has no significant relationship

Neuron - network level problem decomposition method for cooperative coevolution of recurrent networks for time series prediction

The breaking down of a particular problem through problem decomposition has enabled complex problems to be solved efficiently. The two major problem decomposition methods used in cooperative coevolution are synapse and neuron level. The combination of both the problem decomposition as a hybrid problem decomposition has been seen applied in time series prediction. The different problem decomposition methods applied at particular area of a network can share its strengths to solve the problem better, which forms the major motivation. In this paper, we are proposing a problem decomposition method that combines neuron and network level problem decompositions for Elman recurrent neural networks and applied to time series prediction. The results reveal that the proposed method has got better results in few datasets when compared to two popular standalone methods. The results are better in selected cases for proposed method when compared to several other approaches from the literature

Mobile Learning Readiness and ICT Competency: A Case Study of Senior Secondary School students in the Pacific Islands

The use of mobile devices for learning is gaining popularity in the Pacific region. This new educational paradigm referred to as mobile learning or m-learning enables students to learn at their own pace and time. With the rapid growth of this new paradigm and adoption by higher education institutes in the learning and teaching pedagogy, it is important that the students ICT competency and mobile learning readiness is known. Therefore, this case study investigates the secondary school student’s ICT competency and mobile learning readiness in the Pacific Islands. The findings of this study indicated that the students had moderate ICT competency however they were ready to learn with mobile devices. In addition to this, a significant number of students have already begun to use their mobile devices for learning purpose