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1 – 10 of over 41000Mikko Apiola, Erno Lokkila and Mikko-Jussi Laakso
Digital learning has become a global trend. Partly or fully automatic learning systems are integrated into education in schools and universities on a previously unseen scale…
Abstract
Purpose
Digital learning has become a global trend. Partly or fully automatic learning systems are integrated into education in schools and universities on a previously unseen scale. Learning systems have a lot of potential for re-education, life-long learning and for increasing access to educational resources. Learning systems create massive amounts of data about learning behaviour. Analysing that data for educational decision making has become an important track of research. The purpose of this paper is to analyse data from an intermediate-level computer science course, which was taught to 141 students in spring 2018 at University of Turku, Department of Future Technologies, Finland.
Design/methodology/approach
The available variables included number of submissions, submission times, variables of groupwork and final grades. Associations between these variables were looked at to reveal patterns in students’ learning behaviour.
Findings
It was found that time usage differs per different grades so that students with grade 4 out of 5 used most time. Also, it was found that studying at night is connected to weaker learning outcomes than studying during daytime. Several issues in relation to groupwork were revealed. For example, associations were found between prior skills, preference for individual vs groupwork, and course learning outcomes.
Research limitations/implications
The research was limited by the domain of available variables, which is a common limitation in learning analytics research.
Practical implications
The practical implications include important ideas for future research and interventions in digital learning.
Social implications
The importance of research on soft skills, social skills and collaboration is highlighted.
Originality/value
The paper points a number of important ideas for future research. One important observation is that some research questions in learning analytics need qualitative approaches, which need to be added to the toolbox of learning analytics research.
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Frans Doppen, Thomas Misco and Nancy Patterson
This study describes the complex state of social studies instruction in Ohio. It explores teacher conceptualizations of the purpose of social studies and the impact of state…
Abstract
This study describes the complex state of social studies instruction in Ohio. It explores teacher conceptualizations of the purpose of social studies and the impact of state standards and high-stakes testing on the citizenship mission of social studies. Understanding the impact of state standards and high-stakes testing on the citizenship mission of social studies is essential for teachers as they attempt to respond to this mission while simultaneously ensuring student mastery of prescribed content. Unfortunately, the findings show that teachers may not recognize the congruence of this mission with state standards and high-stakes testing. Although some of the instructional strategies the teachers in this study reported using were aligned with Ohio’s goals, other pedagogical issues, such as infrequent attention to multiple perspectives, lack of document analysis, and infrequent attention to economic concepts require attention.
In response to the criticism on the measurement system of self‐assessment against the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model, this paper reports the development…
Abstract
In response to the criticism on the measurement system of self‐assessment against the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model, this paper reports the development of a more scientific and accurate scoring method. The decision model constructed has focused on the “processes” criterion of the EFQM model and can perform three main tasks: to score the self‐assessment submission document; to identify strengths and areas for improvement; and to simulate different scenarios for improvement planning. The model was implemented and tested using two award simulation documents from an electricity distribution utility and a water‐supply company. The results for one of the companies are reported and analysed in this paper. The analysis of the results has proved the reliability and accuracy of the new model. Using the decision model, two systematic methods were developed to identify strengths and areas for improvement and the findings are reported. The model's ability to link self‐assessment with the strategic‐planning process is also commented upon.
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The persistence of occupational segregation by sex, as a primary characteristic of the UK labour market, has exposed the failure of anti‐discrimination legislation to achieve its…
Abstract
The persistence of occupational segregation by sex, as a primary characteristic of the UK labour market, has exposed the failure of anti‐discrimination legislation to achieve its purpose. The absence of significant organisational change in the past decade has fuelled the growth of “positive action programmes” as an alternative voluntary method for promoting equal opportunities.
Purpose — This chapter provides an historical overview of assessments of research quality conducted by the UK funding councils in the period 1986–2008, with special reference to…
Abstract
Purpose — This chapter provides an historical overview of assessments of research quality conducted by the UK funding councils in the period 1986–2008, with special reference to the assessments that have been carried out of departments in the library and information management (LIM) sector.
Methodology/approach — A literature review covering both LIM-specific material and more general sources discussing the assessment of research quality in UK universities.
Findings — There is clear evidence of an increase in the general quality of the research carried out by the LIM sector over the review period. This has been accompanied by a decrease in the number of traditional LIM departments submitting themselves for assessment, with these being replaced in the assessment process largely by information systems departments. The rankings over the review period have been dominated by a small number of departments with long-established research traditions.
Originality/value of the paper — While there is an extensive literature describing research assessment in general, and a few articles describing individual assessments in the LIM sector, there is no overview of the involvement of the LIM departments over the whole series of assessment exercises that has been carried out.
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To inform policy, curricula, and future research on cyberbullying through an exploration of the moral reasoning of digitally active 10–14-year olds (tweens) when witnesses to…
Abstract
Purpose
To inform policy, curricula, and future research on cyberbullying through an exploration of the moral reasoning of digitally active 10–14-year olds (tweens) when witnesses to digital abuse.
Methodology/approach
Conducted interviews with 41 tweens, asking participants to react as witnesses to two hypothetical scenarios of digital abuse. Through thematic analysis of the interviews, I developed and applied a new typology for classifying “upstanders” and “bystanders” to cyberbullying.
Findings
Identified three types of upstander and five types of bystander, along with five thinking processes that led participants to react in those different ways. Upstanders were more likely than bystanders to think through a scenario using high-order moral reasoning processes like disinterested perspective-taking. Moral reasoning, emotions, and contextual factors, as well as participant gender and home school district, all appeared to play a role in determining how participants responded to cyberbullying scenarios.
Research limitations/implications
Hypothetical scenarios posed in interviews cannot substitute for case studies of real events, but this qualitative analysis has produced a framework for classifying upstanding and bystanding behavior that can inform future studies and approaches to digital ethics education.
Originality
This study contributes to the literature on cyberbullying and moral reasoning through in-depth interviews with tweens that record the complexity and context-dependency of thinking processes like perspective-taking among an understudied but critical age group.
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The study seeks to analyze concepts of “career grades” and “job grading,” to highlight their importance and objectives for the efficiency of administrative systems. In addition…
Abstract
Purpose
The study seeks to analyze concepts of “career grades” and “job grading,” to highlight their importance and objectives for the efficiency of administrative systems. In addition, it identifies the international standards that can be used to draw grading systems. It explores the most important types of grade structures. It also clarifies grading systems in the Egyptian administrative system. It indicates some methods that can be considered a form of career progression.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employs descriptive, analytical, as well as, legal approaches; it analyzes the information given in the study in terms of relevant legal texts.
Findings
The study identifies precise definitions of both career grades and job grading, referring to these concepts in the Egyptian administrative system. It also suggests that there is no ideal hierarchy to be applied in all administrative systems. Therefore, the study provides some criteria that help to form the appropriate grade structure for each system.
Originality/value
The study analyses some literature on “job grading,” its objectives, its criteria and its main types, presenting an integrated framework that can be used to develop career-structure systems. Finally, the study identifies some methods that can be considered as a means of grading.
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Judy Vargas Bongala, Vanessa Baraero Bobis, John Paul Ramos Castillo and Arlyne Canales Marasigan
This paper aims to examine the pedagogical strategies and challenges of selected multigrade (MG) schoolteachers in Albay, Philippines.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the pedagogical strategies and challenges of selected multigrade (MG) schoolteachers in Albay, Philippines.
Design/methodology/approach
This study utilized a case study design using a validated semi-structured instrument with in-depth interviews to ten MG teachers, observation and document analysis. Qualitative data analyses such as content and thematic analyses were used in analyzing the data.
Findings
The results show that MG teachers use a variety of overlapping and supplementary instructional strategies such as (1) teaching one topic to all grades and at varying levels of difficulty using differentiated activity, (2) “jump-jump strategy”/teaching one grade while others work independently and (3) peer teaching or tutoring. However, there are several pedagogical challenges that MG teachers are faced with: (1) conflict between the medium of instructions and grade grouping, (2) problems with lesson planning, (3) unfocused instruction, (4) insufficient learners' materials, (5) absence of training prior to MG teaching and (6) the negative perception of the effectiveness of MG instructions.
Research limitations/implications
The research is limited within the context of the participants and focuses on the pedagogical strategies and challenges in the implementation of MG teaching.
Practical implications
The results of this study can serve as a reference on how to support and strengthen MG instruction.
Originality/value
This study provides a research-based overview of MG schools from the grassroots level and adds to the limited studies of MG education in the Philippines.
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Houbin Fang, Lili Wang and Qi Zhou
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of one online PD in PBL. Researchers want to investigate if a five-day international online PBL training will prepare…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of one online PD in PBL. Researchers want to investigate if a five-day international online PBL training will prepare teachers to implement PBL in their classrooms. Secondly, the researchers aim to determine if the training provides teachers with sufficient knowledge and support to ensure successful PBL implementation.
Design/methodology/approach
Participants were given a 5-day (20 h) online PBL training created by one of the researchers with three frontline teachers. Seven trainers are divided into four groups for four groups of participants. Group A included Grade 1 and Grade 2 teachers, Group B included Grade 3 and Grade 4 teachers, Group C included Grade 5 and Grade 6 teachers, and Group D consisted of Grades 7 through 9 teachers. All the participants were given exactly the same surveys at the beginning and the end of the training.
Findings
Consistent with previous studies comparing in person and virtue PD programs, this five-day interactive PD program was effective in increasing teachers' knowledge of and ability to plan and implement PBL projects. Specifically, results showed that teachers' knowledge level of PBL shifted from a shallow understanding of what the name implies to a deeper, more comprehensive, and more concrete understanding of PBL essential concepts, its pedagogical values, specific process involved in a PBL project. In addition, the PD program increased teachers' comfort level and ability of planning and implementing PBL projects across grade levels and subject areas.
Originality/value
This research study supported the previous study results that virtual PD programs can be as effective as in person programs. Further, this is the study discovered the effectiveness of PBL training between the US and China through online format, which has not been conducted literately before. The positive results will be used to promote the online collaboration internationally in the future.
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It is of the greatest importance to any organisation to obtain recruits with the right qualifications and abilities both for the immediate tasks and for the years ahead. We will…
Abstract
It is of the greatest importance to any organisation to obtain recruits with the right qualifications and abilities both for the immediate tasks and for the years ahead. We will describe a model developed in conjunction with Civil Service Management aimed at assisting them to recruit staff with an appropriate mix of characteristics. The model is an extension of the Camel model described in a previous paper. The data used are based on Civil Service data but have been modified significantly to the extent that the conclusions do not necessarily apply to the Civil Service.