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The papers of this book comprise the proceedings of the conference mentioned on the title and the cover page. They reflect the authors’ opinions and, with the purpose of timely disseminations, are published as presented and without change. Their inclusion in these proceedings does no necessarily constitute endorsement by the editors.
ISBN- 978-1-936338-32-0 (Collection)
ISBN-978-1-936338-33-7 (Volume I)
The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics: IMSCI 2011 HONORARY PRESIDENT William Lesso GENERAL CHAIRS Nagib Callaos Andrés Tremante ORGANIZING COMMITTEE CHAIRS Angel Oropeza José Vicente Carrasquero
PROGRAM COMMITTEE
Alvarado Moore, Karla Chen, Chie Bein Ganchev, Ivan Hass, Douglas A. Jones-Woodham, Greer Lin, Jyh-Jiuan Machotka, Jan Nedic, Zorica Petit, Frédéric Powers, Tina Rauch, Allen G. Robert, Benoît Schiering, Marjorie S. Suzuki, Motoyuki Tucker, Gary R. Zaretsky, Esther
Chair(s):
Freddy Malpica (Venezuela) Friedrich Welsch (Venezuela)
University of Central Florida Takming University of Science and Technology University of Limerick Image Stream The University of the West Indies Tamkang University University of South Australia University of South Australia École Polytechnique de Montréal Abilene Christian University Molloy College École Polytechnique de Montréal Molloy College The University of Tokushima Abilene Christian University Academic College for Education Givat Washington
USA Taiwan Ireland USA Trinidad and Tobago Taiwan Australia Australia Canada USA USA Canada USA Japan USA Israel
ADDITIONAL REVIEWERS Abdel Razek, Mohammed Abdel-Qader, Ikhlas Alves, Angela Maria Andone, Ioan Badía-Corrons, Anna Beer, Martin Botti-Salitsky, Rose Chang, Ni Chau, K. W. Cheng, Tsung-Chi Cisneros-Cohernour, Edith Coppola, Jean
University of Montreal Western Michigan University Centro de Tecnologia da Informação Renato Archer University of Iasi GTM – Grup de Recerca en Tecnologies Mèdia- La Salle - Universitat Ramon Sheffield Hallam University Mount Ida College Indiana University Hong Kong Polytechnic University National Chengchi University Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán Pace University
Canada USA Brazil Romania Spain UK USA USA Hong Kong Taiwan Mexico USA
Cordeiro, Paula Cubukcu, Feryal Debono, Carl J. Dvorakova, Zuzana Eze, Uchenna Farhat, Ahmad Shah Fillion, Gerard Florescu, Gabriela Fonseca, David
Universidade Técnica de Lisboa Dokuz Eylul University University of Malta University of Economics, Prague Nanyang Technological University Mashhad University of Medical Sciences University of Moncton Institute National de C-D în Informaticã Enginyeria i Arquitectura La Salle. Universitat Ramon Llull Fougeres, Alain-Jerome Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard Gritzalis, Stefanos University of the Aegean Hart, Alexis Virginia Military Institute Iovan, Stefan Informatica Feroviaria S.A. Iung, Benoit University Henri Poincaré Jonson, Mark University of New Mexico Kuang, Yu Stanford University Lasmanis, Aivars University of Latvia Law, Rob Hong Kong Polytechnic University Lenaghan, Michael J. Miami Dade College Lind, Nancy Illinois State University Litvin, Vladimir California Institute of Technology Macianskiene, Nemira Vytautas Magnus University Mahanti, Prabhat University of New Brunswick Mihaita, Niculae University of Economic Studies at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest Mihal, Sandy Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Mitchell, Charles Grambling State University Mondéjar-Jiménez, Juan-Antonio University of Castilla-La Mancha Objelean, Nicolae State University of Moldova Ong, Soh-Khim National University of Singapore Orsitto, Fulvio University of Connecticut Piu, Carmelo University of Calabria Potorac, Alin Dan University of Suceava Prodan, Augustin Iuliu Hatieganu University Puig, Janina Polytechnic University of Catalonia Qiao, Mengyu New Mexico Tech Sala, Nicoletta Universitá della Svizzera Italiana Snow, Richard Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Tenqchen, Shing ChungHwa Telecom Labs Thammakoranonta, Nithinant National Institute of Development Administration Toledo, Cheri Illinios State University Usmanov, Zafar Tajik Academy of Sciences, Dushanbe Vandeyar, Thiru University of Pretoria Wang, Ching-Huang National Formosa University Wang, Yi-Hsien Yuanpei University Zamora, Inmaculada Universidad del País Vasco
Portugal Turkey Malta Czech Republic Singapore Iran Canada Romania Spain France Greece USA Romania France USA USA Latvia Hong Kong USA USA USA Lithuania Canada Romania USA USA Spain Moldova, Republic of Singapore USA Italy Romania Romania Spain USA Italy USA Taiwan Thailand USA Tajikistan South Africa Taiwan Taiwan Spain
ADDITIONAL REVIEWERS FOR THE NON-BLIND REVIEWING Chang, Chih-Hung Curry, Jane De, Kalyan Diaz-Prado, Edgar Dinet, Jérôme Dvorakova, Zuzana Freeland, Robert Hofer, Gloria Kim, Jeong-Eon Lasmanis, Aivars Lee, Cheng-chi
Hsiuping Institute of Technology Santa Clara University Thapar University Regiomontana University Université Paul Verlaine – Metz University of Economics, Prague University of Wisconsin- Madison Santa Clara University Korea Information Society Development Institute University of Latvia Library and Information Science- Fu Jen Catholic University Litvin, Vladimir California Institute of Technology Liu, Chao-Liang Asia University Mahindroo, Ankit Thapar University Majid, M Shaheen Nanyang Technological University Mihaita, Niculae University of Economic Studies at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest Mitchell, Charles Grambling State University Mondéjar-Jiménez, Juan-Antonio University of Castilla-La Mancha Morales, Alfonso University of Wisconsin- Madison Objelean, Nicolae State University of Moldova Pina, Manuel Texas A&M - College Station Rauch, Allen Molloy College Rosado, Luis University of Texas - Arlington Rush, Jeffrey Capella University Stemmle, Jon Health Communication Research Center- University of Missouri Zouinar, Moustafa FT-Orange Labs
Taiwan USA India Mexico France Czech Republic USA USA South Korea Latvia Taiwan USA Taiwan India Singapore Romania USA Spain USA Moldova, Republic of USA USA USA USA USA France
The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics: IMSCI 2011
Program Committee Chairs Freddy Malpica Friedrich Welsch Organizing Committee Chairs Angel Oropeza José Vicente Carrasquero Hardcopy Proceedings Production Chair / Conferences Program Manager Maria Sánchez CD Proceedings Production Chair / Technical Consultant on Computing Systems Juan Manuel Pineda Systems Development, Maintenance and Deployment Dalia Sánchez Keyla Guedez Nidimar Diaz Operational Assistants Marcela Briceño Cindi Padilla General Chairs Nagib Callaos Andrés Tremante Honorary President William Lesso Help Desk Louis Barnes Sean Barnes Marisela Jiménez Submissions Quality Control Support Leonardo Contreras Meta-Reviewers Support Maria Sánchez Dalia Sánchez
The 9th International Conference on Education and Information Systems, Technologies and Applications: EISTA 2011 in the context of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics: IMSCI 2011
PROGRAM COMMITTEE Chairs: Friedrich Welsch (Venezuela) José Vicente Carrasquero (Venezuela)
Aguirre-Muñoz, Zenaida Alvarado Moore, Karla Belcher, E. Christina Bennett, Leslie Bidarra, José Burke, David Burnett, Andrea Desa, Shakinaz Dosi, Vasiliki Dunning, Jeremy Edwards, Stephen H. Eye, John Fisher, Wendy Fox, Kelly Ganchev, Ivan Goulding, Tom Grincewicz, Amy Hendel, Russell Jay Henninger, Michael Herget, Josef Hodge, Diane M. Ito, Akinori Jones, Paul Joordens, Steve Karamat, Parwaiz Krakowska, Monika Kutter, Anna K. Livne, Nava L. Livne, Oren E. Lowe, John Lowry, Pam Machotka, Jan Mackrill, Duncan Marino, Mark Mehrabian, Ali Nahmens, Isabelina Nave, Felecia M. Nedic, Zorica Olla, Phillip
Texas Tech University University of Central Florida Trinity Western University University of Louisville Universidade Aberta Robert Morris University University of the West Indies Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris University of Ioannina Indiana University Virginia Tech Southern Utah University The Open University Texas Tech University University of Limerick Daniel Webster College University of Cincinnati Towson University Pädagogische Hochschule Weingarten University of Applied Sciences Radford University Tohoku University University of Cincinnati University of Toronto Scarborough The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand Jagiellonian University Pädagogische Hochschule Weingarten University of Utah University of Utah University of Bath Lawrence Technological University University of South Australia University of Sussex Erie Community College University of Central Florida University of South Florida Prairie View A&M University University of South Australia Madonna University
USA USA Canada USA Portugal USA Barbados Malaysia Greece USA USA USA UK USA Ireland USA USA USA Germany Switzerland USA Japan USA Canada New Zealand Poland Germany USA USA UK USA Australia UK USA USA USA USA Australia USA
Ozdemir, Ahmet S. Paré, Dwayne E. Pfeifer, Michael Phillips, C. Dianne Salazar, Dora Schrader, P. G. Sert, Yasemin Shaw, Jill Soeiro, Alfredo Suzuki, Motoyuki Swart, William Taylor, Stephen Teng, Chia-Chi Traum, Maria Voss, Andreas Wells, Harvey Woodthorpe, John Yu, Xin Zaretsky, Esther
Marmara University University of Toronto Scarborough Technical University of Dortmund NorthWest Arkansas Community College Texas Tech University University of Nevada University of South Florida The Open University University of Porto Tohoku University East Carolina University Sussex University Brigham Young University Johannes Kepler University Dortmund University of Technology King's College London The Open University University of Bath Academic College for Education Givat Washington
Turkey Canada Germany USA USA USA USA UK Portugal Japan USA UK USA Austria Germany UK UK UK Israel
The 9th International Conference on Education and Information Systems, Technologies and Applications: EISTA 2011 in the context of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics: IMSCI 2011
ADDITIONAL REVIEWERS
Abar, Celina Abdel Hafez, Hoda Abrukov, Victor Abubakar, Ahmed Acma, Bulent Adoghe, Loretta Agbonlahor, Rosemary Agler, Lin-Miao Akbari Moghanjoughi, Ayyoub Aldana Segura, Waleska Alshanableh, Tayseer An, Shuhua Andone, Ioan Andreopoulou, Zacharoula Angelova, Galia Ariton, Viorel Arsov, Silyan Asgari Arani, Jafar Astleitner, Hermann Azman, Hazita Baker, John Balicki, Jerzy Marian Bamidis, Panagiotis Bang, Jørgen Barcena, Elena Barreiras, Alcinda Batovski, Dobri Atanassov Baumeister, Alexander Baysal, Ugur Beauford, Judith Behazin, Farid Beierschmitt, Penny Belderrain, Carmen Beligiannis, Grigorios Berge, Zane Bernsteiner, Reinhard Bhatt, Rakesh Mohan Bhuvaneswaran, R. S. Bjering, Heidi Bohemia, Erik Bonicoli, Marie Paule Bordogna, Roberto Boumedine, Marc
Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo Suez Canal University Chuvash State University UAE University Anadolu University Miami Dade College University of Ibadan University of Southern Mississippi UPM Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala Near East University California State University University of Iasi Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Danubius University University of Ruse Kashan University of Medical Sciences University of Salzburg Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Johns Hopkins University Technology University of Gdansk Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Aarhus University Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto Assumption University of Thailand Saarland University Hacettepe University University of the Incarnate Word Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Lockheed Martin Corporation Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica University of Western Greece University of Maryland Management Center Innsbruck Garhwal University Nagoya Institute of Technology University of Western Sydney Northumbria University Groupe ESC Rouen Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati University of the Virgin Islands
Brazil Egypt Russian Federation United Arab Emirates Turkey USA Nigeria USA Malaysia Guatemala Turkey USA Romania Greece Bulgaria Romania Bulgaria Iran Austria Malaysia USA Poland Greece Denmark Spain Portugal Thailand Germany Turkey USA Iran USA Brazil Greece USA Austria India India Australia UK France Italy Virgin Islands (U.S.)
Bouza-Herrera, Carlos Narciso Bowers, Fredalene Brett, Clare Brodnik, Andrej Andy Broom, Mark Bruciati, Antoinette Buglione, Luigi Burita, Ladislav Caileanu, Corneliu Cakir, Mustafa Caldararu, Florin Camilleri, Mario Campos dos Santos, José L. Canalda, Philippe Caner, Mustafa Capus, Laurence Castaneda, Sandra Castelao-Lawless, Teresa Chan, Chiu-Shui Chang, Ni Chang, Wei-Chih Alec Channa, Subhadra Chau, K. W. Chaudhry, Abdus Chen, Chau-Kuang Cheng, Tsung-Chi Chi, Hongmei Chopra, Nidhi Chou, Jung Chuan Chu, Louis Clemence, Dominic Comi, Giorgio Cooper, Martyn Coppola, Jean Costa, Mónica Cotet, Costel Emil Cubukcu, Feryal de Vries, Marc Debono, Carl J. Del Valle, María Delgado, Alberto Demmon, Terri Deng, Hepu du Plessis, Jacques Du, Hongliu Duhaney, Devon Duignan, Sean Dukic, Darko Dukic, Gordana Dumdum, Uldarico Rex Duwairi, Rehab Ekstrom, Joseph Encabo, Eduardo Erbacher, Robert
Universidad de la Habana Indiana University of Pennsylvania University of Toronto University of Primorska University of Glamorgan Sacred Heart University École de Technologie Supérieure University of Defence Technical University of Iasi Anadolu University Research Laboratory for Environmental Monitoring University of Malta The National Institute for Research the Amazon l'Université de Franche-Comté Anadolu University Université Laval Autonomous University of Mexico Grand Valley State University Iowa State University Indiana University Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages University of Delhi Hong Kong Polytechnic University Kuwait University Meharry Medical College National Chengchi University Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University Indira Gandhi National Open University, Maidan Garhi National Yunlin University of Science and Technology The Hong Kong Polytechnic University North Carolina A&T State University Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training Open University Pace University Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco University Politehnica of Bucharest Dokuz Eylul University Delft University of Technology University of Malta Universidad de Concepción National University of Colombia Notre Dame University Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Caterpillar Inc. State University of New York Galway Mayo Institute of Technology Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek Marywood University Qatar University Brigham Young University Universidad de Murcia Utah State University
Cuba USA Canada Slovenia UK USA Canada Czech Republic Romania Turkey Romania Malta Brazil France Turkey Canada Mexico USA USA USA Taiwan India Hong Kong Kuwait USA Taiwan USA India Taiwan Hong Kong USA Switzerland UK USA Portugal Romania Turkey Netherlands Malta Chile Colombia USA Australia USA USA USA Ireland Croatia Croatia USA Qatar USA Spain USA
Escudeiro, Nuno Escudeiro, Paula Esperancini, Maura Eze, Uchenna Federici, Stefano Fischer, Jerry Fitzgerald, Alan Flores, Juan Florescu, Gabriela Fougeres, Alain-Jerome Frosch-Wilke, Dirk Fuster-Sabater, Amparo Gacnik, Bonita Galajdová, Alena Garrity, Edward Gedviliene, Genute Ghaddar, Nesreen Gharsallah, Ali Giurgiu, Mircea Goktas, Yuksel Goldberg, Robert González, Fermín Goodwin, Dave Gorge, Najah Gras-Marti, Albert Gravvanis, George Guijarro-Fuentes, Pedro Gulbahar, Yasemin Güler, Ýnan Hadjerrouit, Said Hadrich Belguith, Lamia Hammam, Mahmoud Hansen, Paul Harichandan, Dhaneswar Hart, Alexis Hartley, Roger Hasim, Zuwati Hasnaoui, Salem Hellstern, Gerd Michael Heraud, Nicolas Hernandez-Pina, Fuensanta Herrera, Oriel Hiraga, Rumi Holifield, David Hsu, Donald Hsu, Li-Ling Hsu, Mei-Hua Huang, Hsiu-Mei Amy Hudson, Clemente Hung, Wen-Tung Ibrahim, Hamidah Idowu, Adebayo Peter Ikeguchi, Cecilia Imbalzano, Giovanni
Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto Universidade Estadual Paulista Nanyang Technological University University of Perugia University of Idaho Kingston University University of Michoacan Imperial Chemical Industries Université de Technologie de Belfort Montbéliard University of Applied Sciences Kiel Instituto de Física Aplicada Mount Marty College Technical University of Kosice Canisius College Vytautas Magnus University American University of Beirut EL-Manar University Technical University of Cluj-Napoca Ataturk University The City University of New York Public University of Navarra National Energy Research Scientific Computing Precitec Inc. University of Alicante Democritus University of Thrace University of Plymouth Baskent University Gazi University University of Agder University of Sfax Helwan University University of Otago University of Mumbai Virginia Military Institute Leeds University University of Malaya Ecole Nationale d'Ingénieurs de Tunis University Kassel Université de Corse Universidad de Murcia Universidad Católica de Temuco Tsukuba University of Technology University of Wales Institute Cardiff Dominican College National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences Chang Gung Institute of Technology National Taichung Institute of Technology Valdosta State University Meiho University Universiti Putra Obafemi Awolowo University Tsukuba Gakuin University M.P.I. (Maker/Retired Professor)
Portugal Portugal Brazil Singapore Italy USA UK Mexico Romania France Germany Spain USA Slovakia USA Lithuania Lebanon Tunisia Romania Turkey USA Spain USA USA Spain Greece UK Turkey Turkey Norway Tunisia Egypt New Zealand India USA UK Malaysia Tunisia Germany France Spain Chile Japan UK USA Taiwan Taiwan Taiwan USA Taiwan Malaysia Nigeria Japan Italy
Ionita, Angela Ismail, Maizatul Akmar Ismail, Zuraini Iung, Benoit Izydorczyk, Jacek Jahsman, William James, Velda Janota, Ales Jelinek, Ivan Jones, Anthony Jong, BinShyan Juiz, Carlos Kabassi, Katerina Kago, Yoshiki Kaino, Luckson Kalwinsky, Bob Kanawati, Rushed Karavirta, Ville Kargidis, Theodoros Katsouros, Vassilis Kaur, Kiran Khan, Rana Khatri, Anil Kikkas, Kaido Kim, E-Jae Kim, Hanna Klein, Barbara Klimko, Gabor Klosowski, Piotr Kolev, Emil Koshy, Swapna Kourik, Janet Kovacs, Szilveszter Krolikowski, Zbyszko Kropid, Wendy Kroumov, Valeri Kroutl-Helal, Anna Regina Kuang, Yu Kulkarni, Anjali Kumar, Krishan Lall Kundu, Anirban Kun-Lin, Hsieh Kurlyandskaya, Galina Lam, Chung-Yau Lam, Ineke Lara, Soni Laverick, DeAnna Law, Rob Lee, KyungOh Lemckert, Charles Lemos, Elizama das Chagas Leng, Ho Keat Lertchalolarn, Chawalert Letia, Tiberiu
Romanian Academy Institute for Artificial Intelligence Romania University of Malaya Malaysia University Technology of Malaysia Malaysia University Henri Poincaré France Silesian University of Technology Poland Park City Consulting Group USA Citrus College USA University of Žilina Slovakia Czech Technical University in Prague Czech Republic University of Melbourne Australia Chung Yuan Christian University Taiwan University of Balearic Islands Spain Technological Education Institute of the Ionian Islands Greece Reitaku University Japan University of Botswana Botswana Middle Tennessee State University USA Université Paris France Helsinki University of Technology Finland Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki Greece Institute for Language and Speech Processing Greece University of Malaya Malaysia University of Maryland USA Johns Hopkins University USA Tallinn University Estonia LG Electronics Institute of Technology South Korea DePaul University USA University of Michigan Dearborn USA Hungarian Academy of Sciences Hungary Silesian University of Technology Poland Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Bulgaria University of Wollongong in Dubai United Arab Emirates Webster University USA University of Miskolc Hungary Poznan University of Technology Poland University of Wisconsin Superior USA Okayama University of Science Japan University of South Bohemia Czech Republic Stanford University USA Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur India University of Botswana Botswana West Bengal University of Technology India National Taitung University Taiwan Basque Country University Spain Nanyang Technological University Singapore University Utrecht Netherlands University of Navarra Spain Indiana University of Pennsylvania USA Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong Sunmoon University South Korea Griffith University Australia Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technologies Brazil of Rio Grande do Norte Republic Polytechnic Singapore Thailand Cyber Univerity Project Thailand Technical University of Cluj Napoca Romania
Li, Jingyi Li, Long-Zhuang Liaw, Shu-Sheng Liu, Eric Zhi-Feng Lizano-DiMare, Maria Ljung-Djärf, Agneta Lowes, Susan Lynch, Grace Macianskiene, Nemira Madsen, Leza Mahadevan, Venkatesh Mahanti, Prabhat Maharaj, Manoj Maldonado, Calixto Malenovsky, Eduard Manias, Elizabeth Marchisio, Susana Marshall, Susanne Martinez, Liliana Inés Masrek, Mohamad Noorman Maurino, Paula McConnell, Rodney McKay, Elspeth McMahon, Ellen McWright, Mac Meisalo, Veijo Mendoza-Hannan, Juana Meskens, Ad Michelini, Marisa Mihir, Fnu Milanova, Mariofanna Miller, Karen Hughes Miller, Tracy Milosz, Marek Misra, Vikas Moch, Peggy Mohamed, Jedra Mohd Amin, Indah Monney Paiva, Joao Morgado, Lina Moses, Mbangwana Mu, Cuiying Mueller, Julie Mullins, Michael Mutisya, P. Masila Nahodil, Pavel Nickerson, Matt Nikolarea, Ekaterini Noordin, Nooreen Nugraheni, Cecilia Esti Nycz, Malgorzata Olatokun, Wole Oliveira, Eloiza
University of Maryland Texas A&M University Corpus Christi China Medical University National Central University Sacred Heart University Kristianstad University Columbia University Teachers College Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University Vytautas Magnus University Western Washington University Swinburne University of Technology University of New Brunswick University of KwaZulu-Natal Universidad Empresarial Siglo 21 Brno University of Technology University of Melbourne Universidad Nacional de Rosario Nova Southeastern University Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires Mara University of Technology Farmingdale State College University of Idaho RMIT University National Louis University Nova Southeastern University Lincoln Memorial University University of Helsinki New Mexico State University Artesis Hogeschool Antwerpen University of Udine Norwalk Community College University of Arkansas University of Louisville Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy Lublin Technical University University of Petroleum Valdosta State University University in Rabat Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Institute Polytechnic of Viseu Universidade Aberta University of Yaounde I University of Canterbury Wilfrid Laurier University University of Aalborg North Carolina Central University Czech Technical University in Prague Southern Utah University University of the Aegean Universiti Putra Malaysia Parahyangan Catholic University Wroclaw University of Economics University of Botswana Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
USA USA Taiwan Taiwan USA Sweden USA Australia Lithuania USA Australia Canada South Africa Argentina Czech Republic Australia Argentina USA Argentina Malaysia USA USA Australia USA USA Finland USA Belgium Italy USA USA USA USA Poland India USA Morocco Malaysia Portugal Portugal Cameroon New Zealand Canada Denmark USA Czech Republic USA Greece Malaysia Indonesia Poland Botswana Brazil
Orsitto, Fulvio Osunade, Seyitan Panke, Stefanie Papadourakis, George Patil, Arun Patton, Barba Pereira, Claudia Teresa Pester, Andreas Petrin, Donald Pettigrew, François Pissanidis, Georgios Piu, Carmelo Poh, Philip Poobrasert, Onintra Post, Paul Potorac, Alin Dan Potter, Marcia Prata, Alcina Prodan, Augustin Rabe, Vlasta Rahman, Hakikur Rahouma, Kamel Rajamony, Bhuvenesh Rasmani, Khairul A. Reis, Rosa Resta, Marina Reyes, Maria Elena Reyes-Méndez, Jorge Joel Riihentaus, Juhani Rimbau Gilabert, Eva Rizzo, Rosalba Robinson, Carole Rodi, Anthony Rodrigues, Teles Roehrig, Christof Roessling, Guido Romagni, Susana Saba, Farrokh Sabaliauskas, Tomas Salem, Abdel-Badeeh Salim, Siti Salwah Samarakou, Maria Sami, Mariagiovanna Sanz-González, José L. Sasaki, Hitoshi Schmeling, Sascha Schoenacher, Sheryl Serwatka, Judy Ann Sh Abdullah, Siti Aishah Sherman, Barbara Ann Shieh, Meng-Dar Shmaliy, Yuriy Silber, Kevin Singhal, Divya
California State University University of Ibadan Institut für Wissensmedien Technological Educational Institute of Crete CQ University University of Houston Victoria Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires Carinthia Tech Institute Purdue University Télé-Université University of Hertfordshire University of Calabria SIPMM, Southern Cross University National Electronics and Computer Technology Center The Ohio State University University of Suceava Ministry of Education Escola Superior de Ciências Empresariais Iuliu Hatieganu University University of Hradec Kralove Sustainable Development Network Prog. Minia University University Malaysia Perlis Universiti Teknologi MARA Instituto Politecnico do Porto University of Genova The University of Texas Pan American Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana University of Oulu Open University of Catalonia University of Messina Michigan State University California University of Pennsylvania Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal University of Applied Sciences in Dortmund Darmstadt University of Technology Universidad Metropolitana Texas A&M University-Texarkana Vytautas Magnus University Ain Shams University University of Malaya Technological Education Institute of Athens Politecnico di Milano Universidad Politécnica de Madrid Takushoku University European Organization for Nuclear Research Farmingdale State College Purdue University North Central University Technology Mara Buffalo State College National Cheng Kung University Guanajuato University University of Derby Goa Institute of Management
USA Nigeria Germany Greece Australia USA Argentina Austria USA Canada UK Italy Singapore Thailand USA Romania Virgin Islands (U.K.) Portugal Romania Czech Republic Bangladesh Egypt Malaysia Malaysia Portugal Italy USA Mexico Finland Spain Italy USA USA Portugal Germany Germany Venezuela USA Lithuania Egypt Malaysia Greece Italy Spain Japan Switzerland USA USA Malaysia USA Taiwan Mexico UK India
Skolud, Bozena Snow, Mary Snow, Richard Soltes, Dusan Soreanu, Peter Soutsas, Konstantinos Staffeldt, Mary Anne Stefanov, Krassen Stein, Sarah Stronck, David Stvan, Laurel Sulema, Yevgeniya Sureerattanan, Nidapan Suviniitty, Jaana Sykes, Edward Tan, Ying Taylor, Stephen Tee, Sim-Hui Terziyan, Vagan Thijssen, Thomas Thirunarayanan, M. O. Thompson, Cecelia Thorsos, Nilsa Thurasamy, Ramayah Tobos, Valentina Tokman, Leyla Yekdane Toledo, Cheri Tompsett, Christopher Torrisi-Steele, Geraldine Torzo, Giacomo Tsaur, Woei-Jiunn Tse, Ka Ho Tshireletso, Lucky Daniel Tsoi, Mun Fie Turner, Jeannine Tuzun, Hakan Uddin, Mueen Ulovec, Andreas Unalan, Halit Turgay Unnithan, Chandana Urtel, Mark V. Carvalho, Carlos Vaida, Mircea-Florin Vallejo, Jose Refugio Varner, Lynn Varughese, Joe Vasiu, Radu Vemuri, Siva Ram Verma, Lalji K Vintere, Anna Vladimir, Kamyshnikov Wan Ali, Wan Zah Wang, Ching-Huang Wang, Hongmei
Silesian University of Technology Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Comenius University in Bratislava Braude Academic College of Engineering Technological Educational Institution of Larissa New Mexico State University Sofia University University of Otago California State University East Bay University of Texas Arlington National Technical University of Ukraine Institute of Technology North Bangkok Helsinki University of Technology Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning Peking University University of Sussex Multimedia University University of Jyvaskyla Saxion University Florida International University University of Arkansas Azusa Pacific University Universiti Sains Malaysia Lawrence Technological University Anadolu University Illinios State University Kingston University Griffith University Università di Padova Dayeh University The Hong Kong Institute of Education University of Oslo National Institute of Education Florida State University Hacettepe University Universiti Teknologi Malaysia University of Vienna Anadolu University Deakin University Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto Technical University of Cluj-Napoca Universidad de Guanajuato Delta State University Northern Alberta Institute of Technology Politehnica University of Timisoara Charles Darwin University Indian Society of Hospital Waste Management Latvia University of Agriculture Tomsk State Architectural University University of Putra Malaysia National Formosa University Northern Kentucky University
Poland USA USA Slovakia Israel Greece USA Bulgaria New Zealand USA USA Ukraine Thailand Finland Canada China Canada Malaysia Finland Netherlands USA USA USA Malaysia USA Turkey USA UK Australia Italy Taiwan Hong Kong Norway Singapore USA Turkey Malaysia Austria Turkey Australia USA Portugal Romania Mexico USA Canada Romania Australia India Latvia Russian Federation Malaysia Taiwan USA
Wang, Jau-Shyong Wang, Jing Wang, Zhigang Whatley, Janice Whiteley, Rick Williams van Rooij, Shahron Williams, Greg Wilson, Hentie Wiriyasuttiwong, Watcharachai Wolfinger, Bernd Wortley, David Wu, Sean Tung-Xiung Xie, Haiyan Yamacli, Rusen Yamashita, Shirley Yin, Peng-Yeng Yousfi, Driss Yu, Chien Yueh, Hsiu-Ping Zahran, Sami Zainon Hamzah, Zaitul Azma Zamora, Inmaculada Zwaneveld, Bert
Shu Te University Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Fort Valley State University University of Salford Calabash Educational Software George Mason University University of Maryland University of South Africa Srinakharinwirot University University of Hamburg Coventry University Shih Hsin University University of Arkansas at Little Rock Anadolu University University of Hawaii at Manoa (Retired Faculty) National Chi-Nan University Université Cadi Ayaad Mississippi State University National Taiwan University IBM Global Services Universiti Putra Malaysia Universidad del País Vasco Open University
Taiwan USA USA UK Canada USA USA South Africa Thailand Germany UK Taiwan USA Turkey USA Taiwan Morocco USA Taiwan UK Malaysia Spain Netherlands
The 9th International Conference on Education and Information Systems, Technologies and Applications: EISTA 2011 in the context of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics: IMSCI 2011
ADDITIONAL REVIEWERS FOR THE NON-BLIND REVIEWING
Adiguzel, Oktay Aísa, Jorge Ajidahun, Clement Alayyoub, Abdel-Ellah Ali, Azad Alluri, Krishna Al-Sharief, Sultan Al-Taani, Ahmad Tawfiq Al-Zaghoul, Fawaz Andreopoulou, Zacharoula Anghel, Florin Anne, Kirk Ariton, Viorel Aryananda, Lijin Awwad, Falah Bakalis, Serafim Balicki, Jerzy Marian Bals, Thomas Bamidis, Panagiotis Barbosa Machado, Jeremias Barbosa, Leônidas Da Silva Barchetti, Ugo Barletta Bowers, Fredaline Beer, Martin Bello Abubakar, Ahmed Berger, Thomas Bhatia, Sanjiv Bhattacharjee, Sudip Bidarra, José Borycki, Elizabeth Boylan, Stephen Brito, Glaucia Brodeur, Sheri Brown, Lisa Brown, Michael L. Buford, Juanita Burzagli, Laura Calic, Janko Campbell, Robert Carrasquero A., José V. Casanova Pelaez, Pedro Cavkaytar, Atilla
Anadolu University Turkey Área de Ingeniería Mecánica Centro Politécnico Superior Spain Adekunle Ajasin University Nigeria Dar al Ouloum University Saudi Arabia Indiana University of Pennsylvania USA Consultant and Former Senior Staff of Commonwealth of Canada Learning Umm Al-Qura University Saudi Arabia Yarmouk University Jordan The University of Jordan Jordan Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Greece The Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies of Bucharest Romania Geneseo USA Danubius University Romania Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Switzerland UAEU United Arab Emirates University of Birmingham UK Technology University of Gdansk Poland Universität Osnabrück- Institut für Erziehungswissenschaft Germany Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Greece Universidade Estadual de Campinas Brazil Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte Brazil Università del Salento Italy Indiana University of Pennsylvania USA Sheffield Hallam University UK United Arab Emirates University- Al Ain United Arab Emirates University of Hohenheim Germany University of Missouri - St. Louis USA University of Connecticut USA University of Algarve Portugal University of Victoria School of Health Information Science Canada United Arab Emirates University- Al Ain United Arab Emirates Universidade Federal do Paraná Brazil Hewlett Packard USA East Knox Local School District USA SkillsNET Founder and CEO USA Meharry Medical College USA Istituto Di Fisica Applicata Nello Carrara Italy University of Surrey UK VA research USA University Simón Bolívar Venezuela Universidad de Jaen Spain Eskisehir Turkey
Cavkaytar, Serap Ceyhan, Esra Chan, Chiu Shui Chang, Chih-chen Chua, Bee Clause, Reg Collins, Angelo Colomo-Palacios, Ricardo Coulter, Joel Cruz-lara, Samuel Das, Shusil Davis, Denise De Marsico, Maria De Vries, Marc J. Demmon, Terri Deutsch, Dr Jonathan Develle, Sacha Dionne, Liliane Dobson, Stephen Dongqing, Feng Dorado Vicente, Rubén Dron, Jon Duda, Przemyslaw Edwards, Andrea Eom, Woo-yong Esmahi, Larbi Evans, Mark Evans, Michael Everson, Howard Farsijani, Hassan Finn, Stephen Foo, Schubert Foster, Harold Francois, Luc Fu, Yanggeng Fu, Yongjian Furtado, Joao Carlos Gardent, Claire Gavrilova, Tatiana Geng, Yingsan Gerber, Mariana Gharib, Morteza Ghorbani, Ali Giroux, Patrick Goktas, Yuksel Goldberg, Robert Gomez Moreno, Angel Gonon, Philipp Govorov, Mikhail Gravato Marques, Hugo Greenhow, Martin Guido, Anna Lisa Guntuku, Dileepkumar Gutierrez Montes, Cándido Haake, Anne
Anadolu University Anadolu University Iowa State University Purdue University University of Technology Iowa State University Knowles Science Teaching Foundation Universidad Carlos III de Madrid DoD INRIA Lorraine Daffodil International University The DEAK Group Università La Sapienza Delft University of Technology Notre Dame University Kingsborough Comm Coll University of Cambridge Univerity Hedemark University College Zhengzhou University University of Jaén Athabasca University Warsaw University of Technology Xavier University of Louisiana Keimyung University Athabasca University CTE-USMA UBC Okanagan CUNY Graduate School and University Center University of Shahid Beheshti CTE-USMA Nanyang Technological University The University of Akron Ghent University Fuzhou Univeeersity Cleveland State University UNISC INRIA Lorraine Saint Petersburg State University Xi’an Jiaotong University Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Payame Noor University University of Quebec in Chicoutimi Ataturk University The City University of New York University of Jaen Universität Zürich- Lehrstuhl für Berufsbildung Vancouver Island University Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Brunel University Università del Salento Iowa State University University of Jaen Rochester Institute of Technology
Turkey Turkey USA Hong Kong Australia USA USA Spain USA France Bangladesh USA Italy Netherlands USA USA UK Canada Norway China Spain Canada Poland USA South Korea Canada USA Canada USA Iran USA Singapore USA Belgium China USA Brazil France Russian Federation China South Africa Iran Iran Canada Turkey USA Spain Switzerland Canada Switzerland UK Italy USA Spain USA
Hadrich Belguith, Lamia Hanmandlu, M. Hardy, Sam Hashmi, Yasser Hatfield, Thomas Hawamdeh, Suliman Hayajneh, Mohammad Hernadez, Ana Beatriz Herscovitz, Orit Hevner, Alan Hoyer, Hans Icha, Jaroslav Ilg, Markus Ingels, Steven Iovanella, Antonio Ivalina, Ivalina Izydorczyk, Jacek Jaber, Faten Jacobzon, Fiana Jahangard, Ali Jamali, Shahram James, Kathryn Jiménez De Cisneros y Fonfría, Juan José Jiménez, Emilio Josman, Naomi K, Manivannan Kabell, Jerald Kakuda, Hiroyasu Kapounova, Jana Karn, Keith Kawai, Kazuhisa Kenderov, Petar Khatib, Mohammad Kritzinger, Elmarie Kuang, Yu Kulsum, Umme Kuo, Yu-ju Lee, Hyeonjin Leite Monteiro, Renato Lemos, Elizama Das Chagas Leonard, Alan C. Levee, Ellen Li, Lixiao Libati, Hasting Lin, Blossom Yen-Ju Liu, Chongxin Liu, Han-chin Liu, Teh-ching Liu, Tzu-chien Liu, Yushen Lonchamp, Jacques Lopez Alba, Elias Lungarella, Max
University of Sfax Indian Institute of Technology New Delhi Brigham Young University Lahore University of Management Sciences California State University- Northridge University of North Texas UAEU Universitat Rovira i Virgili Israel Institute of Technology University of South Florida ASEE University of South Bohemia University of Applied Sciences Vora RTI International University of Roma Universidade Federal do Rio Grande Silesian University of Technology Oxford Brookes University ORT Braude College Sharif University of Technology Faculty of Technical and Engineering in Moghaddas Ardebili University of Wales Trinity Saint David University of Jaen
Tunisia India USA Pakistan USA USA United Arab Emirates Spain Israel USA USA Czech Republic Austria USA Italy Brazil Poland UK Israel Iran Iran
Universidad de La Rioja University of Haifa RMK Engineering College Forman Christian College The University of Electro-Communications Univerzity of Ostrava Kodak Toyohashi University of Technology Institute of Mathematics and Informatics of BAS Allameh Tabataba`i University University of South Africa Stanford University Daffodil International University Indiana University of Pennsylvania University of Central Florida Opice Blum Attorney at Law Instituto Federal de Educação- Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio Florida Institute of Technology DePaul University University of science and technology Beijing Copperbelt University Chia Medical University Xi’an Jiaotong University Chiayi University National Taiwan Normal University National Central University Tsinghua University LORIA University of Jaen Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Spain Israel India Pakistan Japan Czech Republic USA Japan Bulgaria Iran South Africa USA Bangladesh USA USA Brazil Brazil USA USA China Zambia Taiwan China Taiwan Taiwan Taiwan China France Spain Switzerland
UK Spain
Luomi-Messerer, Karin Macianskiene, Nemira Mahadevan, Venkatesh Maharshak, Arie Makita, Yuki Maldonado, Calixto Marrone, Dan Martín Vaquero, Jesús Mathew, Reejo Mclean, Michelle McMahon, Frank Medvecky, Beth Mishra, Sukumar Misra, Vikas Mladenov, Valeri Mohammadkhanli, Leili Mohd Ali, Jalilah Binti Monga, Mattia Muñoz-merino, Pedro Murch, Ron Murgatroyd, Stephen Murgia, Gianluca Mvuma, Alois Mvungi, Nerrey Nahodil, Pavel Nickerson, Matt Niegemann, Helmut Nishimura, Tomoyuki Norris, Victor O`Connor, Bridget Olatoye, Ademola Onghunankul, Jaratpan Oreku, George S. Oriol, Mary Orsitto, Fulvio Oss, Janis Osunade, Seyitan Pan, Ming-jeng Pang, Les Park, Yeonjeong Parvanova, Diana Pfeifer, Michael Pichler, Florian Pieters, Jan Piñeros Castro, Yineth Pitucco, Tony Plank, Roger Poeta, Enzo Poh, Philip Potorac, Alin Dan Potvin, Geoff Pretorius, Resia Qawqzeh, Yousef. K. O. Qiao, Junfei
3s Unternehmensberatung Vytautas Magnus University Swinburne University of Technology ORT Braude College FUJITSU Advanced Solutions Limited Universidad Empresarial Siglo 21 Farmingdale State College Universidad de Salamanca Senior Research Scientist- MYMIC- LLC FMHS- UAEU Dublin Institute of Technology Cornell University Indian Institute of Technology New Delhi University of Petroleum Technical University of Sofia Tabriz University Malaysia Multimedia Univeristy Università di Milano Universidad Carlos III de Madrid Haskayne School of Business Sprott-Shaw Degree College University of Siena University of Dodoma Inter-University / University of Dodoma Czech Technical University in Prague Southern Utah University The University of Erfurt Kushiro Public University of Economics Stanford University New York University Osun State University Technology Rajchamongkol Bopitpimuk University Researcher and Director: ICT Department and Technology Trans Loyola University New Orleans California State University Latvia University of Agriculture University of Ibadan Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology UMUC Samsung SDS Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"- University Library Technical University of Dortmund University of Vienna FTBW Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano Pima Community College The University of Sheffield Universidade Estadual de Campinas SIPMM, Southern Cross University University of Suceava Clemson University University of Pretoria University Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi Beijng University of Technology
Austria Lithuania Australia Israel Japan Argentina USA Spain USA United Arab Emirates Ireland USA India India Bulgaria Iran Malaysia Italy Spain Canada Canada Italy Tanzania Tanzania Czech Republic USA Germany Japan France USA Nigeria Thailand Tanzania USA USA Latvia Nigeria Taiwan USA USA Bulgaria Germany Austria Belgium Colombia USA UK Brazil Singapore Romania USA South Africa Jordan China
Qingshan, Zeng Qun, Wang Rababah, Osama Rahouma, Kamel Rajamony, Bhuvenesh Reis, Giuliano Reis, Rosa Rezaei, Saeed Rimbau Gilabert, Eva Ritchey, Nathan Rollin, Patrick Ronchi, Alfredo Sadeqzadeh, Alireza Sado, Kazuhiro Salazar, Dora Sang, Lin Santoro, Flavia Sarlak, Mohammad Ali Schoenacher, Sheryl Schunn, Christian D. Sendova, Evgenia Serumaga-Zake, Philiip A. Serwatka, Judy Ann Sh Abdullah, Siti Aishah Sharkey, Jill Sharrock, Guy Shen, Wenjing Sherman, Barbara Ann Sherwin, Byron Shubair, Mamdouh Singh, Shyam Smith, Debbie Smyrnova-Trybulska, E. Sokolowski, John Stalidzans, Egils Steel, Simon Svensson, Bo Tajeddin, Zia Talae, Ebrahim Tan, Yiling Odelia Tee, Sim-hui Tella, Yinka Thomson, Kerry-Lynn Tomasuolo, Elena Torales, Marilia Torres Jimenez, Eloisa Torrisi-Steele, Geraldine Touma, Georges Tran, Loan Trumpower, David Tse, Ka Ho Um, Mi-jung Unalan, Turgay Van Niekerk, Johan Varner, Lynn
Zhengzhou University China University of Geoscience of Beiging The University of Jordan Minia University University Malaysia Perlis Ottawa University Instituto Politecnico do Porto Sharif University of Technology Open University of Catalonia Youngstown State University Universite d`Orleans Politecnico di Milano Tarbiat Modares University Gunma University Center for Research on Leadership and Education Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications UNIRIO University of Payam-e Noor- PHD center Farmingdale State College University of Pittsburgh IMI of BAS Tertiary Institution Purdue University North Central University Technology Mara University of California Senior Advisor for Monitoring and Evaluation Drexel University LeBow College of Business Buffalo State College Spertus College University of Northern British Columbia University of Namibia Youngstown State University University of Silesia in Katowice Virginia Modeling- Analysis and Simulation Center Latvia University of Agriculture Tufts University Linkoping University Allameh Tabataba`i University Tarbiat Modares University Institute for Infocomm Research Multimedia University University of Ilorin NMMU Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) ISTC Universidade Federal do Paraná University of Jaen Griffith University University of Ottawa WestEd University of Ottawa The Hong Kong Institute of Education Science and Technology Policy Institute Anadolu University NMMU Delta State University
China China Jordan Egypt Malaysia Canada Portugal Iran Spain USA France Italy Iran Japan USA China Brazil Iran USA USA Bulgaria South Africa USA Malaysia USA USA USA USA USA Canada Namibia USA Poland USA Latvia USA Sweden Iran Iran Singapore Malaysia Nigeria South Africa Italy Brazil Spain Australia Canada USA Canada Hong Kong South Korea Turkey South Africa USA
Vodovozov, Valery Vollmer, Waldemar Voytenko, Volodymyr Wang, Hongmei Wang, Sy-chyi Weiss-lambrou, Rhoda Widyan, Mohammad Williams van Rooij, S. Williams, Greg Wolfengagen, Viacheslav Wu, Cheng-nan Wu, Yingjie Wyngaard, Audrey Yacci, Michael Yang, Dacheng Yang, Kuo-pao Yu, Shengquan Yueh, Hsiu-Ping Yuvienco, Joel Zaretsky, Esther Zhan, Yiqiang Zhang, Wendy Zivkovic, Dragana Zwaneveld, Bert
Tallinn University of Technology Newcastle University Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advance Learning Northern Kentucky University National Chiayi University University of Montreal Hashimaih University George Mason University University of Maryland Institute JurInfoR Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology Fuzhou Univeeersity Education Institution Rochester Institute of Technology Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications Southeastern Louisiana University Beijing Normal University National Taiwan University Miriam College Academic College for Education Givat Washington Siemens Medical Solutions Southeastern Louisiana University University of Belgrad Open University
Estonia UK Canada USA Taiwan Canada Jordan USA USA Russian Federation Taiwan China South Africa USA China USA China Taiwan Philippines Israel China USA Serbia Netherlands
The 9th International Conference on Education and Information Systems, Technologies and Applications: EISTA 2011 in the context of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics: IMSCI 2011
Program Committee Chairs Friedrich Welsch José Vicente Carrasquero General Chair Andrés Tremante Organizing Committee Chairs Angel Oropeza Belkis Sánchez Hardcopy Proceedings Production Chair Maria Sánchez CD Proceedings Production Chair Juan Manuel Pineda Systems Development, Maintenance and Deployment Dalia Sánchez Keyla Guedez Nidimar Diaz Operational Assistants Marcela Briceño Cindi Padilla Honorary President Freddy Malpica Help Desk Louis Barnes Sean Barnes Marisela Jiménez Conferences Program Manager Maria Sánchez Technical Consultant on Computing Systems Juan Manuel Pineda Submissions Quality Control Support Leonardo Contreras Meta-Reviewers Support Maria Sánchez Dalia Sánchez
Number of Papers Included in these Proceedings per Country (The country of the first author was the one taken into account for these statistics)
Country
# Papers
%
TOTAL United States Spain Canada China Italy Israel Brazil Finland Germany Japan South Korea Sweden Australia Austria Czech Republic France Saudi Arabia South Africa Turkey United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Belgium Colombia Greece India Iran Macau Malaysia Nigeria Norway Philippines Poland Qatar Romania Switzerland Taiwan Thailand
124 39 14 5 5 5 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
100.00 31.45 11.29 4.03 4.03 4.03 3.23 2.42 2.42 2.42 2.42 2.42 2.42 1.61 1.61 1.61 1.61 1.61 1.61 1.61 1.61 1.61 0.81 0.81 0.81 0.81 0.81 0.81 0.81 0.81 0.81 0.81 0.81 0.81 0.81 0.81 0.81 0.81
Foreword Informatics and Cybernetics (communication and control) are having an increasing impact on societies and in the globalization process that is integrating them. Societies are trying to regulate this impact, and adapt it to their respective cultural infra-structures. Societies and cultures are in reciprocal co-adaptations with Information and Communication Technologies. Synergic relationships might emerge in this co-adaptation process by means of positive and negative feedback loops, as well as feedforward ones. This would make the whole larger than the sum of its parts, generating emergent properties in the parts involved as well as in the whole coming forth. The academic, private, and public sectors are integrating their activities; multi-disciplinary groups and inter-disciplinary teams are being formed, and collaborative research and development projects are being organized in order to facilitate and adequately orient the design and implementation of the feedback and the feedforward loops, so the synergic relationships are socially positive and personally human. One of the main purposes of the 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011) is to bring together academics, professionals, and managers from the private and the public sectors, so they can share ideas, results of research, and innovative services or products, in a multi-disciplinary and multi-sector forum. Educational technologies, socio-economic organizations, and socio-political processes are essential domains among those involved in the evolving co-adaptation and cotransformation between societies and cultures on the one hand, and between informatics and cybernetics (communication and control) on the other hand. Consequently, the main conferences in the context of the IMSCI 2011 Multi-Conference are the following: • • •
9th International Conference on Education and Information Systems, Technologies and Applications: EISTA 2011 7th International Conference on Social and Organizational Informatics and Cybernetics: SOIC 2011 9th International Conference on Politics and Information Systems, Technologies and Applications: PISTA 2011
These three conferences are related to each other and, as a whole, are producing or might produce synergic relationships with Information and Communication Technologies. This is why the Organizing Committees of the three of them have the purpose of combining their efforts in a way that would lead to the organization of an adequate joint event, where academics, researchers, consultants, professionals, innovators, and practitioners from the three areas might relate and interact with each other in the same event. These types of interaction might generate possibilities of cross-fertilization and analogical thinking, as well as possibilities of new working hypothesis, ideas, and reflections on the impact, significance, and usefulness of Informatics and Cybernetics in important
dimensions of educational, socio-political, and socio-economical processes, services, and products. The relationship between education/training and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is quickly intensifying and sometimes appears in unexpected forms and in combination with original ideas, innovative tools, methodologies, and synergies. Accordingly, the primary purpose of the 8th International Conference on Education and Information Systems, Technologies and Applications (EISTA 2011) has been to bring together researchers and practitioners from both areas together to support the emerging bridge between education/training and the ICT communities. The 7th International Conference on Social and Organizational Informatics and Cybernetics (SOIC 2011) and The 9th International Conference on Politics and Information Systems, Technologies and Applications (PISTA 2011) have been organized and collocated with EISTA 2011 and the proceedings of the three conferences have been collected in the same volumes under the general title of Society, Cybernetics and Informatics because significant relationships were found among the three of them. In the context of EISTA 2011, practitioners and consultants were invited to present case studies and innovative solutions. Corporations were invited to present education/training information systems and software-based solutions. Teachers and professors were invited to present case studies, specifically developed information systems, and innovative ideas and designs. Educational scientists and technologists were invited to present research or position papers on the impact and the future possibilities of ICT in educational systems, training processes, and methodologies. Managers of educational organizations and training consultants were invited to present problems that might be solved by ICT or solutions that might be improved by different approaches and designs in ICT. EISTA 2011 provides a forum for the presentation of solutions and problems in the application of ICT in the fields of education/training. Authors of the papers included in the proceedings provided diverse answers to the following questions: •
What is the impact of ICT in education and training?
•
How are ICTs affecting and improving education and training? What networks and models are emerging?
•
How are universities, schools, corporations and other educational/training organizations making use of ICT?
•
What electronic tools are there to facilitate e-learning, distance education and cooperative training?
In the context of PISTA 2011/SOIC 2011, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are transforming our societies and our governments at a remarkable speed. Government departments are seeing the importance of delivering services electronically.
Political parties have begun using ICT in their processes. Yet, despite this increased need, we find, as John Harvey-Jones calls it, a Dialogue of the Deaf between politicians and the ICT community. Politicians need to understand the potential role of the Internet in politics and the ICT community needs a better understanding of politics if this Dialogue of the Deaf is to be transformed into a mutually comprehensive dialogue and a synergic relationship. The purpose of the International Conference on Politics and Information Systems, Technologies and Applications (PISTA 2011) is to contribute to this emerging dialogue and to aid in bridging the gap between the two communities. In order to contribute to the creation of relationships between ICT and Sociopolitical communities, ICT researchers and professionals were invited to present their experience and research as it pertains to the application of ICT in politics, governmental action, and political science. Practitioners and consultants were invited to present case studies and innovative solutions. Corporations were invited to present political information systems and software-based solutions to political issues. Public servants were invited to present case studies requiring technology: information systems, innovative ideas, and designs that were developed with political purposes in mind. Political and social scientists were invited to present research or position papers on the impact and future possibilities of ICT in social systems and political processes. Politicians and political consultants were invited to present problems that might be solved by means of ICTs or solutions that might be improved by different approaches and designs in ICT. The main objective of PISTA 2011 has been to provide a forum for the presentation of both the solutions and problems of ICT applications in politics and society. The following questions need answers from a variety of different perspectives: How do ICTs impact society? •
How are ICTs affecting democracy and the potential to make joint and collective decisions in government?
•
What networks and models are emerging to provide support for political decision systems?
•
How are political parties, governments, and campaign groups using IT systems and electronic communications in particular?
•
What electronic tools already exist to facilitate democratic discussions and decisionmaking processes?
•
What ethical and legal issues will be a part of the social transformation produced by the ICTs?
On behalf of the Organizing Committees, I extend our heartfelt thanks to:
1. the 127 members of the Program Committees (17 members of the IMSCI 2011’s PC and 110 members of the PCs related to the conferences and symposia organized in the context of IMSCI 2011) from 35 countries; 2. the 471 additional reviewers, from 74 countries, for their double-blind peer reviews; 3. the 385 reviewers, from 58 countries, for their efforts in making the non-blind peer reviews. (Some reviewers supported both: non-blind and double-blind reviewing for different submissions) A total of 2104 reviews made by 856 reviewers (who made at least one review) contributed to the quality achieved in IMSCI 2011. This means an average of 7.62 reviews per submission (276 submissions were received). Each registered author had access, via the conference web site, to the reviews that recommended the acceptance of their respective submissions. Each registered author could get information about: 1) the average of the reviewers evaluations according to 8 criteria, and the average of a global evaluation of his/her submission; and 2) the comments and the constructive feedback made by the reviewers, who recommended the acceptance of his/her submission, so the author would be able to improve the final version of the paper. In the organizational process of IMSCI 2011, about 276 papers/abstracts were submitted. These pre-conference proceedings include about 124 papers, from 37 countries, that were accepted for presentation. I extend our thanks to the invited sessions’ organizers for collecting, reviewing, and selecting the papers that will be presented in their respective sessions. The submissions were reviewed as carefully as time permitted; it is expected that most of them will appear in a more polished and complete form in scientific journals. This information about IMSCI 2011 is summarized in the following table, along with the other collocated conferences: Conference
# of submissions received
# of reviewers that made at least one review
WMSCI 2011
391
1350
2461
IMETI 2011
212
679
1431
IMSCI 2011
276
856
2104
CISCI 2011
388
973
TOTAL
1267
3858
Average of reviews per submission
# of papers included in the proceedings
% of submissions included in the proceedings
1.82
6.29
193
49.36%
2.11
6.75
88
41.51%
2.46
7.62
124
44.93%
2359
2.42
6.08
173
44.59%
8355
2.17
6.59
578
45.62%
# of reviews made
Average of reviews per reviewer
We also extend our gratitude to the co-editors of these proceedings, for the hard work, energy and eagerness they shown preparing their respective sessions. We express our intense gratitude to Professor William Lesso for his wise and opportune tutoring, for his eternal energy, integrity, and continuous support and advice, as the Program Committee Chair of past conferences, and as Honorary President of WMSCI 2011, as well as for being a very caring old friend and intellectual father to many of us. We also extend our gratitude to Professor Belkis Sanchez, who brilliantly managed the organizing process.
We also express our immense gratitude to Professor Freddy Malpica for distinguishing this conference by accepting the position of Honorary Chair of EISTA 2011 and the past conferences of PISTA and SOIC; to Professors Friedrich Welsch for serving as the Program Co-Chair of EISTA 2011 and SOIC 2011, to José Vicente Carrasquero for cochairing the Program committee of EISTA 2011 and PISTA 2011, to Angel Oropeza for Co-Chairing the EISTA 2011 Organizing Committee, and to Andrés Tremante for serving as the General Chair of EISTA 2011. We also extend our gratitude to Professor Belkis Sánchez, for her relentless support in the organizing process. We also extend our gratitude to Drs., Louis H. Kauffman, Leonid Perlovsky, Stuart A. Umpleby, Thomas Marlowe, Ranulph Glanville, Karl H. Müller, Shigehiro Hashimoto, T. Grandon Gill, Alec Yasinsac, Marta White Szabo, Jeremy Horne, Mario Norbis, Ham Chan, Felix Soto-Toro, Susu Nousala, and Dipl.-Math Norbert Jastroch, for accepting to address the audience of the General Joint Plenary Sessions with keynote conferences. We extend our gratitude as well to Maria Sanchez, Juan Manuel Pineda, Leonisol Callaos, Dalia Sánchez, Keyla Guedez, Nidimar Díaz, Marcela Briceño, Cindi Padilla Louis Barnes, Sean Barnes, Marisela Jiménez, Noraima Castellano, Abrahan Marin, and Freddy Callaos for their knowledgeable effort in supporting the organizational process producing the hard copy and CD versions of the proceedings, developing and maintaining the software supporting the interactions of the authors with the reviewing process and the Organizing Committee, as well as for their support in the help desk and in the promotional process.
Professors Andrés Tremante and Nagib Callaos IMSCI 2010 General Co-Chairs
IMSCI 2011 The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics The 9th International Conference on Education and Information Systems, Technologies and Applications: EISTA 2011
VOLUME I CONTENTS Contents
i
Teaching Innovation and Processes of Change in Engineering Education: New Ideas, Methodologies and Models - Invited Session Organizer: José María Fuentes and Álvaro Ramírez (Spain) Aguado, Pedro *; Ayuga, Francisco *; Briassoulis, Demetres **; Panagakis, Panagiotis **; Febo, Pierluigi ***; Comparetti, Antonio ***; Scarascia-Mugnozza, Giacomo ***; O'Donnell, Colm ****; Navickas, Kestutis *****; Fehrmann, Jens ****** (* Spain, ** Greece, *** Italy, **** Ireland, ***** Lithuania, ****** Germany): ''The Transition from Agricultural to Biosystems Engineering University Studies in Europe'' Aguado, Pedro; Casquero, Pedro; Tascón, Alberto; Álvarez, Ramón (Spain): ''Analysis of Procedures and Tools for the Adaptation of Engineering Degrees to Labor Market Needs in Spain'' Ayuga-Téllez, Esperanza; González-García, Concepción; Grande-Ortiz, Mª Ángeles; Rubio de Juan, Asunción (Spain): ''Tools in Spanish Universities to Facilitate the Transition from High School to University and their Assessment'' Barreiro, Pilar; Diezma, Belén; Moya-González, Adolfo; Valero, Costantino (Spain): ''How Deep is Our Knowledge: Deceptions and Reflections'' Fuentes, José-María; Ramírez, Álvaro; García, Ana-Isabel; Ayuga, Francisco (Spain): ''Use of Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) in Spanish Universities: Current State and Comparison of e-Learning Tools '' Grande-Ortiz, Mª Ángeles; Tevar-Sánz, Gonzalo; Ayuga-Téllez, Esperanza; González-García, Concepción (Spain): ''Development of Interactive Materials by Engineering Students Using the Descartes Applet'' Martínez, Ana; De Salas, Leticia; Saa, José; Soldevilla, Carlos (Spain): ''New Mentoring and Tutoring Projects for Engineering Students''
1
7
12
17
21
27
32
Application of Education Technologies Bocatto, Evandro; Pérez de Toledo, Eloisa; Bilodeau, Victor (Canada): ''Business Simulation and Competences' Development in a Bachelor of Commerce Course''
37
Brannagan, Kim B. (USA): ''Teaching Finance in an Online Setting Using Cognitive Apprenticeship''
41
i
Hilzensauer, Marlene; Dotter, Franz (Austria): ''The "SignOn" -Model for Teaching Written Language to Deaf People''
46
Househ, Mowafa Said; Saddik, Basema; Al-Dosari, Bakheet (Saudi Arabia): ''Evaluating the Sense of Community in a Distributed Health Informatics Learning Enviornment''
52
Rastogi, Rahul; von Solms, Rossouw (South Africa): ''Information Security Service Branding – Beyond Information Security Awareness''
55
Selezneva, Elena; Veiga, Alberto (USA): ''Learning Spanish Medical Vocabulary with On-Line Authentic Materials''
61
Styron, Jr., Ronald A.; Styron, Jennifer (USA): ''Principals’ Use of Technology Relative to National Educational Technology Standards''
66
Education and Training Systems and Technologies Barker, Gail; Eden, Catherine; Cooley, Janae; Hess, Linda; Carmean, Colleen; Coe, Kathryn; Hla, Htay; Hiryak, Christopher; Martin, Christopher; Wintrich, Ina; Weinstein, Ronald S. (USA): ''Technology as a High Impact Educational Tool for K-12 Teachers''
73
Hartpence, Bruce H. (USA): ''Wegmans and RIT: A Case Study in Industrial/Academic Collaboration and the Resulting Benefits''
76
Hendel, Russell Jay (USA): ''A Guideline Checklist to Avoid Writer Bias in Social Science Instruction''
81
Javierre, Carlos; Fernández, Ángel; Ainsa, Ignacio; Clavería, Isabel (Spain): ''New Tools and Methodologies for Training in Thermoplastic Injection Molding Process''
87
Machado do Amaral, Wanessa; de Martino, José Mario; Guertzenstein Angare, Leandro Martin (Brazil): ''Sign Language 3D Virtual Agent''
93
Nakajima, Hidehiro (Japan): ''The Model of Organizational Development Strategy for Teaching with Technologies in a Culture of Isolationism''
98
O’Sullivan, Jill (USA): ''Does Using Real World Tools in Academia Make Students Better Prepared to Enter the Workforce as Compared to a Toy Type Simulation Product? A Look at ERP in Academia, Does Using this Real World Tool Make a Difference to Industry?'' Shaban, Sami (United Arab Emirates): ''Using a Curriculum Management System to Manage Teaching Load an Integrated Medical Curriculum''
102
106
Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Assaf, Dorit; Pfeifer, Rolf (Switzerland): ''EmbedIT – An Open Embedded Systems Kit for Education'' Devece, Carlos; Lapiedra, Rafael; Gil, Ignacio (Spain): ''Teaching Information Systems in Business Management Studies: Basic Competencies to Achieve and Methodologies Assessment''
ii
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Golsch, Amanda; Dunn, R. Scott; Hearn, Christopher (USA): ''Is S.T.E.M Education the Answer to School Reform?'' Hudesman, John; Carson, Matthew; Flugman, Bert; Clay, Dorie; Isaac, Sharlene (USA): ''The Computerization of the Self Regulated Learning Assessment System: A Demonstration Program in Developmental Mathematics'' Kowalski, Amy; Herget, Deborah; Mahoney, Jeff; Younger, Ziv (USA): ''Sojourn: Ensuring Compatibility and Data Security in a Computerized School-Based Study '' Liu, Yitong; Chen, Hao; Ni, Zhengwei; Wen, Si; Wu, Jianwei; Yang, Hongwen (China): ''Application of Software Defined Radio Platform in Information and Communication Technology Education''
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Nord, Gail; Nord, John (USA): ''The Microsoft Word Free Mathematics Add-In and Microsoft Mathematics Beta 4.0''
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Education of Science and Engineering Trudel, Louis; Métioui, Abdeljalil (Canada): ''Conception of a Computer-Aided Physics Laboratory to Facilitate the Understanding of Kinematical Concepts''
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Vranesh, Richard H. (USA): ''Components of Successful Distance Learning'' Wei, Kai; Zhang, Yuye; Yuan, Wancheng (China): ''Application of Combinational Innovation Philosophy in Earthquake Resistant Research for Bridges''
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227
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238
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248
Kim, Seong-Jin; Byeon, Soon Cheon (South Korea): ''An Evaluation on the Effect of Brain Korea 21 Phase II Program''
254
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257
Toguchi, Akinori; Sasaki, Hitoshi; Mizuno, Kazunori; Shikoda, Arimitsu (Japan): ''Build a Prototype of New e-Learning Contents by Using the AR Technology''
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The transition from Agricultural to Biosystems Engineering University Studies in Europe Pedro AGUADO E.S.T. Ingenieria Agraria, University of Leon Av. Portugal, 41, 24071 Leon, Spain Francisco AYUGA E.T.S. Ingenieros Agronomos. Politechnic University of Madrid Ciudad Universitaria s/n. 28040 Madrid, Spain Demetres BRIASSOULIS and Panagiotis PANAGAKIS Agricultural Engineering Department. Agricultural University of Athens 75, Iera Odos Str. 11855 Athens, Greece Pierluigi FEBO and Antonio COMPARETTI Dipartimento di Ingegneria e Tecnologie Agro-Forestali (I.T.A.F.). University of Palermo Viale delle Scienze, Building 4. 90128 Palermo, Italy Giacomo SCARASCIA-MUGNOZZA Department PROGESA (Progettazione e Gestione dei Sistemi Agro-Zootecnici e Forestali) – University of Bari Campus, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy Colm O´DONNELL Biosystems Engineering, UCD School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland Kestutis NAVICKAS Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Department of Agroenergetics, Lithuanian University of Agriculture Studentu str. 11, LT-53356 Akademija, Kaunas, Lithuania and Jens FEHRMANN Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Professorship Agricultural Systems Technology, Technische Universität Dresden Mommsen str. 13, 01062 Dresden, Germany
ABSTRACT 1. INTRODUCTION This paper describes the main result produced by the ERABEE (Education & Research in Biosystems Engineering in Europe) Thematic Network. The ERABEE Thematic Network was a follow-up of a previous Thematic Network called USAEE (University Studies of Agricultural Engineering in Europe) and both were co-financed by the European Community in the framework of the LLP Programme (Lifelong Learning Programme). The innovative and novel goal of the ERABEE Network was to promote the critical and inevitable transition from the traditional discipline of Agricultural Engineering to the emerging discipline of Biosystems Engineering, exploiting along this direction the outcomes accomplished by the earlier USAEE Thematic Network. It also aimed at enhancing the compatibility among the new programmes of Biosystems Engineering, supporting their recognition and accreditation at European and International level and facilitating greater mobility of skilled personnel, researchers and students.
The establishment of the ERABEE Thematic Network (Education & Research in Biosystems Engineering in Europe) [1] was built-upon and further developed the outputs of a previous Thematic Network called USAEE (University Studies of Agricultural Engineering in Europe) [2] by further restructuring the Agricultural Engineering programs of studies in Europe. Both Networks were co-financed by the European Community in the framework of the LLP Programme (Lifelong Learning Programme). The ERABEE lifetime began on October 1st 2007 and ended on September 30th 2010. The partnership consisted of 35 participants from 27 Erasmus countries, out of which 33 were Higher Education Area Institutions (EDU) and 2 were Student Associations (ASS). 13 Erasmus participants (e.g. Thematic Networks, Professional Associations, and Institutions from Brazil, Croatia, Russia and Serbia) were also involved in the Thematic Network activities through synergies.
Keywords: Innovation in European University Engineering Studies, Emerging Discipline of Biosystems Engineering, Agricultural Engineering.
The innovative and novel goal of the Thematic Network was to promote the critical transition from the traditional discipline of Agricultural Engineering to the emerging discipline of
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Biosystems Engineering, exploiting along this direction the outcomes accomplished by the USAEE Thematic Network. It also aimed at enhancing the compatibility among the new programmes of Biosystems Engineering, supporting their recognition and accreditation at European and International level and facilitating greater mobility of skilled personnel, researchers and students.
enrolment, regardless of the ordering of the respective terms. This change has occurred much more slowly in Europe lagging behind the corresponding developments in US, Canada and elsewhere. In 2007, when the ERABEE TN was launched, only two institutions were offering university studies in Biosystems Engineering, the University College Dublin and the Catholic University of Leuven. During the life-time of the ERABEE TN project some remarkable developments in the emerging field of Biosystems Engineering were experienced with the establishment of new programs of studies in Biosystems Engineering in Europe. The contribution of the ERABEE TN was decisive in this direction. At this moment there are ten university programs of studies in Biosystems Engineering in Europe emerged from the evolution of previous Agricultural Engineering programs of studies.
In the framework of ERABEE TN, Biosystems Engineering is understood as a field of engineering which integrates engineering science and design with applied biological, environmental and agricultural sciences. It represents an evolution of the Agricultural Engineering discipline applied to all living organisms not including biomedical applications. Therefore, Biosystems Engineering is ‘the branch of engineering that applies engineering sciences to solve problems involving biological systems’ [1].
In Europe the European Society of Agricultural Engineers (EurAgEng) has not changed its name yet but has included in their objectives to promote the profession of “Biosystems Engineering” at the same level as that of the “Agricultural Engineering”. In addition, the scientific journal of this Society is now called “Biosystems Engineering”.
The professions related to agricultural engineering have a long tradition in Europe so that all European countries have university studies related to this profession. However due to the fact that the agricultural sector has lost economic importance during the last decades these studies faced important problems such as decrease of student enrolment, reduced prestige, declining funding, etc. In response to these problems and considering the new society’s needs for renewable sources of energy, bio-based industrial materials, and environmental stewardship, many engineering departments in the U.S. have been incorporating various components of biological engineering into traditional agricultural engineering programs [3].
2. DEFINITION OF THE EMERGING DISCIPLINE OF BIOSYSTEMS ENGINEERING The American Institute of Biological Engineers [6] (IBE) defines the biology-based engineering as the discipline that integrates life sciences with engineering in the advancement and application of fundamental concepts of biological systems from molecular to ecosystem levels. In the other hand, ASABE unifies the definitions of Agricultural and Biological Engineering within the following definition: “Agricultural and Biological Engineering is the discipline of engineering that applies engineering principles and the fundamental concepts of biology to agricultural and biological systems and tools, ranging in scale from molecular to ecosystem level, for the safe, efficient and environmentally-sensitive production, processing, and management of agricultural, biological, food, and natural resources systems”. However, these definitions have not been broadly adopted and used yet. Scott [8] reported the following key elements with broader consensus of the Biological Engineering discipline: x “An emerging discipline; x Biology-based foundation; x Fundamental concepts of biological systems; x An appreciation of applications; x Scale from the molecular to large system”.
This evolution, from the Agricultural Engineering to Biosystems Engineering, started in U.S. in the 60´s. At that time some experts began to recognize that Agricultural Engineering could perhaps be included as a sub-discipline of a broader Biological and Agricultural Engineering discipline [4]. In 1966, a bioengineering committee was formed within the ASAE (American Society of Agricultural Engineers) with the goal of advancing a more broad-based discipline of Biological Engineering [5]. In 1993 ASAE changed its name from “American Society of Agricultural Engineers” to “ASABE: The Society for the Engineering of Agriculture, Food, and Biological Systems”. Along these developments many academic departments modified their names to biological engineering or similar. Young [7] analysed data regarding undergraduate enrolment changes following the adoption of “bio”-type curricula names for traditional agricultural engineering. The data were collected in 2002. The following conclusions were made: x
The annual undergraduate enrolment increases for Biological Systems Engineering, Biological Resources Engineering, and Biological Engineering curricula were statistically significant as a result of the changes made to their name. The increases in enrolments ranged from 9.9% to 30.2 % per year;
In an effort to coordinate the corresponding development in the US and Europe, the EU-US project POMSEBES [3] was established aimed at promoting policy oriented measures in support of the evolving Biosystems Engineering studies in USA – EU.
x
In general, all curricula that had “bio” only in their names had a significant enrolment increase over the traditional curricula of agricultural engineering;
x
Curricula that had both “bio” and “agr” in their names did not experience significant increases in their
The ERABEE proposed that the definition of the evolving discipline of Biosystems Engineering is based on the results of the relevant systematic work carried out in the framework of the POMSEBES project. In particular: Biosystems Engineering can be considered as the biological sciences-focused evolution of Agricultural Engineering which
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It is not considered feasible to include in one program of studies what is foreseen as Biosystems Engineering plus Biomedical Engineering or Bioengineering. Such a combination might be feasible possibly at the level of a School with several Departments, each offering an independent program of studies, one of which could be Biosystems Engineering.
applies to all living organism systems with the exception of human. It combines engineering science and design with applied biological, environmental and agricultural sciences and can be defined as “The branch of engineering that prepares students to apply engineering to solve problems involving biological systems”. In the context of this evolution in the EU, Biosystems Engineering should exclude Biomedical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biotechnology. Biotechnology programs of studies do not require an Engineering background as such and so do not require an Engineering core curriculum (as Agricultural or Biosystems Engineering programs do). Biomedical Engineering on the other hand, has already been established as an independent discipline by other classical Engineering Departments in cooperation with Medical Schools.
An equivalent approach but more suitable to the concept of Biosystems Engineering as a discipline evolving from the evolution of the traditional discipline of Agricultural Engineering is given by the Biosystems Engineering Journal [9]: “Remit of Biosystems Engineering: research in the physical sciences and engineering to understand, model, process or enhance biological systems for sustainable developments in agriculture, food, land use and the environment”. Program of Studies
University / Country / Language / Web site
University College Dublin (Ireland) Language: English http://www.ucd.ie/
Department
Scope of Program
Undergraduate Curriculum
Graduate Studies
School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine (Master) Engineering and Materials Science Centre (Bachelor) Ingenieria y Ciencias Agrarias
Biosystems Engineering
Biosystems Engineering
Research Programme in Biosystems Engineering
Investigación en Ingeniería de Biosistemas (Research in Biosystems Engineering)
--------
Master Universitario de Investigación en Ingeniería de Biosistemas (Research University Master in Biosystems Engineering)
Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña (Politechnic University of Cataluña) (Spain) Language: Spanish http://www.upc.edu/aprender/estudios/ambitos/biosiste mas?set_language=es Universidade de Évora (Evora- Portugal) Language: Portuguese http://www.der.uevora.pt/noticias_e_informacoes/infor macoes/geral/mestrado_em_engenharia_biossistemas
Escuela Superior de Agricultura de Barcelona (High Agricultural School of Barcelona)
Biosystems Engineering
Four bachelor degrees in the field of Biosystem Engineering
Six Masters in the field of Biosystems Engineering
Departamento de Engenharia Rural
Engenharia de Biossistemas (Biosystems Engineering)
----------
Maestrado em Engenharia de Biossistemas
University of Maribor (Slovenia) Language: Slovenian http://fk.uni-mb.si/index.php?id=29
Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Biosystems Engineering Professional Bachelor Study Biosystems Engineering
Biosystems Engineering
Universidad de León (Leon-Spain) Language: Spanish and English http://www.unileon.es/ficheros/acceso/master/triptico_ master_inv_biosistemas.pdf
Stonian University of Life Sciences (Estonia) Language: Estonian http://www.emu.ee/ Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (Romania) Language: Romanian http://utcluj.ro/educatie/master.php Aarhus University (Denmark) Language: Danish http://mit.au.dk/coursecatalogue/index.cfm?elemid=38 940&topid=38940&sem=E2010&udd=&art=&hom= Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Catholic University od Leuven) (Belgium-Flanders) Language: Nederlands http://onderwijsaanbod.kuleuven.be/opleidingen/n/SC_ 51016779.htm Uludag University Language: Turkish www.uludag.edu.tr
Biosystems Engineering
Facultatea de Mecanică (Faculty of Mechanics)
Biosystems Engineering for Agriculture and Food Industry Biosystems Engineering
Master's Degree on Biosystem Engineering for Agriculture and Food Industry Master´s Degree in Biosystems Engineering
Facultaire informatieFaculteit Bioingenieurswetenschappe n (Faculty of Bioscience Engineering) Faculty of Agriculture
Biosystems Engineering
Master´s Degree in Biosystems Engineering
Biosystems Engineering
Biosystems Engineering
Table 1: University Studies in Biosystems Engineering in Europe
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3.
x
Biological Engineering: BAEs applies engineering practice to problems and opportunities presented by living things and the natural environment.
x
Natural Resources: BAEs understand the complex mechanics the resources, so that they can be used efficiently and without degradation.
x
Power Systems and Machinery Design: BAEs in this specialty focus on designing advanced equipment, making it more efficient and less demanding of our natural resources.
x
Structures and Environment: BAEs design animal housing, storage structures, and greenhouses. They also devise better practices and systems for storing, recovering, reusing, and transporting waste products.
x
Food and Bioprocess: BAEs understand microbiological processes and use this expertise to develop useful products, to treat municipal, industrial and agricultural wastes, and to improve food safety.
x
Information and Electrical Technologies: Geographic information systems, global positioning systems, machine instrumentation and controls, electromagnetics, and -"bioinfomatics"- biorobotics, machine vision, sensors, spectroscopy, etc.
x
Forest Engineering: BAEs apply engineering to solve natural resource and environment problems in forest production systems and related manufacturing industries.
x
Energy: BAEs are at the forefront of the effort to identify and develop viable energy sources - biomass, methane, and vegetable oil, to name a few - and to make these and other systems cleaner and more efficient
x
Aquacultural Engineering: BAEs help design farm systems for raising fish and shellfish, as well as ornamental and bait fish. They also work with aquatic animal harvesting, sorting, and processing.
x
Nursery & Greenhouse Engineering: nursery and greenhouse operations are similar to large-scale production agriculture, but have other engineering needs like those related to equipment for transplantation; control systems for temperature, humidity, and ventilation, plant biology issues, such as hydroponics, tissue culture, seedling propagation methods, etc.
x
Safety and Health: BAEs analyze health and injury data, the use and possible misuse of machines, and equipment compliance with standards and regulation.
EUROPEAN PROGRAMS OF STUDIES IN BIOSYSTEMS ENGINEERING
Within the works of ERABEE Thematic Network, new programs of studies in Biosystems Engineering all over the world were identified and described. ERABEE had a relevant influence in the creation of these new studies; in fact, most of the European ones were established by the partner universities of the Network. At the beginning of these works only two institutions were offering university studies in Biosystems Engineering, the University College Dublin and the Catholic University of Leuven, but at the end they were ten. These degrees are tabulated below (Table 1). 4.
BIOSYSTEMS ENGINEERING ACREDITATION
During the period 2002-2006 the Thematic Network USAEE [2] was initiated with the fundamental goal of improving and harmonising the Engineering content of Agricultural/Biosystems Engineering curricula in European universities. In this line, USAEE TN developed a basic core curriculum in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering “Core Curricula of Agricultural/Biosystems Engineering for the First Cycle Pivot Point Degrees of the Integrated M.Sc. or Long Cycle Academic Orientation” For the first time a critical mass of human resources and European Institutions/Universities offering such programs of studies has been mobilised in a systematic way, carrying out a coordinated intensive work in an effort to establish basic Agricultural Engineering core curricula to be used as benchmark and recognised/accredited at a European level. The final version of the Core Curricula for Agricultural/Biosystems Engineering programs of studies in Europe with the corresponding learning outcomes and course descriptions was approved by the EMC (European Monitoring Committee) of FEANI [11] (European Federation of National Engineering Associations) in January 2007. This outcome not only underlines the successful and historical steps made by USAEE-TN, but it also represents a great advancement for the establishment of harmonised Core Curricula of Agricultural/Biosystems Engineering studies in Europe that may now be recognised as such at the European level by two European professional associations, FEANI and EurAgEng (European Society of Agricultural Engineers). Based on this previous experience ERABEE members have developed accreditation criteria for the Bachelor’s degree programmes in Biosystems or Agricultural and Biological Engineering. This document has been developed as a basis for the accreditation agencies and the universities’ quality assessment schemes and the European Accreditation framework for engineering programs of studies EUR-ACE [12]. The core curriculum of Biosystems Engineering study programmes has been based on that elaborated in the framework of the USAEE Thematic Network enriched with new modules related to bio-energy and bio-based materials. 5.
In Europe, the European Society of Agricultural Engineers [14] (EurAgEng) consider the following areas in the professional activity of the Agricultural/Biosystems Engineers:
BIOSYSTEMS ENGINEERING CURRICULA
In the web site of ASABE [13] the following speciality areas for the Biological and Agricultural Engineers (BAE) can be found:
x
Power Systems and Machinery: Agricultural tractors, combines, implements, transportation equipment, turf and landscape equipment, equipment for special
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x
crops, irrigation equipment, farmstead equipment and food processing equipment. x
Information and Electronics: Global positioning systems, machine instrumentation and controls, data acquisition, bioinformatics and electromagnetics.
x
Safety and Ergonomics: Compile and analyse health and injury data, standardize equipment for component compatibility, encourage safe use of machinery, equipment, and materials through better design and better communication.
x
Energy: Devising new ways of meeting the energy needs of agriculture and meeting the energy needs of the general population by using agricultural products and by-product ( biomass, methane, vegetable oils and wind and solar energy).
x
Natural Resources: Wetlands protection, water control structures (dams, reservoirs, floodways), drainage, erosion control, pesticide and nutrient runoff, crop water requirements, water treatment systems and irrigation.
x
Greenhouse and Nursery: irrigation, mechanization, disease and pest control, temperature, humidity, ventilation control and plant biology (tissue culture, seedling propagation, hydroponics)
Structures and physical environment: animal housing, grain storage, waste management, climate, ventilation, disease control systems.
In the previously mentioned document of the ERABEE Thematic Network relating to the accreditation of Bachelor’s degree programmes in Biosystems or Agricultural and Biological Engineering the following table (table 2) was included [15]. This table shows the Core Curricula of Agricultural / Biosystems Engineering for the First Cycle Degrees of Integrated First and Second cycles (i.e. Pivot Point Degree) or for Long Cycle Academic Orientation Programs of Studies. As far as the First Cycle B.S. Degrees Programs of Studies the proposed Core Curricula of Agricultural/ Biosystems Engineering allows for 18 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) units (out of a total of 180 ECTS) to be devoted to applied Agricultural Engineering subjects while most of the Agricultural Engineering specialisation subjects will be offered during the second cycle program of studies. ECTS credits are based on the workload students need in order to achieve expected learning outcomes. In this way, one academic year corresponds to 60 ECTS-credits that are equivalent to 1500–1800 hours of study.
COURSE TYPE
Basic Sciences Mathematics Physics Chemistry Informatics Electives Economics & Humanities SUBTOTAL: Basic Sciences+Electives COURSE TYPE
Engineering Sciences Core Basic Engineering Sciences Module Engineering Sciences Agricultural/Biological Sciences Core Basic Agricultural/Biological Sciences Module Agricultural/Biological Sciences SUBTOTAL-Core curriculum: Engineering Sciences + Agricultural/Biological Sciences Applied Agricultural Engineering Sciences: not included in the core curriculum TOTAL 1st CYCLE
NON TECHNICAL ECTS CREDITS AGRICULTURAL / BIOSYSTEMS ENGINEERING PROGRAMME IN FEANI EMC comments COMPLIANCE WITH THE FEANI EMC comments 36 (min) (min. 20% of total) 36-45 24 (min) 24 (min) 12 12 (min)
18 (min) 18 (10% of total) 54 (min)
18- 27 18 (min) 54-72
TECHNICAL ECTS CREDITS REVISIONS OF USAEE PROGRAMME IN FEANI EMC comments COMPLIANCE WITH THE FEANI EMC comments 72 (min)-81 44-51 28-30 36 (min)-45 20-25 16-20 108 (min) (min. 60% of total)
108 (min) -126
-
18 (max)
180
180
Table 2: Core Curricula of Agricultural / Biosystems Engineering for the First Cycle Degrees proposed by ERABEE
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6. CONCLUSIONS 8. REFERENCES The traditional field of Agricultural Engineering is now evolving into the Biosystems Engineering field, which is a science-based engineering discipline that integrates engineering science and design with applied biological, environmental and agricultural sciences, broadening in this way the area of application of Engineering sciences not strictly to agricultural sciences, but to the biological sciences in general, including the agricultural sciences. In response to this development, the Thematic Network ERABBE was established. This development is a response to the new society’s needs in view of the emerging bio-based economy, such as renewable sources of energy, bio-based industrial materials, and environmental stewardship.
[1] Education & Research in Biosystems Engineering in Europe. ERABEE Thematic Network. http://www.erabee.aua.gr/ [2]UniversityStudiesofAgriculturalEngineeringinEuropeͲ A Thematic Network; USAEEͲTN. http://www.hostforce.co.uk/nondrup/usaee/usaeeͲtn.htm [3] Policy Oriented Measures in Support of the Evolving Biosystems Engineering Studies in USA - EU: POMSEBES. Project No. 2006-4563/003-001, CPT CPTUSA. http://www.pomsebes.aua.gr/
In the University Studies this evolution is materializing in the extension of agricultural studies to Biosystems studies, by including these new emerging disciplines. This change seems to be a solution to some current problems of these studies due to the loss of importance like agricultural sector. In the majority of the cases the transition from agricultural engineering studies to biosystems engineering studies has improved some important aspects like student enrolment, prestige, funding, etc. The existing European studies on Biosystems Engineering are described in this paper.
[4] Tao B.Y., Allen D.K., Okos M.R. (2006). The Evolution of Biological Engineering. International Journal of Engineering Education 22(1): pp. 45-52. [5] Cuello J. L. (2006). The Descent of Biological Engineering. International Journal of Engineering Education 22(1), pp. 35-44. [6] Institute of Biological http://ibe.org/engineeringͲforͲlife.html
ERABEE Thematic Network has developed accreditation criteria for the Bachelor’s degree programs in Biosystems or Agricultural-Biological Engineering. This document has been developed as a basis for the accreditation agencies and the universities’ quality assessment schemes and may now be recognized as such at the European level by two European professional associations, FEANI and EurAgEng and the European Accreditation scheme for engineering programs of studies EUR-ACE.
Engineers.
[7] Young R.E. (2006). Comparisons of “bio”-type engineering undergraduate curricula from agricultural, medical, and chemical origins. International Journal of Engineering Education 22(1), pp. 14-22. [8] Scott N.R. (2006). DNA of Biological Engineering: An Engineering Discipline? International Journal of Engineering Education 22(1), pp. 9-13.
Despite the concepts of Biosystems or Biological-Agricultural disciplines are very similar in US and Europe, significant differences still remains. Therefore coordinated networking activities like those carried out by the ERABEE network are very important to unify criteria, follow the international developments in this emerging discipline and, as a consequence, facilitate the international recognition of these studies and the exchange of students and professors.
[9] Biosystems Engineering, Official Journal of the Institution of Agricultural Engineers (IAgrE). http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home /622795/description#description [10]Core Curricula of Agricultural/Biosystems Engineering for the First Cycle Pivot Point Degrees of the Integrated M.Sc. or Long Cycle Academic Orientation. http://www.eurageng.net/files/usaee-corecurriculum.pdf
Scope and main contents of Biosystems Engineering studies has been described in this paper. The showed data are based on the main professional associations of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineers in US and Europe and on the work carried out by the USAEE TN, POMSEBES project and the ERABEE Thematic Network. The work of the ERABEE Thematic Network continues now through the ERABEE Network established by the partners Institution of the ERABEE TN following the end of the Thematic Network project.
[11] Fédération Européenne d'Associations Nationales d'Ingénieurs, European Federation of National Engineering Associations. Av. Roger Vandendriessche 18, B-1150, Brussels, Belgium. http://www.feani.org [12] EURACE: www.eurace.org/
EURopean
ACredited
Engineer.
[13] ASABE: The Society for the Engineering of Agriculture, Food, and Biological Systems. http://www.asabe.org/
7. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Presented works have been co-financed by the European Community in the framework of the LLP Programme within the project ERABEE (Education and Research in Biosystems or Agricultural and Biological Engineering in Europe; a Thematic Network - 134306-LLP-1-2007-1-GR-ERASMUS-ENW).
[14] EurAgEng - European Society of Agricultural Engineers. http://www.eurageng.eu/ [15]ERABEEsubjectͲspecificcriteriaforaccreditation.ERABEE ThematicNetwork. http://www.erabee.aua.gr/Exploiatation.htm
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Analysis of procedures and tools for the adaptation of engineering degrees to labor market needs in Spain Pedro AGUADO and Pedro CASQUERO Department of Agrarian Engineering and Sciences, University of Leon Av. Portugal, 41, 24071 León, Spain Alberto TASCON Departamento de Agricultura y Alimentación, University of La Rioja Complejo Científico Tecnológico, C/ Madre de Dios, 51, 26006 Logroño, Spain And Ramón ALVAREZ Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, University of León Campus de Vegazana, s/n, 24071 León, Spain country, which hampers the development of joint degrees that are attractive to foreign students. The incorporation of international initiatives to improve the mutual recognition of university studies in engineering (OEI initiatives, EU-US ATLANTIS Programme, EUR-ACE, USAEE, ERABEE, POMSEBES,…) [5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10] could help to improve this international dimension.
ABSTRACT Adapting Engineering Degrees to labor market needs is one of the major concern of the universities. Spanish engineering studies case is particularly complex due to the existing professional competences. This paper describes part of the works carried out in the ANADING project (Analysis of procedures and tools for the adaptation of engineering degrees to the needs of national and international labor market) during the years 2009 and 2010, which was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education. In this project have been developed tools for the detection of engineering degrees needs to adapt them to the labor market. Many previous works have been deeply analyzed and two models of questionnaires have been developed, one for graduates and the other for employers. Both questionnaires and the corresponding survey methods have been tested with graduates of the last 5 years of the Agricultural Engineering studies of the University of León, and with a group of selected employers. Many suggestions about how to develop a methodology to identify the engineering degrees needs, and how to interpret its results, have been presented.
This paper describes part of the works carried out in the ANADING project (Analysis of procedures and tools for the adaptation of engineering degrees to the needs of national and international labor market) during the years 2009 and 2010. This project was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education. Its main objective was to analyze the procedures for identifying needs, competences and opportunities of the engineering studies to adapt them to the labor market. For this, all the previously commented aspects have been considered. 2. METHODOLOGY Firstly, those past experiences that have been previously used for the detection of the labor market demands and to determine needs and opportunities of university degrees were deeply analyzed. Secondly, based on this preliminary information, a procedure to obtain the desired information in the context of engineering was developed. This procedure includes two surveys aimed to graduate students and employers. To carry out the surveying, online techniques with telephone reinforcement were used.
Keywords: Innovation in University Engineering Studies, adaptation of university degrees to the labor market, survey methodologies to analyze the university study’s needs. 1. INTRODUCTION Adapting Engineering degrees to labor market needs is a major concern of those involved in preparing new proposals or modifications of these university studies. There are much information and many previous works in this area [1, 2, 3 and 4]. However, such information must be kept updated with procedures and tools to obtain the necessary data to adapt these studies. Therefore, universities should perform their own studies to know both the results of their degrees and the training needs of professionals.
The surveys were created from the previously mentioned works [1, 2, 3 and 4], correcting some deficiencies identified by the research team. The most important content of the surveys, particularly with regard to obtain information for the development of new courses or adapt existing ones, is the reference to general and specific competences. In one of the questions were listed the general competences, asking graduates what is the level required in your current job (labor market) and what level acquired in their university studies (score of 1 to 5, 1 = none, 5 = very much). The responses for the labor market and for the studies were compared in order to identify competences with excess or deficit of training.
In the field of engineering should be taken into account also the regulations of professional competences. Therefore, the incorporation of emerging topics in the curriculum should be coordinated with such requirements.
Another similar survey was developed for the specific competences. In the employer´s survey were included two
A particularly difficult aspect of the design of these studies is their orientation to the international market. The professional competences and features of these studies are different in each
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similar questions but only asking for the level required for the company's engineers.
authors, two more competences were included: "Responsible attitude at work" and "Knowledge of basic engineering subjects (mathematics, physics, chemistry, technical drawing ...). "
The selection of the general competences were performed by comparing the survey of the White Paper of the Spanish Degrees in Agricultural Engineering and Forestry [1], the CHEERS project [4] and the survey of the PROFLEX project [3]. It was also taken into consideration the basic competences established in the Spanish Royal Decree 1393/2007 [11] which are based on the Qualifications Framework of the European Higher Education Area [12]. And finally, was also considered the ministry orders CIN/325/2009 [13] and CIN/323/2009 [14], which establish the requirements for the verification of university degrees that qualify for the exercise of the profession of Agricultural Engineer and Technical Agricultural Engineer, respectively.
The specific competences were selected from the information contained in the verification requirements of ministry orders CIN/325/2009 [13] and CIN/323/2009 [14]. It must be noticed that in Spain the Technical Agricultural (bachelor) requirements are the requirements of the first cycle of Agricultural Engineer (Master Level). Therefore, for Agricultural Engineering degrees both orders mast be considered. Some competences had to be grouped in a common one in order to not to extend the survey beyond what is desirable. In addition to the competences required by the ministry orders some competences of USAEE and ERABEE Thematic Networks were also included.
The total number of competences selected from the resources mentioned above was 28. Furthermore, by decision of the General Competences Capability for analysis and synthesis Ability to organize and plan Ability to write reports or documents Communication capability with non-experts Communication capability with experts Negotiation skills Ability to write and speak foreign languages Working in an international context Computer training Troubleshooting Decision Making Ability to work in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams Ability to work independently Ability to challenge own and other people ideas Independent learning Adaptation to problems and to new environments Creativity Initiative and entrepreneurial spirit Leadership ability Theoretical knowledge in your field or discipline Knowledge of other areas or disciplines Knowledge of basic engineering subjects (mathematics, physics, chemistry, technical drawing, ...) Ability to apply knowledge in practice Interpersonal relationship skills Ability to search and use rules and regulations Working Capacity Responsible attitude in the work Social, ethical and environmental commitment
Table 1 lists the selected competences.
Specific Competences Mathematics and Statistics Technical Drawing Chemistry and Biochemistry Physics Geology, Soil Science and Climatology Organization and Management Biology and Microbiology Botany Fundamentals of Plant Production (Plant Improvement and Protection) Fundamentals of Animal Production (Physiology, Breeding and Nutrition) Genetics and Biotechnology Ecology, Environmental Impact Assessment and Restoration Surveying, Mapping, GIS Structural Analysis and Construction Hydraulic Agricultural and Industrial Engines and Machinery Electricity and Electrotechnics Project and Construction Management Management and utilization of byproducts and waste Valuation of properties and goods Basic Operations and Food Technology Technology of Agricultural and Food Industries
Automation and Control Engineering of Building Facilities Plants Production Technology (crops, horticulture and fruits) Irrigation Systems & Technology Sales and Marketing Gardening, landscaping and sport facilities Rural infrastructures (roads, dams, ponds, retaining walls…) Quality, Safety and Environment Management Systems Sustainable Development Hydrology and erosion Planning and Land Management Strength of Materials Materials for buildings and facilities Agricultural Mechanization Agricultural Policy Ability to plan and develop Research and Developments works Energy (renewable, biofuels production, pollution) Bio- based materials (made of organic materials) Humanities Table 1: Selected Competences for the Degrees in Agricultural Engineering
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T The developedd surveying methodology was tested w with ggraduated studeents of the Schoool of Agricultuural Engineeringg of tthe University oof León. The tarrget population for the survey w was iintegrated for graduate g studentts of the Agricuultural Engineerring D Degree of the llast five academ mic years (i.e. 2004/05, 2005//06, 22006/07, 2007/008 and 2008/099).
kknowledge in practice, p resoluution of probleems, adaptationn to pproblems and new n environmeents, capabilityy for analysis and a ssynthesis. F Figure 1 showss the most impportant generall competences for ttheir jobs (scoree> 4) in opinionn of the graduatees.
T The survey waas implementedd on-line usingg the Lime Surrvey ssoftware, beingg the repositorry of data on the server of the U University of León (what ffulfills the reqquirements of the S Spanish Data Prrotection Legisllation). T The research team found somee difficulties usiing the institutioonal eemail addressess because of m many students oonly use their oown aaddresses. Theerefore an addditional effort was necessaryy to oobtain such adddresses (by teelephone calls,, other lists, eetc). S Such email conntained a presenntation, brief infformation aboutt the pproject and a linnk to access thee online survey. IIn the case of thhe employers suurveying, the liist of companies in w which the studeents make practtices was used. Firstly the conntact pperson of each company was contacted by teelephone and after a tthat the email w was sent. 33.
RESULTS S AND DISCU USSION
T The number of responded survveys for the gradduates, in wholee or iin part, was 58. The total num mber of polled ggraduated was 2223, tthis implies a reesponse rate of 26%. It shouldd be noted that oonly aapproximately 120 graduates w were contacted.. Therefore, alm most 550% of the ggraduates contaacted via e-maail responded the ssurvey, in wholle or in part.
F Figure 1: Mostt important genneral competennces for the labbor m market (score> 4) in opinion off the graduates.. F Figure 2 showss the most impportant generall competences for eengineers (scoree> 4) in opinionn of the employeers.
T The number of contacted companies w was 30, includding ccompanies, assoociations and public p institutionns. The numberr of rresponses was 18, which reprresents approxim mately 50% off the ccompanies conttacted. T Those surveys filled out incom mpletely did nott contain answeered qquestions in thee competences part. The reasoon is length of this ppart of the survey, with 28 general and 41 speccific ccompetencies, w what could disscourage some respondents. O Only 338 graduates coompleted all thee questions of coompetences, whhich rrepresent 17% of the total nuumber of gradu duates and 31% % of tthose that weree contacted. How wever it is diffi ficult to reduce this ppart without loss l relevant iinformation abbout the differrent ccompetences. If the competennces were moree grouped it woould bbe difficult to discriminate thhe opinion betw ween the differrent ddisciplines. A According to tthe results of thhe graduate’s ssurveys, there iis a llack of trainingg in all general competences. T That is, the vallues ffor the level oof competencess acquired durring the univerrsity sstudies are loweer to that requirred in the job. T This may be due to tthe difficulty oof graduates iddentify these coompetences in the aactivities underrtaken during thheir studies, whhich could explain w why there is a m majority opinionn of the lack off training in genneral ccompetences.
F Figure 2: Mostt important genneral competennces for engineeers ((score> 4) in oppinion of the em mployers. C Comparing figuures 1 and 2 it i can be seen a strong overrlap bbetween that inndicated by thee graduates andd employers. T The oonly differences were: only thhe employers gave g more thann 4 ppoints to "initiative and entreepreneurial spiirit" and only the ggraduates scoredd above 4 "Deccision Making", "Communicattion ccapability with eexperts" and " iinterpersonal rellationships skillls"
T The standard deviation d of thee responses of the graduates w was 1.00 for the valuation v of the work needs and 1.18 for the vvaluation of thee studies traininng. The general competences w with hhigher trainingg deficit (deficiit > 1.5 pointss) were: abilityy to ccommunicate with w non-experrts, computer skills, negotiattion sskills, ability to write repoorts and docuuments, ability to ccommunicate with w experts, deecision making,, capacity to appply
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R Regarding to thhe specific com mpetences, the standard deviattion oof the responsees of the graduaates was 1.46 foor the valuationn for tthe competencees in their proffessional activiity and 1.05 thhose aacquired duringg the degree. IIn this case thee deviation for the w work competennces values is m much higher thaan that observedd in tthe general com mpetences. A According to aaverage values,, some of the competences hhave eexcess of trainiing and other deeficit. Must be taken into accoount tthat the majoriity of graduatees who respondded to the surrvey w work in the fielld of engineerinng and services (consulting, health aand safety, connstruction, civill engineering, environment, eetc.) A And therefore ttheir responses meet the comppetences demannded iin this kind of aactivities. F Figure 3 showss the 20 most im mportant speciffic competences in tthe labor markeet in opinion off the graduates (higher score tthan 22.5). In generaal, it can be saiid that the leveel required for the llabor market, aaccording to thee graduates opiinion, is higher for tthe general coompetencies thaan for specificc (none of whhich rreaches 3.5). It must be also nooted that in the top ten listed thhere aare several baasic discipliness: "Mathematiccs and Statistics," ""technical draawing", "physiical" and "geeology, soils and cclimatology."
F Figure 4: Specific competencees with deficit of training (score bbelow 0) in opinnion of the gradduates.
44. CONCLUSIONS A methodologyy to identify thhe engineering studies needs in Onoorder to adapt thhem to the laboor market has beeen presented. O lline surveys witth telephone reiinforcement haave been provenn to bbe a good tooll for identifyinng needs and oopportunities thhese ddegrees. The prooposed methoddology permits iidentifying geneeral mpetences with excess or deficit of training. aand specific com T There is a cleaar agreement aabout the most important gennera for the labor market betweeen graduates aand ccompetences fo eemployers. Thhe best valuaated general competences are wo groups. Gradduates feel that the ppractically the ssame for the tw ggeneral competeence’s level reqquired for the laabor market is vvery hhigh and there iis a lack of trainning during the university studiies. mpetences are ddependent on thhe economic secctor T The specific com iin which the respondent works. The bassic disciplines of E Engineering aree very importannt for the labor market in opinnion oof the surveyed graduates. They also feel theree is a deficit in the ttraining of disciplines relatedd to business management aand mportance in ttoday's world, as eemerging topiccs of great im ""Energy ", "Biomaterials" and "Sustainable Deevelopment”
F Figure 3: Mosst important sppecific competeences in the laabor m market (score> 2.5) in opinionn of the graduattes. ws those speciffic competencees with deficitt of F Figure 4 show ttraining, accorrding to the graduates opinnion. It must be hhighlighted thee competence "ability to devvelop Researchh & work" has the second worst score. It can be D Development w aappreciated thatt many competeences with deficciencies are relaated tto managementt activities of thhe companies aas "Marketing and Organization aand Managemeent" and "quaality M Marketing", "O m management, safety and the environmentt systems" or to eemerging topics, as "Energy",, "Biomaterials" and "Sustainaable D Development".
5. ACKNOW WLEDGMENTS NADING (Análisis T This work has bbeen funded by the project AN mientas para la adaptación de los mientos y herram dde los procedim ttítulos de Ingeeniería a las nnecesidades dell mercado labooral EA2009-0181) ffrom the Spannish nnacional e inteernacional – E M Ministry of Eduucation
IIn the case of the specific coompetences therre is not the saame uunanimity among graduates annd employers tthan in the casee of ggeneral compeetencies. On tthe contrary, tthere are notaable ddifferences. Suuch differences may be due too there is no exxact ccorrespondencee between thee economic ssectors in whhich ggraduates workk and economic sectors of emplloyer´s companiies.
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[13] Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Ministry of Science and Innovation) (2009). Orden CIN/323/2009, de 9 de febrero, por la que se establecen los requisitos para la verificación de los títulos universitarios oficiales que habiliten para el ejercicio de la profesión de Ingeniero Técnico Agrícola. (Requirements for the verification of university degrees that qualify for the exercise of the profession of Technical Agricultural Engineer)
6. REFERENCES [1] Spanish Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA) (2005). Libro Blanco del título de grado en ingenierías agrarias e ingenierías forestales (White book of the agrarian and forestry undergraduate studies) . http://www.aneca.es/publicaciones/libros-blancos.aspx [2] Spanish Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA) and Centro de Estudios en Gestion de la Educacion Superior de la Universidad Politecnica de Valencia (CEGES). (2007). The Flexible Professional in the Knowledge Society New Demands on Higher Education in Europe: Spanish case. http://www.upv.es/entidades/CEGES/menu_632568c.html [3] European Commission (2008). PROFLEX (Flexible Professional in the Society of Knowledge). ALFA Project II0546-A. http://encuesta-proflex.org/
[14] Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Ministry of Science and Innovation) (2009). Orden CIN/325/2009, de 9 de febrero, por la que se establecen los requisitos para la verificación de los títulos universitarios oficiales que habiliten para el ejercicio de la profesión de Ingeniero Agrónomo. (Requirements for the verification of university degrees that qualify for the exercise of the profession of Agricultural Engineer)
[4] European Commission, (1997). Carrers after graduation: An European research study (CHEERS) TSER Project financed within the IV Framework Programme of the European Union (SOE2 CT97 -2023) http://www.unikassel.de/incher/cheers/ [5]UniversityStudiesofAgriculturalEngineeringinEuropeͲ A Thematic Network; USAEEͲTN. http://www.hostforce.co.uk/nondrup/usaee/usaeeͲtn.htm [6] Policy Oriented Measures in Support of the Evolving Biosystems Engineering Studies in USA - EU: POMSEBES. Project No. 2006-4563/003-001, CPT CPTUSA. http://www.pomsebes.aua.gr/
[7] ERABEE subject-specific criteria for accreditation. ERABEE Thematic Network. http://www.erabee.aua.gr/Exploiatation.htm [8] EURACE: www.eurace.org
EURopean
ACredited
Engineer.
[9] Organizacion de Estados Iberoamericanos (OEI) Homologacion y reconocimiento de titulos de educacion superior en sudamerica (mutual recognition of higher education studies in South-America) http://www.oei.es/homologaciones/ [10] Trans-Atlantic Biosystems Engineering Curriculum and Mobility (TABE.NET). EU-US ATLANTIS Programme. http://www.ucd.ie/tabe/ [11] Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia Ministry of Education and Science) (2007). REAL DECRETO 1393/2007, de 29 de octubre, por el que se establece la ordenación de las enseñanzas universitarias oficiales (it establish the planning of official university studies). http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2007/10/30/pdfs/A44037-44048.pdf [12] European Commission. European Qualifications http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learningFramework. policy/doc44_en.htm
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Tools in Spanish Universities to Facilitate the Transition from High School to University and their Assessment Esperanza AYUGA-TÉLLEZ Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
[email protected] and Concepción GONZÁLEZ-GARCÍA Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
[email protected] and Mª Ángeles GRANDE-ORTIZ Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
[email protected] and Asunción RUBIO DE JUAN Universidad de Extremadura
[email protected] Grupo de Innovación Educativa en Técnicas Cuantitativas para la Ingeniería Medioambiental. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Invited Session: Teaching innovation and processes of change in Engineering Education: new ideas, methodologies and models. tools, with a scale of 1 to 5, gave an average score of 3.29 for initial courses and 3.41 for selfevaluation. The 72.9% of the students consider the "self assessment" more effective than the "initial course".
ABSTRACT Incoming students in the University have education deficiencies, so universities studies require a sound basis of scientific knowledge. In this project are analysed instruments to reinforcing knowledge in those areas related to the studies that students are about to embark on public Spanish universities. There are important differences among universities and, in each university there are great differences among titles. Initial courses (cursos cero) are widespread (in 50% of universities) that selfevaluation instruments (14 % of universities). It is necessary to improve diffusion of those instruments because it is not possible to evaluate them. So are proposed the next actuations: to make regular standard surveys for professors and students; to publish results of surveys; public universities should institutionalize their basic training offer and improve the dissemination of this offer especially through the web.
Key words: Spanish universities, instruments to reinforcing, student opinion, pilot survey. 1.
INTRODUCTION
The underachievement of university students is related in general with several factors: academic, cultural, familial, social ... Research on students with good academic performance indicate that gender, school performance prior to University and the economics are important factors for success. Academic performance also is influenced by other factors such as social integration and ongoing study habits at home [1] In our daily work as teachers we have observed in recent years that new students have difficulties with the analysis and criticism of the topics discussed, limitations in their knowledge of basic science, failures in problem solving, poor understanding reading, bad study habits and poor capacity for synthesis. These factors, among others, are related to low academic performance of students at the University ([2], [3]).
This paper presents a questionnaire to assess student opinion about these tools. To analyze the effectiveness, and make an initial estimate of the evaluation of these tools, we conducted a pilot test of the questionnaire with 68 students at the University of Extremadura. The results of preliminary statistical analysis conducted on the pilot test indicate that the survey results are reliable. A global evaluation of both
The first years in the University are usually very difficult for students. In general, its greatest
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other hand they improve the motivation and participation in courses for first year [10].
difficulties are related to the ineffectiveness of the study, little capacity for self learning and lack of basic knowledge for the study of science. Also it has been noted that the new students rarely use the consultation of materials, books, and even information on the net [4].
The 56.86% overall the public universities offer such courses. The total of different subjects offering is 313. The larger offer is of subjects of Mathematics (34%), followed by Physics (11%), languages (9%), Chemistry (9%), study skills or other subjects relating to the incorporation in the university (8%).
University professors indicate as a major cause of learning deficiencies of their students are the lack of the background knowledge that should have acquired in earlier stages of education (both primary and secondary levels) as well as lack of study skills [5].
Most universities that offer ³zero-courses´ offered the Mathematics. Some universities include up to 5 different Math subjects: Calculus, Algebra, Mathematical Analysis, Mathematical Models or Mathematical basis. In some cases the subject is taught with different levels for different orientations. The same subject can be taught with different levels depending on the orientation of the title to study, the center or the professor.
According to the studies mentioned above, one can think of a number of suggestions to educational authorities, universities and state organizations, aimed at actions that systematically be solving the long-term problem ([6], [7] and [8]). University institutions should enhance their academic services to help the new students, in order to provide opportunities to increase their academic performance progressively. They should also take into consideration the views and concerns of students, in order to remedy or satisfy the needs that arise and resolve them.
Moreover, in some Spanish universities have set in motion the incorporation of self-assessment questionnaires on a range of subjects. In this way students can check the level of their knowledge, both new students, as students already enrolled in curriculum materials for universities. The self-evaluation through virtual environments is perfectly feasible using evidence of objective response and allows activities that promote learning before, during and after the academic period [11]. However, recent studies has shown that the use of self-assessment tools on the Web improves the learning of theoretical concepts but not practical as occur with laboratory practical ([12], [13] and [14]). So it seems a particularly useful tool to remind and reinforce basics knowledges.
This paper presents (1) a study of the tools provided by Spanish universities to facilitate the transition from high school students to University in the learning of knowledge and (2) the results of a pilot survey carried out by a small number of students. 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS Instruments: ³Zero-courses´ and virtual platforms Some initiatives, for better adaptation of new students to the University, are already being implemented in Spanish universities. There are 52 public universities in Spain that have information on these tools till the course 2009/2010 [9].
From a theoretical point of view, the self-assessment has the advantage that it can face the diversity of students. Facilitate adaptation to different rates of learning according to their different characteristics of the students. Self-evaluation is particularly appropriate to teach in the responsibility and to learn how to value the individual learning carried out [15].
The "zero-courses" and virtual platforms with selfassessment exercises are two widespread activities in Spanish universities. They are aimed at those high school students admitted for the first time in the university and they need to overcome lack of training.
Despite the theoretical advantages of this tool has not been sufficiently developed in Spanish universities. We believe that this is due to two main reasons:
These courses are intended to update the knowledge already acquired in the core subjects required in each course studies of different universities, standardize the level of students from different backgrounds and at the same time, to accustom to the rhythm of university work. The objectives of the subjects introduced at the "zero-courses" are reviewing the concepts studied in high school, included in the official syllabuses of First and Second courses of Baccalaureate.
Increase the teaching load of teachers. Require the preparation of a large amount of materials, including questionnaires that have to be precise and well checked to measure adequately the degree of knowledge acquired. They also require appropriate monitoring of student learning. The effectiveness of this methodology is not sufficiently tested empirically. Experiences carried out with the appropriate procedures have produced results in favour of this tool, but they are not yet significant.
Zero courses are becoming more numerous and have a greater number of students. However, this broad participation and expressed satisfaction with these courses does not translate into a significant improvement in academic performance. On the
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item ranging from 1 to 5, depending on the degree of agreement or disagreement with statements that are expressed.
Only seven of the 52 universities analyzed have this tool. They present four different ways to structure these instruments. Two of them offer the tool in relation to their course zero, the other three presents self-assessment in subjects isolated. The Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) with a tool called "Comprueba" and the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) with the system "starting point" display their self-study materials and self-assessment tests as a whole, even though with different characteristics
Also is included an open question, to ask about highly rated aspects and issues to improve in "zero-courses". Statistical analysis. This paper provides a detailed analysis of the pilot survey at the University of Extremadura where the total number of respondent students was 68.
The "comprueba" tool of the UCM offers the possibility to choose a subject from a list of 23 and to test the knowledge that is have got. Subjects include literature, art history, languages, electrical engineering, mechanical, Latin, industrial technology, artistic drawing, biology, etc. Each course provides two options: a random test of 10 questions about all list of topics or of a general review. It is possible check the marks at the end of the test. "Comprueba´ tool is of free access and is available since 2003 at: http://alamo.sim.ucm.es/comprueba/intro.htm.
The age range of the sample was 17 to 24 years, with an average of 18.8 years. The 72.1% of respondents were male, while 27.9% were women. To compare the two instruments: virtual platform and "zero-courses", is realized a descriptive statistical analysis and a test to compare medians with the help of spreadsheet Excel and Statistical software Statgraphics 5.1. 3. RESULTS
³Starting point´ (³Punto de inicio´ of UPM) was opened in the year 2004/2005. It Uses the Virtual Classroom of Moodle and access is restricted to students who have an e-mail account of the UPM for which they should be registered in the respective courses. The courses are grouped into 20 categories corresponding to 20 schools of UPM. They incorporate different materials of one or more subjects: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Technical drawing, technical English and other related with the assistance to the work of student like study techniques and time scheduling. There are great differences in the materials offered by each school. Self-evaluations can be performed as often as desired and statistics can be generated on the percentage of correct answers, the time taken to perform the tests and the number of hits on different materials. The most widely used self-tests are the subject of Mathematics. The students that more have used the platform are of the Technical Telecommunications School. The access link is: http://moodle.upm.es/puntodeinicio/.
Mean
Questions about ³zero courses´ In relation to the importance that students attach to different aspects of their participation in courses zero, these are summarized in 6 points: difficulty (c1), place (c2), subject (c3), date and time (c4), professor (c5) and content (c6). All of them obtained a mean score between 3 and 3.9. Students considered the difficulty and the place where they are taught as the aspects less important when making these courses. The most valued were the contents. Fig. 1 shows the average values for each aspect rated from 1 to 5 and the 95 % confidence interval. 4 3,9 3,8 3,7 3,6 3,5 3,4 3,3 3,2 3,1 3 2,9 c1
Opinion questionnaire. The report of the study "Instruments used in the Spanish public universities to facilitate the transition from high school to University [9], shows the design of a survey conducted to assess the views of the new students about the usefulness of these instruments offered by the universities.
c2
c3
c4
c5
c6
Figure 1. Average rating and 95% confidence intervals of aspects about student participation in courses zero. The following questions were posed to assess student opinion regarding the importance of including "zero-courses" in the University . The 85.3% of respondents agreed with this importance, while the 88.2% stated that they did not influence their choice of university. The 95.6% considered them useful and 73.1% would like to have more courses of this type. A 94.1% of respondents considered appropriate content.
The questionnaire consists of 13 questions in four pages, with a brief presentation on the objective of the survey. The first seven questions are related to different aspects of the courses "zero"; the following three items are related to the self-evaluations; there are two items to describe the sample (sex and age) and finally a control question over the opinion expressed.
The number of "zero-courses" that are offered was assessed with a Likert scale from 1 = insufficient to 5 = too. The average value was 2.38 and the median
Most questions were developed based on multiplechoice Likert scale, with scores assigned to each
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Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
value obtained is equal to 2. The respondents considered scarce the "zero courses" offered at their university.
For those students who evaluated both options, courses zero and self-evaluations, no significant differences were found between the two cases (pvalue = 0.99 sign test for medians).
Mean
On the question of the quality of different aspects of the "zero courses" were considered 7 of them: issues (c1), number of hours (c2), explanations (c3), date (c4), professor (c5), content (c6) and materials (c7). Their mean score resulted between 2.9 and 3.5. Fig. 2 shows the average value and its confidence interval of each one of those aspects.
4. CONCLUSIONS In general, respondents evaluate positively the students support tools developed by universities. Spanish universities have fostered zero courses facing to self-assessment tools. However, students surveyed show their preferences by self-evaluations comparing to courses zero.
3,8 3,7 3,6 3,5 3,4 3,3 3,2 3,1 3 2,9 2,8
5. REFERENCES
c1
c2
c3
c4
c5
c6
[1] Mills, C.; Heyworth, J.; Rosenwax, L.; Carr, S.; Rosenberg, M. Factors associated with the academic success of first year Health Science students. Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract. 14(2): 205-17. 2009.
c7
Figure 2. Average rating for the quality of courses and confidence intervals 95%
[2] García-Cruz, R.; Guzmán, R.; Martinez, J.P. Tres aristas de un triángulo: Bajo rendimiento académico, Fracaso y deserción escolar, y un centro: El adolescente. Revista electrónica de Psicología [revista en Internet]. (2):8-33. 2006 http://dgsa.uaeh.edu.mx/revista/psicologia/article.ph p3?id_article=25. Visitada el 24 junio 2008.
In open-ended questions, the best aspects evaluated by the students were content and methodology (works and continuous assessment), while the least valued aspects were the schedule, the methodology of practices and explanations in class.
[3] Jara, D.; Velarde, H.; Gordillo, G. et al. Factores influyentes en el rendimiento académico de estudiantes del primer año de medicina. An. Fac. Med. 69/3): 193-197. 2008.
A 73.1% of respondents would do a "zero- course" again in his university. The overall assessment given by students about "zero courses" on a scale of 1 to 5 is 3.3 with a standard error of 0.11 in the estimate. The 95% confidence interval for the average rating is 3.07 to 3.51. So the global assessment of those courses is positive.
[4] Reyes, S.L. El bajo rendimiento académico de los estudiantes universitarios. Una aproximación a sus causas. Revista Theorethikos [revista en Internet]. VI(18). 2004. http://www.ufg.edu.sv/ufg/theorethikos/Junio04/. Visitada 26 de junio de 2009.
Similarly was assessed "the degree of interest" in courses zero by students. The mean value was of 3.36 with a standard error of 0.09, a 95% confidence interval for the average rating of 3.17 to 3.55. So the interest of the students is slightly above the mean.
[5] Martín Bravo M.S., et al. Análisis de las causas del fracaso escolar en las ingenierías técnicas y propuestas de mejora. Memoria del proyecto del Programa de Estudios y Análisis del Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia. 2004. http://www.mec.es/univ/html/informes/estudios_ana lisis/resultados_2004/ea0155/fracaso_escolar.pdf Visitado el 20 de junio de 2009.
Questions about ³self evaluations´ The degree of help that the self-assessments provide to students was assessed with a Likert scale from 1 = insufficient to 5 = very helpful. The average value was 2.91 and the median was of 3. Respondents thought it sufficient to support obtained by the self-assessments to overcome the new year at university.
[6] Gascón, J.; Muñoz-Lecanda, M.; Sales, J. y Segura, R. Matemáticas en Secundaria y Universidad: razones y sinrazones de un desencuentro. Xornadas sobre Educación Matemática. Santiago de Compostela del 16 al 18 de septiembre de 2004. 26 pp.
The 72.9% of respondents chose the self-evaluations as the tool that more help was provided them to start the subjects of the first course in the university.
[7] RRSSEEFQ Sobre la situación de la Física y la Química en la Educación Secundaria. Informe elaborado por las Reales Sociedades Españolas de Física y de Química. 2006. www.ub.edu/fisica/fitxersPDF/InformeFisicaQuimic a.pdf Visitado el 22 de junio de 2009.
The mean value of the overall assessment of selfevaluations, given by students on a scale of 1 to 5 was of 3.33 with a standard error of 0.12 in the estimate. The 95% confidence interval for the average rating was of 3.09 to 3.57. So the overall assessment of self-evaluations was positive.
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[8] Universidad de Zaragoza. Informe de la encuesta a profesorado de Educación Secundaria y Bachillerato Curso 2006-2007. 2007 http://ciencias.unizar.es/web/proyeccionSocial/encu estasSecundaria06-07.pdf. Visitado el 20 de junio de 2009. [9] Ayuga-Téllez, E. y nueve más. Instrumentos utilizados en las universidades públicas españolas para facilitar la transición de la enseñanza secundaria a la universidad. Memoria del proyecto del Programa de Estudios y Análisis del Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia. 2009. http://82.223.210.121/mec/ayudas/repositorio/20090 626203258Informe_26_junio_v_MEC_final2.pdf. Visitado el 30 de febrero de 2011. [10] Fernández, C.; Barbas, F.J. y Pérez, D. El curso cero y la acción tutorial en la Escuela Universitaria de Ingeniería Técnica Aeronáutica: Resultados de tres años de experiencia. CD-INECE. 2007. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. [11] García-Beltrán, A.; Martínez, R.; Jaén, J.A. y Tapia, S. La autoevaluación como actividad docente en entornos virtuales de aprendizaje/enseñanza. Revista de Educación a Distancia. Vol 5, nº 6. 15 pp. 2006. [12] Gayo Avello, D.; Fernández Cuervo, H. y Torre Cervigón, F. La autoevaluación como método de autoaprendizaje. Actas de las VIII Jornadas de enseñanza universitaria de la Informática. Universidad de Extremadura. 359-366. 2002. [13] Olmos Miguelañez, S. Evaluación formativa online: Perception y Moodle dos herramientas de apoyo a la autoevaluación. III Congreso online. Observatorio para la Cibersociedad. 2006. http://www.cibersociedad.net/congres2006/gts/comu nicacio.php?id=279 . Visitada el 24 de junio de 2009. [14] Palmeiro Uriach, R. Eficacia de cuestionarios previos y autoevaluaciones colocados en la WebCT en la mejora del aprendizaje en el laboratorio. III Encuentro sobre Innovación en Docencia Universitaria. Universidad de Alcalá de Henares. 2008. [15] Calatayud Salom, M.A. La autoevaluación como estrategia de aprendizaje para atender a la diversidad. Educaweb. 2008. http://www.educaweb.com/noticia/2008/01/28/autoe valuacion-como-estrategia-aprendizaje-atenderdiversidad-12752.html Visitada el 20 de junio de 2009.
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How deep is our knowledge: deceptions and reflections Pilar BARRREIRO LPF_TAGRALIA. Dpto. Ingeniería Rural, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid Madrid, 28040, Spain Belén DIEZMA LPF_TAGRALIA. Dpto. Ingeniería Rural, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid Madrid, 28040, Spain Adolfo MOYA-GONZÁLEZ LPF_TAGRALIA. Dpto. Ingeniería Rural, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid Madrid, 28040, Spain and Constantino VALERO LPF_TAGRALIA. Dpto. Ingeniería Rural, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid Madrid, 28040, Spain
innovation activities[2-6] supported by our university which concern student contests and congresses, the onset of more and better established workshops and learning communities, crosslink activities between high school, professional and university members, and transnational programs (http://www.ucd.ie/tabe/).
ABSTRACT This work summarizes the actions taken in agricultural mechanization, a third year course in agricultural engineering, to enhance reflective learning and deep thinking in a variety of dimensions: depth of technical background, improving student performance, and enrichment of lecturer evaluation. Keywords: superficial knowledge, propagation, consensual evaluation.
B-learning,
Information technologies and institutional learning platforms are nowadays ubiquitous, with ever increasing free access courses and materials on the web, making it difficult to segregate fruitful from waste education. Some studies systematically compare traditional with blended learning with improved results for the latter compared to the former [7].
Error
To educate human beings capable of creating a better world, is the problem of forming human beings that possess an open mind and a cheerful mood….The ability to set goals and direct the energies to it, cannot develop under a rigid discipline or under absolute freedom[1].
2. OBJECTIVES This paper tries to reflect on several questions: 1) how deep we know what we think we know? 2) Are we aware of the consequences of error propagation in our reasoning and decision making processes? 3) How many evaluators are needed when trying to assess the quality of discussion questions formulated by students?
1. INTRODUCTION For the last 15 years now some of us have been lecturing on engines, agricultural machinery, slowly but markedly developing into mechatronics, precision agriculture and robotics; the rest of us have come into this business much more recently and so for them it is much more the natural way.
3. MATERIAL AND METHODS In order to face the first question we have requested students from high school, and engineering to draw a bicycle under a mechanical and functional approach.
We have witnessed the transition among three study plans from very rigid and predefined, to a wide spread content and superficial dedication, and more recently traveling from lecturing to learning processes.
For the second, we took advantage of the experimental measurement that were carried out during the practical lessons on Agricultural Machinery in the first semester of 2010-2011 belonging to Agricultural Engineering studies at the UPM. Since such subject is followed by 4 different groups of students
Locally, it is of no less interest the evolution occurred in education in the last five years driven by a high number of
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Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
(100 in total). The use of a blended learning platform [8] that enables automated correction and simultaneously allows much tighter relation between lecturers and students was fundamental for this purpose.
functional designs; all of them much more similar, the artistic view is lost.
For the third, we decided to request students to formulate an open response question through the learning platform [8], in relation to agricultural mechanization practice (as derived from practical lessons) and sustainability, and our four lecturers were requested to evaluate using the same 4 level scale (0-3) in order to assess the agreement among us.
Error in science and engineering does not mean a mistake. It rather means inevitable uncertainty that happens because of empirical measurements and cannot be perfectly corrected. All measurements in practice and even in principle have some error associated with them; no measured quantity can be determined with infinite precision and zero deviation. Without proper error analysis, no valid scientific conclusions can be drawn. In fact, wrong results can happen if error analysis is ignored: If it can't be quantified, then it's not engineering, but only a guess [11].
Error Propagation
Table 1. Rating of discussion questions. Rate Question undelivered / absurd
0
technical but of little interest / single answer,
1
high technical quality with sufficient amplitude
2
exceptional technical relevance open for discussion
3
The global target for the study being the enhancement of reflective learning and deep thinking in a variety of dimensions: depth of technical background, improving student performance, and enrichment of lecturer evaluation. 4. RESULTS In this paragraph we report sequentially the main results concerning the above mentioned questions:
Figure 2: Draft of bicycles made by high school and engineering students. This point is important when using an automated correction procedure in the B-learning platforms, since final magnitudes derive from a non-linear combination of experimental variables and so uncertainty propagates [12]. Therefore, a study should be performed and evaluation can be modified according to error tolerance. In our case, considering a fertilizer similar to that shown in Figure 3, it was possible to assess the consequences of 5% experimental errors in distance among localizers, ground speed, and fertilizer mass flow and its propagation along the computation of a variety of engineering parameters such as work capacity and dose, that relate to machinery calibration. Table 1 shows that errors increase up to 10% in work capacity and 14% in dose.
Figure 1: Draft and prototype of a bicycle as designed by Leonardo Da Vinci. Bicycle designs Figure 1 shows draft and prototype of a bicycle as designed by Leonardo Da Vinci[9]. The selection of such device as the paradigm for assessing the depth of technical background at early ages (high school level) compared to engineering students is not random. It fulfills a number of requirements such as: worldwide spread device and age independent use; more than five centuries of development that has lead to a very robust final design which can be compared to the evolutionary process of a living organism [10].
Agreement among lecturers Finally, it was decided to assess the agreement among lecturer when trying to assess the quality of discussion questions formulated by students. According to Bertrand Rusell [1], the ideal of competition has negative effects on education because it encourages competition rather than cooperation. So the first thing that seems to aim for the conventional lecturer is to annihilate the imagination of their students. Since imagination recognizes no laws, it is undisciplined, individual and it is not right or wrong, it becomes a problem, especially when the competition requires the establishment of a strict order of merit.
In the case of the drafts made by high school students, the most remarkable result on bicycle design was the unfeasibility of proper function, making the own students surprised about the superficiality of their knowledge on a daily use tool. In spite, most of engineering students provided straight forward
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Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
Russell proposes teachers to foster intelligent discussion among students, and even encourages them to read books espousing views different from the instructor, because learning without losing the desire of learning is difficult. Within this context, students were required to formulate discussion questions related to immediate practical lessons.
4.0 Individual lecturer assessment
y = 1.1349x - 0.009 R² = 0.6504
y = 1.153x - 0.1966 R² = 0.6044
3.5 3.0
y = 0.8865x + 0.0234 R² = 0.5758
2.5
Series1
2.0 y = 0.8105x + 0.2173 R² = 0.5241
1.5 1.0
Series2 Series3 Series5
0.5 0.0 0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
Average evaluator
Figure 4. Comparison of question rating with regard to averagelecturer. From Table 3 it can be concluded that lecturer number 2 gave higher scores than the rest.
Figure 3: Fertilizer used as model for experimental error propagation.
Table 3. Number of questions rated by each lecturer, average score and standard deviation and score in decimal basis.
Table 1. Error propagation in the computation of work capacity and dose. exp. Distance (cm) au(m) 19.0
4.8
v(km/h) 5.00
St(ha/h) error(%) Gr(kg/min) D(kg/ha) error (%) 2.375
0.0
10.0
253
0.0
19.5
4.9
5.00
2.438
2.6
10.0
246
-2.6
20.0
5.0
5.00
2.494
5.0
10.0
241
-4.8
19.0
4.8
5.25
2.494
5.0
10.0
241
-4.8
19.5
4.9
5.25
2.559
7.8
10.0
234
-7.2
20.0
5.0
5.25
2.625
10.5
10.0
229
-9.5
19.0
4.8
5.00
2.375
0.0
9.5
240
-5.0
19.5
4.9
5.00
2.438
2.6
9.5
234
-7.4
20.0
5.0
5.00
2.500
5.3
9.5
228
-9.8
19.0
4.8
5.25
2.494
5.0
9.5
229
-9.5
19.5
4.9
5.25
2.559
7.8
9.5
223
-11.8
20.0
5.0
5.25
2.625
10.5
9.5
217
-14.0
l1
l2
l3
l4
N
107
100
104
107
AVG
1.8
2.0
1.6
1.5
STD
0.8
0.8
0.6
0.7
BASE 10
5.9
6.5
5.4
5.1
According to the students, the possibility of formulating discussion question is engaging, but it is clear from the dispersion in evaluation results that several lecturers are needed to allow precise average quantitative scoring. 5. CONCLUSIONS
Figure 4 shows the regression line among each evaluator and the so called average-evaluator. Determination coefficients are all above 50%, that is to say correlation stays between 0.7 and 0.8. Regression equations indicate that there were two groups of evaluators: one with higher slope (more sensitive to differences and higher risk holder) while the other exhibited lower slope (less sensitive to differences, more conservative evaluation).
Several conclusions have been derived from this study: 1) depth of technical background should be evaluated at high school by means of making students reflect on the mechanical elements and functional details of common use devices, allowing high school skills to come into university and university to reformulate high school skills. 2) The quantification of error propagation can be used as an additional measurement of the quality of responses for practical lessons, and can readily be incorporated into automated correction systems in b-learning platforms. 3) There is a large interest in incorporating high level discussion question which are difficult to be rated and thus the assessment by an expert committee becomes mandatory. We propose not to avoid the challenge but to limit the risk of poor evaluation and student deception.
Table 2 summarizes the correlation coefficient of each lecturer with regard to the average, while Table 3 indicates the number of questions evaluated (N), the average value in 3 point scale, the standard deviation and the average value in decimal basis. correlation coef. avg_lecturer
l1
l2
l3
l4
0.777 0.806 0.724 0.759
6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Authors would like to thank the high schools teachers and students for their voluntary work on the analysis of functional
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bicycle designs, and the Innovative Education Project IE10024020 for funding.
7. REFERENCES [1] Rusell, B. 1932. Bertrand Russell: Education and the Social Order. Ed. Routledge Classics. [2]Barreiro, P. 2010. Relación Universidad empresa en el marco de Bolonia. VIII jornadas sobre la actividad docente e investigadora en ingeniería agroforestal. Sevilla 22-24 septiembre [3]Barreiro, P.; Diezma, B.; Valero, C. 2010. Aplicación de las técnicas de aprendizaje colaborativo en el grado de ingeniero agrónomo (agricultura de precisión) y máster de agroingeniería (robótica aplicada). VIII jornadas sobre la actividad docente e investigadora en ingeniería agroforestal. Sevilla 22-24 septiembre [4]Diezma,B; M.C. Morató, P. Barreiro, B. Recio, V. MéndezFuentes,García Moutón, E.; E. Martínez, M.T. Castellanos, M.V. Castellanos, M. Flórez. Multidisciplinary excersices. Coordination and application from fundamental to applied subjects in agricultural engineering. International Association of Technology. Education and Development. Barcelona. Barcelona 6-8 Julio 2009 [5] Barreiro, P.; Recio, B.; Méndez-fuentes; Morató, M.C.; Ramirez, E. 2009. AGROTECH09: building agricultural robots with lego mindstorm. A multidisciplinary and multicultural approach. Edulearn. International Association of Technology. Education and Development. Barcelona. Barcelona 6-8 Julio 2009 [6] Barreiro, P.; Diezma, B; Recio, B.; Fuentes-Mendez, V. 2009. Fitting into their shoes: how robots help multidisciplinary approaches under cooperative learning. ABP workshop. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. 22-23 Junio 2009 [7] Melton, B. 2009. Achievement and Satisfaction in Blended Learning versus Traditional General Health Course Designs. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Vol. 3, No. 1 (January 2009) ISSN 1931-4744 @ Georgia Southern University http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl [8] Moodle, version 1.9 (2007) http://moodle.org [10]Marinoni, A., The Bicycle. Leonardo the Scientist. (Zammattio, C., Marinoni, A., and Brizio, A.M.) New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1980, pp. 154-165. [9] Schrodinger, S. 1958. What Is Life?: with "Mind and Matter" and "Autobiographical Sketches". Cambridge University Press. [10] How your program handles input data tolerances and tracks error propagation while performing the calculations?. www.arcadvisor.com [11] Lindberg, V. 2000. Uncertainties and Error Propagation. Part I of a manual on Uncertainties, Graphing, and the Vernier Caliper Copyright July 1, 2000 http://www.rit.edu/cos/uphysics/uncertainties/Uncertaintiespart 2.html
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Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
Use of Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) in Spanish Universities: Current State and Comparison of E-learning Tools. José-María FUENTES; Álvaro RAMÍREZ; Ana-Isabel GARCÍA & Francisco AYUGA BETI Teaching Innovation Group Universidad Politécnica de Madrid E.T.S.I. Agrónomos - Avda. Complutense, s/n – 28040 Madrid (Spain) e-mail: jm.fuentes@ upm.es
ABSTRACT
distributed on floppy disks or CD-ROMs, which students could use in their computers, meant a significant advance in distance education. Nevertheless, their high price, fast obsolescence and difficulties to upgrade the contents were the main drawbacks of these techniques [6]. At the end of the 90’s the Internet began to be used in distance education. Online web-based courses offered two fundamental advantages against conventional computer courses mentioned above: (i) learning could be made at any place with an Internet connection, and (ii) teachers could easily manage and upgrade learning materials via the web, as these ones are placed in a server called LMS (Learning Management System) [7]. In 2006, more than 96percent of the largest colleges and universities in the U.S. offered online courses and almost 3.2 million U.S. students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2005 semester [8].
Web-based education or e-learning has become an essential matter in the university studies during the last decade. Over 80% of teachers in Spanish universities currently use this technology for delivering distance courses or as a supplement to the traditional face-to-face classes. This new form of learning allows the disappearance of geographical barriers and enables university students to schedule their own learning process, among some other advantages. On-line education is developed through an specific software called ‘e-learning platform’ or ‘virtual learning environment’(VLE). There are a considerable number of web-based tools available at present to deliver distance courses. Open source software packages such as Moodle, Sakai, dotLRN or Dokeos are the most commonly used in Spanish universities. This paper analyzes the most interesting possibilities that e-learning platforms provide university teachers and learners and offers a technical comparison among some of the most popular virtual learning environments.
The terms ' distance learning' and ‘distance education’ are currently used to refer to a wide range of learning experiences that include both online courses completely delivered through the Internet (called ‘online learning’, ‘virtual learning’or ‘elearning’) and those others that combine traditional teaching in a physical classroom with virtual learning techniques (called ‘blended learning’or ' b-learning' ) [9-11].
Keywords: Virtual Learning Environments, VLE, E-learning Platforms, University Studies, Spain. 1. INTRODUCTION
These new forms of distance learning allow the disappearance of geographical barriers and enable university students to access learning contents on their own schedule. Instructors and learners interaction is possible thanks to the use of synchronous (videoconferences, real time chats, whiteboards, etc.) or asynchronous (e-mails, blogs, wikis, podcasts, or discussion forums, etc.) communication tools [11].
Distance education by means of correspondence printed materials and audiovisual broadcasting was developed in the nineteenth century, with the aim of providing education to those students who, for several reasons, were not able to physically attend face-to-face traditional classes [1-4]. The University of London was the first mainstream university to offer distancelearning degrees in 1858. Some years later, in 1969, The Open University was founded in the United Kingdom as a pioneer institution exclusively devoted to provide distance higher education. Many other distance-universities were established through the globe in the 70' s and 80’s, including the Athabasca University in Canada (1970), Spain’s Public University of Distance Education (UNED) (1972), the FernUniversität (FEU) in Germany (1974), the CCCTV in China (1978), the Open University of the Netherlands (1981) and the Open University of Japan (1984), among others. More than a dozen of these universities have grown at present to become institutions with more than 100,000 students. The Indira Gandhi National Open University in India is currently the largest university in the world with more than 3,000,000 students [5].
The teacher plays a leading role in a traditional educational scheme, as he is responsible for preparing and giving classes, developing teaching materials, preparing evaluation tests, etc. In virtual education, however, these roles usually fall on a teaching team, while students play a dominant role as they must manage their own learning process. Two crucial aspects must be conscientiously considered in order to optimize a virtual learning model: the educational quality of the learning materials to be used in the course and the emphasis on providing personalized assistance to the students. Specific software called e-learning platform or virtual learning environment can be helpful to achieve these aims. Table 1 summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of Internet-based learning methods compared to traditional ones based on ‘on-site’lessons physically delivered in a classroom.
In the 90’s, distance learning technologies evolved toward Computer Based Training Methods (CBT). The use of multimedia resources (text, images, videos, animations, etc.)
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Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
Table 1. Advantages and disadvantages of e-learning methods compared with traditional teaching. Advantages
Disadvantages
Overcoming time and geographical barriers.
Lack of face-to-face contact between the instructor and the students.
Avoiding travel costs. Course contents are permanently available. Course information and learning contents are easy to update. E-learning promotes learners autonomy. It is based on multimedia learning contents. Collaborative work among teachers is promoted.
(ii)
synchronous and asynchronous communication tools (i.e. discussion forums, real-time chat, electronic bulletin board, internal e-mail, virtual whiteboard, videoconference utilities, etc.). (iii) tools for monitoring and assessing the learning processes (i.e. test editor, file exchange system, student tracking utilities, online gradebook, etc.). (iv) administration tools (i.e. authentication and authorization tools, configuration options, course calendar, etc.). (v) additional resources, such as search engines, statistics, etc.
Additional efforts and dedication of the teacher are required.
A virtual learning environment must operate under a ‘clientserver’ philosophy that allows users to access the learning contents through a standard web browser without requiring the installation of other specific software. It should also provide an intuitive graphical interface that avoids users to waste unnecessary time to learn how to use the system. The possibility of distributing multimedia documentation and their functionality with different operating systems (PCs, Mac, Unix, etc.) are also important questions to be considered when selecting an e-learning platform [16].
Computer skills of teachers and students are required. On-line courses require motivated and autonomous students. Student assessment and feedback is limited.
Student activity and learning progress are automatically recorded.
Online courses usually have higher rate of abandonment.
Development of skills and competencies in ICT
A fast Internet connection is required.
Virtual learning environments offer the following possibilities for higher education: Distribution of course information and teaching materials: A virtual learning environment allows students enrolled in a course to access the necessary information about the schedule, list of topics, recommended bibliography, tutorials, etc. Students may also access and download through the web learning materials, such as texts, mathematic equations, images, audios, videos, animations and others. Course contents can be organized in blocks or lessons and the lecturer can specify start and stop dates for each of them.
On-line education is developed through virtual campuses. Most of the established and mainstream colleges and universities throughout the world offer at present courses or entire degrees either partially or wholly online. Virtual courses are possible thanks to new computer technologies provided by specific elearning software (called ‘learning platforms’ or ‘virtual learning environments’), such as videoconferencing, discussion forums, real time chats, tools to develop and grade on-line assessment tests, etc. In Spain virtual learning environments began to be extensively used in the mid 90' s.
Dissemination of notices: VLEs allows instructors to email individuals, groups or the entire class specific notices regarding the development of the course. A ' course calendar' , ' virtual bulleting board' and ‘internal messaging service’ are all versatile tools to inform the students. Notices are simultaneously available in the web and emailed to each of the students enrolled in the course. The e-learning platform also informs students about the marks they have obtained in the assignments and the assessment tests.
2. VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: TECHNICAL FEATURES AND POSSIBILITIES FOR DISTANCE LEARNING
Discussion forums: This tool can be used to suggest discussion topics or to solve queries in a participatory way. Once a debate topic has been raised in a forum, instructors and students can take part and express their opinions, being responses available to any interested student.
An e-learning platform is a software package installed in a server and accessed through the Internet that allows teachers to create, manage and give online courses or to deliver complementary learning materials for face-to-face education [12-15]. A wide range of terms can be used to define this concept, such as: Virtual learning environment (VLE), Learning Management System (LMS), Course Management System (CMS), Managed Learning Environment (MLE), Integrated Learning System (ILS), Learning Support System (LSS) or elearning platform (LP).
Submission of tasks: The e-learning platform can be used to suggest individual and group assignments to the students that they must submit online. On the one hand, the platform enables the instructor to access the files uploaded by the students, to review them and to grade the task, and on the other hand students can access the corrections and check their marks.
According to [14], an e-learning platform should have at least the following utilities: (i)
Assessment of learning progresses: VLEs usually provide tools for developing online assessment tests (Fig.1). The assessment module of an e-learning platform must allow teachers at least four basic actions: (i) to develop different types of tests, such as true/false, multiple choice, fill-in the blank, matching, ordering, etc., (ii) to set dates and times when students must take the
tools for managing and editing the learning materials and the structure of a virtual course (i.e. course templates, labels, files manager, links, glossaries, FAQs, etc.).
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virtual tests, (iii) the system m must be ablee to randomize the questions and answers to bbe included in the test, and (iv) mine instructors cann override the automated scorring and determ how to commuunicate test resuults to students.
Tabble 2. Open souurce e-learning platforms. p T The Claroline VLE V was initiatted in 22001 by the Caatholic University of L Louvain (Belgiium). The sofftware CLARO OLINE hhas been traanslated intoo 35 i currently useed by http://www.cclaroline.net laanguages and is m more than 1700 0 organizations from 1101 countries. Itt is used in Spaain by thhe University of o Vigo. T This e-learning software is currrently uused by almost 300 univerrsities aaround the world and there are more DOK KEOS thhan 250,000 active Dokeoss e http://www.dokeos.com ccourses at preseent. It is availabble in 334 languages. The T Dokeos VL LE is innstitutionally used u in Spain by b the A Antonio de Nebbrija University..
dotL LRN http://dootlrn.org
T The .LRN softw ware is an e-leaarning the system deveeloped at M Massachusetts Institute of T Technology (M MIT) in 2006. It is ccurrently used d by more than 5500.000 users. DotLRN is ussed in S Spain by the UNED, U among some oother universitiees.
ILIAS http://ww ww.ilias.de
T The ILIAS leaarning manageement system was developed d bettween 11997 and 2000 at the University of C Cologne. It is available in more thhan 20 languagges and the useer can cchoose among different interrfaces aand styles. It is used in Spain by b the U University of Jaén. a
Figure 1. Evaluation testt developed witth Moodle 1.9 Monitoring thee activity of the students enrollled in a course: The virtual learning environmentt provides a liist of the studdents enrolled in the course and basic informationn, such as photoos or t the frequuency e-mails. Moreoover, instructorrs can easily track and duration of each studeent access to individual coourse h participationn in the discusssion forums, orr the components, his assignments an nd tests he has ccarried out. Virtual learninng environmentts have evolvedd through the years y giving rise to three t different types of solutio ons: (i) commeercial software, (ii) open source platforms, annd (iii) intern nally developed platfforms. Commercial VLE V software paackages requiree the payment of o an annual license fee for their usee. Software prooviders usually offer o technical assisttance and some specific modulles that improve the functionality of the platform, i.e. whiteboardds, advanced coourse q calendars, diffferent kinds off assessment questionnaires, etc. Blackboard, WebCT W (currentlly integrated wiith Blackboard)) and e-College are some s of the com mmercial VLE that t can be incluuded in this categoryy.
MOO ODLE http://mooodle.org
Open source e-learning plaatforms can be b customized and M adapted by thee user and are uusually free of a license fee. Most of these appliccations were orriginally develo oped by universsities and educationnal consortiumss (Table 2) and a are frequeently updated and im mproved by theeir users. Althoough commercial elearning softw ware packages usually offer additional a servvices, differences between both tyypes of platforrms are each time smaller and sm maller. Some off the most popuular virtual learrning environments, such as Mooodle, Dokeos, Claroline, IL LIAS, dotLRN or Sak kai belong to thiis group.
SAK KAI http://sakaiiproject.org
Finally, a greaat number of sppecific VLEs have h been intern nally developed by research groupps and educational institutionns in order to meet the needs off a particular educational moodel. Nevertheless, many m of them are being repllaced at presennt by generic open-soource software..
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M Moodle was originally o deveeloped bby Martin Douugiamas in Ausstralia inn 1999. Currenntly, it is the most uused VLE thro oughout the world, w w with more than 2 million userrs. By D December 2010, Moodle had h a uuser-base of 39,868,035 useers in 44,180,694 coursses in more thann 200 ccountries and in more thann 70 laanguages. M More than 130 00 universitiess and hhigh schools usee this VLE in Spain fo for delivering diistance courses or as a supplement to the traditional cclasses T The earliest verrsions of Sakai were ooriginally deeveloped at the M Michigan and Indiana I Universities. A At present, the Sakai Foundation is cconstituted byy more than 100 innternational un niversities, collleges aand commerciial affiliates. The U University of Lerida and the U Universidad Pollitecnica of Vallencia innstitutionally use u this softwaare in S Spain.
Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
3. USE OF VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS IN SPANISH UNIVERSITIES
Sakai or dotLRN have an initial list of options from which it is possible to access the different learning resources (learning materials, discussion forums, notices, tasks, assessment tests, etc.). Moodle courses, however, are structured in modules or lessons, each of them may include its own multimedia learning materials, discussion forums, assignments, assessment tests and so on. (Figures 2 and 3)
For the last quarter of the 20th century and the early years of this century there has been a significant increase in the number of university students throughout Europe. In Spain, for example, the number of university students has increased from fewer than 400,000 in 1970 to almost 1,500,000 in the 2008/2009 academic year [17]. In addition, the demand for postgraduate education (masters, PhD courses, specialization courses, etc.) is also increasing among the young people and middle-age professionals. The Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become an essential component in Spanish universities for the last decade. According to the institutional report 'UNIVERSITIC - Evolution of the ICTs in Spanish Universities (2006-2010)', 64% of the classrooms in Spanish universities currently have a multimedia proj ector and 86% of them are Wi-Fi areas [18]. The number of web-based courses delivered through VLEs has significantly increased during the last decade in both European and US universities. According to the UNIVERSITIC report 87.6% of Spanish universities have an institutional e-learning platform and over 60% of the traditional on-site courses use it as an additional learning resource. The percentage of professors using these tools in Spain has doubled (from 40% to 80%) for the last five years and the number of university students using them has increased from 62% to 90%.
Figure 2. Options menu of an e-course in Dokeos 1.8.
The initial trend during the 90s was the use of commercial or internally developed VLEs. Nevertheless, open source solutions such as Moodle or Sakai are becoming more and more popular, as they are free of license fee and their features are becoming more and more like those of the commercial ones. According to a study conducted in 2008, 63% of the virtual campuses of Spanish universities use open source VLEs, while the remaining 37% used commercial or internally developed platforms or did not provide the required information. Moodle is the institutional e-learning platform in 53.8% of Spanish universities, followed at distance by Sakai (3.8%) [19]. Nevertheless, commercial software packages such as Blackboard or e-College continue being very popular in the US universities. 4. TECHNICAL COMPARISON OF SOME OF THE MOST POPULAR VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS Several studies and technical comparisons of Virtual Learning Environments have been published in recent years [20-23]. The 1 EduTools Project of the Centre for Curriculum, Transfer & Technology of the British Columbia University provides updated data and offers feature-by-feature comparisons among more than sixty e-learning platforms.
Figure 3. Structure of an e-learning course in Moodle 1.9. Although most of the e-learning platforms enable teachers to form groups for collaborative learning activities, there are particular differences in their groupwork functionalities. Although nearly all the VLEs enable teachers to email a group specific notices and information, not all of them allow instructors to deliver specific assignments or assessment tests for a particular group not accessible to the rest of the class. The Sakai 2.5 e-learning platform, for example, assigns each group a private folder that enables members to upload and download homework assignments and specific documentation. Some other e-learning software such as Moodle 1.9or Dokeos 1.8 lacks this feature.
There is an increasing trend toward the use of open source VLEs, such as Moodle, Sakai, Dokeos or dotLRN, as they offer more and more e-learning resources. The majority of these applications enable the course editor to customize the look of the virtual course and/or to introduce institutional images, headers and footers. Some e-learning platforms like Dokeos,
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http://www.edutools.info/index.j sp?pj =1 (Last accessed: Jan, 2010)
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Generally, all the e-learning platforms enable instructors to include image, audio, video, animation files in the courses, although specific software must be installed in the user' s computer to view them. The Blackboard Learning System and some other commercial platforms, however, do offer instructors the chance to integrate multimedia resources in the course (not only as files to download). The multimedia files of an e-course can be stored and organized into folders and subfolders. Files usually must be uploaded one by one, although some VLEs such as Sakai or dotLRN, for example, allow instructors to upload multiple files all at once.
A considerable number of e-learning platforms can be found for the delivery of online education. This kind of software allows instructors: (i) to create, store, organize and distribute learning resources; (ii) to make communication easier between the instructors and the students, and (iii) to track and assess learning progresses and achievements of each particular student. Open source e-learning platforms such as Moodle, Sakai, Dokeos and dotLRN are mainly used in Spanish universities. Although most of these VLEs have common resources such as synchronous and asynchronous communication tools or assessment test editors, there are certain differences among their features, which have been highlighted in this paper.
Some of these e-learning platforms enable instructors to establish a learning pathway by specifying the start and stop dates for particular course contents or to personalize the access to specific course materials according to previous completed assignments, positive assessments and/or course activity. This last feature is full-offered by Dokeos 1.8 and only available for tasks and assessment tests in Moodle 1.9. Video conferencing and whiteboard tools (an electronic version of a dry-erase board) are also interesting resources to deliver distance classes. Nevertheless, these applications are only available in some commercial platforms such as Blackboard. The Sakai VLE has an interesting tool called ‘Student' s portfolio’, which can be customized by each student and be used to present his/her course works or projects.
The Moodle platform, which is the most commonly used in Spanish universities, is organized around the course units or lessons that are placed in the central area of the web. Some other platforms like Dokeos, Sakai and dotLRN have a ‘Start menu’from which it is possible to access the different learning resources (lessons, tasks, discussion forums, online gradebook, etc.). The Sakai platform offers some interesting options for collaborative learning and has an advanced student portfolio that can be used by the students to present their course projects. Dokeos offers an intuitive and useful tool to create assessment tests and the chance to establish access conditions to the different course materials. Sakai and dotLRN enable instructors to upload to the server multiple files all at once. Nevertheless, some interesting features such as integration of multimedia contents in the lessons, video conferencing tools and electronic whiteboards are only available in certain commercial platforms such as Blackboard.
Most of the available VLEs incorporate communication and discussion tools such as forums, real-time chats and an electronic bulleting board that course administrators and/or teachers can use to announce events, or provide information. The dotLRN software, for example, enables students to choose if they want to receive alerts when any new course contents (i.e. files, tasks, evaluation tests, etc.) are incorporated into the platform. Most of the e-learning platforms offer instructors the chance to assign tasks to the students that they must submit online by asking in a box or uploading one or multiple files. The Sakai 2.5 VLE provides each user (teacher and students) a particular folder to share information with other users of the course.
Acknowledgements Financial support for this research has been provided by Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain) via the proj ect IE10021522 ‘Desarrollo de metodologías docentes para la impartición on-line de asignaturas adaptadas al EEES en dobles titulaciones (‘joint degrees’) entre la Universidad Politécnica de Madridyotras universidades extranjeras’.
The online assessment tools enable teachers to prepare and conduct online tests. In general, every VLE has a specific module to design different types of assessments (single answer tests, multiple choice tests, matching, ordering, fill-in the blanks, essays, etc.). The Dokeos assessment module is particularly intuitive and easy to use. VLEs also provide teachers the chance to track student activity and progresses. Instructors! can get individual reports showing the frequency and duration of student access to individual course components, participation in the discussion forums and chat sessions and the assignments and assessment tests he/she has carried out. Statistical data about the activity of the class and the use of the various learning resources can also be collected and displayed.
6. REFERENCIAS [1] J.S. Daniel; M.A. Stroud and J.R. Thompson (Eds.), Learning at distance: A world perspective, Edmonton, Alberta: Athabasca University/ICCE, 1982. [2] D.R. Garrison, Understanding distance education, London: Routledge, 1989. [3] L. Sherry, “Issues in Distance Learning”, International Journal of Educational Telecommunications, Vol. 1, No. 4, 1995, pp. 337-365. [4] M. Williams, K. Paprock and B. Covington, Distance learning: the essential guide, Thousand Oaks (CA): Sage Publications, 1999. [5] J.S. Daniel, Mega-Universities and Knowledge Media: Technology Strategies for Higher Education, London: Kogan Page, 1996. [6] F. Bélanger and D.H. Jordan, Evaluation and implementation of distance learning: technologies, tools,and techniques, London: Idea Group Publishing, 2000.
5. CONCLUSIONS Virtual learning environments have become an essential resource for distance learning and traditional on-site university education. Over 80% of teachers in Spanish universities habitually use this kind of e-learning tools to deliver online courses or as an occasional supplement of traditional lecturing.
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[7] L. García-Aretio, De la educación a distancia a la educación virtual, Barcelona: Ariel Educación, 2007. [8] The Sloan Consortium, Making the Grade: Online Education in the United States, 2006. Available in: http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/survey/survey06.asp [9] T. Anderson and F. Elloumi, Theory and Practice of Online Learning, Edmonton: Athabasca University Press, 2004. Available in: http://cde.athabascau.ca/online_book. (Last accessed: August 2008). [10] T. Bates, Technology, e-learning and distance education, London: Routledge, 2005. [11] J. Cabero, "Bases pedagógicas del e-learning”, Revista de Universidad y Sociedad del Conocimiento, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2006, pp. 1-10. [12] M. Weller, Virtual learning environments: using, choosing and developing your VLE, London: Taylor & Francis, 2007. [13] P.C. Muñoz and M. González, Plataformas de teleformación y herramientas telemáticas, Barcelona: Editorial UOC, 2009. [14] J. Sánchez, “Plataformas de enseñanza virtual para entornos educativos”, Pixel-Bit, No. 34, 2009, pp.217233. [15] C. Marcelo;D. Puente;M.A. Ballesteros and A. Palazón, E-learning Teleformación. Diseño, desarrollo y evolución de la formación a través de Internet, Barcelona: Ed. Gestión, 2002. [16] J. Cabero and M.C. Llorente, “Las plataformas virtuales en el ámbito de la teleformación”, Revista electrónica Alternativas de Educación y Comunicación, 2005. Available in: http://www.ealternativas.edu.ar/ (Last accessed: April 2007). [17] Instituto Nacional de Estadíatica, Estadística de la Enseñanza Universitaria en España, Madrid: INE, 2010. Available on-line in: http://www.ine.es/j axi/menu.do?type=pcaxis&path=%2Ft 13%2Fp405&file=inebase&L=0 (Last accessed: January 2010). [18] Conferencia de Rectores de las Universidades Españolas UNIVERSITIC 2010: Evolución de las TIC en el sistema universitario español (2006-2010), Madrid: CRUE, 2010. [19] M.P. Prendes (Coord.) Plataformas de campus virtual con herramientas de software libre: análisis comparativo de la situación actual en las universidades españolas. Proj ect EA-2008-0257 Final Report, Madrid: Secretaría de Estado de Universidades e Investigación, 2009. Available on-line in: http://www.um.es/campusvirtuales/informe.html [20] S. Delgado, E-learning. Análisis de plataformas gratuitas, Final year Project. Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, 2003. Avaliable on-line in: http://www.uv.es/ticape/docs/sedelce/mem-sedelce.pdf [21] L.M. Romero-Moreno and J.A. Troyano, “Análisis Comparativo entre las Plataforma de más Frecuente Implantación en los Sistemas Virtuales de Formación frente a un Modelo: Proyecto Sakai”, In: Proceedings of the 5th Conference of the Euro-American Association on Telematics and Information Systems (EATIS 2010). Panama, Sept. 2010. [22] B. Beatty and C. Ulasewicz, “Faculty Perspectives on Moving from Blackboard to the Moodle Learning Management System”, TechTrends, Vol. 50, No. 4, 2006, pp. 36-45.
[23] D. Bri, M. Garcia, H. Coll and J. Lloret, “A Study of Virtual Learning Environments”, W SEAS Transactions on Advances in Engineering Education, Vol. 6, No.1, 2009, pp. 33-43.
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Development of interactive materials by engineering students using the Descartes applet. Mª Ángeles GRANDE-ORTIZ Departamento de Física y Mecánica Fundamentales y Aplicadas a la Ingeniería Agroforestal.
[email protected] Gonzalo TEVAR-SANZ Departamento de Física y Mecánica Fundamentales y Aplicadas a la Ingeniería Agroforestal
[email protected] Esperanza AYUGA-TÉLLEZ Departamento de Economía y Gestión Forestal.
[email protected] Concepción GONZÁLEZ GARCÍA Departamento de Economía y Gestión Forestal.
[email protected] Group for Innovation in Education in Quantitative Techniques for Environmental Engineering. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Guest session: Teaching innovation and processes of change in Engineering Education: new ideas, methodologies and models . The achievement of this objective is conditioned by the content of the syllabus and by the teaching methods used, which should be aimed at ensuring the ABSTRACT In a degree course such as Forestry Engineering, the students' comprehension of these principles in order general teaching objectives consist of explaining and to obtain the proposed objective. helping students to understand the principles of In a degree course such as Forestry Engineering, the Mechanics. For some time now we have encountered general teaching objectives consist of explaining and significant difficulties in teaching this subject due to helping students to understand the principles of the students' lack of motivation and to their Mechanics. These principles can be accurately insufficient prior preparation for the topic. If we add expressed in mathematical terms and constitute to this the discipline's inherent complexity and the powerful tools which can be applied to solving the students' preconceptions about the subject, these problems arising in Nature. The acquisition of this teaching difficulties become considerable. For this knowledge allows students to tackle subsequent reason a series of didactic activities have been subjects based on or related to Mechanics (Hydraulics, introduced sequentially in the teaching of this subject. Electrotechnics, Calculating Structure, Reforestation This work describes the methodology, procedure and and Forest Machinery and Forestry Production) and results for the action of developing a work project in Technology (engines and thermal machines). groups using Descartes software. The results of this experiment can be considered very positive. Some of However in the Forestry Engineering course given in the critical preconceptions for learning the subject the UPM, students in the first years have tended to can be corrected, and the tutoring process in the award more importance to subjects with a greater classroom contributes to an improvement in teacherbiological content than to subjects related to student communication. Since this scheme was engineering. This may be due to the fact that the established, the number of students taking part each students have an increasingly poor preparation in academic year has increased, and this is the group Mathematics and Physics, and to the growing social with the greatest percentage of passing scores. value accorded to the knowledge and concern for the Keywords: applet, Descartes, Mechanics, environment ([2] Tévar Sanz, G., 1998). preconceptions. We are now encountering significant difficulties when teaching Mechanics and Mechanisms, due both to the students' lack of motivation and to their 1. INTRODUCTION insufficient prior preparation in the subject. If we add to this the complexity inherent in the discipline and The primary objective of the first year of Mechanics the students' preconceptions regarding this topic in a Special School for Engineering should be to (ideas which are not of a strictly scientific nature to develop the students' capacity to analyse any explain natural phenomena), the difficulties for proposed mechanical situation in a logical and simple teaching become considerable. way by applying basic principles which have been correctly assimilated ([1] Covián Regales, E., 2004); in short the teaching should have an applied character.
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as a tool for assessing the efficiency of teaching and to detect preconceptions in Mechanics. The results of this test have enabled us to detect students' most critical preconceptions for the correct learning of Mechanics. Specifically, the most common preconceptions when approaching the study of planar kinematics are the following:
For this reason, a series of didactic activities have been introduced sequentially in the teaching of this subject. These are differentiated into actions which concern the teaching methodologies themselves (the way the subject is taught), and actions involving new methods for assessing students' knowledge and skills. Teaching methodologies 1.
failure to differentiate between position and velocity failure to understand the vectorial nature of velocity and acceleration.
Creation of interactive applets as a teaching methodology (2002/03 academic year).
Knowledge assessment 2. 3. 4. 5.
Regarding the assessment of knowledge, in the 200607 academic year we introduced a supervised work project to be carried out in groups of two people as an obligatory and evaluable activity in the kinematics module. During the first semester, the classes took place in the computer classrooms assigned for that purpose. The tool used in this work is the Descartes nippe, a software program developed by the Ministry of Education ([3] MEC) that can be downloaded free.
Incorporation of a module on prior knowledge of Mechanics (2003/04 academic year). Assessment of preconceptions regarding the concept of force (2004/05). Development of a work project in groups using Descartes software (2006/07). Incorporation of the subject onto the Moodle platform (2008/09).
The Descartes project was created for the purpose of exploiting the advantages of computers and the Internet to offer teachers and students in primary and secondary education a new way of teaching and learning. The Descartes nippe is a program developed in the Java language (applets) which enables the creation of interactive scenes similar to electronic blackboards. In addition, the nippe can be configured; that is to say, it can be handled by the users without any need for programming knowledge.
This work describes the methodology, procedure and results obtained in the development of the work project in groups with Descartes software.
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS The average results for the subject of Mechanics and Mechanisms obtained by the students in the last five years are far from satisfactory (26% pass, 26% fail and 48% no show).
The methodology used is described below.
As the two lecturers in charge of teaching this subject, we are well aware of this situation and have made changes to both the programme and the teaching methodology, as well as to the methodology used to evaluate the subject. Geometry-based elements have been eliminated from the programme. Interactive visual teaching materials have been incorporated into the teaching methodology in order to improve the understanding of the concepts.
First a two-hour preliminary session is given in the computer room in order to demonstrate the features of the tool. The Descartes project includes a tutorial which allows students to study the tool by themselves. Then the students are divided into groups and given a problem involving the kinematic analysis of a basic mechanism (slider-crank four-bar), which must be done by all the groups in order to familiarise them with the tool.
Programs for mathematical calculations and for simulating phenomena are the most useful for improving students' understanding of the underlying concepts of mechanics. Since the 2002-2003 academic course, a series of applets were designed and have been integrated into the teaching programme for the subject. The concepts addressed include: analysis of velocities and accelerations, obtaining the fixed pole and the movable pole, stationary circumference and the circumference of inflections, method of sections for calculating trusses, shocks, etc ([4] Tévar-Sanz & Grande-Ortiz, 2007).
In this same session each group is given a collection of mechanisms (an assortment of about 20), from which they must select one (Figures 1 and 2).
The assessment of students' preconceptions about the concept of force is discussed below. In order to detect these preconceptions the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) has been carried out on all students since the 2004-05 academic year, before starting the specific teaching of this subject. FCI is a multiple-choice test designed to determine the understanding of the basic concepts of Newtonian physics. It is essentially used
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In the program used, a vector is defined with the pair of points corresponding to its ends [(a,b) (c,d)]. Starting with a known velocity, they calculate the velocities for all the points which define the configurations of the mechanism. This calculation is usually done using the relative velocity method. These velocities are associated to the CP, which makes it possible to check visually if they have been correctly calculated by simply moving the control points with the mouse. This way the relative velocity between two points of the same element will remain perpendicular to the segment which joins them.
4
B 4
A 1
3 2 D
The procedure for calculating velocities for the basic slider-crank four-bar mechanism (Figure 3) is the following:
5
6
-
E
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Figure 1: Example of possible mechanisms for selection.
5
A
D
B
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3 6
4
2
1
4
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The angular velocity of the crank (OA) is the starting figure. The coordinates of end A (Ax, Ay) coincide with the components of vector OA. These components expressed in three-dimensional space (Ax, Ay, 0) and multiplied vectorially by the vector (0,0, ) allow us to obtain the components of the velocity (vA). The velocity of the other end of the connecting rod (B) is obtained by means of the vectorial equation which relates the velocities of two points on the same element: The velocity vector vB is determined graphically at the origin of the coordinates by calculating the intersection of two straight lines. One of them has the direction of vB (horizontal) and passes through the origin, and the other is perpendicular to BA and passes through the end of vA The velocity obtained must be transferred from the origin to the application point B.
Figure 2: Example of possible mechanisms for selection. The definitive assignment is done when the group has presented the kinematic analysis of the basic mechanism using the Moodle platform. The groups carry out their work project in eight twohour sessions in the computer classroom, under the supervision of the two teachers who give the subject. They begin by drawing the assigned mechanism using segments with control points at the ends. Each segment is defined by using its control points (CP). The position of these CP can easily be changed by simply clicking and dragging with the mouse. This enables one mechanism to be transformed into another with the same configuration simply by moving the CP. Restrictions can be applied to the CP so that, in order to draw a crank, it is only necessary to submit the mobile end to a restriction which requires it to move around a circumference. To draw a slider the mobile CP only needs to be instructed to describe a straight line.
Figure 3: slider-crank four-bar
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After preparing the work for a period of eight weeks, a provisional version of the project is presented using the Moodle platform. The work is subsequently revised personally with each group in the classroom.
3. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Since the introduction of the scheme for supervised work projects using Descartes software in the 2006/07 academic year, the students have completed a total of 145 projects. Table 1 shows the distribution of these work projects by academic year and the percentage of students who take part in the activity with regard to the total number of students matriculated.
From that point, the students have two weeks for the definitive presentation of the work project, after implementing the corrections identified in the review session. Each work allows up to two points to be added to the score given in the partial assessment. The criteria for evaluating the work are:
Year 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11
Degree of difficulty of the mechanism Correctness of the calculations Clarity of resolution and presentation Use of auxiliary variables Control points in articulations and sliders Operations and calculations presented in a separate document.
No. matriculated 133 139 129 100 133
No. projects 20 22 33 26 45
% students 30 31.6 51.2 52 67.7
Table 1: Distribution of projects by academic year
As can be seen in Table 1, the percentage of students participating has increased progressively until it now exceeds 50% of the students matriculated. The figure for the current year is significantly higher as a result of the elimination of the degree course for Forestry Engineering, in compliance with the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The highest final scores for the subject correspond to the students who took part in this experiment.
Figure 4 shows, as an example, two different configurations of a mechanism prepared by students in the 2009/10 academic year.
One of the main problems which arose during the development of the work is the calculation of the intersection between two straight lines. This system makes it possible to detect visually, and immediately, whether the point obtained analytically coincides with the point shown on the screen. Some students, after various attempts on paper, are ultimately able to obtain a mathematical expression using the Mapple. Many students have considerable difficulty working with elements whose length may vary and which are rigid in reality. However it is helpful to use this method in order to modify the position of the elements without having to undertake the calculation of the simulation of the movement. The velocities can thus still be obtained correctly as the configuration is not modified. In addition, by moving the CP, it is possible to check that the velocities have been correctly calculated for any position. The nippe in the Descartes project was designed to enable teachers of primary and secondary education to develop teaching materials. The use of this software by engineering students makes it possible to develop new skills and abilities. When the students create the material themselves, they have to analyse the problem in depth and at the same time graphically visualise their corrected calculations on the screen. A large part of the students who display considerable reticence in handling the software at the start of the experiment are able to overcome this situation by the time they complete the work.
Figure 4: Configurations of a mechanism (example Figure 2).
The results of this experiment can be considered very positive for several reasons: some critical
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preconceptions for learning the subject (vectorial dimension of velocities and accelerations) can be corrected, and the tutoring process in the classroom leads to improved teacher-student communication. Since its implementation, the number of students taking part each year has increased, and this group demonstrates the highest percentage of passing scores.
influencia en la corrección de preconceptos. Tesis Doctoral, U.P.M., 2004. [2] Tévar Sanz, G., Proyecto Docente (Área de Ingeniería Agroforestal), U.P.M., 1998. [3] MEC: http://descartes.cnice.mecd.es/ >@7pYDU6DQ]*\*UDQGH2UWL]0$³8QVLVWHPD de Applets SDUDODHQVHxDQ]DGHOD&LQHPiWLFD3ODQD´ Congress: 4º Simposio Iberoamericano de Educación, Cibernética e Informática (SIECI 2007). Orlando, Florida (USA) 12-15 July 2007. Published in Mendez-Vilas et al (eds.), Current developments in technology assisted education (2006) Vol. 2 pp: 1319-1321.
REFERENCES [1] Covián Regales, E., El proceso enseñanzaaprendizaje de la Mecánica de Newton en las carreras técnicas: evaluación de la utilidad y rendimiento académico de la simulación informática de fenómenos mecánicos en su aprendizaje y su
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New Mentoring And Tutoring Projects For Engineering Students Ana MARTINEZ & Leticia DE SALAS & Jose SAA & Carlos SOLDEVILLA School of Forestry Engineering, Technical University of Madrid (UPM) Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040, Madrid, Spain E-mail:
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected]
all those students who have requested it in their admission form. The Welcome Project puts together this two, coordinated in a virtual UPM environment called Starting Point. This plan connects the different welcoming procedures [4] for the new students this school year of 2010-11: x A Welcome day that was already put into practice on the two previous years. x A Mentoring Plan, put into practice in 2008-09. x A Tutoring Program that started at the same time as the new Degree in the school.
ABSTRACT During the last school years of 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 a mentoring and tutorial plan has been introduced in EIFORNAT. These experiences have been known to make the adaptation process easier, both socially and academically, for new students. In order for the students to fully support these two projects, we have developed different actions. In this paper we have explained some of them. The purpose of these new actions was to bring together the students’ work and satisfaction. Keywords: European Higher Education Area, Educational innovation, Academic coordination, Mentoring.
Day Reception Welcome Project promotes the integration of the student before the first day of class, showing the resources offered by the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) and our School of Forestry and Natural Environment (EIFORNAT) for obtaining a new degree of Engineering Natural Habitats.
1. INTRODUCTION Many different actions are taking place at the School of Forestry and Environmental Engineering (EIFORNAT) of the Technical University of Madrid. The objective is to make an easy adaptation process for the new students, so that their academic performance is not affected by the insecurity and disorientation that every change of environment comes with. The Students Welcome Projects were first put into practice during the school year of 2008-09 at the EUIT of Forestry [1] [2] and was connected with a Mentoring project that continued through 2009-10.
The first part of the plan begins during the last week of July, so that once they register, they are provided with a UPM email, this way they have access to the university platform for the starting point (where the Welcome Project is exposed). The welcome day took place during the week before the start of the school year in 2008-09 and 2009-10, in 2010-11 the reception lasted 2 days (2-3 September) since the beginning of classes with the new plan Bologna was on 6 September. The activities for the new students were organized in the following order: x An introduction in several chairs on a series of subjects related to their degree, with the idea of developing students' motivation. x The screening of short video about the new school EIFORNAT. x An introduction to the labs for freshmen classes. x A welcoming introduction with the principal and presentation management team in the hall. x A conference in the auditorium about the areas addressed for the new degree (first day). x A variety of conferences on degrees taught by a graduate student, from a major enterprise in forestry that the school is currently working with. x Introduce the way the Moodle platform and Start Point work. Survey. x Meet the School Principal, the facilities; attend to briefings on the resources of the Library, Information and Secretariat staff. x An introduction of the teaching units and the Alumni Association of the EIFORNAT.
The new degree in Environmental Engineering (EIFORNAT) just started in 2010-11 and having set our set goal as: “Personal intensive student attention” we have been working to improve the Welcome, support and guidance Plan for students. This can be explained as: x Integrating the new student as quick as possible: by means of the Welcome Project, which will integrate the student with effectiveness on his or her first year in the School. x Improving the Mentoring Project: strengthen the Mentoring Project for the new Erasmus students. x Supporting the student during his or her stay at the Technical University of Madrid. Organize the students’ monitoring with the Integral Tutoring Project. Professional orientation and briefings for future graduates, and a diversity of Lectures.
2. WELCOME PROJECT The Welcome Project proposes the new student’s integration even before the beginning of the school year. On 2008-09 the Welcome Project was put into practice, it calls for the students to come together before the first day of school. The Plan has been executed two years in a row and it has been widely accepted [3]. This year, a Tutoring Project has been added for
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obtained and therefore their failures, which could be solved with summaries and exercises.
Mentoring Project In 2008-09 a Mentoring Plan was established in the school for the first time. The plan went through different phases until its definite creation: development of regulations, training of tutors who support a series of mentors, recruit and interview mentors that will train students with an instructive course directed by a specialist in mentoring; inform new students and start-up [5]. Furthermore, a virtual point has been created in the Moodle platform within a Starting Point for students to have access to three plans: Reception, Mentoring and Tutoring.
Finally, before the start of the 2010-11 academic year this new level of natural environmental engineering, a degree that is new in Technical University of Madrid in Madrid and in the spirit of power that further studies on possible links between some initial data of student performance, and satisfaction during the stay of students at our school, has begun developing a database of students in the new degree. We performed a survey for this purpose which is already able to obtain some knowledge of new student’s expectations and possible relationships.
A mentor is senior student that welcomes and informs new students, while supervised by a teacher. The student Mentor leads the meetings. First, once a week the first month and then every two weeks or according to the students’ needs, ending the first week of February. The students must submit a report to their tutor about the meetings and a copy to the coordinator. The Tutor must meet their four or five mentors once a month to support, encourage and monitor them in their work. The Coordinator meets with the tutors and mentors at the beginning of the program to talk about the assignments of the new students, and at the end to get the advantages and disadvantages for further improvement.
This survey is part of a project that aims to create a database of the students in the new degree of Natural Environment Engineering, and to be able since the beginning of this new degree, to keep track and subsequent studies on the new students and their stay. Complete the study with all the information related to the following courses of their stay and check the development from the beginning. The idea was that some kind of information regarding the students, besides the academic, could enable us to locate the students that would be more likely to be successful in this degree. This means a high efficiency rate and academic success rate.
The Mentoring Plan is especially useful for the students who come from other places or other countries (Erasmus), but is available for everyone in order for the new students to not feel lost in a new environment. But our aim is to not only guide the new students, but to inform the students of the possibilities they will have in the future once they graduate. To do so, a variety of presentations are being organized during the school year, in which Enterprises, Masters and Foundations are presented to the students since 2008.
4. RESULTS The results of this survey were conducted in the welcome conference and which we relate to data that is subsequently taken in the following figures show: Table I. Data 2010-11 academic year beginning Students enrolled in July 2010 82 Enrolled in the Day host two days 68 Enrolled in mentoring programs or tutoring program 60 Performed the survey 50
Tutoring Project The Tutorial Action Plan consists on a teacher (tutor) that welcomes and informs students of the EU coordinated by the Council of Teachers-Tutors. It must be highlighted that this tutorial is personal, in order to get a complete adaptation of the student. These should not to be confused with the tutorials that may be requested on each subject with the specific teacher or mentor. In this academic year of 2010-11, rules for the tutorials are being developed to extend them to the senior pupils who request and allocate tutors specialties.
Some considerations There was an increase of students coming from private schools, concluded that in this case are well prepared, and we believe this is because this degree is new and unique in the field of public and private universities in general and particularly in the community of Madrid.
3. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
In the open-ended questions where we outlined the reasons for this degree in engineering study of the natural environment, the answers lead us to a very satisfactory impression on the students' motivation.
The second day after the admission process, the students worked in the computers to familiarize with the Moodle platform. This is the school’s platform where each subject has a space to share with students and where they assign exercises, tests and reviews and where the students are always available. This makes it very useful for the students.
Also on the question of preferred subjects, Zoology and Botany were more than 75% of the responses.
First we showed them how to go on the platform where the Starting Point of the University has a repertory of topics, summaries and problems solved from every subject that the student has during the first year: mathematics, physics, chemistry, statistics...
The ability of using new technologies 94% means a great level of success at this time when computers are present in many of the subjects taken by the students. But the question about their future work aspirations we just ratified (90% respond clearly saying they want to work closely with nature and the environment).
They were also taught how to go on the Moodle platform and get a personal mathematics test. They can check the score they
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Technologic Biomedical Type of high school you attended Vocational Training Other Average Note Entrance Low English Level Middle Fluid 1st option chosen in this Yes degree no Zoology and Botanic Ecology The preferred subjects of Impact environment Chemistry the official program Physics Drawing Often Do you go to the Occasionally mountain? Almost never Yes Do you have computer and Internet? No Yes Do you use the computer frequently? No Approximate time to More than an hour reach School of Less than an hour engineering Sports Do you plan to work or Works perform some activity? Others How many hours a day More than 2 hours do you think you will Less than 2 hours Less than 1 hour have to study? Less than 30 minutes How much time spent on Less than 1 hour sports per week? More than 2 hours Less than 30 minutes How much time per week Less than 1 hour do you read? More than 2 hours
40% 40
60%
percentage
Table II. Survey data Private Type of middle school where you studied Public
40% 50% 5% 5% 8.62 28% 43% 14% 75% 25% 1st 2nd 3rd 4ª 5th 6th 23% 53% 23% 96% 4% 94% 6% 25% 75%
10
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
note for entrance Fig. 2. Note for entrance in the new degree: Natural Environmental Engineering
Thus, all information received from the survey leads us to believe that the participation and success rates for students will be good and much higher than previous years.
Table III. Data by sex selectivity shout boys girls Frequency 39 46
65% 15% 20% 65% 30% 5% 21% 32% 47% 9% 38% 53%
Average
8.5
9.3
Medium
8.2
9.4
Standard Desviation
1.3
1.5
Minimum
6.9
7
Maximum First quartile
12.7 7.4
13 7.9
Third quartile
9.4
10.6
All responses have confirmed that over 60% of the new degree meets their expectations. It should also be noted that there has been a turnout in the two days to the day of reception of 85%, which together with the average grade in “Selectivity”, the feedback that we have made with your answers and the degree of expressed satisfaction that the day care (87% were very satisfied with the conference). We have to be very positive and optimistic about this new qualification. Another fact to keep in mind that may help us find students with a high academic level is that students, who took no Natural Environmental Engineering as their first option, chose a degree with high input grade as shown in the table below. Table IV. Grades 1st choice if didn’t chose GIMN
60
percentage
20
0
Another fact that appears this year for the first time in 50 years of operation of this school and we think it is a very positive one, is that for the first time the number of female students in our school of engineering is higher than male students. The female engineering students tend to get very good grades.
50 40 30 20 10 0 MALE
30
FEMALE
Fig. 1. Students in the new degree
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University Entrance Examination by sex
Male
Female
6.9
8.9
10.9
12.9
14.9
Fig. 3. Type of studies the last year of high school
Fig. 5. Note for entrance to the university by sex
The rate of absences (credits not submitted / registered * 100), rate of return (credits approved / registered) and success rate (approved / submitted) we studied and compare them with the first results obtained in this survey, when we already have the Data from the first quarter.
We further analysis of the data upon completion of the first and second semester to study relationships between performance and satisfaction rate and possible improvements to be made in the new degree, from the demand of students and emerging needs.
In the first tests carried out in the first semester of 2010-11, on subjects that they had high difficulty, are already performing better than in previous years in these same subjects [6]. In the mathematics program in continuous assessment, students who pass the tests are over 68%, but also scores on average are more than 15% higher than previous years, this is more approved and highest notes.
We must continue to increase and debugging the battery of questions prepared for the next course, and also we want for this project, select and group the survey data into different groups: skills, or affinity with the degree, attitudes, and level of study, prior knowledge, ease and use of new technologies, other aspects evaluated. That we allow a study of students in the grade and obtain feedback to provide for improvements, support, supply gaps and ultimately improve teaching and new student learning.
We believe in studying the survey data, we only the level of students is higher but also are more motivated are students who chose the first choice career for the most part, and they had not chosen this option is that the first choice for them, was a grade with a very high input note, are therefore students with high academic standards that took this degree as second choice. Thus, we mostly highly motivated students and students with high academic level.
6.
The great motivation to continue these experiences are satisfactory surveys. The main advantage is that when the student begins the first day of class he or she is integrated socially, administratively and academically in the School of engineering, and he feels more welcomed if he has a tutor or mentor throughout the course. We continue to track these students to help them achieve the degree and this way we can then get more general data about the experience. In the welcome survey, we were grateful to see that the question of why you decided to choose this degree, all answers were because of it is a great motivation to work with nature and the environment and the strong preference for the subjects to be taught in the new degree.
Fig. 4. Level of motivation for the new degree
All this leads us to be very optimistic about success rates and we will continue studying in future courses with many new students as they move to a new course. All of this is the best motivation for teachers of this school to the new degree
The new degree in engineering has high expectations now [7], and a good ratio of success that we can predict from the day of the welcome programme. 1. 2.
3. 4. 5.
CONCLUSIONS
An improvement in the motivation of students entering the new degree. On an academic level higher input (the average grade in selectivity is significantly higher than in previous courses in previous studies degree of Forestry Engineer (both titles have common parts but also a different function now). Student enrolment was closed (it completely seats) in July. Performance has increased since the first test of the new course in basic subjects. High degree of involvement and student satisfaction.
7.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This paper and research has been supported by PIE 2010 Innovation Project Technical University of Madrid (UPM) Spain.
8. REFERENCES [1] Glaria G.; Salas L.; Martínez A.; Saa J.; C. Soldevilla “Puesta en marcha del proyecto mentor de la E.U.I:T. Forestal de Madrid: un valor añadido en la formación”, Proceedings V Congreso de Docencia Iberoamericana, Universidad Politécnica Valencia, 2008.
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[2] Peñalver E. & Salas L., “Formación en competencias: Proyecto Mentor y futuro profesional”, Proceedings IV Jornadas Internacionales Mentoring and Coaching, Universidad-Empresa, UPM, 2009. [3] Martinez, A.; Saa, J.E.; Salas, L. & Soldevilla, C., “Trying to motive new students: professional orientation in the welcome programme”, Proceedings International Conference of Education Research and Innovation, 2009. [4] Martínez, A.; Saa, J.E.; Salas, L. & Soldevilla, C., “Motivando a los alumnos de Primer Curso de la EUIT Forestal”, Proceedings Jornadas Internacionales U.P.M. Sobre innovación educativa y convergencia Europea, Madrid, 2009. [5] L. de Salas, A. Martinez, J. Saa, C. Soldevilla, E. Peñalver, “Developing professional competences through the mentoring programme in the E.U.I.T. Forestal”, Proceedings International Technology, Education and Development Conference, Valencia, 2010. [6] Saa, J.E., Martínez, A., “Comparación de experiencias en metodologías participativas en el aprendizaje de la Estadística”. ECITEC 08, Madrid, 2008. [7] J.E. Saa, S. Pérez, V. Gómez, A. Monsó, E. Manrique, A. Gastón, J. Martínez, C. Molleda, G. Dorado, T. Montoro, G. Martín, C. López, C. Soldevilla, C. Pérez, A. Martínez, A. Vivar, M. Génova, E. Sadornil, P. Galán, A. Castellanos, A. San José, J.M. Rodríguez; “Organization of the first year of the new official undergraduate degree in Natural Environmental engineering”, Proceedings International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, Barcelona, 2010.
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Business Simulation and Competences’ Development in a Bachelor of Commerce Course Evandro BOCATTO MacEwan School of Business, Grant MacEwan University Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Eloisa PEREZ-de-Toledo MacEwan School of Business, Grant MacEwan University Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Victor BILODEAU MacEwan School of Business, Grant MacEwan University Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
competencies developed by the business simulation. Faria and Wellington [3] tries to evaluate the usage of business simulation through a survey of one thousand game-users, former-users, and never-users. When the authors ask (p.191): “Can You Identify the Most Important Reasons Why You First Adopted a Business Game?” the more frequent responses are: (1) To give students decision-making experience, with 38,7% of responses; (2) To allow for theory application, 30,1%; (3) To have students integrate business concepts, 22,6%; and, (4) To encourage teamwork, with 11,3%. In our understanding, Faria and Wellington were indirectly describing a clear intention to develop some competences such as decision-making, conceptualization or teamwork through the use of business simulations. Such intentions were just not highlighted. At our School of Business, we have been following this educational trend by adding to the content of courses, learning outcomes and competences or professional skills. A distinctive feature of our Bachelor of Commerce degree is the embedding of seven professional skills across the curriculum: - case study analysis (CSA) - ethical practice (EP) - group work (GW) - presentation skill (PS) - research skills (RS) - using technology (UT) - writing skills (WS) Academic reviewers and in special the Campus Alberta Quality Council were favourably impressed with this “work readiness” strategy and considered this to be a notable and significant distinguishing feature. This strategy of considering content as well as
1. Introduction In addition to content-based, the focus on competence-development has become a trend on curriculum creation in post-secondary education. The Bologna Agreement in Europe makes clear the need for specifying learning-outcomes and the consequent competences developed by them which facilitate standardization of programs aiming students’ exchange and credit transfers among countries. The Canadian educational system, albeit managed in the provincial level, follows the same trend. The challenge however, is to assess whether the promised competences are in fact delivered to the students. This paper is part of a joint effort of post-secondary institutions in Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Canada and Brazil to assess the competences developed by business simulations present in some of their courses. We present here the Canadian case.
2. Business Simulation and Competences Development Goleman [1], we think, helps to shift a paradigm arguing in favor of a more holistic view of human beings in organizations and society. The author’s view of an Emotional Intelligence brings a more complete perspective of individuals. Such argument is refined by, among others, Boyatzis [2] work on competence development in leaders. Yet, the literature on managerial simulations primarily considers the organizations bottom line (e.g. profit, market share growth or return on investment) for the decision taken in the game’s market ([3], [4], [5], [6]). However, it lacks a direct analysis of the
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specifying which competencies are the core ones from which others are developed has been receiving a positive impression on students and faculty, and noticed by the employers of our graduates. We do have motives to celebrate this strategy; however, we have decided to take a more conservative position. Although all courses in the Bachelor of Commerce address which particular skills are being developed, the program is still trying to assess whether the competencies that are intended to be delivered are actually being delivered. Our study will focus on the BUSN 450 Strategic Management course. It is unique course because it synthesizes content from different courses within a software atmosphere that simulates a real managerial ambience (i.e. a business simulation). As such, we may see that other courses indirectly benefit from this research and future research may also emanate from this study. In summary, our main research objective is to describe which competences are developed by our business simulation and compare them to the professional skills we intend to develop. Additionally we compare these competences with the ones developed by the Bachelor of commerce as a whole (the non-players).
achievement capacity; and, specific). For secondary analysis, we will use the variables on demographic characteristics of the students, including information about: occupation or studies; country; age; highest level of education attained; previous participation in teams; previous participation in simulations; and, gender. During 2009/2010 school year, we applied 120 questionnaires to 7 sections of our 4th year students (4 sections of simulation class and 3 of non-simulation). 57% of the students were male. 99 questionnaires were valid. From this amount about half belonged to each group, 50 students had taken the business simulation course (i.e., users) and 49 had not (i.e., non-users), responding then to their general perception about the skills developed in the Bachelor of Commerce. In the following we provide an example of a set: C. TECHNOLOGICAL INSTRUMENTAL SKILLS: Please indicate the extent to which the business game helped you develop the following skills: C.1. Using new technologies (e.g. IT tools, computers, etc.) 1 2 3 4 5 C.2. Using new communication platforms (Internet forums, etc.) 1 2 3 4 5 C.3. Solving technical, administrative and programming-related problems in the business game 1 2 3 4 5
3. Research Question and Methodology The way the research questions are posed will determine what materials and activities will bear on the problem and on what the researcher will discover [7] (p. 265). Our main research question is: “Which professional skills are developed by our business simulation?” Secondarily, we want to know in which sense our simulation differs from the general skills developed by our Bachelor of commerce. In order to answer that question and assess professional skills’ development, we build a bricolage [8]. We use a validated comprehensive questionnaire of competencies developed by Deusto University [9] and apply it on a qualitatively sampled group of students, for the matter of internal validity [10]. Later, our findings will be compared to the ones of our partners in other countries, for the matter of consistency [11].
For the general bachelor this question is: C. TECHNOLOGICAL INSTRUMENTAL SKILLS: Please indicate the extent to which the Bachelor of Commerce helped you develop the following skills: The first version of the questionnaire of Deusto was originally written in Spanish. Our partners, fluent in Spanish and English, translated it to English. We reviewed the questionnaire which seemed to be accurate. We treat the questionnaires through exploratory factor analysis [12] using SPSS software. For reliability, we controlled the Conbrach’s Alpha for all variables on both group (i.e., users and non-users). 0.73 was the cut we consider regarding this criterion of reliability which took us to discount two of the sets, linguistic instrumental and achievement capacity. It makes sense the confusion for linguist instrumental as this competence is more prevalent to be developed in Spanish, Portuguese and Canadian students than Irish and Canadians. The method of extraction used is the principal component analysis. Some of the questions were excluded due to its low level of correlation, less than 0.3.
3.1. Methodological design The comprehensive questionnaire of professional skills [9] used consists of 72 questions five-point Likert scale divided into 11 sets of skills (i.e., cognitive instrumental; methodological instrumental; technological instrumental; linguistic instrumental; individual; interpersonal/social; entrepreneurial capacity; organizational capacity; leadership capacity;
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We name as well the components developed by the Bachelor of Commerce and compare them to the simulation. The comparison follows in table 2:
3.2. Findings Our team of researchers named the resultant components, they are in the following: - Information processing - Conceptualizing - Qualitative analysis - Problem solving and decision making - Communicating - Independent learning - Teamwork - Entrepreneurship - Continuous improvement - Project management - Leadership - Managerial - Ethics - Strategic Having the research question in mind (i.e., “Which professional skills are developed by our business simulation?”), we organized a panel of experts to compare the resultant components of the business simulation users with the 7 professional skills proposed. The components found and their relationships with the skills aimed are found in table 1, below:
Table 2: Competences developed by the simulation compared to competences developed in the Bachelor of Commerce Developed by simulation Developed by Bachelor Information processing Information processing Conceptualizing Qualitative analysis Problem solving and Problem solving and decision making decision making Communicating Communicating Independent learning Independent learning Teamwork Teamwork Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship Continuous improvement Project management Project management Leadership Leadership Managerial Managerial Ethics Ethics Strategic Risk management Time management Negotiation Most of the competences developed by the business simulation and the Bachelor of Commerce are similar. Yet, in the simulation students perceive as more prominent the competences of conceptualizing, qualitative analysis, continuous improvement and strategic skills where as in the Bachelor risk and time management and, negotiation were more focused.
Table 1: Competences developed by the simulation compared to the 7 professional skills Competences developed 7 skills Information processing CSA, RS Qualitative analysis CSA, PS, RS Problem solving and PS, GW decision making Communicating GW, PS, RS, UT Teamwork GW, EP Project management GW, CSA Managerial CSA, UT Ethics EP For: case study analysis (CSA) group work (GW) ethical practice (EP) presentation skill (PS) research skills (RS) using technology (UT) writing skills (WS)
4. Discussion The underlying objective of our research is to make sense of extremely intertwined constructs, viz., program content, learning outcomes and competences developed. We know that Bachelors of Commerce develop students; however, we can see through our description some of the elements present in this development, and more importantly what we are missing. Moreover, we can now argue that the care with the professional skills that are part of our pedagogical philosophy and competitive advantage become clearer to us. Interestingly some of the competences seem more prominent in the business game sections. The future development planned is the comparison of cases of other courses taken in the Bachelor and the comparison of cases among the different countries participating in the project. As the business games used are not the same it will be interesting to analyze and
Writing skills were the only one 7 professional skills untouched by the simulation. Besides, the simulation developed the extra skills of conceptualization, continuous improvement, independent learning, entrepreneurship and leadership.
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J. Fraser Pierson (Eds.), The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology: Leading Edges in Theory, Research and Practice, London: Sage, 2001, pp. 231-245.
compare the competences developed by each one of them.
5. References
[8] N. K. Denzin and Y. S. Lincoln, Entering the field of qualitative research. In Norman K. Denzin. and Yvonna. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research, Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1994, pp. 1-17.
[1] D. Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, Bantam Book, 1996. [2] D. Goleman, R. Boyatzis, A. McKee, Primal Leadership: The Hidden Driver of Great Performance, Harvard Business School Press, 2001.
[9] Deusto University, “Competencias”, unpublished document, Deusto, Spain, 2000.
[3] A. J. Faria and W. J. Wellington, W. J., “A Survey of Simulation Game Users, Former-Users, and Never-Users”, Simulation & Gaming, 35(2), 2004, pp. 178-207.
[10] A. Pettigrew, Longitudinal field research on change: Theory and practice. Paper presented at the National Science Foundation Conference on Longitudinal Research Methods in Organizations, Austin, 1988.
[4] K. O. Jensen, “Business Games as Strategic TeamLearning Environments in Telecommunications”, BT Technology Journal, 21(2), 2003, pp. 133-144.
[11] K. M. Eisenhardt, K. M. “Building Theories from Case Study Research”, Academy of Management Review, 14(4), 1989, pp. 532-550.
[5] J. Chang, M. Lee, K-L. Ng and K-L. Moon, “Business Simulation Games: The Hong Kong Experience. Simulation & Gaming”, 34(3), 2003, pp. 367-376.
[12] A. B. Costello and J. W. Osborne, “Best practices in exploratory factor analysis: four recommendations for getting the most from your analysis”, Practical Assessment Research & Evaluation, 10(7), 2005, Available online: http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=10&n=7.
[6] W. J. Wellington and A. J. Faria, “A Loser's Perspective I”, Simulation & Gaming, 22(1), 1991, pp. 103-106. [7] C. Moustakas, Heuristic research: Design and methodology. In Kirk J. Schneider, James F. T. Bugental and
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Teaching Finance in an Online Setting Using Cognitive Apprenticeship
2007). Using cognitive apprenticeship as a framework, a method for teaching finance to graduate nursing students in an online environment is presented (Moyer & Wittmann-Price, 2008).
Kim B. Brannagan, PhD, RN, MSN, MBA, BS Ed. 6363 St. Charles Avenue, Campus Box 42 New Orleans, LA 70118
Key Course Concepts Teaching non-financial managers finance skills requires a focused approach to the selection of course content. It may not be feasible or even necessary to cover the spectrum of topics presented in a traditional introductory finance course. The concepts that are selected should be relevant and current as they relate to the issues with which healthcare managers are faced. The American Association of Colleges of Nurses (AACN) offers recommendations for program content at all levels of educational preparation and should be used as a guide (AACN, 2011). Additionally, essential financial skill sets may vary by facility, therefore it is imperative that universities assess their communities of interest and ascertain information related to the desired skills of graduates (Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), 2009).
Introduction For many nurse executives and managers, financial management skills, including planning, controlling, implementing, and analyzing departmental budgets, have been acquired on the job. Traditionally, most managers rely on the organization’s financial managers to direct activities related to financial issues. After all, nurse executives usually evolve from apprenticeships within a technical or specialty area in nursing and are not familiar with financial concepts (Finkler & McHugh, 2008). Often the nurse manager’s focus is on quality of patient care and not on identifying and responding to financial matters. However, in today’s healthcare environment, more and more organizations are aware of the value of nurse executives who learn to speak the financial language and employ financial skills to operate their areas (Studer, 2010).
Financial managers usually have concrete, specific goals and keep a close watch on variances in order to be ready to react if necessary (Studer, 2010). In contrast, nurses and other clinical leaders are not usually as attentive to these goals. Having managers “speak the same language” is key to maintaining control of the financial issues of the organization. To accomplish this, some hospitals set financial goals for clinical managers and clinical goals for financial managers. Each has to learn about the other’s area, and learning the “why” behind actions and decisions (Studer).
Many organizations cite financial skills as one of the key deficits of their nurse managers. As more nurses are seeking and completing advanced degrees online, the challenge for schools of nursing to teach the skills necessary to achieve program competencies related to finance are heightened. Students may enter their graduate programs with little to no knowledge of financial concepts, and/or no experience in the use of financial software such as Microsoft Office Excel®. A structured and theoretically based approach should be used to ensure maximum success by learners (Salimi,
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Understanding the basic tenets of the budget, the financial impact of government relations on the healthcare organization, systems of reimbursement, reimbursement models, cost projections, the use of electronic medical records, and communication and negotiation skills are key concepts in a basic healthcare finance course. Sample topics, exercises and activities include contractual allowances, cost allocation, break even analysis, inventory and depreciation concepts, employee turnover, staffing, financial reports (e.g., balance sheets, revenue and expense reports), financial and operating ratios, trend analysis, operating budgets, capital budgets, variance analysis, benchmarking, and creating business plans (Baker & Baker, 2011).
materials, study aids, and application exercises. Billings (2007) points out that online education can be used as a toolset to individualize learning through practice tests, audio files, learning activities (e.g., treasure hunts, games, case studies), and collaborative learning. To facilitate higherlevel critical thinking, students should be encouraged to access resources online, such as best practice guidelines, community databases, and evidence-based reviews, and interpret data, make judgments, and evaluate outcomes. Theoretical Framework Cognitive apprenticeship, as a framework for teaching and learning, facilitates rapid learning of essential skills needed to meet competencies in an online graduate level finance course. Collins, Brown, and Holum (1991) describe cognitive apprenticeship as “a model of instruction that works to make thinking visible” (p. 11). Traditional apprenticeship, in contrast to cognitive apprenticeship, is typically concerned with outward, observable tasks and is demonstrated in real-world environments. Cognitive apprenticeship is concerned with the process of thinking and typically takes place in a setting separate from the realworld setting, such as the online environment, but is then later applied to a real-world situation (Autin, 2009). The application of cognitive apprenticeship provides faculty with seven strategies to facilitate higher level thinking skills— modeling, coaching, scaffolding, articulation and reflection, and promoting transfer of learning (Autin; Collins, Brown, & Holum; Oriol, Tumulty, & Snyder, 2010).
Online Education Nurses have been educated for more than 30 years via distance education, including print, audio, video, and the Internet (Billings, 2007). Enrollment in distance education programs in United States (US) colleges and universities continues to grow, particularly in graduate education programs (Salimi, 2007). With improvements in technology, the learning environment is more interactive, which improves learning (Billings). Methods such as desktop videoconferencing, handheld devices (cell phones, personal digital assistants, etc) and audio/video streaming allow faculty and students to interact synchronously and asynchronously. According to Salimi (2007), the effectiveness of distance education is directly related to the effectiveness of the design of the course. Key elements of an effective course include an active presence of the instructor, a sense of community, participation and discussion by the students, a rich set of online presentation
Modeling involves the faculty demonstrating the task or the work and providing the learner with a detailed description of the process, allowing the
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apprentice to grasp the tasks and concepts both procedurally and conceptually (Autin, 2009). Modeling was first proposed by Bandura (1977) as an instructional strategy whereby students learn by observing. A key requirement is that the modeling includes not only a demonstration of the task, but a demonstration of “how to think” about the task or the problem. The modeling should mirror a real world setting as much as possible. Students should be encouraged to ask questions and engage in problem solving and the cognitive process utilized must be observable to the learner (Oriol, Tumulty, & Snyder, 2010).
successful fading. If fading occurs too quickly, the student may not achieve the desired outcome, while if fading occurs too slowly, the learner may become dependent on the teacher. Articulation and reflection are accomplished when the learner thinks about the approach used for problem solving and then reflects on the approach. This may involve comparing, one’s process of thinking to others. Paulo Freire (1970) viewed education as more than the provision of information to students. Freire challenged teachers to create an environment of equality and caring so that dialogue would flow freely, thereby enhancing learning. Reflection is a key component to this process as it involves thinking critically about alternatives (Moyer & Witmann-Price, 2008). Reflection could be in the form dialogue, where thoughts are articulated to produce internal awareness. Freire argued that dialogue allows the learner to take responsibility for their learning.
Coaching takes place throughout the learning process. Coaches provide ongoing feedback as the learner is working to achieve their goals (Austin, 2009). The teacher should coach students by offering hints and suggestions, analyzing problems, and identifying areas for corrective action. Feedback should be as immediate as possible to increase the likelihood of the desired outcome.
Promoting transfer of learning or exploration involves encouraging the students to think of alternative methods to approach the problem or how their process can be applied to other situations. This process should promote the generation of new questions and thereby new knowledge (Austin, 2007).
Prior to the student mastering the problem solving process, scaffolding may be used. Scaffolding involves the introduction of more complex tasks, but in incremental steps, as the learner is capable (Austin, 2009). Tools to facilitate scaffolding include rubrics, step-by-step instructions, checklists, cue cards, and sample work. An overuse or underuse of scaffolding may interfere with learning (Oriol, Tumulty, & Snyder, 2010).
The cognitive apprenticeship model provides a dynamic framework for introducing skills in an online environment. Employing all strategies will provide the most effective approach (Oriol, Tumulty, & Snyder, 2010). An additional consideration is to create an environment or situations that are applicable to the learner.
Fading entails gradually surrendering assistance, while allowing the learner to attempt to solve complex problems (Oriol, Tumulty, & Snyder, 2010). Determining the learner’s readiness for independent thinking and analysis is key to
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Application of the Cognitive Apprenticeship Framework in Finance Education At the graduate level, students enrolled in finance courses must become skilled in the use of Excel®. An opportunity exists to employ innovative strategies to introduce the basic functions of Excel®. Using the cognitive apprenticeship framework and other technology, the students will be provided with hands-on experiences early in the course and then throughout as skills become more complex. Table 1 illustrates the use of cognitive apprenticeship as a model for incorporating software applications to teach Excel® in an online environment.
Scaffolding
Fading
Reflection & Articulation
Table 1 Modeling Adobe Captivate, a screen capture software program, is used to create narrated Flash movies (tutorials) of the Excel® processes. Students are guided through step-by-step functions of the program. Automated on-screen mouse-tracking accompanied by text captions provides a detailed description of the process. Students are then asked to model the activities captured on screen. Coaching Students are coached through assigned exercises utilizing data derived from real world problems. The use of Join.me (https://join.me./), a free open-source computer screen-sharing program, provides real time
Exploration
assistance to students. Additionally, the discussion board, telephone and email are use as coaching tools. The use of grading rubrics, helpful hints posted in the discussion board, and stepby-step instructions are provided throughout modeling and coaching. The teacher begins to withdraw tools and support as appropriate. Students are asked to share their findings and the process(es) used for problem solving for assignments and case studies. Students are also asked to dialogue with each other regarding their solutions. Once students complete the assigned activities, they use exploration to design an operating budget for the unit of their choice.
Conclusion By incorporating the cognitive apprenticeship framework as a pedagogical method for teaching financial concepts and the essentials of MS Office Excel®, students are able to master the desired competencies and skills, while not getting overwhelmed with the details of the software. As the use of online courses continues to increase, the application of innovative strategies will be necessary to facilitate successful learning at a distance.
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References American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2011). The essentials of master’s education in nursing. Washington, DC: Author. Autin, A. E. (2009). Cognitive apprenticeship theory and its implications for doctoral education: A case example from a doctoral program in higher and adult education. International Journal for Academic Development, 14(3), 173183. Baker, J. J. & Baker, R. W. (2011). Health care finance: Basic tools for nonfinancial managers, 3rd ed. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett. Bandura, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory. New York: General Learning Press. Billings, D. M. (2007). Optimizing distance education in nursing. Journal of Nursing Education, 46(6), 247-248. Collins, A., Brown, F., & Holum, A. (1991). Cognitive apprenticeship: Making things visible. American Educator: The Professional Journal of the American Federation of Teachers, 15(3), 6-11, 38-46. Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). (2009). Standards for accreditation of baccalaureate and graduate degree nursing programs. Washington, DC: American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Finkler, S. A. & McHugh, M. L. (2008). Budgeting concepts for nurse managers, 4th ed. St. Louis: Saunders. Moyer, B. A. & Wittman-Price, R. A. (2008). Nursing education: Foundations for practice excellence. Philadelphia, PA: FA Davis. Oriol, M., Tumulty, G., & Snyder, K. (2010). Cognitive apprenticeship as a framework for teaching online.
MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 6(1), 210-217. Salimi, A. Y. (2007). The promise and challenges for distance education in accounting. Strategic Finance, 88(7), 19-20, 53. Studer, Q. (2010). Do your nurses speak finance? Healthcare Financial Management, 64(6), 80-84.
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The "SignOn"-Model for Teaching Written Language to Deaf People Marlene HILZENSAUER Center for Sign Language and Deaf Communication, University of Klagenfurt Klagenfurt, 9020, Austria and Franz DOTTER Center for Sign Language and Deaf Communication, University of Klagenfurt Klagenfurt, 9020, Austria
many deaf people in their written national language(s) are insufficient for their complete inclusion.
ABSTRACT This paper shows a method of teaching written language to deaf people using sign language as the language of instruction. Written texts in the target language are combined with sign language videos which provide the users with various modes of translation (words/phrases/sentences). As examples, two EU projects for English for the Deaf are presented which feature English texts and translations into the national sign languages of all the partner countries plus signed grammar explanations and interactive exercises. Both courses are web-based; the programs may be accessed free of charge via the respective homepages (without any download or log-in).
As for foreign language learning, especially English is indispensable for our modern world and for exploiting all the possibilities of the Internet and electronic communication. In keeping with the "structural approach" in language learning which focuses on drill and practice [2], modern language courses – aimed at hearing people – emphasize speaking and listening skills, whereas the deaf need to receive information via the visual channel. 3. THE "SIGNON" METHOD
Keywords: Deaf, Sign Language, E-learning, Multimedia language course, Accessibility, English for the Deaf, English as a Foreign Language
The "SignOn" method encourages the users to explore English on their own. The model was developed as a consequence of experiences in teaching deaf people a written language. All of the project partner organizations have deaf collaborators and the final decision on all major content issues rested with them.
1. INTRODUCTION
We follow the "cognitive approach" as described by [2] where language learning is "no longer restricted to passive, drill-andpractice, grammar-based activities but instead emphasized the development of linguistic competencies based on prior knowledge, linguistic knowledge, and interaction with and understanding of the text" (p. 468).
This paper shows the structure of a multimedia course oriented to the learning needs of deaf people in the field of written language. One major feature is sign language as the language of instruction. This structure was already used in order to produce two courses in written English, namely for basic ("SignOnOne") and intermediate learners ("SignOn!"). Both of these projects were funded with support from the European Commission. 1
The cognitive approach wants to reproduce in some way the language learning of children or foreign language learning of adults by immersion. Its concept of language learning is that language has to be "anchored" on preverbal or previous perceptions/cognitive processes: we perceive the world via "scenes" and "scripts" (cf. the tradition and development of "Cognitive Linguistics" in the sense of Schank, Fillmore and Langacker, cf. [3]). Language reflects this perception in some way; simple sentences relate to simple scenes. Additionally, categories like the parts of speech or phrases are built up in relation to the categories of perception, the roles of participants in a scene, the location of a scene in space and time, etc.
2. DEAF PEOPLE AND WRITTEN ENGLISH Learning the written (and spoken) languages of their environment is a crucial issue for deaf or hard-of-hearing people aiming to enhance their inclusion. Although deaf people are visually oriented, written language is often not enough to provide the deaf with the necessary information. This is mainly due to still inadequate teaching methods that do not allow for the fact that even the written language of their home country is a second language for many of them (for a discussion of language learning by deaf people, cf. [1]). Therefore the competences of
1
This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
The users of the "SignOnOne" course are provided with an animation for every sentence in the English text (this is an innovation which was not included in "SignOn!"). These
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useful for Internet users, for travel, or they had to be of special interest to deaf people. There is no given sequence of the topics; the users may switch between them according to their personal needs and preferences as the navigation is completely free. For details of "SignOn!", cf. [4].
animations represent the "scene" which is described through the language. The users may first watch the animations to get some idea of the "scene" enacted in this sentence. Then they can decide whether to stay within the English text (as the immersion method would suggest), i.e. to break down each individual sentence into its smaller components and look up the meaning of the individual words and phrases. Alternatively, they may first watch the translation of the whole sentence into sign language which gives the content, but not an exact word-forword translation of the English sentence. For working with the target language and training, the model also includes interactive video exercises. These exercises are not graded; therefore the users can do them as often as they like, practising without any fear of mistakes. Additionally, they can brush up on their grammar (through signed grammar explanations). A word list completes the features ("SignOn!" also included Internet links for further reference).
5. THE SECOND PRODUCT: "SIGNONONE" – ENGLISH FOR BEGINNERS "SignOnOne" was produced within a two-year Grundtvig project (141761-LLP-1-2008-1-AT-GRUNDTVIG-GMP, 20083469 / 001-001; 2008-2010). There was a slightly changed partner consortium: Austria served again as the coordinator; three "SignOn!" partners chose to join the second project as well (Iceland, Norway and Spain), and in addition there were two new partners from the Czech Republic (Masaryk University, Support Centre for Students with Special Needs) and Hungary (University of West Hungary, Pedagogical Faculty). The final version of the program can be found at the following Internet address: http://www.acm5.com/signonone/index.html).
Didactically, the "SignOn" method encourages the complete freedom of the users: they can choose from among different options according to their individual preferences – they are not forced to work in a specific sequence or to use all of the options. The users remain completely anonymous and the program does not keep track of what the users are doing. This was a deliberate decision, as many deaf people are wary of a "school situation" where they are continuously confronted with their mistakes. "SignOnOne" provides them with the opportunity to explore English in a stress-free context.
The basic program design with ten lessons and sign language translations remained, although there were some small changes. In contrast to "SignOn!", the lessons build on one another; even so, the user is not forced to work through them in this order as the navigation is still free. The ten lessons deal with everyday topics which are necessary for every beginner of English, e.g. "Introduction", "Family", "Seasons", "Home", etc. Scrolling is no longer necessary, as longer lesson texts are split up into smaller parts on several pages. In contrast to "SignOn!" where the topics are completely independent from each other, we wanted some coherence among the single lessons for "SignOnOne". As with all the questions of content and layout, the deaf collaborators of "SignOnOne" had the final say on this and they voted against a continued story. Instead, they preferred to have the lessons loosely connected by using the same protagonists in each lesson (these were suggested by the Spanish partners: a family with deaf and hearing family members, their relatives, and their friends). The contents of the lesson texts were also discussed with the deaf colleagues.
Although the "SignOn" courses can be used as self-learning courses, we recommend using them in the context either of a presence course, where the teacher can expand on the grammar and answer questions, or within learning groups of deaf people in order to establish cooperation and mutual assistance within the group. 4. THE FIRST PRODUCT: "SIGNON!" – AN ENGLISH COURSE FOR THE DEAF FOR INTERMEDIATE LEARNERS The outcome of "SignOn!" (www.sign-on.eu), a three-year Socrates Lingua Action 2 project (113936-CP-1-2004-1LINGUA-L2; 2004-2007), is a self-learning English course for deaf adults with some knowledge of English (intermediate learners), focusing on Internet English and English for international communication. Austria (University of Klagenfurt, Center for Sign Language and Deaf Communication) was the coordinator; other partners were Finland (The Finnish Association of the Deaf), Iceland (Communication Centre for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing), Norway (Møller Resource Centre), Spain (University of Barcelona, Faculty of Developmental and Educational Psychology), the Netherlands (Pragma – Equal Access) and the United Kingdom (University of Central Lancashire).
Deaf collaborators from each partner institution/organization were also present at all partner meetings. International Sign interpreting was provided so that the deaf collaborators could take part in the meeting and present their ideas and suggestions for the course and the layout. Any discussions were solved by asking for a majority vote by the deaf colleagues. From the beginning, "SignOnOne" was intended as a course for deaf people by deaf people and so all major decisions were up to them (instead of forcing them to accept what the hearing collaborators thought good for them).
"SignOn!" contains ten English texts on Deaf and Internet topics with different modes of translations (all, sentence, word/phrase) into the seven national sign languages of the partner countries (i.e. Austrian, British, Catalan, Dutch, Finnish, Icelandic and Norwegian Sign Language). "SignOn!" also used International Sign (for the introduction and the translations of the whole texts and the individual sentences) to allow deaf people from other countries access to the program. The lessons are of varying complexity and design (e.g. text or dialogue). There were three criteria for choosing a topic: they had to be
All the filming was done by the deaf collaborators as well. After the initial definition of the content, hearing collaborators with good English competence wrote the texts and checked them again with the deaf and with the other partners. The Czech partners in particular did much additional work to ensure that no lesson contained more than 100 new words or any grammar that had not been introduced in previous lessons (unless it was explained in the respective lesson). They even provided a small database program that allowed us to calculate the new words in
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each text and to compare the amount within individual lessons. After everyone had agreed on a lesson text, the sentences, words and phrases had to be broken up into "linking lists" which were used by the Norwegian technicians to link the parts of the text to the correct videos.
be translated by clicking on the translations of the individual sentences. Instead of "all", we optimized the cognitive approach by introducing the tab "Animation" which provides a languageindependent visual representation of the content of the sentences. After discussing and trying out different possibilities for doing this, we finally agreed upon using animations of drawings provided by one of the Czech collaborators, as this let us focus on the cognitive concepts within each sentence. The idea behind these animations is to give the users some idea of what the sentence is about and what to expect before they use the various translation modes. Color serves to accentuate important parts of the mostly black-and-white pictures. The users can recognize the individual protagonists, and certain approaches for visualizing concepts are used repeatedly so that the users are already familiar with them (e.g. a sun rising and then setting serves to symbolize a day). These animations are available in two sizes (a smaller size in the video player window or enlarged to allow a better view of the details).
Before the videos could be filmed, the sentences, words and phrases as well as the grammar explanations had to be translated into all six national sign languages. For this, we tried to keep as close as possible to the original meaning while still using sign language grammar; this was more important than a word-forword translation. However, the structure of the program allows the users to click on every single word in a sentence and to compare the meaning with that of the whole sentence or with the modified meaning of a phrase within a sentence. If a direct translation was impossible, a signed translation was given. 6. HOW THE SOFTWARE WORKS On entering the program, the users first need to choose one of the available sign languages. This is done by clicking on one of the national flag buttons below the video player window. There is a signed welcome; help is available in visual form for "SignOn!" and as a special signed help function for "SignOnOne". The latter can be called up at any time by clicking on the question mark in the upper right corner of the home page: the individual parts of the program (e.g. buttons) will then show up in red frames. When the users click on any of these frames, a signed explanation will pop up.
Fig. 2: Animation of the first sentence from Lesson 1, "Introduction" ("Mark Brown is a deaf student from England") Besides "Animation", the second innovation in "SignOnOne" is the so-called "Talking Head": while "SignOn!" did not include any audio features, we asked a British native speaker to pronounce all the sentences, words and phrases in "SignOnOne".
Fig. 1: Example for the help function for "SignOnOne" From the design, the lessons center on the "Main Texts" in written English which introduce important words and phrases for each topic (cf. Figure 8 below). Translations into sign language are available; the users may choose between three different modes: "sentence", "word" and "phrase" (in "SignOnOne", every single word/phrase is clickable, in "SignOn!" only a selection of difficult ones, chosen by the deaf collaborators). In order to watch the translation (or, if a direct translation from English into sign language is not possible, a signed explanation), they have to click on the respective tab and then on the part of the text they want to have translated, marked in blue similar to an Internet link. All the translated/explained words and phrases are included in the "Word List". In "SignOn!" there is also a tab "All" which allows the users to call up a single video containing the translation of the complete main text of a lesson. Following the feedback for "SignOn!" we chose to abandon this tab in "SignOnOne". The evaluation showed that the video was too long and that the text could also
Fig. 3: Example of a "Talking Head" video
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This decision had two objectives: the first one is to provide the users with a lip-reading option, because the written English word often differs widely from its pronunciation so that deaf people are not able to recognize the spoken word; the second one is that some hard-of-hearing sign language users might be able to use the sound files.
the users have to match written English (words, phrases or sentences) with the correct videos by clicking on them or dragging them to the respective video.
As the target group of "SignOnOne" are complete beginners, the grammar explanations are much more comprehensive than in "SignOn!". Instead of brief summaries of the most important grammatical phenomena like in "SignOn!", the users will find signed explanations with tables and example sentences. For an example, cf. Figure 9. As was the case with the texts, each partner (with the exception of Norway as they did all the technical work) had to prepare grammar drafts for two lessons. When everybody was satisfied, the grammar videos were filmed; each partner was free to modify the draft texts to suit the needs and preferences of the deaf in their country (and to contrast it with the national written language).
Fig. 5: Example of a matching exercise (word-video) In others, feedback is given visually (mostly through emoticons and green checkmarks for correct answers and red Xs for wrong answers).
The link "Grammar reference" leads to an easy-to-use grammar overview (without sign language) for quick reference. As for the interactive exercises, there are three basic types in both products, namely "Multiple Choice", "Drag and Drop" and "Right Order". "SignOnOne" contains additional modified versions and some new types. The focus is necessarily on vocabulary and grammar exercises; there are relatively few text comprehension or writing exercises (e.g. "Type in the correct answer"). Because there is no feedback by a human teacher included in the program, the evaluation of any answer had to come from the program itself, which excluded free writing. One compromise was to use the "Right Order" template also for spelling exercises. Here the users have to watch a video and then drag the jumbled letters into the correct sequence to form the respective word (if they are unable to recognize the word, a help function shows the word, but only while the user is clicking on "show answer").
Fig. 6: Example of the feedback for a multiple choice exercise There are no marks, no limited tries, and the number of wrong answers is not saved, so that the anxiety and nervousness of the users are minimized. The program is completed by a "word list" which includes all the signed words in alphabetical order.
Fig. 4: Example of a spelling exercise ("T-H-A-N-K-S") In some exercises, the feedback is indirect: when the users answer the questions correctly, they are automatically forwarded to the next exercise; with drag and drop exercises, wrong choices will automatically revert to their original position. Most of the exercises include either sign language videos or pictures. One example are various matching exercises, where
Fig. 7: The alphabetical word list
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Again, the users may switch between the different national sign languages at any time. During the project, we also discussed expanding the word list to a kind of miniature dictionary or at least to unify it a bit more, but due to time and financial constraints, this could not be realized yet.
translations and sound files, signed grammar explanations and interactive exercises. The overall feedback from the deaf users and deaf teachers (mid-term and final evaluations for "SignOn!" and "SignOnOne") was very positive. For example, they thought that "SignOnOne" was helpful; about 90 % of them found the texts interesting. The possibility to compare the grammatical structures and the syntax of the national sign languages to English was mentioned as especially helpful. The various translation modes were well-received (although the external evaluator argued that the word tab was less important for adult learners), and many kept comparing the signs from different national sign languages. Some test persons liked the signed grammar explanations very much (e.g. the external evaluator), while to others they appeared too long and difficult. As for the animations, opinions were divided: while some liked them, others, like the external evaluator, thought them more suitable for school children than for adults. All in all, the program received praise; especially, as teaching materials for sign language users are still scarce. The deaf external evaluator who evaluated it from the perspective of a professional educator called it "widely accessible" and a "good tool".
7. SUSTAINABILITY Both online courses can be accessed on the Internet and are available for free without any download or log-in. Again, this was done on purpose, because many people are wary of registering for a program, and there are often problems with using a downloaded program on computers with varying specifications. The programming from "SignOn!" was updated for "SignOnOne" and should work with all common web browsers. The use of Flash ActionScript allows for some flexibility with regard to the contents: there are no special Flash programming skills necessary to add new lesson texts or sign languages - the interface can be reused just by editing the external files for text and linking information (text files and xml files). The grammar explanations and exercises use other programming, so some knowledge of Flash is required to work with them. The Norwegian partner also used a new way of storing the data – all the video files for a country are stored in a single folder which facilitates changes or substitutions.
We believe that "SignOnOne" can help sign language users who want to learn English by providing them with information in their first or preferred language. They should be able to improve their vocabulary and perhaps their knowledge of English grammar as well as their reading skills by using it. However, as the project has ended only recently, it is too early to have concrete results. Once "SignOnOne" has been used by English teachers with their students, it might be possible to show measurable improvements through working with the program. At the very least, "SignOnOne" will allow the users to approach English without fear and to explore the lesson texts within presence courses but also on their own.
There are several possibilities for reusing the templates: the easiest would be to add either new lesson texts (together with the respective grammar explanations and interactive exercises) or to add a new sign language. For the former, the texts and explanations would have to be written and translated into sign language; then the respective sign language videos would have to be filmed in all the national sign languages. For the latter, only the sign language videos would have to be filmed according to the specifications provided by the technical partner in Norway.
There also has been interest from various countries to add their sign language or reuse (parts of) the program for other purposes. This would be no problem as the "SignOn" model can be extended to any sign language or spoken/written language by including the respective texts, video and/or sound files. We welcome any (re)use of the program.
Naturally, it would also be an option to use the template for other written languages by exchanging the written texts. This would also mean that at least parts of the linking would have to be changed to fit the new language and that new videos would be required (at least for a part of the words and phrases).
9. REFERENCES [1] F. Dotter, "English for Deaf Sign Language Users: Still a Challenge", in: C.J. Kellett Bidoli and E. Ochse (eds.), English in International Deaf Communication (Linguistic Insights: Studies in Language and Communication 72), Bern: Peter Lang, 2008, pp. 97-121. [2] J.L. Plass and L.C. Jones, "Multimedia Learning in Second Language Acquisition", in: R.E. Mayer (ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 467488. [3] V. Evans and M. Green, Cognitive Linguistics: An Introduction, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006. [4] M. Hilzensauer and A. Skant, "SignOn! – English for Deaf Sign Language Users on the Internet", in: C.J. Kellett Bidoli and E. Ochse (eds.), English in International Deaf Communication (Linguistic Insights: Studies in Language and Communication 72), Bern: Peter Lang, 2008, pp. 155177.
There have also been some inquiries about using the template for other texts, e.g. for explaining complex scientific texts in a national written language to deaf students. This would entail doing all the linking and the sign language videos (translations and/or explanations) for the respective text. An unexpected bonus that emerged only during the evaluations of "SignOn!" and one which also holds for "SignOnOne" was that both programs can be used to compare or even learn signs from different national sign languages. During a conference presentation, one participant even proposed using the animations, the English texts and the sound files of "SignOnOne" in her English course for hearing students. 8. CONCLUSION As a web-based multimedia English course for beginners, "SignOnOne" combines English texts with sign language
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Fig. 8: "Main Text" of Lesson 3, "Seasons"
Fig. 9: Example for a signed grammar explanation ("past simple – to be")
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Evaluating the Sense of Community in a Distributed Health Informatics Learning Enviornment Mowafa Said HOUSEH
Basema SADDIK
Bakheet AL-DOSARI
College of Public Health and Health College of Public Health and Health College of Public Health and Health Informatics, King Saud Bin Abdul Aziz Informatics, King Saud Bin Abdul Aziz Informatics, King Saud Bin Abdul Aziz University for Health Science, National University for Health Science, National University for Health Science, National Guard Health Affairs (NGHA) Guard Health Affairs (NGHA) Guard Health Affairs (NGHA) Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
ABSTRACT This paper discusses a mixed method study conducted to investigate the experiences and implications of a graduate level course in electronic healthcare and emerging technology in Saudi Arabia. The study focuses on the sense of classroom community when interacting in synchronous (face to face and videoconferencing) and asynchronous (Blackboard) forms of communication. Study results showed that face-to face students expressed positive feelings of classroom community, connectedness and learning compared to off-campus students who expressed more neutral feelings of classroom community.
Healthcare and Emerging Technology within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The specific focus will be on how well the students built a sense of a classroom community when interacting in synchronous (face-to-face and videoconferencing) and asynchronous (Blackboard) forms of communication. To date, no such study has been conducted in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and results from this study will help inform further research in this area.
2. METHODOLOGY A mixed method design using survey and focus groups methods was used to measure and explore the participants’ sense of community, connectedness, and learning within a distributed learning environment within a graduate health informatics course. The study took place over 11 weeks and began March 1, 2010 and ended May 10, 2010. The title of the course was E-health and Emerging Technology and is a core requirement for students within the graduate health informatics program at King Saud Bin Abdul Aziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Thirteen female and three male students were enrolled in the class. Five female students, who were 500kms away, participated via video conferencing because they could not attend face-to-face classes. The remaining eleven students attended class in a face-toface session with the instructor. Each student in the face-to-face session had access to a computer with secured internet access. Distant students had access to laptops with secure access to an internet connection. There was a video conferencing monitor in the class for the instructor to view distant students, and distant students also had a screen where they could view the instructor. Also, a screen and projector were present in the face-to-face room, as well as the distant room. Both groups of students could see the instructor’s power-point slides. Students were also given access to Blackboard, an online course management system, where they could access their grades, links to reading material, and a discussion forum. Figure 1 below shows the classroom setup and a screenshot of the Blackboard course management system.
Keywords E-learning, health informatics, e-health, emerging technologies, distributed learning.
1. INTRODUCTION The use of information technology as a tool for learning in higher education has increased dramatically over the years [1,2]. This has taken the form of multimedia e-learning methods including applications such as Web-CT and Blackboard learning management systems [3] as well as the increased use of interactive videoconferencing as a method for distance education and distributed learning [4]. Establishing a sense of classroom community is essential in any learning environment and particularly so in distributed learning where students may be geographically distributed [5]. Previous research has shown that establishing a healthy classroom community is essential in enhancing a students learning experience and important in online class structures where student’s sense of connectedness and ability to communicate with each other can influence their learning [6]. Classroom community has been stated to encompass two main components including connectedness and learning where connectedness is composed of “spirit, trust and interactions” and learning is the “feeling of actively working together to construct the course content” [6,7]. The effectiveness of group learning in asynchronous distributed learning groups depends on the social interaction that takes place. This social interaction affects both cognitive and socio-emotional processes that take place during learning, group forming, establishment of group structures, and group dynamics [5]. The purpose of this paper is to investigate experiences, lessons, and implications of a graduate level course in Electronic
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odd numbered questions describe the sense of connectedness within the classroom. The focus group session was conducted on May 10, 2010. A trained facilitator facilitated the focus group session. Only one student opted out of participation in the focus group session. The facilitator outlined the purpose of the study and showed the students results of the survey data. Students were asked to respond and interpret the survey findings. Three slides were presented to the students showing the results for the total group, face-to-face, and distant students around sense of community, learning, and connectedness. All students were encouraged to comment on the findings. Students were also encouraged to discuss and elicit their ideas on the course structure, the teaching style and course content while taking into account how these issues influenced their views on classroom community, learning, and connectedness.
3. ANALYSIS The survey data were analyzed separately from the focus group data. For the survey data, likert scale items were scaled from 0-4, 0 being strongly disagree and 4 being strongly agree. Ten negatively worded question calculations had to be reversed. These questions were: 4,5,8,9,10,12,14,17,18, and 20. For a sense of community, all 20 questions were included in the analysis. For the sense of learning, only the even numbered questions were in the analysis. For the sense of connectedness only the odd number questions were included in the analysis. Survey scores measuring community, connectedness, and learning were calculated separately for the face-to-face and distant participants for each week.
Figure 1: Classroom (Above), Blackboard Content (Below)
As for the focus group data, the responses were recorded using a digital device and transcribed by an administrative assistant working for the university. The focus group facilitator worked with the assistant to ensure that the transcribing was accurate. A detailed content analysis has not been carried out on the data. Only excerpts from the qualitative data are presented in this paper.
The course was designed to be taught in both lectures and inclass group work and discussions. During each class, a lecture would be given around each topic, and sample articles would be discussed within the class. All sixteen students agreed to participate in the course and signed a confidentiality agreement. No incentives were provided to students to participate in the study. All students were informed that their participation was voluntary and it would not be reflected in their course evaluation. In addition to taking this course, the students were also taking three other courses. Furthermore, ten of the students were working full-time. The class was composed of one physician, two laboratory technologist, two pharmacists, two dentists, and nine students with information technology undergraduate degrees in health information management and computing science.
4. RESULTS For the survey results (see Table 1), generally, the data showed that face-to-face groups reported a stronger sense of community, learning, and connectedness during each single period in time. Furthermore, for each week students in the face-to-face sessions reported a higher sense of community, learning, and connectedness. As an entire group, based on interpretation of the score shown in Table 2, for all weeks, the group as a whole had a somewhat positive sense of community, connectedness, and learning. In general, for the distant group, across all weeks, they felt a more neutral sense of community, learning, and connectedness.
As for the survey, it was administered bi-weekly for a period of seven weeks. Each student completed one survey every two weeks. The survey was administered at the beginning to the class and was composed of twenty questions. The survey instrument used in the study was the classroom community scale (CCS) developed by Rovai [7]. The purpose of the scale is to describe the students’ perceptions around classroom community. The instrument consists of twenty questions on a five point likert scale that ranges from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The average of the twenty questions provides information on the overall sense of community within the classroom. There are also two subscales within the instrument that measure learning and connectedness. The even numbered questions describe the sense of learning within the classroom. The
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connectedness as well as improved learning however, technology mishaps were also an issue.
Table 1. CCS Survey Results
“……it’s much better as all the students agree that with blackboard we communicate more and interact with each other more than before”. “Blackboard is good for discussion and is a good interactive [sic: method] with my colleagues for me, however sometimes it is not working probably like the video-conferencing”
5. CONCLUSION Based on the results of the study, this study supports the validity and usefulness of videoconferencing and asynchronous Blackboard as a distributed model of education. Based on these results, the findings of this study can be used for further studies to validate and/or extend the use of videoconferencing and asynchronous Blackboard technology in various courses.
Table 2. Interpretation of CCS [Rovai]
6. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to thank Shaimaa Barhmtoushi for all her efforts in transcribing the focus group data. We would also like to thank Hala Saleem for reviewing the transcripts and her help in formatting this document. Also, we would like to thank Saad AlQahtani and Asma Al-Talib for helping setup the video conferencing and solving technical problems during the study.
7. REFERENCES [1] Nussbaum-Beach, S. (2007). Building virtual communities. Technology and learning, 28(1), 16-18. [2] Palloff, R.M, & Pratt K (1999) Building learning communities in Cyberspace. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass As for the focus group data, all the students agreed with the results presented from the survey data. When asked to express these further, the majority of the students stated that although they felt an overall positive sense of classroom community, connectedness and learning, they did not feel it was only solely due to the current course, but due to them being enrolled in the program and being together for almost two years:
[3] Rubin, B, Fernandes, R, Avgerinou M,D, Moore, J. (2010). The effect of learning management systems on student and faculty outcomes. The internet and higher education, 13(1,2), 82-83. [4] Lia-Hoagberg, B, Vellenga, B, Miller, M, Ma, T. (1999). A partnership model of distance education: Student’s perceptions of connectedness and professionalization. Journal of Professional Nursing 15(2), 116-122.
“….when I was answering the questionnaire, I was thinking about the whole course of the two years, I was not thinking about this semester because we met each other two years ago……”
[5] Kreijns, K, Kirschner, P.A, Jochems, W, Van Buren, H. (2004). Determining sociability, social space and social presence in asynchronous collaborative groups. Cyber psychology and Behavior 7(2), 155-172
“…..I think the judgment of the community and connectedness between us will have the impact of the two years and not only for one semester…..” Other students stated that they did not feel a sense of community and connectedness which reflected the off-campus student responses.
[6] Spector, A. Z. 1989. Achieving application requirements. In Distributed Systems, S. Mullender, Ed. ACM Press Frontier Series. ACM, New York, NY, 19-33. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/90417.90738.
“……For the course, sometimes we feel connected, but in general we are not much connected. I think the group in Damam [sic. off campus group] are usually, mostly are isolated”. Almost all of the students agreed that the use of technology in the classroom helped enhance classroom community and
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Information Security Service Branding – beyond information security awareness Rahul Rastogi Institute for ICT Advancement, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa
[email protected] and Rossouw von Solms Institute for ICT Advancement, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa
[email protected] factors impinge on their capability to successfully navigate the security policies and controls. However, attitudinal obstacles lead to more serious problems as they prevent end-users from even intending or initiating behaviors to comply with the security policies and controls. These attitudinal obstacles manifest themselves as a low level of commitment of end-users which makes them prone to sacrificing security in the pursuit of their work [9]. Attitudinal obstacles arise from the negative image of information security in the minds of end-users. As stated by Chipperfield and Furnell, “one significant challenge is the image of security, in the sense that no one ever really encounters it for a good reason” [7].
ABSTRACT End-users play a critical role in the effective implementation and running of an information security program in any organization. The success of such a program depends primarily on the effective implementation and execution of associated information security policies and controls and the resultant behavior and actions of end-users. However, end-users often have negative perception of information security in the organization and exhibit non-compliance. In order to improve compliance levels, it is vital to improve the image of information security in the minds of end-users. This paper borrows the concepts of brands and branding from the domain of marketing to achieve this objective and applies these concepts to information security. The paper also describes a process for creating the information security service brand in the organization.
This paper proposes the use of Information Security Service Branding (ISSB) for improving the attitudinal compliance of end-users to information security policies and controls in the organization. ISSB is positioned as a component of the overall ISSM approach of [18] and achieves its objective by gaining commitment of end-users to information security through successful branding of information security in the organization. Also, it is important to note here that information security awareness (ISA) is already an important communication tool used by information security management in organizations to influence end-users. However, as discussed later in section 3, ISA limits itself to a concentration on raising awareness, knowledge and skill levels of end-users; ISA does not focus on repairing the problems caused by the negative image of information security. In this sense, ISSB is complementary to ISA and can be said to exist in addition to, and as a complement of, ISA efforts in the organization.
Keywords: Information security management, Information Security Service Management, ISSM, service management, Information Security Service Branding, ISSB, service branding.
1. INTRODUCTION In any organization, information security management faces the daunting challenge of managing end-users to ensure their compliance to information security policies and controls. While organizations may deploy a wide variety of policies and controls for securing their information assets, the success of many of these measures hinges on the actions of end-users. End-users, thus, play a crucial role in the security of information assets of any organization.
This paper is organized as follows. The next section discusses the negative image of information security in the organization. This discussion is followed by an overview of the literature on traditional approaches to ISA. The subsequent section provides an overview of branding in the business domain. Finally, the paper describes ISSB as an application of the concepts of brand and branding to information security in the organization and provides a process for its implementation in the organization.
End-users face a variety of obstacles in complying with the information security policies and controls. These obstacles are both behavioral as well as attitudinal. The behavioral obstacles make it difficult for end-users to undertake actions as per security policies and controls – various cognitive and usability
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This section discussed the negative image of information security in the minds of end-users in the organization. This negative image leads end-users to remain indifferent to information security in the organization. The focus of this paper is to use the concept of branding to counter this negativity. But before ISSB is discussed, the next section discusses the weakness of present-day ISA programs in tackling the question of image of information security. The subsequent sections then discuss branding and its application to information security as ISSB.
2. THE NEGATIVE IMAGE OF INFORMATION SECURITY IN THE ORGANIZATION Information and information technology (IT) are believed to accord numerous advantages to organizations. The advantages relate to flexibility, collaboration, information sharing, just-intime, sense-and-respond, etc. In this backdrop, information security, with its policies, controls and restrictions, comes as a poor second in the organization [5], [7]. In this context, endusers, more often than not, develop a negative image of information security [7]. This leads to a resistance towards information security and an inclination to readily switch from compliance to non-compliance [1], [2], [7], [10], [22].
3. INFORMATION SECURITY AWARENESS Information security awareness (ISA) is a vital communication tool used by organizations to influence end-users towards compliance with information security policies and controls in the organization. ISA operates by improving the awareness of end-users about information security issues, giving them the requisite training and skills and by enhancing their overall understanding of the principles of information security. However, ISA has tended to ignore the question of image of information security in the minds of end-users in the organization. This section discusses ISA, its importance in the organization and its lack of attention to image correction for information security.
According to [2], the negative image of information security in the perception of end-users is shaped by various organizational, technological and individual factors. These factors include the trade-offs made during day-to-day work; the existence of social norms and interactions between individuals; the quality of information security management; the technological solutions implemented; and individual factors such as knowledge, attitudes, values, risk perceptions, etc. [2]. Under these influences, the negative image of information security in the organization develops along the axes of: security as an obstacle or hindrance to work; delegation of security responsibility or “security is not my responsibility”; and negative views on information security management (or managers) discussed below.
ISO/IEC 27001:2005 [12] and ISO/IEC 27002:2005 [13] emphasize the value of ISA to the effectiveness of information security policies and controls in the organization. According to ISO 27002:2005 [13], if end-users are not made aware of their security responsibilities, they remain unmotivated and unreliable and can cause information security incidents leading to considerable damage to an organization. ISO/IEC 27001:2005 [12] states that the ISA control consists of ensuring that all end-users, whether employees or contractors or other third party end-users, receive “appropriate awareness training and regular updates in organizational policies and procedures, as relevant for their job function”. ISO/IEC 27002:2005 [13] states that information security awareness, education and training is a common practice and that this control applies to most organizations and in most environments.
The first and foremost problem that information security creates for users is that it gets in their way towards completing their day-to-day activities. Post and Kagan state that restricting access to information and IT systems can lead to interference in the completion of end-user activities [17]. These “security hindrances” represent the problems faced by end-users as security procedures and controls interfere with their work [17]. In such situations, security is often sacrificed in the pursuit of work [9]. According to [10], end-users, in the course of their day-to-day activities, may abdicate their security responsibilities and delegate them to other entities such as technology or the organization. After the abdication and delegation of security responsibility, end-users continue with their day-to-day work without caring about information security and without making any additional effort required for information security.
However, various authors have pointed out weaknesses in the present-day approach of ISA in the organization. These weaknesses stem mainly from the simplistic approach to the link between ISA and improved information security behavior of end-users in the organization. According to [19], most organizations treat ISA as consisting of “passing around security guidelines in a factual manner”. Albrechtsen terms this present-day ISA approach as “expert-based one-way communication directed towards many receivers” [2]. Chipperfield and Furnell concur and state that the most common approach to ISA in the organization is to provide documented security policy to end-users [7].
The final aspect of the negative image of information security in the organization is the “digital divide” between end-users and information security managers in the organization. End-users perceive information security managers as invisible and unapproachable and this made it difficult to report problems or ask questions [3]. Furthermore, the negative image of information security is further reinforced by the overly technical and admonitory nature of the information security communication such as documentation [3]. Because of these difficulties, end-users often give up on reading the security documentation and continue with low levels of awareness.
This present-day approach to ISA in the organization is based on documentation and dissemination of information related to policies and controls. However, this approach fails to address the issue of image. In this approach, it is futile to believe that “after a security awareness lesson people will all follow the guidelines at once” [19]. Albrechtsen also states that this approach fails as most end-users remain unaffected [2]. Siponen
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concludes that an ISA approach based on mere dissemination of information is bound to fail [19]. According to [7], the simplistic approach of ISA has a negative impact on end-users. In this approach, it is believed that end-users simply need to be told and they will comply. This approach leads end-users to regard policies “as an overhead in terms of being just another thing to be read and remembered”.
other customers. The final input to the branding process is the direct experience that customers have with the organization and the service. This input too is not controlled by the organization. The combined inputs lead to the creation of “brand awareness” and “brand meaning” in the minds of customers. Brand awareness refers to the customer’s awareness of the brand and their ability to both recognize and recall the brand. Brand meaning refers to the image aspect of the brand and is the “snapshot impression” that comes to mind when the customers is reminded of the brand. Brand awareness and meaning combine to create brand equity. Brand equity is the advantage that an organization gains because of the brand. Brand equity can be positive or negative. Positive brand equity results in an advantage. Negative brand equity results in a disadvantage for the organization. Brand equity is more influenced by brand meaning than by brand awareness.
The importance of ISA in the organization has been highlighted in this section. However, the present-day approach to ISA suffers from weaknesses. The main weakness is the assumption of a simplistic link between end-users being told and then complying. ISA tends to ignore the issue of image of information security in the organization. ISSB corrects this short-coming and focuses on the image aspect. The next section discusses the concept of branding. The final section then discusses ISSB.
This section discussed the concept of branding from the domain of marketing. In view of the importance of the brand, organizations need to work consciously towards creating their brand. The service-branding model of Berry [6] was also discussed. The next section discusses ISSB seeking to address the shortcoming of present ISA efforts and provides a framework for branding information security in the organization.
4. BRANDS AND BRANDING The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as “a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. The legal term for brand is trademark. A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller. If used for the firm as a whole, the preferred term is trade name” [4]. AMA also provides an associated definition of a brand as a “customer experience represented by a collection of images and ideas; often, it refers to a symbol such as a name, logo, slogan, and design scheme” [4]. Various other authors have highlighted the image aspect of a brand through defining associated terms such as “brand image”, “brand meaning” and “brand personality”. Keller defines “brand image” as “perceptions about a brand as reflected by the brand associations held in consumer memory” [14]. The image is shaped by both product-related and non-product related attributes, where the non-product related attributes result from a consumer’s own experience with the brand and contact with other brand users. Berry defines “brand meaning” as “what comes immediately to consumers’ minds” when the brand is mentioned [6]. A brand is an image that comes to the mind of a customer when he / she sees or hears about a product or service. This image is built from the customer’s own experiences and communications from the organization or other customers. The remainder of this section discusses how this image or brand can be created by an organization.
5. INFORMATION SECURITY SERVICE BRANDING In the previous section, it was mentioned that a brand always exists in the minds of customers, whether the organization does any branding or not. In a similar vein, in the context of information security in the organization, it can be said that endusers always carry an image of information security in their mind. This is the brand image or brand meaning of information security in the organization; and this image exists irrespective of whether the organization attempts deliberate branding of information security or not. Previous sections have already discussed the negative image of information security in the organization. Information security in an organization typically evokes contempt from end-users, particularly when it is juxtaposed with IT and information. Whereas end-users credit information and IT with providing them various benefits, they often see information security as a hindrance in their work and as not their responsibility. Endusers further have a negative opinion about information security management. Thus, it would not be too wrong to say that information security has a negative brand image amongst the end-users in any organization. This negative image reduces the effectiveness of all communication and operational efforts of the organization to achieve information security. Information Security Service Branding (ISSB) represents a deliberate attempt to reverse these negative perceptions and create a positive brand image for information security. The remainder of this section describes the ISSB process.
Berry [6] presents a model for branding of services, as shown in Figure 1 (from [6]). In Berry’s model, several components of a service brand are involved. The inputs to the branding process are: the presented brand, external brand communications and customer experiences with the service [6]. The first input to the branding process is the presented brand. This refers to the organization’s purposeful communication of its identity through various means such as advertising, service facilities and the appearance of service providers. This input makes use of brand attributes such as color, logo, design etc. which establish the label attached to the brand. The next input is external brand communications that refers to the messages customers receive regarding the organization and its service. These messages are not controlled by the organization and originate from external sources such as word-of-mouth from
ISSB consists of applying concepts of service branding to information security. The ISSB process, based upon [6], proceeds as follows: (1) Define the information security service brand.
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(2) Communicate the brand to end-users, including using word-of-mouth communication to strengthen the information security service brand. (3) Internalize the brand and organize to deliver security service consistent with the information security service brand. (4) Monitor end-user characteristics and their perception of the information security service brand and use this information to modify the branding efforts.
information technology or other potentially risky situations, e.g. while handling finances in the organization. Communicating the brand requires: x Identifying labels to be attached to the brand i.e. populating the logo, color, design etc. attributes of the brand. This could also include using a slogan for the brand. x Communicating the brand through a variety of channels and media to the target end-user audience. x Communicating in a way so as to achieve both depth and breadth of awareness.
In the organization, information security service management executes the ISSB process. This process culminates in the creation of the Information Security Service Brand as an image in the minds of end-users. The ISSB process is depicted in Figure 2. Each of the above steps is discussed in greater detail below.
Keller mentions that the communications should include “subbrands” or specific behaviors e.g. not sharing passwords, and linking them to the overall goals of information security in the organization [15]. This way these specific behaviors gain salience and they may be readily adopted by end-users. Another aspect of this communication is to establish an emotional connection with end-users. This may be done by not just restricting the communication to organizational information security policies and controls, but by associating with other security concerns of end-users e.g. safe Internet use at home, safe credit-card usage or keeping children safe on the Internet. Word-of-mouth from other end-users may also be used to strengthen other end-users’ beliefs in their own capabilities in dealing with information security policies and controls in the organization. Such communication will transmit the message that it is possible, and indeed popular to exercise good security practices. Communications may also be used to reward and honor good security behaviors while discrediting improper security practices. Posters, emails, slogans, videos, information security weeks, screen-savers, etc. could be used as the media for communication.
Defining the Information Security Service Brand Defining the brand is the first step in the ISSB process. It refers to identifying how the organization wishes information security to be perceived by end-users in the organization i.e. what snapshot impression, image, meaning or personality should come to the mind of end-users when they are reminded of information security. As discussed in section 2, end-users tend to have a negative image of information security in which they see information security as an obstacle or hindrance; as not their responsibility and in which they find information security management as invisible and coercive. To reverse this image, the information security brand should be defined so that it evokes a feeling of trust and confidence in information security management; so that end-users feel that security is in their interest and their responsibility. Traditionally, information security has focused on the technical aspects of information security. In terms of branding it can be said, that the traditional focus has been on the functional characteristics or brand performance rather than on emotional characteristics or brand imagery. Since the very nature of information security is that it is neither permanent nor perfect, functional characteristics can only be emphasized to a limited extent. Focusing on the emotional characteristics or imagery of information security may be more worthwhile. In this context, the emphasis could be on the extent of top management commitment, investments and resource allocations towards information security in the organization. The information security service brand could also emphasize the caring and concern that the organization shows for the information security needs and issues of end-users. In conclusion, the end-users’ snapshot impression of the information security service brand should be that of competence, sincerity and care.
Internalizing the brand and organizing to deliver security service The brand image in the minds of customers is created primarily by their experiences with the organization or service. The experiences of customers are largely dependent on the internal organization, culture and training of the service provider. In the context of information security in the organization, end-users’ experiences with information security management employees and information security policies and controls have a large impact on the perceptions that end-users develop regarding the information security service brand. All the efforts at defining the brand and communicating it will come to naught if the actual service is not consistent with the messages. Internalization is related to the overall organization of information security in the organization and lies beyond the communicative aspect of branding. Further discussion of this aspect is beyond the scope of this paper.
Communicating the brand to end-users Monitoring end-user characteristics and their perception of the information security service brand
Communicating the brand to end-users requires creation of deep and broad brand awareness. Keller calls this brand salience [15]. Depth of brand awareness refers to how easily customers can recall or recognize the brand. Breadth refers to the variety of situations which the customers are able to relate to the brand. In the context of information security in the organization, it can be said that information security, must always to be at the top of the mind of end-users and they must be able to recall or recognize information security issues, policies and controls. In terms of depth, end-users should be able to relate to information security issues whenever they deal with information or
In the ISSB process, it is vital to monitor the characteristics of end-users in the organization and their perception of the information security brand. This information is used in a twofold manner: to tune the brand definition and communication to the needs and characteristics of end-users and also to measure the success of the branding process. According to [7], different people receive the same message differently depending upon their personality. This indicates that
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to be successful, any communication program must tailor itself to the characteristics of its audience otherwise it loses its effectiveness. Segmentation is the concept of dividing a heterogeneous group into smaller, homogeneous segments. These homogeneous segments have similar characteristics and needs. Consequently, a communication approach tailored to individual segments will likely be more effective than a blanket communication approach. According to [16], segmentation requires a trade-off between costs and effectiveness. A finely grained segmentation will lead to more effective communication but at increased cost. Keller has suggested the following segmentation bases: descriptive or customer-oriented (based on what kind of person the customer is) and behavioral or product-oriented (based on how the customer thinks or uses the product) [16]. Keller has also suggested other segmentation bases that build on brand loyalty. These other segmentation bases include demographic, psychographic and geographic attributes [16].
of information security in the organization and, instead, create a positive image in the minds of end-users.
6. CONCLUSION This paper has discussed the negative image of information security in the perception of end-users in the organization. It is stated that this negative image is a major cause of noncompliance of end-users to information security policies and controls in the organization. The paper also highlighted the importance and weakness of information security awareness (ISA) programs in tackling this issue. Finally, Information Security Service Branding (ISSB) is proposed as a solution to this problem. ISSB utilizes the concepts of brands and branding and operates by attempting to create a positive image of information security in the minds of end-users. The paper also provided a process for developing the Information Security Service Brand in the organization.
In the context of information security in the organization, endusers can be segmented in various ways. Segmentation of endusers will yield segments with different requirements and therefore requiring different treatment. Furnell and Thomson state that end-users in an organization can be differentiated on the basis of their level of commitment to information security [11]. These levels range from “disobedience” at the most negative level to “culture” at the most positive or committed level. Between these two extremes lie the levels of “resistance”, “apathy” and “ignorance” on the non-compliance side; “commitment”, “obedience” and “awareness” lie on the compliance side. These levels indicate differing levels of intensity of communication required for branding and hence can be used for segmentation. These segments could then be used for tuning the branding process. Tsohou, Karyda & Kokolakis have indicated that different people have different cultural biases and this affects their risk perceptions and approaches to information system risk management [21]. Segmentation can also be based upon psychographic factors (e.g. risk perceptions), based upon working groups in the organization, the nature of information use by end-users (e.g. mobile endusers versus non-mobile end-users), the level of skill of endusers (e.g. technically skilled end-users versus technically naïve or not-so-well-skilled end-users). Segmentation requires ongoing analysis of the characteristics of end-users and their working practices. This cost will however lead to improved targeting and effectiveness of communication efforts.
7. REFERENCES [1] A. Adams & M.A. Sasse, “Users are not the enemy”, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 42, No. 12, 1999, pp. 40-46. [2] E. Albrechtsen, “A qualitative study of users’ view on information security”, Computers & Security, Vol. 26, Issue 4, 2007, pp. 276-289. [3] E. Albrechtsen & J. Hovden, “The information security digital divide between information security managers and users”, Computers & Security, Vol. 28, Issue 6, 2009, pp. 476-490. [4] American Marketing Association. Dictionary [online]. [cited 20 June 2010] Available from Internet: URL http://www.marketingpower.com/_layouts/Dictionary.aspx ?dLetter=B [5] R. Baskerville, “Information systems security: Adapting to survive”, Information Systems Security, Vol. 2, No. 1,1993, pp. 40-47. [6] L.L. Berry, “Cultivating Service Brand Equity”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 28, No. 1, 2000, pp. 128-137. [7] C. Chipperfield & S. Furnell, “From security policy to practice: Sending the right messages”, Computer Fraud & Security, Vol. 2010, Issue 3, 2010, pp. 13-19. [8] L. De Chernatony, “Towards the holy grail of defining ‘brand’”, Marketing Theory, Vol. 9, Issue 1, 2009, pp. 101-105. [9] K.C. Desouza, & G.K. Vanapalli, “Securing Knowledge Assets and Processes: Lessons from the Defense and Intelligence Sectors”, Proceedings of the 38th Hawaii Intrenational Conference on System Sciences, 2005. [10] P. Dourish, R. Grinter, J. Delgado de la Flor, & M. Joseph, “Security in the Wild: User Strategies for Managing Security as an Everyday, Practical Problem”, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, Vol. 8, No. 6, 2004, pp. 391401. [11] S. Furnell, & K.L. Thomson, “From culture to disobedience: Recognising the varying user acceptance of IT security”, Computer Fraud & Security, Vol. 2009, Issue 2, 2009, pp. 5-10.
Monitoring of the brand image in the minds of end-users is also important to the branding process. The information security service brand lives in the minds of end-users. This image or perception, however, may be different from what the organization tries to project through its communications and service delivery. This is most likely when the internalization and service delivery efforts are inconsistent with the information security service brand. Monitoring is also important to understand whether the brand is in sync with what end-users actually desire. End-users may be regularly surveyed to understand how they perceive the information security service brand as against the projected brand. This information may then be used to tailor the brand as well as the communication efforts in the branding process. A process for developing the information security service brand in the organization has been discussed in this section. The primary objective of ISSB is to reverse the negative perceptions
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[12] ISO/IEC 27001 (2005). Information technology -- Security techniques -- Information security management systems – Requirements. ISO/IEC 27001:2005, International Organization for Standardization and International Electrotechnical Commission. [13] ISO/IEC 27002 (2005). Information technology -- Security techniques -- Code of practice for information security management. ISO/IEC 27002:2005, International Organization for Standardization and International Electrotechnical Commission. [14] K.L. Keller, “Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Managing Customer-Based Brand Equity”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 57, January, 1993, pp. 1-22. [15] K.L. Keller, “Building Customer-Based Brand Equity”, Marketing Management, July/August, 2001, pp. 14-19. [16] K. L. Keller, Strategic Brand Management, 3/e. New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India, 2008. [17] G.V. Post, & A. Kagan, “Evaluating information security tradeoffs: Restricting access can interfere with user tasks”, Computers & Security, Vol. 26, Issue 3, 2007, pp. 229237.
Company’s Presented Brand
[18] R. Rastogi, & R. von Solms, “A Service-oriented Approach to Information Security Management”, Proceedings of the 7th Annual Conference on Information Science, Technology & Management (CISTM), 2009. [19] M.T. Siponen, “A conceptual foundation for organizational information security awareness”, Information Management & Computer Security, Vol. 8, Issue 1, 2000, pp.31 – 41. [20] J.M. Stanton, K.R. Stam, P. Mastrangelo, & J. Jolton, “Analysis of end user security behaviors”, Computers & Security, Vol. 24, No. 2, 2005, pp. 124-133. [21] A. Tsohou, M. Karyda, S. Kokolakis, & E.A. Kiountouzis, “Formulating information systems risk management strategies through cultural theory”, Information Management & Computer Security, Vol. 14, Issue 3, 2006, pp. 198-217. [22] A. Whitten, & J.D. Tygar, “Why Johnny Can't Encrypt: A Usability Evaluation of PGP 5.0”, Proceedings of the 8th USENIX Security Symposium, 1999.
Brand Awareness
External Brand Communications
Customer Experience with Company
Brand Equity
Brand Meaning
Figure 1: Service Branding Model (from Berry, 2000)
End-user image of the Information Security Service Brand
Define the Informatio n Security Service Brand
Internalize the brand and organize to deliver security service consistent with the Information Security Service Brand
Communicate the Information Security Service Brand to end-users
Monitor end-user characteristics and their perception of the Information Security Service Brand
Figure 2: Information security service branding process
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Learning Spanish Medical Vocabulary with On-line Authentic Materials Elena SELEZNEVA Padnos International Center Grand Valley State University Allendale, Michigan 49401, USA and Alberto VEIGA Department of Hispanic Studies College of Charleston Charleston, South Carolina 29424, USA
colleagues due to ignorance of the essential Spanish medical terminology or other needs. Thus vocabulary is particularly important in a Medical Spanish course because it constitutes a vital tool that needs to be mastered by students [1]. General research says that to be efficient in teaching vocabulary, educators need to provide learners with both definitional and contextual information about words [2], encourage learners to process information about words at a deeper level [3], and provide learners with multiple exposures to a word [4]. This is the approach that derives from the Input Hypothesis (IH) for which Krashen argued that “competence in […] vocabulary is most efficiently attained by comprehensible input in the form of reading” [5], and he continued describing three studies that support the use of authentic texts for learning vocabulary with different L2. Specialized vocabulary, such as the one corresponding to a medical Spanish course, should be treated like highfrequency vocabulary according to Nation [6]. This means that it needs to be taught and studied in a variety of complementary ways including extensive reading with the focus on the meaning of the text without much additional language use other than filling out a report form or writing a summary. From a vocabulary perspective, this aims at vocabulary growth and fluency development. Studies support the efficiency of learning new vocabulary items that are presented in a meaningful context [7], and that many exposures through reading would gradually lead to a large recognition of vocabulary [8, 9]. One of the principles about learning Spanish as an L2 states that both incidental learning and intentional learning of vocabulary need to be promoted even at advanced levels [10, 11]. This is especially useful in
ABSTRACT Universities and Colleges are increasingly expanding their foreign language (FL) curriculum to include courses for Specific Purposes such as Medical Spanish. There are several factors that have contributed to this change including a growing necessity of foreign language trained professionals in the medical field, a need to compete and better serve patients with limited English proficiency, and the challenge of higher-education to meet new demands of society. A main component in a Medical Spanish course is vocabulary learning since communication between a patient and a health care provider depends on this knowledge. This aspect has been emphasized in current approaches to language learning and teaching such as the Natural Approach and the Communicative Approach. Although the absence of grammar can impede communication at different levels, the absence of vocabulary can completely stop communication. Therefore, initiatives that foster vocabulary learning in the target language will help future professionals in the medical field to be better prepared to address their needs. Preliminary results show that reading on-line articles from the health section of newspapers and doing supplemental activities related to the texts affects vocabulary growth positively in addition to providing authentic language and cultural content. Keywords: – Second language acquisition, instructional technology, vocabulary development, medical Spanish INTRODUCTION A person may be prepared to serve as a physician yet unable to communicate with patients and
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For Mason “this prior background in Spanish allows a more definite focus on the subject matter […] and while covering the content, it is also possible to reinforce previously learned structures, sounds and vocabulary” [14]. These web-based tools were selected as valuable and accessible sources of information for students since they provide a platform for authentic language learning and practice. In addition, blogs are engaging and interactive by nature, and they also offer the possibility of negotiating content and communication in an on-line environment. This may make the experience more efficient for teaching and engaging for learning compared to traditional classroom means [15]. We also pose that blogs help to accomplish the established goals of vocabulary growth based on our previous research [16]
courses for special purposes where there is a higher presence of infrequent words such as medical terms. Learners developing their language knowledge via extensive reading is an attractive approach because reading is essentially an individual activity and different proficiency levels can be learning at their own level without being locked into an inflexible class program. Being able to choose what to read within a preselected topic (the heart, contagious diseases, respiratory conditions, legal and illegal drugs, obesity and dieting, depression, etc), allows learners to follow their own interests increasing their motivation. In addition, it provides the opportunity for learning to occur outside the classroom. Because word frequency and learning are so closely connected, it is generally thought necessary to target knowledge of the most frequent words in a language for assessment [12]. However, in a Medical Spanish course, the norm is to deal with low frequency vocabulary when compared to the general word-bank of the language. Since a foreign language learner has reduced opportunities for exposure to the target language, many words of low frequency are found only in writing and can only be learned by reading by the L2 learner [4]. For this reason, the content of our medical Spanish course was divided in topics of the medical field and the selected on-line newspaper articles provided vocabulary, expressions and content related to those topics. This approach also derives from research on second language acquisition (SLA). Some of the findings on this area have indicated “learners develop underlying competence through their interaction with comprehensible, meaning-bearing input” [13].
RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1. Can we enhance the learning of new vocabulary in medical Spanish with on-line authentic materials in contrast with using only a textbook? 2. To what extent is the number of exposures to lexical items a factor in the learning of new vocabulary in medical Spanish? 3. What is the learners’ perception about their use of on-line authentic materials for vocabulary learning and development? METHODS AND PROCEDURES Participants Participants in this study were 42 undergraduate college students of two Intermediate Spanish for Health Care classes (5th semester), native speakers of English. The age range for the experimental group is 18-46 (mean 22.5), and for the control group 20-24 (mean 22). The experimental group was composed of 20 subjects: 2 males and 18 females, and the control group had 22 subjects: 3 males and 19 females. Materials The on-line articles were selected from the health sections of two newspapers: “El País”: www.elpais.es, and “El Mundo”: www.elmundo.com. These are major newspapers from Spain that produce content to a mainstream Spanish native-speaking audience. A Learning Management System (Blackboard) was used to provide learners with access to web-based tools such as a Discussion Board, a Blog and the on-line content as part of their coursework. Students received training to use the Discussion Board and the Blog tools. Once a week students had to read
DESCRIPTION Our investigation was conducted in two undergraduate university courses of Spanish for the Health Professions. One class functioned as the experimental group and the second as the control group. We implemented the use of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) tools such a discussion board, and a blog to perform web-based tasks. In particular, students from the experimental group were asked to read on-line newspaper articles related to health care topics in Spanish, and write and read blog postings in Spanish. Both tasks tailored the course content and goals. A Spanish for Health class at the undergraduate intermediate level (300) is justifiable for many reasons. Students at this level are already knowledgeable of Spanish grammar, pronunciation and general vocabulary.
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and understand one newspaper article, produce a list of new words, and a summary with the main ideas and a personal reaction/opinion using a worksheet provided by the instructor (between 16- 20 lines in Spanish). Some selected articles were about “Interruption of Pregnancy”, “Second Hand Smoking”, “Organs Donation”, or “Birth Control and Education”. A draft summary was discussed in class once a week so that students could share their views orally and take notes from peers. Then, students would work on a final written version that included changes to their draft summary and personal reaction/opinion that was collected by the instructor and graded. The instructor offered feedback in written format to individual learners as they progressed with their work. This task intended to prepare students for the next set of activities. Around midterm, students were asked to perform the same task in groups of two and instructed to select an on-line article and make it available to the rest of the class through the Blog tool in Blackboard. They were asked to post a summary and personal/reaction opinion on the selected topic (again 16-20 lines in Spanish). All students had access to peers´ group postings. Then, each student was required to write in the blog two personal reactions/opinions based on their peers´ postings (6-8 lines each in Spanish). Some of the topics that students selected were: “Cannabis, alcohol and adolescents”, “Obesity and Depression”, “HIV drugs and AIDS”, “Obesity and Malnutrition”, “Suicide Rates in Spain”, “Cancer and Pregnancy”, or “The Use of Thalidomide in Spain”. Finally, at the end of the semester, students were offered a questionnaire to collect information with multiple choice questions and open-ended questions. In addition, a list of 20 lexical items in Spanish was created from the different sources of vocabulary input: textbook and on-line articles. The selected items were function words associated to the intermediate level of Spanish distributed in 4 sets of 5 words each: 12 nouns such as “células madre” (stem cells), “puntos” (stitches), “médula” (bone marrow), “tejido” (tissue); 6 verbs such as “probar” (to try), “confiar” (to trust, to confide), “empeorar” (to worsen); and 2 adjectives such as “mareado” (dizzy) and “precoz” (premature, early). Students were asked to translate or to explain in English the meaning of each word. These four sets included: 1.Words from only textbook lists, 2.Words from only on-line newspaper articles and supplemental worksheets, 3. Words from only on-line articles and
postings in a blog, 4. Words that appear in 1, 2 and 3. RESULTS The first research question, whether students learning of vocabulary could be enhanced with online newspapers in contrast with using only a textbook showed these findings: data from the experimental group indicates that 31.6% of students recognized 3 or more words from column 1, the textbook vocabulary learned as definitional lists. On average, students had learned 2.1 words out of 5 from that group of words. However, 58% of students recognized 3 or more words (the majority of them 4 or 5 words) from column 4, that included words from the textbook lists that were also used in the articles and in the blogs. Students recognized an average of 2.9 words out of 5 from this list. As for the control group, 18% of students recognized 3 or more words from column 1, recognizing an average of 1.22 words out of 5, and 22% recognized 3 or more words from column 4, with an average of 1.5 words out of 5. The second research question inquired about the impact of the number of exposures to lexical items in the learning of new vocabulary in medical Spanish. Theoretically, the higher number of times a student is exposed to a word, the higher chances of being able to recognize it and potentially learn it for future use. Our data indicates that one exposure to a lexical item (function words such as nouns, verbs and adjectives) from the textbook (as a definition, or in a vocabulary list) helped students to recognize vocabulary: 31,6% of students from the experimental group and 18% of the control group recognized 3 or more words. Students also recognized vocabulary that was only used in newspaper articles, once: 21% of students from the experimental group and 22% of students from the control group recognized 3 or more words out of 5 in column 2. When the number of exposures increased such as with items used also in the blogs and the newspaper articles, or two exposures such as the items from column 4, 63% of students from the experimental group recognized more words when compared with column 1. Finally, as part of our commitment to implement better practices that allows us to be more efficient in content delivery we also wanted to report on students´ self-assessment on the use of on-line newspaper articles and blog postings for vocabulary learning and development. On this aspect, 90% of the students from the experimental group reported
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obesidad y la depresión es un gran problema en los Estados Unidos que afecta la salud y los empleos” (“Another interesting aspect I found is the effects on the economy. Obesity and depression are a big problem in the US that impacts health and jobs”); “Me gustó el artículo ´Obesidad y depresión, la pescadilla que se muerde a cola´, porque me pareció realista y aplicable a los ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos” (“I liked the article ´Obessity and Depression, a vicious circle´, because it seemed realistic and applicable to the people of the U.S.A”) or “Tengo mucho interese en este tópico y quiero encontrar más información para hacer investigaciones en el futuro cuando estoy una asistente de doctora” (“This topic interests me a lot and I want to find more information to do research in the future when I become a doctor´s assistant”). Learning to read in L2 involves learning words, reading improves vocabulary knowledge and this supports reading development. Extensive reading develops reading and vocabulary abilities [19]. Reading on-line newspaper articles related to the medical field plus supplemental activities seems to be an effective method to learn L2 vocabulary through extensive reading. According to Elley [18] and Yu [20], this is possible if there is an emphasis on reader interest, theme of text, match between readers´ background knowledge and the text, and linguistic/cultural authenticity of the text. In addition, enabling students to select the texts themselves encouraged them to choose interesting readings for their peers. All of this is possible “if there is a base for learners to acquire vocabulary incidentally through extensive reading” [4]. From the perspective of teaching language for Specific Purposes, such as Medical Spanish, it seems that reading on-line newspapers may encourage students to become independent and lifelong learners, taking the learning beyond the classroom. Authentic materials such as on-line newspaper articles related to health topics constitute a valuable tool in helping learners grow specialized vocabulary in the medical field. Developing a sizable vocabulary base has other positive effects: “a requirement of getting better at reading and writing is growing a large vocabulary, especially one that can be recognized in writing” [21]. This means that vocabulary size correlate well with performance in both skills. Avenues for further research include looking into the role that a part of speech can have when learning a word or assessing the rate of word retention over time.
that they felt their vocabulary had expanded with the Internet tools used in the course. 74% reported that the activity had helped them to retain vocabulary, and 95% said that they felt the practice with these tools had helped them to express ideas and opinions in a different way. Findings also indicate that 80% of students indicated that they became aware of certain connotations and expressions as a result of reading, writing and sharing about the selected topics. CONCLUSIONS Vocabulary acquisition while reading a text for meaning can be significant [17], with only two exposures and with post-reading vocabulary activities. In our study, students had from 1 to 3 encounters to the items presented in the end-ofsemester survey through different strategies. The increasing success at word recognition by the students suggests the potential likelihood of vocabulary growth with more exposures. The differences between the experimental group and the control group indicate that the choice of materials (on-line newspaper articles) combined with the number of encounters to the items play an important role in the recognition of words. In addition, definitional vocabulary from a textbook (word-lists) at the Intermediate level of Spanish has a lower incidence of recognition when compared with results from contextualized learning (items from online newspaper articles). This provides support to the approach of reading for vocabulary acquisition with word-focused activities, which tends to promote vocabulary learning in L2. Furthermore, combining both approaches -words out of context with words in context- and enhanced vocabulary activities seems to yield the best results in vocabulary learning for Medical Spanish. Although there were no formal measures of learners´ attitude to reading, informal oral feedback from the students and answers/comments from the survey indicate that learners enjoyed reading on-line newspapers articles and they perceived this activity as a positive tool that increased their chances of learning vocabulary. Following Elley´s factors for success this was possible because the task provided extensive input of meaningful print, offered space for incidental learning, integrated an oral and written activity, focused on meaning rather than form, and was characterized by high intrinsic motivation [18]. Some of the students´ comments were: “Otro punto de ellas que encontré muy interesante están los efectos en la economía. La
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[13] VanPatten, B. (2002). “Communicative classrooms, processing instruction, and pedagogical norms”. In Gass, Bardovi-Harlig, Sieloff Magnan and Walz, Pedagogical Norms for Second and Foreign Language Learning and Teaching. 105-117. [14] Mason, K. (1991). “Medical Spanish for Majors: Open Wide and Say “Yes”. Hispania. 74 (2): 452-456. [15] Hanna, B.E. and De Nooy, J. (2009). Learning Language and Culture via Public Internet Discussion Forums. New York: Palgrave MacMillan. [16] Selezneva, E. and Veiga, A. (2007) “Weblogs for Intermediate level Spanish”: SOCALLT 07 Annual Conference, Cy-Fair College, Houston. (Conference Presentation) [17] Krashen, S. (1993). The power of reading. Englewood, NJ: Libraries Unlimited. [18] Elley, W.B. (1991). “Acquiring Literacy in a Second Language: The Effect of Book-Based Programs”. Language Learning 41 (3): 375411. [19] Wodinsky, M. and Nation, P. (1988). “Learning from graded readers. Reading in a foreign language”, 5 (1): 155-161 [20] Yu (1993) quoted in Coady, J. and Huckin, T. Eds. (1997). Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition: A Rationale for Pedagogy. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. 233. [21] Milton, J. (2009). Measuring Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition. UK: Multilingual Matters, Short Run Press Ltd.
REFERENCES [1] Lear, D.W. (2005). “Spanish for Working Medical Professionals: Linguistic Needs”. Foreign Language Annals. 38 (2): 223-232 [2] Paribakht, T.S. and Wesche, M. “Vocabulary enhancement activities and reading for meaning in second language vocabulary acquisition” in Coady, J. and Huckin, T. (1997). Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition: A Rationale for Pedagogy. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. 174-200. [3] Nagy, W. (1988). Teaching Vocabulary to Improve Reading Comprehension. Urbana: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills. [4] Coady, J. and Huckin, T. Eds. (1997). Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition: A Rationale for Pedagogy. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. [5] Krashen, S. (1989). “We Acquire Vocabulary and Spelling by Reading: Additional Evidence for the Input Hypothesis”. The Modern Language Journal. 73 (iv): 440-464. [6] Nation, I.S.P. (2001). Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. [7] Hulstijn, J.H. (1997). “Mnemonic methods in foreign language vocabulary learning: Theoretical considerations and pedagogical implications” in Coady, J. and Huckin, T. (1997). Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition: A Rationale for Pedagogy. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. 203-224. [8] Parry, K. (1993). “Too many words: Learning Vocabulary of an academic subject” in T.Huckin, M.Haynes, and J.Coady (eds), Second Language reading and vocabulary learning. Norwood, NJ: Ablex. 109-129. [9] Grabe, W. and Stoller F.L. “Reading and Vocabulary Development in a Second Language: A Case Study” in Coady, J. and Huckin, T. (1997). Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition: A Rationale for Pedagogy. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. 98-122. [10] Gass, S. (1999). Studies in Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. [11] Barcroft, J. (2005). “La enseñanza del vocabulario en español como segunda lengua”. Hispania. 88 (3): 568-583. [12] Horst, M. and Meara, P. (1999). “Test of a Model for Predicting Second Language Lexical Growth through Reading”. Canadian Modern Language Review. 56 (2): 308-328.
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Principals’ Use of Technology Relative to National Educational Technology Standards Ronald A. Styron, Jr. Ed.D., Associate Professor Department of Educational Leadership and School Counseling College of Education and Psychology The University of Southern Mississippi 118 College Drive #5027 Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001 and Jennifer Styron, M.Ed., Research Specialist Center for Research, Evaluation, Assessment and Training Services The University of Southern Mississippi 118 College Drive #5214 Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001 follow-up to research conducted by the authors during the 20092010 academic year. The former study involved principals of the United States Department of Education National Schools of Excellence Blue Ribbon Schools. In the 2009-2010 study, data indicated that there was a high level of agreement with the National Educational Technology Standards and Performance Indicators for School Administrators (NETS-A) Standards and there was a significant relationship between the use of technology and NETS-A Standards created by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) [3]. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions and technology use of K-12 principals of non-Blue Ribbon schools through a comparison of their responses with those previously gathered from K-12 principals of Blue Ribbon Schools. Principals of 450 randomly selected non-Blue Ribbon schools found throughout the United States were sent a questionnaire consisting of 38 closed form items developed specifically for the study. Questionnaires were distributed by postal mail during the fall of 2010. Statistical treatments included a Pearson and Spearman correlation along with two multivariate analysis of variance tests to determine the influence of each standard on technology use. Researchers identified recurrent themes among principal responses to help determine if their self-reported levels of agreement correlated with the 2009 NETS-A Standards [3]. The National Educational Technology Standards and Performance Indicators for School Administrators [3] include: Visionary Leadership—Educational Administrators inspire and lead development and implementation of a shared vision for comprehensive integration of technology to promote excellence and support transformation throughout the organization; DigitalAge Learning Culture—Educational Administrators create, promote, and sustain a dynamic, digital-age learning culture that provides a rigorous, relevant, and engaging education for all students; Excellence in Professional Practice—Educational Administrators promote an environment of professional learning and innovation that empowers educators to enhance student learning through the infusion of contemporary technologies and digital resources; Systemic Improvement—Educational Administrators provide digital-age leadership and management to continuously improve the organization through the effective
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions and technology use of K-12 principals at non-blue ribbon schools to identify technological characteristics of successful school leaders. This study involved surveying nonblue ribbon school principals within the United States about their perceptions and use of technology so that administrators will have a better understanding of the role of technology within the education setting and how to effectively integrate technology standards within K-12 schools. The findings were compared with those of a study conducted during the 2009-2010 school year, by the authors of this work, pertaining to technology characteristics of Blue Ribbon school principals. Findings indicated that both Blue Ribbon School Principals (BRSP) and Non-Blue Ribbon School Principals (NBRSP) have high levels of agreement with the NETS-A Standards, and that these standards have a positive significant relationship. In addition, levels of agreement with the NETS-A Standards were positively correlated with technology use in both principal studies. Statistical differences were found by gender for Blue Ribbon School Principals, but not for Non-Blue Ribbon School Principals; and there were no significant differences existed between Blue Ribbon and Non-Blue Ribbon principals levels of agreement with the NETS-A Standards. Keywords: Principals, Technology Achievement, Leadership
Integration,
Student
INTRODUCTION When utilized properly, quality integration of technology in daily instruction has been documented to have a positive effect on student achievement. Principals play a significant role in the successful implementation and integration of technology [1]. One of their most important instructional responsibilities is to blend the goals of technology implementation into the total mix of instructional leadership. Principals must also be proactive in connecting technology usage with the improvement of student learning [2]. These research findings provided the impetus for this study, which is a
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use of information and technological resources; and Digital Citizenship—Educational Administrators model and facilitate understanding of social, ethical, and legal issues and responsibilities related to an evolving digital culture. Investigators also compared data collected in this study with data generated from the 2009 study of Blue Ribbon school principals to ascertain any differences. These findings will be used to help inform improvements of principal preparation programs, connect NETS-A Standards with school curriculum, and to note differences in technology usage between Blue Ribbon School principals and non-Blue Ribbon school principals. They will also be used to help current and future administrators better understand technological needs and the characteristics of high achieving schools relative to the use of technology. Findings may also be used to help structure degree programs with technology embedded curriculum. As such, college administrators may consider the results of this study to help inform policy decisions regarding administrator preparation relative to degree programs.
language arts. In a study conducted by Judson [12], positive correlations were found between these subjects and technology gains. The lack of classroom technology, or proper integration, has also led to a gap in technology literacy skills. In a study conducted by Williams [13], a gap was found between the technology skills demonstrated by students during the traditional school day, and technology skills such as blogging, chatting, role-playing games, e-mail, texting, and the use of web pages, demonstrated by students when outside of school. Greater efforts should be made by teachers to connect those technologies used by students at home with pedagogical functions used by teachers during the school day. Technology and Administrators School leaders play a significant role in the successful implementation and integration of technology and must play a proactive role by keeping abreast of the latest trends in educational technology. Administrators should also provide regular supervision and coaching regarding the use of technology as a tool to increase student achievement. Anderson and Dexter [14] found that administrators should pay attention to the role they play in the implementation and integration of technology because while “infrastructure is important, if educational technology is to become an integral part of a school, leadership is necessary” (p. 74). The State Educational Technology Directors Association [15] identified five educational trends in 2008-09 pertaining to technology expenditures funded through various Elementary and Secondary Education Act sources. These trends include (p. iii): Trend 1. Scaling Up Success. States continued to provide educational technology leadership by focusing investments on student-centric, research-based, technology-rich learning environments that advance state and federal goals. Trend 2. Enhancing Teacher Effectiveness. For the seventh year in a row, states reported offering a wide range of professional development, positioned as a key leverage point for extracting a learning return on their technology investments. Trend 3. Using Data to Inform Learning, Teaching, and Leadership. Investments are increasing the capacity of educators to access, analyze, and use data effectively to inform learning, teaching, and leadership. Trend 4. Increasing Academic Achievement. Investments continue to focus on technology-enhanced teaching and learning innovations that demonstrate positive gains in the core academic areas. Trend 5. Driving Innovation and New Educational Models. Educators are taking advantage of investments in Web 2.0, interactive technologies, and broadband, by embracing technology-enhanced learning strategies that include online learning, use of digital content, and web-based professional communities of practice. As described in a previous article by Styron & Styron, [1], the International Society of Technology Education [3] has identified several factors for successful implementation of technology for learning centered around professional development for teachers, the alignment of local and/or state curriculum standards with appropriate use of technology, the incorporation of technology into the daily bell schedule, individualized feedback to students and teachers regarding programs and applications, adapting lessons to accommodate individual student needs, technology usage to support a collaborative teaching environment, a focus on technology
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Technology and Teachers The use of technology in the classroom may need to be detailed in school district policies and procedures to ensure a clear understanding of expectations for teachers [4]. Ferriter [5] found that teacher use of technology is not always connected to student learning. Regardless of the technologies employed, if technology is utilized primarily by teachers to cover material, and not by students as a form of engagement, they have minimal impact, at best, on student achievement. The disconnect may be the professional development, or lack thereof, employed to help teachers make effective us of technology as a means to facilitate student engagement [6]. The focus of technology usage must be on the student and not the teacher. The role of the teacher is to integrate appropriate technologies in a seamless manner into the instructional delivery on course content. The key to this process is doing so in a reallife or authentic manner. Since technology plays a major role in day-to-day experiences, teachers should draw on multiple resources and make the most of differentiated strategies to construct connections between classroom technology and technology use beyond the classroom. This should be done in ways that do not appear artificial or contrived [7]. From a student perspective, teachers should use only those technologies that they feel comfortable using. Students are not looking for teachers who are trying to impress them with their use of the latest technology. This information represents good advice considering the multiple technologies (cell phones, websites, online courses, computers, etc.) most teens are exposed to on a daily basis [8]. Improving literacy skills has been acknowledged by Heller and Greenleaf [9] as a critical factor in improving student achievement. Embedding technology in literacy has been found to facilitate the acquisition of literacy skills. Methods such as electronic reading, e-response journaling, blogging, e-discussion including chatting, and technology-based projects have been proven to be effective means of addressing literacy [10]. The use of interactive whiteboards to engage students in learning tasks have so been associated with improving student literacy [11]. Improving technology literacy has also been connected to improved student comprehension in reading, mathematics, and
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utilization in project-based learning and real-world simulations, and providing leadership, modeling, and support. Furthermore, if technology is to become an integral part of administrator decision-making, it should be emphasized in university preparation programs. Leadership is essential for school-based technology reform and as such, should be included in leadership curriculum side-by-side with topics such as strategic planning, school finance, establishing mission, vision and goals, and human resource management [16].
Research Questions The primary research questions guiding this study were: 1) What is the level of agreement with NETS-A Standards of the 2010-2011 Non-Blue Ribbon School Principals (10-11 NBRSP) and are they consistent with those of the 2009-2010 Blue Ribbon School Principals (09-10 BRSP)? 2) Did a relationship exist between the use of technology and NETS-A Standards? 3) Did the levels of agreement with NETS-A Standards differ by gender? 4) Did the levels of agreement with NETS-A Standards differ by Blue Ribbon and Non-Blue Ribbon principals?
Technology and Gender While the literature regarding specific educational administration technology usage and gender appear to be limited, for quite some time differences have been more broadly noted by gender regarding technology access and usage. In early studies, it seemed to be a foregone conclusion that technology usage and competence was primarily a male function. Bryson and DeCastell [17] found gender differences in the use of technology, but justified them in a right-brain and left-brain context. In a study by Hickling-Hudson [18], differences in technology use between gender were attributed to socio-economic status as she noted that boys from upper SES homes had more exposure and subsequent benefits from higherorder computer experiences. Reinen and Plomp [19] found males had higher levels of computer knowledge than females; and had higher levels of understanding and use. Later studies proved to be less predisposed toward male dominance of technology. This may have been partially contributed to the increased presence of females in management positions [20]. Findings in a study conducted by Cushing, Linderfeld, Morote and Kelly [21] revealed no differences between gender regarding the use assessment or instructional technology. In addition, Blackwell [22] found that not only did the use of technology help make administrators more effective, but also there were no differences in technology use when findings were analyzed by gender.
Instrument The demographic section of the questionnaire included questions regarding participant’s education level, gender, regional location of the school, type of school, age, use of mobile devices, email, Internet, and web 2.0 tools, participation in a social network, and previous technology training. The instrument also included 22 closed form questions, based on the 2009 ISTE NETS-A Standards and Performance Indicators for Administrators (NETS-A). Items on the questionnaire were related to one of the five NETS-A emphasis areas, which include visionary leadership, digital-age learning culture, excellence in professional practice, systemic improvement, and digital citizenship. Questions were on a six point Likert Scale and ranged from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (6). The researchers used these 22 closed form questions to develop five variables representing each of the NETS-A Standards. Evidence of Reliability: Cronbach’s alpha were computed and reported in both studies at .936 in the 09-10 BRSP study; and at .894 in the 10-11 NBRSP study. Both reported scores of the questionnaire show strong consistency and, as such, the reliability of both instruments is high. Table 1 shows the variable alpha level for each of the five Standards. In the 09-10 BRSP study, alpha levels ranged from .792-.881, showing adequate to good reliability for each measure; while in the 10-11 NBRSP study, alpha levels ranged from .607-.827 showing questionable reliability for the measures Visionary Leadership (.656) and Digital Citizenship (.607) and adequate to good reliability for the remaining measures.
METHODOLOGY Description of Procedures This purpose of the study was to explore the perceptions and use of technology by principals of non- Blue Ribbon Schools throughout the United States. A pilot study was conducted prior to the study to determine the reliability and validity of the survey instrument. After making appropriate revisions as identified by pilot study respondents, the researchers deployed a questionnaire based on the 2009 NETSA Standards and Performance Indicators. These questionnaires were delivered by postal mail. With the exception of the sample group, these procedures were identical to those conducted in Styron & Styron’s (2011) study that investigated the use of technology by Blue Ribbon school principals.
Table 1. Alpha levels of NETS-A Standards Standard
Alpha Coefficient BRSP
Non-BRSP
Visionary Leadership
.792
.656
Digital-Age Learning Culture
.874
.794
Excellence in Professional Practice
.856
.827
Systemic Improvement
.881
.793
Digital Citizenship
.829
.607
Note. BRSP represents the 09-10 Blue Ribbon School Principal reliability scores; and NBRSP represents the 10-11 Non-Blue Ribbon School Principal reliability scores.
Participants Participants were principals of K-12 schools that were not identified as Blue Ribbon Schools. Researchers used a national mailing list of non-Blue Ribbon school principals from the 2009-2010 school year to identify an appropriate sample group. Four hundred and fifty (450) questionnaires were mailed with 113 returned for a rate of 25%.
Evidence of Validity: Modifications of the original instrument developed by the researchers for the 2009-2010 Blue Ribbon School Principals study were conducted. The research team possesses experience and expertise in both K-12 educational leadership and instructional technology. The
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instrument was based on the NETS-A Standards and Performance Indicators and was reviewed by a focus group of Non-Blue Ribbon School Principals (K-12 administrators) to ensure comprehensiveness and relevance to the research questions. Revisions recommended by the focus group were completed prior to the administration of the questionnaire. In addition, one K-12 administrator was asked to evaluate the instrument’s level of difficulty and relevance and provide any feedback for final modifications before dissemination of the instrument.
degree (79.7%) with 13.7% reporting a doctoral degree, 4.9% reporting a Specialist, and 1.6% reporting a Bachelor degree. The study also had a diverse geographic representation with 20.7% of participants reporting from the North, 39.6% reporting from the South, 16.6% reporting from the East, and 23.1% reporting from the West. Sixty-one percent of participants were over the age of 50 with 28.6% reporting in the age of 40-49, 9.9% reporting in the age of 30-39, and less than one percent (.5) reporting in the age of 2009 (Styron & Styron, 2010). In the 2010-2011 Non-Blue Ribbon School Principal (10-11 NBRSP) study, out of the 113 participants, the majority were either over the age of 51 (42.5%) or between the ages of 41-50 (39.8%); with less than 1% percent of participants within the range of 20-30, and 17% within the age range of 31-40 (16.8%). Gender representation was slightly higher for males (58.4%) than women (41.6%). Eighty-seven percent of participants either had a Master’s degree (59.3%) or Specialist (28.3%). Geographic diversity was also present with 32.7% reporting from a northern region, 28.3% reporting from a southern region, 13.3% reporting from an eastern region, and 25.7% reporting from a western region. Technology Use. Participants were also asked to report his/her level of use of mobile devices, email, Internet, and web 2.0 tools. In the 2009-2010 Blue Ribbon School Principal data (09-10 BRSP) study, participants reported using email the most frequently with 100% using it on a daily basis, followed by 96.7% of participants using Internet on a daily basis. Mobile device use was split into two main categories with 74% using mobile devices daily and 22.1% never using mobile devices. Most participants rarely used web 2.0 tools such as Wikis, Podcasts, and Online Video Presentations with 20.8% reporting no use and 43.8% reporting once a month use (Styron & Styron, 2010). In the 2010-2011 Non-Blue Ribbon School Principal (10-11 NBRSP) study, 99.1% of participants reported using both email and Internet on a daily basis with .9% reporting never using email or the Internet. Roughly eight-six percent (85.8%) reported using mobile devices daily with 1.8% reporting once a month usage, and 12.4% reporting no use of mobile devices at all. Reported use of Web 2.0 tools was more scattered with 10.6% of participants reporting daily use, 31% reporting once a week use, 42.5% reporting once a month use, and 15.9% reporting no use at all. Table 2 provides 09-10 BRSP and 10-11 NBRSP descriptive information on each of the NETS-A Standards. Each of the five Standards was connected to 3-6 questions from the 22 on the questionnaire. The Likert Scale ranged from 1 being “strongly disagree” to 6 being “strongly agree.” In both the 0910 BRSP and 10-11 NBRSP studies, visionary leadership reported the highest mean and digital citizenship as the lowest mean.
Analysis Procedures Data for both studies was entered into the statistical analysis program called SPSS. After data compilation, five variables were created, one for each of the NETS-A standards. Visionary leadership (VL) was created summing the scores of questions 9, 10, 19a, and 19b. Question 10, “There is adequate funding to support technology integration in my school” was omitted to increase reliability of the variable. Questions 11, 19c, 20d, 21a, and 21b were summed to create the variable digitalage learning culture (DALC). The variable excellence in professional practice (EPP) was created summing questions 12, 17, 18, 19, 20a, and 20b. Systemic improvement (SI) was created summing questions 13, 14, 22a, 22b, 22c, 22d. And the variable digital citizenship (DC) was created using questions 15, 16, 20c, 20e. Question 15, “There is equitable access to appropriate digital tools” was omitted to increase reliability of the variable. Questions 5a-5d asked participants to self-report their use of emails, mobile devices, Internet, and Web 2.0 tools. These items were reverse coded so that the higher the reported score, the greater the associated technology use of the participant. Researchers then created the variable, technology use, which summed participants’ technology use of mobile devices, email, Internet, and web 2.0 tools. In both studies, a Pearson and Spearman correlation were conducted to determine 1) if a relationship existed between the five Standards; 2) if a relationship existed between the level of agreement of the five Standards and the use of mobile devices, email, Internet, and web 2.0 tools; 3) if a relationship existed between the level of agreement with the five Standards and technology use in general. Both studies also utilized an independent-sample t-test to determine if there were significant differences between the levels of agreement with the five NETSA components and gender. After the 2010-2011 Non-Blue Ribbon School Principal (10-11 NBRSP) data was compiled and analyzed, both it and the 2009-2010 Blue Ribbon School Principal data (09-10 BRSP) was grouped and compiled into one data file to conduct further analyses between the groups. Two multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) tests were conducted to 1) determine if there were any differences between the level of agreement with NETS-A Standards of the 2010-2011 Non-Blue Ribbon School Principals (10-11 NBRSP) and the 2009-2010 Blue Ribbon School Principal data (09-10 BRSP); and 2) to determine if any differences existed between groups by gender.
Table 2. Descriptive Statistics for NETS-A Standards 09-10 BRSP (N=183); and 10-11 NBRSP (N=112) Standard Mean Std. Deviation 2009-2010 Blue Ribbon School Principals (N=183) Visionary (Vis.) 5.22 .83 Digital (Dig.) 5.02 .79 Excellence (Exc.) 5.07 .73 Systemic (Sys.) 5.01 .79 Citizenship (Cit.) 4.19 1.01
Findings Descriptive Statistics. In the 2009-2010 Blue Ribbon School Principal data (09-10 BRSP) study, of the 183 participants, over half were female (60.2%) with 39.8% male participants. A large majority of participants held a Master’s
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2010-2011 Non-Blue Ribbon School Principals (N=112)
between mobile devices (r (183) = .215, p< 0.01), Internet (r (183) = .205, p< 0.05), and web 2.0 tools (r (183) = .298, p< 0.01); for Systemic Improvement, the Spearman rank correlation coefficients indicated significant relationships between mobile devices (r (183) = .160 p< 0.05), Internet (r (183) = .170, p< 0.05), and web 2.0 tools (r (183) = .194, p< 0.01); and for Digital Citizenship, the Spearman rank correlation coefficients indicated significant relationships between mobile device (r (183) = .200, p< 0.05), and web 2.0 tools (r (183) = .275, p< 0.01). Email was not correlated because all participants reported daily use of email. Additionally, the only correlation not found was between Digital Citizenship and use of the Internet (Styron & Styron, 2010). In the 10-11 NBRSP study, no statistically significant relationships existed between the five Standards, Visionary Leadership, Digital-Age Learning Culture, Excellence in Professional Practice, Systemic Improvement, and Digital and the use of mobile devices, Email, Internet and web 2.0 tools. The final correlation test was conducted on both data sets to determine if a relationship existed between the level of agreement with the Standards and technology use in general. In order to conduct this correlation, the variable named TechUse was that summed the use of all four technologies, mobile devices, email, Internet and web 2.0 tools into one variable. In the 09-10 BRSP study, a Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient found a positive significant relationship between technology use and Visionary Leadership [r (183) = .270 p< 0.01], Digital-Age Learning Culture [r (183) = .234 p< 0.01], Excellence in Professional Practice [r (183) = .278 p< 0.01], Systemic Improvement [r (183) = .190 p< 0.01], and Digital Citizenship [r (183) = .264 p< 0.01] (Styron & Styron, 2010). In the 10-11 NBRSP study, a Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient found only one positive significant relationship between technology use and Excellence in Professional Practice [r (113) = .220 p< 0.05]. Independent Samples T-Test: In the 09-10 BRSP study, an independent samples t-test, was conducted to determine whether or not differences existed in the level of agreement of the NETS-A Standards by gender. Blue Ribbon School Principals (BRSP) who were females reported a level of agreement that was significantly different from the males’ level of agreement in visionary leadership, t (179)=-1.99, p = .048; digital-age learning culture, t (179)=-2.72, p = .007; Excellence in Professional Practice, t (179)=-2.26, p = .025; Systemic Improvement, t (179)=-2.93, p = .004; and in Digital Citizenship, t (179)=-1.77, p = .079. In addition, BRSP females reported higher levels of agreement than BRSP males for all five Standards. An independent samples t-test was also conducted in the 10-11 NBRSP study to determine whether participant’s level of agreement differed by standards however; no statistically significant relationships were found establishing no difference in the levels of agreement for Non-Blue Ribbon School Principals by gender. Table 4 provides means and standard deviations by gender for each Standard in both the 09-10 BRSP study and the 10-11 NBRSP study.
Visionary (Vis.) 5.09 .69 Digital (Dig.) 4.82 .69 Excellence (Exc.) 4.97 .66 Systemic (Sys.) 4.89 .66 Citizenship (Cit.) 4.02 .82 Note. Questions were on a six point Likert Scale and ranged from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (6). Correlational Analysis: A Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was computed in response to the first research question to determine if relationships existed between the five Standards. Table 3 reports the Pearson Correlation Output for both the in the 09-10 BRSP study (lower bottom half of the diagonal); and the 10-11 NBRSP study (upper top half of the diagonal). In both studies, positive relationships were found statistically significant between the five Standards. The 09-10 BRSP study reported the highest correlation between DigitalAge Learning Culture (Dig.) and Excellence in Professional Practice (Exc.) [r (183) = .865, p< 0.01]. The lowest correlations for each variable were reported with digital citizenship (Cit.) (Styron & Styron, 2010). Similarly, the 10-11 NBRSP study reported the highest correlation between Digital-Age Learning Culture (Dig.) and Excellence in Professional Practice (Exc.) [r (112) = .780, p<0.01]. The lowest correlations for Excellence in Professional Practice (Exc.) and Systemic Improvement (Sys.) were also reported with digital citizenship (Cit.); however, in the 10-11 NBRSP study, the variables Digital-Age Learning Culture (Dig.) and Visionary Leadership (Vis.) [r (112) = .631, p<0.01] reported a lower correlation with each other than with Digital Citizenship (Cit.). Table 3. Pearson Correlation Output for NETS-A Standards 2009-2010 BRSP (N=183); 2010-2011 NBRSP (N=112) Standard Vis. Dig. Exc. Sys. Cit. Vis. 1.000 .631** .672** .581** .477** Dig. .842** 1.000 .780** .713** .642** Exc. .853** .865** 1.000 .709** .657** Sys. .780** .824** .814** 1.000 .536** Cit. .618** .751** .709** .625** 1.000 **Correlation significant at the 0.01 level. (2-tailed). Note. Bottom half of the correlation table represents 09-10 BRSP data, with the top half of the correlation table representing the 10-11 NBRSP data. The second correlation test was conducted to determine if a relationship existed between the level of agreement of the five Standards with the use of mobile devices, email, Internet, and web 2.0 tools. In the 09-10 BRSP study, for Visionary Leadership, the Spearman rank correlation coefficients indicated significant positive relationships between mobile devices (r (183) = .233, p< 0.01), Internet (r (183) = .163, p< 0.05), and web 2.0 tools (r (183) = .247, p< 0.01); for Digital-Age Learning Culture, the Spearman rank correlation coefficients indicated significant relationships between mobile devices (r (183) = .183, p< 0.05), Internet (r (183) = .181, p< 0.05), and web 2.0 tools (r (183) = .226, p< 0.01); for Excellence in Professional Practice, the Spearman rank correlation coefficients indicated significant relationships
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Table 4. 09-10 BRSP Means and Standard Deviations for NETS-A Standards by Gender
relationships were significant and correlated with each other at the .01 level (p< .01). The third research question explored whether the levels of agreement with NETS-A Standards differed by gender. Results were ascertained through T-test data. In the 09-10 BRSP study, females reported higher levels of agreement than males for all five Standards [1]; however, in the 10-11 NBRSP study, there were no statistically significant differences by gender found. The final research question investigated whether or not differences existed in reported levels of agreement with NETS-A Standards by group (BRSP and NBRSP) and by gender within group. Both MANOVA analyses reported no statistically significant differences therefore there were no differences between Blue Ribbon and Non-Blue Ribbon School Principals’ levels of agreement with the NETS-A Standards; nor were there any significant differences between the two groups’ levels of agreements by gender. It should be noted that in the 2010 study [1] there was a correlation between BRSP’s technology use and reported levels of agreement however; there was no statistical difference for the NBRSPs. Furthermore, the level of technology use (use of mobile devices, email, internet, and web 2.0 tools) was statistically significant however mean scores for tech use were higher for NBRSP than for BRSP. The researchers determined variance in responses as the reason for these seemingly contradictory findings.
Standard Gender N Mean Std. Deviation 2009-2010 Blue Ribbon School Principals Vis. Male 72 5.06 .84 Female 109 5.31 .81 Dig. Male 72 4.82 .85 Female 109 5.14 .72 Exc. Male 72 4.92 .76 Female 109 5.16 .69 Sys. Male 72 4.79 .81 Female 109 5.14 .75 Cit. Male 72 4.01 .96 Female 109 4.28 1.02 2010-2011 Non-Blue Ribbon School Principals Vis. Male 66 5.09 Female 47 5.08 Dig. Male 66 4.78 Female 46 4.87 Exc. Male 66 4.95 Female 47 5.00 Sys. Male 66 4.90 Female 45 4.88 Cit. Male 66 4.09 Female 46 4.02
.68 .73 .71 .68 .62 .71 .67 .65 .76 .82
Recommendations for Policy and Practice
Multivariate analysis of variances: Data from the 09-10 BRSP and the 10-11 NBRSP study was compiled to conduct two multivariate analysis of variances (MANOVAs). The first MANOVA was conducted to determine whether or not differences existed between the BRSP and NBRSP groups’ levels of agreement of the NETS-A Standards. A separate MANOVA was conducted to determine whether or not differences existed between the BRSP and NBRSP groups’ level of agreement of the NETS-A Standards by gender. Both multivariate analyses reported no statistical significance indicating that there were no differences in the two groups’ levels of agreement with NETS-A Standards; nor were there any statistically significant differences between the two groups’ levels of agreement by gender.
Findings indicated both BRSP and NBRSP supported the NETS-A Standards, and had high levels of agreement. Blue Ribbon Schools are regarded as high achieving and as such, held in high esteem by United States citizenry. There is a rigorous selection process and the most important selection indicator is the standardized test scores of students at the selected school. Although schools that have not been designated as a Blue Ribbon School are not necessarily low performing, if one believes in the Blue Ribbon School selection process, we can assume many non-Blue Ribbon Schools aspire to this level of excellence. School principals are the catalyst for improving student achievement and must be the driving force behind the Blue Ribbon School selection process. As such, since this study did not note any significance difference between the use of technology in each setting, it may be assumed that while technology may play a major role in facilitating student success, it is not the sole determiner of high levels of achievement needed to become a Blue Ribbon School. As such, school principals must not assume that use of technology will lead to improved achievement. It is recommended by the authors, that school principals examine the use of technology by classroom teachers to engage students in meaningful learning. Problem-solving discovery-based learning that promotes high levels of thinking and knowledge transfer as defined by Wiggins and McTighe [23]. Technology used in superficial ways will have a neutral impact on student achievement. Technology promoting active student participation and engagement, for example person response technologies, will have a positive impact on student achievement [24].
DISCUSSION In the 09-10 BRSP study, the answer to the first question, what was the level of agreement with NETS-A Standards of Blue Ribbon School Principals, has been ascertained within the descriptive statistics generated by the study. This data set indicated that there was a high level of agreement with the Standards as mean scores were between 4.1 and 5.2 [1]. Comparably, the 10-11 NBRSP study also indicated high levels of agreement with NETS-A Standards with mean scores between 4.0-5.1. These results indicate that both Blue Ribbon School Principals as well as Non-Blue Ribbon School Principals self- report high levels of agreement with the importance of NETS-A Standards. The second research question, was to determine if there was a relationship between use of technology and NETS-A Standards, and was also ascertained within the correlational procedures utilized in both studies. Both the 09-10 BRSP and 10-11 NBRSP data sets indicated that all NETS-A Standards’
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[12] Judson, E. (2010). Improving technology literacy: Does is open doors to traditional content? Educational Technology Research and Development 58(3), 271-284. [13] Williams, B. T. (2005). Leading double lives: Literacy and technology in and out of school. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 48(8), 702-706. [14] Anderson, R. E., & Dexter, S. (2005). School technology leadership: An empirical investigation of prevalence and effect. Educational Administration Quarterly, 41(1), 4982. [15] The State Educational Technology Directors Association (2010). National Educational Technology Trends. Retrieved May 17, 2011 from NationalTrends Report2010Final_042110.pdf. [16] Aragon, S. R. (2003). School technology leadership: An empirical investigation of prevalence and effect. Educational Administration Quarterly, 41(1), 49-82. [17] Bryson, M. & DeCastell, S. (1998). New Technologies and the cultural ecology of primary schooling: Imagining teachers as Luddites in/deed." Educational Policy 12(5), 542-67. [18] Hickling-Hudson, A. (1992). Rich Schools, Poor Schools, Boys and Girls: Computer Education in Australian Secondary Schools. Journal of Educational Policy 7(1), 121. [19] Reinen, I. J. & and Plomp, T. (1997). Information Technology and Gender Equality: A Contradiction in Terms? Computers and Education 28(2), 65-78. [20] Wajcman, J. (2007). From women and technology to gendered technoscience. Information, Communication & Society 10(3), 287-298. [21] Cushing, T., Lindefeld, M., Morote, E., Kelly, T., & Rudinger, C. (2010). Does Age And Gender "Really" Play A Role In Faculty’s Use Of Instructional And Assessment Technologies?. In Z. Abas et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Global Learn Asia Pacific 2010 (pp. 814-819). AACE. [22] Blackwell, J. M. (2009). Middle school principals' perception of the effect of technology on job effectiveness. UMI ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 3400510. Retrieved May 22, 2011 from http://gradworks.umi.com/34/00/3400510.html. [23] Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2007). Schooling by design. Arlington, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. [24] King, S. O. & Robinson, C. L. (2009). ‘Pretty Lights’ and Maths! Increasing student engagement and enhancing learning through the use of electronic voting systems. Computers & Education (53)1, 189-199.
Recommendations for Future Research Participants were asked to self-report levels of agreement with the NETS-A Standards but did not specify whether this was their own opinion on NETS-A Standards, or if their answer was based use of technology actually represented in their school. Comments reported by two participants indicated that while the respective principal held a high level of agreement with several NETS-A Standards, it did not mean that it was equally represented within their school. As a result, it is recommended that future studies delineate this dichotomy. Furthermore, in future studies it is recommended that researchers capture the grade level of the school in the demographic information. Although there was a fairly equal representation of participant gender, it is possible that even if there are no significant differences found in the complete data set, there may have been significance if participants were disaggregated by the grade level of the school (i.e. Elementary, Middle, Junior High, and High School). Finally, since both sets of principals reported a high level of agreement with NETS-A Standards, future qualitative research may be appropriate to better understand the ways principals are modeling and integrating technology into their school curriculum in order relative to NETS-A Standards. REFERENCES [1] Styron, R. A. & Styron, J. L. (2011). Connecting technology with student achievement: The use of technology by blue ribbon school principals. Journal of Education, Informatics, and Cybernetics 9(2), 7-12. [2] Creighton, Theodore (2003). The principal as technology leader. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc. [3] The International Society of Technology Education (2010). National Educational Technology Standards and Performance Indicators for School Administrators. Retrieved June 14, 2011 from http://www.iste.org [4] Donlevy, J., (2007). Technology in education: Report of the Technology Policy and Practices Council of the New York State Board of Regents. International Journal of Instructional Media 34(4), 2007. [5] Ferriter, W., M., (2011). Good teaching trumps good tools. Educational Leadership 64(5), 84-85. [6] Bates, L., Reitzes, T., & Culp, K. M. (2010). Connecting instructional technology professional development to teacher and student outcomes. Journal of Research on Technology in Education 43(1), 53-74. [7] Herrington, J., Kervin, L. (2007). Authentic learning supported by technology: Ten suggestions and cases of integration in classrooms. Educational Media International 44(3), 219-236. [8] Schrer, M. (2011). Screenagers: Making the connections. Educational Leadership (68)5, 7. [9] Heller, R. & Greenleaf, C. L. (2007). Literacy instruction in the content areas. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Instruction. [10] Larson, L., C. (2008). Electronic reading workshop: Beyond books with new literacies and instructional technologies. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 52(2), 121-131. [11] Jones, P., Kervin, L., & McIntosh, S. (2011). The interactive whiteboard: Tool and/or agent of semiotic mediation. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy 34(1), 38-60.
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Twitter ³crashing´ during the 2009 course. The video conferencing option was not necessary in 2010 because there was enough funding to hold separate on-site sessions in both Phoenix and Tucson. The program curriculum was designed to explore the uses of contemporary technologies that were low cost and easily implemented in the classroom. A website was also developed (http://teachtec.arizona.edu)1 to disseminate course materials and provide a host to upload participant exercises.
Extended Abstract: Technology as a high impact educational tool for K-12 teachers
Gail Barker1, Catherine Eden2, Janae Cooley1, Linda Hess2, Colleen Carmean2, Kathryn Coe1, Htay Hla1, Christopher Hiryak2, Christopher Martin1, Ina Wintrich2, Ronald S. Weinstein1 1
2
University of Arizona Arizona State University
Materials and Methods 7KHSURJUDPQDPHG³7HDFK 7HF´ 7HDFKLQJDQ Enhanced, Advanced, Customized Hands-on Technology Education Course), was developed by the ASU and UA research team. In order to design the Teach Tec curriculum, customized to address the needs of the participants, the researchers developed an on-line survey, which was posted several weeks prior to the actual event. Using SurveyMonkey2, the questionnaire asked prospective participants to report their experience and comfort level working with technology. The researchers found that 72% of the teachers had little or no experience using contemporary technology.
Keywords: Technology, K-12 education, distance education, Twitter, YouTube, Cell phone polling, Survey Monkey
Introduction Technology is a way of life for those in Generation Z, also known as Generation I, the Internet Generation.1 This generation, born between the mid 1990s and the mid 2000s, has grown up using technology as a means of communication. However, Generation Zers, currently attending school, are being taught by educators who are often not comfortable teaching in the electronic age. In fact three surveys conducted in 2009 and 2010 demonstrated that 72% of Arizona K-12 educators, registered to take the technology course described in this paper, had little or no experience using contemporary information technologies (n= 289). The project researchers hypothesized that incorporating contemporary technologies into the classroom would enhance the learning experience for K-12 students.
Table 1: Arizona K-12 Teacher Experience Using Technology Little or No Experience Average Level of Experience Above Average to Experiences
72% 12% 16%
The survey results became the basis for the course curriculum development. The content was developed and specifically formatted to engage all course participants whether they attended in-person, via video conferencing or through video streaming. In advance of the course, lecture materials and detailed instructions on how to access the various technologies were both sent to participants and posted on the Teach Tec website. A Teach Tec technology team was enlisted to ensure that all participants would have technology support before, during and after the course. The course format consisted of instruction combined with hands-on training and a requirement to upload a classroom exercise to the Teach Tec website. Highlighted technologies included Poll Everywhere, 3 Twitter4, Neat Chat,5 YouTube, 6 TeacherTube,7 SurveyMonkey, 2 Google Docs, 8 and Wordle.9 Only those technologies that were low cost and easily implemented were included. In addition, all participants received a hand-held flip video camera. Throughout the program, communication with video streaming participants was maintained through a Twitter or Neat Chat ³room´ that was monitored by the Teach Tec team during the entire course. Participants also had the option
Background Researchers at the Arizona State University (ASU) and the University of Arizona (UA) developed a teacher certificate program designed to instruct K-12 teachers on how contemporary, low cost technologies could better prepare them to teach technology-enabled students and enhance the classroom experience. The researchers, all with prior experience in technology, distance learning, continuing education and certificate programs, obtained funding to offer a contemporary technology-based course to K-12 educators in the summers of 2009 and 2010. The courses were funded by the Arizona Board of Regents (2009), the Helios Education Foundation and Women and Philanthropy at the ASU Foundation (2010). One course was offered in 2009 and three courses were offered in 2010. The initial program, delivered in 2009, used a format of in-person, videoconferencing between two metropolitan areas, Phoenix and Tucson, (110 miles apart) and video streaming coupled with Twitter to reach dozens of distant participants in Arizona. The 2010 format was delivered both on-site and through video streaming coupled with Neat Chat instead of Twitter. Twitter was replaced as the communication mode in 2010 because of problems with
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of calling by telephone if they had trouble with any aspect of the program. After the conference, all class exercises were posted on the Teach Tec website. Post-conference evaluations were distributed at the end of the conference to assess participant satisfaction. The 2009 participants also were surveyed twice more during the year after the conference to assess impact and implementation results. The 2010 participants have not yet received follow up evaluations.
As mentioned, no follow up surveys from the 2010 program have been sent to date. Discussion Initial survey results suggested a significant gap between current students, who exist in a technologycharged world, and their teachers, who often have limited technology experience. As a result, many educators continue to use 20th century teaching methods in the classroom, which may not be as effective to 21st century students. When the researchers reviewed the early survey data, they fully grasped the potential magnitude of the technology divide between educators and their students and the impact the Teach Tec Program could have in helping bridge the gap. Likewise, teachers recognized this gap as evidenced by their interest in enrolling in the Teach Tec courses.
Results The Teach Tec course was held initially in June 2009 and subsequently in July 2010. In the two years of the program over 490 educators have registered for the program across Arizona. Using SurveyMonkey, evaluations were performed by participants at the end of each course. A total of 306 evaluations were received for both years. Eighty-five percent of the participants said they felt they had learned enough during the course to implement the learned technologies in the classroom. Eighty-seven percent of the participants said it was somewhat likely to very likely they would actually adopt the learned technologies in the classroom. Ninety-six percent of the participants said they would participate in a course similar to Teach Tec if offered in the future. Many participants also expressed interest in an advanced program. A follow up survey was conducted four months after the initial 2009 course and 59 participants responded. Those results illustrated that 71% of the participants were able to implement some to most of the technologies, while 29% were not able to implement any of the technologies. Of those that were not able to implement any of the technology, the largest barrier to implementation (67%) was ³EORFNHG´ technologies. This was followed by, lack of computer access (13%), forgot the technology (12%) and Other (8%).
Initial Conclusions The Teach Tec team demonstrated that course content could be delivered interactively and simultaneously with individuals participating in-person, via video conferencing, and by video streaming with Twitter or Neat Chat as an interactive communication tool. The Teach Tec team also found that it was possible to offer a variety of content materials in an interactive format to participants with access to the Internet at virtually no cost. 7KH UHVHDUFKHUV¶ LQLWLDO LPSUHssions from the project were: x Contemporary technologies can be used to deliver educational content to K-12 teachers as a highimpact educational tool. These technologies are virtually no-cost and are easily implemented. x There are wide implications with respect to delivering any type of content and information in an interactive mode to anyone with an Internet connection, regardless of their location at a minimal cost. x Educators seemed to recognize the value of using contemporary technologies as an educational tool in the classroom. x It is also acknowledged that school officials will have to determine if administrative rules regarding the use of contemporary technology in the classroom can be relaxed, even for episodic periods of time, to allow educators to use contemporary technology in the classroom. The Teach Tec team is still compiling results from the 2010 courses and seeks to present additional data and conclusions at the conference.
Illustration #1: Barriers to Implementation
8%
12%
Forgot Technology 13%
Computer Access Blocked Other
67%
References: 1. Generation Z, Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z. Accessed November 23, 2010. 2. http://www.surveymonkey.com/. Accessed November 23, 2010.
Nevertheless, 79% of the follow up respondents reported there was a positive impact on student learning using the technology and 88% reported the new technologies did enhance the classroom experience.
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3.
http://www.polleverywhere.com. November 23, 2010.
Accessed
4.
http://twitter.com/. Accessed November 23, 2010.
5.
http://www.neatchat.com. Accessed November 23, 2010.
6.
http://www.youtube.com/. Accessed November 23, 2010.
7.
http://www.teachertube.com/. November 23, 2010.
8.
https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin ?service=writely&passive=1209600&continue= http://docs.google.com/&followup=http://docs.g oogle.com/<mpl=homepage. Accessed November 23, 2010.
9.
http://www.wordle.net/. Accessed November 23, 2010.
Accessed
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Wegmans and RIT: A Case Study in industrial/Academic Collaboration and the Resulting Benefits Bruce H. Hartpence NSSA Dept., GCCIS, RIT Rochester, New York 14623
evaluating solutions from several vendors and so were excellent as speakers for the conference. It also happened that they were investigating methods of ensuring that their technical staff was well trained.
ABSTRACT It is common for academic units engaged either research or developing career paths for graduating students to develop relationships with industry. The goals of the relationship include donations (financial and equipment), coop and full time positions for students and scholarship through solving real world problems. The Networking Security and Systems Administration department at Rochester Institute of Technology is no different. The department enjoys a fairly active industrial advisory board and engages in professional dialog with local companies for the advancement of educational goals and to provide employers with highly qualified new blood. In cases where the interaction between academia and industry is treated most carefully and attention is paid to the expectations of all involved, the benefits can far exceed the imaginations of the architects. One might say that these expectations are every bit as important as the original reasons for establishing the association.
Once on campus and after receiving a tour, our speakers began to realize the extent of our capabilities. The possibilities for collaboration were quickly apparent, but it was our job to turn the possibilities into an actual success story. 2.
The lifeblood of an educational department or degree program is, in part, LWV¶UHODWLRQVKLSZLWKLQGXVWU\Certainly there are many other aspects, but with tight budgets, the desire for scholarly outlets and with limited control on advertising, these connections can be critical. Many organizations and grant solicitations tout this importance. One of the most cited works on the subject shows us that not only do many faculty members engage in activities with industry, but encourage others to do the same [4]. One reason for this might be the lack, perceived or otherwise, of available resources. The NSSA department is no stranger to limited resources having started a networking lab by purchasing components from our local hardware store before reaching our current level of infrastructure [5]. A very strong argument for working with industry, particularly in technical areas, is the simple need to keep up. Faculty members that are not engaged risk falling behind in their own knowledge and expertise. They may also wind up teaching content that is outdated or ineffective. In a recent discussion at RIT, a trustee voicing strong support for graduates that can actually change or create new methods for communication, stated that while theory is important, theory alone can make a graduate nearly useless to industry. However, many faculty members continue to reject or fail to see the benefits of these relationships.
This paper will analyze one suFKUHODWLRQVKLSLQWHUPVRILWV¶ establishment, maintenance, mutual benefits and future projects. Subsequent sections will describe the details of the affiliation, the components that have featured prominently RYHUWKHODVWWKUHH\HDUVLWV¶VXFFHVVHVDQGDUHDVUHTXLULQJ some improvement. Keywords: training, industry partners, relationships, benefits 1.
INDUSTRY CONNECTION
INTRODUCTION
In May of 2005, the Networking, Security and Systems Administration (NSSA) department at Rochester Institute of Technology was developing coursework in the areas of voice over IP. To this end, a mini-summit was organized that was largely a round table discussion of the issues. This continued for three years and in 2007, we reached out to companies contemplating a switch to VoIP technologies. Two managers from a local company agreed to serve as our speakers and it was at that point that we began to develop a close association with Wegmans. Wegmans is a company running a large chain of supermarkets, covering many states on the eastern seaboard. With more than seventy interconnected locations, they have tremendous infrastructure challenges. As a collection of supermarkets, they have the additional challenges of supply chain management and the sheer logistics involved in moving so much product and managing a huge amount of information. At the time, they were
3.
RELATIONSHIPS
Industrial/faculty interactions can take many forms but they are always best served when both the industry partner and the educational department have shared respect and clearly communicated expectations. Too often, the needs or desires of the educational department become the focus of the relationship and when this occurs, failure can result.
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The relationship that began several years ago with an invitation to a conference has now expanded to include training programs, employment for students, scholarship opportunities for the faculty and the aforementioned donations. As can been seen, these include very tangible ³OHGJHUVKHHW´LWHPV, but also less tangible, but no less important things such as feedback into processes and insight into the real needs of industry.
Why does industry come to academia? Obviously there are quite a few reasons but the desire to simply give away money XVXDOO\GRHVQ¶WWRSWKHOLVW7KHLQGXVWU\SDUWQHUPD\ZDQWD source of qualified talent, a laboratory environment for testing, help solving problems or they may wish to be more competitive. Whatever the objective, if it gets down to the college department level, it is going to be something tangible rather than a plaque on the wall or a name on a building. On the academic side, the goals are typically quite different. Many colleges and universities maintain a permanent staff of development officers whose role is to obtain financial or equipment support from industry. These officers are often given significant donation goals to achieve and so their motivation is clear. One does not have to search very long to hear tales of irritated industry partners balking at giving this year because nothing came of the donation last year. This is particularly true in an economic downturn. This ³PRQHWDU\´ motivation may actually do additional harm if they are not careful about ensuring that the needs of the industry partner are an equal part of any negotiation. To paraphrase the literature on the subject;
4.1 The Question that Started it All ± Training Program During the aforementioned tour, the director of the Wegmans IT group said that it appeared many of the training programs they were currently using might be recreated within our department. We possessed equipment and expertise, and it GLGQ¶WVHHPOLNHPXFKRIDVWUHWFKWRVD\WKDWODEZRUNPLJKW be retooled into a training program. I seem to recall saying ³\HV´ The stated goal for Wegmans was to bring their employees to a base standard. This standard might be used as a measurement tool and internal projects would be staffed more appropriately. Over the following six months we met either in person or via the telephone in order to nail down the components of the training program. We started with two lists; the first was a collection of topics that they would like covered and the second was a list of labs/topics that we had as part of our coursework. With the constant mantra that this was a custom training program targeting exactly what the partner wanted but with our expert recommendations as to what should also be included, we narrowed this down to one list. Topics are a straight-forward collection of networking ideas such as;
There are three aspects of partnering relationships; trust, compatibility and commitment. Of the three, trust is the most important. [3] Thus, it is critical to ensure that the college or university staff understands the nature and expectations of the relationship before asking for money, equipment or even time. The Golisano College at RIT has been fortunate in this regard because the development officers learned and even used this to their advantage. In addition, they work directly with faculty members. After all, the faculty develops projects that can aid or be aided by industry partners. It is also important to refrain from saying ³yes´WRWKLQJVWKDWDUH not needed. This is another technique faculty members use to disappoint companies because upon receipt of the equipment, the faculty member is either ill-prepared, has little time, little interest or lacks the knowledge necessary to use it. They rely RQD³JRRGLGHD´WRJHWWKHPWKURXJK In the end this often fails because the good idea never really had a chance to become a reality. Partners often desire a tour or visit to see how the gift or donation is used. 4.
x x x x x x x x x
Layers and models IP, subnets, CIDR ARP ICMP Routing and routing protocols Switching Packet Capture VLANs and trunks Basic Security
Each of the topics has an associated lab activity or component. With the list created, other details regarding the actual running of the training sessions had to be addressed. This as an opportunity to work in an approach that would improve any training program. The first of which was the format. Most training programs require that companies send employees to some distant location, pay for hotels, travel, food and perhaps a rental vehicle. Training typically runs over a couple of days and eight hours each day. The negative aspects of this approach are obvious;
FROM THE BEGINNING
These were guiding principles in moving forward with Wegmans. We wanted to ensure that they knew that they were not simply a gift giving source. Perhaps more to the point was that the NSSA department also made sure that Wegmans knew that we knew (and believed) that this was the case. The truth is that we did want things from them and they wanted things from us. But we all recognized that the relationship would bear much more fruit if treated properly DQGWKDW³IUXLW migration´ would be bidirectional.
x x x
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Separation from family Disconnected from the office Additional expenses (food, lodging, rental)
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x
The effect of travel
Simply running the training sessions at RIT mitigated all of these. In addition we went with a start time of 9am and an end time of 4pm. This shorter training session allowed time to check in at the office for those that needed it.
4.2 Evaluation Like most programs and classes, we did complete an evaluation at the time in the form of a survey. We also incorporated some basic feedback from the managers. The obvious concern was that Wegmans was getting what they expected out of the training and felt that the money was well spent.
With the training topics selected and the format ironed out there was still one major issue to address ± information retention. There are two aspects of this that were of concern; how to get the information to stick and how best to prevent information overload. There were a couple of central ideas here. The first was the simple project management mantra of a good meeting. Specifically, meetings should not go beyond DERXWPLQXWHVLI\RXZLVKWRNHHSHYHU\RQH¶VDWWHQWLRQ [2]. Academia regularly violates this rule for faculty, but it was to be avoided in this program. Active learning was also embraced, particularly the ideas espoused by Bonwell and Eison (also Chickering and Gamson).
The survey results were typical of a good class in that the students had few negative comments and for the most part saw the benefit of and appreciated the opportunity to go through the training. This was true for the content and especially for the format. Similar comments came from the managers at Wegmans. However, we recognize that this is YHU\PXFKDQ³LQWKHPRPHQW´VHWRIUHSOLHVDQGEHFDXVHRI this, future work involves following the employees as they return to work and have an opportunity to use (or not use) their new knowledge. Not all of the programs were a resounding success. There was one training session that was developed targeting systems administration. Only a single class was run because the expectations were not met. Evaluations for this class were lukewarm and so it is being rewritten.
Analysis of the research literature however, suggests that students must do more than just listen: They must read, write, discuss, or be engaged in solving problems. Most important, to be actively involved, students must engage in such higher-order thinking tasks as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. [1]
5.
The first thing was to remove the program from the classroom entirely by using a lab. While one might assert that active learning is easy in a lab environment, the goal was to integrate the instruction with smaller exercises rather than simply giving the participants a large collection of activities to complete. So, lecture topics were 30-45 minutes maximum with smaller integrated lab experiences.
THE BENEFITS
At first glance, developing a training program might seem like a good way to provide some visibility for a program, provide a service for industry and perhaps generate some cash for those directly involved. It has been the experience of the principle investigator that many faculty members turn away from opportunities such as this because they are not perceived as having much value in terms of scholarship or professional development. They can also be a lot of work with small reward. In this particular case, nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, this paper asserts that if relationships are managed correctly, almost every project could be of great benefit to the individual faculty members, the program and the college.
I was also concerned with long range retention. Though many of the participants would have immediate use of the information, several were transitioning positions or locations. So, the information had to stick for some period of time without reinforcement from work. For this reason, we made sure that lab and lecture topics were pyramidal, each building on the previous from start to finish. In most cases, very similar topologies were constructed but with minor additions or new techniques.
The initial direct benefits to Wegmans are straight-forward. Within the IT group, most members were able to run through the training program and they are directly responsible for a wide variety of equipment and tasks. In receiving training, their employees would be more productive and have greater skill. This appears to be the case. The same can be said of the benefits for RIT; initially our program received some publicity, we were pleased with the state of the relationship with Wegmans and instructors received compensation.
/DVWO\,ZDVZRUULHGDERXW³VRDNWLPH´ It is generally accepted that students can only take in and retain a certain amount of information per unit time. Additionally, it is beneficial to have to time to process the new information. Many of the attendees had been out of formal courses for quite some time. When this is combined with the nature of the material, the object was to keep the cognitive load as low as possible [6]. So, the training program was built, not on the 5 days, 8 hrs a day model, but rather on a once a week time frame. In between training sessions, students would be given a quiz and a discussion board where they could go over material and ask questions.
5.1 Secondary Benefits What was not obvious was that because we worked so hard to make the program a success, there were a number of other benefits that followed on the heels of the first generation. The custom training program that was piloted by the :HJPDQV¶QHWZRUNLQJJURXS was to include several other
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units within the company. In the second year, .NET training ran concurrently with the Network Level I sessions. In fact, more students (employees) were run through this program than the original. This growth continues as we are discussing the possibility of developing two more programs. Program visibility created another mutual benefit as Wegmans began hiring more and more of their talent from our programs. With seventy five stores they are able to keep up a fairly steady demand. In addition, Wegmans hires an increasing number of students from the co-op program and many of these turn into full time opportunities upon graduation. But perhaps the two greatest secondary benefits were the donations and scholarship opportunities.
5.3 Scholarship The scholarship developing from the interaction, like many of the components of this paper, can be viewed as mutually beneficial. There are two activities in this direction; projects and presentations. The projects are largely on paper although we have had opportunity to consult on some small problems voiced by technical staff. The largest of these projects is the SRVVLELOLW\RIEXLOGLQJZKDWZHKDYHWHUPHGDVDQ³HQWHUSULVH FHQWHU´7KHJRDOZRXOGEHWRFUHDWHDODEWKDWFORVHO\ emulates the production environment at Wegmans. The center could be used to help solve real world problems and provide network and security training on devices currently deployed. It would also give our students a chance to work on equipment specific to an industry.
5.2 Donations One of the temptations for academic programs is to immediately ask for donations. It is very tempting to make the grab for money or equipment and then move on. After all, there are so many companies from which gifts can be solicited. We were no different except that after realizing that the projects thus far had been so successful, we simply decided not to ask. In fact we took it off the table entirely because we wanted a longer term relationship. In addition, the secondary benefits were making themselves known.
This paper is an example of a presentation opportunity afforded by the relationship. The dissemination of information and sharing of ideas is certainly a part of any academic career and this helps fulfill that requirement. There is another investigation that follows this paper and this is detailed in the next section. 6.
FUTURE WORK
As discussed previously, there are several components within the industrial relationship outlined here. Work with Wegmans largely follows the ebb and flow of their industry. For example, when a new store is to be opened, the group essentially disappears only to reemerge later with new projects and ideas. The enterprise center is a project that continues on in discussions and there are 1-2 training programs that are likely to be developed.
However, about a year after we started the programs, Wegmans decided to upgrade much of their networking equipment. It is common when working with a vendor to get a discount off of new equipment as long as the old equipment is not then resold. Often, older but still functional equipment ILQGVLWV¶ZD\LQWRWKHGXPSVWHURULVFUXVKHG:HDVNHG Wegmans about the possibility of NOT destroying the equipment and donating it to us. As an academic program, we are often at the mercy of a lower than hoped for budget and this would be a great boon for the department even if it was just a couple of switches. After some deliberations it was discovered that this would not violate their agreement with the vendor and so they decided to send the older equipment our way. What is important to realize here is that WKH\GLGQ¶W have to. The research and time necessary to push through a donation like this is not insignificant especially in light of the size of the final gift. I believe that it was because we worked so hard on the trust between the organizations that the individuals were willing to work on our behalf.
This paper is to be followed by another that seeks to evaluate the training program. Like many courses, participants took a survey about the course as it came to a conclusion. The research seeks to follow up on the employees after they have been back on the job and have had a chance to evaluate the real world value of the training program. We will also attempt to evaluate whether or not the managers actually believe that the program had a positive effect on the business unit and if it had an acceptable return on investment. 7.
CONCLUSION
Often faculty members find themselves presented with an opportunity for what might appear to be rather mundane activities. Seen in the correct light, these may open many doors that might not be obvious at first glance. This can be especially true when working with industry partners like Wegmans. In order to ensure the best possible outcome, faculty and development officers should take special care when managing interactions. Perhaps the most important point to be made was our desire to stay on task and resist the WHPSWDWLRQWRWXUQWKLQJVLQWRD³:KDWFDQ:HJPDQVGRIRU 5,7"´VRUWRIFRQnection.
So what is the nature of a donation from a company that upgrades a number of large grocery stores? In actuality we have been the recipients of two donations and the equipment came in on nine pallets. There were hundreds of devices including access points, wireless bridges, hubs, routers, switches and even some processors. The total donation is valued at more than $500,000. Perhaps one of the most rewarding aspects of this donation is that not only are we well supplied with equipment for regular classes and research projects, but we have been able to assist other programs and groups outside of RIT.
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This paper covered one such relationshipGHVFULELQJLWV¶ genesis, benefits and future. Also covered were techniques to create favorable conditions with other industrial partners, followed by future directions. It is hoped that this case study will serve as an example of how to find opportunities, create successful, long standing relationships and leverage the alliance for the betterment of both partners. 8.
REFERENCES
[1] Bonwell, Charles C. ± (LVRQ-DPHV$³$FWLYH/HDUQLQJ &UHDWLQJ([FLWHPHQWLQWKH&ODVVURRP´(5,&&OHDULQJKRXVH on Higher Education, September 1991. [2] Ghattas, R.G. ± 0F.HH6DQGUD/³3UDFWLFDO3URMHFW 0DQDJHPHQW´S 3UHQWLFH+DOO [3] Hutt, M.D., E.R. Stafford, B.A. Walker, P.H. Reingen. ³&DVH6WXG\'HILQLQJWKH6RFLDO1HWZRUNRID6WUDWHJLF $OOLDQFH´6ORDQ0DQDJHPHQW5HYLHZ9RO1R [4@/HH
@/HRQH-LPHWDO³$1HWZRUNLQJDQG6\VWHP Administration Laboratory Infrastructure To Support High Traffic Environments´&,7& [6] Sweller J. ³Cognitive load theory, learning difficulty, and LQVWUXFWLRQDOGHVLJQ´ Learning and Instruction, 4 (4), 1994, pp. 295-312.
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Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
New tools and methodologies for training in thermoplastic injection molding process Carlos Javierrea, Angel Fernandezb,c, Ignacio Ainsad, Isabel Claveriab a
VEHIVIAL(I3A) University of Zaragoza, Maria de Luna 3, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain b TIIP (CSIC) University of Zaragoza, Maria de Luna 3, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain c AITIIP Foundation, Ctra. Cogullada 20, 50014 Zaragoza Spain d ITA (Technology Centre), Maria de Luna 3, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
ABSTRACT
(http://sourceforge.net/projects/tiipflow/ ) with the support of the Aragonian Government (Information Society General Direction code 2868/2010).
There is a group of lecturers specialized in training for thermoplastic manufacturing processes, and specially in injection molding process at Mechanical engineering department at University of Zaragoza. Their activities have been developed, for last twenty years, mainly in Europe and South America working with a wide range of companies in this field. Numerous problems arise when training on specific industrial processes, such as thermoplastic injection molding: different academic levels of the people being trained, wide spreading of the factories, variety of sizes and needing for the factories according their products and materials manufactured. Design and development of new methodologies and tools for training have been essential to overcome these problems and to be successful in our work in this field. This paper presents two software tools and a new management philosophy for them. First tool developed, named “INYECTA”, is a software with a strong didactic character, by means of which the user can be trained in the optimization of the most significative injection process parameters. Second tool, named “TIIPFLOW”, as well as the educational character, calculates on a much more powerful mathematical model, so, results obtained from it are very valid from a quantitative point of view, as it occurs with a professional simulation software. After more than twenty tools developed and thousands of training hours, these two softwares integrate the most positive aspects of the numerous previously developed works, becoming as more efficient as possible, both from the point of view of running and functional working. Another aspect to take into account is the way how training by means f these tools is managed. From many years ago, innovative training techniques have been incorporated by the authors. In 2009, online training tools, by implanting TIIPFLOW software in Open Source (PHP and MySQL), were developed by the coverage of the I+D project support program of the Innovation Ministry of Spain (DPI 2006-15267), and this tool was served through the website http://proyectos.aitiip.tiipflow to students of the last courses of mechanical engineering and materials engineering of the University of Zaragoza and also to a large community of plastics processing researchers. In the actual moment the applications have been liberated to the community of open source developers via sourceforge
Keywords: Plastic injection, Simulation program, training, Internet programs. 1.
INTRODUCTION
1.1) Injection molding process Thermoplastics injection molding is a widely used process for manufacturing in most of industrial fields. This process is very complex due to the great number of both parameters to be adjusted and controlled, and involved factors. One of the few positive aspects that can be found is that the behavior of the three involved elements, material, machine, and mold is similar without minding their sizes. The parameters to be controlled and programmed are practically the same for the injection of a small part of one gram as for the injection of a very big part of 70000 grams. All around the world, injection molding factories and companies with a section related to injection molding process can be found. Thermoplastic injected parts design increases every day, as new products or substituting parts previously manufactured in traditional materials. One characteristic of injected plastic parts is that they are very cheap compared to other design options, so it is very important to optimize all the parameters and elements involved. Within these parameters we found all those related with the injection process in all its different phases. The principal phases of this process are the material plastification, the filling, the post filling and cooling. There are lots of parameters to establish within each phase, many use to be interrelated and all of them influence the final quality of the part. 1.2) Injection training People in companies in charge of establishing the parameters in the injection process hasn’t got a uniform professional profile, neither in training, neither in age, neither in level inside de company’s structure. According to the company’s size, the ages it has been injecting parts, the product or how the responsible person in establishing the injection parameters
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is organized it can be within different options a operator without training but with a lot of experience, a graduate, a maintenance person or a turn’s responsible. There are usually not people who had acquired this kind of knowledge in their initial training, they used to be trained in this field because of the company’s necessity by specialized grades inside not regulated training systems. When experts on the injection field are asked for training people from a company or a group of companies in thermoplastic injection they usually find pupils with a very heterogeneous profile, people without qualification together with people with career, people with a lot of experience and people who starts working so it’s difficult to adapt the level, the contents and the training methods for all the people.
Fig.1.Mainscreenof"INYECTA
There is a group of lecturers specialized in training for thermoplastic manufacturing processes at the mechanical engineering department at University of Zaragoza. They have been training people all over the world and working with companies for twenty years, from family companies to large multinationals from all the sectors where injected plastic parts appear. During these years a lot of didactic material has been developed highlighting computer programs with training character. This group considers these programs one of the most powerful training methods in this field. Since 90’s methods like “FIAPO”, “FLUJO-1” and “CAIN” have been developed for the training in process parameters, “TIIPMOLD”, “TIIPEJECT”, “TIIPFLEX” for the training in molds design, “SELMATIIP” for injection machine selection or “POPPI”, “APPPI” and “COSTMOLD” for molds and injected plastic parts budget. The experience in development and using of these programs along the last twenty years for training has returned conclusions about the most and less positive aspects from each program to develop new tools. Students think that it’s important to pose a problem similar to a case in real live, a look of the program similar to the machine’s programs, aids that solves doubts about the program and about the concepts, to be able to modify parameters and see the consequences without risks, ultimately a tool that makes them think without the pressure of real work..
2.1) Program structure The program is designed to reproduce the injection machine operation according to the scheme of the following figure.
Fig.2.Programstructure To simulate a case with INYECTA we begin introducing the geometry of the part to be simulated by a strip geometry, Wjingaarden[7], Hieber[6]. Strip geometries are introduced with characteristics like length, height, width and angle respect the mold’s closing line. Secondly, the material is selected from the database of the program or a new material a new material can be created by introducing de characteristics of the new material. Finally the principal process parameters are introduced being able to introduce numerical parameters or graphic profiles in the case of speeds and pressures.
2 INYECTA The first training tool to be presented is the named “INYECTA”. It is a very complete injection simulator that reproduces the phases of injection, packing and cooling of plastic injected parts. By the way it works it could be considered as a professional simulation program simplified at the phases of modeling and calculating. This simplification is important because it is a training program, and each case must be able to be realized as quick as possible, as well as the analysis of the results. The program works with strip geometries and proposes a method to transform real geometries into strip geometries depending on the result we want to analyze explained at the aids of the program.
Fig.4.Programflow
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To calculate the evolution of the temperature during the filling, a thermal balance along the strip element must be performed, Rao [3].
Once entered the data, filling, packing and mold cooling phases can be calculated just in seconds to be able to analyze the results as soon as possible. The results are grouped in the three phases and most of them can be represented graphically along the injection cycle. To learn the effects of each parameter it is sable to return to the initial data, modify any of them and recalculate the case to see the effect of a particular parameter on the injected part. The way of working is the same as in real live, it is recommended to modify just one parameter to see its effects and never vary two parameters at the same time, because it could be not possible to quantify the effects of each one and there could be conflicting effects. With the program, the user can quickly understand the influence of each parameter both qualitatively and quantitatively. For any doubt about the operation of the program or about the theoretical concepts the program transmits, the user can access from each screen to extensive helps related to the screen where he is..
Fig.5.Calculationoftemperature To resolve the refrigeration phase the following formula applies:Menges [4].
t enf
esp 2 § 8·(Ti Tm ) · ¸ [s] ·ln¨ S ·d ¨© S 2 ·(Te Tm ) ¸¹
(2)
esp: part thickness, [mm] d: thermal difusivity of material [mm2/s] Ti:Plastic Injecting temperature [ºC] Tm: Mold temperature Te: Part ejection temperature As obtaining straight forward, simple equations, with acceptable results to calculate the holding phase is much more difficult, the development of an specific method for this program was determined. To create the mathematical model that permits to calculate approximately the pressure values that are registered in mold cavity during postfilling, the C-MOLD tool has been used. The purpose of this method is to obtain an average pressure for each portion the part has been divided into according to the pressure at the inlet point, the distance to the point of the material inlet and the time transcurred from the beginning of postfilling. Anyway, the pressure recorded in the part decreases gradually as we move away from the material inlet point and the more time elapses from the begining of hold the more the pressure decreases. The calculation must quantify the value of the pressure fall for every case.
Fig.3.Helpsoftheprogram 2.2) Process calculation The program uses two different calculation Systems for the resolution of every case. The mold and refrigeration related parts are addressed by means of direct analytical equations and the part related to postfilling is resolved with a data base of results obtained with a professional simulation program (CMOLD). Ecuations for the filling phase are the ones obtained in Doctoral Thesis by Javierre [1], which were obtained fro the integration of the flaw in a strip element.
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The obtained mathematical model is experimental. Several postfilling scenarios have been calculated in parts where the parameters affecting the resulting postfilling pressure varied. These parameters are:
2* K *l h (1)
-Applied postfilling pressure level. -Material used. -Part geometry. -Temperature at the beginning of holding phase.
Pressure fall in the caltulated frame Plastic flaw through the frame, [cm3/s] Material viscosity, [MPa·s] Lenght, width and height of the frame respectively, [cm] Viscosity correction constant
In order to be able to resolve all the stripe-type geometries that can be set out with this program, a huge number of cases with C-Mold had to be created for each material of the DB and subsequently these results were analyzed and introduced
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into the program. A result of a case obtained with C-Mold and the equivalent obtained with the program developed for pressures in cavity and clam pressure are shown below.
Onthescreensfordataentrytheuserisabletointroducethe geometryoftheparttobeanalyzed,thematerialtobeused andthefilling,holdandcoolingconditionsoftheprocessthat will be simulated. These screens, specially the main screen, areveryintuitiveandinformtheuserwhenallnecessarydata have been entered and also allow the user to easily modify anyvalueatanytime.
Fig.6.HoldpresureGraphics
Once the calculations are executed, if the temperature o material is kept within the range, the main screen with the results will be displayed. The available results are divided into filling, hold, refrigeration and numerical results. In most cases the results can be displayed as numerical and, what is even more didactical, graphically with the evolution of the results along the cycle time. Numerical result option gives the chance to see process conditions and results obtained in previous cases and compare them with the last calculated one, analyzing the evolution and influence of the parameters involved.
Fig.7.Clamforcegraphic 2.3)Program design Inyecta program consists of two main parts. One is dedicated to the explanation of the concepts used in the program (Fig. 8) and it serves as an introduction for the ones not familiar with the world of plastics injection or as a reference when any of the variables that the program calculates is not clear enough.
Fig.8.Theoreticalconcepts In the operational section of the program the part data and theprocesstobesimulatedcanbeenteredandalltheresults theprogramoffersafterthecalculationcanbeaccessed.
Fig.10.Results 3 TIIPFLOW TIIPFLOW is a web server software tool focused to calculate injection molding parameters for simple geometries. It covers
Fig.9.Dataintroduction
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Equation of momentum conservation, w Uv)/wt+(䳱Uvv=)䳱VUg (4) where V is the stress tensor g = g (x, t) is the gravity acceleration finally, equation of energy conservation, Kenedy[5],Lane [10], UCp (wT/wt+v䳱T ET (wp/wt + v 䳱p) + p 䳱v +V䳱v+ 䳱 (k䳱T) (5) where Cp is specific heat at constant pressure T(x,t) is the fluid temperature E is the volumetric expansion coefficient p is the pressure at each point k is the thermal conductivity of the fluid.
the necessity of studying the results of the calculations before developing highly cost investments and trials as mold manufacturing and start-ups at the workshop. TIIPFLOW estimates the properties regarding filling, packing and cooling stages of the injection molding process. The main variables considered in the calculation are the polymer grade, part geometry and processing parameters. Part model is simplified to a strip with constant width and thickness. Plastic flow through the mold is formulated with complex differential equation system solved with finite difference method (F.D.M.) The application has been developed with PHP language and has been enchanced with javascript jQuery library and supported by MySQL database.
3.3) Program design TIIPFLOW software is divided in two blocks. First one is focused to geometry definition and injection process calculations. Second block is focused to help the decision making of the user comparing if the results of the calculation are within the limits of expert system database. In this particular case, the system evaluates if the molding conditions are optimal or not. Both blocks are combined in a unique software with a graphical interface. So, as the calculations are developed stage by stage, the results are judged also at the end of each stage being possible to simulate following stages only if previous ones are optimal. The figure below shows how it happens. After filling simulation is finished, the system estimates if pressure and temperatures are suitable depending on the thermodynamic and rheological behavior of the polymer and the lessons learned stored in the database. Further, at the end of the packing simulation the system evaluates if enough pressure has been transmitted to the polymer during required time to ensure the required part quality. Next image shows a complete simulation with proper results.
3.1) Program structure The software has been designed to be operated in a similar way the operator runs the injection molding machine.. The workflow of the software consists in defining the geometry detailing critical parameters simply (flow length, thickness and width of the strip). Material selection is possible from a database containing rheological characterization and PVT diagrams of a lot of polymer grades. The last input scenario allows the introduction of simulation parameters for filling, f/p transition, packing and cooling stages of the injection process. For each stage of the simulated process partial results are obtained as the figure shows. These results support the decision about the optimization of the process. A specific database containing the limits of the process ( flow front temperature, pressure, packing pressure transmission, core temperature at the end of the process) and material properties (shear rate, shear stress) have been included in the software to compare with the results. If the results aren´t inside the limit then explicit warning messages and suggestions are made by the system in order to improve further calculations. Finally, graphical and numerical results and reports are ready to download in order to get a summary of data properly structured. They will show if the geometry proposal is feasible. 3.2) Calculation process The software uses a complete algorithm to solve the differential equation system with the method of finite difference Gucerin [11]. These equations describe the physics and thermodynamics of non-Newtonian and non-isotherm flow of molten polymer through a cavity with rectangular section, Fernandez[9],Isayev [8].
Fig.11.Complete simulation with proper results Results are shown graphically also. It allows, further than expert system suggestions, the access detailed sets of results that interpreted by expert users could justify if the results are as good as expected.
These equations are: Equation of mass conservation for compressible fluid, wUwW + (䳱Uv) = 0 (3) where U U(x,t) is the fluid density and v = v (x,t) is the fluid velocity
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All the documentation regarding the application is also free, so it can be redistributed and improved as the software it describes. Also, the documentation has been published under the open standard “Open Document” and under the license of GNU open license.. The effective liberalization has finished with the publication in a forge called “http://sourceforge.net/projects/tiipflow/ “. This forge is a development tool for collaborative networking. In a forge, any developer can add its own ideas and improvements about the published software.
Fig.12.Results 4 INNOVATIVE TRAINING TECHNIQUES
5 CONCLUSIONS
The trainings developed in the University of Zaragoza using TIIPFLOW as Plastics technology and applications (industrial technologies engineering degree) have been possible thanks to the accessibility of the tool.In this case the software has been served through internet after its installation in a server as the figure shows. Students can access it after identifying themselves with a username and password.
The program "INYECTA" is an effective tool for the training in the thermoplastics injecting process. Its principal characteristics are: A pleasant working environment similar to most of the injection machine's controls, a fast running which makes able to realize lots of cases in few time, programming of parameters equal to those of real processes, results evolution similar to reality and easy and accessible helps to adapt the program to any user level. The program "TIIPFLOW" presents very similar aspects from the design and way of working point of view. It optimizes the calculation process by using a powerful engine for calculations, obtaining better results from a qualitative point of view but sacrificing the speed of the calculation process. TIIPFLOW is a freeware accessible through internet for remote use by students and expert and published in a forge. 7 REFERENCES [1] Javierre, C. “Desarrollo de un sistema informático integral que cubra los aspectos técnico-económicos en el desarrollo del anteproyecto de una pieza de plástico”. Zaragoza (España). Universidad de Zaragoza, 1999. Tésis doctoral [2] MB Brauer, B. Hupfer, J. Nagel, D. Lehmann, Polymer Engineering and Science 42 (4) (2002) 859-869. [3] N. Rao, Design Formulas for Plastics Enginers, Hanser Publishers (2003.) [4] G. Menges, W. Michaeli, P. Mohren, How to make injection moulds, Hanser (2001). [5] Peter Kennedy, Flow Análisis of injection molds Hanser Publishers, Munich, Vienna, New York, 1995. [6] Hieber,C.A.Melt-Viscosity Characterization an its aplication to Injection Molding. [7] Wjingaarden,H.;Dijksman,J.F.;Wesseling,P. Non-Newt. Fluid Mech..11:175. 1982. [8] Isayev,A.I. Injection and Compression Molding Fundamentals. Cap. 1. Dekker. New York. 1987. [9] Fernandez, A. Herramientas CAD/CAE para el diseño y presupuesto de moldes para inyección de termoplásticos. [10] Lane D. "Converting solid model geometry for use in flow simulation: what they don't tell you" Annual Technical Conference ANTEC 1995. [11] S.I. Gucerin, 1989. Finite Difference Solution of Field Problems in Computer Modeling for Polymer Processing. Munich: Hanser Publishers
Fig.13. Students access. This universal access to the application has allowed the schedule and following of training activities through remote use. Also, the use of the application is extended to the industrial and scientific community. The last developed hit has been the liberalization of the source code of the application and its user manuals following exclusively the diffusion of its existence and the learning from the users community. Now it is possible:
To discuss and solve technical questions about design and functionality. * To develope useful interfaces (user graphical interface or API) * To detect errors of use or code * To identify strong points for further developments * To identify which components could be enlarged or which add-ons should be developed to enchance its functionality. TIIPFLOW software has been published as freeware and has been published with a GPL (General Public License of GNU).
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The Model of Organizational Development Strategy for Teaching with Technologies in a Culture of Isolationism Hidehiro NAKAJIMA Graduate School of Professional Development for Educational Design and Management, Meijo University Nagoya, Aichi 468-8502, Japan
ABSTRACT
educational reform, introduce campus-wide CMS platforms, establishing ICT centers, employing research and technical staff, providing training program to use platforms and publishing effectiveness of teaching with technologies. Although these “IT Bubble on campus” brought some sort of results, such didactic model of innovation with a lack of viewpoint of organizational development leads to no drastic solution to our situations, quite few number of faculty have been interested in new way of teaching.
The main purpose of this paper is to show an effective way to disseminate the teaching with technology in higher education institutions by focusing on a case of Japanese private university. Most universities in Japan have been struggled to engage faculty who prefer to “stay within their group” for collaboration and professional development. In this paper, we show an alternative way to overcome divisive obstacles to interdisciplinary collaboration and community. Main findings are as follows: 1) A bypass model proposed in this paper are valid and effective to affect organizational culture when those are supported by the culture of isolationism such as higher education institutions in Japan. 2) Specifying symbolic goals is crucial in the model and it should be directed by colleagues, not by specialists or intervenient, who are able to think strategically. Keywords: Organizational Teaching, University Silos
Development,
ICT
University Silos, the Culture of Isolationism Organizational development, defined as Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995), means a response to change, a complex educational strategy intended to change the beliefs, attitudes, values, and structure of an organization which is a long range effort to improve organization's problem solving and renewal processes. Organizational development is more important in academic community because of the characteristics described by the highly decentralized, academic professional society. It is common issue for colleges and universities to manage effective organizational development all over the world (Eib et al. [2], Kouzes and Posner [3]), one of the serious problem peculiar to Japanese universities is a strong culture of isolationism or university silos.
Enhanced
1. INTRODUCTION Background of Teaching with ICT in Japan Despite virtually all higher education institutions in Japan have introduced CMS or other educational technologies during more than last decade, the number of courses utilizing technologies or the number of faculty who have changed their way of teaching with technologies in this period is still small, a large majority of professors are giving lectures to their students with chalk and talk methods. National Institute of Multimedia Education Japan clarified in the research report published in 2006 that 74.6% of 915 institutions have introduced some sort of platforms for teaching with technologies, whereas 83.1% of them were not used systematically remaining experiential practices by few numbers of professors. What is the reason of such strange contrast between the managers or researchers who evaluate technologies as powerful innovative tools for educational reform and faculty who recognize technologies as an affair of other people?
The culture of Isolationism in academic community was introduced by Amy Collier, the director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Texas Wesleyan University, at the conference of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education 2010. Collier pointed out the features of institutions in the US which faculty prefer to stay within the silos: (1) campus in urban area, (2) nonresidential, faculty and students as commuter, (3) no or few campus-wide events like football or basketball, (4) no cafe or lounge for faculty linked to daily flow line on campus, (5) humanity and social studies centered institution, which means faculty stay in individual office, contrary to faculty in natural sciences which activities are based on laboratory consisting of multiple staff members. Although some of institutions in the US are characterized by those features, one of the distinct differences of higher education institutions between US and Japan is that nine tenth universities possess above five features. That kind of culture are affected by other factors which are inherent in Japanese universities including governance structure or recruitment and promotion system for faculty, that is, all senior academic administrators even president, provosts and deans are elected by peer faculty, more than 96% of faculty are tenured from their first appointment which means Japanese universities do not adopt the tenure-truck systems, 40% of faculty consist of full professors as of 2005, 24% of them are associate professors , 12% of them are assistant professors and 20% of them are research fellows which implies loose competition to promotion and forms inverted triangle structure
Several previous studies have pointed out the reasons of those phenomena that (1) insufficiency of professional support from instructional designer or digital media specialist compared to US, (2) no quality evaluation system of teaching practice in most of colleges and universities in Japan, employment and promotion are decided by only research papers even in teaching universities (see Taguchi et al. [5], Yamanoi [7]). These findings were intuitive not only for researchers but also for most of academic and administrative staff including policy makers so various efforts were made to promote teaching with information and communication technologies (ICTs). Since 2000, Japanese universities have tried to use technologies as a lever for
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contrary to US and other European countries where construct hierarchical structure and keep competition to full professor posts1.
specialist-driven model, that means firstly university set up new special division like research center for higher education, and allocate junior researchers whose major is educational technology as core staff. And then, they start campaign to support small number of faculty who are highly motivated to incorporate technologies into their class while they perform good practice of teaching with technologies by themselves. After that, they show academic evidence of effectiveness of technologies, and finally they pressure large majority of professors to participate in educational reform.
Overview of the Case Study At the same time, the Graduate School of Professional Development for Educational Design and Management at Meijo University, a professional school for school leaders, administrators and prospective executives in educational institutions, has introduced Moodle as a teaching support tool in 2007, but its activity had been sluggish until recently as well as other institutions. In the beginning of 2011, the school has decided to eliminate all of paper documents in the meetings and councils and designate Moodle as a platform for paperless meetings. It has become a trigger event to involve faculty in teaching with technologies even including most conservative professors in the school.
Those kinds of practices are common not only in teaching with technologies, but also in all aspects of professional development such as instructional skills, syllabus designs, students course evaluations, curriculum development and other activities related to teachings. However, faculty have vested culture of Isolationism, and educational activities do not be considered in evaluation or promotion, that are decided by research publications solely, so these approaches yield conflictions between educational developers/specialists and faculty. More than 10 years lessons from Japanese colleges and universities tell us such intervention approach of education reform and organizational change is less powerful in higher education institutions. That is to say it does not possess power to broke longstanding practices in academia, a collegial society, which means educational reforms have to entail autonomous and self-directed participation by its members.
The structure of the paper is as follows. In the next section, conventional model of educational development in Japan is reviewed as the intervention model. Section 3 describes the bypass model that is effective way to develop academic community with the culture of isolationism. Section 4 characterizes the features and the effectiveness of the bypass model derived from a case study. Section 5 summarizes our main findings and concludes. 2. THE INTERVENTION MODEL
Limitations of Intervention Model Figure 1 illustrates the conflicts experienced in Japanese institutions. It is important in the figure that strategic idea from old style of teaching to education with ICT is planned by top management team or educational developers/specialists not depicted by autonomous faculty. This didactic approach of intervention do not match academic community where respects autonomy and policy of self-directed development of their profession.
Educational Reform Model in Japan Since 2000, education with ICT have been recognized as a powerful tool to improve the quality of teaching in higher education in Japan, particularly for academic administrators in each institutions and policy makers in the Ministry of Education, because it requires more structured course design, makes more interactive between faculty and students, enhances students learning outside of the class and opens up courses to peers and academic administrators improving transparency of the class. These effects were observed in US higher education institutions and Japanese scholars imported and introduced them favorably. However most of preachers were educational researchers and educational technologists in academia, not including scholars from management, so organizational contexts that were critical to work particular systems well were omitted and emphasized functional aspects of the system linked to the education with ICT. It is quite curious phenomenon that most of educational developers in Japan recognize Florida State University as a leading institution in the field of instructional design, EDUCAUSE conference as a professional development and applied research opportunities, but they just introduce them into Japanese community and do not explain why those work well in a whole system of university organization or nation-wide academic communities.
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Therefore, influential concepts of educational reforms have been translated into trivial ideas of practices in Japan. Typical enhancement pattern adopted by the most of institutions to spread e-learning since the end of 20th century is a 1
As of 2006/07, UK universities consist of 13% professors, 25% senior lecturers, 27% lecturers and 27% research fellows, in case of France 22% professors and 41% lecturers, in case of Germany 22% professors, 5% lecturers and 69% research fellows and in case of US 25% professors, 20% associate professors, 24% assistant professors, 15% instructors and 4% lecturers.
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Theoretical Background Conventional ideas for organizational change are derived from organizational adaptation model to environmental change, based on the proposition clarified by Wiley [6]. In a specific organization, conflicts among individuals, groups and organizations would occur and different sensemakings among them are considered the source of the conflicts. Wiley discussed levels of subjects and articulated four kinds of subjects from them: intra-subjective, inter-subjective and generic-subjective. Following these ideas, organizational change is defined as renewal of common sense.
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In case of Meijo University, one professor who is a administrative technologist of the course management system suggested paperless meeting using CMS, which is rational and ethically correct behavior for the faculty. Thus the existence of the professor would dominate fail or success of the project. In this case, paperless meeting using CMS is well qualified as a symbolic goal of the model, (1) affirmatively recognized and easy to reach consensus and (2) entail behavioral experiences to access CMS, which is expected to reduce psychological barrier for teaching with technologies. The experiences at the school imply the following propositions: firstly, the change agents of organizational change should be internal, secondly, the change agents also should be qualified as strategic leader who could connect by logic between outputs (symbolic goals) and outcomes (original goals) 4. QUALITATIVE STUDY Results of Focus Group Interviews In this section, significancy of the model should be considered. 60 minutes, randomly selected semi-structured interview has been conducted for 3 professors in the school once per person with anonymous contribution. All of interviewees have had no prior experiences to use any kind of CMS. Following table 1 to 3 summarize the results of the qualitative study.
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Common sense is the process by which people give meaning to experience and the culture that should be inherited through official education or instruction from seniors to juniors, as well as a litmus test tool for organization to ensure their adaptation to the environments. Figure 2 illustrates the basic ideas of organizational adaptation model to environmental change. In this model, there are 3 levels of sensemakings, private, mutual and common. Private sense is defined as thinking, understanding and interpretation of a phenomenon that are processed within oneself, whereas mutual sense means shared private sense among private group. Once organization and its members have received a negative feedback, the common sense should be skeptical and raised criticisms and objections. The incident would make organizational members on edge and people would start dialogue and conversations to exchange the private sense with people from all ranks of organization. Thereafter, certain parts of conversations would form mutual sense, which could have unique power to update and renew conventional common sense. Hence, in this model, mutual sense plays a key role to organizational change.
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2 However, building mutual sense through dialogue is often difficult when the organization is highly segmented by the specializations or endowed culture of isolationism.
3
Outline of the Model In this paper, alternative approach of organizational development is shown as the bypass model, a more powerful approach in higher education institutions that have strong autonomous and collegial cultures. Figure 3 illustrates the process of organizational changes based on the experiences at Meijo University.
Q. How do you think about the meeting without hardcopy? I think it should promote positively, great idea. I prefer paper because of its overviewing, but I can support the idea. It is inconvenient to read quickly or cursorily, i.e. at a glance, but I cannot help it.
Table 2. Usability of CMS No.
Q. How was your impression to use CMS? Easier than expected. I think it is time to introduce CMS 1 on my courses. No difficulty to use, it is good for paperless meeting, in 2 addition, all of previous papers were archived is useful. I found text searchable PDF and back and forth link was 3 good*. * It is not on the comment of CMS but of Acrobat, but it made impression of CMS better.
There are two critical factors to achieve organizational change along with this model: (1) set symbolic goals that all members in intended unit could assent to declare them as sheared objectives, (2) set symbolic goals that include specific behaviors linked into originally intended objectives. Hence, symbolic goals play key important role and the problem is in who could/should take charge of the role.
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Table 3. Possibility for Teaching with CMS No. 1 2
3
their group” for collaboration and professional development. In this paper, we show an alternative way to overcome divisive obstacles to interdisciplinary collaboration and community. The main findings are as follows. (1) A bypass model proposed in this paper are significant and effective to affect organizational culture when those are supported by the culture of isolationism such as higher education institutions in Japan. (2) Specifying symbolic goals is crucial in the model and it should be directed by colleagues, not by specialists or intervenient, who are able to think strategically.
Q. Would you like to introduce CMS on your courses? I just started to prepare courses. Easy to create course website without operation manuals. It is worth to consider, I found it easy to use but develop effective course is another matter. I could try if I got some help. I would try. I think I should start just to put and deliver course materials. I have been misunderstanding e-learning means complicated preparations like video or flash contents.
There remain a number of issues which need further investigation. The robustness of the bypass model is not confirmed adequately by this one shot survey. Additional case studies should be performed. Furthermore, the siginificancy of the alternative model was mainly considered by qualitative study in this paper, quantitative analysis should be also needed.
From 2007 to 2011, the school have introduced and operated CMS but no remarkable applications have been observed until recently. However, the idea of paperless have raised at the beginning of the year 2011, the action have determined by only 1 month and 2 months later, the paperless meetings have been started. Table 1 shows that the symbolic goal had a centripetal force and the effect have appeared in the short period of time to implementation. Table 2 signifies that unpopularity of CMS was just prejudice, or even indication of antipathy to specialists and educational technologists. The impressions of CMS with positive mindsets were quite superb, which means conventional approach to encourage teaching with technologies have been inappropriate. As table 3 shows, 3 out of 11 professors in the school have started to use Moodle in their courses from beginning of April 2011 (a new school semester usually begin in April in Japan). The result implies that the alternative approach is definitely significant in the organization who have strong culture of isolationism.
6. REFERENCES [1] Birnbaum, R., How Colleges Work, Jossey-Bass, 1988. [2] Eib, B. J. and Miller Miller, P. “Faculty Development as Community Building - An approach to professional development that supports Communities of Practice for Online Teaching”, International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Vol. 7, 2006, Article 7.2.7. [3] Kouzes, J and Posner, B., Academic Administrator's Guide to Exemplary Leadership, Jossey-Bass, 2003. [4] Nonaka, I. and Takeuchi, H., The Knowledge Creating Company, New York, Oxford University Press, 1995. [5] Taguchi, M., Nishimori, T., Shinto, T., Nakamura, A, and Nakahara, J., “The Current Situation of FD of Junior Faculty”, Educational Technology Research, Vol. 30, 2007, pp. 35-44. [6] Wiley, N. “The micro-macro problem in social theory”, Sociological Theory, Vol. 6, 1988, pp. 254-261. [7] Yamanoi, A., “A Review of and Prospects for Research on the Academic Profession”, Higher Education Research in Japan, Vol. 5, 2008, pp. 27-44.
5. CONCLUDING REMARKS This paper shows an effective way to disseminate the teaching with technology in higher education institutions by focusing on a case of Japanese private university. Most universities in Japan have been struggled to engage faculty who prefer to “stay within
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The 9th International Conference on Education and Information Systems, Technologies and Applications: EISTA 2011
Abstract Does using real world tools in academia make students better prepared to enter the workforce as compared to a toy type simulation product? A look at ERP in academia, does using this real world tool make a difference to industry? -LOO2¶6XOOLYDQ School of Business, Farmingdale State College Farmingdale, NY 11735, Eastern, USA
ABSTRACT Using real world tools, specifically ERP, in academia is a reality in some colleges today, with university and industry alliances allowing ERP databases in the classroom as well as collaborating on integrating ERP into the curriculum. This synergistic relationship provides opportunity for students to get hands on knowledge of using a real world ERP tool with real world applications that replicates that which is in industry.
from two factors: lower educational attainment among the native-born, and increased immigration of people who tend to have either very high levels of education, equipping them for the highest skills jobs, or very low levels of education. (Policy Report, www.comptroller.nyc.gov, 2008). 7KHJDSVLQVWXGHQW¶VVNLOOVVHWVDQGZKDWLVGHHPHGRI value in the eyes of academia and industry (practitioners) differ. This difference in academic and practitioner perception is not new information considering this concern has been around for a very long time. (Lee, Koh, Yen, Tang, 2002) Yet with the current economic and political conditions both academics and practitioners are more receptive to allying with and learning from each other (e.g., Burack, 1999; Rynes & Trank, 1999; Slaughter & Leslie, 1997 7RGD\¶V economic situation we find ourselves in is challenging and preparing our students to acquire the knowledge and skills sets that will best serve them is crucial for their career development and growth.
Using a real world ERP tool in the classroom in conjunction with teaching theory and concepts allows for a literacy and comprehension that is not available otherwise. What we learn to do we learn by doing. Students understand ERP business concepts, theory, and practice well when they use a real world ERP tool in the classroom. Students who experience active learning in their courses perceive themselves as gaining knowledge and understanding from their course and view their course work as personally rewarding (Braxton, Milem and Sullivan, 2000).
This author believes that using a real world ERP tool in academia makes a difference LQVWXGHQW¶VSUHSDUHGQHVV and readiness for industry positions requiring ERP use. This belief is based on the use of an ERP database in the Intro to ERP class she teaches and the students who have been placed in industry positions because of taking this class. After completing ERP college courses or ERP programs students are better prepared to be of maximum usefulness to industry as compared to those students who take a class with a simulation.. An ERP class that has a hands- on approach to learning with a real world ERP tool can enable a student to be ready to perform in an ERP related position.
Schools supported by several ERP vendor initiatives, are increasingly integrating enterprise systems in their curricula. [26] (Cronan, Douglas,Almuaimi and Schmidt, 2009). More than 400 universities around the world have incorporated SAP in their curriculum in some form (Hawking, McCarthy,& Stein, 2005), while others are using Oracle, Microsoft or even the newest highlighted here, Infor Visual.
1. INTRODUCTION America is suffering from a skills gap. As the economy has been transformed by the rapid growth of the technology and health care sectors, employers are requiring more and more workers with a mid-range of skills, especially technical skills. In New York City, too many of our residents lack these skills. This situation results largely
With the increase in the use of ERP systems in corporations whether local of global it is significantly important for us to prepare our students with ERP knowledge. This paper contends that ERP education provides a better well rounded
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competing schools nationally and internationally. The review of ERP enterprise systems assessment in current literature is limited and many papers recommend this area for further study as seen in the call for future research from Fedorowicz, Gelinas, and Usoff paper WLWOHG ³7ZHOYH7LSV for Successful Integrating Enterprise Systems Across &XUULFXOXP´WKH\VWDWH /LWWOHUHVHDUFK has been published that measures the effects on students understanding of course material, their broader knowledge of business issues³ Similarly, the author has found little data on industries receptiveness to these prepared students and the value they provide to industry.
student in understanding business literacy, functional relationships, practices, policies and business processes than preparation with a business simulation offers. Industry has recognized this preparation at Farmingdale State College in their ERP offering as a significant contribution in the preparation of students entering the workforce. (PM100 Award, 2010). More attempts have been made to get closer to bridging that gap through the recent success of the ERP simulation (ERPsim). (Leger 2006). The ERP simulation game was instrumental in ERP business process learning. (Cronan, Douglas, Schmidt and Alnuaimi, 2009).
ERP Systems have become so widespread that they are difficult to ignore, if academics want their teaching and research to be relevant [17]. (Scott, 1999). This ERP experiential learning experience strengthens the students understanding of business and computing concepts, principles and decision making. Using ERP in the business classroom enhances the credibility of the business school in the eyes of industry. If the ERP system package is used worldwide it contributes to attracting IRUHLJQVWXGHQW¶VLQWHUHVW and provides significant potential for recruitment for traditional and online forums. The partnership between professors and industry leaders in creating, redesigning and assessing the input, process, output and outcomes creates a benchmark for success.
2. ERP In Academia Using the ERP software in the classroom can help students learn skills and provides a better understanding of the way functional areas in business are dependent on other areas for accurate and timely information. There are numerous reports about the integration of ERP software into undergraduate business curricula and about the potential value of such initiatives in promoting cross-functional understanding of business processes. ( Becerra-Fernandez., 2000) Bringing ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software into our classrooms has allowed us to provide our students with the most comprehensive software that is used in our local industries. [21] 2¶6XOOLYDQ An increasing number of business schools are using software employed in business practice in an attempt to teach business process. (Wagner., 2000) ( Corbitt & Mensching, 2000); ( Nelson & Millet, 2001 )
3. Practitioners :LWKPRUHSUDFWLWLRQHUV¶SDUWLFLSDWLRQLQDFDGHPLFDGYLVRU\ boards, more practitioners involved in academic research, increases in donations to higher education, increase recruitment of academic researchers by private industry and more locations of corporate research and development centers near universities more practitioners are becoming more involved in academia. (e.g. Burack, 1999; Slaughter & Leslie, 1997; Stross, 1997). According to Powell and Owen-Smith (1998), corporations that have the strongest networks with university researchers and the strongest internal capacity for identifying and evaluating research will be in the best position to solve the really important problems that impeded further progress. (Rynes, Bartunek, Draft, 2001). Some have argued that practitioners can be an excellent source of important and stimulating problems and their unique insights when combined with those from an academic perspective, can stimulate important new scientific discoveries (e.g.,Boehm,1980; Campbellet al., 1982;Dunnett, 1990; McCall & Bobko,1990).
The first successful attempt to bring realistic business situations into the classroom took place in 1909 when Harvard Business School introduced the case method. The second great advance took place with the introduction of computer simulations and games (1990). While the use of simulation games date back to the fifties, when the American Management Associated created the business game, Top Management Decision Simulation, (Meier, Newel, & Pazer, 1969) Today most business textbooks include short cases, and many colleges offer simulations with hundreds of simulation types available and thousands of academics using therm. Some schools offer strategy or policy capstone courses to allow students the exposure to key concepts from functional areas like operations, information systems, logistics, accounting, human resources and marketing. The author has been using a simulation in both a capstone and strategy class for more than 6 years.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software programs are at the cutting edge of information systems technology. ERP programs help to manage company-wide business processes, use a common database and share management reporting tools. ERP software supports the efficient operation of business processes by integrating business activities, including sales, marketing, manufacturing, DFFRXQWLQJDQGVWDIILQJ7RGD\¶VEXVLQHVVSHRSOH DQG WRPRUURZ¶V Vhould understand what an ERP system can do for a company. [Brady et. al., 2001].
Today, enterprise systems provide better ways of integrating the whole business curriculum in helping students develop integrative skills that are in great demand E\WRGD\¶VEXVLQHVVRUJDQL]DWLRQV 6HHWKDPUDMX, 2007). Having ERP in the classroom provides an opportunity for academic entities to develop a competitive advantage over
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better prepared students and are of immediate usefulness upon entry into the workforce. The findings of preliminary research in the form of questionnaires, case studies, surveys and interviews indicate that these students have a better understanding of business process, functional responsibilities and literacy of ERP concepts and theories. Accordingly, industry conveyed that these students (those hired by them from this class) had a very good all around knowledge of ERP which minimized the amount of time instructing and coaching them in their daily activities as compared to new employees without that experience. (Complete results of survey pending).
The selection and implementation of ERP is a major undertaking for any company. Using ERP as a template for standardization of business processes, as well as the integration and coordination of people, process, and technology can have a significant impact on the benefits achieved and the time to value. [27] (2010 Aberdeen Group). The widespread implementation of ERP systems has increased the demand for professionals with knowledge of ERP systems and their underlying integrated processes. Business as well as government organizations are investing significantly in ERP systems with the goal of streamlining their business operations and reducing information fragmentation. [26] (Cronan, Douglas, Alnuaimi and Schmidt 2009).
There is a demand for graduates with ERP education or skills as seen in higher salaries as compared to those who do not have ERP experience or skills. (Andrea, Dittmer, &Soave, 2008). Those graduates with ERP coursework received an average of $4,056 more than non-ERP trained graduates, and the difference could reach more than nine thousand dollars for some business majors (Andera, Dittmer, & Soave, 2008).
4. Objectives The objective of this paper is to identify whether using a real world tool, ERP, in academia makes a difference in adding value in student knowledge or skill sets that mirrors industry needs. Is that value perceived to be more important than that value in student knowledge or skill sets based on the use of a simulation? Effective utilization of ERP systems requires that students have multidisciplinary knowledge of business concepts, and processes, business literacy. (Boudreau 2003).
The author concurs based on her experience that business simulations used in a capstone or strategy course provide students with a good understanding of business and can positively affect their career. Research claims that there is a link between later career success and the correlation with a good simulation performance and individual managerial skills. (Wolfe and Roberts 1986; and Wolfe and Roberts 1993).Yet the author¶V limited experience provides data that using a real world ERP system in the classroom, that replicate applications used in industry, is more efficient and effective in providing industry with students that are of maximum usefulness and more in line with what industry needs.
Research that investigated the effectiveness and outcomes of using simulations in business classrooms has produced inconclusive results. While researchers found superior results when using simulations verses traditional or case based learning, others found that traditional teaching methods are superior (Faria,2001).
In parallel, the author believes that the ERP simulation (mySAP) currently available might significantly improve VWXGHQW¶V value derived from that experience but must do further research. Results suggest that the ERP simulation game was instrumental in learning ERP concepts and business process for both classes. [26] (Timothy Paul Cronan, David E. Douglas, Omar Alnuaimi, and Pamela J. Schmidt, 2009).
5. Conclusion The effort Farmingdale State College has put forth with the ERP Infor Visual system proves that the collaboration between industry and academia directly influences a significantly better prepared student for entry into industry. (PM100 Award 2010). With industry guidance in curriculum development we have gotten closer to providing ERP knowledge that industry wants imparted into potential employees in ERP positions. From our experience students that have been placed in industry who have successfully taken this ERP class are better received and more successful due to this acquired ERP knowledge than new employees hired at the same company during the same time frame.
While student learning is clearly the goal of education, there is a pressing need to provide evidence that learning or mastery actually occurs. The DXWKRU¶V dissertation efforts are aimed at that topic. Our responsibility remains in preparing students for their future opportunities. Greater demand is put on providing education opportunities that require students to preplan for their future employment to think in more integrated ways than they have in the past.(Ottewill , 2005). The author offers the following preliminary observation based on interviews, questionnaires, case studies and surveys in support of her dissertation activities; ERP education using real world tools with real world applications can provide an opportunity for students to get knowledge and acquired skills that closely resembles
The contention is that industry receives students that are more prepared than those that do not take an ERP course or that have experience with a simulation in their educational endeavors. Based on preliminary research the author believes that students that use a hands-on ERP real life system in their classroom assignments and exercises are
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industry required skills and that industry is positively receptive to this prepared student.
[18] The State Education Department/ The University of The state of New York, The Joint Committee on Higher Education and EMSC, Transforming Teaching and Ensuring an Equitable Distribution of Qualified teachers in New York State., November 2009. [19] T. Reinzo, Dissertation, Conceptual Change Resulting From Experiential Learning With Business Enterprise Software, Western Michigan University, 2007, Validated Instrument, ERP Questionnaire Pilot Technology Attitude. [20] Presentation Power Point Chris Garrido and Micheal Klien, Fall 2009 >@-2¶6XOOLYDQ*&DLROD(QWHUSULVHResource Planning a Transitional Approach from the Classroom to the Business World , McGraw Hill, 2008 [22] L. Antonucci., M.zur Muehlen., Developing An International Business to Business Process Curriculum: Extending the Classroom Walls with ERP Software. [23] R. Seethamraju., Enterprise Systems (ES) Software in Business School Curriculum-Evaluation of Design and Delivery, journal of Information Systems Education, Vol 181). [24] Bloom, BS 1970, Toward a Theory of testing which includes measurements-evaluation-DVVHVVPHQW¶LQ:LWWURFN M. C. and Wiley, D.E. (eds), The Evaluation of ,QVWUXFWLRQ¶SS-50. New York: Holt, Rinehart & :LQVWRQLQ-&&OLIW%:,PUL µ7KH'HVLJQRI Evaluation for /HDUQLQJ¶+LJKHU(GXFDWLRQ9RO 1RSS 69-80. >@)HGRURZLF]*HOLQDVDQG8VRII³7ZHOYH7LSVIRU Successful Integrating Enterprise Systems Across &XUULFXOXP´-RXUQDORI,QIRUPDWLRQ6\VWHPV(GXFDWLRQ Vol 15930 fall 2004 [26] Cronan, T.P., Douglas, D.E., Alnuaimi, O. and Schmidt,P.J., 2009 ITRI, Working Paper Series, 123-1008 [27] Jutras,C., Aberdeen Groups, 2010, ERP in Manufacturing 2010, Measuring Business Benefit and Time to Value., [28] Hlupic, 2000 Simulation Software: An Operational Research Society Survey Of Academic and Industry Users, Proceedings of the 2000 Winter Simulation Conference. Cronan, Douglas, Alnuaimi, and Schmidt, [29] 5\QHV/%DUWXQHN-'UDGW5´$FURVV7KH Great Divide: Knowledge Creation And Transfer Between Practitioners and Academics, Academy of Management Journal, 2001, Vol 44, No2, 340-355.
References [1] Beccerra-Fernandez, I., Murphy, K. E and Simon, S.J.(2000): Integrating ERP in the Business School &XUULFXOXP´&RPPXQLFDWLRQVRIWKH$&09RO1R pp.39-41 [2] (Kobayashi, 2003) [3] E. Watson and H. Schneider, Using ERP Systems in Education , Communications of AIS Volume 1, Article 9 [4] APICS dictionary, 2008 twelfth edition [5] Thomas H. Davenport, Jeanne G. Harris, David W. Long, and Alvin L. Jacobson for "Data to knowledge to Results: Building an Analytic Capability" (Vol. 43, No. 2) [6] J.A. Joines, R.R. Barton, K. Kang, and P.A. Fishwick, eds. A Strategic Supply Chain Simulation Model, IEEE supply chain simulation dissertation article, proceedings of the winter 2000 winter simulation conference. [7] A.A. Chawdhry, M. J. Donohoe, Delivering ERP Learning To Students In A University Business Program. [8] Swan, G. (2009). Information Systems in Teacher Preparation Programs: What can we learn from a Five-Year Longitudinal Case Study of an Electronic Portfolio Database. Journal of Educational Computing Research. 41 (4) [9] E.A. Steyn, A Framework For Implementing and Assessing Enterprise Resource Planning Systems, A dissertation from Rand Afrikaans University, Johannesburg, October 2004. [10] Interview with Jenneifer Krier University of New Mexico. [11] Swan, G. (2009). Tools for Data-Driven Decision Making in Teacher Education: Designing a Portal to Conduct Field Observation Inquiry. Journal of Computing and Teacher Education. 25 (3), 107-113 [12] Swan, G. (2009). Using Internet Applications to Enhance Formative Assessment in Teacher Education. Social Studies Research and Practice Journal. 4 (1) [13] Assessing Your SAP Program or Initiative: Using Maturity Models and Outcome Assessments Yvonne Lederer Antonucci, Widener University Lorraine Gardiner, California State University, Chico March 13, 2009. SAP Curriculum Congress 2009 [14] Fedorowicz, J., Gelians, Jr., U., Usoff, C. (2004) Twelve Tips for Successfully Integrating Enterprise Systems Across the Curriculum. Journal of Information Systems Education. >@³THE STATUS OF ERP INTEGRATION IN BUSINESS SCHOOL CURRICULA: RESULTS OF A 6859(<2)%86,1(666&+22/6´ [16] E.E. Watson., H. Schneider., Using ERP Systems in Education, communications of AIS Volume 1 Article 9, February 1999. [17] J. Scott, ERP Effectiveness in the classroom: Assessing Congruence with Theoretical Learning Models, AMICS, paper posted at AIS Electronic Library (AISeL), http://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis1999/274.
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Using a Curriculum Management System to Manage Teaching Load an Integrated Medical Curriculum Sami SHABAN Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University Alain, UAE that performs all the processing, JavaScript for graphical onscreen calendar manipulation and data entry checking, AJAX to refresh information on parts (vs. whole page refreshing) of the webpage and MS SQL Server as the Relational Database Management System used to store all the data pertaining to the curriculum. Dynamic web pages for input and output were developed to be clear, consistent and user-friendly. Finally, user control was taken into account, giving each user access to allowed information and processes only.
ABSTRACT Managing teaching load in an integrated medical curriculum can be an overwhelming task. Even identifying teaching assignments, locations and times is often difficult. The Curriculum Management System (CMS) developed at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS), United Arab Emirates University, is currently being relied on to provide individual faculty teaching calendars in terms of teaching assignments, locations and scheduling, individual faculty teaching load reports, as well as departmental and college-wide teaching load reports. The individual faculty teaching calendars have been widely accepted and the aggregate reports have proven essential in managing teaching loads.
As a result of the needs analysis, it became clear that the management of teaching load is a priority. Since the system stores data elements of individual sessions including session title, location and instructor(s), the system was enhanced by developing several database queries using SQL that collected all sessions belonging to a particular instructor or a particular location. These sessions can then be displayed in a personalized calendar.
Keywords: Medical school, integrated curriculum, online management system. 1. INTRODUCTION
Additional database queries and online reports were developed to show teaching load of individual instructors by counting sessions as well as counting contact hours. Finally, departmental and college-wide teaching load reports were developed using aggregate-type SQL queries.
Data management systems are valuable tools for managing medical curricula [1]. CurrMIT is such a tool widely used in the United States of America and Canada [2]. It uses a relational database containing curriculum information and instruction details such as outcome objectives, resources, content, educational method, assessment methods and educational sites. CurrMIT, however, is not available for medical schools outside the US and Canada. In addition, the author is unaware of other software or online system that is able to visualize and manage teaching load in an integrated curriculum. Therefore, the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) found itself in need of such a management system and has opted to develop its own curriculum management system to meet management of teaching load needs as well as overall curriculum management needs.
4. RESULTS Online personalized timetables for individual instructors showing teaching commitments in various courses is possible (Figure 1). It is also possible to produce location calendars such as “Dissection Lab” with all sessions held in this location from various courses and instructors displayed in this single calendar.
2. BACKGROUND In an integrated curriculum such as the one at FMHS, each course has many instructors from several disciplines. Each instructor is responsible for his own lectures in the course. At FMHS, there are three distinct types of teaching sessions: Lectures (where typical or didactic teaching is performed), Tutorials (where students discuss topic and teach each other under supervision), and Practicals (typically conducted in laboratories). The number of sessions in the program is ± 3,500. The medical curriculum at FMHS is six years with around five units/modules or clerkships yearly, each lasting about two months. 3. METHODS
Figure 1. Screen of the personal teaching timetable for an individual instructor.
In a previous paper [3], I discussed the process of development and implementation of the CMS at FMHS in terms of requirements analysis, relational database design and process flow design. The system uses ASP as the programming language
Each instructor is allowed access to his/her teaching load report online, showing teaching load by teaching method for all courses in the curriculum. The report includes session counts as well as contact hour counts (Figure 2). Finally, departmental and
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college-wide teaching load reports are made available to departmental heads and associate deans. These include the aggregate of individual instructors in each department or college-wide as appropriate.
Figure 2. Screen of the teaching load report for a specific instructor. 5. CONCLUSION In an integrated curriculum, if data element are stored and managed correctly (i.e. individually and with relational database design), it is possible to produce alternative views of the data in the system which can then be tailored to the needs of specific groups of users. In the FMHS Curriculum Management System, such views include individual faculty teaching calendars containing teaching assignments, locations, and times, individual faculty teaching load reports, as well as departmental and college-wide teaching load reports. These views have proven essential in managing teaching loads. 6. REFERENCES [1] J.J. Cohen, “CurrMIT: You’ve Gotta use this Thing!”, Academic Medicine, 2000;76(4):319. [2] A.A. Salas, M.B. Anderson, L. LaCourse, et al., “CurrMIT: A Tool for Managing Medical School Curricula”, Academic Medicine, 2003;78(3):275-279. [3] S. Shaban. Design and Development of a Medical School Curriculum Management System. International Conference on Education, Training and Informatics: ICETI 2010 Proceedings. http://www.iiis.org/CDs2010/CD2010IMC/ ICETI_2010/Abstract.asp?myurl=EB620WQ.pdf
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Teaching Information Systems in Business Management Studies: Basic Competencies to Achieve and Methodologies Assessment Carlos DEVECE Department of Management. Universidad Politécnica de Valencia Valencia, Spain Rafael LAPIEDRA Department of Business Administration and Marketing, Universitat Jaume I Castellón, Spain and Ignacio GIL Department of Management. Universidad Politécnica de Valencia Valencia, Spain
organization, substantially affecting the way processes are performed and connected. IT has pervaded nearly every business activity and introduced radical innovations that have changed some industry structures. For this reason, IT is considered as a strategic weapon.
ABSTRACT Information system management is a difficult field for structured research and systematic knowledge improvement, and in consequence, a difficult field to learn and teach. This difficulty comes from the combination of two knowledge areas, one technical, informatics, and the other social, management. The study presented here analyzes the learning methodologies best suited to teaching this field in higher education. The paper is structured as follows: first, an assessment of the competencies necessary for managers to understand the reach of information technology and integrate information systems into their business and is presented. Secondly, an analysis of the more common and current methods used in business management is commented, especially the case method, problem-based learning, and projectbased learning. Their advantages and possible deficiencies are examined. Thirdly, the advisable extent of the project-based learning introduction as main methodology and how it must be adapted to the peculiarities of the subject is assessed, basing this assessment on the competencies sought. Finally, the conclusions are presented.
In this scenario it is essential to have a strategic vision that guides IS development in organizations. Since IT can change the nature of competition, top managers must combine a profound knowledge of the business with a sound understanding of the potential of IT in order to get ahead of competitors and to gain a competitive advantage from IT. In spite of the importance of a profound understanding of IT in a business context, in a bestcase scenario the lecturers in charge of information systems subjects in business schools usually find themselves with just a couple of subjects in the curricula. Moreover, the students, with the exception of some technology supporters, do not usually have the necessary technology knowledge and perceive IT as something exogenous to the firm and therefore something that can be bought from external suppliers. This work assesses how to meet the challenge of motivating students and teaching information systems in a business school, through an interdisciplinary subject between informatics and business administration. First, the IT competencies that managers must have so as to integrate IS with their business activities are analyzed. Second, a set of IT competencies and knowledge areas is established for business management studies. Then, the more appropriate learning methodologies (case-based and project-based learning) for obtaining these competencies are assessed. Finally, the conclusions reached are summarized along with some experiences and best practices.
Keywords: Information systems, case method, project based learning, business management, higher education
1.
INTRODUCTION
Since the use of information technology (IT) in organizations became widespread, the involvement of top managers in the implementation, updating and use of a firm’s information systems (IS) has been considered essential for the success of these technologies. This acknowledgment is due to the important role that CEOs play in resource allocation and their influence on how, where and when to use the IT capabilities of the firm. But the role of managers goes beyond spending decisions. In the mid-1980’s, IT applications overcame the barrier of specific business activities and began to be used all over the
2.
BUSINESS MANAGERS’ IT COMPETENCIES
Management competencies are essential because they are the source of the managers’ unique vision that effectively interprets the environment. This vision or mental model of the organization [1] and the environment allows them to detect
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opportunities and threats, setting up the firm’s strategy to exploit its valuable resources [2] [3]. In addition, managers are responsible for establishing the guidelines that lead the development of all the organizational competencies of the firm [4].
and to form partnerships with IT people or to lead and participate in IT projects [5]. The relationships among dimensions are shown in figure 1. To develop our concept of business managers’ IT competence, we considered the classification proposed by [5], and validated as a scale afterwards [10]. To adjust the classification to our concept, the cognition section, integrated in the tacit knowledge in the original model, was modified and separated into a new dimension that we call IT vision. Table 1 shows the IT competencies classification proposed for a manager.
The management competencies derive from explicit and tacit knowledge assets owned by the managers. Tacit knowledge assets are gained during managers’ interactions and work. The MIS literature emphasizes two specific management competencies that directly affect the development and use of the firm’s IS: the managers’ IT knowledge and their IT strategic vision. These two dimensions are closely related. In our conceptualization of business managers’ IT competence we take into account only these two IT specific dimensions, without considering general aspects like leadership or self-image.
Table 1: Business manager’s IT competencies (adapted and modified from [5]) BUSINESS MANAGERS’ IT COMPETENCIES Explicit IT knowledge
The IT competence of business managers can be defined as “the set of IT-related explicit and tacit knowledge that a business manager possesses that enables him or her to exhibit IT leadership in his or her area of business [5].” These authors [5] distinguish between explicit and tacit knowledge. Explicit IT knowledge enables business people to communicate with IT personnel and can be classified into knowledge of technology, applications, systems development, management of IT, and access to IT information. Tacit knowledge is that gained over time by trial and error working in IT activities. It can be classified into personal use of IT, experience in IT projects, and experience in IT management. Although these authors consider IT cognition or vision as a dimension of tacit knowledge, in our conception of business managers’ IT competence, the IT vision is a crucial independent factor.
Technology Applications Systems development Management of IT Access to IT knowledge Tacit IT knowledge Personal use of IT IT projects Management of IT IT vision
Figure 1: Relationships among business managers’ IT competence dimensions
IT in processes and operations activities automation IT in the supply chain management IT in management activities
Explicit IT Knowledge
(1)
(2)
IT in marketing
(4)
In the classification shown in Table 1, the technology section includes current and emerging technologies, the current technology portfolio in the business, and the competitors’ use of IT. The applications section includes the current and emergent applications used in the industry and the firm. System development considers the development methodologies and project management. The management of IT section refers to knowledge of the IT strategies, policies, and vision statements used in the organization, as well as the allocation of financial and human resources to IT in the organization. The access to IT knowledge refers to knowledge about IT suppliers, consultants and experts [5].
IT vision
(3)
Tacit IT Knowledge
(1) (2) (3) (4)
Explicit Knowledge Internalization through work Tacit Knowledge Externalization Involvement in IT administration and implementation IT learning
3. The explicit and tacit knowledge are mutually fed by internalization and externalization processes [6]. This knowledge, when combined with business knowledge, creates the IT vision [7]. The strategic IT vision facilitates IT-business integration [8] and business alignment [9]. Moreover, IT vision can create new strategic business opportunities, employing IT in new innovative ways. Finally, the IT vision of the manager can increase their willingness to learn more about these technologies
COMPETENCIES TO ACHIEVE IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT STUDIES
The competencies in Table 1 should be the aim of any set of IS subjects in a business management degree. Nevertheless, there are some competencies, especially those related to experience (tacit knowledge), that are difficult to develop in a course, because they are linked to experience gained through years of professional work. Nevertheless, it is essential to obtain some
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level of expertise in all the competencies, and the learning methodologies should be adapted to this purpose.
introducing the case method in their courses, and this method has played an important role in the last three decades. Nevertheless, other methods are gaining popularity among the most prestigious Universities and their value in obtaining competencies linked to tacit knowledge must be analyzed.
Regarding the structure of a basic body of explicit knowledge, we consider 3 basic theoretical IS areas in business management studies: x
Technology
x
Systems development and management
x
Applications
4.
LEARNING METHODOLOGIES APPLICABLE TO INFORMATION SYSTEMS
The case method
Most of the current manuals on IS focus on business applications, their characteristics and classification, and the management of IS projects. This matter has attained a consensus and standardization in business schools all over the world. Nevertheless, taking into account the aforementioned list of IT competencies necessary for a manager, there is a certain neglect of the technological aspects. Certainly, there are some areas that are difficult to tackle in a business course, where no special knowledge is expected, especially those related to technology. It is accepted that a manager without a technical background will hardly become an IT expert, but all managers must have in mind that a basic knowledge of IT and a large IT vocabulary are necessary to interact with the members of the IS department and to have a clear vision of the possibilities and limitations of IT in their business activities. In this sense, we propose that the first IS subject in a management degree must contain a complete review of the development of IT. As IT is a conglomerate of different technologies, this historical review of the major events in the evolution of IT must classify the technologies into three different levels: processing, storage and communications, and for each of them, we include software (programming languages and protocols) and hardware. This will allow the future managers to incorporate new knowledge about IT in a structured way.
A business case usually adopts the format of a narrative of a challenged organization in the real world, where a combination of qualitative information and selected and relevant data are offered. The length and complexity of the case depends on the lecturer’s purpose, since they can vary from very short readings, exemplifying a specific point of the theory with a real world case, to a very long elaborate case, with plentiful data and information, where the student must analyze and answer some questions related to the theory studied [11]. But in any case, the problem is closed, because no more information is required than that supplied, and a standard solution is usually expected. This method is consistent with how complex, unstructured problems like those in the IS arena are tackled by researchers: through in-depth analysis of the relationships between a related set of variables in an isolated way [12]. In the real world, a management problem, especially those of strategy, can rarely be approached with the analysis of a simple set of factors if sturdy business solutions are required, but this method allows knowledge building. Nevertheless, case studies tend to focus on specific problems, and although they are assessed intensively, the amount of information presented is reduced and the problem under study bounded. This is perfectly valid for those management techniques that can be taught with structured, closed problems, where all the variables are known and quantified, and the problem can be modeled in formulae and rules. The characteristics of the case method make it perfectly suited for developing some of the competencies necessary in IS because it offers real world examples, is adjusted to the theory learnt, and it helps to clarify that theory. Moreover, it allows students to become habituated to working with qualitative and quantitative data, the evaluation of different options for the case, and it is easy to implement, the problem under study is limited, and it allows discussion, team work and public speaking [13].
In spite of the consensus about the explicit IT knowledge necessary in business studies, there are still some important questions to solve, like how to develop competencies linked to tacit knowledge, especially regarding IT management and projects, and the IT vision. Although an explanation of the methodologies used in IS management, project development, and current technology and applications, and trends, can give the student some knowledge about the state of the art in IS, a solid tacit knowledge and IT vision derives from the combination of IT knowledge with business knowledge in a real context. The difficulty in acquiring these competencies derives from this combination of two fields, the first one with a strong technical bias, and the second one dealing with unstructured and complex problems. Managers have to face problems where the environment (markets, competitors, economy, laws, technology, etc.) plays a crucial role. They must take into account social factors and the ever changing and turbulent environment. Moreover, the variables involved in a strictly IS problem not are always clear. Even when the IS problem is isolated, it still remains complex; this complexity is expressed in the great number of variables that could play a determining role in the failure or success of a system. This has led to the need to limit the variables to be taken into account, so as to confine the problem within some boundaries, both in research and teaching. It is for this reason that lecturing alone cannot transmit all the complexity of a real IS project to the student.
Under these conditions it is understandable that the case method is the prevalent method used to complement lecturing in business management studies in general and in IS subjects in particular [14]. It is commonly used to develop the students’ IT vision in operations activities, logistics and in supply chain management, usually linked to cost reduction. Problem-based learning (PBL) In the real world, strategic decisions rarely take the form of a structured problem. The researchers in the field know the aim and limitations of each paradigm and theory, and the contingent nature of the reality they strive to explain. So, professionals and managers must combine suitable views and approaches studied in an eclectic way, as a help, rather than an axiom. Every single problem in strategic management is unique. If it is desirable to provide a more realistic experience of how the theory of the firm could be applied correctly to real organizational problems, PBL is a priori a better methodology than the case method [15]. These limitations have given rise to some critiques and the need
Moreover, basic competencies like leadership, team work or entrepreneurship cannot be learnt through a lecturing method. Traditionally, business schools have resolved this deficiency by
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to complement the case method with other methodologies. In this sense, it is recognized that PBL has great potential for management education [16]. PBL is gaining popularity in several fields and subjects. The trend in higher education is shifting from formal lecturing to guided self-education, where more emphasis is put on the process of learning, on how a problem can be approached and how to find relevant information, rather than on the memorization of the conventional and basic body of knowledge. The presence of PBL in a field depends on different factors, and although the support of professors and the tradition of methodology innovation of the University have been the major drivers in the last two decades, today the method has become sufficiently proven and well known to have gained a greater presence in business schools independently of the University context. The lack of this presence in IS subjects must be attributed to other factors, intrinsic to the field.
competencies to apply the knowledge gained in the basic subjects during the degree and solve a complex real-life problem. Project-based learning, although very comprehensive in the development of competencies like those related to team work or leadership, has a major drawback, in that it is time consuming, even more so than PBL. The knowledge obtained by carrying out a project is very specific, and hard won (learning by doing). It is only conceivable in the last year of the degree, as a final step, or for postgraduate students. For this reason the method is not usually found in the curricula of business management studies. Nevertheless, the great advantage of this method is the ease of its implementation, since there are a myriad of real problems at the lecturers’ disposal, and the choice is not difficult and stringent.
PBL was conceived as simplified problems that are complicated during the course in order to approach real life problems [17]. This can also be said about the case method, but PBL goes a step further. Perhaps the sentence that best encapsulates the philosophy underlying PBL is “a process of inquiry and analysis where the students acquire the knowledge they need in order to solve a complex problem”. Thus, the usefulness of the PBL method is linked to the quality of the problem. The quality of the problem defines the knowledge to be learnt. If we want the method to work properly, the problem must be challenging for the students, and this implies great difficulty for the lecturers in developing a set of problems every year. But even if PBL is well implemented, and the students are motivated and correctly guided, and the method is challenging for the students and rewarding, etc. then PBL still has a significant problem: “time”. If well implemented, PBL is time consuming, for the lecturer and for the students. The process of inquiry, analysis, discussion, finding of new relevant data, etc. can be associated with learning by doing. In learning by doing, the knowledge acquired is contextualized and its applications better understood, but the process of learning is slow. Moreover, there is no guarantee that all the knowledge considered by the lecturer as relevant in a subject is learnt [18]. The autonomy of the students in researching the theory needed for the problem implies a loss in efficiency in their time for acquiring basic knowledge.
5.
THE METHOD PROPOSED AND CONCLUSIONS
The idea of building knowledge through interaction with real problems and a social environment is not new and has always been present in the curricula of higher education, although on a lesser scale than lecturing. The technological revolution of ICT has changed the skills needed in professional careers, reducing the value of precise knowledge stored in the brain and making information search, assessment and synthesis crucial, as well as giving rise to the need for other skills such as leadership and team work [22] [23] and the need for a would-be manager to acquire some competencies in IS project development and management and develop a vision of the strategic possibilities of IT. Thus, we propose a combination of methods for IS subjects, where a compromise is established between the economy of lecturing and the active learning of the three methods commented. Due to the characteristics of business management learning and the drawbacks of the three methodologies commented, a general course in information systems should take the format of a main body of theory lectures supported by the method case. This is necessary to avoid a major criticism of PBL [14][15], that is; students need a strong theoretical background to tackle the problems proposed if these problems are intended to be challenging and worthwhile for learning purposes [16]. So, PBL should be introduced as “homework”. In the model proposed, the classic methodology for business management teaching is complemented simultaneously by the PBL method in two ways. First, in addition to the reduced cases supporting each theory theme, a macro-case with abundant information and data is provided at the beginning of the course, so some specific questions are asked for each theme. This macro-case, although closed, works as a transition between the short, specific cases of the case method and the PBL assignment. Secondly, a real open problem in an existing firm is assigned by the lecturer to be resolved by a team of students. This problem should strictly follow the PBL methodology, although it should have some characteristics of a typical project problem.
The implementation and scope of the PBL method depends on the ambition of the objectives. It depends on the degree, the subject, the subject’s year, the credits of the subject, etc. Here, the objectives are very specific and concrete. The main objective of the introduction of PBL is for students to confront real-world problems in IS management, in order to understand how the different conceptual frames and theories can be applied and when this is possible [19]. Other reported benefits of PBL which are considered important include developing hypothetical-deductive reasoning skills [20], students becoming independent, being capable of life-long learning and learning by doing.
The contact with a real firm where the student can analyze the different aspects of a real, working system is essential in IS learning. In management studies, the abstraction of the theory explained is not always well understood by the students and the cases commented in class allow them to adopt an overly passive attitude.
Project-based learning Project-based learning is a method where a real-life problem is proposed to the students individually or in groups. The objective is not so much to learn by carrying out the project, but to carry it out in a satisfactory way [21]. This is typical of engineering degrees, where the final project is not for gaining knowledge in a specific field, but to test if the students have the necessary
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One significant issue in PBL is the choice of problems. Here, we propose the setting of less ambitious goals in PBL and the assumption of the objectives of project based learning. The problems in PBL must be challenging, driving questions to guide the students in the acquisition of knowledge. Here, part of the challenge and the adaptation to the theory needed to learn must be sacrificed in order to obtain a more realistic, common problem in a real firm. So, instead of choosing a “good problem”, the decision was derived to choosing a “good firm”, where some strong connection of friendship or kinship between the student and the manager of the firm allows the gathering of direct information. If this is not possible, the lecturer can assign a firm collaborating with the University. Then, as the theory is developed, the firm is analyzed in each specific aspect, with a periodic meeting (every fortnight) with the lecturer. When an interesting management problem is found and discussed with the lecturer, the lecturer assigns the problem to the team, and a more detailed analysis with the possible solutions must be carried out and presented by the team at the end of the term. The development of the problem should be guided more frequently, on a weekly basis, by the lecturer, suggesting sources of information, bibliography to be consulted and new variables to be considered. It is desirable that the problem chosen be a real challenge or dilemma for the firm so that the analysis and the solution offered is worthwhile for the managers.
[4] Lado, A.A., Boyd, N.G., Wright, P. (1992). A CompetencyBased Model of Sustainable Competitive Advantage: Toward a Conceptual Integration, Journal of Management, 18 (1): 77-91. [5] Bassellier, G., Reich, B.H., Benbasat, I. (2001). Information Technology Competence of Business Managers: A Definition and Research Model, Journal of Management Information Systems, 17 (4): 159-182. [6] Nonaka, I., Takeuchi, H. (1995). The knowledge-Creating Company. How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation. Oxford University Press, New York. [7] McKenney, J. L., D. Copeland, Associates. (1995). Waves of Change: Business Evolution through Information Technology. Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge, MA. [8] Boynton, A.C., Zmud, R.W., Jacobs, G.C. (1994). The influence of IT management practice on IT use in large organizations, MIS Quarterly, 18 (3): 299-318. [9] Reich, B. H., Benbasat, I. (2000) Factors that influence the social dimension of alignment between business and information techonology objectives, MIS Quarterly, 24, (1): 81-113.
It must be noted that PBL is only used to support traditional lecturing and then, the length and complexity of the problem must be limited. Although the problem must be mandatory for every student, the weight of the evaluation of the problem in the final mark must be according to the importance given to the lecturing and case method respectively.
[10] Bassellier, G., Benbasat, I., Reich, B.H. (2003). The Influence of Business Managers' IT Competence on Championing IT, Information Systems Research, 14 (4): 317-336.
The amount of work and time assigned to PBL is a crucial factor. A strict limitation on the complexity of the problems and time to solve them, as well as the tutoring time must be taken into account. The periodic meetings and the choice of the problem as a result of a prior analysis of the students considerably lightens the lecturer’s workload. Nevertheless, this will mean reduced acquisition of social skills, so the use of this method should be shared by several subjects and be put into practice across the degree.
[11] Hammond, J.S. (1976). Learning by the case method, HBS Publishing Division, Harvard Business School, Boston, MA. [12] Ward, J. D. and Lee, C. L. (2002). A review of problembased learning. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences Education, 20, (1): 16-26.
In conclusion it can be said that traditional lecturing is a strong and economic tool for teaching, but it does not develop tacit IT knowledge about IS projects and management, essential for a manager. The use of other methods that foster these skills is necessary, although the time and economic issues of these methods suggest that the introduction in courses must be partial and limited.
[13] Carrol, J. M., and Rosson, M. B. (2005). Toward even more authentic case-based learning. Educational Technology, November/December, 45(6): 5-11. [14] Bennis W.G. and O’Toole J. (2005) How business schools lost their way. Harvard Business Review. 83 (5), 96-104. [15] Hmelo, C. E., Holton, D. L. and Kolodner, J. L. (2000). Designing to learn about complex tasks. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 9(3): 243-246.
REFERENCES [1] Senge, P.M. (1990). The fifth Discipline: The Age and Practice of the Learning Organization. London: Century Business.
[16] Stinson, J. E. and Milter, R. G. (1996). Problem-Based Learning in Business Education: Curriculum Design and Implementation Issues. New direction for teaching and learning, 68: 33-42.
[2] Lado, A.A., Wilson, M.C. (1994). Human resource systems and sustained competitive advantage: A competency-based perspective, Academy of Management Review, 19 (4): 699727.
[17] Sherwood, A. L. (2004). Problem-Based Learning in Management Education: A Framework for Designing Context. Journal of Management Education, 28 (5): 536557.
[3] Hambrick, D.C., Mason P.A. (1984). Upper echelons: The organization as a reflection of its top managers, Academy of Management Review, 9 (2): 193-206.
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[18] Hallinger, P., Bridges, E. M. (2007). A Problem-based Approach for Management Education. Springer. [19] Brownell, J. and Jameson. D. A. (2004). Problem-Based Learning in Graduate Management Education: An Integrative Model and Interdisciplinary Application. Journal of Management Education, 28 (5): 558-577 [20] Ward, J. D. and Lee, C. L. (2002). A review of problembased learning. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences Education, 20, (1): 16-26. [21] Thomas, J. (2000). A review of research on project-based learning. Retrieved July 29, 2004 from http://www.bie.org/tmp/research/researchreviewPBL.pdf [22] Goltz, S. M., Hietapelto, A. B. Reinsch, R. W. and Tyrell S. K. (2008). Teaching Teamwork and Problem Solving Concurrently. Journal of Management Education 32(5): 541-562. [23] Evensen, D. H. and Hmelo, C. E. (Eds.). (2000). Problembased learning: A research perspective on learning interactions. Mawah, N.J. : Lawrence Earlbaum Associates, Publishers.
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Is S.T.E.M Education the Answer to School Reform? Amanda Golsch The Imaging Research Center, Children’s Hospital Medical Center Cincinnati, Ohio 45229, USA R. Scott Dunn The Imaging Research Center, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Cincinnati, Ohio 45229, USA and Christopher Hearn The Imaging Research Center, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Cincinnati, Ohio 45229, USA
positions in the science, technology, engineering, and math must be willing to collaborate with educators to develop a curriculum that fulfills the needs of students in areas that currently lack optimum performance.
ABSTRACT In 1983, a document called “A Nation at Risk” was written to warn American’s that the educational system was "being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity." [1] This document has had a profound effect on how the public school system is viewed. At the time, many educators considered the document to be harsh and to have overstated the problems that plagued the public school systems. On the other hand, many believed that this document was the beginning of public school reform. It started a dialogue that was once stifled by political agendas and rhetoric.
The Imaging Research Center (IRC) at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center is an institution that values the education of its employees and those in surrounding communities. Therefore, when the IRC was contacted by a Rural Central Ohio Intermediate School and asked to help with the sixth grade STEM project, they gladly accepted the position. Keywords: Rural Intermediate School, STEM, Distance Learning, Ohio, MRI
Currently, teenaged students in the United States are trailing the students of other industrialized countries in both math and science test scores. This indicates that there is a need for specialized math and science education within our public school system. To combat this problem many school districts are trying to develop ways to create excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. This new approach has been termed STEM education. In order for STEM education to be effective, educators need the involvement of the scientific professional community. Volunteers who hold
INTRODUCTION Youth in America’s educational system have exhibited a steady and significant decline in science and math literacy since 2000. During a September 27th interview on NBC’s Today show President Obama made the comment, “When I came into office, I set a goal of moving our nation from the middle to the top of the pack in math and science education.” At
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this time, the United States ranks 21st in science
and 25th in math, down from 14th and 18th in
2000, according the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) [2]. Teachers and the students themselves are not the only individuals who can play a vital role in education reform. Professionals who are willing to volunteer their time and effort to help make a positive change in the educational system are crucial to making successful gains in the technical literacy of children. According to the article Gaining Momentum, Losing Ground, businesses around the United States formed a coalition called TAP. TAP stands for Tapping American’s Potential. This group advocates renewed attention to U.S. competitiveness and America’s ability to innovate [3]. The primary goal of the group is to double the number of U.S. STEM graduates with bachelor’s degrees by 2015. Unfortunately, the United States is failing to accomplish this task in comparison to other industrialized countries (Figure 1). America’s business leaders are frustrated that while governments around the world are investing in STEM education and building their innovation capacity, the United States is at a standstill.
imaging (MRI) research. The IRC also wanted to demonstrate the variety of anatomical and physiological information that could be derived via MRI. The Central Ohio intermediate school hoped that exposing the children to a variety of chemists, engineers, physicists, and medical imaging professionals would generate excitement, evoke inquiry, and develop critical thinking skills that are essential in these areas of study. Fifty sixth grade students of the school were invited to spend the day at the IRC. While at the IRC, the children were introduced to the faculty and staff which included radiologic technologists, engineers, chemists, physicists, business directors, and IT personnel. These individuals would later become their mentors and teachers. The children attended presentations that gave them a brief overview about what type of work was done at the IRC and why the work was important in the science and healthcare arenas. The children were particularly interested in the presentation made by Kim Cecil PhD. Dr. Cecil discussed her upbringing in rural Kentucky and her educational journey that led her to her current position as a Spectroscopist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Lastly, the children toured the 3.0 Tesla and 7.0 Tesla MRI labs as well as the machine shop. While at the 3.0 Tesla scanner they witnessed an MRI of a brain. This allowed them to ask the Imaging Research Technologist about the scan and how images were formed. At the 7.0 Tesla scanner the children learned about animal imaging and how it is a fundamental part of research. They were able to see how the animals are handled and positioned in an MRI scanner to obtain quality imaging. The visit was the kick-off to the new STEM project.
THE PARTNERSHIP Scientific literacy is ‘…the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity,’ according to the NCES. To help combat this problem, The Imaging Research Center (IRC) at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) formed an educational partnership with a rural Central Ohio intermediate school during the 2009-2010 school year. In an effort to advance Obama’s “Educate to Innovate” campaign, the IRC hoped to increase the participation and performance of the students in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) by demonstrating the multiple disciplines that are necessary to successfully conduct magnetic resonance
DISTANCE LEARNING In order to communicate with the sixth grade students throughout the year, PowerPoint
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presentations were submitted to the teachers and objectives were outlined prior to delivery by the IRC faculty and staff interactively via the web. This prior work was essential for the success of the presentation. The teachers were able to help IRC faculty and staff tailor the information to suit the educational level of the sixth graders. In the beginning it was difficult to gauge how to explain difficult science concepts, but the teachers were able to aid faculty and staff in deciding what information was appropriate for the sixth grade academic standards . Initially, iLinc (iLinc, Phoenix, AZ) was utilized for communication and presentations. iLinc is a video conferencing tool made available to the IRC by CCHMC that is designed to be both a flexible and powerful presentation tool. iLinc gives users a way to easily create a web-based video conference complete with video, audio, and several unique presentation tools that enhance the overall user experience. In this particular case, iLinc was not the best conferencing tool. This project taught us the importance of making these remote connections as easy as possible, so focus can be placed on presenting the information and not troubleshooting problems. Many rural schools do not have the Information Technology support taken for granted by more affluent institutions. There was also difficulty connecting with the school because of occasional poor internet connection. Therefore, halfway through the class year, we switched over to using a Polycom system (Polycom Inc., Pleasanton, CA, Figure 2) that both sites could access to further enrich the student’s experience. The additional functionality and quality of media the Polycom system provided greatly improved everyone’s overall experience. The school also had previous experience and IT support with the Polycom system which made it the best communication option.
BENEFITS FROM THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY The iLinc and Polycom systems provided an interactive approach to teaching. It stepped outside the normal class room limits and allowed the students to learn about the central nervous system, MRI and basic image formation, MRI of the child’s brain, basic MRI physics and magnetism, and other specific concepts in science, technology, engineering, and math from those professionals who use these vital skills everyday. Students were able to see the IRC faculty and staff, ask questions, and view PowerPoint presentations and demonstrations live. They were also able to understand how the concepts that they had learned applied to the work that is done in the Imaging Research Center. A secondary goal of the STEM project was to expose the children to different career paths that are available in science, technology, engineering, and math. OUTCOMES FROM THE PROJECT According to Lisa Brown, former principal of the intermediate school, the sixth grade students enjoyed the use of enhanced technology while working with the project. Many students reported the number one thing that they enjoyed most during the school year was their trip to the Imaging Research Center. Additionally, the science fair was a huge success. Prior to the STEM project there was no science fair due to a lack of participation and interest. However, after the educational partnership, there was a spike in student interest which resulted in sixty projects being presented and judged by the Imaging Research Center staff. The faculty of the elementary school was impressed that 95% of the students completed their projects. According to the students surveyed about the science fair, their enthusiasm to complete their projects was due to the fact that they wanted to impress the researchers from the Imaging Research Center. Several students noted in there goodbye to Sixth Grade Speeches that they were now interested in the medical field because of the presentations made by
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researchers. Specifically, the student who was chosen as class representative to read her speech at graduation noted that the most interesting thing she learned this year was from the Imaging Research Center STEM project, and that she was going to pursue a career as a researcher when she was older. She noted that the experience allowed her to see a connection between Math and Science concepts and how they could help her future which before were unknown to her. Further she explained that participating in the project allowed her the opportunity to visit a hospital and see it in a new light. This along with the interactive technology provided her with a unique experience that she had not been exposed to in previous school settings.
Research Center would be happy to partner with other schools who are interested in STEM education. Unfortunately, the IRC was informed that the rural Central Ohio Intermediate School discontinued their STEM program. Despite Lisa Brown’s (former school principal) best effort there was not enough community support or resources to continue with the program. teacher efficacy and leads to greater achievement and higher level thinking among students. The ability to collaborate, make decisions with a global perspective in mind, and out of the box problem solvers are skills that current employers note as necessary job embedded skills. The Imaging Research Center provided both educators and students the opportunity to form and put into practice this type of critical thinking thereby providing exposure that is often noted as missing from current educational curriculum within the United States and more specifically within the areas of math and science. The Imaging Research Center would be happy to partner with other schools who are interested in STEM education. Unfortunately, the IRC was informed that the rural Central Ohio Intermediate School discontinued their STEM program. Despite Lisa Brown’s (former school principal) best effort there was not enough community support or resources to continue with the program.
CONCLUSION The STEM project was a success. The use of iLinc and Polycom technology allowed the Imaging Research Center faculty and staff to interact with and educate children who may have otherwise missed this educational opportunity. This experience taught us that it is important to assess both sites full capabilities to best determine the appropriate tool for distance learning projects. The faculty and staff were also able to create excitement and interest in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math. This project also stimulated the use of professional learning communities among the staff and the students. This educational process, according to research, enhances teacher efficacy and leads to greater achievement and higher level thinking among students. The ability to collaborate, make decisions with a global perspective in mind, and out of the box problem solvers are skills that current employers note as necessary job embedded skills. The Imaging Research Center provided both educators and students the opportunity to form and put into practice this type of critical thinking thereby providing exposure that is often noted as missing from current educational curriculum within the United States and more specifically within the areas of math and science. The Imaging
REFERENCES 1. Toppo, Greg, “Nation at Risk: The best thing or the worst thing for education?” USA Today, www.usatoday.com. 2. www.nces.ed.gov 3. Tapping America’s Potential The Education for Innovation Initiative,“Gaining Momentum, Losing Ground”, http://www.tap2015.org/news/tap_2008 _progress.pdf ______________________________________
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The Computerization of the Self Regulated Learning Assessment System: A Demonstration Program in Developmental Mathematics John Hudesman1, Matthew Carson2, Bert Flugman3, Dorie Clay4 and Sharlene Isaac4 1
SEEK Program, New York City College of Technology and Center for Advanced Study in Education, CUNY Graduate School and University Center. 2 Dept of Computer Science, CUNY Graduate School and University Center. 3 Center for Advanced Study in Education, CUNY Graduate School and University Center. 4 SEEK Program, New York City College of Technology. The authors would like to express their gratitude to Grazyna Niezgoda who was the course instructor. This program was funded by the CUNY Graduate School and University Center and the SEEK Program, New York City College of Technology. focused on teaching academic content, such as mathematics or writing, together with a variety of academic/study skills, such as note-taking and test-taking. However, reviews of intervention studies have revealed that most such programs do not help students to attain their academic goals (Bailey, 2008; Lucas 2007). Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) involves teaching students and faculty members a new way of understanding the learning process and how to monitor and manage it. Many theories of self-regulation share common elements such as goal setting, the use of strategies, monitoring, and evaluating one’s actions, (Pintrich & Zusho, & 2002; Zimmerman, 2002). The SRL theoretical approach described in this article is closely aligned with Zimmerman’s (2002) model which consists of three main components, forethought, performance, and self-reflection; however, our model is characterized by a feedback cycle consisting of three main phases planning, practice, and evaluation (Hudesman, White, & Crosby 2005). During the planning phase, students in our SRL programs conduct an academic task analysis, choose those strategies that best address their specific learning challenge, set identifiable goals, and make self-efficacy and selfevaluative judgments. Within the practice phase, students design and carry out their implementation plan. During this phase, they learn to monitor their progress and make appropriate on-the-fly adjustments to their plan. In the evaluation phase, students learn to assess the effectiveness of each intervention. That is, they use self - and instructiongenerated feedback to build on successful strategies and modify or replace less effective strategies. The students’ responses from the evaluation phase then become the basis for the planning phase in the next SRL cycle. Implicit in the SRL model is that learning involves a series of these learning cycles each of which brings the student closer to his/her academic goal. This cyclical model provides students with multiple opportunities to constructively make use of the instructor’s feedback. A number of investigators have demonstrated that students trained in self-regulation can demonstrate improvement in their academic achievement (Schunk 1996; Paris & Paris 2001). Additionally, a meta-analysis of studies of elementary and high school students found that self-regulation produced statistically large achievement effects, (Dignath & Buettner 2008). These gains were especially noteworthy in the area of mathematics.
Abstract The self-regulated learning (SRL) program model is based on a metacognitive (learning how to learn) approach that has been demonstrated to be highly effective in helping students improve their academic performance, with especially impressive results in mathematics. However, SRL program implementation has been hampered by the demands it makes on math instructors, who need to: 1) gather information on students’ quiz scores, 2) calculate the relationship between this information and data on students’ SRL behaviors, and 3) present the results clearly and in ways that will help students strengthen their mathematical understanding and its relationship to SRL behaviors. To make the procedure more efficient, engaging and effective, we have created a first-of-its-kind computerized version of the SRL quiz-taking program using tablet PCs to summarize the data and present a range of math content and SRL information to students. Our results showed that students found the tablet easy to use and described themselves as engaged in the process. This report contains samples of the SRL tablet PC program and student responses. Keywords: self-regulated learning, metacognition, mathematics achievement, developmental mathematics Introduction It has been repeatedly demonstrated that poor math preparation is a leading cause of academic difficulty for many incoming two-year and technical college students. The Strong American Schools report (2008) found that more than 40% of high school graduates who enter twoyear colleges require mathematics remediation at a cost of between 1.85 and 2.35 billion dollars per year. In some community college systems, up to 80% of incoming students require some form of mathematics remediation. However, passing developmental mathematics is not a reliable indicator of future successful performance. For example, at the technical college of a large university system in the northeast only 55% of students passed a credit-level introductory college-level mathematics course after successfully completing developmental mathematics. Self-Regulated Learning: An Approach that Makes a Difference Most interventions designed to address the needs of at-risk students in college developmental courses have
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Self-regulation increases the likelihood that students are more likely to take responsibility for their learning. Self-regulated students understand that academic success is a function of experimenting with different strategies and not a function of ‘natural intelligence’ or some other external force such as whether the instructor likes them or not (Zimmerman, 2002). The power of the SRL model is highlighted in a classic study by Zimmerman and Bandura (1994) who demonstrated that SRL skills are more highly correlated with college grade point average than are scores on the Scholastic Aptitude test (SAT).
example, students who think they understand the material, when in fact they do not, are less likely to prepare for their next quiz. 2. The self-reflection process. After receiving graded quizzes from the instructor, SRL students had the opportunity to earn additional quiz credit by completing a self-reflection and mastery-learning form designed to guide student’ thinking about their erroneous answers to items on the quiz. The self-reflection form required students to compare their self-efficacy and self-evaluative judgments with their actual performance on the quiz item, explain their ineffectual strategies with regard to solving the mathematics quiz item and establish and try out new, more effective mathematics and SRL strategies. A main portion of the reflection form requires that students redo the incorrect quiz question and include a description (in words) of the step-by-step strategies that were used to solve the problem. Students also had to solve a new problem that required similar strategies. 3. Program results. Although the students in both the SRL and control group developmental math students had similar pre scores on the mathematics portion of the American College Testing program ACT, i.e., the COMPASS (2006), SRL students demonstrated greater academic progress than did students enrolled in the control group sections. Indications of progress include: 1. higher mean scores on major examinations given periodically during the semester: 69.98 compared with 63.12 (ANOVA=4.6, p<.05, effect size =.37) for the students who completed the semester in the SRL and control group sections respectively; 2. Higher pass rates on a departmental final examination, 52% compared with 31% (Chi square = 9.42, p<.01, effect size =.44) for SRL and control group students respectively. Finally, 46% of the students initially enrolled in the SRL sections of developmental mathematics passed the COMPASS compared with only 25% of the students enrolled in the control group sections (Chi square= 9.94, p<.01, effect size=.45, cohort analysis). The COMPASS outcomes become more striking if we compare only those students who completed the course, i.e., did not withdraw during the semester (N=140). Sixty-four percent of the students enrolled in the SRL sections who completed the course passed the COMPASS vs. only 39% of the students enrolled in the control group sections (Chi square = 8.13, p<.01, effect size =.50).
Self-Regulation: What We Know about the Application of an SRL Program Model. Over the last 10 years, our SRL program group has iteratively developed and researched various components of an SRL Program model. A variety of SRL based programs have been designed and implemented in high schools and colleges in New York, New Jersey, and Ohio (Blank, Hudesman, and Zimmerman, 2007; Hudesman, 2005, 2010; Zimmerman, Moylan, Hudesman, White, and Flugman in press). Many of these initiatives have been funded by major federal agencies including the Institute for Education Sciences (IES), the Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). The IES study described below has particular relevance to our present demonstration program. The Application of the Model in Developmental Mathematics: An IES Development Study Program. Zimmerman, Moylan, Hudesman, Flugman, & White (in press) developed a paper-and-pencil SRL semester-long classroom intervention and then pilot tested its effectiveness with incoming associate degree students enrolled in developmental mathematics courses. All of the mathematics sections were taught by experienced instructors. Two hundred and eight students were randomly assigned to either an experimental classroom (receiving the self-regulatory intervention) or a control classroom (receiving conventional instruction) for a 15-week semester. The program procedure, which is also used in the present demonstration project, consisted of: 1. A series of math quizzes. Every two to three class sessions, students in the SRL sections were administered a 15-20 minute quiz involving four mathematics problems as a vehicle for frequent feedback to students and teachers. These quizzes were formatted so that both before and after attempting to solve each problem students were required to make confidence judgments indicating how sure they were that they could correctly solve the math question, i.e., they were asked to make task-specific selfefficacy judgments before solving individual problems and self-evaluative judgments after attempting to solve each math problem. The rational for this process is that many students ‘don’t know what they don’t know’, and they consistently overestimate their self-efficacy and selfevaluation judgments. By making these judgments, and then receiving feedback about their accuracy, students become more accurate in calibrating these critical selfregulation processes and apply this knowledge as part of the process of selecting appropriate strategies. For
Computerizing the SRL Assessment System This study, together with a number of other research and development SRL programs (Blank, Hudesman & Zimmerman, 2007; Hudesman, Zimmerman, & Flugman 2010), demonstrated that using this program model can significantly improve student performance. However, there were a number of issues that emerged during the program implementation. These issues, and how they can be effectively addressed by the computerized
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version of the SRL Assessment System, include the following: 1.
2.
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When using the paper and pencil version of the SRL Assessment Program students completed only about two-thirds of the self-efficacy and self-evaluative judgments on the quizzes. We know that completing these judgments is associated with an improved understanding of their self regulation processes (Zimmerman, Moylan, Hudesman, White, & Flugman, in press). The tablet PC version of the program requires students to take their quiz and show their work on the tablet. As part of this process students must make 100% of their SRL judgments because they are not able to continue on to the next quiz question until all the SRL judgments have been made.
3.
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Method Participants Students were registered in a six week summer session SRL developmental mathematics course at the technical college of a large northeastern university. The course had an enrollment of 18 entering freshmen. Nine students volunteered to use the tablet PC version of the SRL Assessment System and nine decided to use the traditional paper and pencil version of the SRL program.
Instructors often expressed concern about having to discuss the relationship between the selfefficacy and self-evaluative judgments and students’ quiz performance indicating that they are math teachers and not educational psychologists. The tablet PC model automatically addresses this problem by creating summary graphics of the self-efficacy and self-evaluative judgments and quiz scores for each student and for the entire class, thus making it much easier for instructors and students to understand the relationship between SRL processes and mathematics performance.
Materials and Procedure As part of the course, the instructor administered a series of seven short quizzes, none of which exceeded 20 minutes. Each quiz contained four questions, each with a value of 25 points. Starting with the fourth quiz, the tablet PC program students took their quizzes on an HP TouchSmart tm2 tablet PC. The format for using the tablet PC was for students to log in and then take the quiz, one question per screen. In keeping with the SRL program, described in an earlier section of this report, the students were instructed to read each question, make a self-efficacy judgment before answering the question, answer the question showing all their work, and then make a choice of the correct answer from among five choices. Students then made a self- evaluative judgment, after which the next question would appear. Students were unable to proceed to the next question without making the self-evaluative judgment for the previous question. At the end of the quiz students were asked to answer two questions about their ‘time on task,’ i.e. how much time they spent on homework, and how much time they spent preparing for the quiz.’ The student’s work was then uploaded to the instructor’s tablet PC as well as to the college’s server. Uploaded work was automatically scored by the computer which generated the following information that was immediately available to the instructor, and the student: 1. Score on the quiz; 2.an indication for each question as to whether it was correct or incorrect; 3. A series of graphs that related the students’ quiz score to their SRL behaviors, i.e., their self-efficacy and self-evaluative scores, as well as to their time on task. These graphs were cumulative in nature thus allowing students and instructors to graphically track the relationship between the math and SRL behaviors over time.
Instructors indicated that implementing the entire SRL program takes too much time. The tablet PC version of the program automatically provides each student’s quiz scores and allows the instructors to make constructive comments on the electronic copies of the students’ quizzes. It also enables the instructor to store assessment material more efficiently.
The computerization of the SRL assessment process that is demonstrated in this program is the first-ofits-kind. It is designed to enhance the effectiveness of the SRL assessment and instruction intervention. Using the tablet PC is particularly well suited to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students in general and mathematics students in particular because it allows them to show all of the their work, including formulas, symbols, and the like. It would be very cumbersome for students to show their work on a regular computer as they would have to hunt and peck for each symbol, a process that would soon become impractical. Within this context, this demonstration program was designed to address the following questions: 1.
Will students find this system acceptable and be willing to use it on an ongoing basis in the classroom? Will the graphical representations depicting the relationship between their mathematical and metacognitive processes be helpful to students? Does the tablet PC version of the SRL Assessment System, in comparison to the paper and pencil version, facilitate the academic progress of students in a developmental mathematics course?
Can we create a computerized version of the successful paper and pencil SRL Assessment System that was used in the IES study described above?
The instructor was also able to view each student’s uploaded quiz on her tablet PC, make written
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comments directly on her tablet PC, award partial credit, and send a copy of the entire package to the student’s home computer as a PDF. Students were then able to use this information to make appropriate revisions on incorrectly answered questions by using the self reflection (mastery learning) form. Based on the quality of the students’ work it was possible for them to earn up to 100% of the credit value of the original incorrectly answered question. As part of this demonstration program, those students using the tablet PCs were asked to complete a total of three, three-question surveys on how using the tablet PC compared with taking quizzes using a paper and pencil format. An additional survey, administered to all students during the last week of the course, asked for their reactions to various SRL interventions, including the use of tablet PCs.
Results Individual Student Results As previously mentioned, tablet PC users received an email packet after each quiz. The packet consisted of the corrected quiz and two graphs. Students used the tablet PCs for quizzes 4 – 7. Based on the information supplied by the student, the computer automatically created graphs that illustrate the relationship between the student’s math and SRL skill levels. Sample graphs for two program students are presented. Figure 1 shows the relationship between the student’s actual quiz score and his SRL judgments, i.e., his self-efficacy and self-evaluation judgments.
Quiz Scores and SRL Judgments
Math Quiz Scores and SRL Judgments 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Score AvgPre AvgPost
Quiz 4
Quiz 5
Quiz 7
Figure 1: Results of the Relationship between One Student’s Math Quiz Scores and SRL Judgments. Notes: 1 Mean pre self-efficacy and post self-evaluative judgments were transformed from a scale of 1-5 to a scale of 20 – 100; 2.This student was absent for quiz 6.
The score is the student’s actual score for each of the quizzes. The self-efficacy judgment (AvgPre) represents the mean of the student’s self efficacy judgments for each quiz. Similarly, the self-evaluation judgment (AvgPost) is the mean of the student’s self-evaluation judgments for each quiz. What is noteworthy in this graph is that at the start of the process (quiz 4) the student’s SRL judgments are noticeably higher than his actual score. This discrepancy illustrates the difference between what the
student thinks he knows in terms of his judgments (a lot) and what he actually knows in terms of his quiz score (not so much). However, by the end of the seventh quiz the gap has narrowed considerably indicating that what the student thinks he knows is much more closely aligned with what he actually knows. This self knowledge is a critical for the student if he is to develop more adaptive academic behaviors.
Figure 2 illustrates the relationship between another student’s time-on-task on each quiz, as measured by time spent on homework as well as time spent in quiz preparation, and his quiz score.
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Math Quiz Score and Time-on-Task 100 Quiz Scores and Time on Task
90 80 70 60
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50 TimeHW
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30 20 10 0 Test 4
Test 5
Test 6
Test 7
Figure 2: The Relationship between One Student’s Math Quiz Scores and His Time-on-Task Reports. The two time-on-task measures were calculated on the basis of how many minutes students spent studying by: 1. doing homework problems (Time HW), and 2. the number of minutes that they spent studying for the quiz in addition to their homework. Time on task was calculated by categorizing the number of minutes as follows: 0 minutes= 0, 1 – 29 minutes = 25, 30 – 59 minutes = 50, 60 – 119 minutes = 75, 120 minutes (+) = 100. What is noticeable is that when the student’s preparation time decreases (see quiz 6) so does his quiz score. Conversely, when the student’s preparation time increases so does his quiz score (see quiz 7). Providing this type of feedback to students on an ongoing basis can be an important feedback aid in assisting students to see the relationship between effort and results.
variety of SRL course interventions, including the use of tablet PCs. All students in both groups responded positively to a wide variety of SRL course features including the use of tablet PCs. All of the students in the class, except for one student who did not use the tablet PC, recommended that tablet PCs be used in future mathematics classes. These survey results reflect the reports of informal discussions that took place between students, the instructor, the tutor and which indicated that the tablet PC information was quite helpful. To determine the extent to which using the tablet PC would in any way show promise in facilitating students’ academic progress in the course, tablet PC students and paperand-pencil students were compared on a number of measures. While it was not the intent of this demonstration to determine the relative effects of tablet PC vs. paper and pencil versions of the program on academic performance, we were interested in whether there would be any consequences of using technology in what was already a successful program. The data indicate that while the tablet PCs were only used by students for approximately half the course, the tablet PC group performed slightly better than students in the paper and pencil group on six out of seven academic measures, e.g., absences 1.44 vs. 2.11; homework score 62.22 vs. 46.78; final exam score 82.44 vs. 76.67 for the tablet PC and paper-and-pencil groups respectively. Obviously, a larger more rigorous efficacy study needs to be done in order to investigate the potential of the SRL tablet PC system to assist students to improve their academic performance over and above the pencil-and-paper version of the program. Discussion Multi-component instructional systems that emphasize ‘learning how to learn’ concepts and skills are often difficult for instructors to deliver in content area classes resulting in their non- or underutilization. In the latter case, students and instructors not only have difficulty in managing all of the parts of the program but also struggle to fully understand metacognitive concepts and how they can be used and learned.
Class-wide Responses to the Project On three occasions students using the tablet PCs were given a brief survey. Seven to eight students out of the nine participants responded to each question. Students were asked: 1. to compare taking the class quizzes using the tablet PC with taking the quizzes using a paper-and-pencil format, 2. whether it was helpful to receive computer generated graphs that related their math outcomes to SRL behaviors, and 3. whether there was a certain ‘cool factor’ to using the tablet PC. All of the students who used the tablet PCs found it at least as easy to use as taking a paper-and-pencil quiz. Ninety percent of the survey responses indicated that students found it helpful to receive the tablet PC graphs that illustrate the relationship between their mathematics performance and their SRL behaviors. This type of graphical feedback is not available to students (or instructors) using the paper and pencil version of the SRL Assessment Program. Ninety percent of the survey responses indicated that students who used a tablet PC thought there was a ‘cool factor’ in using this technology. In addition to the three brief surveys completed by the tablet PC users, all the students (tablet PC users and non-users) were surveyed at the end of the course about their reactions to a
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The purpose of this demonstration program was to address this overall challenge by designing and implementing a computerized version of the SRL Assessment System that built on the earlier successes of the paper-and-pencil version. Our goal was to optimize the delivery of components, make it more efficient, and determine if these changes showed promise in effecting student outcomes. The computerization was made all the more difficult by the need to capture student work in mathematics, including symbols and equations, necessitating the use of tablet PCs. While only one component of the SRL system was computerized and used for only approximately half the course, the results indicated that computerization proved feasible for classroom use, was perceived as useful and interesting by the students who used it as well as those students who observed its use, and showed preliminary promise of improving student outcomes. Specifically, our results showed that computerization was able to address problems that emerged during the implementation of the paper-and-pencil version of the program in that: 1. Students generated all the self-efficacy and selfevaluation data, making it possible for the instructor to do a more complete analysis of their quiz scores. 2. Students in the tablet PC group (and the instructor) received immediate feedback regarding quiz scores which could be acted on while the pencil and paper students needed to wait for their quizzes to be hand scored. 3. Students in the tablet PC group were able to receive an email PDF package that included instructor comments and suggestions regarding their work as well as and graphs illustrating the relationships between their mathematics quiz scores, self-efficacy and self-evaluation judgments, and time-on-tasks; 4. The tablet PC automatically saved all of the students work. By giving instructors access to this type of stored data they have the ability to analyze student performance on an individual or group level for formative assessment purposes. Although a potentially powerful process, formative assessment is frequently limited by the instructor’s inability to store and manage large amounts of student data (Heritage, 2010). In terms of outcomes, there were some indications that students in the tablet PC group demonstrated better performance on a number of course related academic measures, e.g., the final examination. These conclusions are limited by the small number of students enrolled in the demonstration program and by its implementation in one class for approximately half of the course. Despite these limitations, we were encouraged by the observation that our results consistently favored the tablet PC group. Future research needs to increase the number of students and instructors who implement the program and evaluate it using an experimental design. To date, however, we have begun the computerization of a complex intervention that has the potential to optimize its implementation in a wide range of settings
Dignath, C., Buettner, G. (2008). Components of fostering selfregulated learning among students. A meta analysis on intervention at primary and secondary school level. Metacognition and Learning, 3, 231-264. Heritage, M. (2010). Formative assessment and next-generation assessment systems: Are we losing an opportunity? Report prepared for the Council of Chief State School Officers. Hudesman, J. (1997). A longitudinal examination of student achievement at New York City Technical College for students entering between 1987 and 1989. An unpublished internal report. Hudesman, J., Zimmerman, B., & Flugman, B. (2010) The Replication and Dissemination of the Self-Regulated Learning Model to Improve Student Performance in High Schools, Two-Year, and Four-Year Colleges: FIPSE P116B060012. NY. CUNY Hudesman, J., White N., Moylan, A. & Crosby, S. (2005). A Self-Regulated Learning Manual for Use with High School and College Teachers. New York: City University of New York Lucas, M. & McCormack, N. (2007). Redesigning mathematics curriculum for underprepared students. The Journal of Effective Teaching, 7, 36-50. Pintrich, P.R. & Zusho, A. (2002). Student motivation and selfregulated learning in the college classroom, in: J.C. Smart & W.G. Tierney (Eds) Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research (vol XVII) Agathon Press: New York. Schunk, D.H. (1996). Goal and self-evaluative influences during children’s cognitive skill learning. American Educational research Journal, 33, 359-382. Simpson, M., Hyned, C., Nist, S., & Burrell, K. (1997). College academic assistance programs and practices. Educational Psychology Review, 9, 3987. Strong American Schools (2008). Diploma to Nowhere. Retrieved November, 5, 2008, from http://www.strongamericanschools.org/files/SAS_Dipl oma_To_Nowhere_v11_FINAL.df The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (2009). Developmental Math. Retrieved January 4, 2010, from http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/problemsolving/developmental-math. Zimmerman, B. J., & Bandura, A. (1994). Impact of selfregulatory influences on writing course attainment. American Educational Research Journal, 31, 845-862. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. Zimmerman, B. J. (2002). Becoming a self-regulated learner: An overview. Theory into Practice, 41, 64-70. Zimmerman, B. J., Moylan, A., Hudesman, J., White, N., & Flugman, B. (in press). Enhancing self-reflection and mathematics achievement of at-risk at an urban technical college. Psychological Test and Assessment Modeling.
References Bailey, T. (2008). Challenges and opportunities: Rethinking the role and function of developmental education in community colleges, New Directions for Community Colleges, 145, 11-30. Blank, S., Hudesman, J. Moylan, A. & White, N. (2007). A SelfRegulated Learning Assessment System for Electromechanical Engineering Technology Students . Published in the Proceedings of the National STEM Assessment Conference, October 19-21 2006, Washington D.C.. Drury University and the National Science Foundation.
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Sojourn: Ensuring Compatibility and Data Security in a Computerized School-Based Study Amy KOWALSKI, Deborah HERGET, Jeff MAHONEY, Ziv YOUNGER RTI International, 3040 Cornwallis Road Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709, United States
successful use in the base year HSLS:09 study, and improvements for the HSLS:09/12 follow-up.
ABSTRACT
Keywords: Assessment, Linux, Questionnaire, Respondent, School, Security, Survey
Concerns about system compatibility and data security make conducting computerized data collection in schools challenging. To resolve these concerns, RTI developed Sojourn, a Linuxbased “bootable” program designed to create a virtual environment that routes users to a secure Internet site. This technology was used to collect data for the U.S. Department of Education’s High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09). Sojourn enables the administration of a computerized questionnaire and assessment in schools by creating a uniform appearance regardless of computer model, operating system, or network configuration. Additionally, Sojourn addresses data security concerns of softwarebased key loggers, viruses, and spyware by creating a secure environment. HSLS:09 successfully used Sojourn in 84 percent of participating schools. The remaining 16 percent included schools or districts that did not permit the use of Sojourn, schools whose computers did not allow booting from external devices, or schools with hardware compatibility issues. When Sojourn was not used, project laptops were used ensuring that screen resolution and overall experience was identical between both systems. RTI evaluated the initial experience with the use of Sojourn and developed improvements for use in subsequent data collection efforts. Improvements include incorporating visually appealing windows and menus, advanced auto connect features and a faster boot to assessment speed allowing increased compatibility across schools. This paper describes Sojourn and its
BACKGROUND For HSLS:09 RTI was charged with developing an electronic assessment and questionnaire that could be administered in schools using existing school computer labs. The assessment and questionnaire not only needed to ensure the privacy of respondents' answers, it needed to operate on a broad range of computer systems and prove not to be an undue burden on staff at participating schools. Moreover, the system needed to provide a comparable experience for each respondent, regardless of any differences that may exist between various school computer labs. This was a particular concern for the assessment, as test items administered by computer may not be appropriate if the system cannot control the conditions in the testing environment, such as monitor resolution [1]. In response to the numerous challenges associated with administering a computer adaptive assessment and questionnaire in schools, RTI developed Sojourn. The intent of Sojourn was to provide a channel for students to access an electronic assessment and questionnaire in a highly secured and controlled environment. Sojourn is a customized distribution of Linux; a free community developed operating system. Due to the highly configurable makeup of Linux, Sojourn was tailored to prevent malicious software such as key loggers, viruses, and
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spyware from accessing the information entered by student respondents. Sojourn works by launching the computer directly into a controlled web session, therefore meeting student and school security needs effectively. Furthermore, Sojourn does not write any data to the host computer; therefore no student data or residual information is left on the school's computers when the student sessions are complete.
Linux was chosen because it allowed for the creation of what is known as a "Live" or bootable CD - a mechanism that enabled programmers to present a particular environment to the respondent without installing any software on the computer from which it is opened and launched [4]. This circumvents software-based key loggers and viruses because the user environment is tightly controlled. The Linux operating system proved attractive because of its open-source and configurable nature, and the plethora of distributions. Many of these distributions are supported by a large and active online community of programmers who have contributed a large number of articles, tutorials, and other reference material which has proven helpful to the technical staff at RTI.
PROSPECTIVE DESIGN Sojourn development began with RTI programmers evaluating existing platforms and tools that could be utilized to ensure compatibility and data security. The first step of this evaluation was to do preliminary research into the computing platforms available in schools. RTI crossreferenced computing platforms with various products that would meet the study requirements. Variability of Web browsers, hardware technologies, and the ability to customize preferences within systems presented challenges in maintaining consistency in administering a survey via the Web [2]. In addition, it was critical that consistency existed with the positioning and spacing of response options and visual cues in order to minimize potential confounds introduced by variant visual experiences [3]. Initial discussions focused on the differences and limitations of utilizing web-based software versus desktop-based software. Concerns were raised for both web-based and desktop-based software with regard to respondent privacy threats such as viruses and software-based key loggers. Viruses and key loggers are programs that can gain access to computer systems and surreptitiously record information typed on a computer; therefore RTI had to produce a software solution that would account for these threats. The consensus among RTI's technical staff was to use the Linux operating system as a platform to deliver a web-based software solution. This allowed RTI to control the browser platform and deliver web-based software that would not burden school networks.
SOJOURN IN SCHOOLS Sojourn was introduced to school administrators and technical personnel during the initial school recruitment phase of HSLS:09 . It was explained that Sojourn was a tool designed to enable the use of school computer labs while creating a controlled and secure environment. Discussions focused on the fact that data integrity, validity, and security would be assured by providing this controlled and uniform testing landscape. Participating schools were asked a series of questions designed to determine the feasibility of using Sojourn in school computer labs. By implementing this process as one of the many steps involved in preparing for the session, we had the benefit of circumventing any problems through working with the schools’ technical support team to resolve any issues before data collection began. For schools with special requirements, customized versions of Sojourn were developed. Schools in these categories were generally ones whose policies allowed for an application such as Sojourn to be executed on their systems, but whose hardware and/or software configurations required the inclusion of additional logic in Sojourn’s setup routine. Customizations for these special-requirement schools varied, but ranged from special wireless
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drivers to the inclusion of additional network information. Procedures were implemented to test Sojourn in the schools prior to test day. Initially, we sent a mailing to schools which included instructions and a test CD called Sojourn Qualifier. Qualifier was functionally similar to the final release, but included a sophisticated diagnostic component that allowed RTI programmers and school staff to review and resolve any issues discovered during the Qualifier testing process. It was requested that a staff member at the school test Qualifier prior to the first session. In doing so this step enabled RTI’s programming staff and the school’s technical personnel to answer any questions or resolve technical challenges prior to the first session, ensuring a problem-free questionnaire and assessment administration. As a second step in testing Sojourn for compatibility, field staff sent by RTI to conduct the student sessions in schools tested Sojourn during a scheduled visit prior to conducting the session. Testing the Sojourn CD in the school’s computer lab in advance of the student session facilitated the success of the sessions. In addition to testing the Sojourn CD the purpose of these visits was also to finalize the logistics of the session to ensure a successful data collection (therefore visits were scheduled to occur regardless of the survey administration mode). Project field staff arrived at the school an hour early on test day in order to boot each of the machines and set up for the session. Sojourn worked by placing the CD into the disk drive of each computer in the computer lab (in schools that did not have disk drives, thumb drives were inserted into available USB ports on the computers). Once this step was completed, each machine was restarted. Sojourn interrupted the normal boot cycle, which prevented the computer from booting directly to the installed operating system. Samples of the set up screens are shown in Figures 1-4. The system then prompted the user through a series of questions such as whether a static or dynamic IP address was being used, or whether the user was on a wireless network or using a proxy server. After the questions were answered Sojourn created a secure link to the
NCES server and opened to the HSLS:09 log-in page. Once at the HSLS:09 log-in page each student participant would enter a unique user ID and password in order to proceed with the session. While at the HSLS:09 website, the computer was essentially locked down and the ability to connect to different websites was eliminated. If the session was interrupted for any reason, the study participant could log back on later and pick up where the session left off. At the end of the session, the CDs were removed and the computers were re-booted and returned to normal operations. Once the session was over and the student logged out, the project field staff could either begin another test session with a different student, or remove the disk and restart the computer. Figure 1: Sojourn Start Up
Figure 2: Sojourn Guided Network Setup
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Figure 5: Sessions Administered Using Sojourn vs. Project Laptops
Figure 3: Sojourn Wireless Network Setup
The schools that did not use Sojourn could not implement the software for technical reasons outside of the survey staff’s control, such as insufficient network bandwidth, inadequate hardware, or procedural issues. For example, stringent rules about computer usage by nonschool staff made the use of Sojourn prohibitive in some cases, i.e., school staff could not permit survey staff to access the school computer labs. In other instances, schools and districts that were favorably inclined toward the use of Sojourn were unable to do so due to scheduling conflicts with their computer labs. A high adoption rate of Sojourn in schools is important because of its numerous data security and data integrity benefits. For example, since Sojourn stores no data entered by respondents on the host computer (and because any data entered by respondents is transmitted through a secure network connection to a secure website and encrypted during transmission), Sojourn avoids potential pitfalls that other data collection strategies risk (e.g. misplaced printed sheets with hand-written answers, lost laptops with respondent data stored on them, etc.). Moreover, answers from respondents collected through Sojourn can be more or less immediately stored in system databases, without going through more error-prone channels such as typing by data-entry staff, OCR (Optical Character Recognition) scanning, or other means. As a result, data transfer is expedited and analysis of a study can be conducted in real time as it unfolds. Sojourn, and data collection strategies like it, hold bright promise of making the management and execution of field studies more efficient, more cost effective, and the data collected more secure.
Figure 4: HSLS Student Login Page
RESULTS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH Due to its open source architecture and ubiquitous platform compatibility Sojourn drew particular interest from school IT personnel. Sojourn’s successful adoption was fairly significant and is shown in Figure 5. Of the 944 high schools who participated in the study, 790 were able to employ Sojourn for the administration (84 percent). The high rate of successful adoption of Sojourn can be attributed to a combination of careful assessment of the school computer feasibility by RTI project recruitment staff, the efforts of project field staff and school personnel, and the robust and highly interoperable design of the Sojourn software.
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Plans for future utilization of Sojourn include incorporating additional support for computer hardware devices, as well as incorporating userfriendly input prompts to aid field and school staff with setup. Other studies sponsored by the same federal statistics agency have expressed interest in adapting Sojourn into their survey administration approaches and protocols. The next iteration of Sojourn will be used for the HSLS:09 first followup study in the spring of 2012.
REFERENCES [1] Sandene, B., Horkay, N., Bennett, R., Allen, N., Braswell, J., Kaplan, B., and Oranje, A. (2005). Online Assessment in Mathematics and Writing: Reports From the NAEP TechnologyBased Assessment Project, Research and Development Series (NCES 2005–457). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
CONCLUSION
[2] Crawford, S., McCabe, S. E., & Pope, D. 2005. “Applying Web-Based Survey Design Standards” Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community (The Haworth Press, Inc.) Vol. 29, No. 1/2. 43-66.
The development of Sojourn resulted in a successful electronic data collection for HSLS:09. This was made possible by Sojourn’s ability to secure information entered by respondents, along with its capacity to operate under the vast array of hardware and network configurations discovered at the schools where it was utilized. The use of new technologies like Sojourn in future schoolbased data collection efforts will enable researchers to collect valuable data while maintaining data security.
[3] Tourangeau, R., Couper, M.P.,& Conrad, F. 2003. “The impact of the visible: Images, spacing, and other visual cues in Web-based surveys.” Paper presented at the WSS/FCSM Seminar on the Funding Opportunity in Survey Methodology. May 22. [4] Schaumann, Jan. 2006. “Pondering Live CDs”. Paper published in The NetBSD Project as a part of the BSDCan 2006 conference.
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Application of Software Defined Radio Platform in Information and Communication Technology Education Yitong Liu, Hao Chen, Zhengwei Ni, Si Wen, Jianwei Wu, Hongwen Yang Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, China Recently, many experts and educators realize that it is often useful to motivate students to learn the mathematical theory of communication systems by showing how the theory applies to real world systems, and more attention and efforts are put on effective educational methods [1] [2]. However, communications laboratory experiments typically deal with simple circuits and rarely provide an opportunity for students to observe actual communications signals. So some experts develop various hardware platforms to demonstrate special technology or dedicated systems in class [3]. But the high cost in establishing such a special laboratory often makes them disappointed. Fortunately, there are still some solutions which can provide well tradeoff between cost and effectiveness. For example, SDR technologies has already attracted much interests in telecommunication education filed [4]. In particular, Sharlene Katz and his team have shown some interesting demonstrations using the universal software radio peripheral (USRP) and GNU radio [5].
ABSTRACT As information and telecommunication technologies developing rapidly, education courses in communications also meet many challenges. Relying heavily on mathematical models, communications theory looks to be completely abstract for students. Showing how the theory applies to real world systems would be very important in teaching communication technologies. For this purpose, in this paper we show a universal platform designed with Software-Defined Radio technology. The students can use this platform to experience and apply communication theory in the real world (e.g. AM/FM Radio, Cognitive Radio). Such practical experiences are vital in motivating students and helping their understanding. Keywords: Software-Defined Radio (SDR), Telecommunication Education, Signal Processing, Demonstration and Research
I.
Follow the similar idea as in [5], this paper aims to design a universal educational platform using Software-Defined Radio (SDR) technology, which combines the merits of SDR platform and traditional education methods. Then teachers and researchers can take the advantage of our solutions to make directviewing demonstration and launch various hardware-in-the-loop simulations with less cost.
INTRODUCTION
In the past two decades, information and telecommunication technologies have developed rapidly. As a consequence, experts are paying more attention to telecommunication training and education quality and the demands for advanced education in information communication technology (ICT) field grow dramatically. However, some challenges are revealed in traditional training and education process. Courses on communications theory rely heavily on mathematical models. The abstract mathematical treatment of modulation and demodulation, as traditionally taught in lecture, may be difficult for students to understand. Lacking hobby or work experience, our typical students have more of a need to see that the material they are learning in class is useful in the ³real world´. In addition, practical applications provide an overall structure in which to place what could be seen as unconnected equations and concepts. Unfortunately, classroom access to commercial communications systems is impractical.
The paper is organized as follows. In Section II, the SDR Educational Platform is outlined by dividing them into several modules according to the design principle. The interfaces between the modules are also defined in Section III. Furthermore, some experimental processes are implemented and evaluated. We present our conclusions and make an outlook onto future work in Section IV.
II.
SDR EDUCATIONAL PLATFORM IMPLEMENTATION
SDR is the art and science of building radios using software. The idea is to get the software as close to the antenna as is feasible and turn hardware problems into software problems. As shown in Fig. 1, mixers, filters, amplifiers, modulators, demodulators, detectors, etc are implemented by means of software and only a simple hardware-frontend and antenna remain as ³hardware´ [6][7].
Moreover, researches and experiments in new technology may cost a large number of equipments (such as professional platform including expensive chips and EDA software). Such professional platforms are difficult to reuse in other experiments. The challenge in modern class and laboratory appeals us to develop some effective methods, which can turn complex theory into vivid experiences and cut down the cost in establishing a telecommunication laboratory.
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(ASIC) or General Purpose Processor (GPP) chips did in frontends of traditional communication systems, but the design is completely implemented in software. This layer is built up with a set of algorithms of frequency domain and time domain. As the first initiative, this layer provides the capability of basic signal processing like sampling, amplifying, filtering, etc. Furthermore, processes like modulation, demodulation, channel coding, etc. is also available.
DSP or GPP
Hardware Frontend
Software Processing
Audio/Data Output
The top layer is about applications. With the digital signal processing layer, a complete communication procedure can be applied now, and the data is transferred to the higher layer. An application is a program determines how modules and algorithms function and how data flows. A user interface is also implemented for students to understand the communication system and to control or modify it. Once a new specification of communication is needed, the only thing to do is working out a suit of new software.
Fig.1 Overview of software radio system
Recently, National Instruments (NI) is putting great efforts on PXI products (PC-based platform for test, measurement, and control) [8], which can provide the industry's highest bandwidth and lowest latency with modular I/O for high-resolution DC to 6 GHz RF. Moreover, with LabVIEW (a graphical development environment) developing tools, building such a universal educational platform can be more efficient. In this section, we will focus on the design of a SDR platform in an educational context and how the associated tasks can be introduced in the learning activities.
Software Application
As students need exposure to real telecommunication procedures, laboratories needs to build up an effective experimental environment. Traditionally, people can purchase some expensive and huge facilities to implement the need. However, old facilities are usually designed for some specific telecommunication systems, which results in more cost and less efficiency.
Application
Application
Application
Digital Signal Processing
Personal Computer
Applying SDR to education can be a new concept and solution to the dilemma. Traditional designs of telecommunication experimental environment lack of flexibility. Contrary to SDR, they are tightened by the specifications of the commercial equipment, which is directly related to the design of the communication system. It thus means that once a platform is established, the only method to adapt it to a new system is to replace the hardware, which also means some new facilities must be purchased.
Embedded Computing Device
A/D (D/A) Convert Antennas Hardware
Fig.2 design of SDR educational platform
III. REALIZATION AND EVALUATION In order to increase the flexibility, one possible solution is using the same hardware in different communication systems with various software modules. Hence we will define a sub-divided communication educational platform. Basically, there are two typical parts in this system, software and hardware.
We combine the NI LabVIEW and NI PXI 5661/5671 to implement the proposed SDR-education platform, as shown in Fig. 3. The design Our SDR Platform deals with two primary challenges: basic teaching and research in frontier technologies.
As mentioned, the hardware equipment is shared by different specification of communication systems. Theoretically, it can be divided into two parts. As shown in Fig 2, the higher part requires a personal computer or embedded computing devices, taking the advantage of rapidly evolving capabilities of digital electronics. The lower part can be a transceiver simply consists of analog-to-digital/digital-to-analog (ADC/DAC) convertors connected to antennas, regardless of the specification of communication systems. All the filtering and signal processing can be implemented digitally, which highly depended on the design and algorithm of the software. The software part consists of two layers. The digital signal processing layer controls the hardware part directly. It plays the similar roles as Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), digital signal processor (DSP), Application Specific Integrated Circuit
Fig.3 SDR education platform with PXI instruments
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Facing with teaching problem in telecommunication education, we set amplitude modulation (AM) as an example. In traditional class, students get the AM theory only by equations and expressions, which are demonstrated by the waveforms of original signal and modulated signal. Students may be conscious of the changes, but they can¶t have an intuitive experience whether the changes really make sense. However, if there is a real signal in our life (e.g. music, voice, TV signals), students can hear or see the signal and understand what happens when the signal is modulated. Based on this consideration, users are suggested to replace the original signal to a piece of music saved on the personal computer. Then the signal is modulated by software with AM module. Finally, data stream of modulated signal is sent to PXI interface and turns into a real AM signal. At this point, students can hear our music with an AM radio. Besides, we don¶t need to simulate a channel because we experiment in the real environment. When students change the parameters (e.g. modulation depth) of AM module, the sound of music will turn good or bad accordingly. In this way, students will be aware of the meaning of parameters in modulation.
Fig.4 Music Station on SDR Platform
If teachers want to demonstrate other modulation methods (e.g. Frequency Modulation), the only thing required is to replace AM module to FM module and reset the parameters. And then, students can receive the same music with an FM radio. Furthermore, by comparing the received signal of FM with AM, students can distinguish which one owns a better ability to deal with noise and interference. Such a conclusion can be easily drawn by hearing and sensing, not by remembering a lot of equations and concepts. For demodulation, a similar approach helps students to receive and demodulate the signal that has already existed in the surroundings. And then, send the signal to the output device to make people hear it or see it. When there is something wrong with demodulation, the information of the music is lost or destroyed and the music is no longer the original one.
Fig.5 AM/FM Radio on SDR Platform
Furthermore, a simple experiment of cognitive radio has shown in Fig. 6. With this platform, the students can cognize and analyze the spectrum, find some spectrum holes to emit an intended signal.
For instance, when FM demodulation is introduced, FM radio station is chosen as a signal source. By searching the FM band, students locate a radio station where its power is higher than the average in frequency domain. Then the received signal is demodulated with FM Demodulation module. After resampling, the demodulated signal is sent to the sound card and students can hear the original music. To make sure the students really understand the process, students are encouraged to develop their own demodulation modules using different algorithms. In this way, they must have a grasp of the demodulation theory. Thus, the SDR Platform changes the way of teaching and learning. Teachers provide a real communication system instead of pure theories or abstract concepts. For students, they don¶t need a test or homework to prove that they have understood the knowledge. They just build a system themselves. Fig.4 and Fig.5 shows, respectively, the music station and SDR-radio realized on the platform.
Fig. 6 Cognitive Radio
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IV. CONCLUSIONS This paper proposed a SDR educational platform with PXI instruments and LabVIEW developing environment. The important and novel feature of our design is that it makes telecommunication education vivid and impressive, especially when students join in the developing activities. At the same time, we take the advantage of SDR technology to reduce cost and enhance flexibility of learning and research processes. However, SDR technology is still not very popular in telecommunication education. At present, we are planning to build more demonstrations and applications to verify and popularize this idea and put it into practice.
V. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This study was supported by National Best-Course Project (Principles of Communications) and the National Science Foundation of China (No. 61072059). We thank the students who participated in the platform design, test, creation and related discussions.
VI. REFERENCES [1] Kubichek Robert, Welch Thad, Wright CameURQ³$ Comprehensive Suite of Tools for Teaching Communications &RXUVHV´ 2006 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Chicago, Illinois, June 18-21, 2006. [2] 6LODJH 'HQQLV ³7HDFKLQJ 'LJLWDO &RPPXQLFDWLRQV LQ D :LUHOHVV:RUOG :KR1HHGV(TXDWLRQV"´ 2006 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Chicago, Illinois, June 18-21, 2006. [3] 'XQQH%UXFH³'HVLJQRID+DUGZDUH3ODWIRUPIRU$QDORJ &RPPXQLFDWLRQV /DERUDWRU\´ 2008 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, June 22-25, 2008. [4] Guzelgoz, S. Arslan, H., "Modeling, simulation, testing, and measurements of wireless communication systems: A laboratory based approach", Proc. Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference (WAMICON 09), IEEE Press, 2009, pp. 1-5. DOI: 10.1109/WAMICON.2009.5207233. [5] 6KDUOHQH .DW] DQG -DPHV )O\QQ ³8VLQJ 6RIWZDUH 'HILQHG Radio (SDR) to Demonstrate Concepts in Communications and Signal Processing Courses," Proc. 39th IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE 09), IEEE Press, 2009, pp. 1432± 1437. DOI: 10.1109/FIE.2009.5350716. [6] Markus Dillinger, Kambiz Madani, Nancy Alonistioti, Software Defined Radio: Architectures, Systems and Functions, Wiley, 2003. [7] Carlos R. Aguayo Gonzalez, Carl B.Dietrich, Shereef Sayed, Haris I. Volos, Joseph D. Gaeddert, P. Max Robert, Jeffrey H. Reed, Frank E. Kragh, ³Open-Source SCA-Based Core Framework and Rapid Development Tools Enable Software-Defined Radio Education and Research´, IEEE Communications Magazine, Oct.2009, pp.48-55. [8] National Instruments Corporation, http://www.ni.com/rf
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The Microsoft Word Free Mathematics Add-In and Microsoft Mathematics Beta 4.0 Gail Nord Department of Mathematics, Gonzaga University Spokane, WA, 99258, USA and John Nord Department of Mathematics, Saint George‟s School Spokane, WA, 99208, USA
Deputy Secretary of Education, Madeleine Kunin, said, “Our task, as you noted, with the budget deficit, is to use our limited resources in the most targeted and effective way, so that we can not only meet the technology needs of this country, but also meet the over-arching mission of the U.S. Department of Education, which is to improve access to high-quality education for all of America‟s school children” [2]. The challenge is particularly large in communities facing budgeting shortfalls, with the greatest need frequently found in the communities least able to afford commercial solutions. Conference attendees offered anecdotal comments regarding their specific purpose at the conference. They sought free interactive technologies that could be brought back to their school districts. Some professionals were seeking solutions to target particular students, but many were just looking for any remedy that would promote inclusion of technology in the classroom.
ABSTRACT This paper explores the use of powerful, free computer algebra system (CAS) software for the K-12 and university science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) classrooms. Educational institutions are sorely in need of affordable technology. The financial reality facing many schools prohibits the allocation of limited resources for appropriate mathematical software. The free mathematics add-in offered to license holders of Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010 offers a prudent solution to this challenge. With particular strengths of graphing in two- and threedimensions, Word’s add-in is a viable choice. Recently released, Microsoft Mathematics Beta 4.0 includes a fullfeatured, virtual graphing calculator designed to work just like a handheld calculator. Additional math tools help users evaluate triangles, convert from one system of units to another, and solve systems of equations. This software is free to all users. Graphics and mathematics results can be inserted into text documents from either program.
The examples presented here are centered on improving the teaching and learning of two- and three-dimensional graphs using polar and spherical coordinates. The use of the animate command found within the free mathematics add-in is demonstrated and developed as a tool to aid discovery-style lessons. These sample examples would be conducive to whole class teaching, particularly if presented on Interactive Whiteboards (IWB).
Keywords: Undergraduate Mathematics, Technology Integration, Computer Algebra System, Free Software Download and Microsoft. 1. INTRODUCTION This paper is based on the presentation made in Denver, Colorado at the 2010 International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference. ISTE hosts the largest educational technology exhibit in the United States. Feedback from mathematics educators and information technology personnel verified there is a need for technology access aimed at engaging students in STEM education. In testimony before the Congress, the
2. MICROSOFT FREE MATHEMATICS ADD-IN Set against this background, the use of the free mathematics add-in for Microsoft Word is a practical solution for schools without the budget-base that would allow for access to Mathematica, Maple, or other fee based CAS. To get started, download the free mathematics add-in from Microsoft [6]. Fig. 1 shows the placement in the ribbon.
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The content sensitive „right click‟ generates a mathematical operations menu that contains, Compute. Animate appears as an option in the pop-up Microsoft Math Graph Controls dialogue box. Animate can be used to generate a movie of different roses as n changes, or n can be directly controlled by changing the value of the upper limit on the right of the animate control panel that allows input for a fixed value as shown in Fig. 4.
Figure 1: Ribbon. After pressing Insert New Equation, students are ready after one step to input an equation, expression, or inequality as shown in Fig. 2.
Figure 4: A rose where n is fixed for the frame. The students can interact with the upper limit to generate real-time examples and quickly seize upon the theorem for roses. The number of petals is n if n is odd and 2n if n is even where or [10]. The plotPolar2d command can be absent, and an example using is given in Fig. 5 using the Plot in 2D option from the pull-down screen. The input can merely be followed by a right click. The input does not require multifaceted syntax. The animate command will appear by default with the introduction of the parameter, n.
Figure 2: Insert new equation. The screen is user-friendly and requires little or no training to enter the desired mathematical notation as shown in Fig. 3.
Figure 3: Navigation screen for input of mathematical notation. 3. EXAMPLES OF POLAR GRAPHS IN TWODIMENSIONS Consider the graphs of the roses generated by: Figure 5: Creating a movie with the right arrow .
key.
The graphics package found within the mathematics addin takes the command syntax:
The polar graphs have angles defined in radians and are controlled by the Mathematics tab as shown in Fig. 6.
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Figure 6: Math preferences. Cardioids and limaçons can easily be treated with the same student interest generated by the Animate command. Apply the Compute option from the command, and generate a graph with default values a = b = 1. For example, b = 1, when animating on a. It is possible to introduce more than one parameter for utilization of the animate feature.
Figure 8: A three-dimensional image. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics encourages the use graphing utilities to investigate informally the surfaces generated by functions of two variables. “Such investigations not only contribute to further development of important visualization skills but also foreshadow more advanced work with functions” [7]. An application of the animate command to threedimensional polar graphs could entail using or . Similarly, the option of omitting the plotPolar3D syntax is permitted. The equation r= f( can be inserted and the use of the command Plot in 3D can be applied from the menu.
Figure 7: Cardioid.
The
generated by the inline syntax, , is the spherical coordinates‟ threedimensional analog to the spiral of Archimedes. It might be very difficult to draw an example resembling a chambered nautilus on the chalkboard of this quality.
Students can discover that is the graph of a cardioid if |a| =|b| as shown in Figure 7. Otherwise, the graph is a limaçon that has two loops if |a| <|b|, dimpled if 1 < | | 2, and convex if | | 2 [10].
graph
Several real-time examples involving the „play‟ button will lead students to conjecture and test assumptions about the relationships between parameters a, and b, and the resulting graphs. Serious students looking for extensions, or explorations, can be left to discover relationships between graph types when parameters, a, b, and n, vary with the equation of The speed of computers enables students to produce many examples when exploring mathematical problems; this supports their observation of patterns and the building and justifying of generalizations [9]. 4. EXAMPLES OF POLAR GRAPHS IN THREEDIMENSIONS The free mathematics add-in found in Microsoft Word can also generate three-dimensional polar images, using spherical coordinates. An example of the syntax for three-dimensional polar graphs is . The image is shown in Fig. 8.
Figure 9: Shell. Students should use the Rotate option to revolve the surface around the x, y, or z axis. In addition, the Zoom feature allows for further interactive investigation.
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that schools can quickly and widely adopt and one that students will embrace.
5. MICROSOFT MATHEMATICS BETA 4.0 “Having students use computers to manipulate pictures dynamically encourages them to visualize the geometry as they generate their own mental images” [9]. Within Microsoft Mathematics Beta 4.0, the ribbon allows for the user to select and rotate, zoom, and display the image as desired [5]. The graphics can be saved as a picture and exported. There are three work areas. The user may select Graphing to generate more graphics in two- and three-dimensions. The user has the option of using the calculator as shown on the left in Fig. 10, or using the Worksheet to input equations, inequalities, variables, and expressions.
7. REFERENCES [1] A. L. Baylor, & D. Ritchie, What Factors Facilitate Teacher Skill, Teacher Morale, and Perceived Student Learning in Technology-using Classrooms? Computers & Education, Vol. 39, No. 4, 2002, pp. 395 – 414. [2] Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, (1995). Educational Technology, Special Testimony, Washington, D.C.: U. S. Printing Office, April 4, 1995. http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED393403.pdf [3] S.C. Ehrmann, Asking the Right Question: What Does Research Tell Us About Technology and Higher Learning? Change, Vol. 27, No. 2, 1995, pp. 20-27. [4] International Society for Technology in Education, ISTE’s U.S. Public Policy Principles and Federal & State Objectives, Washington, D.C.: ISTE, 2009. http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Advocacy/ Policy/109.09-US-Public-Policy-Principles.pdf [5] Microsoft Corporation, Microsoft Mathematics Beta 4.0, 2011: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?Fa milyID=9CACA722-5235-401C-8D3F-9E242B794C3A [6] Microsoft Corporation, Microsoft Mathematics AddIn for Word and OneNote 2010: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?Fa milyID=CA620C50-1A56-49D2-90BD-B2E505B3BF09.
Figure 10: Microsoft Beta 4.0 interface. 6. CONCLUSION
[7] National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics, Reston, VA: NCTM, 1989
ISTE‟s public policy objectives are based on a core principle that technology is an essential element of teaching, learning, and instructional design in effective 21st-century learning systems [4]. As teachers embrace integrated lessons, there is an increase in student content acquisition [11]. “The way in which technology is used in a classroom is a critical measure of its success…When students and teachers perceive computers as a separate subject, unassociated with the context of the lesson or classroom, the content or concepts studied are often left fragmented in the learner‟s mind. But if a technologyenhanced lesson is integrated into the larger curriculum with direct tie-ins, students are more likely to infuse the knowledge into existing cognitive structures” [1]. The Microsoft Mathematics Add-in for Microsoft Office Word 2007 and 2010 and Microsoft Mathematics Beta 4.0 makes it easy to create graphs, perform calculations, and solve for variables with equations and inequalities. The user-friendly interface allows for modeling and solving of complex problems with minimal syntax instruction. These are affordable and accessible computation tools
[8] National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, Reston, VA: NCTM, 2000. [9] A. Oldknow, (ed.) ICT and Mathematics: A Guide to Learning and Teaching Mathematics, Leicester: The Mathematical Association, 2005, pp. 11-19. [10] J. Repka, Calculus with Analytic Geometry, Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown, 1994. [11] L.P. Rieber, & P.W. Welliver, Infusing Educational Technology into Mainstream Educational Computing, International Journal of Instructional Media, Vol. 16, No. 1, 1989, pp. 21-32. [12] M. Shepard, A Rose is a Rose is a Rose…. The College Mathematics Journal, Vol. 28, No. 1, 1997, pp. 55-56.
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[13] J. Stewart, Calculus, fifth edition, Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning, 2003
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VIRTUAL MOBILITY IN HIGHER ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION Conference based online course: Safe and Sustainable Sanitation Maarit SÄRKILAHTI and Tuula TUHKANEN Department of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Tampere University of Technology P.O. Box 541, 33101 Tampere, Finland
It is also aimed at enhancing knowledge exchange between north and south. One advantage this type of course arrangement has is the quality of the course material, which is guaranteed by a peer review of the conference papers.
ABSTRACT Tampere University of Technology in Finland offers the online course “Safe and Sustainable Sanitation” that is based on scientific work presented at the International Dry Toilet Conference. The free online course enhances virtual mobility by allowing university students to have equal access to recent scientific knowledge, even if they cannot afford taking part in the conference. This paper concentrates on the analysis of the student feedback gathered during the online course. Other concern is online course cooperation with other higher education institutions. Lack of formal regulations for virtual exchange hinders virtual mobility realization.
2. ONLINE COURSE Safe and Sustainable Sanitation is an online course based on lectures given by international experts during the latest International Dry Toilet Conference. To be more precise, the most distinguished researchers taking part in the conference give lectures on the preconference workshop “Safe and Sustainable Sanitation.” These lectures are recorded and used on the web course together with assignments and other learning materials used at the workshop. Speakers sign the contract of usage rights that allows the Institute of Environmental Engineering and Biotechnology (TUT) to use the materials on the online course for three years. So far, the conference has been realized three times, in autumns 2003, 2006 and 2009. The web course was put together for the first time in 2006. The first version was offered to university students for three times until the course was renewed in 2009. The latest version has been realized twice so far and will be realized once more before the next conference is held in 2012. Then the course material will be renewed again to correspond with current issues of sanitation.
Keywords: Online course, Virtual mobility, Sanitation, Environmental engineering, scientific conference, Student satisfaction, University cooperation
1. INTRODUCTION The concept of virtual mobility is put into practice in the Institute of Environmental Engineering and Biotechnology, Tampere University of Technology (TUT), Finland. The institute has developed an online course in close cooperation with the NGO Global Dry Toilet Association of Finland and a network of organizations called the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA). The online course “Safe and Sustainable Sanitation” is based on scientific work presented at the International Dry Toilet Conference that is organized every third year in Tampere, Finland. The goals of the conference based online course include distribution of the latest sanitation knowledge to a wide audience and maximum exploitation of the scientific work presented in the conference. Equality among the participants is also an important aspect. Via a free online course, university students can have equal access to recent scientific knowledge, even if they cannot afford taking part in the conference. This especially benefits students from less favored countries.
Figure 2.1. Screen capture from a video lecture
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The weaknesses include technical problems with videos and practice in group work and assignment completion (Figure 3.2.). Two critical comments are cited below.
The course is aimed at advanced M.Sc. students, Ph.D. students and postdoctoral students from Finnish and international universities. The course requires a computer with a relatively fast internet connection. The course is divided into 7 sections, each lasting for 1-2 weeks. Each section consists of a video lecture and/or reading material and a learning assignment. Successful completion of the learning assignments is required to receive credits for the course. Learning assignments include group work, individually written assignments, quizzes and participation in asynchronous discussions on the course topics. The course is worth 3 ECTS credits, which equals to a total workload of 81 hours.
“My problems with internet. All because this Thai internet provider” “I expected to do this course anytime, whenever I wanted. Working in groups was a small problem for me, because I could not be online when my group mates where online. Working in a group through the internet is not so easy and takes a lot of time.”
45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
The current version of the course is strongly influenced by the International Year of Sanitation (UN, 2008), which has led to an increased amount of knowledge on sanitation. The course familiarizes the students with the different methods on urine and excreta reuse; the evaluation, selection and implementation of techniques and risk control actions related to reuse. It offers basic skills of interactive exchange of information and options among individuals, groups, and institutions (stakeholders) regarding the most common sustainable sanitation techniques and the risks and related risk management techniques. Themes covered are safety, technical feasibility, socio-economic aspects and ecological sustainability of alternative, non-traditional sanitation. The learning environment provides a channel for sanitation experts and future professionals in different countries to exchange ideas and information. The following aspects will be included: developing vs. developed countries, south vs. north, dry vs. humid climates, rich vs. poor, and women vs. men.
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Figure 3.1. What did the students most like about the course? Number of answers in each class.
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0 3. COURSE DEVELOPMENT The course has been developed not only to respond to the current scientific knowledge of sanitation but also to meet student needs. Course feedback from the first course version has been collected and analyzed. The results are summarized below. 117 students from 25 countries have completed the course during the years 2006-08. 43 % of them have come from Finland. Participants are highly content with the course. Especially successful features are interaction with the international group, quality of the content and the methods of implementation such as weekly assignments (Figure 3.1.). Below one positive comment is cited.
Figure 3.2. What did the students most dislike about the course? Number of answers in each class.
Suggestions from the students can be summarized as follows: Video technology should be improved so that everyone could watch and listen to the video lectures without so much effort. Assignments should be better related to the learning material and assignment instructions should be clearer. Financial aspects of dry toilet development could be included in the course content.
“All the discussions were very interesting because there was so much knowledge among all the participants.”
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of the scientific work presented in the conference. Students appreciate interaction with the international group, quality of the content and the methods of online course implementation. On the other hand, e-Learning tools do not always meet the needs of the students and group work is challenging in the Internet. From an institutional viewpoint the problem is that there are no formal regulations for virtual exchange and practices vary from one university to another.
The feedback summarized above was taken into consideration when the current version of the course was developed in 2009. The old A&O learning environment, which was only used in TUT, was replaced by an open-source learning environment Moodle, up to date video technology was used in cooperation with the hypermedia laboratory of TUT and the whole content was renewed. 104 students have taken the new version during the last two years. The feedback of the second course version is also being studied in order to guarantee continuous development. In addition, the survey “Utilization of the knowledge gained during the course Safe and Sustainable Sanitation” has been sent to former students of the course and its data is currently being analyzed. These results are also available for the conference.
To assure the course quality also in future, it is necessary: x
x
4. INSTITUTIONALIZATION Universities have become highly specialized but rather narrow in their approach to knowledge, and therefore it is necessary to develop knowledge exchange [1]. From the institutional viewpoint, online courses have a great potential to enhance international cooperation between universities. The main challenge to be overcome is a lack of official recognition. There are no formal regulations for virtual exchange and practices vary from one university to another. In few fields of study, university units have formed alliances that gather knowledge together and e.g. offer online courses for students. One example of an international teaching network is EVICAB (European Virtual Campus for Biomedical Engineering) [2]. The Real Virtual Erasmus project has tried to convince the European Commission that there is a need for regulations for virtual exchange [3].
x
x
6. REFERENCES [1] Varis T. 2005. eLearning and higher education. eLearning Papers No 1, November 2006. [www.elearningpapers.eu] referred 15.10.2010 [2] Kybartaite A. 2010. Impact of Modern Educational Technologies on Learning Outcomes. Application for e-Learning in Biomedical Engineering. Tampere University of Technology. Publication 901. Juvenes Print.
It is a subject of research in the Institute of Environmental Engineering and Biotechnology to find ways to establish online education and especially virtual course exchange in the field of environmental engineering. Formal agreements would help the department to find the right partners and facilitate an access of the students to high level courses. The survey “Possibilities of cooperation on environmental education via internet courses” has been sent to partner universities and the data is currently being analyzed. Also, an interview of key persons responsible for university agreements regarding virtual mobility is being planned. These results are also available for the conference. 5.
to facilitate the usage of the learning environment by keeping up with the e-Learning tool development as well as offering enough technical tutoring during the course. to keep the course content updated by renewing it each time that the International Dry Toilet Conference takes place. to use enough resources for course updating, management and tutoring to keep learning experience sound as well as facilitate learning community formation and e.g. group works. to improve online course cooperation in order to guarantee international interaction on the course as well as participate on international online course benchmarking.
[3] Bijnens, H., Boussemaere, M., Rajagopal, K. Op de Beeck, I. Van Petergem, W. (Ed.). 2006. European cooperation in education through Virtual Mobility. A best-practice manual. Being Mobile. EuroPACE ivzw, Heverlee, Belgium. [http://www.beingmobile.net/pdf/BM_handbook_final.pdf] referred 9.7.2009
CONCLUSIONS
Conference based online course “Safe and Sustainable Sanitation” has great potential to maximize exploitation
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Simulation of the Prokaryotic Cell Cycle at http://simon.bio.uva.nl/cellcycle/ Arieh Zaritsky1, Conrad L. Woldringh2, Norbert O. E. Vischer2, and Charles E. Helmstetter3 1
Life Sciences Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, POB 653, Be'er-Sheva 84105, Israel, Molecular Cytology, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, NL1098 XH, The Netherlands, 3 Biology, Florida Institute of Technology, 150 W University Blvd, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA 2
are still obscure. Crucial links are thus sought between duplications of the nucleoid (DNA) and the sacculus (murein), the only unique macromolecular structures.
ABSTRACT The bacterial cell cycle is presented using the Simulation program CCSim, which employs four parameters related to time (inter-division τ, replication C, division D) and size (mass at replication initiation Mi), sufficient to describe and compare bacterial cells under various conditions. The simulation is easy to use and presents the kinetics of cell growth in an easily digestible format. Animation of a replicating chromosome and growing bacterium are coupled to parameters that affect the cell cycle. The values of these parameters can be altered and the effects of these alterations can be seen. CCSim serves as an educational tool to teach bacteriology at undergraduate level and to compare experimental observations with the best available model describing cell growth hence improve our understanding of regulatory mechanisms. Examples are displayed of several transitions between known physiological states that are consistent with experimental results, including one that explains strange observations.
Many bacterial species multiply in aqueous salts solution at rates µ that depend on nutritional conditions [11, 15]. The shortest doubling time τ for the model species Escherichia coli at 37ºC in rich media is about 20 min (equivalent to µ = 3 hr-1). Irrespectively, the time C taken to replicate its 4.6 Mega-base pairs chromosome is constant, usually about 40 min at values of τ up to about 70 min (µ down to 0.9 h-1) [7]. The cell divides to two practically identical daughters [18] a constant time D ≈ 20 min after replicationtermination. Taken together with other basic data [9, 11, 15] resulted in the conclusion that cell mass at the time of replication-initiation, Mi is roughly constant per oriC [1, 14]. Growing at an exponential rate, the cell thus divides (C+D) min after initiation with a mass of Mi×2(C+D)/τ. The changing exponential rate of cell growth at varying media is not matched by changes in the linear replication rate; they are however coupled by frequencies: the frequency of initiations adjusts to that of mass doublings. The values of these constants change only slightly with τ [5, 12, 19, 23], and can significantly be manipulated by various means, environmental or genetic [10, 16]. Many of these conclusions were based on experimental findings with a method for cell cycle analyses of minimallydisturbed exponentially-growing cultures of E. coli [6], and have been confirmed by numerous observations in other eubacteria [7]. Multiforked replication, for example, was exhibited in fast
Keywords: The Bacterial Cell Cycle, Coupling between Chromosome Replication and Cell Division, Temporal and Spatial Regulation, Duplication of the Nucleoid and the Sacculus, in silico Simulation. INTRODUCTION The coupling between chromosome replication and cell division includes temporal and spatial elements. In bacteria, these have globally been resolved, but the details and action mechanisms
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The main window displays changes with time in cell mass (black line, M, in Mi units [5]) rising exponentially, in DNA contents (red line, G, in genome equivalent units [7]) increasing linearly, and the resultant, fluctuating DNA concentration (green, G/M [13, 21]) at a resolution of 1 min. The first two parameters change abruptly at cell division, the rates of the last two (rise or drop, respectively) change at the times of initiation and termination [7], and each can be removed by clicking off in the appropriate box below. The plot can be run manually (by moving the bar below) or automatically (by pressing the Run button once, or twice to stop), animated and reset at will. The red and blue horizontal bars represent C and D time intervals respectively, with a split in the blue (during the D) when the two daughter nucleoids segregate S min after termination of replication [8].
growing cells, consistent with results obtained several years earlier by genetic transformation in the Gram-positive model species Bacillus subtilis [17]. Upon transfer of an exponentially growing culture to a richer medium (so-called nutritional shift-up), the ordered series of changes in the rates of macromolecular syntheses culminates in increased cell division rate after (C+D) min in the so-called "rate maintenance" phenomenon [9, 11]. CELL CYCLE SIMULATION The user-friendly program CCSim, posted at http://simon.bio.uva.nl/cellcycle/ pictures semirealistically and schematically the relationships between replication of the chromosome, cell mass growth and division within the framework of the Cooper-Helmstetter model [7]. It is useful for students at the graduate and under-graduate levels as well as to scientists who investigate various aspects of the bacterial cell cycle [10].
In parallel windows of the screen, the following additional pieces of information are displayed: - Values of all parameters and measures mentioned above (and more) - on the top left hand side as they change at 1 min intervals (0.5 min during the automatic run). - The state of the circular chromosome (or optional, linear half-chromosome) with oriC's (red dots), replisomes (black) and terC's (blue) at a 70º angle. (An option exists to change the observation angle.) - Links to a brief Explanation of the bacterial cell cycle, an extensive Glossary and Printing options are displayed above. - Most importantly, two series of 5 bars, left set for pre-change parameters and right for postchange, which can easily be manipulated within a wide range of values (reflecting experimental conditions). - A highly schematic cell with its nucleoid as they both grow and constrict to two. The scheme lacks several features, to be improved in later versions of the program: it does not indicate the realistic change in cell width with growth rate, it does not follow exact exponential elongation with time, and it is concealed during transitions, while exponential growth has not been reached. - Five optional "cases" are given automatically, the fifth includes an Eclipse—a minimal possible distance between two successive replisomes [20, 26]. This feature, E limits the
CCSim exploits the four parameters (τ, C, D and Mi) to follow single cells during exponential growth and transitions such as nutritional shifts [9, 11] and other changes in parameters as may be expressed in mutants or under experimental conditions that modify C [21], D [12] or Mi [5, 19, 23]. Its default values are (60, 40, 20, 1) respectively (Fig. 1), but they can easily be modified at will in steps of 1 or 10 min (and 0.1 for the latter).
Fig. 1. The default picture of CCSim as seen upon entry to http://simon.bio.uva.nl/cellcycle/ (freely available).
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upon such a change culminates in change of cell division rate after (C+D) min in the so-called "rate maintenance" phenomenon that puzzled the community for a decade since its discovery [9, 11]. This is simulated by setting τ2 < τ1, as exemplified in Fig. 2:
number of replisones to a maximum, as is described and explained below. It is useful to study this setup by steps, from simpler conditions to increasingly complicated ones, as follows [7]: (Cell cycles do not (a) τ > C+D overlap [B is analogous to the eukaryotic G1, C to S, and D to G2].) (b) C+D > τ > C (B disappears, and Mi is reached at the latter part of mother's cell cycle, during the D period.) (c) C > τ > C/2 (Initiation of replication occurs before the previous cycle has terminated, i.e., replication cycles overlap.) (d) C/2 > τ > C/3, C/3 > τ > C/4, etc (The degree of overlap becomes increasingly complicated and the number of replisomes rises exponentially with n = C/τ.) (e) Same as (c) or (d) but with an E that varies at will. Several remarks are noteworthy and instructive: - In exponentially growing cultures [3] both cell mass, M = ln2×Mi×2(C+D)/τ and DNA content, G = τ [2(C+D)/τ)-2D/τ)/C ln2] rise with growth rate (shortened doubling time τ). DNA -C/τ concentration, G/M = τ (1-2 )/Mi C ln2 decreases because the former rises faster. The same happens at slower replication rates (extended C values). The lowest limit of G/M required for a cell to normally survive and multiply is yet to be determined experimentally.
Fig. 2. An example of nutritional shift-up, generated using CCSim. A newborn cell in an exponentially growing culture under steady-state conditions [3] is followed before and after a shift-up from τ1 = 60 min to τ2 = 25 min.
THYMINE LIMITATION AND ECLIPSE The changes after nutritional shift-up leading to the new steady-state do not occur abruptly, and hence the real situation is slightly more complicated than described above. The change in growth rate is relatively slow because the profile of gene expression changes according to the nature of the nutritional shift [9, 11], sometimes even dramatically. This is why the other perturbation, changing the replication time C by manipulating the concentration of the specific DNA precursor, thymine supplied to thyA mutants [13, 21, 25], resolves this difficulty, resulting in an abrupt change: no such qualitative change is anticipated or observed. However, the predicted behavior (Fig. 3A), reaching a steady-state after (C+D+τ) min, is
- M rises and drops with analogous changes in Mi, but G remains the same due to the linear nature of chromosome replication and the constant time from initiation to division (C+D). - The meaning of D has not yet been explained in molecular terms; it was empirically defined as the difference between (C+D) and C, and the existing, feasible explanation [25] to its constant value must still be substantiated.) - The well-defined perturbation that has extensively been studied is the nutritional shiftup, at which an exponentially growing culture [3] is transferred into a richer medium that supports faster growth rate. An ordered series of changes in rates of macromolecular syntheses
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This behavior, depicted in Fig. 3B, has been explained by existence of an Eclipse—a minimal possible distance lmin between two successive replication forks (replisomes [17]), which limits the number of replisomes to a maximum that depends on that presumed distance relative to the total half-chromosome length L0.5, i.e., lmin/L0.5. If this limit is smaller than 0.5 (quarter L) [26], it is never reached under normal conditions because the minimal doubling time achievable at 37ºC τmin = 20 min (and C = 40 min), hence the maximum replisomes number is 3 (two so-called 'positions' n [= C/τ], calculated by 2n-1) [17]. Under these conditions (fast growing cells with slow replicating chromosomes, where the minimum distance between successive replicating positions is breached), G remains constant but G/M drops with time at a rate that depends upon the difference (C/τ - L0.5/lmin) - the number of positions required to maintain a steady state growth (C/τ) minus the maximum number of positions possible (L0.5/lmin) [26]. Case (e) can thus explain the formation of such monstrous cells (Fig. 4) during a long evolution [21, 22, 24-27]. This explanation must obviously still be further substantiated.
only found at relatively slow growth rates (e.g., in glycerol, with τ = 60 min) [12, 21, 25]. At faster growth rates (e.g., τ = 40 min), the divisions of such thymine limited cells are delayed without affecting the mass growth rate [13, 21, 22, 24-27. Consequently, the cells continuously enlarge, and their mass increase is accommodated by widening, then elongating and later reaching monstrous shapes and dimensions. Under such circumstances, the culture does not reach a steady state but rather grows in a mode defined as 'normal' [3].
Fig. 4. Examples of bizarre, thymine-limited cells. Left: branched, adapted from [22]; middle: DAPI-stained, from [26]; right: polar constriction (yellow arrow), from [27].
The explanation (Fig. 3B) given here to the apparently bizarre observations (Fig. 4) was recently tested experimentally [27]; enhanced frequencies of synchronous cell divisions that followed an interval of reduced rate of DNA replication is consistent with the notion of eclipse [2, 4, 20, 26, 27] and serves as an example of the usefulness of CCSim. Similar tests with mutants such as dnaAts may help to decipher the mechanism that regulates the
Fig. 3. An example of a thymine step-down, generated using CCSim. A newborn thyA cell in a culture growing exponentially under steady-state with τ = 40 min before and after a step-down from conditions supporting C1 = 40 min to C2 = 110 min, without an eclipse (E = 0) (A) and with E = 0.5 (B).
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complex pathway leading to initiate a round of chromosome replication [10]. [13] Pritchard, R. H. & Zaritsky, A. Effect of thymine concentration on the replication velocity of DNA in a thymineless mutant of Escherichia coli. Nature. 226, 126-131 (1970). [14] Pritchard, R. H., Barth, P. T. & Collins, J. Control of DNA synthesis in bacteria. Microbial growth. Symp. Soc. Gen. Microbiol. 19, 263-297 (1969). [15] Schaechter, M., Maaløe, O. & Kjeldgaard, N. O. Dependency on medium and temperature of cell size and chemical composition during balanced growth of Salmonella typhimurium. J. Gen. Microbiol. 19, 592-606 (1958). [16] Slater, M. & Schaechter, M. Control of cell division in bacteria. Bacteriol. Rev. 38, 199-221 (1974). [17] Sueoka, N. & Yoshikawa, H. The chromosome of Bacillus subtilis. I. The theory of marker frequency analysis. Genetics. 52, 747-757 (1965). [18] Trueba, F. J. & Woldringh, C. L. Changes in cell diameter during the division cycle of Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol. 142, 869-878 (1980). [19] Wold, S., Skarstad, K., Steen, H. B., Stokke, T. & Boye, E. The initiation mass for DNA replication in Escherichia coli K-12 is dependent on growth rate. EMBO J. 13, 2097-2102 (1994). [20] Zaritsky, A. Rate stimulation of deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis after inhibition. J. Bacteriol. 122, 841-846 (1975). [21] Zaritsky A., & Pritchard, R. H. Changes in cell size and shape associated with changes in the replication time of the chromosome of Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol. 114, 824-837 (1973). [22] Zaritsky, A. & Woldringh, C. L. Chromosome replication rate and cell shape in Escherichia coli: lack of coupling. J. Bacteriol. 135, 581-587 (1978). [23] Zaritsky, A. & Zabrovitz, S. DNA synthesis in Escherichia coli during a nutritional shift-up. Molec. Gen. Genet. 181, 564-56. (1981). [24] Zaritsky, A. Woldringh, C. L., Fishov, I., Vischer, N. O. E. & Einav, M. Varying division planes in spheroidal Escherichia coli cells. Microbiology 145, 1015-1022 (1999). [25] Zaritsky, A., Woldringh, C. L., Einav, M. & Alexeeva, S. Thymine limitation and thymine starvation to study bacterial physiology and cytology. J. Bacteriol. 188, 1667-1679 (2006). [26] Zaritsky, A., Vischer, N. & Rabinovitch, A. Changes of initiation mass and cell dimensions by the 'eclipse'. Molec. Microbiol. 63, 15-21 (2007). [27] Zaritsky, A., Wang, P. & Vischer, O. E. Instructive simulation of the bacterial cell division cycle. Submitted (2011).
REFERENCES [1] Donachie, W. Relationships between cell size and time of initiation of DNA replication. Nature. 219, 1077-1079 (1968). [2] Felczak, M. M. & Kaguni, J. M. DnaAcos hyperinitiates by circumventing regulatory pathways that control the frequency of initiation in Escherichia coli. Molec. Microbiol. 72, 1348-1363 (2009). [3] Fishov, I., Grover, N. B. & Zaritsky, A. On bacterial states of growth. Mol. Microbiol. 15, 789-794 (1995). [4] von Freiesleben, U., Krekling, M. A., Hansen, F. G. & Løbner-Olesen, A. The eclipse period of Escherichia coli. EMBO J. 19, 6240-6248 (2000). [5] Hansen, F. G., Christensen, B. B. & Atlung, T. The initiation titration model: computer simulation of chromosome and minichromosome control. Res. Microbiol. 142, 161-167 (1991). [6] Helmstetter, C. E. & Cummings, D. J. An improved method for the selection of bacterial cells at division. Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 82, 608-610 (1964). [7] Helmstetter, C. E., Cooper, S., Pierucci, O. & Revelas, E. On the bacterial life sequences. Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 33, 809-822 (1968). [8] Huls, P. G., Vischer, N. O. & Woldringh, C. L. Delayed nucleoid segregation in Escherichia coli. Molec. Microbiol. 33, 959-970 (1999). [9] Kjeldgaard, N. O., Maaløe, O. & Schaechter, M. The transition between different physiological states during balanced growth of Salmonella typhimurium. J. Gen. Microbiol. 19, 607-616 (1958). [10] Leonard, A. C. & Grimwade, J. E. Initiation of DNA replication. Chapter 4.4.1, in EcoSal—Escherichia coli and Salmonella: Cellular and Molecular Biology. Böck, A., Curtiss, R., III, Kaper, J.B., Karp, P.D., Neidhardt, F.C., Nyström, T., Slauch, J.M., Squires, C.L., Ussery, D. (eds.), http://www.ecosal.org . ASM Press, Washington, DC (2010). [11] Maaløe, O. & Kjeldgaard, N. O. in Control of Macromolecular Synthesis. W. A. Benjamin, Inc., NY (1966). [12] Meacock, P. A. & Pritchard, R. H. Relationship between chromosome replication and cell division in a thymineless mutant of Escherichia coli B/r. J. Bacteriol. 122, 931-942 (1975).
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The Impacts of Demographic Differences on LMS Acceptance Muneer Abbad Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia David Morris Coventry University, Coventry, CV1 5FB, UK and Faten Jaber Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK ABSTRACT The paper concludes by discussing the potential implications of the results for elearning practice.
The primary question addressed in this paper is: what are the impacts of demographic factors on students’ adoption of LMS?
Keywords: E-learning, LMS Acceptance, Jordan
The paper investigates and identifies some of the major factors affecting students’ adoption of an e-learning system. Participants in the study consisted of undergraduate students taking first basic computer literacy classes at the Arab Open University (AOU) in Jordan. Data collection was conducted via survey of 470 students. Data was analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) to identify some demographic (e.g. gender, age, income, and computer ownership) influences on the factors that affect students’ adoption of LMS (for example, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, intention to use, subjective norms, Internet experience, system interactivity, self-efficacy, and technical support).
1. INRODUCTION The Internet and the web offer new opportunities to restructure the learning and knowledge transfer environment. In addition, the advanced technology it uses offers distinct advantages to both educators and students [1]. In higher education institutions, the question of how to use modern information and communications technologies (ICT) for learning purposes is important for anyone with a stake in education and training, both educators and students. In general, e-learning refers to the use of information technologies to deliver a range of learning opportunities [2] and a broad array of solutions that enhance knowledge, instructional process and performance [3]. E-learning systems have been developed recently that integrate a variety of functions. For example, such systems can be used to integrate learning and teaching content management, rich tutor-student and studentstudent communications, assessment and monitoring and progress tracking. Learning and teaching activities can be conducted
The results showed significant gender differences for Internet experience and selfefficacy. Significant age differences were found for perceived usefulness, intention to use, and self-efficacy. Significant income differences were found for perceived usefulness, intention to use, technical support, Internet experience, system interactivity, and self-efficacy. Significant computer ownership differences were found for perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and Internet experience.
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synchronously or asynchronously or use a mixture of the two. In this paper, e-learning is viewed as a just in time (JIT) learning system, the users can learn anywhere and at anytime at their convenience: self-paced, self-directed and self-managed; that is learning on demand deploying a rich mix of pedagogic approaches. We use the widely accepted term learning management system (LMS) to refer to integrated software systems which are specifically designed for learning and teaching purposes.
use will positively influence actual webbased technology usage.
The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of demographic differences on LMS acceptance. Note that this is not the same as determining which factors (for example, ease of use) underlie LMS acceptance; these issues are dealt with in an earlier paper [4]. Participants in the study consisted of undergraduate students taking first basic computer literacy classes at the Arab Open University (AOU) in Jordan. The vision of AOU is to offer high quality, flexible, blended learning to all members of society, regardless of their background and gender. In particular it seeks to provide access to higher education for social groups who have less access to conventional higher education, for example those with lower incomes and/or who wish to or need to study part-time.
An individual’s experiences with a technology influence perceptions of ease of use and usefulness of that technology. [9] argued that learner success in distance learning depends on technical skills in computer operation and Internet navigation as well as the ability to cope with the substantive subject matter. [10] found empirical evidence that older students who had more experience of the technology used a LMS (WebCT) more than younger students with less experience of IT.
A subjective norm refers to a person’s perception that significant others think she should or should not perform the behaviour in question [6]. [7] use the term “subjective norms” to refer to a person’s perception of the social pressures put on him or her to perform the behavior in question. [8] found that subjective norms significantly influenced perceived usefulness.
The key elements of learning processes are the interactions among students themselves, the interactions between faculty and students, and the collaboration that results from these interactions. A major source of developments in e-learning has come via technologies that promote increased learner interaction, whether synchronous or asynchronous. Thus, system interactivity is one of the factors that may affect students’ adoption of e-learning systems.
2. VARIABLES INFUENCING LMS ACCEPTANCE Perceived usefulness (PU) is defined as “the prospective probability that using a specific application system will increase his or her job performance within an organizational context” and perceived ease of use (PEOU) refers to “the degree to which the prospective user expects the target system to be free of effort” [5]. Perceived ease of use positively influences perceived usefulness and also has a direct effect on attitudes towards the adoption web-based technology; perceived usefulness positively influences attitudes towards and intention to use the technology. Attitudes, in turn, will positively influence intention to use, and intention to
Self-efficacy is an individual’s belief in his or her capability to perform certain behaviors or one’s personal beliefs about their ability to perform certain tasks successfully [11]. Several studies have found that self-efficacy influences decisions about what behaviors to undertake, persistence in attempting certain behaviors, and the performance attainments of the individual with respect to those behaviors [12, 13]. A student who has a strong sense of his capability in dealing with a LMS may have a more positive perception of its ease
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of use and usefulness and is likely to be more willing to accept and use the system.
extracted corresponding to the variables discussed above.
The availability of technical support is an important factor in determining the acceptance of technology for teaching and learning. This is especially the case in the early stages of technology adoption. Empirical evidence shows that e-learning projects that were not successful in achieving their goals did not have access to technical advice and support [14, 15].
Participants in the study consisted of undergraduate students who were taking the last lecture of the first basic computer literacy classes at the Arab Open University (AOU) in Jordan. Participation in this study was voluntary, and 470 of 654 students (71.9%) who were enrolled in these classes took part. Full details of the questionnaire, method and study population can be found in [16].
3. MEASURING THE VARIABLES 4. THE IMPACTS OF DEMOGRAPHIC DIFFERENCES Analysis of variance (ANOVA), as explained by [17], is a statistical technique used to determine whether samples from two or more groups come from populations with equal means; put another way it asks whether or not the groups’ means differ significantly. The results of the ANOVA tests are shown in Table 1. The F-test was used to test for significant differences between the means on the factor scores for each group.
The variables were measured using a 40 item questionnaire. Each of the items comprised a 7-point Likert scale seeking an opinion on a statement of potential relevance to one or more of the variables. For example the statement “Using the LMS would allow me to accomplish learning tasks more quickly” was included as a potential measure of perceived usefulness. The questionnaire also asked for twelve items of classification data covering demographics, computer ownership, internet availability and use. Questionnaire data was analyzed using Factor Analysis. Eight factors were
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Table 1: Factor
F-scores for ANOVA comparisons Gender Age Female = 319 Under 30 = 314 Male = 151 30 and over = 156 Perceived 2.160 5.643 usefulness (-0.018) Perceived ease of 0.109 2.119 use Intention to use 0.637 5.990 (-0.015) Subjective norms 0.758 0.216 Internet experience System interactivity Self-efficacy Technical support
3.829 (-0.051) 1.506
0.001
3.131 (0.077) 1.897
4.775 (-0.029) 0.411
1.059
Figures in bold show the results of ANOVA tests where the differences in means were significant; the cut-off point used is the 10% level. Figures in brackets show the significance levels. A minus sign in front of the significance level indicates the direction of the difference in favor of the second group listed in the column header. Thus for example, the higher income group exhibited greater levels of perceived usefulness of the LMS than lower income groups. On the other hand, those who did not own their own computer (unsurprisingly) believed the LMS to be less useful than those who did.
Income Low = 259 Higher = 211 5.658 (-0.018) 13.045 (-0.000) 12.589 (-0.000) 1.526 7.881 (-0.005) 8.050 (-0.005) 6.912 (-0.009) 5.547 (-0.019)
Computer Ownership Yes = 381 No = 89 2.930 (0.088) 13.427 (0.000) 1.470 0.433 9.992 (0.002) 0.971 0.436 0.218
equivalent to $282 per month. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO) average pay for women was JD314 per month and for men JD364 (2008 data). Two hundred dinars a month is thus a low income level. Students with higher income levels showed, on average, higher factor scores on seven of the determinants of LMS acceptance. Self-efficacy was higher, on average, amongst women, older students and those with higher incomes. The peer pressure of subjective norms did not differ between any of the groups. Older students were more positive towards the potential benefits of using the LMS than younger students. Subjective norms do not differentially affect LMS acceptance along any dimension, although our earlier research does show that subjective norms are an important determinant of LMS acceptance overall [4].
The “headline” results indicate that the greatest differences in LMS acceptance are related to income levels and that the most pervasive factor in explaining differences in LMS acceptance between the demographic groups is self-efficacy. Students from the higher income group exhibited significantly higher average factor scores on all dimensions of LMS acceptance except subjective norms. The low income group is defined as those having a monthly income of less than JD200 (200 Jordanian dinars),
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the ways in which those characteristics influence their acceptance of the learning and teaching methods deployed. E-learning systems have the technological capability to reach and afford substantial benefits to the kinds of students targeted by the Arab Open University and other ground-breaking institutions with similar inclusive visions. This research suggests that students with lower incomes are less accepting of elearning systems than those with higher incomes and that computer ownership is also an important dimension of acceptance. Strategies need to be developed to help overcome these barriers.
5. CONCLUSIONS The only demographic characteristic to significantly affect all the variables in this study, except subjective norms, was income. This is consistent with previous studies of new product adoption [18] and Internetbased marketing [19] where income was found to positively affect user adoption. A possible explanation for this effect is the imbalances in resources and skills needed to effectively participate in e-learning systems. Distance learning institutions with a mission to promote access to higher education can only succeed if the pay attention to the special characteristics of their students and
and results. Doctoral dissertation: Sloan School of Management, MIT. 6. REFERENCES [6] Fishbein, M. and Ajzen, I. (1975) Belief, attitude, intention and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
[1] Banga, S. and Downing, K. J. (2000) Moving towards global education in the twenty-first century. IN M. Abramson, M., Towards the Global University: Reading Excellence in the Third Millennium, Preston: University of Central Lancashire
[7] Taylor, S and Todd, P. A. (2005). Understanding information technology usage: a test of competing models. Information Systems Research 6 (2): 144176.
[2] Sanders, J and Walsh, K (2004). Elearning for general practitioners: Lessons from the recent literature. Work Based Learning in Primary Care 2 (4): 305-314.
[8] Lee, Y.C. (2006) An empirical investigation into factors influencing the adoption of an e-learning system.Online Information Review 30, (5) 517-541.
[3] Poon, W., Low, K. L. and Yong, D. G. (2004). A study of Web-based learning (WBL) environment in Malaysia. The International Journal of Educational Management 18, (6) 374-385.
[9] Kerka, S. (1999) Distance learning, the Internet, and the World Wide Web. ERIC Digest, ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 395214.
[4] Abbad, Muneer Mahmoud; Morris, David and De Nahlik, Carmel (2009). Looking Under the Bonnet: Factors Affecting Student Adoption of E-Learning Systems in Jordan, The International Review of Research into Open and Distance Learning, 10 (2). Available at: http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/articl e/view/596/1232.
[10] Morss, D.A. (1999). A study of student perspectives on Web-based learning: WebCT in the classroom. Internet Research, 9(5), 393–408. [11] Bandura, A. (1997) Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 82, (2) 191215.
[5] David, F. D. (1986). A technology acceptance model for empirically testing new end-user information systems: Theory
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[12] Brown, I. Jr., & Inouye, D.K. (1978). Learned helplessness through modeling: The role of perceived similarity in competence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36 (8): 900-908.
[13] Wood, R. & Bandura, A. (1989). Social cognitive theory of organizational management. Academy of Management Review, 14(3), 361-384.
[14] Alexander, S. and McKenzie, J. (1998) An Evaluation of Information Technology Projects in University Learning. Department of Employment, Education and Training and Youth Affairs, Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Services.
[17] Hair, J., Black, B., Babin, B., Anderson, R. E., & Tatham, R.L. (2006). Multivariate data analysis (6th ed.). Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
[15] Soong, M.H.B., Chan H.C., Chua, B.C. and Loh, K.F. (2001) Critical success factors for on-line course resources. Computers and Education 36, (2) 101-120.
[18] Im, S; Bayus, B. L. and Mason, C. H. (2003). An empirical study of innate consumer innovativeness, personal characteristics and new product adoption behavior. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 31 (1): 61-73.
[16] Abbad, Muneer (2009). Factors Affecting Students’ Adoption of E-learning Systems in Jordanian Universities. PhD Thesis: Coventry University, UK.
[19] Kolodinsky, J and Hogarth, J. M. (2001). The adoption of electronic banking technologies by American consumers. Consumer Interests Annual 47 (1): 1-9.
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The Study of Kid’s Personalization Model for E-learning Content Development in Saudi Arabia Schools Amjad barqawi College of Information Technology, University Tenaga National (UNITEN) 43009 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia and Amjad barqawi College of Information Technology, University Tenaga National (UNITEN) 43009 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
As described in Alavi and Leidner’s research framework, e learning is a virtual learning environment in which a learner’s interactions with materials, peers and/or instructors are mediated through information and communication technologies. It is different from the traditional environment because ICT are used as tools to support the learning process [2] . Taking advantage of network infrastructures, learning can occur anywhere using many types of resources. This suggested that IT, instructional strategy, learners’ psychological processes, and contextual factors together influenced e-learning outcomes. Besides that, the differences in learners’ psychological attributes lead to differences in their benefits from e learning opportunities, and, consequently, to differences in their learning outcomes.
ABSTRACT
The normal teaching processes for kids still has a gap from the education accessible point which can be achieved by utilizing the available technologies. Kids by their own nature will be attracted to present images. We aim here to investigate the use of multimedia facilities to attract kids to such learning tool and gain their basics knowledge. The normal teaching methods is still usable but inside schools, therefore an auxiliary e-learning content presentation. (Attractive web-site) to increase kids interest with their courses even outside school campus shall be developed. In addition, kids like to learn by interaction skills such as listening and watching which can be done through the attractive e-learning content presentation. This paper came to investigate the attractive and interactive module that contains an adapt to the special needs, individual interests, the suitable pace and personal qualities for kid’s , thus already get appropriate material of content for them , take into account the view of personalized e-learning content in the module. The proposed model in this study tends to contribute by linking individual psychological factors to learning outcomes and by considering the level of achievement in the taught subject as an indicator of the student’s ability.
The personalization of e-learning makes use of easy adoption of innovative strategies to enhance learners’ performance. For instance, learner control makes use of features such as hyperlinks that allow learners to navigate through text and multi-media content in their preferred sequence. Learners can skip familiar content and spend more time on topics of interest, as well as scheduling according to their own needs. Furthermore, new ways of presenting learning content can provide richer and more dynamic information display and animation [3].you to provide the PDF directly.
1.
INTRODUCTION 2. LITERRATURE REVIEW
Despite there are many development in using e learning in education, past failures have shown that investments in elearning do not necessarily lead to financial returns and training outcomes [1]. This is mainly due to learning design characteristics influencing e learning in educational circumstances. Understanding learners’ psychological processes is crucial for e learning systems to provide effective e-learning programs that take the personalizing characteristics into consideration[2]. In response to this, personalizing e learning appears as a critical need in education, and the intelligent e learning designs come to the surface.
2.1 BACKGROUND personalizing e learning depends on understanding and utilizing of learners’ internal factors. A few individual internal psychological states apparently affect e-learning outcomes, including learners’ prior computer experience, computer self-efficacy, motivation, computer anxiety, and communication apprehension [4,5].Many researchers recently have endeavored to provide personalization mechanisms for Web-based learning [6-
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7]. Nowadays, most recommendation systems [8-9] consider learner/user preferences, interests, or browsing behaviours when analyzing learner behaviors for personalized services. These systems neglect the importance of learner ability for implementing personalized mechanisms. On the other hand, some researchers emphasized that personalization should consider different levels of learner knowledge, and learners’ learning styles, especially in relation to learning [6-7]. Also, learners perceive and process information in very different ways and we can group common ways of how people learn. This is represented in learning style. Learning style theory has been developed and applied in various curricula for all levels of education. By recognizing and understanding the individuals to their learning styles, the techniques can be used better and improve the speed and quality of learning [10]. Research work indicates that the key to getting and keeping students actively involved in learning lies in understanding learning style preferences, which can positively or negatively influence a student’s performance. It has also been shown that adjusting teaching materials to meet the needs of a variety of learning styles benefits all students [11].
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educational goals, curriculum volume, the level of difficulty of the curriculum and the domain of the curriculum. On the X axis there is a list of all Learning Objects (Los) which participate in the construction of a course. The Model enables personalization from the aspect of curriculum visualisation and the type of presentation (mathematical-logical, linguistic, musical, visual etc.); from the perspective of learning styles of the learners. The Model enables personalization from the aspect of sequencing teaching materials on the level of lessons by supporting different systems of program contents (a lesson by lesson planning), and from the aspect of sequencing teaching materials that constitute a lesson (in a single lesson) by supporting the definition of different views on a lesson.
2.2 RELATED WORKS Since one of the main problems with eLearning environments is their lack of personalization, many e learning models had been immersed to overcome personalization problems. It is not possible to discover everything that affects what a student learns in a class, and even if instructors could do, they would not be able to figure out the optimum teaching style for that student.
T
architecture of personalized eLearning system INDeLER
2.2. 2 Adaptive web-based learning Model This model was proposed by Magoulas et. el. (2003) [13]and was designed to examine the use of individual differences as a basis of adaptation in web based learning systems. The model depends on students’ learning styles and maintains the context for interaction between the student and the system that can accommodate student characteristics, needs and abilities. This model makes learning takes place progressively by making students actively participate in instructional decisions, and supporting them individually to assess their personal learning goals. Overview:• The model serves as an instructional medium that has led to the design of student-centred systems with the aim to enhance the learning experience. • It is based on the belief that enhancement of the effectiveness can be achieved by recognising students’ learning needs, their learning styles, preferences with respect to specific learning processes, as well as their interests in specific
2.2. 1 INDeLER Personalization Model This model was proposed by Jovanovick et. el. (2008) [12]and depends on the process of developing Student profile by mapping students categories explored with Felder- Soloman’s ILS questionnaire to the appropriate value of the personalization vector XYZ, and by deriving vector's values from the acquired student’s answers on Preference test. Obtained vector values perform the Personalized e Learning Course Model (PeLCoM) metadata and they provide recommendations for creating personalized eLearning experience. INDeLER system derives student’s profile, provides sequencing of personalized eLearning sessions and supports scenario for designing lessons content tailored to the individual student needs. Overview:• The Model enables personalization from the aspect of contents and structure of curriculum,
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learning modules that cover their knowledge deficit.
Generic student model that incorporates individual differences Architecture of the proposed system
2.2. 3 Models Using Agents in Education (Knowledge based Models)
2.2. 4 Personalized Coursework
This model was proposed by Panjawaranonda & Srivihok (2005) [14]and was depending on user-centric approach that was applied to improve the performance, effectiveness and usability of the system. The model proposes an agent for learning mathematics in primary education. This agent provides material for both teachers and students.
Recommendation Models Chen et. al (2004) [15] proposed a personalized courseware recommendation system (PCRS) based on the proposed fuzzy item response theory to provide Webbased learning services. Depending on the estimation of learner abilities, the novel system can recommend appropriate courseware to learners. In this model, learner ability and the difficulties of courseware are simultaneously taken into account when implementing a personalization mechanism.
For teachers, it gives advice in preparing teaching materials and methods based on student background. These recommendations can be procedures such as specific activities, or content including lessons in mathematics. For students, the system provides lessons to them as a result of the pre test for mathematics skills. The system was examined by three groups including teachers, software developers and education students.
Overview:• The coursework recommendations are built upon the student’s ability that was measured by his response to two questions with different difficulties. • The students’ abilities were estimated using fuzzy response theory to make use of approximation through the intervals provided by the functions that the researchers used to express the students’ abilities. • Item characteristic function with a single difficulty parameter was applied to model the courseware to estimate learner’s ability.
Overview:• Component technologies and artificial intelligence were used to deliver e Learning. These components include: pedagogy agents, interactivity level, quality of feedback, control strategies, tutorial remediation, and student model. • Web-mining techniques have been used to build a recommended agent for e Learning systems. This agent recommends activities to a learner based on his/her access history. • The model proposes a collaborative voting approach for adjusting course material difficulty in order to determine an appropriate level of difficulty parameter for the course material.
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3.1 The Need for Improved Methodology Computer Science, together with Psychology and Education, has been trying to refine teaching computational tools towards individual-centered or personalized self-learning [16][17]. Every day, new approaches to the use of computer and education are bringing new perspectives to this area. All these promising ideas should be utilized in designing e learning in a way that its personalization aspects may be increased to meet the most learners’ characteristics in both psychological and academic domains. So, both these factors; academic and psychological dimensions have to be considered in a personalized e learning model.
Architecture of the proposed Coursework Recommendation model
3. THE CONTEXT OF E LEARNING IN DAUDIA ARABIA (KINGDOM PRIVATE SCHOOLS)
One size fits all approach that can be seen in most of e learning models have to come to an end since the students are different in their levels of achievements and in their learning styles. The variation among the students stimulated the need for appropriate teaching styles that should be adopted in designing the students’ learning opportunities. This is why the proposed e learning model had utilized the expert knowledge in extracting the most appropriate approach in sequencing the learning experiences for a certain learning according to his achievement level and his learning style. This expert knowledge had been used in the model as a key factor that determines the sequences of learning opportunities for the different students.
Regarding the teachers evaluation of the school website and the content attached to it, the results reveal that about half of the teachers (93%) believe that the presented material for students takes care of their interests , wishes , and abilities. Beside that, most of the teachers (65%) believe that the site is not flexible or support students with needed educational material. Regarding inquiries, more than half of the teachers sample (54%), believe that the site did not support students with suitable inquiries. The same attitude continues to be stressed regarding the attractiveness of the content, where (58%) of the teachers evaluated it as not attractive.
4. FUTURE WORKS
All the above results were consistent with each other and with the teachers suggestions that there should be an electronic site at school that makes a better content than the one available now, a suggestion that was presented by (96%) of the teachers sample.
The primary results will guide to develop an expert system which is able to present student with the suitable teaching material (content) based on experts (teachers) decisions. In addition, profiling of each individual student will be constructed as a result of student historical behavior in using the model. Thereby, personalizing student’s interests and likes which can be directed and enhanced by the existence of expert system, to deliver the best content for each student.
Regarding the students’ responses related to the issue if the web site fun to learn, the results shows that 49.6% answered as yes but 50.4% answered by No, which means that more than a half of respondents answer that the web site is not fun. This results may indicate that half of the students see the website as fun which is not consistent – to a degree – with the previous results. That may be interpreted by the fact that the students look at the websites generally as fun for learning and they expect the school website to be so. Another interpretation is related to a need for more investigation in the meaning of fun in the students population.
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References
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Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
Emotional Plausibility in the Development of Chatterbots for Teaching Algorithms Elizama das Chagas Lemos Department of Educational Technology, IFRN Natal, Brasil [email protected] André Maurício Cunha Campos Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, UFRN Natal, Brasil [email protected] Rômulo de Oliveira Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, UFRN Natal, Brasil [email protected] nomous entities which can become conscious of the environment trough sensors and act over it through action mechanisms according a rationality principle [12]. Therefore, it is a software or hardware capable of doing something for you which any human bean would easily do in a total autonomous approach.
ABSTRACT This article seeks to elucidate what can be considered a plausible behavior in an intelligent agent for the teaching of algorithms. To this end, the basics about the development of Synthetic Agents, bots and chatterbots will be explained, as well as the requirements for their implementations. Also will be explained the research conducted with users to obtain reference data, including the presentation of the research, objectives, overview and analysis of results obtained. Furthermore, future work are described according to the results achieved and the final considerations of the document.
Artificial Intelligence, Keywords: Conversational Agents and Education.
The AS ± synthetic agents ± are human behavior oriented, that is, they are intended to training behavioral values of the human being, and for such might need simulation, especially, of part of human behavior through more realistic characters [14]. Ergo, is interesting that this character be credible, because will allow that humans interlocutors involved on this information exchange might obtain data that are not necessarily transferred with simple knowledge transmission. The message, in the process, is loaded with symbols which will complement the context and the channel where it is conveyed. In order that this credibility of the agent is achieved, is necessary that the synthetic agent explore ways that make the public stop disbelieving about it and that the SA offer a portrait of a convincing personality that the public expect or come to expect [7].
Emotions,
1. PRESENTATION Emotions are directly related to what every individual is capable of experiment with its mind. For that reason, the brain acts or reacts in to spread and transmit a determinate set of emotions. This forwarded emotion when received in a coherent way, validating the communicational context, enables people to extract additional information that are not directly transmitted through conversation, gestures (body language), text or others more explicit forms of communication. The emotional acknowledgment/reconnaissance represents a central part on the signal and pattern decoding throughout a communicational exchange, which helps on reducing the possibility of ambiguity in a message.
There are differences between the SA and the classic intelligent agents. The SA does not focus in trouble resolution or competence. The objective of those agents consists in transmitting credibility to develop empathy with the user. The credibility of these agents demands some requirements such as personality, emotion, self-motivation, changes, social interaction, consistency in the expressions that are shown, that is simulated cognitive SURFHVV$OOWKDWZLWKWKHLQWXLWRISURGXFLQJZKDWZHFDOO³LOOuVLRQRIOLIH´ Personality is the most important requirement for believable agents; it can be defined as details in particular ± especially details of behavior, thought and emotion ± which, together, define the individuality of the character [7]. Every character is rich in details that work together to bring him to life. Consider for example, two characters of the movie Inglorious Basterds: The colonel Hans Landa (played by Christoph Waltz) and the lieuWHQDQW $OGR 5DLQH %UDG 3LWW +DQV LV WKH ³-HZ KXQWHU´
This effectiveness in communication should also happen in computational environments trough synthetic agents for now understood as an entity which allows to study, on theoretical level, computational or structural, what a mind could do or could be [3]. These agents might possess a didactic, educational or pure entertainment purpose, and can be understood as auto-
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nality, situation etc. Breaking this coherence even for a moment leads to a drop in confidence in the character's believability.
nickname received because he was one of the main responsible for the identification and extermination of the running jews. He shows to be endowed with intelligence beyond the community and with a very high power of deduction; he is also a typical villain of movies which the audience expects to have a terrible fate in the end of the story. As for Lieutenant Aldo Raine, or ³$OGR7KH$SDFKH´ SOD\HGE\%UDG3LWW OHDGVDJURXSRIVRldiers whose mission is to terrorize Na]LVWKH\¶UHWKH EDVWards, as the title of the movie. The character is purposely exaggerated, in the part played, and in his facial traits. Both characters are violent and powerful, but the ways as each of the dramatic figures were developed, each has his individuality. There is hardly a thing that both characters would do the same way. They talk, walk, and interact with others characters differently, just as they have different motivations, for different desires. It is interesting to imagine how it would be if both characters would behave in a similar way, with similar habits and particularities, would they have such impact during the narrative. Probably not, since are the rich details, carefully chosen, what the two characters became powerful.
Following the requirements to the letter, the belief agents will EHDEOHWRFRQYH\WKHH[SHFWHG³LOOXVLRQRIOLIH´DVWKHLGHDWKDW the have goals, act parallel to each other, are reactive and responsive, are part of a context and are well-integrated and capable will properly relayed. However, creating these agents is not an easy task due to the consensual and technological complexity involved in creating a SA that satisfies these requisites. After all, SA development raises a number of challenges related to the integration of the decision-making mechanisms and the creation of the model for the agent itself; its beliefs, intentions and goals. Therefore, this article proposal is to propose, based on all the aspects that were detailed, what would be a behavior that could be considered a really plausible one for this kind of agent and what could be considered a efficient way to an autonomous entity to transmit emotions. On this study it is intended to expose some concepts of agents, bots and chatterbots as well as a research performed with users interacting with chatterbots ± computer programs that attempt the simulate a human being having a conversation with people ± to gather information about what is, or not coherent in the development of a SA. The obtained results will be studied and evaluated for future prototyping of an intelligent agent, in the role a virtual tutor, inserted in the context of teaching algorithms.
Another important aspect for believable agents is that they can have emotional reactions e show them somehow. If the SA are cUHDWHG WR EH EHOLHYDEOH LW¶V IXQGDPHQWDO WKDW VXFK HPRWLRQV and expressions of theses emotions are truthful according to is personalities. Another requirement is that the agent be selfmotivated. In Artificial Intelligence is common the creation of autonomous agents which only reacts when stimulated, and do not engage in actions of its own freewill. Although the selfmotivation of the agents, is a requirement repeatedly demanded by researchers. They say that people interacting with these agents are surprised and show a deep respect and interest in the agents, when they realize that many of their actions are not a response to stimulus, but a product of the agent itself, their internal units and desires.
2. AGENTS: BASIC CONCEPTS Several are the definitions assigned to agents. Wooldridge and Jennings [20] EHOLHYHWKDWWKHDQVZHUWRWKHTXHVWLRQ³ZKDWLVDQ DJHQW"´LVDVLQDFFXUDWHDVWKHDQVZHUWRWKHTXHVWLRQ³ZKDWLV inWHOOLJHQFH"´ since in both cases, in the computing scenario; there is no definition for the subject that is universally accepted. Although the agents can be understood as individual objects [15] which simulate a human interaction doing something that another person could do for you [13]. Just as they can be referred as integrated reasoning processes [9], structured as hardware or (more common) as a software that has autonomy, social ability and reactivity [20]. Autonomy in the sense that, agents operate without the direct intervention of humans. As well as have some sort of control for their actions and internal state. Such agents interact with other agents ± and possibly with humans ± through some agent communication language intended to promote a social skill on his behavior. The sociability can only be achieved by reactivity, where the agents perceive the environment in which they are inserted and respond in a timely manner the changes that occur in it. However, it is also proactively primordial, since agents can not simply act in response to the environment; they must be able to exhibit goal-directed behavior by taking the initiative on the environment [20].
The credibility of the agent is also associated to its growth and its changes, that is to say, its capability to evolve, accordingly to the context where it has been inserted, as well as being capable making decisions according with the changes of the environment. This is one of the biggest challenges on the area due to the fact that is difficult to assure, to the autonomous character, that it grows independently, without detracting from is true personality. But, achieving this requirement will make people who interact with this agent to give credibility to it [7]. Similarly, the social interactions of the characters are of great importance. After all, in almost every single character-based art form, characters interact with each other and these interactions are influenced by every relationship the characters share amongst themselves, and these interactions can themselves influence these relationships. The power of these relationships, when done well, makes the character believable and is thus widely accepted among artists [16].
Thinking about these goals that the agents also need to be event oriented, and may support complex tasks, making decisions that can lead to split these tasks into smaller activities, as well as the order to execute them.
Every character must also be consistent in its expressions. Each character or agent possesses many ways through which it shows expressions, for instance, an actor has facial expressions, posture, movement, intonation, etc. According to Loyall [7], to be believable at every moment, every expression pathway should work in synchrony in order to relay the message in a manner that is unified and appropriate to the character's feelings, perso-
3. BOTS AND CHATTERBOTS A type of intelligent agent frequently used in games is the bot. It is an abbreviation for robot, and some researchers also denominate it softbot. Can be understood as an agent that
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Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
which are controlled by activation-based responses, the conversational Networks. In a conversational network, each node is represented by a group of standards, a simple answer, a list of stimulated nodes and others inhibited. When a user input is received, the system determines which standard will be processed and the nodes that possess this pattern will be awakened, and the one with the highest level of stimulation chosen, transmitting in response to user feedback [6]. JULIA The chatterbot is an example of a system that implements this technique.
interacts with an environment through commands, and is able to interpret feedback from the environment [4]. In the context of software is a utility program that performs routine tasks, such as being an opponent in a computer game, a bot to manage broken links on a site, detect and remove malicious programs, among other assignments. A bot must have sensors and execution mechanisms ± which are based on routines of "stimulus-response" ± in order to see changes in context that is inserted in order to achieve preestablished commands. Such commands must follow a set of laws listed below:
In the construction of chatterbots you can also be use, techniques such as CBR ± Case Based Reasoning, according to Jacob Junior [6]. Upon receiving a question from a consumer, the system does a research on a basis which presents a set of past cases to find a solution. The answer is based on previous cases and possibly adapted to the current case, in seeking to resolve the problem of the consumer. The company Inference has created a chatterbot, whose knowledge base interacted as a help center customer service. This system makes use of RBC.
x Security: the bot should not destructively alter the world; x Power: the bot should leave the world exactly as he found it; x Savings: the softbot should limit their consumption of limited resources; x Surveillance: The softbot should not allow the unexpected results of the client's actions [22].
Also according to the author, other technology, in this class which can be mentioned is FRED - Functional Response Emulation Devices. This technology was used in the creation of jfred tool, an API for developing Web chatterbots for using the Java language. The knowledge base of systems built with jfred, makes use of JRL language ± Java Ruleset Language ± based on fuzzy logic for creating a set of rules to map keywords and regular expressions, which will be used in matching pattern of sentences of the user.
As for the chatterbots a specific type of bot, consisting of a computer program that attempts to simulate a human being having a conversation with people. To some authors [6], they are one of the most prominent examples of "weak" AI, whose goal is the simulation of process solution, because it only interacts during a conversation with a human using a database of answers to multiple entries entered by the interlocutor. Despite all the efforts, these systems still have problems both in its construction and its performance in talks with the users. Chatterbots can also be understood as applications of Natural Language Processing (NLP), suffering, therefore, of problems common to these systems, such as lexical and semantic ambiguity [1]. There are still other problems that are more specific, for example, control of the overall progress of the conversation, the control of repetitive information, and treatment of unknown sentences. Such problems require a proper treatment, so that chatterbots achieve results close to human counterparts [10].
Another technique researched for developing chatterbots is based on Automatic learning. The Ultra HAL system makes use of this technique that relies on self-learning from user interaction, ie, if the user talk to the system over, relevant and useful information and the chatterbot becomes more "adept" on the subject, becoming more useful to the user [6]. 4. RESEARCH In the period from April 27 to May 11, 2010, a research was conducted in order to collect data on aspects of chatterbots± Gir1, Elbot2 e Ed Robô3 ± that best transmit, or not, "illusion of OLIH´. Such chatterbots were chosen because they had characteristics needed to be analyzed individually. The Ed Robô for being in an educational context and present affective computing has been analyzed from the perspective of effective communication in relation to content which relates to his expertise and skills in the transmission of emotions. Elbot and Gir, do not have a defined goal, then was directed to a context that they could interact in order to be analyzed its individual aspects: Elbot has a memory and passes visual expressions during the dialogue, it shows no Gir of the characteristics presented in other chatterbots, which contradicts the initial assumption that these aspects are important in the development of a virtual character.
Neves and Barros [10] classify the construction of chatterbots from the point of view of NLP, in three generations. The first is based on simple techniques of matching pattern, the second including artificial intelligence techniques and the third which makes use of more complex pattern of matching, based on XML. Among the generations mentioned, the authors highlight the third, because the systems represent a more complex architecture from the viewpoint of NLP and an unmatched performance or superior to the systems of other generations. These chatterbots use the AIML [18] ± Artificial Intelligence Markup Language ± to build their bases of dialogue. The technique of pattern matching can be understood as a relationship between a set of keywords and a previously selected group of responses related to those keywords, and respecting the order of those words and a priority among the responses. The chatterbot ELIZA [19] is an example of a system that uses this technique.
The test was applied to ten people. Each individual had to interact with chatterbots Ed Robô, Gir and Elbot, a minimum of 1
http://www.personalityforge.com/ http://www.elbot.com/ 3 http://www.ed.conpet.gov.br/
Activation networks consist of a chatterbot building technique which is based on a set of simple rules of matching patterns
2
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five minutes for each character. For each chatterbot was explained to the user a goal to be achieved, always emphasizing that should be extracted the maximum information from the character and observed the behavior and reactions of the bot. To interact with Ed Robot, the user had to acquire new knowledge about the rational use of energy and learn how to preserve the planet. To chat with Elbot, it was indicated that the user asked for advice to the character in relation to some problem, real or not, that the user was experiencing in his personal life, at school or at work. In relation to interaction with the Gir, the user was asked to assume the role of Zim, an alien whose mission is to destroy the Earth and leader of Gir, so that would influence the chatterbot so he supposedly would help the user destroy the planet.
understand the subject to the which he was being asked. One of the interviewees commented: "It was funny how the character knew the origin of some slangs, talking with it increased a little my world knowledge". The answers, added to a suitable form of expression, with a colloquial language that was familiar to the interviewee constitute a positive factor in the illusion of life of the character. The fact that the characters believe to be human was an item brought into prominence, not only believe but also transmit human characteristics. One interviewee in particular asked what the ages were and size of the character and promptly got the answers he wanted, which he said was a demonstration that the chatterbot had aspects that transmitted the illusion of life. And not only answer those questions, but also question the interviewee, proving to be able to judge him, Having preferences and tastes and even a sense of humor, characteristics were mentioned during the questionnaire.
Throughout the research several questions that were divided into blocks of information were made: identification of the interviewee, adjectives (characterization of the character) and illusion of life. In the block of identification, were listed questions such as: age of interviewee, sex, educational level and professional activity. In the characterization of the character block, we asked the interviewee characteristics that he would gather to the character and motivation that led him to attribute those characteristics. While in the the block assigned to the illusion of life, to the interviewee was asked at what time and why he thought the character transmitted the illusion of life, on what circumstances and for what reason he did not think this aspect was reached, a annotation on when, during the interaction and overall, the illusion of life was presented to the interviewee and a list of elements to be marked over the reasons that helped or hindered the achievement of the illusion of life such as: visual representation, representation of emotions, clear goals Among others. For purposes of evaluating the responses provided in the questionnaires were taken into consideration some answers obtained in a section devoted to the illusion of characters' lives.
Chart 1. Factors which transmit the ³LOXVLRQRIOLIH´ When questioning the interviewees about the circumstances they thought that the characters have not transmitted the illusion of life, there were several statements that were considered in the analysis. One is in relation to the generality of the responses, where some Evaluators have argued that the characters transmitted generic phrases, without a touch of personality, leading to the impression that the replicas were mechanical. As an example, an interviewee states that the character did not pass "when I asked him to explain more details of the subject he often repeated the same words´ You may notice that most of the comments attached to this aspect were made by students aged between 20 and 24, with high school level.
Synthesis of the results The profile of interviewees was composed of persons of both sexes, ranging in age from 20 to 41 years, and the level of education also varied, with most finished high school or graduation. In the section for evaluating the chatterbot about how he transmitted the illusion of life or not, interviewees were asked at what time they thought the character transmitted this illusion and why. Looking at the results, it was noted that the responses did not follow standards, then they were categorized to facilitate their analysis, as well as some answers were disregarded because they are not in accordance with the proposed theme, or showing any sense for the study. It can be verified that the transmission of a coherent emotion was mentioned on several occasions, as in the character's reaction when receiving or making a compliment, showing satisfaction about something, its tastes, moments that seemed to be angry or even excited were factors that led the interviewees to perceive something that could transmit the chatterbot had life. For example, one person said he noted that the character had life "when it praised my education". Most responses related to this aspect have been commented on by students, aged between 20 and 27 years. Consistent responses were also quite important in this evaluation, as knowledge of slang, appropriate responses to the context of the dialogue, even when the character did not
Another factor that was considered as an argument for the chatterbot not show illusion of life, refers to the connotation of the speaker, which at times tried to transmit sentences of the conversation with aspects of irony and chatterbot was not able to understand the subtext of the dialogue. The repetitions were also regarded as an harmful factor, where the chatterbot numerous times repeated the same phrases for the speakers. One of the interviewees stated that "different ways of saying a certain thing, or more information about it, would give a greater "illusion of life". The language adopted by chatterbots was one of the factors most often mentioned by the interviewees. Some said they use a cult language, mostly in that environment, one chat, did not present itself as a factor that helped the illusion of characters' lives. At other times, the interviewees said that the answers
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were incoherent with the context, totally senseless to them, or they were discussing one certain subject in a very long time, making it difficult to the interviewees in continuing the conversation and, consequently, on the understanding that the characters were actually transmitting the illusion of life.
According to information gathered in the previous questionnaire with virtual characters existing in the web we found that a chatterbot to present a coherent behavior needs to interact using a colloquial and coherent language in order to avoid doubts about the understanding of the subject discussed. It should also present beliefs and human aspects, which may be physical or not, the knowledge base of the character should be capable of understanding information which may present double sense, so that it is able to capture information that is between the lines of dialogue such as the user's sarcasm. It must also have memory so the conversation does not become repetitive. For the implementation, is proposed as future work the development of a chatterbot with all these features raised. The prototype must be built to be used in an educational context, specifically in the teaching of algorithms. To determine whether the proposal presents him as an effective solution to this plausibility there will be a user survey to collect the impressions he had when talking with the virtual character. The representation of the emotions, personality and humor is important to ensure effective communication between human beings and, according to studies carried out, it can not be different for intelligent agents that are intended to interact with users. Introducing these aspects is how the conversational agents will cause the individuals who interact with them, be able to extract any additional information that are not conducted directly by simple conversation.
Chart 2. Aspects that do not transmit the "illusion of life". Soon after, the interviewee was asked to Point out the elements that he believed been the reasons for facilitating or not the illusion of life. The factors listed been: visual representation, representation of emotions, clarity of goals, coherence in the conversation and memory. These factors have been inserted by the hypothesis, defended by many researchers that these elements contribute to the credibility of the character, so we tried to identify whether such features actually facilitated the test. The first aspect was related to the visual representation of the character. Of all the interviewees, 41.7% did not identify the presence in the character of this aspect, due to the fact that all environments were purely conversational and visual representation of two chatterbots was limited to a single static figure. 16.7% said it helped and 41.7% claimed they been indifferent to this issue.
6. REFERENCES [1] Allen, J. F. (1995). Natural Language Understanding, The Benjamin Cummings Publishing Company, Inc, New York. [2] Beck, J.; Stern, M.; Haugsjaa, E. (1998). Applications of AI in Education7KH$&0¶V)LUVW(OHFWURQLF3Xblication. [3] Davis, D.N. Synthetic Agents: Synthetic Minds? Frontiers of Cognitive Agents, IEEE Symposium on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, San Diego, IEEE Press, 1998. [4] Etzioni, O.; Lesh, N.; Segal, R. Building softbots for UNIX, Preliminary Report, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash., November, 1992. [5] Gebhard, Patrick; Kipp, Kerstin H. Are Computergenerated Emotions and Moods plausible to Humans? In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA'06), 343-356, Marina Del Rey, USA, 2006. [6] Jacob Junior, A. F. L. Buti: um Companheiro Virtual baseado em Computação Afetiva para Auxiliar na Manutenção da Saúde Cardiovascular. Dissertação de mestrado. Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. Março, 2008. [7] Loyall, A. B. Believable Agents: Building Interactive Personalities. Tese de Ph.D. Technical Report CMU-CS-97123, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. Maio, 1997. [8] Maes, Pattie. Agents that reduce work and information overload. Communication of the ACM July 1994/Vol. 37, No. 7, 31-40. [9] Minsk, M.; Riecken, D. A conversation with Marvin Minsk about Agents. Communications of the ACM, 37(7):23-29, 1994.
The ability of the characters to express emotions was also seen as an important factor to help the illusion of life most 58.3%, argues that helps, 29.2% of the public, did not identified and 12.5% were indifferent. With regard to the the fact that the character has a clear goal, the results have been as follows: 41.7% did not identify it in character, 29.2% said that the existence of this characteristics helped, 16.7% claimed that such aspect hindered and 12.5% was indifferent. Finally, the last issue of the evaluation questionnaire was regarding the memory of the characters, or if the character remembers what has already been mentioned in the interaction with the interviewee. The results were: 25% believe that it helped, 4.2% mentioned that it hindered, 58.3% did not identify the existence of the character memory, while 12.5% was indifferent to this aspect. 5.
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORKS
This article has as main purpose to expose the results obtained in research on what is necessary for a chatterbot, to show a plausible behavior for a human. To contextualize the theory behind the study, we described the main concepts of Synthetic Agents and the requirements necessary to build an agent with a credible performance.
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[10] Neves, A. M. M.; Barros, F. A. iAIML: Um Mecanismo para Tratamento de Intenção em Chatterbots. Publicação: ENIA XVIII: 2005 jul. 22-29: São Leopoldo ± RS. [11] Ong, James; Ramachandran, Sowmya. Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Using AI to Improve Training Performance and ROI. Stottler Henke Associates Inc., 2003. [12] Russel, S. J., Norvig, Peter. Artificial Intelligence - A Modern Approach, Prentice Hall ± 1995. [13] Selker, T. .Coach: A Teaching Agent that Learns. In: Communications of the ACM, 37(7):92-99. 1994. [14] Silva, D. R. Atores Sintéticos em Jogos Sérios: Uma abordagem baseada em Psicologia Organizacional. Proposta de qualificação defendida na UFPE-CIn, em dezembro de 2009, Recife. [15] Smith, D.C., Cypher, A., Spohrer, J. KidSim: Programming Agents Without a Programming Language. In Communications of the ACM, 37(7), Julho 1994, p. 54 67. [16] Stanislavski, Constantin. 6WDQLVODYVNL¶V /HJDF\. Theatre Arts Books, New York, revised and expanded edition edition, 1968. [17] Teixeira, S.; Ramiro, T. B.; Oliveira, E.; Menezes, C. S. Chatterbots em ambientes de aprendizagem - uma proposta para a construção de bases de conhecimento. XXV Congresso da Sociedade Brasileira de Computação CSBC - 2005, São Leopoldo, RS, Brasil, 2005. [18] Wallace, R.S. AIML: $UWL¿FLDOLQWHOOLJHQFHPDUNXSODnguage. Disponível em: http://www.alicebot.org/aiml.html. Acesso em: Fevereiro, 2010. [19] Weizenbaum, J. Eliza: A computer program for the study of natural language communication between man and machine. Communications of ACM, 9(1):35± 36, 1966. [20] Wooldridge, Michael; Jennings, Nicholas R. Intelligent Agents: Theory and Practice. Knowledge Engineering Review, 1994. [21] Woolf, B. AI in Education. Encyclopedia of Artificial Intelligence, Shapiro, S., ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, pp. 434-444. [22] Eichmann, D., Ethical Web Agents, Computer Networks and ISDN Systems, v. 28, 1995, p. 127-136.
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The Impact of Mini-Computers and e-Books on the Success of At-risk College Students Aaron W. Hughey, EdD Professor Department of Counseling and Student Affairs Charlene M. Manco, EdS Director FIPSE Project & Educational Opportunity Center Western Kentucky University United States [email protected]
acknowledged throughout the world (Lumina Foundation, 2009). For many individuals, a college education is seen as the only realistic way out of poverty and of achieving a better quality of life for themselves and their children (Collins, 2010).
ABSTRACT Academically underprepared college students; i.e., those identified as needing developmental (remedial) English, mathematics and reading courses in order to maximize their potential for academic success at college-level studies, were provided with the opportunity to rent, for a minimal, subsidized fee, mini-computers bundled with digital course materials (e-books). The academic aptitude of the students who participated in the study was assessed when they entered the program, and their academic performance was assessed at the conclusion of the semester in which they were provided with these resources. The aptitude, performance and retention of program participants were then compared to those of similarly underprepared prepared students who were not provided with these resources. Analysis of Variance revealed no statistically significant differences between the academic performance or retention of the two groups.
At the same time, technology is also having a profound effect on the fundamental nature of both work and the educational process. Indeed, the modern classroom, especially in the more industrialized and economically developed countries, looks nothing like its predecessor from the not-too-distant past (Collins & Halverson, 2009). Computers and their progeny now permeate virtually every aspect of the learning process – driven, at least in part, by the rise of an entire generation who never knew what the world was like in the pre-digital era (Peters, 2009). As the importance of acquiring a postsecondary education becomes more widely understood and accepted, however, inequalities related to access and ability have become more pronounced and magnified (McClenney, 2009). The cost of attending college continues to outpace inflation even as the socioeconomic advantages enjoyed by those with access have tended to exacerbate the widening gap between those who are able to pursue their educational aspirations and those who are more challenged in this quest (Archibald & Feldman, 2010). The number of students who are underprepared for college has been growing for the last half century (Dunn, 2009). One of the greatest challenges we will face in the coming decades will be how to make higher education, in all its various forms, more available to those who can benefit from it the most (Collins, 2010).
Academically Underprepared, Keywords: Developmental Courses, Mini-Computers, e-Books.
1. INTRODUCTION As the global community continues its inevitable progression toward a knowledge economy, education will become increasingly relevant to both nations as well as individuals (Anderson, Cavanagh, & Lee, 2005). As such, the importance of obtaining a college degree or other certification – or at least of extending the formal learning experience beyond the secondary level -- is becoming ever more
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that only 38% of those needing these three developmental classes graduated in six years -compared to a 62% rate for students who did not need these remedial courses.
2. THE COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL The Commonwealth School is a division within the University College at Western Kentucky University. At the initiation of this study, it was known as the Bowling Green Community College. The Commonwealth School serves students whose demographic profile differs substantially from that of the general University population; they are more likely to be from lower-income families, first generation, and academically underprepared. These differences are reflected and reinforced in their academic performance and persistence rates. The average first semester Grade Point Average (GPA) of University students is 2.45, compared to 2.09 for Commonwealth students. And whereas the aggregate fall-to-fall semester retention rate for University students is over 70%, the rate is below 60% for students attending the Commonwealth School (WKU Institutional Research, 2011).
3. METHODOLOGY The overall goal of the study was to see if higher education could be made more accessible to lowincome and underprepared students by making relevant course materials, equipment and technological support available to them at a reduced cost. It was noted that while many faculty adhered to established best practices for the instruction and support of underprepared students, there was still a problem with timely and affordable access to course materials. Many students purchased their textbooks relatively late in the semester, while others did not buy them at all. It was also very evident that very few of these students had access to computers except for those furnished in institutional labs.
The Commonwealth School recruits students from a 10-county area surrounding the University. Within this service region, 7 counties have been federally identified as belonging to the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), which is designed to provide economic assistance to economically depressed counties. The ARC provides funding for projects that are designed to both increase the job opportunities as well as raise the per capita income among the residents who live there. One aspect of the Commonwealth School’s mission is provide access and opportunity for students lacking the necessary pre-college courses and/or skills; i.e. those who are underprepared for enrolling in a regular 4-year program of study. These students are heavily represented in the counties served by ARC.
Population Students involved in the study were all enrolled in the three previously identified developmental (remedial) courses at the Commonwealth School during Spring Semester 2010 and Fall Semester 2010. The grant made it possible for up to 50 students per semester to rent a mini-computer and digital textbooks for use during the semester in which they were enrolled in the three developmental courses. The rental fee for Spring Semester was $350; it was reduced to $200 for the Fall Semester in an effort to attract more participants. The goal was to have these resources in the hands of students prior to the beginning of the semester. Various avenues were pursued in an effort to market the program and recruit qualified students; specific strategies included providing information at new-student orientation meetings and having faculty members communicate with potential participants. Word-of-mouth was also considered to be an important recruitment mechanism.
Although the Commonwealth School systematically evaluates the success of its students and has exhibited some improvement over the last few years, the passage of recent state legislation (13 KAR 2:020) focused increased attention on the achievement and persistence of students enrolled in developmental courses. This legislation was the result of a finding that while 80% of students in developmental courses enrolled for a second semester, only 56% enrolled for a third (Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, 2011). Of the students who are required by law and/or institutional policy to take developmental courses, the majority are low income, first generation students. Administrators at the Commonwealth School found that 37% of these targeted students needed three developmental classes: Developmental Reading, Developmental Math, and Developmental English. Further analyses revealed
Treatment and Comparison Groups For definitional purposes, the “treatment” group refers to the students who participated in the initiative; i.e., they rented mini-computers and were given access to digital textbooks and other online resources. The “comparison” group consisted of students who were also enrolled in the three developmental courses but did not participate in the rental program. Over the course of the two semesters covered by this study, a total of 107 students were involved in the study; 46 (43.0%) students were in
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ACT test scores were available for 71 (66.4%). The mean ACT score for these students was 14.21 (SD = 1.59; R = 11 – 18). Twenty-seven (38%) of the participants were in the treatment group and 44 (62%) were in the comparison group. The mean composite score for the 27 students in the treatment group was 14.30 (SD = 1.38) and the mean score for the comparison group was 14.16 (SD = 1.73). ANOVA revealed that the difference between the mean scores for the two groups was not statistically significant (F = .122; df = 1, 70; p = .727).
the treatment group and 61 (57.0%) were in the comparison group. (There were 21 students in the Spring Semester 2010 treatment group and 25 in the Fall Semester 2010 group. Similarly, there were 21 in the Spring Semester 2010 comparison group and 40 in the Fall Semester 2010 group. These smaller constituent groups were combined into two larger groups for purposes of statistical analysis). Determining Academic Achievement Grades in developmental courses are not used in determining a student’s official Grade Point Average (GPA) at the institution where this study was conducted. Grade point averages for developmental courses were constructed using a 5-point scale in which a grade of “F” = 0 points, “D” = 1 point, “C” = 2 points, “B” = 3 points, and “A” = 4 points. Grades for each student in each developmental course were converted to numeric values using this scale, and then a GPA was calculated for these courses. In addition, GPAs were obtained for the semester in which the students were involved in the study, together with the cumulative GPAs as reported at the conclusion of their participation.
Age The mean age for the entire sample was 21.10 years (SD = 5.46; R = 17 – 47). Eighty-nine (83.2%) of the participants were between the ages of 17 and 21, whereas 18 (16.8%) were over 21 years old. The mean age of member of the treatment group was 21.04 years (SD = 4.89), and the mean age for members of the comparison group was 21.15 (SD = 5.88). ANOVA revealed that the difference between the mean ages of the two groups was not statistically significant (F = .009; df = 1, 106; p = .923). Gender There were 53 (49.5%) men involved in the study and 54 (50.5%) women. Twenty-five (47.2%) of the men were in the treatment group and 28 (52.8%) were in the comparison group. Twenty-one (38.9%) of the women were in the treatment group and 33 (61.1%) were in the comparison group. ANOVA revealed that the difference between the gender composition of the two groups was not statistically significant (F = .740; df = 1, 106; p = .392).
Satisfaction Survey The 46 students in the treatment group were given the opportunity to complete a satisfaction survey regarding their experience with the equipment, ebooks, and technical support provided them during the study. The survey consisted of 11 items designed to provide insight into their personal assessment of the efficacy of the resources provided. Students were asked to complete the survey at the conclusion of the semester when they returned their mini-computers to the program coordinator.
Race/Ethnicity Thirty-six (33.6%) of the students in the study were white, 68 (63.6%) were African-American, and 3 (2.8%) indicated other racial/ethnic backgrounds. Of the 36 white students, 14 (38.9%) were in the treatment group and 22 (61.1%) were in the comparison group. Of the 68 African-American students, 32 (47.1%) were in the treatment group and 36 (52.9%) were in the comparison group. All three (100%) of the students who indicated other racial/ethnic backgrounds were in the comparison group. ANOVA revealed that difference in the racial/ethnic composition of the two groups was not statistically significant (F = .293; df = 1, 106; p = .590).
Statistical Analyses and Significance Descriptive statistics were generated for all of the key variables examined in the study. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the statistical significance of any observed differences between the means exhibited by the treatment and comparison groups. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficients were also computed in order to assess the degree of relationship between various study variables. The level of statistical significance for the current study was p < .01. Academic Preparation In order to evaluate academic preparedness among the students involved in the study, composite ACT scores were examined for participants who had taken this particular instrument. The ACT is the most widely used college entrance examination (ACT, 2011). Of the 107 students involved in the study,
4. RESULTS Academic Performance in Developmental Courses The mean GPA in Developmental English for the 107 students in the study was 1.38 (SD = 1.50). The GPA
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between the two groups was not statistically significant (F = .001; df = 1, 106; p = .977).
for the 46 students in the treatment group was 1.30 (SD = 1.53); the GPA for the 61 students in the comparison group was 1.44 (SD = 1.48). ANOVA revealed that this difference was not statistically significant (F = .222; df = 1, 106; p = .638). The mean GPA in Developmental Math for the 107 students in the study was 0.72 (SD = 1.13). The GPA for the 46 students in the treatment group was 0.52 (SD = 1.01); the GPA for the 61 students in the comparison group was 0.87 (SD = 1.20). ANOVA revealed that this difference was not statistically significant (F = 2.505; df = 1, 106; p = .116). The mean GPA in Developmental Reading for the 107 students in the study was 1.27 (SD = 1.34). The GPA for the 46 students in the treatment group was 1.20 (SD = 1.28); the GPA for the 61 students in the comparison group was 1.33 (SD = 1.39). ANOVA revealed that this difference was not statistically significant (F = .255; df = 1, 106; p = .615). The mean GPA in all three developmental courses for the 107 students in the study was 1.12 (SD = 1.12). The GPA for the 46 students in the treatment group was 1.01 (SD = 1.07); the GPA for the 61 students in the comparison group was 1.21 (SD = 1.16). ANOVA revealed that this difference was not statistically significant (F = .882; df = 1, 106; p = .350).
Relationships Between Variables In addition to the statistical analyses described above, all of the variables in the study were subjected to Pearson Product-Moment Correlation procedures in order to determine where statistically significant relationships might exist. The only correlations found to be statistically significant were as follows: Developmental English GPA and Developmental Math GPA (r = .47; p = .001), Developmental English GPA and Developmental Reading GPA (r = .72; p = .001), Developmental Reading GPA and Developmental Math GPA (r = .53; p = .001). In addition, the Developmental GPA was found to be significantly related to each of its constituent courses (Developmental English, r = .89; p = .001; Developmental Math, r = .76; p = .001; and Developmental Reading, r = .89; p = .001). The developmental GPA also correlated significantly with the Semester GPA (r = .67; p = .001) and the Cumulative GPA (r = .66; p = .001). Finally, Semester GPA correlated significantly with Cumulative GPA (r = .89; p = .001). Satisfaction Survey Twelve (57%) of the 21 participants in the first semester treatment group completed satisfaction surveys; 17 (68%) of the 25 participants in the second semester treatment group completed surveys. Overall, 29 (63%) of the students in the treatment group completed satisfaction surveys. The following is a summary of their responses: Twenty-two (75.9%) of the respondents indicated that they used their assigned mini-computer (laptop) everyday; five (17.2%) reported using their machines 2-3 times a week; while two respondent (6.9%) used the machine less than once a week. Nineteen (65.5%) respondents indicated that they used their assigned mini-computer (laptop) to connect to the Internet every day; 9 (31.0%) reported connecting to the Internet 2-3 times a week; and one (3.5%) respondent connected to the Internet less than once a week. Twenty-one (72.4%) respondents indicated that their mini-computer (laptop) was “very” helpful in their studies; 7 (24.1%) reported that it was “somewhat” helpful; and 1 (3.5%) indicated that it was “not” helpful. Twentyseven (93.1%) respondents indicated that their assigned mini-computer (laptop) helped them to be successful during the semester, while two (6.9%) reported that it did not help them be successful. Twenty-two (75.8%) respondents indicated that participation in the program “very much” made a difference in their studies during the semester; 6 (20.7%) respondents reported that participation
Semester and Cumulative GPA The mean GPA for the 107 students during the semester they were involved in the study was 1.50 (SD = 1.40). The GPA for the 46 students in the treatment group was 1.37 (SD = 1.43); the GPA for the 61 students in the comparison group was 1.60 (SD = 1.38). ANOVA revealed that this difference was not statistically significant (F = .714; df = 1, 106; p = .400). The mean cumulative GPA for the 107 students at the conclusion of their participation in the study was 1.32 (SD = 1.22). The GPA for the 46 students in the treatment group was 1.23 (SD = 1.23); the GPA for the 61 students in the comparison group was 1.40 (SD = 1.22). ANOVA revealed that this difference was not statistically significant (F = .524; df = 1, 106; p = .471). Retention Of the 107 students involved in the study, 51 (47.7%) enrolled for classes in the semester following their participation in the study, whereas 56 (52.3%) did not. Of the 51 students who were enrolled the following semester, 22 (43.1%) were in the treatment group and 29 (56.9%) were in the comparison group. Of the 56 students who did not enroll the following semester, 24 (42.9%) were in the treatment group and 32 (57.1%) were in the comparison group. ANOVA revealed that the difference in enrollment status
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students irrespective of their academic preparation and socioeconomic characteristics, it could be that different configurations of attributes and defining features are evolving that require different types of support structures. Additional study would help to better articulate how the needs of more diverse students can be adequately met.
“somewhat” made a difference; and 1 (3.5%) respondent reported that it did not make a difference “at all.”
5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION The mini-computers, digital textbooks and online support provided to the students in the treatment group did not appear to enhance either their academic performance or retention when compared to the students in the comparison group who did not receive these resources. There are a number of plausible explanations for these findings. First, all of the students could have been underprepared to the extent that the provision of these resources was relatively inconsequential (Pizzolato, 2004; Shields, 2001). The relatively low mean ACT score (14.21; SD = 1.59) for the students participating in the study lends to support this notion, as does their mean Developmental GPA (1.38; SD = 1.50). The technological support provided could have simply been insufficient to overcome the deficiencies exhibited by these students. Further research should explore the potential benefit that could be realized by providing students who are better prepared with similar resources.
The researchers feel that the current study contributes to our growing understanding of the complex interaction between technology and the learning process. As the use of computers and advanced communication technologies becomes more ubiquitous throughout our various educational institutions, including colleges and universities, it is imperative that we continue to explore how their use continues to affect students on a number of levels (November, 2009). Their potential and propensity for augmenting access and success among underprepared, lower socioeconomic, and various racial/ethnic student groups remains largely untapped.
6. REFERENCES ACT (2011). America’s most widely accepted entrance exam. Retrieved January 10, 2011, from http://www.act.org/aap/
Second, it could be that the training and acclamation to using the technology was ineffective; i.e., the tools might have made a difference had the students in the treatment group been more familiar with their features and how to incorporate their use into a comprehensive study framework (Bursuck & Damer, 2010; Davidson & Goldberg, 2009; O’Riley, 2003). In other words, the concept may be viable but the implementation could have been flawed. Of the 29 students who completed satisfaction surveys, 28 (96.5%) indicated that their mini-computer (laptop) was “very” or “somewhat” helpful in their studies; 27 (93.1%) indicated that their mini-computer helped them to be successful during the semester. Twentyeight (96.5%) also indicated that participation in the program “very much” or “somewhat” made a difference in their studies during the semester. The discrepancy between these students’ perceptions and the reality of their academic performance and persistence warrants further inquiry.
Anderson, S., Cavanagh, J., & Lee, T. (2005). The Field Guide to the Global Economy. New York, NY: The New Press. Archibald, R., & Feldman, D. (2010). Why Does College Cost So Much? New York, NY: Oxford University Press USA. Bursuck, W., & Damer, M. (2010). Teaching Reading to Students Who Are At-Risk or Have Disabilities: A Multi-Tier Approach, 2nd ed, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall Collins, A., & Halverson, R. (2009) Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and Schooling in America. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Finally, it could be that key factors in working with students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and/or historically disadvantaged racial/ethnic groups were overlooked (Swim, Hyers, Cohen, Fitzgerald, & Bylsma, 2003; Terenzini, Cabrera, & Bernal, 2001). As higher education becomes more available to
Collins, C. (2010). Higher Education and Global Poverty: University Partnerships and the World Bank in Developing Countries. Amherst, NY: Cambria Press.
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Davidson, C., & Goldberg, D. (2009). The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age (John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Terenzini, P. T., Cabrera, A. F., Bernal, E. M. (2001). Swimming against the tide: The poor in American higher education (Report No. 2001-01). New York: The College Entrance Examination Board. WKU Institutional Research (2011). Institutional Research Decision Support System. Retrieved December 1, 2010, from http://www.wku.edu/Dept/Support/AcadAffairs/instr es/
Dunn, R. (2009). Differentiating Instruction for AtRisk Students: What to Do and How to Do It. Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield Education. Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (2011). Educational Attainment. Retrieved January 22, 2011, from http://cpe.ky.gov/info/attainment/
7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Lumina Foundation (2009). Postsecondary Education A Report to the Lumina Foundation. Retrieved January 7, 2010, from http://www.luminafoundation.org/publications/Lumi na_2009_Annual_Report.pdf
The current study was made possible by a College Course Materials Rental Initiative (CCMRI) grant, which is a part of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), a program administered by the U.S. Department of Education.
McClenney, K. (2009). Helping Community-College Students Succeed: a Moral Imperative. The Chronicle of Higher Education 55(33), April 24. Retrieved December 15, 2010, from http://chronicle.com/article/Helping-CommunityCollege/6536. November, A. (2009). Empowering Students With Technology, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. O’Riley, P. (2003). Technology, Culture, and Socioeconomics (Counterpoints) New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing. Peters, L. (2009). Global Education: Using Technology to Bring the World to Your Students. Washington, DC: International Society for Technology in Education. Pizzolato, J. E. (2004). Coping with conflict: Selfauthorship, coping, and adaptation to college in firstyear, high-risk students. Journal of College Student Development, 45(4), 425-442. Shields, N. (2001). Stress, active coping, and academic performance among persisting and nonpersisting college students. Journal of Applied Biobehavioral Research, 6(2), 65-81. Swim, J., Hyers, L., Cohen, L., Fitzgerald, D., & Bylsma, W. (2003). African American college students' experiences with everyday racism: Characteristics of and responses to these incidents. Journal of Black Psychology, 29(1), 38-67.
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Structure of Educational Supports for Adaptive E-learning Ing. Kateřina Kostolányová, Ph.D. Department of information and communication technologies, University of Ostrava, Pedagogical faculty Ostrava, Czech republic and Doc., RNDr. Jana Šarmanová, CSc. Department of Informatics, Technical university of Ostrava, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Ostrava, Czech republic and Ing. Ondřej Takács Department of Informatics, Technical university of Ostrava, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Ostrava, Czech republic
precisely propose a theory without its more loosely formulated explanation with examples of applications; others on the contrary are dedicated to practical examples without asking questions regarding theory to precisely formulated concepts, etc.
ABSTRACT This paper is focused on the description of the structure of educational supports that are used on adaptive e-learning. First is described the relationship of learning styles and teaching styles that serve as base for structure of e-learning educational support. This structure is designed in order to facilitate teaching adapted to various learning styles. Each part of educational support is divided to four variants and multiple layers. Variants are based on sensual type of the student and layers are related to the purpose of each part of study material.
For an e-learning system of education to adapt, it must have educational supports available that are created variably, to be able to present to each student in varying ways. One possible approach to creating variable supports is that the author creates several textbooks of the same educational material, whereas the author applies a different teaching style for each. But this method is not very advantageous. First the author with his/her own individual teaching style will incorrectly use a number of other teaching styles. The second reason is that there are a great many types of potential students. Creating a new teaching style for each type is completely unrealistic.
Key words: adaptable education support, learning style, teaching style, framework, layer
1. INTRODUCTION Much has been written about the fact that current elearning technologies enable individualized education, tailor-made to meet the learning style of every student. We ourselves described how it is possible to classify learning styles of students on the basis of some of their characteristics in [1, 2]. Of course it’s not enough to know the learning style of a specific student. For it to be possible to individually adjust education, educational support must be elaborated differently as well. It must be adaptable, changeable. Let us discuss what adaptable educational support means.
2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE LEARNING AND TEACHING STYLE It is therefore necessary to apply a different solution. Let us consider the characteristics of students that determine their learning style and let us analyze ways their education should differ in relation to the measure of individual characteristics. As recommended by distance education theory, we divide the educational material into elementary parts containing a single integral piece of information. We gave this elementary part the working name framework. First we think of the differing compilation of a framework.
The current structure of the text-based part of educational supports in e-learning is ordinarily congruous with the structure of classic textbooks. E-learning support is usually augmented with multimedia elements, tests, organizational and communications instruments, etc. Because each author has his/her own style of explaining material and verifying knowledge, his/her own teaching educating, the author’s textbook structure normally corresponds to this teaching style. Often authors
The fundamental difference in the form of support will be based on the type of sensory perception of the student [4,5]. Therefore each framework will have sensory variations: one with high level of text (for verbal type of students), with many pictures,
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graphs, tables, animations (for the visual type), spoken words, audio recordings, communications, discussions (for auditive type) and creative tasks, designs, etc. (for kinesthetic type). Modification of these four variations according to sensory forms of the framework will not be a problem for the author.
•
based on method of presentation (verbal, illustrative, practical),
•
...
The first two classifications of this definition form in part a phase of the teaching process, which in our mediations we will further structuralize with the help of layers, and in part they introduce a method of presentation corresponding to our combination of sensory forms and layers. We will further specify these considerations.
Other separation of variations will be based according to the concept of students – depth, strategic, superficial or based on level of “comprehension”. Every teacher knows this: some students need only the standard explanation, others need to be explained the material more slowly, in greater detail, with more examples. And for still others, in an effort to keep them from being bored, it is advantageous on the contrary to make available a greater scope of information, correlations to a different problematic. Creating three variations of explanation differing by this depth of explanation will also present no problems for the author. Each of them is in various sensory variations as mentioned above.
3. ADAPTABLE STRUCTURE OF EDUCATIONAL SUPPORTS Educational supports thus must be structured in very great detail so that through appropriate selection of variations of explanation and selection of a suitable order of individual layers, it would be possible to adapt the teaching style tailor made to the student. [6,8]. The structure of supports and their individual elements will not be described in greater detail.
But still a series of other characteristics influence the learning style. It is not possible to propagate more and more variations. Let’s further consider in what way the explanation for these further characteristics differs.
Subject is the highest integral component of educational support; we understand the subject to be an entire semester at university; the subject is then further broken down into lessons.
The theoretically well prepared study type will prefer the ordinary classic explanation in the order of explanation (theory – exposition – examples) – verification (control questions – assignments). The unmotivated student will first need motivation to study perhaps in the form of motivational practical resolved examples – followed by explanation of the principles of resolution – only then theory – control exercises. The student incapable of self-regulation will need a detailed guide, leadership towards what to study or do first, what next. The holistic student will first need a brief overview of the entire chapter, and only then gradual movement into more detailed information.
The lesson is the educational unit corresponding to the classroom hour [7]. It need not correspond to chapters from the textbook, scopes of chapters may vary greatly. The lessons are further broken down into frameworks. The framework is the elementary part of the lesson containing the unit educational information; at this level its variations and layers are analyzed. The socalled basic framework defines its content; variations of the framework differ only in form or depth of explanation, not in content.
Notice that the explanation for all examples of various types of students differs mainly in the order of segmented parts of the explanation within each variation. We call these segmented parts layers of variations and we then perform an analysis of the types of appearing layers.
Framework
This consideration is in accordance with the definition of “Teaching Methods” from [3]:
depth
1 2 3 forms ver
Teaching method: Procedure, path, method of instruction. It characterizes the activity of the teacher leading the student to attaining the established educational objectives. There exist various classifications of methods, such as •
variations of basic framework
viz
Variations of framework Variations of framework are other methods of explaining and verifying (testing) the same material. On the basis of the consideration in the previous paragraph, we propose up to four variations based on the preferred sensory perception of the student (also referred to hereinafter as four sensory forms
based on phase of teaching process (forming, consolidating, verifying knowledge),
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of variations) and up to three variations in terms of depth of explanation. Thus a total may be 4 x 3 = 12 variations maximum in two “dimensions”.
personal characteristics of the students. By analyzing these student qualities we arrived at a result, where the explanation also differs in the order of segmented parts of the explanation and regular testing, or organizational information.
It is not necessary to always employ all variations. It is up to the author of the support to cover sensible variations or not to use certain ones if they are not suitable or necessary.
Dividing the framework into segmented parts – into layers – will aid us in performing adaptation of the explanation style of the framework. The layer of the framework is the name given to the homogenic part of the framework in terms of the phases of the educational process (explanation of theory, clarification, consolidation, verification of knowledge, motivation, education management).
Variations of framework based on sensory form: From the aspect of form, we divide variations into the aforementioned four types (column of variations in the diagram above) [9]. •
Verbal – variation containing mainly text,
•
Visual – variation containing images, graphs, animations, etc.,
Types of layers
many
•
Auditive – variation containing lots of spoken words, sounds, video lectures, etc.,
•
Kinaesthetic – variation containing lots of interactive educational programmes, etc.
Explanatory – group of layers containing their own explanation of the covered material. This concerns the following layers [11, 12].: •
T Theoretical – containing theory: definition, terms, rules, algorithms, etc. In terms of education, this is the most important type of layer.
•
S Semantic – explaining the introduced terms, formally described theory, containing additional information to the theoretical layer, explaining correlations arising from theory, etc.
Variations of framework based on depth: Depth of explanation gives the measure of detail of the explanation, and specifies details of presented educational information. For now we define three levels of depth [10].
•
F Fixation – with the aid of repetition, other formulations and alternative concepts, implemented into the wider contest to facilitate better memory of theory.
The basic level is depth 2. Here is the most frequently used explanation in terms of detail. The author determines its scope and content. The variation may also contain questions or assignments. With their help, the system verifies whether the student understood the material. If the answers are correct, the system offers further information (another part of the framework or another framework) on the same level of depth.
•
R Resolved examples – contain examples for applying theory, resolved “textbook” examples. For students they act as examples for resolving their presented assignments.
•
P Practical – contains resolution of examples from practice, which use theoretical knowledge.
Seldom does the variation belong purely to a single form. This mostly concerns a combination of forms, and then the author determines the percentage ratio of individual forms, giving the used percentage of each form. Based on the dominating value, the variation will be categorized into the appropriate place in the “variation matrix” provided above.
Testing – a group of layers for regular testing of acquired knowledge and fixate this theoretical knowledge with the aid of tasks or assignments to be resolved. This concerns the following layers:
If the student does not answer correctly, the system offers him/her in depth 3 a more detailed explanation with simpler and gradually more complex examples. There are also more questions in smaller wholes.
•
Questions – theoretical questions from the covered material. Questions may serve only as checking the student or the student uses them as an adaptive algorithm for handling the next explanation.
•
U Exercises – “textbook” exercises to be resolved.
•
X Practical exercises – exercises from practice.
On the contrary, the system may offer to the outstanding, quickly comprehending student in depth one broadening information contexts and ties to other areas, etc. Layers of variation of the framework Variations differing only in form and depth of explanation do not suffice in covering all necessary differences in the explanatory style. The explanation must also react to other differing
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[4] KOSTOLÁNYOVÁ, K., ŠARMANOVÁ, J., TAKÁCS, O. Learning styles and individualized elearning. Information and Communication Technology in Education. Ostrava: Ostravská univerzita, 2009. s. 123-127. [2009]. ISBN 978-807368-459-4.
Other layers •
M Motivational – motivating information on the subject, lesson or framework, which would justify the benefit of study to the unmotivated student.
•
N Navigational – didactic or organizational information, a kind of guide for lessons of covered material, recommended study methods, etc.
[5] PRŮCHA, J.; WALTEROVÁ, E.; MAREŠ, J. Pedagogický slovník. Praha : Portál, [2001]. [6] LEWIN, K.; LIPPITT, R.; WHITE, R. K. Patterns of agressive bahvior in experimental created „social climates“. Journal of Social Psychology, 1939, s. 271-299.
Information on the form and depth of explanation and type of layer that is necessary to record in socalled metadata. Aided by metadata, the system can then select and manage the proper sequential order of teaching.
[7] WEINSTEIN, C. E.; MAYER, R. E. The Teaching of Learning Strategies. In WITROCK, M. C. (Ed.) Handbook of Research on Teaching, 3. vyd. New York : Macmillan Publishing Company, 1986, s. 315 – 327. ISBN 0029003105.
4. CONCLUSION On the basis of specific characteristics of the student, it is possible to change the explanatory style of the framework by changing the order or the depth of layers. Upon this type of adaptation, the framework does not lose its general explanatory value. Managing the explanation is performed by selecting the sensory form and then choosing the order and depth of layers. This selection is done by series of rules. Premises of the rules are student learning styles and conclusions are attributes of the study material: variant, order and depth of layers. We thereby arrive at a universal possibility of adapting educational support as seen fit.
[8] NOVOTNÝ, Petr. Výukový proces z pohledu současné školní didaktiky. In: Novotný, P., Pol, M. (eds.) Vybrané kapitoly ze školní didaktiky. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, [2002], s. 17 – 28. [9] PRŮCHA, Jan. Přehled pedagogiky. Praha: Portál, 2000. [10] KOSTOLÁNYOVÁ, K., ŠARMANOVÁ, J., TAKÁCS, O. Adaptive individualized education in e-learning. Computer Based Learning in Science 2010. Warsaw, Poland: OEliZK, 2010. s. 119-125. [2010]. ISBN 978-9963-689-85-9 [11] GAGNE, R. & DRISCOLL, M. Essentials of Learning for Instruction (2nd Ed.). Englewood Cliffs, [1988], NJ: Prentice-Hall.
5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The entire project is supported from European Structural Funds within the framework of the Education for Competition Operational Programme under the title “Adaptive Individualized Education in E-learning“. Thanks to the financial support of this project it was possible to engage in cooperation the mentioned series of experts.
[12] GAGNE, R., BRIGGS, L. & WAGER, W. Principles of Instructional Design (4th Ed.). Fort Worth, [1988], TX: HBJ College Publishers.
6. REFERENCES [1] KOSTOLÁNYOVÁ, K., ŠARMANOVÁ, J., TAKÁCS, O. Learning styles and individualized elearning. Information and Communication Technology in Education. Ostrava: Ostravská univerzita, 2009. s. 123-127. [2009]. ISBN 978-807368-459-4. [2] KOSTOLÁNYOVÁ, K., ŠARMANOVÁ, J., TAKÁCS, O. Results of analysis of learning styles. Information and Communication Technology in Education. Ostrava: Ostravská univerzita, 2009. s. 205-210. [2009]. ISBN 978-80-7368-459-4. [3] MAREŠ, J.; GAVORA, P. Anglicko-český pedagogický slovník. Praha: Portál [1999]. ISBN 80-7178-310-2.
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Secure Internet Usage: Educating the Cyber Generation Rossouw von Solms Institute for ICT Advancement, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa [email protected]
Various studies have reported alarming results concerning the current preparedness of users of modern online services. The following are a few of these alarming results:
ABSTRACT The Internet is used by most citizens today. Young and old are using Internet-related services for professional, financial, social and recreational purposes. Also, these users use these services both for private and work related functions. Unfortunately, the Internet is threatened by numerous and ever changing risks. For this reason it is imperative that the users of these Internetrelated technologies and services are well educated to protect themselves, their finances and that of their employers adequately. This paper aims to address the current problem issues in this regard.
Studies related to children A New Zealand Study [6] In a study conducted in New Zealand involving 347 girls aged between 11 and 19 years the following was reported: x ³ VHQWPDLODQG26% got in touch via phone FDOOVZLWKSHRSOHWKH\PHWYLDWKH,QWHUQHW´ x ³ GLG SHUVRQDOO\ JHW LQ WRXFK ZLWK VWUDQJHUVWKH\PHWYLDWKH,QWHUQHW´ x ³ KDG XVHG DW OHDVW RQFH WKH ,QWHUQHW LQ DQ unsafe way, i.e. passing on their name, address, phone numbeURUSLFWXUHV´ x ³ RI WKH JLUOV LQGLFDWH WKH\ DUH EHLQJ controlled only occasionally by their parents as to their Internet usage and 37.5 % reports never EHLQJFRQWUROOHG´
Keywords: Cyber security, information security, information security risks,
1.
INTRODUCTION
Most citizens in developed countries are today dependent on online services to some extent. Both our personal and SURIHVVLRQDO µOLYHV¶ DUH GRPLQDWed by services such as; email, electronic social networks, cell phones or other Internet related services. To manage these services users must effectively manage various user-IDs, passwords and PINs to access online services, cell phones, ATMs, company information systems, etc. Thus, users of online services should familiarize themselves with related security practices to ensure safe and secure utilization of these services, whether for private or professional usage.
A United States of America Study A [6] In a study conducted among 1501 children aged between 10 and 17 years of age, the following resulted: x 25% were exposed to unwanted sexual material x 19% were being sexually propositioned while being online A United States of America Study B [6] A further study among 322 children in grades 7 to 10 indicated: x 45% spent time at sites related to guns and explosives x 74% reported contact with strangers via email or chat rooms x 25% acknowledged that they had shared information about themselves, such as; name, school, address phone number, etc.
Most children today in developed countries possess a cell phone, a bank card and are active on one or other social network. Lots of information, including personal information, is shared daily through one or other electronic means. Also, children today are very active on peer-to-peer file sharing, down- and uploading information, video and audio files [5]. The objective of this paper is to address the critical questions of; ³7RZKDWH[WHQWDUHVHFXULW\SULYDF\DQGHWKLFDOLVVXHVLQWDFWLQ DOO FDVHV DERYH"´ DQG ³+RZ FDQ PRGHUQ µRQOLQH FLWL]HQV¶ SUHSDUH WKHPVHOYHV WR IXQFWLRQ VHFXUHO\ LQ WRGD\¶V HOHFWURQLF ZRUOG"´
From the studies discussed above it can clearly be seen that few children are aware and/or practice e-safety in any form whatsoever. A further study in the United Kingdom reiterates this by stating that as much as 60% of UK children that participated were totally unaware of basic e-safety guidelines.
The paper will discuss a number of information security, privacy and ethical concerns related to modern online services. An e-safety culture will then be described as a possible solution to these concerns followed by possible means and prerequisites required for the successful creation of such a culture.
2.
Studies related to adults The situation does not seem to be much healthier amongst the adult population. The famous Pointsec Taxi Survey [4] conducted over a period of six months in various major world
SECURITY, PRIVACY AND ETHICS
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x
cities indicated alarming statistics relating to laptop computers, cell phones and PDAs forgotten in taxis, for example; x Sydney, Australia o 13 280 mobile devices were left in taxis o Including 977 notebook computers x Chicago, USA o 85 619 mobile devices left in taxis o Including 4000+ laptop computers and o 21 460 PDAs
Taking the abovementioned into account, it cannot be denied that e-safety is indeed a major problem under all generations, in both private and business environments. The security, privacy and ethical aspects related to responsible online behavior need to be addressed as both young and old have become part of the modern online society. A culture of e-safety behavior needs to be cultivated amongst all online citizens, but the question is: HOW?
The Burton Investigation [1] was conducted following a laptop WKDWZDVVWROHQIURPDQDYDOUHFUXLWHU¶VFDURQ -DQXDU\ The investigation revealed that the laptop contained unencrypted sensitive records of more than 600 000 people. Also, that more than 100 USB memory sticks containing secret information and more than 650 laptops had been stolen between 2004 and 2008. What is more alarming is that Sir Burton reported that: x DPRQJWKHµ)DFHERRN*HQHUDWLRQ¶³DFXOWXUHof rapid and RIWHQXQLQKLELWHGH[FKDQJHRILQIRUPDWLRQLVWKHQRUP´ x WKDW WKHUH LV D GHILQLWH WUHQG WRZDUGV ³DGRSWLQJ PRGHUQ ways of working, particularly as regards to data exchange DQGDFFHVV´ x ³7KH\ WKH LQYHVWLJDWLRQ WHDP VKDUHG D FRQFHUQ WKDW WKH younger generation of MOD staff are not inculcated with the same culture of protecting information as their FRXQWHUSDUWVIURPSUHYLRXVJHQHUDWLRQV´DQG x ³UHSRUWLQJ ORVVHV DV IDU DV ODSWRSV 3'$V DQG 86% devices) is poor and prevents effective management and sHFXULW\RIGHYLFHVDQGWKHLUGDWD´
3. AN E-SAFETY CULTURE Most people today, both children and adults, do practice due care when it relates to physical and financial security. Parents and teachers do educate their children about physical security, e.g. how to cross a busy road in a secure manner, or how and when to lock doors of their home, etc. Similarly, parents and teachers educate children about financial security. From a very young age children are taught that money must SUHIHUDEO\ EH µVWRUHG¶ LQ D SXUVH LQ D VHFXUH SODFH DQG WKDW LW should not lie around in unsecure places. Thus, it can be claimed that a culture of both physical and financial security have been cultivated among most people today, even small children know the basic principles of physical and financial security. From the physical and financial security analogies above, it is important to note that: x such cultures have developed over many decades;
Therefore, even the more adult generations can also be blamed as being negligent and not always applying due care as far as protecting information and related technologies. Some conclusions Employers have already reacted to some extent relating to the ethical and attitudinal stance of potential employees. One report VWDWHG WKDW DSSOLFDQWV¶ ³UHOD[HG DWWLWXGHV WRZDUG LOOHJDO GRZQORDGV FRXOG SXW IXWXUH MRE RSSRUWXQLWLHV DW ULVN´ [2]. Further, it is a known fact that many employers do attempt to VWXG\DQDSSOLFDQW¶V)DFHERRNSURILOHDVDµUHIHUHQFHFKHFN¶WR VWXG\WKHDSSOLFDQW¶VVRFLDODQGJRVVLSKDELWV[3]. It is a known fact that employees have been fired because of inflammatory comments made on social networks, like Facebook [7], and also because too much time is spent on Facebook-like sites. Having studied various situations, papers, studies and reports in this regard it can be concluded that different generations exhibit different respect and behavior towards online services. It seems as if: x The younger generation is too cavalier-like with seemingly no fear and respect for electronic information and related assets. x
The older generation is seemingly too conservative and exhibits a lack of appreciation for technological advances.
x
the culture might adapt from time to time as threats change;
x
the culture is definitely passed on from one generation / group to another;
x
education and training do play a major role in cultivating such a culture;
x
parents and teachers do play a major role in the education process and
x
the concepts are transferable, and individuals normally apply the same principles in the workplace as they apply to their personal situations.
To cultivate an e-safety culture would indeed pose problems. No previous generations have really encountered the problems of e-safety. Parents are often very apathetic towards e-safety and mostly also ignorant in this regard. Teachers are also not really prepared for this challenge and many teachers do not see e-safety as being part of their education responsibility.
The millennial generation seemingly practicing schizophrenic behavior by adopting different principles for SULYDWHDQGEXVLQHVVµOLYHV¶
4.
E-SAFETY AWARENESS AND EDUCATION
e-Safety awareness and education is critically important towards the eventual goal of cultivating an e-safety culture, even though
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both parents and teachers seem reluctant to take on this responsibility.
probability) is small enough to accept. On the other hand, if the road is very busy and the probability of getting hit is high, then the person will make a different decision and surely cross at a controlled traffic crossing. This scenario is nothing but a risk assessment being performed before a decision regarding physical security is made. Similar decisions are continuously being made by individuals, also regarding financial security. Thus, conducting some form of risk assessment is nothing new or strange to humans in their everyday personal lives.
Lessons learnt from general Information Security Awareness and Education highlighted the following aspects; firstly, such education must change behavior and secondly, it must be ongoing. Questions related to e-safety awareness and education campaigns that should be asked are: x Who should play the premier role? Parents / Adults? Schools / Teachers? Peers / Friends?
o o o x
What contents should be focused on?
At school? At work? Both?
7.
Formally? Informally?
Answering these questions would definitely contribute significantly towards the awareness and educational basis that is critical in cultivating an e-safety culture. But, is awareness and education, as proposed above, enough?
5.
REFERENCES
[1] %XUWRQ ( ³Report into the Loss of MOD Personal 'DWD´ &LWHG RQ 'HF DW http://www.mod.uk/nr/rdonlyres/3e756d20-e762-4fc1-bab008c68fdc2383/0/burton_review_rpt20080430.pdf) [2] %XVK - ³,OOHJDO GRZQORDGV PD\ GHWHU IXWXUH HPSOR\HUV´ 7KH (DJOH 6HSWHPEHU &LWHG RQ November 2008 at www.theeagleonline.com). [3] 0DQML 0 ³)DFHERRN DQG *RRJOH LQ 5HIHUHQFH &KHFNV :KDW (PSOR\HUV 8VH WR 5HVHDUFK
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Technical issues? Psychological issues? Ethical issues? Legal issues?
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In developing an e-safety culture, it is important that this same approach to risk assessment is inherently developed. Thus, to develop an e-safety culture among all modern online citizens, education and awareness as well as the ability to continuously conduct a risk assessment before certain security related decisions are taken, would be core.
E-SAFETY ± THE SOLUTION?
It is very important that an e-safety culture is cultivated, as is the case with physical and financial security. Also, it was highlighted in the previous section the education and awareness should play a major role in such a process. One further aspect that plays a crucial role in any security culture is that of risk assessment, as most security related decisions made are based on some sort of (formal or informal) risk assessment conducted. Risk is generally determined through two major factors, i.e. impact or consequence and probability. For example, if somebody wants to cross a busy street, the person firstly determines the threat (vehicles driving down the street) and the associated impact or consequence if the person is hit by an oncoming vehicle (possibly death of being hospitalized). Then the person determines the probability of getting hit by a car. If the probability is very small because the street is not very busy and the probability of getting across without being hit is very good, then the person will decide to take the chance and cross the street as the risk (combination of consequence and
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From Intention to Action: Timing-informed Computer Health Animations for Prolonged Sitting Computer Users Sy-Chyi Kiky Wang Dept. of E-learning Design and Management, National Chiayi University, Chiayi, Taiwan and Jin-Yuan Chern Dept. of Healthcare Administration, Chang Jung University, Tainan, Taiwan
ABSTRACT
in which participants need to actively access the information or aggressively participate in the programs in order to achieve behavior changes.
The development of modern technology brings convenience to our lives but removes physical activity from our daily routines, thereby putting our lives at risk. Extended computer use may contribute to symptoms such as visual impairment and musculoskeletal disorders. To reduce the risk of physical inactivity and promote healthier computer use, this study tries to develop a timed broadcast of health-related animations for users sitting at computers for prolonged periods. In addition, we examine the effects that the program has on the computerrelated health behavior intentions and actions of participants. Before- and after- questionnaires were used for data collection. The results show that the animation program indeed had a positive effect on participants’ physical activity action in terms of massage and stretch their bodies. It also helps to bridge the intention-action gap. The development and examination were documented and discussed within the context of health agencies planning the next steps in an effort to promote, develop, and evaluate healthy computer use.
People who must sit in front of computers for prolonged periods at work might understand the importance of regular exercise but have a hard time reminding and encouraging themselves and to engage in physical activity. Even those who have an exercise plan suffer from the difficulties involved in maintaining the routine and easily give it up when tied up by daily matters. Therefore, in this “computer” era, greater efforts on promoting healthy computer use behavior are necessary. Ergonomics training Knowledge and skills of ergonomics is critical to reducing health risks related to prolonged computer use. Extended computer use may contribute to symptoms of visual impairment, musculoskeletal injures, skin problems, or even emotional disorders. Research has shown that the duration of computer use is associated with several common symptoms including dry eyes, headaches, and neck, shoulder, and back pain. Interventions providing long-term computer users with the necessary knowledge and skills regarding ergonomics may be effective in reducing and preventing visual impairment and musculoskeletal issues or injuries [2][3].
Keywords: Animation, Healthy computer use, Physical activity, Ergonomics, Health promotion
1. INTRODUCTION
Despite the fact that computer related health issues are critical, surprisingly little effort has been made regarding the design and development of relevant interventions. Several ergonomics training programs provide ergonomics software packages, designed to prompt computer users to take a break and guide them toward regular exercise. However, most of the software packages contain only limited information. In fact, little is known about the impact and effectiveness of such software programs.
For many years, there has been growing interest in promoting healthy behavior. Various interventions have been provided to help with different targets, such as stop smoking, eat healthily, exercise regularly, and reduce alcohol intake. Research efforts have been devoted to developing different types of programs promoting health, such as personal consulting and evaluation, monthly delivered information, group class and incentive rewards. Meanwhile, the rapid growth of information technologies (especially the Internet) has also created opportunities for innovative health promotion. Research shows that computer-mediated communication has potential in disseminating interventions to increase physical activity [1].
Purpose of this Study In this study, we attempt to develop a timed health information broadcast and exercise animation program, with the help of computer timing-broadcasting software, for people sitting at computers for prolonged periods. It examines the question of how such a system is designed and developed; and how the
Regardless of whether the relevant interventions are person-toperson or internet-based, most of systems are aimed mainly at passively providing health information or exercise instruction,
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system influences the computer-related health intention and behavior of participants.
been configured to run the tasks (i.e. animation clips in this study) every 40 minutes. 2. Randomly play the animation clips—based on action scripts written in Flash, the animation clips were played back randomly with equal possibility.
A series of relevant health information and exercise animation clips (both in the form of text and figures) were designed and integrated into the timing-broadcasting program. Without too much instructional purpose, the program was aimed to motivate and induce physical activity and reduce the risk involved in extended computer use. The processes and necessary tasks of development and the effects of this intervention, particularly, on bridging the discrepancy (if there is any) between intention and action changes are the focus of this study.
The entire execution time for the research was 10 days. A prequestionnaire was distributed at the beginning of the study regarding the demographic information of participants along with a self-reported computer-related physical activity intention and behavior for the previous week. Each participant was contacted briefly to determine whether there were any problems with the implementation program after the first day of experimentation. A post-questionnaire was conducted at the end of the experiment to collect data about how the program influenced computer-related health intention and actual behavior change.
Health behavior change Most of the cognitive theories claimed that peoples’ intention to change is one of the best predictors to their actual change [4] [5]. However, in reality, people don’t usually just follow their intentions to behave, such as physical exercise, problem drinking, or eating pattern [6]. An intention does not necessarily by itself lead to action. We need to build the knowledge and skills to act on their intentions, and then to create a supportive environment for the behavior change [7]. This paper tries to carry out an intervention to help to bridge the gap between intention and action, from thinking to doing, for healthy computer use.
The Participants and Sampling This study included 39 participants. Most of the participants are aged about 18-20 with a mean of 25 for females and 14 for males. Through a purposeful sampling approach, the freshman level of college students at the department of Educational Technology (ET) at Chiayi University, who normally work more than 5 hours a day in front of computer, were the targeted population for this study.
2. METHOD AND PROCESS
Data collection Before- and after- questionnaires were used for data collection. The surveys used self-reported questionnaires to ask participants about their computer-related health behavior intention and action for the previous 10 days.
Five categories (eyes, head/neck/shoulder, hand, waist, and leg) of extended computer use symptoms were selected and included in this study. The program focuses on messages dedicated to increasing physical activity regard to healthy computer use among people using computers for extended periods.
The surveys collected the following main categories of data before and after the launch of the intervention. 1. Demographic Informaiton —name, age, sex, etc. 2. Computer-related health behavior intention and action—eye massage and movement, Head/Neck/Shoulder, Waist/Back, Leg/Foot massage and stretching, which are the same 5 categories as the of produced animations.
2D and 3D computer animations in both textual and graphic format were the media chosen for the delivery of health messages. With the help of health and physical activity experts, multimedia and animation creators and the animation-making tool Flash, about ninety animation clips were developed for this study (for visual examples, see Figure 1).
3. RESULTS The participant’s responses to the behavior intention and action related questions were measured and scored on a Likert fivepoint scale with “strongly disagree” scored for 1 and “strongly agree” for 5. The result shows that overall, the difference of means for behavior intention between pre-test (3.47±0.235) and post-test (3.61±0.141) does not reached statistical significance (p= 0.056), indicating that the implementation of time-broadcasting health animation didn’t exert a meaningful impact on the behavior intention of participants. However, the difference of means for the action of the behavior between pre-test (2.98±0.297) and post-test (3.37±0.191) does reach significant level (p= 0.002). Except of the ‘head/neck/shoulder,’ four out of five categories (body parts) demonstrate statistically significant impact on the action of computer health behavior after the intervention (Table 1). The non-significant impact on the action of head/neck/shoulder health behavior could be attributed to the highest action score on the pre-test (3.48), comparing to the rest of the categories (2.83, 2.90, 2.94, 2.72). This implies that
Figure 1. Screen Prints of examples of the developed animations
After recruiting participants, researchers installed the timingbroadcasting software, EZ Scheduler, on the participants’ personal computers, to serve two functions: 1. Timing-broadcasting the designed animation clips—the timing-broadcasting software was initiated and remained active after the participants had turned on their computers, which had
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participants were not just more aware (highest intention score, 3.87) of the influence of long-term computer use on their head/neck/shoulder than other parts of their bodies, but also actually acted on it before the intervention. Table 1. Results of paired t-test for physical exercise of healthy computer use PrePostt mean s.d. mean s.d. Eye_intent 3.378 1.0535 3.635 0.6335 -0.143
p_value
Eye_act
2.831
0.8251
3.264
0.6639
-3.250
0.003**
Head/Neck _intent Head/Neck _act Hand_intent
3.865
0.9573
3.802
0.6780
0.353
0.726
3.487
0.9480
3.667
0.7577
-1.008
0.320
3.446
0.9486
3.649
0.7252
-1.119
0.271
Hand_act
2.905
0.7803
3.405
0.7891
-3.226
0.003**
Waist_intent
3.405
0.8997
3.568
0.7280
-0.994
0.327
Waist_act
2.937
0.8083
3.333
0.7286
-3.087
0.004**
Leg_intent
3.243
1.0442
3.414
0.7345
-0.986
0.331
Leg_act 2.721 * p< 0.05, ** p< 0.01
0.7557
3.162
0.6877
-2.868
0.007**
N=37 0.147
s.d.
mean
s.d.
0.547
0.7902
0.372
0.7256
1.313
Head/neck
0.378
0.6857
0.135
0.6259
1.989
0.054
Hand
0.541
0.7010
0.243
0.6081
2.577
0.014*
Waist
0.469
0.7178
0.234
0.7021
1.913
0.064
Legs
0.523
0.8260
0.252
0.6157
2.728
0.010*
The primary function of the program was viewed by participants as a reminder to perform computer-related physical activity. The results showed that the program significantly affected the participants’ computer-related health action throughout the 10 days experiment, which results in a decreased number of differences between intention and action. These findings provide encouragement for further development of the program.
The overall (pre- and post-) scores for the intention and the action are 3.54 and 3.17, which fell between “agree” and “slightly agree” in a Likert five-point scale. It indicates that participants only close to “slightly agree” to their needs of healthy computer use. Of course, the participants in this study are relatively young, who may not sense the severe problems of the negative side of long-term computer use. However, as it known, ‘prevention’ is far better than ‘cure.’ If we can ‘install’ a healthy computer use habits for this young computer generation, then who knows what we may prevent for them in the future.
Table 2. Results of paired t-test for difference between “intention” and “action” PrePostt p_value mean
4. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
The relatively low impact on the intention seems to suggest that the future development of the program should not only focus on the function of ‘reminding’ long-term computer users for physical activity, to encourage them for action and to bridge the gap between intention and action, further vision should be carried out. More professional and specific knowledge and skills, regarding how to live healthily with computers, should be embedded to increase the intention level as well.
Table 2 and Figure 2 show that three out of the five body parts demonstrate statistically significant decrease in differences between “intention” and “action” after the intervention of animation clips broadcasting, particularly for the body parts of “hands” and “legs.” For the eyes exercise, after a further examination on the original data (Table 1), we found that the intention score for ‘eyes’ increased 0.26 (from 3.38 to 3.64), almost double to the average difference (0.14) between pretest and protest. Therefore, although the action score of eye movement showed big progress (p=0.003) after the intervention, the gap between intention and action on eye movement did not reach significant due to the improve on its intention as well.
Eyes
Figure 2. Results of paired t-test for difference between “intention” and “action”
0.198
Overall, this study calls attention to the negative effects of extended computer use and suggests that increased effort be made regarding the immediate needs of promoting healthy habits among people who spend extended periods in front of computers. Furthermore, computer-related industries should consider including (providing) solutions (such as the programs) with their highly valued computer software applications, to help with the increasingly severe problems associated with extended computer use.
* p< 0.05, ** p< 0.01
A longitudinal approach would also be necessary for following up to determine the influence of the program on health outcomes.
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5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This work was supported by the National Science Council under the Grant NSC 98-2511-S-415-009-MY2.
6. REFERENCE
[1] M. J. Fotheringham, R. L. Wonnacott and, N. Owen, Computer use and physical inactivity in young adults: Public health perils and potentials of new information technologies. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 22(4), 2000, p269-75. [2] R. J. Lewis, M. Foglemanb, J. Deeba, E Crandallc. and D. Agopsowiczc. Effectiveness of a VDT ergonomics training program. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 27(2), 2001, p119-131. [3] R. Ketola, R Toivonen, M Häkkänen, R Luukkonen, E-P Takala, E Viikari-Juntura, the Expert Group in Ergonomics. Effects of ergonomic intervention in work with video display units. Scand J Work Environ Health, 28(1), 2002, p18-24.
[4], M Fishbein, I. Ajzen, Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1975. [5] I. Ajzen, From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior. In J. Kuhl, & J. Beckmann (Eds.), Springer series in social psychology (pp. 11-39). Berlin: Springer, 1985. [6] R. Schwarzer, Modeling health behavior change: How to predict and modify the adoption and maintenance of health behaviors. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 57(1), 2008, p.1-29. [7]. I. R. Contento, Nutrition Education: Linking Research, Theory and Practice, Jones & Bartlett, 2008.
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Conception of a computer-aided physics laboratory to facilitate the understanding of kinematical concepts Louis Trudel, Université d’Ottawa, Pavillon Lamoureux (LMX), 145, rue Jean-Jacques-Lussier, Ottawa (Ontario), Canada K1N 6N5 Abdeljalil Métioui, Université du Québec à Montréal, Case postale 8888, Succursale Centre-ville, Montréal (Québec) Canada H3C 3P8 building Cartesian graphs, measurement and systematic collection of data, problems solving, etc. which will be useful in more advanced physics courses.
ABSTRACT In the traditional teaching of kinematics, experiments offered to the students generally do not take into account their alternative conceptions in relation to physical phenomena so that they can encounter difficulties in identifying pertinent factors and in expressing it quantitatively in form of equations. Our research first objective is to conceive a learning approach aiming at facilitating the transition between naive conception of the students and scientific models containing the following dispositions: 1) it should allow the expression and comparison of naive conception of the students; 2) it should give the students the possibility of putting their conception to the test in a computer assisted laboratory. Our research second objective is to determine at which conditions such an approach can facilitate the understanding of the kinematical concepts. We conclude by stating the benefits and the limits of such an approach.
And yet, if there is a domain which causes a lot of difficulties to the students, it is the kinematics, defined as the study of the motion of objects without being concerned about its causes [4]. There are several reasons put forward by the researchers. Firstly, the everyday schemata students develop before arriving in the physics can interfere with learning, especially if teaching does not take them into account. In that case, students may differentiate between “school knowledge”, which works in school (for example, in the laboratory), and “daily knowledge”, which allows them to react with effectiveness to events of the common life [5]. Secondly, kinematics is often learned with a high degree of mathematical abstraction to whom the students are not accustomed [4]. Moreover, during these laboratory activities, it seems that the students do not have enough opportunities to propose their own hypotheses [6]. Indeed, a study of protocols included in Quebec science laboratory textbooks demonstrates that the students are seldom offered the opportunity to get involved in an authentic research [7].
Key words: Motion, speed, computer-aided laboratory, understanding, conception, kinematics
1. INTRODUCTION
To overcome these difficulties and to favour a more authentic investigation of kinematical phenomena, it has been proposed that the various steps of an experience be supported by the use of technology. As such, the use of specially designed software and equipment like sensors could make easier the collection of experimental data as well as supporting students in their analysis [8]. An example of this approach, called the "video-based laboratory ", make use of a digital camera with which the students can record the motion of objects in form of videos. The students can then transfer the content of these videos to a laptop computer and measure, with the help of data collecting software (REGAVI), the positions according to time of the images of objects in the video in clicking repeatedly with the mouse. These data are then automatically organised by the software REGAVI in tables. These tables can be put in form of Cartesian graphs when the students transferred their content to a data analytical software (REGRESSI). As such, the
According to De Jong and van Jooligen [1], the students encounter difficulties in the various stages of the experimental method: the generation of hypotheses, the conception of the experimental protocol, the interpretation of data and the regulation of experience as such. Since these stages, although being distinct, are interrelated, these difficulties can be solved only by learning strategies which take into account the cyclic and iterative character of the experimental method [2]. As such, the formulation of hypotheses depends on the interaction between, on one hand, the conceptions of the student about phenomena and, on the other hand, characteristics of the very phenomena [3]. Among the physical phenomena studied in the secondary, the learning of motion, or kinematics, is important for the students for several reasons: 1) the acquisition of concepts of time, of speed and acceleration constitutes a precondition in the learning of concepts of mechanics; 2) in kinematics, the student learns new methods, such as
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Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
software REGRESSI can help students make various calculations, such as the slope of the tangent to a curve, and help them model their results with regression analysis. As a consequence, the students can test their hypotheses faster and more efficiently and, if needed to be, change the parameters of physical situations to explore other possible relations between kinematical variables [9]. Such an approach has several advantages: 1) it allows to the student to concentrate on the generation of hypotheses and the interpretation of results, two skills not well developed in the traditional laboratory; 2) it allows to the student to generate and to prove several hypotheses in a quicker time, making it easier to use strategies of variation of parameters [10]; 3) in physical situations where it is necessary to return on the results of an experience to verify the quality of the data collected or possibly to change the original hypothesis, computeraided experimentation can allow the traditional laboratory to become iterative in spite of the constraints of the school environment. Indeed, it is often necessary to the student to return on the results of an experience to study reasons of the gap between his ideas and the results obtained, facilitating conceptual change in sciences [3,11].
principles: 1) to favour expression and comparison of the ideas of the students by working in small groups; 2) to give to the students the possibility of putting their ideas to the test during " video-based laboratory " [9]; 3) to guide the learning of the students by the teacher. Considering the previous comments, an approach of learning aiming at facilitating the transition between naive conception of the students and scientific models should include dispositions to favour expression and comparison of naive conception of the students (for example working in small groups) and to give to the students the possibility of putting their conception to the test in computer assisted laboratory [10]. The iterative nature of this approach, mobilizing qualitative as well as quantitative reasoning, should allow the students to construct progressively a scientific model of studied phenomena [11]. Our pilot study aims at determining at which conditions such an approach can favour the understanding of the kinematical concepts.
2. CONCEPTION OF THE APPROACH As regards the activities of modelling of phenomena kinematics, we conceived them according to the characteristics of the two main physical models: 1) the straight motion at constant speed; (2) the constant acceleration (or deceleration) in straight line [14]. To allow the students to work in small groups of four or five persons, we conceived a guide of activities to help the teacher supervise the learning of his students. The guide introduces various cases of uniform and accelerated motion. Each case includes activities (questions, graphic to draw, etc.) which guides the modelling process of the students. This modelling process is structured according to a POE task (Prediction> Observation> Explanation) [15]. Every task POE takes place in the following way. A physical situation represented under a concrete form by a physical set up is explained to the students in the guide. Questions linked to this case ask the student to predict what is going to arrive if experience is performed. Then they note their predictions in their notebook. The students in groups of four or five accomplish then the assemblage linked to this case according to the instructions of the guide.
And yet, researches aiming to prove the effect of such approach on the understanding of kinematical concepts had produced mitigated results. As such, Rodrigues, Pearce and Livett [12] showed that the use of video in the laboratory has the tendency to reinforce the naive models of students in relation to phenomena rather than to encourage them to construct new and more scientific models. For their part, Escalada and Zolman [13] did not find significant difference, in the results of a test of acquisition of kinematical concepts between the students having followed a laboratory assisted by video and those having followed a traditional laboratory. Besides, in their research, neither the students allocated to the traditional laboratory nor those allocated to the laboratory assisted by video achieved the problems of a test of conceptual understanding. However, Koleza and Pappas [9], by conducting meetings with students where the interviewer asked them questions on situations of objects in motion represented by graphs, showed that the understanding of the students concerning the graphs of position-time and speed-time had improved.
They then proceed to the experimentation in the video based laboratory described in the precedent section. They notice the properties of the phenomenon of motion and write their results in their notebook. Then they try to explain the gaps, if needed to be, between their predictions and their observations. In so making, they can change the assemblage to study other aspects of motion or to prove alternative hypotheses issued during exchanges between them. The verification of these supplementary modified hypotheses can be made iteratively with the video based laboratory.
These mitigated results of researches on the use of video in the laboratory allow nevertheless to formulate some guidelines [9]: 1) the specifics characteristics of the laboratory assisted by video (easiness of use, speed in the collection of data and their analysis) are not enough by themselves to influence the understanding of physical concepts; 2) even with a new technology such as the use of video in the laboratory, it is important to design activities in accordance with a constructivist approach aiming at the construction of new knowledge by the student. As a result, the integration of interactive video in a practical activity in the laboratory should follow these constructivists
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Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
3. UNFOLDING OF THE ACTIVITIES During exchanges in class, the students justify their choice of a conception on the basis of visual obviousness such as the ball seems to decelerate. From these predictions, the guide asks the students to draw a graph of what would be the curve of the position according to time. Indeed, it is important to encourage the students to specify their prediction in a concrete way. Such a precise prediction will allow them to compare it more easily with experimental results [17]. Then, the guide asks them to do the set-up of the experiment. The students then proceed to the data collection and analysis of the motion in the video based laboratory as explained earlier.
We have implemented these activities in various settings: high school students in physics courses, future teachers of physics in the high school, future elementary teachers, in service teachers attending to workshops. We drew our comments from information of the diary and results of the analysis of the answers of the students registered in the guide of the student to specify, according to the characteristics of samples [16]. We describe the unfolding of the activities followed by the students in their learning of kinematical concepts from the traces they produced: videos of objects in motion produced by the different teams, the data collected on motions, the answers to the questions in the guide of the student. For clarity aims and limitations of space, we present two cases only from the students’ guide [3]. We present following this section the principal comments of high school students when they were asked to evaluate these activities.
In general, the computer system allows the student to measure displacements of the ball in the different intervals of successive time in order to establish the constancy or not of the speed. Besides, the study of the position-time graph obtained experimentally (fig. 2) allows the students to compare it with their predictions. Indeed, by comparing the form of both curves, the students realise that contrary to their predictions, the displacement between intervals of successive time is identical and that friction plays a negligible role.
First case The description of this case is in the student guide [3]: “A ball is thrown on a horizontal rail. The circle in grey points out its initial position at the time of launching. The circle (with symbol 1 inside it) points out the position of the ball after 1 second.” (fig. 1)
Fig. 1 Motion of a ball running an horizontal rail The task POE consists then in predicting what will be the successive positions of the ball at every following second, knowing the distance traveled in the first second. Some of the main conceptions expressed by the students can be classified in the following categories:
Fig 2 Position-time graph of uniform straight motion
Second case Moreover, it is possible to consider complex physical situations (fig 3). The guide asks the students if and when ball A will possibly catch up with ball B. In the prediction part, the students must predict the respective positions of balls A and B in the course of time. Afterward, the students must draw, from their predictions, the position-time and speed-time graphs of both balls. With respect to their predictions, some students think that ball A will catch up with B before the end of the descent since starting from a higher position, it acquires a greater speed or a greater acceleration. Some students will say that ball A will strike ball B at the end of the ascent (second segment) just after ball B reverses its motion. Others will put into play some conservation principle to state that somewhere in the second segment, ball A will catch up with B since the highest the ball B can reach in the second segment is still lower than what ball A can
1) The speed of the ball increases in the beginning, stay constant in the middle part, then decelerates later. It is to note here that among the students who advocate a nonzero acceleration in the ball at first, some have tendency to merge the initial time with the time when the ball is put in motion by the experimenter. 2) The speed of the ball remains constant till the end, without notable slowing down. Some people explain that the length of the rail is too short or that slowing down is too weak to be disclosed. 3) The speed of the ball diminishes gradually until it stops. The students who maintain this conception invoke friction as reason of slowing down.
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Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
reach. Although the last statement is correct, it does not tell us the exact point where the two balls will meet, which is part of the original question. Although this situation represents a challenge for students at all levels, its familiar character favour the participation of all in a lively debate.
Fig. 4 Position-time graph of balls A and B
The figure 5 below represents the speed-time graph of balls A and B from this case of chase. One can note in the first part (left segment in fig. 3) that the speed of both balls increases regularly with the same acceleration (the slopes of the two lines are approximately the same). Furthermore, it is interesting to note that the final speed of the ball A is larger than the speed of the ball B (this result could be predicted by taking into account that the ball A is speeded up on a greater time interval than the ball B). Finally, it is also curious to note that, in the second part, the speed of the ball A is less than the ball B. This inversion takes place after the speed of balls A and B became equal, at a time of about 7 seconds. A credible explanation would be that balls A and B entered in collision at this instant and part of the impact contributes to the reduction in the speed of the ball A.
Fig. 3 Motion of two balls running downwards then upwards along two successive rails making an angle between them
Especially, the prediction of the position-time graph introduces a particular difficulty because it is constituted of an upwards parabola (acceleration) followed by a downwards parabola (deceleration) (fig 4). In this regard, the continuity of the speed, represented by the tangent to the position-time curve requires an inflexion point between both trajectory segments. According to fig. 4, the distance between the two balls in the first segment will be approximately constant (because the acceleration according to the inclined plane is the same as well as their zero initial speed). Moreover, the change in motion (from acceleration to deceleration) happens later in ball A than ball B, meaning the ball A accelerates during a greater time interval and, thus, attains a greater final speed that ball B. In some conditions which depend especially on the initial separation between the balls, the ball A will be able to catch up with ball B before this last one reaches the summit of its trajectory. This situation clearly puts many concepts into play and the space misses us to describe the different strategies adopted by the students. Even if it is possible by reasoning to produce persuasive arguments in support of one or the other idea expressed by the students, the possibility of collecting quickly the positions of both balls as well as obtaining position-time and speed-time graphs allows to the students to decide between the various opinions expressed and, thus, to progress towards a deeper understanding of the kinematical concepts.
Figure 5 Speed-time graph of balls A and B
4. ASSESSMENT OF THE ACTIVITIES BY THE STUDENTS Some of the activities presented were assessed by the students during a classroom discussion which occurred at the end of the implementation of this approach in a high school. The students involved were part of a class of 23 French-speaking students, 16 girls and 7 boys, of
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physics course of 11th year of a school of the province of Ontario in Canada. The students of this class had chosen the sciences curriculum given by the school so that they are expected to be interested by sciences in general and physics especially. The students comment about the following topics: the benefits of activities, the difficulties they encountered, easiness of use of technology (digital camera, software of collection and of analysis of information), the pertinence of activities in relation to the learning of concepts of motion, suggestions or recommendations with the aim of improving the activities, critics and limits of the activities.
some students would have liked more time to do supplementary activities.
5. CONCLUSION The use of computer technology in the physics laboratory will likely transform the way this discipline is taught and learned. Nevertheless, computer-aided experimentation is too often dedicated to the technical side of automatic data collecting and by its organisation in form of tables and graphs. This emphasis on the technical precision of measures, in spite of its rigour, risk of making us forget the pedagogical side of these activities.
As regards the benefits of activities, the students found that these had led them to think on concepts of mechanics. Some students mentioned that the use of video and of collection and analysis software had allowed them to better visualize the concepts of motion. According to other students, the activities are more practical, more concrete and they prefer these activities to stay in class and listen to courses. With respects to the difficulties encountered, some students mentioned that they experienced difficulty in remembering some concepts which they had seen before. According to them, they had to rely on themselves only and they would have appreciated to receive more assistance, especially explanations. Other students did not understand the graphs produced by the software REGRESSI and they would have preferred to receive a course to understand why graphs were constructed in that way. Others would have preferred to receive the correct answers to the questions of the guide to check their own answers. On the contrary, some students appreciated the questions asking them their predictions about the positions where the ball should be at different instants during its motion. To answer these questions allowed them to get an outline of the motion.
The learning approach introduced here use the capacities of the computer so that the student could, from a common sense representation of the properties of phenomena, make the transition to a mathematical representation in form of graphs of position-time and speed-time. Our approach, which we could qualify as semi-quantitative, favours exchanges between students and use of various modes of representations, so that high school students can study complex kinematics phenomena reserved before to the upper cycles of education. These still embryonic results appear promising. Especially, studies involving groups of students in controlled conditions, difficult to reproduce in the heat of daily teaching, would allow researchers to follow the progress of the students when they perform transition between their representations of common sense and scientific representations. To this day, physics education research has studied the students’ understanding of simple phenomena which most likely occurred in daily life. And yet the study of students’ alternative conceptions when they test the properties of complex phenomena of motion would allow us to understand how these students link up various kinematical concepts when they solve problems. As such, the use of video based laboratory according to constructivist principles can help science teachers attain those objectives, provided future research can determine the interplay of the various aspects of this learning approach and their relative impact on students’ learning of the kinematics concepts. We hope this research constitute a step in this direction.
As regards the use of the technical tools and of the software, the students found that the measurement of positions according to time with the aid of the mouse took time. Some students mentioned that they had not had difficulty in analysing data with the aid of the software REGRESSI while others were of opposite opinion. In this respect, some found that written instructions were appropriate while others would have preferred instructions under visual form, for example on CDROM, or verbal. As regards the pertinence of activities, some students expressed that they understood more the properties of motion. Others told they better understood graphs. As regards suggestions and recommendations, a student suggested that instead of students doing the experiments, it should be the teacher who presents the phenomena of motion to the students in form of demonstration. In that situation, the students could nevertheless see very well the motion of the ball well and, furthermore, they could obtain the graphs and analyse them. So, according to this one, there would be an economy of time and the teacher could give more explanation. In a related area,
6. REFERENCES [1] T. De Jong, & R. van Joolingen, "Scientific discovery learning with computer simulations of conceptual domains", Review of Educational Research, Vol. 68, No. 2, 1998, pp.179-201. [2] R. Toplis, "Evaluating science investigations at ages 14-16: Dealing with anomalous results",
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International Journal of Science Education, Vol. 29, No. 2, 2007, pp. 127-150. [3] L. Trudel, Impact d’une méthode de discussion sur la compréhension des concepts de la cinématique chez les élèves de cinquième secondaire, Thèse de doctorat, Montréal, Université du Québec à Montréal, 2005. [4] A. B. Arons, A guide to introductory physics teaching, Toronto: John Wiley & Sons, 1990. [5] M.F. Legendre, "Problématique de l'apprentissage et de l'enseignement des sciences au secondaire: Un état de la question", Revue des sciences de l'éducation, Vol. 20, No.4, 1994, pp. 657-677. [6] P.L. Trempe, "L’enseignement des sciences au quotidien : Six études de cas au primaire et au secondaire (problématique, méthodologie, interprétation, synthèse générale de l’information)". Monographies des sciences de l’éducation, Vol. 1, No 1. Trois-Rivières, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, 1989, pp. 1-204. [7] A. Métioui, & L. Trudel, "Analyse critique des expériences proposées dans les manuels destinés aux jeunes de 8 à 12 ans: Magnétisme, électrostatique et circuits électriques". CDROM : Critical Analysis of School Science Textbooks, P. Clément (Ed.), IOSTE International Meeting Tunisia Hammamet, 7 to 10 February, 2007, 12 pages. [8] D. Jonassen, J. Strobel, & J. Gottdenker, "Model building for conceptual change", Interactive Learning Environments, Vol. 13, Nos. 1-2, 2005, pp. 15-37. [9] E. Koleza & J. Pappas, "The effect of motion analysis activities in a video-based laboratory in students’ understanding of position, velocity and frames of reference", International Journal of Mathematical Education, Vol. 39, No. 6, 2006, pp. 701-723 [10] M. Riopel, Conception et mise à l’essai d’un environnement d’apprentissage intégrant l’expérimentation assistée par ordinateur et la simulation assistée par ordinateur, Thèse de doctorat, Montréal, Université de Montréal, 2005. [11] J.-Y. Lin, "Responses to anomalous data obtained from repeatable experiments in the laboratory", Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Vol. 44, No. 3, 2007, pp. 506-528. [12] S. Rodrigues, J. Pearce & M. Livett, "Using video analysis or data loggers during practical work in first year physics", Educational Studies, Vol. 27, No. 1, 2001, pp. 32-43 [13] L.T. Escalada & D.A. Zoilman, "An Investigation on the Effects of Using Interactive Digital Video
in a Physics Classroom on Student Learning and Altitudes", Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Vol. 34, No. 5, 1997, pp. 467-89. [14] I.A. Halloun, Modeling theory in science education, Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2004. [15] D.W. Russell, K.B. Lucas, & C.J. McRobbie, "Role of the Microcomputer-Based Laboratory Display in Supporting the Construction of New Understandings in Thermal Physics", Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Vol. 41 No. 2, 2004, pp. 165-85. [16] H. Altrichter, & M.L. Hollly, "Research Diaries", In B. Somekh & C. Lewin (Eds.), Research Methods in the Social Sciences, chap. 2, Thousand Oaks (Californie) : SAGE, 2005. [17] R. White, & R. Gunstone, Probing understanding. London : The Falmer Press, 1992.
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Components of Successful Distance Learning Dr. Richard H. Vranesh 313 North Underwood Street Falls Church, VA 22046 Meaningful learning, according to Derry (1990),1 happens when (1) new information is connected to (2) prior knowledge in working memory through establishing a connection via a (4) presentation method that takes this relationship into account and elaborates on the relationship as part of the content of instruction.
1.0 INTRODUCTION When large centralized organizations are considering a virtual learning environment for updating the skills of their branches, the loss of mentoring that they receive when they are trained often negatively impacts field training. Virtual models for these agencies then suffer a loss of what is called in mathematics “discretization.” Discretization concerns the process of transferring continuous models and equations into discrete counterparts. In essence what happens is that the model breaks down in the field training environment due to the lack of expert help and advice from experienced HQ staff.
These, then, are the components of the learning environment—propositions, elaboration, and retrieval— that are required to ensure that meaningful learning occurs.
In order to support these components in a virtual environment to ensure that meaningful learning takes place, the environment should have 3 basic layers:
Causes of some of these problems are rooted in inherent flaws in the virtual platforms that they adopt. The usual distance learning culprits include: synchronous, asynchronous, and blended learning environments. Synchronous learning often leaves out a lot of students who require time to reflect on questions and problems in real-time. Asynchronous learning can lead to a sense of being disconnected from the group that students may potentially develop. Finally, in a blended learning environment, a big disadvantage is procrastination can happen with the asynchronous parts (self-paced) that negatively impacts the synchronous (real time, instructor facilitated) portions.
• •
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Teaching Environment for propositions of new information, A Learning Environment to provide elaboration that permits connecting new information to existing knowledge, and Performance Environment to practice and strengthen retrieval of new information.
2.1.1 The Teaching Environment
Currently, instructors closely monitor comprehension and provide collaborative opportunities for students to connect with their on-line peers. There are also many programming tools that can connect a group of learners in any of these environments. In a true virtual environment, however, with a vast number of learners, we cannot rely on course managers or synchronous instructors to ensure that all students are truly connected to their instructional programs-we need “ a collection of electronic communication tools and an integrated environment for using them to support the variety of learning platforms that are available in a virtual environment.” 2.0
Layers of the Virtual Learning Environment
2.1
The Teaching Environment contains: •
•
•
Outcomes-Proposition for the course. The course will achieve these objectives to be considered successful. Instructional Strategies-The method of implementing the course that will lead to the outcomes of instruction Teaching Models-For each type of learning, a specific proven model of teaching should be used
Learning strategies are tools that we need to provide in the learning environment to assist the learner in meeting the outcomes of instruction. The learning strategy, according to Wittrock (1992)2, is a person's approach to a learning task.
MEANINGFUL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT COMPONENTS
In order to develop such an environment without having to rely on expert intervention and to guarantee its success across diverse branches and departments, these tools should be built into the environment. Since there are basically three parts of the learning environmentteaching, learning, and performance, we need to provide support at each of these layers to ensure meaningful learning occurs by all distant participants.
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Derry, Sharon J. "Learning Strategies for Acquiring Useful Knowledge. In Dimensions of thinking and cognitive instruction, ed. Beau Jones & Lorna Idol (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1990), p. 347 - 379. 2 Wittrock, M.C. (1992). Knowledge acquisition and comprehension. In M.C. Alkin (ed.), Encyclopedia of educational research (6th ed., pp. 699-705). New York: Macmillan.
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For each of the types of learning in the course, a separate instructional strategy is required. In typical technical and new systems training, three types of knowledge are fostered. These include: • Methods-A method is an approach to an entire job. It is a way of organizing the job components, ensuring that all of resources required for the job are in place, and that the job tasks are performed when required meeting milestones and ensuring successful completion. • Processes-Taking something through a routine set of procedure steps to change its state to another. • Procedures-a plan for performing a collection of tasks in a routine, systematic fashion such that each task builds on the other, paves the way for accomplishing the end goal, and is endlessly repeatable.
happens. Presentations include going from arriving at a concept that explains the relationship of data in a category. Exploration include deriving a concept and then determining how to break it down into steps that then lead to the completion of a process. Practice includes investigation of a complex question, construction of answers that take into account the phenomenon that can be categorized as instances of a single concept, and the ability to freely and easily develop or locate competing models. I have developed models have been developed for each type of learning that contain opportunities for exploration, a prescribed type of practice, and a specific amount of learner guidance. A model for learning a method appears below as Figure 1. Figure 1-Teaching model for method learning
An Instructional Approach is a method of teaching the skills to be learned for each type of learning. According to Merrill (1997)3 a complete instructional strategy consists of knowledge structure consistent with, and appropriate for, the knowledge and skill being taught, a presentation consistent with, and appropriate for the kind of knowledge or skill being taught, an opportunity for exploration of the ideas being taught, practice with feedback consistent with, and appropriate for, the knowledge or skill being taught, and learner guidance consistent with, and appropriate for, the knowledge and skill being taught.
Since process learning involves a lot of plans, collaborative work on making plans to solve a specific problem are provided. This model would then emulate the following:
For learning a method, an instructional strategy would focus on Conceptualization for its knowledge structure. The Presentation teaching techniques need to be included that assist the learner in deriving mental approaches to similar classes of Job components. Exploration would include discovering concepts and connections between natural phenomena by actively determining which concepts account for or explain the relationship between similar events. Practice would involve open-ended activities that stimulate their curiosity, become familiar with the instructional materials, and formulate early understandings of tasks.
Figure 2-Teaching model for process learning
Process knowledge is basically knowledge of how to generate and monitor plans. Presentations include both students and instructors working together to examine complex problems and construct new knowledge to solve them. Exploration includes students learning the required information through structured activities that provide some opportunities for students to make their own discoveries and draw their own conclusions. For Practice, learning inquiry skills in this manner naturally leads to collaboration among students. Procedural knowledge is the knowledge of knowing how something 3
Merrill. M.David, Instructional Strategies that Teach, CBT Solutions Nov./Dec. 1997 1-11.
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This model can be judged to have provided successful instruction when the student can explain the process and provide an example of it in operation.
Figure 4-Learning model for method learning
Procedural learning is the next step in reasoning going from arriving at a concept that explains the relationship of data in a category. The derived concept is then broken down into steps. These steps then lead to the completion of a process. Combining processes lead to the building of a model. A teaching model that would inculcate this type of learning is presented as Figure 3 below. Figure 3-Teaching model for procedural learning
Similarly, a learning model for process learning would emphasize problem solving and planning over conceptual understanding. (See Figure 5 below).
Figure 5-Learning model for process learning
A model for this type of learning requires the following instructional components: • •
•
Investigation of a complex question, Construction of answers that take into account the phenomenon that can be categorized as instances of s single concept, and Ability to freely and easily develop or locate
competing models.
2.1.1 The Learning Environment This indicates that all teaching models are built on our conception of how different types of knowledge are gained. This is the primary comment of the learning environment, the second layer of the virtual environment. For each teaching model, then, there is a corresponding learning model that we build the teaching model on. The learning model for a method is included as Figure 4
The final model is for procedural learning. Note the emphasis on open-ended investigation and construction
above.
of answers to explain how things work.
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synchronous environment), a performance support layer should be included in the virtual learning environment. This layer also assists in providing the same continuous level of motivation for the asynchronous portion of the blended platform through the use of performance enablers.
Figure 6-Learning Model for procedural learning
3.0 CONCLUSION With these layers in place and functioning in the virtual environment, the major disadvantages of the elearning platforms can be overcome by using the proper tools and their combinations that exist in each layer. For example, in the synchronous environment, the biggest disadvantage is that students often feel disconnected to what is going on in the course because some students are more reflective and create novel solutions that do not always fit into the confines of the problems presented to the group. To make all students feel connected to what is going on in the course:
The next important component of a learning environment should be a Learning Content Management System (LCMS). A course contains what everyone might need to know about a topic. A learner wants only part of what that course has to offer, specifically, what he or she wants to learn. To accomplish this, old-style courses must be atomized -- broken down into reasonably sized chunks (learning objects) and reassembled in The proper size package. Finally, the learning environment needs to contain an Electronic Performance Support System. According to Gloria Gery (1994)4 Electronic Performance Support focuses on work itself while training focuses on the learning required to do the work. Integrating resources in the workplace is inevitable, and the need is urgent. Filtering resources so people get the tools and resources they need while actively working is the goal. Work process and roles are the primary filters.
•
The teaching model emphasizes hypotheses building
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The learning model should focus on group problem solving
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The performance environment is based on sharing of developmental feedback
In the asynchronous environment,: individual success or failure on the course depended upon the extent to which students were able to cross a threshold from feeling like outsiders to feeling like insiders. The layers of the virtual environment can also accommodate these students by:
2.1.3 The Performance Environment To ensure that students are aware of expectations about their performance (a somewhat difficult concept to promulgate in an asynchronous learning environment) and to provide immediate feedback on their accomplishments (which can be a problem in a large
•
The teaching model emphasizes collaborative projects
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The learning model should focus on group problem solving
•
The performance environment is based on sharing of continuous and progressive feedback
Finally, to assist in overcoming the lethargy that sometimes characterizes self-paced instruction:
4
Gery, G., 1991. Electronic Performance Support Systems: How and why to remake the workplace through the strategic application of technology. Tolland, MA: Gery Performance 413258-4693).
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The teaching model emphasizes increasingly complex exercises
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The learning model should exploration of topics of interest
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The performance environment is based on adapted use of the LCMS
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REFERENCES Derry, Sharon J. "Learning Strategies for Acquiring Useful Knowledge. In Dimensions of thinking and cognitive instruction, ed. Beau Jones & Lorna Idol (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1990), p. 347 - 379.
Merrill. M.David, Instructional Strategies that Teach, CBT Solutions Nov./Dec. 1997 1-11. Wittrock, M.C. (1992). Knowledge acquisition and comprehension. In M.C. Alkin (ed.), Encyclopedia of educational research (6th ed., pp. 699-705). New York: Macmillan.
Gery, G., 1991. Electronic Performance Support Systems: How and why to remake the workplace through the strategic application of technology. Tolland, MA: Gery Performance 413-258-4693)
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Application of Combinational Innovation Philosophy in Earthquake Resistant Research for Bridges Kai WEI, Yuye ZHANG and Wancheng YUAN State Key Laboratory of Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, Tongji University Shanghai, 200092, China
ABSTRACT In recent years, traditional seismic design methods cannot meet the public’s concerns about the earthquake resistant capacity of bridges. In these circumstances, much more innovations are required in the related research and education. In order to select an innovative research topic of value and fulfill the innovation more efficiently, this paper provides a combinational innovation philosophy in earthquake resistant research for bridges. The development of combinational innovation was introduced. Then a combinational innovation philosophy applied in earthquake resistant research for bridges, which consists of five process stages, was put forward. Three combinational innovation cases in earthquake resistant research “compound stochastic seismic vulnerability analysis method”, “Cable - sliding friction aseismic bearing” and “Bridge piers reinforced with steel fiber reinforced concrete in local region” were given to demonstrate the importance and validity of the philosophy. And three innovation processes in combinational innovation, including the combination of different methods, materials and components, are embodied in these cases respectively. The success of the cases demonstrate that the combinational innovation philosophy is efficient, significant and deserving of attention in future bridge seismic research and graduate education.
Fig. 2 Miaoziping Bridge in Wenchuan Earthquake
Fig. 3 Baihua Bridge in Wenchuan Earthquake
Keywords: innovation philosophy; bridge engineering; combinational innovation; Earthquake Resistant Research 1. INTRODUCTION Earthquake, one of the major natural disasters, often causes severe damage or even collapse of engineering structures. Bridges, as key elements of the transportation system, have been found to be vulnerable in past earthquakes, which leads to Fig. 4 A low pier in Chi-chi Earthquake
a growing concern about the earthquake resistant research for bridges. From the surveys of previous earthquake damages, it states that the shear and flexural failures of columns, unseating of the girder in the horizontal direction, damage caused by large surface rupture displacement and damage caused by landslides or liquefaction are main damages or failures of bridges (Wang, 2009). Fig. 1 shows an example of span collapse in San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridges in Loma Prieta (Ye, 2002); Fig. 2 shows a similar case occurred in the Miaoziping Bridge on Duwen Highway in Wenchuan (Han, 2009); Fig. 3 shows a column which has lost the concrete protective layers due to
Fig.1 Oakland Bay Bridges in Loma Prieta Earthquake
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bending effect; Fig. 4 shows a low reinforcement concrete pier suffering shear damage in Chi-chi. Nowadays the wide constructions of bridges in China undoubtedly promote the development of earthquake resistant research, but the traditional seismic design methods cannot meet more and more public’s concerns about the issue. In these circumstances, more innovations in theory and practice (Shen, 2010) are required. Therefore, how to select a innovative research topic of great value and fulfill the whole innovation process efficiently become main concerns of the researchers in the research and graduate education. Although some lessons can be learned from past earthquakes, the real research demands is always not clear. Because researchers cannot carry out an experiment to simulate the real response and fractures of a real bridge subjected to a unknown future earthquake in laboratory. Therefore, a philosophy about how to innovate efficiently and rapidly in earthquake resistant research for bridges become very important and valuable to researchers, even the graduates. The objective of this paper is to provide a combinational innovation philosophy in earthquake resistant research for bridges. For the purpose, the development of combinational innovation was introduced. A philosophy applied in bridge seismic research, consist of five process stages to fulfill a combinational innovation, was put forward. Three combinational innovation cases in earthquake resistant research were also given to demonstrate the philosophy.
Joseph Schumpeter first put forward the concept of innovation in 1911. As Schumpeter pointed out in several of his writings, combinational innovation is one of the important reasons why inventions appear in waves, or “clusters,” as he calls them (Schumpeter, 1934). From an organizational perspective, innovation is the embodiment, combination, or synthesis of knowledge in original, relevant, valued new products, processes, or services (Luecke and Katz, 2003). Alex F. Osborn, the author of the creativity technique named brainstorming, informed that combination is always considered to be a source of creative power (Osborn, 1948). Fukui Kenichi, who received his Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1981, said that “In my creative life, especially the research activities of creative thinking, I always adapted to the law of re-combination in selection of the topic and thinking method” (Fukui Kenichi, 2008). According to the statistically analyses of 480 major innovations since 1900, we can find that the combinational innovations account for 60-70 percent of contribution in the development of modern technology (Li, 2003). The ability of understanding and transforming the world can be put forward in a small step when the knowledge acquired by human are re-combined, and many small steps can bring a qualitative leap if they are accumulated. There are numerous successful examples in engineering, such as the reinforcement concrete which is a combination of concrete and steel. Combinational innovation, which represents the innovation trend of technological development, involved in all areas of modern engineering. Without combinational innovation, engineering technology cannot develop so rapidly.
2. DEVELOPMENT OF COMBINATIONAL INNOVATION
Processes
Study research demand
Take a comprehensive study of the performance of concerned methods or materials or components
Confirm innovation direction
Analyse the deficiency of current study and determine the desired performance objectives
Search innovation measures
Look for any possible materials, components or methods which can solve the problems exist currently
Fulfill combinational innovation
Work out feasible combination mode by numerical analyses or scientific experiments and determine the most optimal combination pattern
Verify the innovation
Evaluate the effects of the scheme after being combined
Specific work
Combinational innovation
Fig. 5 Processes of combinational innovation in earthquake resistant research for bridges
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considerable time and mass storage to calculate, which is low-efficiency and not accepted in some complex situations. Secondly, only seismic random is taken into account in these two seismic vulnerability analysis methods. While the fact is, apart from seismic random, bridge structure is also stochastic such as the strength of material, stiffness, uncertainty of boundary condition, which cause the random of structure seismic response. Meanwhile, the response is much more difficult to gain for the complexity of bridge structure system, the long time and the large number of simulations.
Given the definition, combinational innovation is a new method to solve complex problems, which combines different scientific principles, products or measures together (Zhang and Zhao, 2009). In order to obtain a new technological outcome with general function, it is necessary to combine two or more technical factors in accordance with the needs of a certain technology. In addition, the seeming irrelevant technical factors are also used to combine to gain totally new and valuable products. It can be arbitrary in combinational innovation, which is to say that every kind of factors of things, such as different materials, technologies, principles, colors, shapes, performances etc. can be combined together as long as the combination is technically feasible. 3. PROCESS OF COMBINATIONAL INNOVATION APPLIED IN EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT RESEARCH Combinational innovation, applied in earthquake resistant research for bridges, usually happens from research demand to innovation. The innovations are often research demand pulled. The core of the philosophy is combination. Combinational innovations include simple combinations of joint or mixed of different elements and integrated combinations in complicated ways. There are three combination forms: in combination of different theories, components and materials. No matter which combination form it belongs to, there are generally five process stages to fulfill a combinational innovation in the engineering research, which are given in Fig. 5. The main chain of innovation starts with a research demand-finding phase followed by innovation direction confirmation, innovation measures finding, innovation fulfilling and innovation verifying. In order to demonstrate the validity of this philosophy and show the innovating process based on it, three innovation cases in earthquake resistant research are discussed below.
Fig. 6 Process for Compound Stochastic Seismic Vulnerability Analysis
A comprehensive study of the relevant and seeming irrelevant methods was carried out. As put forward in 1980s, Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is a fast-developing nervous system like a brain, which has the capability of simulation. It is suitable for nonlinear structural engineering reasoning and prediction. Monte Carlo (MC) is approximate calculation method based on theory of probability sampling, which could solve not only determined problem but also random one. In present structural reliability analysis, it is considered as a relatively accurate method, and is suitable for computer. MC combined with ANN will greatly improve the efficiency in stochastic seismic response analysis. In the seismic response analysis method, the Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA) approach is a new methodology which can give a clear indication of the relationship between the seismic capacity and the demand. With respect to seismological intensity measures (IM), such as peak ground acceleration (PGA) or peak ground velocity (PGV), etc, engineers can easily estimate principal response quantities, such as the maximum deflection or drift of the structure. Moreover, the Pushover method, as a fast way to provide adequate information on seismic demands imposed by the design ground motion, is becoming a popular tool for seismic performance evaluation of existing and new structures. Based on the combination of ANN, MC, IDA, Pushover methods and traditional seismic vulnerability analysis method, Compound Stochastic Seismic Vulnerability Analysis (CSSVA) method is created. It has taken both random of material and random of seismic into account from the point of the total probability. In CSSVA method, the calculation of damage criterion index for bridge is divided into several parts, the statistic of the capability of bridge, the statistic of seismic response of bridge and the relationship between them. The process is shown in Fig. 6. First, the statistic for capability is analyzed based on the method of Pushover combined the technology of ANN and MC; second, the statistic analysis of
4. COMBINATIONAL INNOVATION CASES Three combinational innovation cases, which embody three different forms of combinational innovation in engineering research, in combination of different methods, materials and components, are discussed below respectively. 4.1. Compound Stochastic Seismic Vulnerability Analysis (CSSVA) method As bridge is the most vulnerable component of the transportation system in earthquake, the seismic vulnerability analyses were carried out these years. Generally, the method of seismic vulnerability analysis includes experience vulnerability analysis and theory vulnerability analysis. But these methods are imperfect (Feng and Yuan, 2008). Firstly, due to limits of specific conditions, the experience vulnerability curve is not easy to obtain, only applicable to similar situation with the statistic sources and hence hard to promote to use in different earthquakes, location conditions and bridge types; the theoretical vulnerability curves is obtained by regression analyses of bridge seismic response, but the response needs
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seismic response is performed based on the method of IDA under multi-earthquake waves; finally, based on the distribute characteristic of capability and seismic response from the above 2 Sections, CSSVA are performed based on the technology of ANN and MC. In order to display the effect on seismic vulnerability by compound stochastic, vulnerability curve of determination structure and that of CSSVA are drawn together shown in Fig. 7.
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reinforced concrete (SFRC) is generated. As we know, the presence of micro-cracks at the mortar aggregate interface is responsible for the weakness and the poor ductility of plain concrete (Ramesh, Seshu and Prabhakar, 2003). By adding steel fibers, this weakness can be rectified, when the steel fibers help to transfer loads at the internal micro-cracks and limit the development of cracks, which act somewhat like the lateral ties (Foster and Attard, 2001). Thus, the addition of standard size and shape steel fibers to concrete improves crack behavior, makes the concrete ductile, increases its tensile strength, and improves its durability significantly (Alemdar and Abdurrahman, 2009). Meanwhile, considering that the experimental results and a large number of theories have approved only parts of the pier enter the plastic zone when it comes to the bending failure, we only apply it in local region without increase much more cost. To validate the fact that using SFRC in local region does improve the ductility and capacity of bridge piers, a series of finite element models of single column piers using SFRC in local region have been built, compared to pier models using plain confined concrete. Analytical results of pier models with the height of 10 and 15 meters are shown in Fig.8.
Fig. 7 Effect on Seismic Vulnerability by Compound Stochastic
By comparison of the curves in Fig. 7, we find that vulnerability curves of CSSVA are smooth, and getting through every vulnerability curve for determined structure. Briefly, compound stochastic reflects the seismic vulnerability of bridge structure better.
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4.2. Bridge Piers Reinforced with Confined Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete (CSFRC) in Local Region
6HFWLRQFXUYDWXUHRIWKHHQGRISLHU (A) 10 meters model
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It is well known that ordinary steel reinforced concrete has good performance in compressive resistance, but its tensile strength and ductility capacity are limited. The substructure of a bridge, like the piers, would have a severe damage under earthquake action, if ductility of substructure is not well considered. According to capacity seismic design principle, enough ductility of substructure is needed to avoid brittle failure under strong earthquake. To increase the ductility of concrete structures, many measures have been worked out and tested these years. One way is to increase stirrups in potential plastic hinge in pier, which would improve the ductility of bridge substructure. But for bridges in intensive earthquake zones, the stirrups in potential plastic hinge for seismic design would be so intensive that it is hard to install stirrups in specified position. Consequently, the effect is limited for some bridge substructures whose space is not enough to place stirrups. Another effective method is to add discrete reinforcing steel fibers to ordinary concrete, in order to improve the tensile strength and ductility of concrete structures. Steel fiber is a relatively new material whose tensile strength and stiffness are much more greater than concrete. But the expensive price obstacles their widely use. With combination of different materials: steel fibers and concrete, a new structural material which named steel fiber
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6HFWLRQFXUYDWXUHRIWKHHQGRISLHU (B) 15 meters high Fig.8 Comparison of capacity curve between piers with CRC and SFRC
It can be seen from Fig.8 that the ductility of the pier models are improved generally 2-3 times, which benefits structural seismic safety. And it is very economic to apply SFRC only in local region of piers to increase the ductility of substructure. SFRC is a typical example of combinational innovation in materials. Concrete and steel fibers are both mature materials in technology, so it’s not difficult for the combination of them. But when they work together in a suitable proportion, the ductility, energy absorption capacity and economic are both improved
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effectively, which is favorable to earthquake resistance for bridges. Finally, a simple combinational innovation can improve the general seismic capacity of bridge structure substantially, which means bridge structure will be safer when earthquake comes.
components is proposed. The desired performance objectives of the combination are generalized in two aspects: first, under minor or moderate earthquakes the bearings should perform normally; second, under severe earthquakes the fixed bearing will be converted to a frictional bearing after the failure of the shear bolt, together with the static frictional resistance being exceeded and sliding thus ensues, and at the same time the significant displacement can be restricted by some restraint device, such as cables attached to the base of the bearing. This is the invention concept of the cable - sliding friction aseismic bearing, shown in Fig. 10.
4.3. Cable - Sliding Friction Aseismic Bearing for Bridges
horizontal force (kN)
Fig. 9 Analysis model
As shown in Fig. 9, a typical continuous girder bridge system comprises a fixed bearing on one pier and frictional bearings on the other piers, the girders are supported by bearings which transmit loads to the piers, then to the abutments. As shown in above section, under horizontal earthquake actions, the fixed pier may be damaged by shear force or bending moment. If the fixed bearing is designed to fail under severe earthquakes to protect the substructure, all the other frictional bearings are mobilized to slide. The girder will be unseated. So the conventional bearing layout cannot properly protect the bridge under moderate and severe earthquakes. Experimental and theoretical studies have shown that it is effective to install seismic isolation devices including elastomeric bearings, frictional/sliding pot bearings etc. in bridges (Kunde and Jangid, 2003), because the maximum acceleration transmitted to the superstructure is reduced by frictional resistance. However, the elastomeric rubber bearings and lead rubber bearings are usually effective for a narrow range of frequency input, and hence the functions of seismic isolation are not always effective in resisting seismic motions with multiple frequency range. Furthermore, for the pot bearing, the displacements caused by seismic lateral force may be excessive and unconstrained. According to Han (2009), it is stated that the strong hinge restraints or other falling down prevention devices such as the concrete retainers are effective to restrain relative motions in the longitudinal direction.
200
150
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50
displacement (mm) 0 -80
-60
-40
-20
0
20
40
60
80
-50
-100
Fig. 11 Hysteretic curve
The cable - sliding friction aseismic bearing is an innovative modification of the traditional friction bearing with several carefully designed high-strength steel cables which provide an effective restrain capacity for the excessive bearing deformation under severe earthquake. Through rational selection of the bearing parameters such as the bearing materials, the cables and the shear bolt, seismic performance of the bearing can be guaranteed. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the new bearing system, a quasi-static experimental testing of a prototype and numerical finite element analyses of above continuous bridge with traditional and new bearing system were carried out (Yuan, 2010). From the quasi-static experiment hysteretic curves in Fig. 11, we can see that the curves are normal and regular, which implies the bearing has stable energy dissipation, while the cables provided obvious constraint. The results of the numerical analyses also confirm the viability of the bearing system. Compared with the bridge using traditional bearing, the seismic response of bridge using new bearing decreases by as much as 80%, while, the relative displacement of bearing increases by only 27%. It proves that the cable-sliding friction bearing can reduce seismic load as well as restrict deformation of bearing. We can conclude from the analyses that the bearing created by combination is effective and reasonable in construction, operation and maintenance. 5. CONCLUSION
Fig. 10 Cable - sliding friction aseismic bearing
The combinational innovation philosophy applied in earthquake resistant research for bridges, which consists of five process stages, was given in this paper. In order to demonstrate the
As bearings and restraint devices are all necessary components of the bridge, a solution based on combination of these different
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importance and validity of this philosophy, three innovation cases “Resistant research compound stochastic seismic vulnerability analysis method”, “Cable - sliding friction aseismic bearing” and “Bridge piers reinforced with steel fiber reinforced concrete in local region” were given. In these cases, the methods and steps of three forms in combinational innovation, including combining different methods, materials and components, are embodied. The successes of these cases demonstrate that the combinational innovation philosophy is efficient and significant in bridge seismic research. Among all the innovation processes, combinational innovation is the simplest, most immediate but most valuable one. Combination will be a strong power to promote engineering research if it is well applied. According to our own practice, the combinational innovation philosophy will be very useful in the process of research, graduate education and research project application. Actually, for researchers in engineering, innovation philosophy is always working in our subconscious when we encounter problems or difficulties. A good researcher should inspire the unconscious act as much as possible and provide an appropriate environment to make the creative idea come true. In order to this unconscious act as early as possible, this innovation philosophy deserves many more attentions in education. If it can be introduced to the graduates to guide their preliminary research works and grasped by them, we have enough excuses to believe our future will be much more bright and amazing.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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This research is supported by Ministry of Science and Technology of China under Grant No. SLDRCE09-B-08, the National Science Foundation of China under Grant No.50978194 and No.90915011. Their supports are gratefully acknowledged.
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REFERENCES
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Z. Wang and G. Lee, A Comparative Study of Bridge Damage Due to The Wenchuan, Northridge, Loma Prieta and San Fernando Earthquakes, Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Vibration, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, pp. 251-61. A. Ye, Seismic Resistance of Bridge, Shanghai: Tongji University Press., 2002. (Chinese) Q. Han, X. Du et al, Seismic Damage of Highway Bridges During The 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake, Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Vibration, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, pp. 263-73. Z. Shen, Y. Wang and Y. Li, Structure Innovation, Journal of Tongji University(Natural Science), Vol. 38, No. 1,
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2010, pp. 1-11. (Chinese) J. Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development, Cambridge: Harvard University Press., 1934 R. Luecke and R. Katz, Managing Creativity and Innovation, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press., 2003. A.F. Osborn, Your Creative Power, C. Scribner’s Sons., 1948. Fukui Kenichi, Respect of Education - The First Asian Winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry Fukui Kenichi to Talk About Education, Beijing: Scientific Press., 2008. S. Li, On The Training of Integrated And Creative Talents, Higher Education of Sciences, Vol. 47, No. 1, 2003, pp. 81-3. (Chinese) H. Zhang, Z. Xu, etc, Construction of Practice Teaching Mode Based on Theory of Combinational Innovation, Higher Education Forum, Vol. 2009, No. 11, 2009, pp. 33–6. (Chinese) Q. Feng, Seismic Vulnerability Analyses and Seismic Risk Probability Evaluation of Super-long Bridge, Ph. D Dissertation, Tongji University, 2009. (Chinese) Q. Feng and W. Yuan, An Improved Calculation Method for Stirrup Ratios in Plastic Hinge Regions of Concrete Piers By Using RBF Neural Network, Journal of Harbin Institute of Technology, Vol. 40, No. 10, 2008, pp. 1629–32. (Chinese) J.F. Engelberger, Robotics in Practice: Future Capabilities, Electronic Servicing and Technology Magazine., 1982. B. Alemdar, S. Abdurrahman, Experimental and Finite Element Analysis on the Steel Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Beams Ultimate Behavior, Construction and Building Materials, No.23, 2009, pp. 1064–77. K. Ramesh , D.R. Seshu and M. Prabhakar, Constitutive Behaviour of Confined Fiber Reinforced Concrete under Axial Compression, Cement and Concrete Composites, No. 23, 2003, pp. 343–50 S.J. Foster, M.M. Attard, Strength and Ductility of Fiber-reinforced High-strength Concrete Columns, Journal of Structural Engineering, Vol. 127, No. 1, 2001, pp. 28-34. Z. Zhu, Y. Fu, B. Wang and W. Yuan, Seismic Study on Bridge Piers Reinforced with SFRC in Local Region, Sydney, CECAR 5 and ASEC 2010 Conference, 2010. W. Yuan, X. Cao and etc, Development of Cable- Sliding Friction Aseismic Bearing for Bridges, Sydney, CECAR 5 and ASEC 2010 Conference, 2010. M.C. Kunde and R.S. Jangid, Seismic Behavior of Isolated Bridges: A-State-of-The-Art Review, Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering, No. 3, 2003, pp. 140-70.
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CONCEPTION OF COMPUTER INTERACTIVE ENVIRONMENTS: THE CASE OF THE SIMPLE ELECTRIC CIRCUITS Abdeljalil MÉTIOUI [email protected] Département d'éducation, Université du Québec à Montréal Montréal (Québec) Canada and Louis TRUDEL [email protected] Faculté d'Éducation, Université d'Ottawa Ottawa (Ontario) Canada model", where the pressure of the liquid is analogous to the voltage and the debit to the current, the student doesn't necessarily have the relative adequate knowledge of the concepts of pressure and debit (Kariotogloy, Psillos and Vallassiades, 1990; Cervera and Métioui, 1993; Olde and de Jong, 2004).
ABSTRACT The constructivists approach on the conception of relative software of modelling to training and teaching of the concepts of current and voltage requires appraisal of several disciplinary fields in order to provide to the learners a training adapted to their representations. Thus, this approach requires the researchers to have adequate knowledge or skills in data processing, didactics and science content. In this regard, several researches underline that the acquisition of basic concepts that span a field of a given knowledge, must take into account the student and the scientific representations. The present research appears in this perspective, and aims to present the interactive computer environments that take into account the students (secondary and college) and scientific representations related to simple electric circuits. These computer environments will help the students to analyze the functions of the electric circuits adequately. Keywords: Electric circuit, student simulation, interactive, environment
The development of learning environments that aims to change student's representations of electric current and voltage are based mainly on artificial intelligence and make use of the different mental, qualitative and quantitative models, relative to the electric circuits (White and Frederikson, 1990; Brna and Caiger, 1992). Also, one develops more and more innovative software to simulate electric circuits (Agostinelli and Amigues, 1992, Berube, 2004). For example, Berube published an innovative laboratory manual that « […] helps students learn and understand circuit analysis concepts by using Electronic Workbench software to simulate actual laboratory experiments on a computer. [In that students] work with circuits drawn on the computer screen and with simulated instruments that act like actual laboratory instruments. Circuits can be modified easily with onscreen editing, and the results of analysis provide fast, accurate feedback. [Its] "Hands-on" approach throughout - in both interactive experiments associated with a series of questions about the results of each experiment - is more cost effective, safer, and more thorough and efficient than hardwired experiments. This lab can be sold for use with any DC/AC text. » Thus, the students can conduct an experiment easily and complete some circuits in relatively short time while they are confronted to solve non canonical problems. In spite of the irrefutable contribution of the software environment, it's rarely taken into account the systematic approach of the students towards the erroneous knowledge, which are extensively discussed in the literature review (Métioui and Levasseur, 2011). Many researcher underlines the reasons why the students representations is not taken into account, which will help to reconstruct the models underlying the difficulties associated with electric circuits (Rohrer, 1990, Métioui and Levasseur, 2011). Our research appears in
representation,
1. INTRODUCTION AND PROBLEMATIC The theory of electric circuits indicates that all phenomena are interpreted in terms of the concepts of current and voltage. Based on a research survey in different countries with pupils of 8 to 20 years old, the lack of adequate knowledge on the concepts of current and voltage has clearly emerged as one of the major difficulties (Shipstone, 1985; Métioui, Brassard, Levasseur and Lavoie, 1996, Métioui and Levasseur, 2011). In order to correct this situation, some researchers emphasized the importance of instruction in order to acquire a better understanding of the concepts of current and voltage; especially by using various analogies (Dupin and Johsua, 1989; Closset, 1992; Olde and de Jong, 2004, Paatz, Ryder, Schwedes and Scott, 2004). However, most authors agree that we must be careful on using analogies in order to facilitate the acquisition of the concepts of current and voltage. For example, in the "hydraulic 203
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this perspective and aims to the conception of computer environments for the teaching of the electric circuits. Such environments must take into account the representations of the students, as well as the relevant scientific concepts. This approach is inspired by current conceptual change approaches which state that students' representations can be improved through conceptual conflicts (Stepans, 2008).
involve their representations, the number of those identified by research is large and (2) to take account implement this approach since it requires the multiple representations of the students that can vary from a one to another. In this perspective, a computer environment will allow to cover the whole with the problems identified in the research and will allow to every student to work according to his rhythm. To this topic, de Jong et al. (1998) underline the necessity to develop strategies using multiple technologies to encourage learners to construct their own knowledge: « Constructivism is supported by computer environments such as hypertexts, concept mapping, simulation and modeling tools. » (p. 9) In this step, the student will be invited to complete a multiple choices questionnaire (MCQ). To each question, the student has to pick up the answer, among the ones proposed, that most closely reflects his actual understanding of the phenomena described in the question and has to justify his choice in the space provided. The stage of justification is very important since it allows the researcher to get some insurance that the choice of the student is not unpredictable but is associated instead with its current understanding of the phenomena. This preliminary approach has the objective to allow the student to specify his representations on the topic. Some examples of the situations investigated in the questionnaire are presented below.
2. PROGRESS OF THE STRATEGY PROPOSED The conception of the computer environment that helps students model the electrical properties of circuits takes place in five steps as illustrated in Figure 1. We present in the next section the objectives pursued in each step. STEP 1 SEARCH FOR OWN REPRESENTATION: MULTIPLE CHOICES QUESTIONNAIRE (MCQ) STEP 2 COMPARE AND CONTRAST REPRESENTATION WITH NEW INFORMATION: SIMULATION STEP 3 FORMULATE NEW REPRESENTATION STEP 4 CONSTRUCT NEW REPRESENTATION
Situation 2.1.1 In diagram 1, bulb A shines normally, bulb B shines dimmer and bulb C doesn't shine. If the positions of bulbs A, B and C are changed as illustrated in electric diagram 2, will their brightness change too? Choose the answer that you think is correct:
STEP 5 EVALUATE NEW REPRESNTATION: DOES APPLICATION FIT REPRESENTATION
CHECK BY COMPUTER: REPRESENTATION CORRECT
STUDY THE TEXT AGAIN NO
YES
Diagram 1
PROCEED WITH LESSON
Figure 1: The steps of the software 2.1. Step 1: Search own presentation: Multiple choices questionnaire (MCQ) Constructivism learning has inspired international studies on the student's representations with regard to the properties of electric circuits which were the subject of numerous publications (Tiberghien, 1983; Johsua and Dupin, 1993; Amigues, 1989; Amigues and Johsua, 1988, Métioui and Levasseur, 2011). With respect to this topic, Rozencwajg (1997) underlines that the didactics of electricity allows us to construct application problems and a grid of analysis of their resolution provided that we know the students' representations. Let's underline that traditional teaching this approach is difficult, or even impossible (1) to implement this approach since, it requires to present to students all the situations that may
Diagram 2
Bulb C will shine normally, bulb A will be dimmer and bulb B won't light; because the bulb that is closer to the power supply receives more electricity than those situated further (considering the direction of current from + to -).
If in the first diagram bulb C doesn't shine, it is deficient. Thus, no matter where the bulb is placed it won't shine. Besides, if bulb C is placed near the power supply, the other bulbs won't light because the current won't pass through any of the other bulbs (circuit in series). 204
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The brightness is proportional to the number of watts in which a bulb will need to light normally. If the circuit supplies a bulb with 60 watts, the bulb of 100 watts will be dimmer and the one of 25 watts will burn.
None of these answers Explain your choice.
Bulb B is going to shine more than bulb A, because the electric wire of diagram 2 is smaller. The smaller the wires, the higher current passes through.
The two bulbs will shine as much, because even though there is another battery in B, the current cannot leave from the negative boundary-mark to the positive boundary-mark. This battery is therefore useless.
None of these answers Explain your choice.
Situation 2.1.2 In the diagram 3, the switch is in position "on", but the filament of the lamp is "grilled". Choose the answer that you think is correct:
2.2. Step 2: Compare and contrast representation with new information (simulation) In the present step, the student will have to compose on screen the circuits presented in the previous step and to simulate their working. This important step has for objective to create a conceptual conflict for the student who will be made aware of the difference between some of his anticipated answers and the results of the simulations. Let's note that this destabilization of the student's conceptual system won't bring him to abandon false representations because they are anchored in his cognitive structure: « It has been frequently observed that students, independently of their age, are very reluctant to abandon their physical misconceptions: most never acquire or misinterpret scientific notions taught in class, or revert to pre-instructional conceptions after leaving school […]. When a change occurs, it takes a long time […]. Three main kinds of cognitive explanations for resistance to change have been put forward […]. » (Berti, 1999, p. 116)
Diagram 3
Electricity is a movement of electrons. If one puts the switch in position "on", the movement of the electrons is going to take place, but it won't be able to go until the filament of the lamp because it is broken.
So that some current circulates, the circuit must be closed. However, if the bulb is grilled, the circuit is open and the current doesn't circulate.
If one doesn't put the switch in position stop when one changes the bulb, one can receive a shock. The electric current surrenders therefore all the same.
None of these answers Explain your choice.
2.3 Step 3: Formulate new representation Indeed, the system of representations of the student is extremely steady and resists to the "contradictions". Even the most obvious physical experiences are not sufficient to disrupt the beliefs of the student (Amigues and Caillot, 1990). Thus, it goes without saying that the student will not be able to abandon his representations, but he will be made aware of their shortcomings. For example, all modification introduced in a circuit will affect its working. Therefore, while introducing a resistance into a circuit, the lighting of the bulbs will be varied. In some simple situations, the student will be brought to identify the function responsible for this disruption state, without explaining what it is produced necessarily.
Situation 2.1.3 In the diagrams 4 and 5, the bulbs A and B are identical. How will the lighting of every bulb be? Choose the answer that you think is correct:
B -
+ -
+
Diagram 4
2.4 Step 4: Construct new representation-Proceed with lesson Below is the proposed gait to initiate the students to the modelling of simple electric circuits according to the systemic approach.
Diagram 5
Bulb B will illuminate twice more than bulb A, because the intensity of the current in diagram 2 is two times stronger than the one in diagram 1 since the voltage is doubled.
The two bulbs are connected to a boundary-mark (+) and a boundary-mark (-). Since the voltage of the batteries is the same, the two bulbs should also shine.
Since two batteries provide more energy than one only, the intensity of the electric current in the diagram 2 will be bigger, and bulb B will shine more strongly.
2.4.1 Systemic modelling of electric circuits The development of semiconductors science started in the sixties of the XXth century, and allowed the scientists to design and test a wide range of electronic components such as: resistors, capacitors, transistors, diodes, etc. Accordingly, engineers have used these electronic components to construct and develop more sophisticated electronic devices and systems. These inventions questioned the approach of ‘composing’ the conventional 205
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tubes and transistors in favor of the system approach (Härtel, 1982; Métioui, Brassard and Levasseur, 1992, Brassard, Métioui and Levasseur, 1992). According to Lavoie, Métioui, Levasseur and Brassard (1991), the essential features of the system approach of the electric circuits: 1) No essential distinction is made between components and circuits. Black boxes are used consistently, for a single resistor to the most complex circuit, and the characterization process is considered as fundamental. 2) Models are distinguished explicitly from physical devices. The model is the primary reference; the component or circuit is considered as an imperfect implementation of the model, instead of the model being an approximate description of the physical component. 3) The conducting network, which carries signals and power, is more valued than the components. Currents are defined in conductors (and extended to branches), while voltages are attributes of pairs of points (extending to pairs of nodes). Currents and voltages are only indirectly associated with component terminals. 4) Circuit analyses and circuit synthesis are valued equally in the learning process. 5) The physics of components is clearly distinguished from circuit theory: it is dealt with as the need arises.
Kirchhoff’s laws. At this stage, it's very important that the student understands that an electric circuit is constituted of drivers defining a network of nodes and branches of components defining a network of nodes and branches, each of which contains a set of functions joining the nodes between them. Every function contributes to establish equilibrium of the currents and the voltages of the whole system (Métioui and Trudel, 2008). It's also very important that the student knows how to measure the current with an ammeter and the voltage with a voltmeter. In summary, the student must understand that: 1) Current is defined in a conductor and, by extension, applies to the whole branch. 2) Voltage across the terminals of a component is defined between the two terminals. 3) Mesh analysis is limited to linear circuits; it is a mathematical algorithm using fictitious partial currents. 4) Potentials are static. They evolve with time, but they do not move around. Within the framework of circuit theory, potentials are defined only on conductors and on the terminals of components. 5) To measure the voltage between two nodes, we must plug the voltmeter between these two nodes, the common boundary-mark on the node reference. 6) To measure the current in a branch, we must insert the ammeter anywhere in the branch, the common boundary-mark on the side of the end of the branch.
The figure 2 synthesizes the conceptual structure of the electric circuits in the systemic approach described above. Conductor
Kirchhoff’s law of voltage (KLV)
Component
Nodes
A circuit is defined by the topology of the schematics, not by its geometry. While a certain style may be adopted for schematics, only the connections are relevant in determinig a circuit’s structre and therfore, its properties. Node
2.4.3 Modelling simple electric circuits The studies carrying on the instruction to the steps of modelling of the electric circuits are in the beginning. In this step we will see it is possible to provide the student a conceptual setting allowing him to participate actively in the process of modelling of a simple electric system. We present below the conception of computer environments simulation various the experimental situations that help the students to characterize and model the concepts of electric circuits to two boundary-marks: the resistance, and current and voltage sources. The environments below only constitute an example of the types of modelling and don't pretend to cover the entire subject.
Kirchhoff’s law of current (KLC)
Branche
Voltage (potential difference)
Electical power
Current
Times
Times
Times
Waveform V
Electrical energy
Thus, he will be brought to study a system in equilibrium described by four unknown functions schematized there by four black boxes W, X, Y and Z (diagram 6).
Waveform I
Type of the relation Model, component,
Figure 2: The conceptual structure of Electrical circuits in the systemic approach Diagram 6: Simple electrical system 2.4.2 Initiations to the electrical network and Kirchhoff's laws First able, the student will acquire the understanding of the networks, branches and nodes, as well as the
When the equilibrium is modified, it is necessary to ask the student to measure the new state that results from this disruption with the help of measurement devices of the 206
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electrical quantities involved. Afterward, the student will be invited to indicate the function responsible for such a state. He will owe modules each of the functions while bringing it back in a characterization environment (diagram 7) to impose some variables of state in order to observe its behavior. In this stage, the student will be sensitized to the existence of the devices (ammeter and voltmeter) permitting the measure of the intensity of the electric current (I) and the voltage (U).
Diagram 10: Resistor symbol 2.4.2.2 Modelling of black box Y In the case of black box Y, the student will get the same results that in the case of the modelling of box X. He will observe a linear relation between the intensity of the electric current and the voltage, and he should conclude that it is about resistor element. It is important that the student assimilates that the resistor component displays a curve in the graph voltage instantaneous / current instantaneous that is the same for all shapes of waves in a given application. One cannot infer the behavior of a component on the basis of one instantaneous value of the intensity of the current and the voltage. Unfortunately, this conceptual representation is not shared by the majority of students having followed a formal teaching on the topic (Métioui, Brassard, Levasseur and Lavoie, 1996). The conceptual representation is commonly accepted by the pupils of the collegiate who are registered in the technologies of electricity (1st, 2nd and 3rd years) consists in calculating a resistance while dividing voltage by the current, in accordance with the law of ohm. Thus, according to the majority of the students interviewed, two components that have the same voltage and current are in the same way resistance "interchangeable", even though they are of different nature.
Diagram 7: Device of characterization of the current (I) and the voltage (U) The use of these devices constitutes an element essential to a first tentative modelling of the system in question. Indeed, the measurement processes allow the student to design situations in the virtual laboratory adequately that helps him conceive a suitable model. When this process of measure is interpreted well, the student has the possibility to establish a correspondence between the situation of laboratory and the suitable model. 2.4.2.1 Modelling of black box X The modelling of the black box X will take place while bringing it back to its environment of characterization, as illustrated in diagram 8. I nnn A.
nnn
v.
U.
2.4.2.3 Modelling of box Z The modelling of box Z will take place according to the experimental device of diagram 11 and one will get the results illustrated to the diagram 12.
X
Diagram 8: Characterisation of the X function In this case, the student can impose the values of U or I. The cursors move following the oblique trajectories and the reference marked on the axis of the variable non manipulated moves to illustrate that in this case, U and I are bound between them. Once he will note that U and I are bound between them according to the graphs schematized to diagram 9, the software will remind him that all function having this behavior would be identified by the symbol illustrated in diagram 10 and would carry the name of resistance that is noted by symbol R and expressed in ohm (Ω).
Diagram 11: Characterization of the Z function
Diagram 12: Graphs of the functions [U = f(I) and I = f(U)] In this case, the student manipulates the intensity of the electric current I and observe the successive displacements of the cursor. Here, all manipulation of U will bring a particular behavior of the display to really illustrate the infinities and the indeterminations. Once the student observe that U and I are bound, the software will make him note that all function having this behavior will
Diagram 9: Graphs of the functions [U = f(I) and I = f(U)] 207
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be represented by the symbol illustrated to the diagram 13 and will carry the name of the source of tension.
It is as important the student knows that the current source is as fundamental as the voltage source for the analysis of circuits. 2.5 Step 5: Evaluative new representation In this step, the student will be invited to solve, qualitatively and quantitatively, a certain number of situations that requires the understanding of the models that underlines the conditions and the limitations of their uses as well as a familiarization with the modelling of electric components as studied above.
Diagram 13: Voltage source symbol 2.4.2.4 Modeling of box W In order to model box W, the pupil will have to design the experimental device shown in figure 14.
Situation 2.5.1 The purpose of this situation is to verify if the student is inclined to replace systematically, an unknown component, by 'its equivalent resistance'. The solution of the problem requires the comprehension of the model that underlies a resistor element, as illustrated below: Diagram 14: Characterization of the W function
According to the diagram 17 below, the unknown component X doesn't represent a resistor:
The experiment consists of applying values of the electric current and measure the voltage, and vice versa. The immediate values are displayed numerically on the device of characterization and the historic of the experience will be consigned on two diagrams presented in diagram 15.
True
False Explain your choice.
Diagram 17 According to the data of this problem, one cannot decide the exact nature of this component, except to rule out components which cannot output electrical power, such as resistors, diodes or light bulbs. Indeed, the intensity of the electric current of 1 A “cowl” of the potential of 2 V to a potential of 3 V, the component X produces a power of 1 W; one cannot decide its exact nature, except to rule out components which cannot output electrical power, such as light bulbs, diodes or resistors. Métioui, Brassard, Levasseur and Lavoie (1996) demonstrate that the majority of the students of the technical college associate an unknown component spontaneously to a resistance while applying Ohm’s Law. This generalization among the students results, because during their formation, one didn't insist sufficiently on the limits of applicability of this law: « […], we know from their normal schoolwork that they are perfectly capable of applying Ohm's law to a resistor lying on the bench. Yet, they appear to experience serious difficulties with the simplest unusual circuit situation. The basic topological concepts of nodes and branches (circuit structure), which support voltage and current, appear to be severely lacking. » (Métioui, Brassard, Levasseur and Lavoie, 1996, p. 209)
Diagram 15: Graphs of the functions U = f(I) and I = f(U) The fact to have two orthogonal diagrams between them will guide him to discern the behavior of a simple horizontal or vertical line, and will facilitate his initiation to the current-voltage duality. In the case where the student will impose an intensity of the electric current, the voltage will stretch toward the infinity and the intensity of the current will be indeterminate. These complex phenomena for the student will be illustrated by the displacement of the cursor to the maximum position on the axis of voltages. The voltmeter will display the OVL message and the ammeter, changing value of the electric current. A scorer will move continually on the axis of the intensities of the electric current ( ). Once the student have noted that the electric current, browsing black box W, is constant, the imposed voltage, the software will notify him that all function having this behavior will be identified by the symbol illustrated to the diagram 16 and will carry the name of "current source."
Situation 2.5.2 This situation was intended to determine this time whether student is conscious of the impact of a non-linear element on the whole circuit.
Diagram 16: Current source symbol It is important that the student assimilates the current source, whatever the voltage is at the boundary-marks is. Such a function cannot be filled by any electric resistance.
The current of lamp LP1 is given graphically (diagram 208
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18), as a function of the voltage across the lamp. In the situation depicted in the schematic (diagram 19), the current in LP1 and in R are both equal to 4 amperes.
Having already assimilated the model of the current source, the student will deduct in the case of situation 4 that the intensity of the electric current asked remained the one of the current source (2 mA). This situation allowed Lavoie, Métioui, Levasseur and Brassard (1991) to put in evidence a false representation among students that the authors named the model of the "freeway" and that permits to several electric currents different to cohabit in a same "driver". Thus, the majority of the students interrogated added merely the 2 mA produced by the current source to the one that would be produced by the voltage source, calculated while applying Ohm’s law.
Diagram 18
Situation 2.5.4 The goal of this situation is to verify as in the previous situation, the student's capacity to use the model of the current source adequately. In this case, we want to verify if the student is conscious that a battery doesn't produce the same current if the circuit in which it is affected.
Diagram 19 If the 12 volt source is replaced by a 24 volt source, the two currents remain equal to each other because: « In a parallel circuit, the voltage is equal; the currents are also equal, therefore the bulb LP1 and the 1.75Ω resistor are equivalent. If V and R are constant, I will be also. »
True
Wrong Explain your choice.
In diagram 21, bulb A shines normally, bulb B shines dimmer and bulb C doesn't shine. The battery produces a current of 0, 3 A.
Situation 2.5.3 The purpose of this situation is to verify the ability of student to use adequately the model of the current source.
Diagram 21
According to the data illustrated in the diagram 20 below:
If one short-circuits the C bulb with an electric wire (diagram 22), the current produced by the battery would be:
100
I1
100 E = 12 V
Lower than 0, 3 A
Superior than 0, 3 A
Equal to 0, 3 A
50 2 mA
Diagram 20
The intensity of I1 is equal to 120 mA, because I1 is equal to E (12 V) across R (100 Ω: 100 Ω in parallel with 100 Ω, which is equivalent to 50 Ω; in series with 50 Ω that makes the total resistance equals to 100 Ω).
If the battery is reversed, the intensity of I1 will be equal to 118 mA, because the current changes sense and it is going to juxtapose itself with the source of current of 2 mA that it would be necessary to subtract the 120 mA.
If one doubles the voltage, the intensity of I1 will be two times bigger because the resistance is two times smaller.
If one doubles the resistance of 50 Ω, the intensity of I1 should be smaller, because the resistance is doubled.
If one doubles the resistance of 50 Ω, the intensity of I1 should increase, because the resistance is decreased.
None of these answers. Explain your choice.
Diagram 22 Choose the answer that you think is correct:
In a series circuit the current is the same for every point of the circuit. Besides, the C bulb doesn't shine; to short-circuit it doesn't change anything in the produced current by the battery.
The current cannot be the same because the circuit becomes completely different since the C bulb is short-circuited. One cannot know the intensity of the current.
If one short-circuits the C bulb in a series circuit, one has an overvoltage. Indeed, the electrons will go more quickly since there is a resistance of less. Therefore, the current Will be superior to 0, 3 A. 209
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Even though one short-circuits the C bulb, the current produced by the battery will always be the same (0, 3 A) except that the bulbs A and B will have each 0, 15 A because the bulb C doesn't offer any resistance. In this case, the bulbs A and B win the current.
None of these answers. Explain your choice.
Diagram 25 In this circuit: « A source of current adds its current to the current which was already present in the branch, produced by a source of voltage. Then, the voltage Va is equal to 0,2 V: I = 12V/100Ω = 0,12A = 120 mA; I = 120 mA + 2 mA = 122 mA; V = RI = (100Ω). (122 mA) = 12, 2 V; Va = 12, 2 V – 12 V = 0,2 V. »
True
Wrong Explain your choice.
Situation 3.5.5 This situation was intended to verify if the student is able to compare the functionality of a series circuit and a parallel circuit on referring to the current and voltage sources. In the diagram 23, the bulbs A and B are connected to the 6 V battery and they have the same brightness.
8. CONCLUSION The simulation occupies an important place in the teaching and learning approach presented here. Of course, the use of the simulation has its advantages and its inconveniences. For example, it has the inconvenience to present to the student an experimental situation where the number of variables and the way in which they interact are determined in advance in the software, creating a situation that doesn't parallel the situation of a real laboratory. The application of a socio-constructivist approach recommended by several researchers is problematic since, in the case of a simulation, the student only interacts with the computer system which clearly contradicts one of the tenet of this approach, namely that interaction between peers is important to foster learning. In spite of this, one thinks the advantages are numerous. Among others, such an approach could engage the student in modeling his various observations about electric while taking into account his representations and his inherent learning conceptual difficulties. Let's remind us that the students’ knowledge of the concepts of current and voltage may look naïve when compared with the theory of the electric circuits, but nevertheless constitute the epistemological foundation of his reasoning with respect to the principles of simple electric circuits. The recourse to computer environments allows every student to learn according to his own rhythm and helps him to deepen his scientific notions that may provoke conceptual difficulties, even conflicts. This approach may be difficult to implement, if not impossible, in the case of a traditional teaching with big groups, where the teacher will have the difficult task to take into account the various representations expressed by students. The didactic strategy presented in this article suggests that in the conception of modelling software, one must take into account, among others aspects, the student's representations. Otherwise, what will remain from instruction with be an illusion of having understood. As a final point, we must contend that the computer environments presented in this research don't pretend to cover the student's conceptual difficulties as listed in the review of the literature and are presented as an illustration of the various points made in this research. More research
Diagram 23 In the diagram 24, we connected two bulbs A and B identical to those of the circuit 1 as illustrated:
Diagram 24 We want that these two bulbs have the same brightness as in circuit 1. For it, one must use X-V battery:
Equal to 6 V
Superior than 6 V
Lower than 6 V Choose the answer that you think is correct:
In the circuit series 1, the 6-V battery provides 3 V across each bulb. In the circuit parallel 2, the X-V battery provides X-V across each bulb. So that to have the same brightness in the two circuits, it's necessary to have 3-V battery.
Since the circuit 2 is a parallel circuit, a 12-V battery will be necessary so that the bulbs illuminate with the same intensity that in the circuit 1.
One must use a 6-V battery. But one must used a battery producing the same current and the same bulbs also that those of the circuit 1.
None of these answers Explain your choice. Situation 2.5.6 The objective of this situation is to know if the student is conscious that the presence of a source of current in a branch determines the current in this branch. Consider the diagram 25 below: 210
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is needed to cover completely the important area of students’ understanding and difficulties of the principles of electricity.
H. Härtel, "The Electric Circuit as a System: A New Approach", European Journal of Science Education, 4, 1982, pp. 45-55. S. Johsua & J.-J. Dupin, Introduction à la didactique des sciences et des mathématiques, Paris, PUF, 1993. P. Kariotogloy, D. Psillos & D. Vallassiades, "Understanding pressure: didactical transpositions and pupil’s conceptions", Physics Education, 25, 1990. M. Lavoie, A. Métioui, J. Levasseur & C. Brassard, "Conceptual representations of electrical circuits", Proceedings Frontiers in Education, Twenty-first Annual Conference held in Portsmouth, UK, Edited by Lawrence P. Grayson, September 21-24, 1991, pp. 713718. A. Métioui & J. Levasseur, "Analysis of the reasoning's of pupils of the collegiate professional on the D.C circuits and the laws of Kirchhoff", Revue de Recherche en Didactique des Sciences et des Technologies (in press), 2011. A. Métioui, C. Brassard, J. Levasseur & M. Lavoie, "The persistence of students’ unfounded beliefs about electrical circuits: The case of Ohm’s law", International Journal of Science Education, Vol. 18, No. 2, 1996, pp. 193-212. A. Métioui & L. Trudel, "Innovative Teaching Strategies: Teaching Circuit Analysis from first Principles", Proceeding of International Conference *Teaching and Learning 2008* *Achieving Excellence and Quality in Education*, Coordinated by: Mario Munoz, Ivan Jelinek and Fermando Ferreira, May 26-28, Aveiro, Portugal, 2008, pp. 352-359. A. Métioui, C. Brassard & J. Levasseur, "A systematic approach to electrical circuits", Proceeding of the 3rd World Conference on Engineering Education, held in Portsmouth, UK, during 20-25 September 1992, Vol. 3: Industrial Links, Computers and Design, Edited by Duggan, T.V, University of Portsmouth, pp. 135-140. R. Paatz, J. Ryder, H. Schwedes & P. Scott, "A case study analyzing the process of analogy-based learning in a teaching unit about simple electric circuits", International Journal of Science Education, Vol. 26, No. 9, 2004, pp. 1065-1081. D.A. Rohrer, "Taking circuits seriously", Proceedings on Circuits and Devices, IEE, 1990, pp. 27-31. P. Rozencwajg, "Approche des différences individuelles dans la résolution de problèmes concernant des circuits électriques simples", Didaskalia, No. 10, 1997, pp. 7-27. D. Shipstone, Electricity in Simple Circuits. Children’s Ideas in Science, edited by Driver, R., Guesne, E. & Tiberghien, A., Open University Press: Milton, Keynes, Philadelphia, PA, 1985, pp. 36-37. J.I. Stepans, Targeting Students' Physical Science Misconceptions Using the Conceptual Change Model, 3rd edition, Saiwood Publications, 2008. A. Tiberghien, "Revue critique sur les recherches visant à élucider le sens des notions de circuits électriques pour les élèves de 8 à 20 ans", Recherche en didactique de la physique, Paris : Éditions du C.N.R.S., 1983, pp. 91-107. B. White & J. Frederikson, "Causal Model Progressions as a Foundation for Intelligent Learning Environments", Artificial Intelligence, No. 2, 1990, pp. 99-157.
BIBLIOGRAPHY S. Agostinelli & R. Amigues, "Les apprentissages en physique : rôle et place de l'analyse didactique dans la conception d'environnements informatiques interactifs", 5e journée informatique et pédagogie des sciences physique, Université de Provence, Marseille : Université de Provence, 1992, pp. 113-119. R. Amigues, "Peer interaction and conceptual change", In H. Mandl, S.N. Bennett, E. De Corte, & K. Friedrich (Eds.), Learning and Instruction, Vol. 2.1, 1989, pp. 2744, Oxford: Pergamon Press. R. Amigues & S. Johsua, "L'enseignement des circuits électriques : conceptions des élèves et aides didactiques", Technologies, Idéologies, Pratiques, Vol. 7, 1988, p. 2. R. Amigues & M. Caillot, "Les Représentations graphiques dans l'Enseignement et l'Apprentissage de l'Électricité", European Journal of Psychology of Education, Vol. V, No. 4, 1990, pp. 477-488. A.E. Berti, "Knowledge Restructuring in an Economic Subdomain: Banking", New Perspectives on Conceptual Change, Schnotz, W., Vosniadou, S. and Carretero, M. (editors), Pergamon, 1999, p. 113-135. C. Brassard, A. Métioui & J. Levasseur, "Modèles utilisés dans une première approche des circuits électriques", Engineering and Society, Huitième congrès canadien de l'éducation en ingénierie, Université Laval, Québec, Canada, May 24-26 mai, pp. 23-30. R.H. Berube, Computer Simulate Experiments for Electric Circuits Using Electronics Workbench Multisim, Prentice Hall, 2004. P. Brna & A. Caiger, "The Application of Cognitive Diagnosis of the Quantitative Analysis of Simple Electrical Circuits", Proceeding of the Second International Conference, ITS '92 : Intelligent Tutoring Systems, C. Frasson, G. Gauthier and G.I. McCalla (Eds.), Montreal, Canada, 1992, pp. 405412. D. Cervera & A. Métioui, Énergie des fluides : Analyse conceptuelle et représentations des élèves, Collège de Valleyfield, ISBN 2-920918-11-7, 1993. J.-L. Closset, "Raisonnements en électricité et en hydrodynamique", Aster, 14, 1992. T. de Jong et al., "Acquiring Knowledge in Science and Mathematics: The Use of Multiple Representations in Technology-Based Learning Environments", Learning with Multiple Representations, van Somren, Maarten W; Reimann, P; Boshuizen, Henry P.A and de Jong, T (editors), Pergamon, 1998, pp. 9-40. C.V. de Olde & T. de Jong, "Student-generated assignments about electrical circuits in a computer simulation", International Journal of Science Education, Vol. 26, No. 7, 2004, pp. 859-873. J.J. Dupin, & S. Johsua, "Analogies and «Modeling Analogies» in Teaching: Some Examples in Basic Electricity", Science Education, 73, 1988, pp. 207-224. 211
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paper will also focus on the present and future of IT, UGRU program. The answers of the very important questions about our present and proposed ICT program come from our customers (students). This feedback has been collected to find out ground realities.
Foundations for the Future: University ICT Literacy Programs Anil Sharma United Arab Emirates University [email protected]
1.1 The Context In the UAE there are two main types of universities: government controlled public universities, and privately funded universities. This study deals with the public university situated in Al Ain. At the initiative of the late President His Highness Sheik Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the UAE University was inaugurated in November 1977. This federal university with Gulf, Arab and Islamic dimensions is meant to be a fountainhead of knowledge, culture, and sciences and to contribute to building a modern state by utilizing all available resources.
Hussain A. Ahmed United Arab Emirates University [email protected] Khalifa Ali Alsuwaidi United Arab Emirates University [email protected] Divya Na Peel District School Board, Ontario, Canada [email protected]
The UAE University has about 17,000 students. It consists of the following colleges: (i) College of Humanities and Social Sciences, (ii) College of Food Systems, (iii) College of Science, (iv) College of Education, (v) College of Engineering, (vi) College of Shari’ah and Law, (vii) College of Business and Economics, (viii) College of Medicine and Health Sciences, and (ix) College of Information Technology. In most of the courses the medium of instruction is English. Over the past nine years, the UAE University has carried out a fully-fledged review of all its academic programs and plans to use modern methodology and international criteria suitable for its circumstances in all its colleges. At present UAE University ranks 374th in World Universities’ list.
ABSTRACT This paper compares the UGRU foundation program to similar programs used by universities in the region such as United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, or internationally such as Australia, New Zealand, Norway, UK, Canada, and USA. The necessity for ICT curriculum in developmental programs such as UGRU will be illustrated. Also discussed is a proposed plan for future ICT program. The customers (students) of this product were given an opportunity to express their opinions about the teaching strategies, their overall effectiveness, and the ICT program’s present and future plans. The impact of these programs on student learning and achieving educational goals are discussed. We understand that our program has to be constantly updated in order to be competitive and prepare the students to succeed in their college years as well as in their life afterwards. The IT Program will continue to build and maintain links with the community through offering and participating in various initiatives (Trainings, Workshops, and Seminars etc.) that benefit all. This will help to form partnerships and collaborative endeavors with the local community and the rest of the university community.
1.2 Literature Review Let us review all the basic theories and concepts used in this research report. First let us understand and analyze creativity, communication, collaboration, environment, and the human brain. Perhaps we should begin with a more basic question: what do we mean by creativity? The basis of creativity is achieving something that did not exist previously, breaking down established patterns, seeing things in a new way. But what drives people to think of something new? How does the creative process work? The creative process may manifest itself in different ways. “Chance favors the prepared mind,” the famous Nobel laureate Louis Pasteur once said. Pathologist Peyton Rouse spoke likewise of “a prepared mind making its own chances.” Is UAE University going to prepare its students for the future using new tools of information technology, creative and critical thinking, enhancing the value of good communication, and habits of collaboration or does it simply wait for the chances[1]?
Keywords Foundation Programs; Cognitive Skills Research; Critical Thinking; ICT; UGRU
1. INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE Learning in the United Arab Emirates is witnessing a major paradigmatic shift, from the traditional rote-learning format to one in which students are actively engaged in their own learning process. While core values central to Islamic beliefs are retained, the methodology now focuses on teaching curriculums based on thinking, rather than rote memorization. UAE University is leading the nation in this direction by improving its foundation program which is backbone of this university.
Despite the structural heterogeneity of foundation program curricula, most universities have embraced self-directed learning, emphasizing the use of small-group discussion and integration of the basic medical sciences with clinical problems. Self-directed learning is but one of the many terms such as discovery method or study-centered education adopted by authors since Dewey to describe an educational approach that places the learner in control of his or her learning. The putative benefits of self-directed learning include enhanced opportunities to elaborate one’s knowledge through active involvement and verbalization, enhanced motivation through an increase in relevance and personal control, and the practice of skills needed in lifelong learning[2]. In this educational milieu, the role of the `teacher’ requires revision; new skills are required of the teaching faculty so that they are willing and competent to allow students to take an active role in guiding their own learning[3].
This research has been carried out by revisiting our own UAE University’s foundation program. Foundation programs from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, UK, Canada, and USA have been studied and compared with our own. It provides us a confidence level that we are not providing education in isolation. The importance of Information Literacy in our daily life has been discussed. This
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are de-emphasized in the second level. Instead students will apply the skills in a variety of ways to solve problems, to improve their communication skills and to organize information better. The way of learning/teaching ICT is mostly done through the use of tasks[9]. For assessment in ICT curriculum we use a new rubric system.
The present ICT curriculum focuses on critical, creative thinking, and cognition. Perkins notes six basic priorities for lecturers who actively teach for understanding rather than for memorization. Cognitive research and theory has changed the way many in the education system think about educational practice, including curriculum design, assessment, and learning environments. Greeno, Collins, and Resnick[4] emphasize that the design of learning environments can support cognitive or brain-based learning. Brooks and Brooks[5] describe several of these. For example, students need to be provided with curriculum holistically, emphasizing large concepts, rather than the fragments, or basic skills as building blocks that is typically the current approach[6][7]. These skills are used very intelligently in the present and proposed ICT curriculum.
3. DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRAMS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES We made a comparison of our IT courses to the same program at other leading universities of the world and we found out that ICT, UGRU program is very much compatible or excelling than other similar programs. A list of leading Universities with similar to UGRU (IT) foundation programs in UAE, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, UK, Canada, and USA is shown in Table 1. This table is not comprehensive, but rather an abridged list with the sole aim of demonstrating correlation between UGRU IT and other leading educational institutions.
2. UAE UNIVERSITY’S DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRAM The UGRU monitors and prepares students for all nine university colleges. The UGRU program was founded in 1990 as the Basic University Education Center (BUEC)[4]. That time it provided a bridge between the Ministry of Education and its schools on the one hand and the university colleges on the other hand. Now it is a first year developmental program. Students come with very little formal computer background. Undeniably the majority of students entering UGRU IT have, at best, limited technical computing abilities and even less cognitive skills in terms of problem solving via the computing medium. The technical aspect of our teaching attempts to create a common ground between students who come from smaller Emirates and remote areas where IT practice is inadequate as well as between the Art and Science students and those coming from private schools. The authors in the past have been very much involved in studying status of public and private school education system and levels of K to 12 students in this country which are provider of main input to UAEU and other universities.
Australia for example, has long been an international leader in such programs, and consequently the table comprises several top level Australian Universities. The courses offered in such Universities are typically intensive one-year preparatory courses, but the time frame can sometimes be altered according to the student’s needs. Students capable of accelerated learning may be able to complete programs in nine months. Other courses may be lengthened to allow students more time to prepare for their university courses. Foundation courses in Australian Universities are generally divided into subject streams, such as business or IT studies, according to the student’s choice of undergraduate course. Most foundation courses offer a range of compulsory and elective subjects. Many universities and some other institutions also offer ‘bridging’ courses, which are shorter, intensive courses designed for students who are about to enter a Degree course but do not meet assumed knowledge requirements, or who wish to be better prepared for university study.
It will take long time before our schools will be able to provide the students who will directly become useful and ready to learn in existing colleges of universities. UGRU strives to be the most effective freshman program in the Arab world, coping with the current international trends, and applying the most up-to-date concepts and instructional technology. The mission of UGRU is to provide the University Faculties with students who posses the knowledge, learning skills, values, and attitude, which are the necessary underpinnings of a sound and successful university education.
It should also be noted that many North American Colleges and Universities offer programs that prepare students for College and University studies. They have not been included here for several reasons. There is not consistent application of course lengths, content and purpose. For example many of these courses are short intensive summer programs, while others are intended to bridge knowledge gaps between potential students and require semester duration. Other programs are either voluntary or mandatory depending upon students’ prerequisites. Many of these courses offered can range from a summer course to over a semester in duration. This may also depend upon the faculty the student wishes to enter. The nature of the course may also vary depending upon the faculty of study. For example an ICT course for an engineering student may focus more on technical computing rather than report writing for social science students. CSU Maritime Academy, Vallejo, California, USA provides an excellent computer literacy program. Qatar University has a similar to UGRU IT program with two levels IT1 and IT2. In UAE, Zayed University does not have any similar program while Higher Colleges of Technologies offer Computer Literacy program. King Fahad University of Saudi Arabia offers a Preparatory Computer Science program.
2.1 Information Technology Program (IT) of UGRU The Information Technology Program is one of four Programs in the University General Requirements Unit that must be taken by all entering students to the United Arab Emirates University. As such, it is a students-centered Program whose mission is to provide quality education at the same time as it provides a bridge between the Ministry of Education and its schools on the one hand and the University Faculties on the other hand. The program consists of two tracks namely Information and Communication Technology Level 1 (ICT 1) and Level 2 (ICT 2). Mainly there are six learning areas which are related to ICT Proficiency: (i) ICT Fundamentals, (ii) Technology Skills for Problem Solving, (iii) Technology Skills for Information Management, (iv) Technology Skills for Communication, (v) Culture and Values for ICT, and (vi) Learning for Life Skills. The key difference between the two levels is that while learning “how to” tools are heavier in the first level, these
At UGRU, the goal is to prepare students for entry into faculties. Students have the opportunity to bypass UGRU if they are able to pass placement and challenge exams. If UGRU students cannot
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pass UGRU courses they are unable to continue their studies. It is the same in North American, European and Australian institutions. Author found out that ICT, UGRU program is very much compatible or excelling than other similar programs.
Priority 4 It will be very important to find out what other institutions regionally and internationally are doing in the areas of foundation program or similar program. Table 2 shows some information about similar foundation IT/ICT programs from UAE, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, UK, Canada, and USA.
4. PROPOSED ICT PROGRAM This section discusses and analyzes the basic components of a proposed future ICT program from the academic session of 2010 and beyond. The proposed program tries to learn and adopt best practices from other comparable institutions regionally and internationally[10].
5. OUR CUSTOMERS’ OPINION ABOUT OUR FOUNDATION PROGRAMS It is very important to know the opinion of end-users from time to time. Considering this fact the author decided to go back to our students to find their likes and dislikes about our foundation programs. In students’ liking survey which is not included in this paper due to size constraint, they have already accepted or discarded some of the new ideas introduced by IT, UGRU.
Vision To be a model Information and Communication Technology (ICT) program within a developmental first year program that is known for its student focus, innovative curriculum, excellence in instruction and international standards. Students exiting the IT program will demonstrate abilities that are critical to function in a knowledge society.
The Research Objective Some of the reasons for conducting this research are as follows:
Goals (i)
The proposed ICT program has following goals: 1. Help students develop ICT abilities that are necessary to successfully function in a knowledge society through a modular curriculum. 2. Optimize the number of students taking ICT courses in UGRU. 3. Strengthen linkages with the public schools. 4. Build and strengthen linkages with the UAEU Colleges.
(ii) (iii) (iv) (v)
(vi)
4.1 Priorities There will be following priorities: 1. Modularize the IT curriculum for entry into and exit from the program. 2. Bring up-to-date admission, retention, assessment, delivery and exit requirements. 3. Motivate students in the program. 4. Learn and adopt best practices from other comparable institutions regionally and internationally
There is a gap in present and future ICT programs because technology changes rapidly. Students find traditional classroom lessons boring. Traditional IT courses require enormous motivation to go through the material, let alone learn from it. Serious concerns have been raised about usefulness of ICT program. Different students have different styles and strategies of learning which has not yet been addressed by ICT program. UAE University has to become more research oriented in future.
The author strongly believes that our students are the best persons to provide us useful direction in this matter. It will help us in future to effectively counter many of the aforementioned issues.
The Research Design A classroom survey instrument was used as a means of data collection. The survey instrument was similar to the one used in the past which was approved by a group of experts in the field of education.
Priority 1 To modularize the IT curriculum for entry into and exit from the ICT program will be priority number one. Table 2 shows proposed modularized ICT curriculum. It also provides outlines of ICT1, ICT2 and ICT3 courses.
Data Collection The survey tool was used in the author’s six sections anonymously. The data analysis has been done by an outsider. Students were not given any hint in advance. They were told not to write their names on the survey instruments to keep the survey as much as impartial as possible.
Priority 2 To bring up-to-date Admission, Retention, Assessment, Delivery and Exit Requirements will be second priority. Table 3 shows proposed admission requirements of second priority.
Data Analysis The data analysis has been done very impartially and honestly.
5.1 Benefits of ICT in Improving Learning Areas
Priority 3
To find the benefits of ICT in improving learning areas within the UGRU Foundation program the following seventeen questions were asked. These questions are built around six learning areas on which ICT curriculum contents are designed as discussed earlier. These questions also take care of the conceptual framework for ICT literacy. The students’ feedback with data analysis is shown in Table 4. The graphical analysis is shown in Figure 1.
The most difficult task in future will be to motivate students in the ICT program. Different ways to motivate students will be used. Besides those the IT program will also provide multiple exit routes to motivate students who enter. These routes will be as follows: (1) Through placement exams at the beginning of the semester. (2) Achievement of baseline scores on the iCritical at beginning of program. (3) Achievement of baseline scores on the iCritical during the course at intervals of 4 weeks. (4) Fast tracking initiatives through any of the ICT1 or ICT2 modules.
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Name of University
Course
Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, UAE King Fahd University, Dhahran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
Time 1 Year (2 semesters)
Brisbane Queensland Foundation Year, Australia
Computer Literacy Prep Computer Science IT Level 1 and IT Level 2 Introduction & Computing Computing Skills and Research Information Tech
Melbourne Victoria Foundation Year, Australia
Information Tech
2 semesters
University of Sydney Foundation, Australia
IT Skills
University of Canberra, Australia Bond College Foundation Program, Australia Murdoch University Foundation Program, Australia
IT Courses Core 110 Info. Tech1 Information Tech
University of Queensland, Australia
Information Tech
1 hour per wk for 15 weeks Semester based Semester 2. 14 wk 9 hrs per WK over 15 WKS trimester (3CH) 27-42 wks
Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
Information Tech & Multimedia Computing Skills
The Foundation Studies Program in Adelaide (at Eynesbury College) Australia University of Tasmania Foundation Year, Australia
Curtin University Foundation Year, Australia University of Newcastle, Australia Taylors College Foundation Program, New Zealand HedMark University College, Norway Foundation Year in Informatics at University of Bradford, UK Liverpool John Moores University, UK University of Leeds International Foundation Year, UK Willis College Foundation Program, Canada University of Ottawa, Canada University of Waterloo, Canada Lambton College, Canada University of Texas, USA CSU Maritime Academy, Vallejo, California, USA
University Computing Skills Computer Science ICT Course by the Library Computing IT Courses Computing course Info. Tech Skills 1&2 IT Courses IT Courses IT Skills for Tech IT Courses Info. Fluency in a Dig. World
1 semester (16 weeks) 1 Year (2 semesters) 1 Year (2 semesters) 1 Semester of 24 wks 2 semesters.
9-12 months 45 Hrs of 1 sem. (1.5CH) Pre-Semester 1 39 weeks Standard Program 1 Year program 2 semesters Semester based 1 year of computing 2 semesters Semester based Semester based 1 semester Semester based 1 semester (32 Hrs)
URL Address http://www.hct.ac.ae/programs/aspx/academ ic_programs.aspx http://www.kfupm.edu.sa/kfupm/academic/ overview.aspx http://www.qu.edu.qa/foundation/ http://www.foundationstudies.com.au/austra lia/foundation-adelaide/ http://www.foundationstudies.com.au/progr ams/tasmania/ http://www.foundationstudies.com.au/progr ams/qut/ http://www.foundationstudies.com.au/austra lia/foundation-melbourne/ http://www.usyd.edu.au/fstudent/internation al/undergrad/apply/foundation.shtml http://www.canberra.edu.au http://www.bond.edu.au/bondcollege/found ation/ http://www.studiesinaustralia.com/ http://studylink.com/display/course/courseinfo.html http://www.studiesinaustralia.com/ http://www.curtin.edu.au http://www.newcastle.edu.au/centre/elfsc/br idging/courses.html http://www.taylorscollege.edu.au/courses/m ufy_compare.aspx http://english.hihm.no/eduscience/engelskaarsenhet.pdf http://www.inf.brad.ac.uk/clearing/course.p hp?id=34&d=cfy&type=d http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/ http://www.leeds.ac.uk/international/founda tion.htm http://www.williscollege.com/International/ Programs/Lambton/IFY/index.html http://www.uottawa.ca/ http://www.uwaterloo.ca/ http://www.lambton.on.ca/Courses/course_ html?Course=ITS+1013 http://www.utsystem.edu/ http://www.csum.edu/academics/index.asp
Table 1: A list of leading Universities with similar to UGRU (IT) programs in UAE, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, UK, Canada, and USA[8]. Title
Name
Definition
ICT1
Technology Skills for Communication
ICT2
Technology Skills for Problem Solving Technology Skills for Research Applications
Generate information by adapting, applying, summarizing, designing, inventing or authoring information. Communicate, and present information properly in its context. Record, represent, analyze, compare, contrast data on spreadsheet software to solve real life problems Define and articulate need for information as it relates to a specific project. Select, implement, evaluate organize and synthesize materials that satisfy research requirements. Interact effectively and ethically with instructor and peers through a digital learning environment.
ICT3
Hours
Credit (Y/N)
Word Processing Presentation Keyboarding (Word, PPT, Keyboarding)
Skills
32 (one Quarter)
NO
Spreadsheet Software (Excel) Use of: Internet Search Engines Blackboard Indexes Online Databases etc.
32 (one Quarter) 32 (one Quarter)
NO
Table 2: Components of proposed modularized ICT Curriculum for 2010 and beyond.
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NO
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Admission Requirement
Either CEPA 170 and above or English Level 2. Students possessing preceding and either ICDL or IC3 in English will be given credit for ICT1 and ICT2 but still take ICT3 Techno. Skills for Research Applications
Placement Exam Delivery
Scores from a newly developed placement exam will be used to place students into appropriate modules of study. Three Quarters of 32 hours each. ICT1 and ICT2 may be taken in any order. However students can only take ICT3 upon meeting the requirements of ICT1 and ICT2. 96 hours Independent Study and iCritical prep workshops, research projects (Alice, Robotics, structured programming, etc.) To integrate knowledge transfer with other programs in UGRU and the colleges, use of Laptops in IT should be implemented. Placement Exam score first, followed by English level or CEPA scores A student enrolled in ICT1 or ICT2 who achieves an “A” score at the midterm exams will be able to enter into a Fast Track program for the other module in order to challenge it at the end of the quarter. A student achieving a baseline score in the iCritical exam may exit the program at any time during the quarters. Challenge exams will be available for all modules for students achieving “A” grades. Only 2-F grades allowed.
No. of Hours Use of Thursdays Use of ICT Banding Independent/ Self Access/Fast Track Benchmarks/ Challenge Attendance Policies
No.
Table 3: Bring up-to-date Admission, Retention, Assessment, Delivery and Exit Requirements Benefits in the classroom Class Total Yes No
1
Learnt to work in a group and cooperate with others
2
Learnt how to draw Mind Map
3
Improved my reasoning
4
Increased my creativity. Now I can handle new problems easily
5
Learnt how to use internet for search (Use search engines)
6
Learnt to format documents
7
Learn to use (i) graphics (ii) Charts (iii) Tables
8
Learnt to use necessary information and avoid unnecessary information
9
Learnt to collect research information
10
Learnt to organize and analyze information
11
Learnt to produce complete research document
12
It improved my participation in class
13
It increased my confidence level
14
I can solve problems (mathematical) easily (using Excel) now
15
ICT is helping me in solving day-to-day problems
16
ICT is helping in my daily communication (Word and PowerPoint)
17
“Learning for Life” material is very useful for my future
ICT1 ICT2 Total ICT1 ICT2 Total ICT1 ICT2 Total ICT1 ICT2 Total ICT1 ICT2 Total ICT1 ICT2 Total ICT1 ICT2 Total ICT1 ICT2 Total ICT1 ICT2 Total ICT1 ICT2 Total ICT1 ICT2 Total ICT1 ICT2 Total ICT1 ICT2 Total ICT1 ICT2 Total ICT1 ICT2 Total ICT1 ICT2 Total ICT1 ICT2 Total
37 53 90 37 53 90 37 53 90 37 53 90 37 53 90 37 53 90 37 53 90 37 53 90 37 53 90 37 53 90 37 53 90 37 53 90 37 53 90 37 53 90 37 53 90 37 53 90 37 53 90
36 42 78 25 31 56 29 37 66 30 44 74 25 31 56 31 41 72 32 43 75 25 35 60 30 29 59 34 45 79 26 31 57 30 37 67 30 39 69 27 36 63 26 28 54 31 33 64 19 28 47
Table 4: questions on ICT conceptual framework & learning areas and students’ responses.
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1 5 6 11 11 22 4 10 14 4 4 8 6 12 18 3 6 9 2 7 9 5 10 15 5 15 20 1 4 5 4 13 17 4 8 12 3 5 8 7 10 17 4 14 18 1 10 11 14 16 30
No Comment 0 6 6 1 11 12 4 6 10 3 5 8 6 10 16 3 6 9 3 3 6 7 8 15 2 9 11 2 4 6 7 9 16 3 8 11 4 9 13 3 7 10 7 11 18 5 10 15 4 9 13
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Figure 1: Graphical analysis of students’ responses about ICT learning areas.
that the students were not satisfied because proper guidelines were not provided. They were also not happy with some new changes made to their programs. The students in general felt that this course would have an influence on their future career and in higher education.
6. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS In general, the results of the study indicated that students believed that our curriculum is better than the traditional curriculum. They are not completely satisfied with present and proposed future ICT programs. They want certain modifications which they have shown in their opinion survey. It is clear from the tables 1-4 and figure 1
[5] Brooks, J.G., and Brooks, M.G., “In search of understanding: The case for constructivist classrooms,” ASCD Publications, Alexandria, VA, USA, 1993. [6] Sharma, A., Alsuwaidi, K.A., Hussein, C., and Boylan, S., “A Unique Learning Approach in Information Technology,” 16th Information Resources Management Association International Conference, San Diego, California, USA, 2005. [7] Sharma, A., Alsuwaidi, K.A., and Boylan, S., “Teaching Information And Communication Technology In The Arab World: An Examination Of Curriculum,” 17th Information Resources Management Association International Conference, Washington, D.C., USA, 2006. [8] Hussain A. A., “The Importance of Information Literacy & ICT in Foundation Programs in Australia and North America: Relevance to UGRU Context,” August 25, 2008. [9] Ranginya, T., and McKenzie, P., “Integrating Critical Cognitive Skills in the IT Curriculum of the First Year Developmental Program of UAE University: Issues, Experiences and Challenges,” First Annual Conference for Middle East Teachers of Science, Mathematics and Computing, Abu Dhabi, UAE, 2005. [10] Ranginya, T.,”Goals And Priorities Of The Ugru-It Program From 2010 And Beyond,” UGRU IT Team, 12/23/2009.
7. CONCLUSIONS The IT UGRU foundation program was compared to those counterparts that exist in leading Universities such as in UAE, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, UK, Canada, and USA. Other educational institutions in the UAE were also investigated. The author is of the opinion that ICT UGRU foundation program should continue to be part of UAE university curriculum. Without IT, UGRU many of these students are ill-equipped to deal with both faculty requirements and employment expectations. Other universities in the world also have foundation programs in one form or other. Some areas of the ICT foundation program need improvement, but the current trend is one that will be consistent with guiding our students to become better learners, able to search out, understand, analyze, and synthesize the information they will need to become world citizens and world leaders.
9. REFERENCES [1] Larson, U. (Editor), “Cultures of Creativity The Centennial Exhibition of the Nobel Prize”, Science History Publications, USA, 2000. [2] Schmidt, H.G. (1983) Problem-based learning: rationale and description, Medical Education, 17, pp. 11-16. [3] Barrows, H.S. & Tamblyn, R. (1980) Problem-Based Learning: An Approach to Medical Education (New York, Springer). [4] Greeno, J.G., Collins, A., and Resnick, L.B., “Cognition and Learning. In D. C. Berliner & R. C. Calfee (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology,” Macmillan, New York, 1996.
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ITEAMS: Increasing the Self-Identification for Girls and Underserved Youth in Pursuing STEM Careers R. Bruce WARD Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138, USA and Jaimie L. MILLER Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138, USA and Frank SIENKIEWICZ Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138, USA and Paul ANTONUCCI Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138 ABSTRACT
Keywords STEM Careers, Career Interest, Technology Education, Out-of-School-Time, Robotic Telescopes, Online Assessment.
We report early findings on the efficacy of a technologybased project in increasing self-identification for girls and underserved youth to self-select STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers. ITEAMS (Innovative Technology-Enabled Astronomy for Middle Schools) – an out-of-school-time program with online, robotic telescopes as its central focus – targets girls and minority students underrepresented in STEM-related vocations. The participating students attend urban schools in Eastern Massachusetts. ITEAMS’ twofold goal is to: a) provide inspiration for the participants to pursue STEM careers, and b) increase the students’ mastery of foundational subject matter so they are prepared for the rigor of further STEM study. We use an online system for surveys and assessments, the former to capture attitudinal changes about career choices, and the latter to assess the students’ subject matter knowledge. Participating students take pre-, intermediate, and post subject-matter tests and career-interest surveys. While we find statistically significant gains in subject matter knowledge free of gender, race, or school bias, we also find girls profess less interest than boys in STEM careers as early as grades five and six, although other attitudinal indicators suggest ways to reverse that trend.
BACKGROUND The ideas and skills of the nation’s populace have always been its most important assets. In an increasingly technological world the value of these assets will depend significantly on the effectiveness of our science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. As the world as become immersed in an era evermore steeped in scientific and technological savvy and ingenuity, many Americans have become increasingly concerned about the nation’s ability to compete on a global level. If the U.S. is to remain a leader among nations, the need for a highly-qualified STEM workforce and scientifically literate population will increase and continue to grow. This workforce will have to be of both adequate size and capability, as well as innovative, in order to stay abreast of the rest of the world in all the STEM fields. Policy makers and educators realize that the size of the STEM workforce can only grow by attracting more girls and underserved youth. To do so will require students to have the foundational knowledge to persist in STEM courses and to eventually choose to pursue a STEM career. As a result, inspiring students to master the necessary subject matter and encouraging them to choose a STEM career has become
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the focus of numerous formal and informal educational initiatives. Moreover, for girls in particular, to selfidentify with STEM careers often means overcoming both environmental (e.g., encouragement of parent or teacher) and cultural (e.g., capability self-assessment) impediments [4].
ITEAMS (Innovative Technology-Enabled Astronomy for Middle Schools) is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project (NSF 08-33378) for grade 5-8 students, specifically targeting girls and underserved youth in OST programs. The student participants use robotic telescopes – designed, built, and maintained by members of the Science Education Department (SED) at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) – to acquire images of solar system and deep space objects. The robotic telescopes, known as MicroObservatory, are currently located in Massachusetts and Arizona. Our twofold ITEAMS goal is to: a) provide inspiration for participants to pursue STEM careers and, b) increase the students’ mastery of foundational STEM subject matter. ITEAMS students control the SED’s MicroObservatory robotic telescopes from within or outside of school, entering the target coordinates for solar system or deep space objects, exposure times, and filters to be used. The following morning the students receive an email message that the selected images are available for downloading and processing. We also include explorations in modeling, determining size and scale, light and color, and a range of other activities to investigate the technology of image acquisition, transmission, and processing. ITEAMS staff members build on the students’ experiences with the robotic telescopes to expand their interest in additional areas of technology and STEM careers.
Formally, states have implemented mandatory highstakes exams to assess if students have mastery of basic subject matter knowledge (SMK). There have been numerous studies done or others that are in progress on SMK and high-stakes testing, some promoting and others decrying the exams. The tests reveal that certain student populations are showing adequate proficiency in SMK for promotion to the next level of schooling, yet the achievement gaps between white students and students of color persist. Of the many issues now being raised regarding the high-stakes exams, one is if they are equitable for all students, particularly for girls, Englishlanguage learners and students of color [5]. While these exam results are used for a variety of purposes and may show mastery of a subject, they cannot show SMK gain. One-time testing is incapable of pinpointing the practice that can lead a student from being a novice to mastery of a subject. Additionally, other work is currently underway to determine the effect of taking such exams, and how it can lead to or away from particular careers or earning potentials [5]. Informally, there has been a proliferation of out-ofschool-time (OST) or free-choice learning programs. OST programs vary considerably. They are now the subject of rigorous research, with both federal institutions and private research facilities engaged in assessing the efficacy of OST programs. Most of this research is qualitative, and the positive benefits include better attitudes towards school, lower drop-out rates, more frequent completion of homework, as well as higher GPAs and higher standardized test scores [1, 2, 3, & 8]. The vast majority of studies completed to date focus on the immediate affect of OST, while our concern is both the immediate and future affects. Considering the positive influence OSTs have been shown to have on students, how early can educators introduce students to the possibilities of STEM careers through an OST program and inspire them to persist in that pathway? The timing is important. Tai, using National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS) data, found that when students decide that they want to pursue a STEM career by the 8th grade, they are 3.4 times more likely to persist in STEM than classmates who at that same time decide differently [7]. This makes intervention at least by the early middleschool level imperative. If more students, especially girls and students of color, can be inspired to persist in the pursuit of a STEM career as they move through middle school, the nation’s STEM workforce will grow and become more diverse.
There are additional critical features with ITEAMS, including intensive professional development for project teachers, involvement of other university partners, participation by retired engineers and amateur astronomers, and parent involvement. ITEAMS teachers take part annually in at least 40 hours of professional development with a minimum of 20 additional hours of online support. There are both academic and nonacademic partners, including: Harvard University’s Earth and Planetary Sciences Department and the Initiative for Innovative Computing; the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston (one of the oldest and largest amateur astronomy clubs in the nation); and the Retirees’ School Volunteers Association (supported by Raytheon Corporation, and whose retired engineer members annually contribute more than 5000 hours of volunteer service to area schools). The non-academic partners volunteer at the schools, working with the students during the OST sessions. Participating students take field trips to high technology and robotic firms, science centers, and campus museums and research facilities. There is also programming for the students’ families, both at the CfA and in their communities. There are five eastern Massachusetts schools involved, one each in Boston, Lynn, and Fall River, and two in Cambridge. The two Cambridge ITEAMS sites are the Amigos and Benjamin Banneker Public Charter schools. Collectively the schools enroll about 650 students, predominantly from groups underrepresented in STEM
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careers, and on average 60-70% of these students qualify for free or reduced lunch. The demographic profiles for the Boston (Nathan Hale) and Lynn (Robert Ford) schools mirror those of the Cambridge sites; aggregately they have about 600 students. The Matthew J. Kuss School in Fall River, serves about 600 grade 6-8 students. One-third of the students are Hispanic, Asian, or AfricanAmerican, with 95% of the school population living in low-income households.
on every assessment. We convert the student’s birth date into an ID number that we then use to link data from the pre-, intermediate, and post-tests when assessing student gain in SMK. These data are analyzed using a pairedsamples t-test and a repeated-measure ANOVA. Students also completed the career interest and affective survey. This survey includes Likert-scale items measuring self-efficacy, self-identification and frequency of interaction with common technology. Additionally, students enter what they consider their first, second and third career choices (from a list of careers that includes “non-science other”) at the time they are taking the survey. Students also indicate, again on a Likert scale, the factors they consider important in choosing a career. All of these data are analyzed with ANOVA, linked to the content data, and analyzed for significance using linear regression. We binned the career choices into STEM careers, medical/health careers, and other careers. We recoded the data with a student’s first choice coded as 1.00, the second as 0.50, and third as 0.25. As a last step we used the re-coded data as outcome variables and analyzed this data using linear regression.
We use a quasi-experimental, fine-grained research design to capture both the efficacy of the project on the STEM learning of students, and the interest and persistence of students in pursuing a career in a STEM field. We use an online system to administer the concept inventories and surveys and analyze results using a paired-samples t-test and a repeated-measure ANOVA. We use the SED’s distractor-driven multiple choice (DDMC) concept inventories to assess the STEM learning of participating teachers and students. We pretest both groups in the fall and posttest them in the spring. We also give the students an intermediate test in January. For both students and teachers we first use the inventories diagnostically, and only summatively with the posttest. We also conduct surveys to gauge student interest in STEM careers, and survey parents (in Spanish or Portuguese where appropriate) to assess their attitudes about having their children pursuing a STEM career. Students complete the career interest survey three times each year.
We paid particular attention to gender-specific significant findings as well as the particular STEM concepts for which the students showed gain. We analyzed the correlations between career choice and factors considered important by the students in choosing a career, as well as the correlations with other factors. And finally, we performed a factor analysis to determine the underlying framework for the factors student select as important in choosing a career.
We report here on preliminary findings from the intermediate survey. When we submitted our ITEAMS proposal to the NSF we identified several research questions for the project, including the two that follow: 1) How effective is the project in enhancing student STEM understanding, and in creating and sustaining a link between STEM experiences and STEM careers for the participants? 2) To what degree do students perceive that the skills and conceptual knowledge developed in the project are potentially valuable for entering a STEM career or related vocation?
RESULTS We have 97 matched pairs of pre- and intermediate SMK assessments and affective and career interest surveys from the 140 students presently participating in ITEAMS. Of the 97 students for whom we have matched pairs of assessments and surveys, 47 are girl and 50 are boys. Most ITEAMS cohorts are comprised of a mix of students who range in age from 5th-graders to 8th-graders. At the time they took the intermediate assessment and survey some students were in their fourth semester with ITEAMS while others were in their first, second, or third semesters. Student experiences also varied. Those students newer to ITEAMS focused primarily on learning the basic techniques for controlling and using the MicroObservatory telescopes and processing images, along with carrying out explorations related to some foundational ideas in space science.
METHOD One hundred forty students and 9 teachers from 5 schools are participating in the 2010-2011 school year phase of this project. At this writing students have taken two online SMK assessments: a pre- and intermediate. They have also taken the pre- and intermediate affective and career interest survey. The twenty-five question SMK assessment includes twenty DDMC items from our astronomy and space science item inventory and five demographic questions [6]. The content test includes items that are aligned to 6 middle-school space science National Science Education Standards. This year we piloted four questions aligned with National Educational Technology Standards on the pre- and intermediate SMK assessments. The same demographic questions are used
The students showed significant gain on the intermediate total test score (as compared to the pre-test), as well as on four particular items, all of which are directly addressed in the ITEAMS curriculum (see Graph 1 on the next page). From pre- to intermediate tests, the students showed an overall gain of 0.19 standards of deviation.
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We used a paired-samples t-test to determine significant gain when carrying out the item analysis. The students showed significant gain on four items from pre-test to intermediate test. These included: a) Boston’s location on Earth relative to other places based on a time differential; b) the similarities between telescopes and binoculars; c) the shape of the Earth’s orbit; and d) the length of time it takes for the Moon to fully orbit the Earth one time. The topics are all part of the ITEAMS curriculum and additional activities linked to the use of the MicroObservatory robotic telescopes. It is encouraging to see such significant gains from the pre- to intermediate tests. While the four items noted above may at first seem trivial, we find in all our testing they are neither easy nor intuitive, especially when students are tested with our DDMC items including the misconception distractors. Graph 2: Mean Value Representing, by Gender, the Mean from 0 to 1 for Choosing a STEM Career or Medicine/Health Career. students may view the medicine and health fields as those in which they are able to work with people, caring for them and helping them. On the other hand, students may see STEM careers as more solitary and, although they may believe there is a helping component to STEM, it is far less visible than in clinical fields. Students more concerned with helping and caring for others, stereotypically females, will gravitate toward those career choices that, to their knowledge, incorporate those factors. Secondly, the arts and media portray many positive examples of careers in medicine and health, popularizing, for example, emergency medical careers. Apart from forensics, there are fewer popular examples of STEM-related careers highlighted by the media. Moreover, television and the media portray those in health and medicine careers as focused on preserving life, while forensic scientists look for causes of death, perhaps affecting girls and boys differently. And thirdly, it may be that girls associate STEM careers as requiring a time commitment preventing them from spending adequate time with their friends and family.
Graph 1: Mean Scores by Item for Pre- and Intermediate SMK Assessments Although the content assessment showed overall gain, there were no significant findings for gender, race/ethnicity or age. This suggests that the ITEAMS curriculum is effective for all students, regardless of their demographic background. We are encouraged by these preliminary data giving evidence ITEAMS can effectively contribute to the foundational STEM knowledge of students free of gender, race, or school bias.
We carried out another ANOVA analysis focused on gender to see if interest or career factors differed for males and females (see Graph 3 on next page). In terms of interest, boys expressed greater interest in watching science programs (and apparently do so with greater frequency than the girls). Girls, on the other hand, indicated that there were two factors in choosing a career that were significantly more important to them than to boys; developing new knowledge and skills, and having an easy job. The remaining questions on the affective survey showed no significant difference for gender.
The affective assessment revealed several significant gender differences. Career choice is significantly linked to gender (see Graph 2 below). Choosing a STEM career is significantly linked to males, while the choice of medicine and health careers is significantly linked to females. The option of choosing “Other Career” (including law, business and English language arts specialist) was not significant for gender. We believe that there may be at least three reasons for these results. The first could be a stereotype bias in career choice. That is,
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as we find it in ITEAMS, lies not in capability, but rather in social constructs for girls and boys, and what they early on expect to do later in life, and possibly how they perceive their adult responsibilities will affect their careers. We believe that one way for girls to re-imagine career choices to include STEM is to describe how all vocations have positive and negative features, and how past policies inhibiting women from pursuing STEM careers are now changing. These shifting policies now make it more possible for either parent to stay at home with children or to care for elderly family members. Boy’s propensity for STEM and girls for medical and health fields is well documented in the literature. We show that these career decisions can often be made before upper middle school. These results suggest that intervention is necessary at an earlier age – 4th though 6th grade – if educators and policy makers hope to inspire girls and underserved populations to persist in STEM and in time, choose a STEM career.
Graph 3: ANOVA Results on Gender in the Affective Survey, with a Mean from 1 to 6 on a Likert Scale of Importance (First 2 Sets) and Frequency (Last Set). We believe that these results may possibly be due to another effect of stereotype bias. Historically students believe that STEM subjects are more difficult than those in the arts and humanities. Girls taking this survey indicated they want to learn and succeed in school, shown by their positive responses to “Developing New Knowledge and Skills.” In juxtaposition is their positive response to “Having an Easy Job.” We surmise that perhaps by grades five and six girls have already perceived or experienced situations where women have had to balance family and childcare with that of a career, making a less taxing or time-consuming career a better option. It may also be conceivable that the stereotype of boys succeeding at math and science (and girls in the arts and humanities) has come into play.
REFERENCES [1] W.T. Bartko & J.S. Eccles, “Adolescent Participation in Structured and Unstructured Activities: A Person-oriented Analysis”, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Vol. 32, 2003, pp. 233-241. [2] H. Cooper, J.C. Valentine, B. Nye, & J. Lindsay, J., “The Relationship Between Five After-school Activities and Academic Achievement”, Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 91, 1999, pp. 369-378. [3] J.S. Eccles & Barber, B.L., Student Council, Volunteering, Basketball or Marching Band: What Kind of Extracurricular Involvement Matters?” Journal of Adolescent Research, Vol. 14, 1999, pp. 10-43.
CONCLUSIONS We find that our preliminary data from ITEAMS show that an OST STEM program can promote SMK gain in all students, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status. These results suggest that a targeted intervention can have a significant effect on the gender and racial gaps so prevalent in our schools. The flexibility of the ITEAMS, as an OST program, allows students to learn at their own pace and develop mastery over time with some critical foundational space-science concepts. It also provides an entrée into the use of a unique, robotic instrument (the MicorObservatory telescope) to acquire and process research-quality data. The adaptability of the program provides for students of different ages, ability, learning styles the latitude for learning that can be impaired by the pressure of highstakes testing.
[4] C. Hill, C. Corbett, & A. St. Rose, A., Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Washington, DC: American Association for University Women, 2010. [5] J.J. Holme, M.P. Richards, J. Jimerson, & R.W. Cohen, “ A ssessing the Effects of High School Exit Examinations”, Review of Educational Research, Vol. 80, No. 4, 2010, pp. 476-526. [6] P.M. Sadler, H. Coyle, J.L. Miller, N. Cook-Smith, M. Dussault, R.R. Gould, “The Astronomy and Space Science Concept Inventory: Development and Validation of Assessment Instruments Aligned with the K–12 National Science Standards”, Astronomy Education Review, Vol. 8, DOI:10.3847/AER2009024, 2010. [7] R.H. Tai, C.Q. Liu, A.V. Maltese, & X Fan, “P lanning Early for Careers in Science”, Science, Vol. 312, 26 May 2006, pp. 1143-1144.
We believe the gender differentials associated with the affective survey can add to the conversation of how science education researchers look at the gender gap. We find that girls are intellectually equal with the boys, and equally capable of learning the material and demonstrating mastery in STEM. The gender gap, at least
[8] C. Wimer, S.D. Simpkins, E. Dearing, S.M. Bouffard, P. Caronongan, & H.B Weiss, “Predicting Youth Out-of-School Time Participation”, Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, Vol. 54, No. 2, 2008, pp. 179-207.
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High School Mathematics Coursework and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Major Choice in College Sukkyung You Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Seoul, Republic of Korea
students of four major racial/ethnic groups. Linking high school advanced math coursetaking to STEM major choice will give us insight into a crucial transition point on the pathway toward STEM careers.
ABSTRACT In 2004, the academic pathways for high school students in the U.S. revealed a strong trend towards completing more demanding math courses. Despite the upward trend in advanced-level math course-taking, disparities among racial/ethnic groups persisted between 1982 and 2004. Using newly released data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS: 2002), the current study sought to advance understanding of the processes leading to inequalities in participation in advanced math courses. Furthermore, this study examined how it is related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) pathways in college. Results showed that the relationships between exploratory factors (both individual- and school-level factors) and advanced math course-taking and STEM choices differed across ethnicity and gender. This highlights the need for further research that both disaggregates data by ethnicity and gender.
2. DATA AND SAMPLES The sample was drawn from the Education Longitudinal Study (ELS: 2002), a longitudinal survey of high school sophomores collected by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES). ELS is the most recent secondary school longitudinal survey designed to provide trend data about critical transitions experienced by students as they progress through high school and into postsecondary institutions. Using base-year, first follow-up, and second follow-up survey and transcript data from ELS, the current study focuses specifically on the transition to higher education for the high school sophomore class of 2002. Specifically, the first analysis - to examine predictors of math coursetaking patterns, was based on the data from approximately 12,160 students attending 734 public schools. This is a longitudinal sample of students who completed the survey at the base- year and first follow-up and have high school transcript data. The second analysis - to examine predictors of STEM major, was based on 10,599 students who graduated and enrolled in postsecondary institution in 2006. By 2006, approximately two years after their expected high school graduation date, 88 percent of
Keywords: science, technology, engineering, mathematics, college major. 1. INTRODUCTION The current study sought to advance understanding of the processes leading to inequalities in participation in math and how it is related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) pathways in college for male and female
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spring 2002 sophomores had graduated with a diploma, and 4 percent had earned a GED or other equivalency. Seventy percent of spring 2002 sophomores had enrolled in a postsecondary institution by 2006. The approximate sample weight was applied so that the results were generalizable to the 2002 sophomore sample.
affection was quantified by three items. Students responded to the statement “Get totally absorbed in math”, “Think math is fun”, and “Math is important.” The three items loaded above .75 and the internal consistency reliability coefficient (alpha) for the current sample was .78. Math effort was comprised of six items such as how often students do problem-solving in math class and participate in math discussions. The six items loaded above .55 and the internal consistency reliability coefficient (alpha) for the current sample was .73.
Individual-level Independent Variables Background variables: As a family background variable, socioeconomic status was included. The SES variable is a composite measure developed by NCES based on father's education level, mother's education level, father's occupation, mother's occupation, and family income.
College preparatory program: A dummy variable indicating that a student is in a college preparatory program is included. Parents’ educational expectations: On the base-year parent questionnaire, parents were asked about their educational aspirations for their children. This measure ranges from 1 (less than high school graduation) to 7 (will obtain a Ph.D., M.D., or other advanced degrees). On average, students’ parents expect them to complete at least some college.
Early academic performance: To measure students’ early academic background, previous math academic performance scores and a dummy variable indicating if a student has taken Algebra I in 9th grade or earlier were included. Students’ standardized test score on the 10th grade test in math is included as a covariate because students’ decisions to enroll in future courses are influenced by their perceived ability to do more advanced work.
School-level Independent Variables Mean school SES: To adequately control for aspects of each school’s social context, the mean of school SES was included in the current study. The aggregated mean value of students’ standardized socioeconomic status from the base data was used in the current study’s multilevel models to control for contextual influences associated with school-level differences in academic outcomes.
Math attitudes and behaviors: Attitudes and behaviors toward mathematics include three composite factors that measure students’ reports on their competency in mathematics, math affection, and their efforts toward mathematics. Math competency was comprised of five items. The items assessed the perceived competency of doing an excellent job on math tests, understanding math texts and math class, mastering math class skills, and doing an excellent job on math assignments. The five items loaded above .87 and the internal consistency reliability coefficient (alpha) for the current sample was .93. Math
Percent minority: School administrators reported on the base-year administrator questionnaires the percentage of students who attended the school that were members of an ethnic minority group
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(African American and Hispanic). One of the persistent issues facing education today is segregation within the student population. Despite enormous efforts to eliminate segregation in schools, many schools still remain largely segregated by race. Percent minority in the school is included to consider how segregation at the school level influences student level outcomes. Specifically, schools with 40% or more minority students were compared with schools with fewer than 40% students of color.
3.
RESULTS
Descriptive Analysis SES differs significantly, with White students more likely to be represented in the higher socio-economic groups. African American and Hispanic students were more likely to be come from nontraditional families. Academically, African American and Hispanic students’ performance scores were lower than their peers in terms of 10th grade GPA and math standardized test scores. They are more likely to be in at-risk status. Interestingly, although African American students are behind in math test scores, they held higher math attitudes and efforts. African American and Hispanic students are in disadvantaged school contexts. They attend less affluent and more segregated schools than Asian and white peers. Approximately 46% of African American and Hispanic students attend highly segregated schools (minority students greater than 40%) but only 26% of white students do so. They feel unsafe at school and attend schools with lower means of academic press and parent participation.
Student-teacher ratio: This measure indicates the student to teacher ratio for the school. McDonough [1] contends that one of the important barriers to college preparation in high school is the lack of adequate teachers. This variable is computed by dividing total enrollment for the school by the number of full-time teachers. School process: School process variables are important aspects of school policy, practice, and climate that are largely within the influence of school site personnel. The current study included the percent of students in college preparatory program, students’ mean perception of academic press and mean parent participation. School context, which includes student background characteristics, school resources, and school structure, are not considered to be alterable by the school, while school processes are alterable and can have direct effects on student outcomes.
Trends in Mathematics Course-taking by ethnicity by gender Among 2004 high school graduates, the most frequently occurring mathematics category among the eight levels is middle academic II (Algebra II) at 25.4 %, followed by middle academic I (Algebra II) at 19.5%. Almost 44.9% of students fall into the middle academic level of mathematics. Nearly half of the graduates (49.9%) took beyond Algebra II at the advanced academic level including 17.7% that took Trigonometry/Algebra III at advanced level I. An additional 18.6% took Pre-calculus but did not complete a calculus course. 13.6% took calculus or higher level mathematics
Dependent variable The primary outcome variables in this study were students’ course-taking pattern in mathematics and the choice of STEM major in postsecondary institutions in which students are enrolled.
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courses (i.e., AP calculus, calculus/analytical geometry) in the advanced III level. Overall, gender and racial/ethnic differences in math course taking patterns exist, but racial/ethnic differences were large compared to gender differences within each ethnic group.
level math course-taking can lead to the development of more discerning and effective educational policies which will dramatically increase the educational attainment of the nation’s youth.
5. Predictors of STEM major choice by ethnicity and gender
[1] P. McDonough. Counseling and College Counseling In America's High Schools. Los Angeles: National Association of College Admissions Counselors, 2005.
Among 2002 high school sophomores who attended a postsecondary institution, 22% of Asian, 17.2% of African American, 12.1% of Hispanic and 14.5% of White students chose STEM majors. Across all ethnic groups, male students (74.1%) were far more likely to choose STEM majors compared to female students (25.9%). Gender disparities were most salient among white students. After controlling for students’ SES and previous achievement, students’ math course-taking and math attitudes and behaviors were significant predictors of their college major choice. Math competency was a significant predictor for white female students’ STEM major choice. Attitudes representing Math affection were strong predictors across all gender and ethnic groups. Math effort was a significant predictor for Asian male students. With regard to advanced math course-taking, calculus was strongly related to STEM major decision across all gender and ethnic groups.
4.
REFERENCES
CONCLUSIONS
More research is needed to examine advanced math course selection with data disaggregated by gender and ethnicity. Understanding the factors that make a difference in increasing students’ advanced
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Assessment of Competences in the EHEA: Postgraduate Students’ Entrepreneur Profile Fariza ACHCAOUCAOU-IALLOUCHEN Economy and Business Administration Department, University of Barcelona Barcelona, 08034, Spain
Paloma MIRAVITLLES-MATAMOROS Economy and Business Administration Department, University of Barcelona Barcelona, 08034, Spain
Laura GUITART-TARRÉS Economy and Business Administration Department, University of Barcelona Barcelona, 08034, Spain
Ana NÚÑEZ-CARBALLOSA Economy and Business Administration Department, University of Barcelona Barcelona, 08034, Spain
Merce BERNARDO-VILAMITJANA Economy and Business Administration Department, University of Barcelona Barcelona, 08034, Spain features of this new educational paradigm. In fact, Spanish universities have been very careful in defining the competencies that students must achieve within the new degrees and postgraduate courses. However, they have paid less attention to the question of how these competencies should be measured.
Abstract The construction of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has brought in several profound changes in the university environment. Skills learning methodologies are one of the central issues of this new educational paradigm.
In many cases, student skills cannot be evaluated by the traditional assessment methods used in education today [1]. A recent analysis of several degree syllabuses in Spain highlighted the deficiencies of these traditional methods [2]. In general, the process of competency assessment has been somewhat neglected in Spanish higher education.
Spanish universities have been very careful in defining the competencies that students must achieve on the new degrees and postgraduate courses. However, they have paid less attention to the question of how these competencies should be measured. The present study addresses this issue by examining the implementation of a competency assessment tool. Specifically, we analyze the status and evolution of soft skills among students on the Official Master's programme “Creating and Managing Innovative Technology-Based Companies” at the University of Barcelona, using the Evolute system developed by the Tampere University of Technology (Finland).
The present study addresses this issue by exploring the implementation of a tool for assessing competencies. Broad competencies were assessed using the methodology of the Evolute project, developed by the Tampere University of Technology in Finland [3-6]. This is an ICT-based digital platform designed for the self-assessment of personal and social competencies, and it uses different models of competencies for a range of student profiles. Here we chose the application known as Tricuspoid – Entrepreneurs’ competencies, due to its compatibility with both the objectives of the syllabus and the broad competencies to be achieved by students in the Master’s degree under consideration, i.e. Creating and Managing Innovative Technology-Based Companies.
The results show the Evolute methodology to be an appropriate tool for data collection and analysis. The system is ideal for helping managers of higher education to analyze and evaluate their students’ skills acquisition. Keywords: Competency assessment, ICT, European Higher Education Area (EHEA).
At the level of teaching, the Tricuspoid tool enables educators to assess an individual student’s competencies in specific areas of interest, the results being produced immediately. The analysis is performed automatically by the system [1] and provides teachers with additional information about the effects of their input on student competencies, doing so at a negligible cost (in terms of time and effort). It also complements other assessment instruments or methods that teachers might use to evaluate the outcomes of competency-based teaching/learning. At the individual level the Tricuspoid application should be considered
1. INTRODUCTION The construction of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has brought with it several profound changes in the university environment and the process of design, evaluation and implementation of new curricula. The reshaping of degree courses, the introduction of a new credit accounting system focused on student workload (ECTS, European Credit Transfer System) and skills learning methodologies, are three central
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as a tool for students’ personal development, since it enables them to identify their strong and weak points and to develop personal strategies for improvement that can have an impact on their entrepreneurial profile and academic performance. Finally, at the institutional level the tool provides an opportunity for continuous improvement, since it can detect trends in the training needs of new students and help to foster the development of the competencies required by tailoring the academic programme accordingly.
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: THE LITERATURE ON COMPETENCIES The term ‘competency’ has taken on great importance within the current educational paradigm, although there seems to be no consensus over its definition. This is perhaps unsurprising given the wide range of fields involved and the diversity of approaches used in the study of competencies [7]. Nevertheless, notable efforts have been made to describe and clarify the different approaches to the concept, good examples being the work of Winterton et al. [8], Delamare-Le Deist and Winterton [9], and Mulder et al. [10]. These and other studies point out that a distinction has traditionally been made between three main approaches: the behavioural, the functional and the holistic.
This latter aspect is important in the context of Master’s degrees, whose close links with professional careers mean that particular attention is paid to quality, not only by universities or the certification and accreditation agencies, but also by various key players in the business community. Among other things this has led to an increasing emphasis being placed on the competencies required for the professional career toward which the training and qualifications are geared.
The behavioural approach, as proposed by McClelland [11], is based on the evaluation of demonstrable and observable behaviour. Authors who adopt this perspective consider competencies as those attributes of a person which are related to the effective execution of a task, and to performance that is notably better than that of other individuals carrying out the same activity [9-13]. Consequently, it is an approach that focuses on those personal attributes which are readily applicable to other work contexts.
Being able to match training to the needs of the labour market is important not only for those who are charged with designing academic programmes in different fields, but also for educators who wish to become more efficient in their teaching activity. In order to achieve such a match it is necessary to determine the initial level of students’ competencies at the start of a given academic programme, compare this with what is required by the career they are seeking, and tailor the teaching/learning process accordingly. However, these skills and competencies are not readily captured through traditional assessment methods [1], and their analysis becomes even more difficult in the context of new postgraduate courses, due to the wide range of backgrounds from which students come. In this context the use of ICT-based tools provides a cost-effective and quick way of assessing the competencies of individual students and of monitoring them throughout the course.
The functional approach is given particular emphasis in the United Kingdom, due to the government’s efforts to implement a nationally-harmonized competency-based system of training in the workplace. In the functional approach, competency refers to those attributes that enable a set of tasks to be successfully carried out (functions that are more or less permanent), these taking precedence over the personal attributes of the individual who performs the task [14]. Therefore, this approach centres on work outcomes, in accordance with a number of parameters that have previously been established in relation to a specific activity.
The overall aim of the paper is to increase our understanding of ways of assessing competencies and illustrate how these can benefit the university community. More specifically, the focus is on improving not only the work of teachers and the learning achieved by students, but also the strategic management of higher education institutions. The three broad objectives are as follows: 1.
2.
3.
The holistic approach seeks to integrate the above two perspectives. Thus, it considers competencies as those attributes required to perform a task in accordance with a set of specified parameters. In sum, it links the analysis of individual attributes (the behavioural approach) with the study of the characteristics needed in a given workplace (the functional approach). This approach is traditionally associated with the system of training used in France and Germany.
To validate instruments for data collection and methods of analysis that can help teaching staff to analyse and evaluate the acquisition and mastery of competencies among their students. To examine the utility of self-assessment of competencies and the use of an ICT-based tool for providing feedback about students’ progress. To determine the extent to which the tool Tricuspoid provides useful information for the quality management of Master’s programmes.
The holistic approach provides the conceptual framework of competency adopted in the present study, drawing upon the definition of Bikfalvi et al. [15], who state that “competencies refer to the attributes, knowledge, skills, experience and values that an individual needs to carry out his/her tasks”. This definition links the general attribute approach with the context in which such attributes are put into practice. 3. MODELS OF COMPETENCIES
This paper describes our experience of applying the digital platform Evolute and, specifically, the tool Tricuspoid in order to evaluate broad competencies among students enrolled in the Master’s programme Creating and Managing Innovative Technology-Based Companies. The analysis was carried out during the 2009/2010 academic year, shortly after the programme was set up, the aim being to assess the extent to which the course content matched the needs of society and, where necessary, to make any improvements required.
A model of competencies is a descriptive tool that serves to identify the skills, knowledge and personal attributes required to achieve effectively a set of objectives, whether in terms of student learning or workers’ ability to fulfil their role within an organization. In other words, it is a description of the competencies needed to function in a specific job or workplace [16-18] and serves to evaluate individual competencies in relation to a given profile [19]. These competencies are often presented in the form of hierarchical and categorized maps [20].
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The methodology followed in this paper to apply the Tricuspoid tool has been adapted by Bikfalvi et al. [15] and Makatsoris [6] for similar projects. Thus, it can be broken down into three stages: a pre-evaluation, evaluation and post-evaluation stages.
In the present study the assessment of competencies in relation to entrepreneurial profiles was based on the tool known as Tricuspoid – Entrepreneurs’ competencies, which is described in detail by Palonen [21]. This model is shown in Figure 1.
In the pre-evaluation stage, students are provided with information and documentation about the objectives, content and functioning of the tool. They are also given all the necessary instructions to ensure they can use the tool successfully, along with the username and password required to access the system.
4. METHODOLOGY To carry out the competency evaluation in the Master’s programme Creating and Managing Innovative TechnologyBased Companies we chose a tool named Tricuspoid developed by the Tampere University of Technology (Finland). This University, as part of the project known as Evolute, has developed a new method and new tools for assessing competencies.
The evaluation stage of the Tricuspoid tool is based on the indirect self-assessment of broad competencies. Thus, students are asked to respond to a series of statements related to their daily work, but in such a way that their impression is that they are assessing their attitudes, perceptions and feelings, etc. rather than their performance. For each statement they are asked to identify their current level of competency and indicate the level they would like to achieve. Statements are graded using a fuzzy scale, with labels such as always, often, sometimes or never. The difference between the two levels (current and desired) is referred to as the creative tension, on the basis of which it is possible to identify competencies for which the student perceives the need to learn. In other words, one can identify those areas on which further training could usefully be focused.
The various applications offered by Evolute have been designed to evaluate the desirable competencies in a range of professional roles (for example, project managers or those in charge of health and safety at work) and organizational processes (knowledge creation, innovative culture, managing the value chain, etc.). It should be noted that these applications are distinct and tailored to each professional role and organizational process. One of such applications is Tricuspoid – Entrepreneurs’ competencies, an ICT-based tool that enables the self-assessment of an individual’s entrepreneurial skills.
Fig. 1. TRICUSPOID Competencies’ model – Entrepreneurs’ competencies
Self-control
Trustworthiness Flexibility Innovativeness Seeking information Stress tolerance Production efficiency Adventurism Decision-making skills
Self-knowledge
Emotional awareness Self-confidence Self-assessment Acknowledging own values
Cognitive capability
Analytical thinking Conceptual thinking Professional and technical knowledge Strategic thinking Metacognitive skills Problem-solving skill
Motivating oneself
Achievement orientation Initiative Optimism Self-capacity (capability) Seizing opportunities Flow Creativeness
PERSONAL COMPETENCIES
Understanding others Developing others Service orientation Change management Conflict management Management Leadership Collaboration
Empathy
SOCIAL COMPETENCIES Social skills Font: Palonen [21] The Tricuspoid questionnaire contains 132 items relating to daily work activities. The scores derived from the responses
given, for both the current and desired levels, provide an
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immediate evaluation of 33 broad competencies (personal and social) (see Figure 1).
Figure 3 presents the competencies of the model organized into six groups: Self-control, Cognitive capability, Social skills, Empathy, Self-knowledge and Motivating oneself. Of these, the group in which students show the greatest creative tension, and therefore perceive as a priority area with the most scope for improvement, is Cognitive capability. By contrast, the group with the lowest creative tension, corresponding to the competencies on which the students regard themselves as better equipped, is Self-knowledge.
After completing the self-evaluation, we carry out the postevaluation stage, which consists of giving the participants a post-evaluation questionnaire in order to gather information about how they perceived various aspects such as the importance of the competencies assessed, the subjective validity of the tool, and their opinion about the extent to which their studies have helped them to develop their competencies1.
As regards the two main groups of competencies (personal and social) Figure 4 shows that the perceived difference between students’ current and desired level of competency is greater for social than for personal competencies.
The competency evaluation and the Tricuspoid application was implemented during the 2009/2010 academic year to eighteen students, who participated voluntarily in the project, enrolled in the Master’s programme Creating and Managing Innovative Technology-Based Companies held in the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Barcelona2. As regards the profile of these students, 50% were male, 50% were Spanish (the rest were from different foreign countries), 62% were between 25 and 30 years old, and 55% had prior entrepreneurial knowledge.
Table 1 shows results, measured on a seven-point Likert scale, about students’ perceptions regarding the importance of the competencies assessed, the validity of the Tricuspoid tool for evaluating these competencies, and their opinions about the extent to which their studies have helped them to develop their competency as regards entrepreneurship and innovativeness. As regards the evaluation of each of the six competency groups, it can be seen on table 2, that students ascribe considerable importance to the social and personal competencies described by the model, the scores given being above 5.5 out of 7. Also the results obtained from the evaluation of each of the six competency groups illustrate that students regard the tool as an adequate and valid measure of their competencies, with scores out of 7 being 3.7 or higher. Finally, the students believe that the Master’s programme makes a considerable contribution to the development of their broad competencies. The competency which they regarded as being most developed was Motivating oneself (score of 5.94), and even the competency which they felt was least influenced by their studies, i.e. Cognitive capability, still achieved a high score (5.44).
5. RESULTS The results for the evaluation of the broad competencies using the Tricuspoid tool according to the entrepreneurial profile of students are shown in Figure 2. The aggregate results for the 33 competencies considered by the model are ordered by creative tension. This form of presentation is that used by the Evolute platform to indicate the current level of competencies (blue bars), the desired levels (red bars) and the creative tension (the distance between the two levels). It can be seen that the competencies with the greatest creative tension are, in this order: Stress tolerance, Understanding others, Metacognitive skills, Innovativeness and Selfassessment. It is on these five competencies that students believe they have to improve the most, since it is here that there is the greatest distance between the current and desired levels of competency.
All these results, together with the others obtained during the project described in this paper, provide valuable information that can be used to develop strategies for improving the quality of the University of Barcelona’s Master’s programme Creating and Managing Innovative Technology-Based Companies.
Conversely, the competencies on which students regard themselves as well-prepared, i.e. those with the least creative tension, are, in this order: Self-capacity, Emotional awareness, Flow, Adventurism and Self-confidence. These competencies can therefore be considered as those on which students feel better equipped, and in the case of Self-capacity, Flow and Emotional awareness they even regarded their current level as being superior to what is required (desired level). These last three competencies therefore show a negative creative tension.
6. CONCLUSIONS Managers of university academic programmes must be able to assess the initial skill level of students embarking on degrees and to compare it with the level required for their future professional development. An efficient assessment system is needed to enable managers to develop teaching-learning processes tailored to students’ needs. This paper presents the results obtained with the Tricuspoid tool for assessing cross-disciplinary skills in relation to the entrepreneurial profile of students on the Official Master's Programme Creating and Managing Innovative TechnologyBased Companies at the University of Barcelona in the academic year 2009-2010. The results suggest that the five skills that students felt they needed to improve most (the skills with the largest gap between the current and the desired levels) were stress tolerance, understanding others, metacognitive skills, innovativeness, and self-assessment. The Master’s programme should therefore explore ways of helping students to improve these skills. The skills that students felt they mastered were self-capacity, emotional awareness, flow, adventurism and self-confidence. These skills were identified by students as their strengths, and so these are areas that the Master’s programme
1
This post-evaluation questionnaire was adapted from one used in previous studies carried out by the University of Girona to assess professional profiles. 2 The aim of this Master’s programme is to develop a reference platform capable of providing high-level training, skills and qualifications for entrepreneurs in technology-based companies and, in general, for the managers of innovative firms. The Master’s is designed such that students acquire the competencies required to satisfactorily achieve the following objectives: (a) To carry out processes related to the creation of companies, especially those which are technology-based; (b) To manage technology-based companies from start-up through to consolidation; (c) To design and successfully implement R+D+I projects and management plans within the company; and (d) To have indepth knowledge of the scientific and technological context, and of the key players within it, in order to develop cooperative and technologytransfer agreements with them.
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does not need to prioritize. The research results also showed that students have a very high opinion of the contribution of the Master’s programme to their cross-disciplinary skill development.
This study highlights areas to which the Master’s programme should pay particular attention in order to encourage the acquisition of skills among its students. We propose specific measures that managers of the programme should consider in their ongoing attempts to achieve excellence.
Fig. 2. Competencies of the Master’s programme students as a whole (average between October 2009 and July/September 2010, ordered by creative tension)
Fig. 3. Groups of competencies for the Master’s programme students as a whole (average between October 2009 and July/September 2010, ordered by creative tension)
Fig. 4. The two main groups of competencies for the Master’s programme students as a whole (average between October 2009 and July/September 2010, ordered by creative tension)
Table 1. Students’ evaluation of broad competencies and the Tricuspoid tool
Importance to the student of the social and personal competencies
Students’ evaluation regarding the suitability of the tool for assessing broad competencies
Groups of competencies Self-knowledge Self-control Cognitive capability Motivating oneself Empathy Social Skills Self-knowledge Self-control Cognitive capability Motivating oneself Empathy Social Skills
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Mean score on a scale of 1 to 7 6.44 6.00 5.67 6.11 5.72 6.28 4.61 3.72 5.44 5.50 5.11 5.28
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Students’ evaluation regarding the contribution of the Master’s programme to the development of broad competencies
Self-knowledge Self-control Cognitive capability Motivating oneself Empathy Social Skills
5.78 5.50 5.44 5.94 5.83 5.61
Source: Present authors 7. REFERENCES
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[17] N. Gangani, G.N. McLean & R.A. Braden: “A Competency-Based Human Resource Development Strategy”, Performance Improvement Quarterly, Vol. 19, No. 1, 2006, pp. 127-139.
[5] J. Kantola, H. Vanharanta & W. Karwowski, “The Evolute system: A co-evolutionary human resource development methodology.” In W. Karwowski (Ed.), International encyclopedia of ergonomics and human factors (pp. 2894–2900). Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2005.
[17] A.D. Lucia. & R. Lepsinger, The Art and Science of Competency Models. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, 1999.
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[19] M. Zwell, Creating a culture of competency. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2000.
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[20] P. Sandwith, “A hierarchy of management training requirements: the competency domain model”, Public Personnel Management, Vol. 22, No. 1, 1993, pp. 43-62.
[8] J. Winterton, F. Delamare-Le Deist & E. Stringfellow, Typology of knowledge, skills and competencies: Clarification of the concept and prototype (Panorama Series, No. 1397). Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2005.
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A. Blanco-Prieto, Trabajadores competentes. Introducción y reflexiones sobre la gestión de recursos humanos por competencias, Madrid: ESIC Editorial, 2007.
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[12] L. Spencer & S. Spencer, Competency at work: a model for superior performance, New York: Wiley, 1993. [13] R. White, “Motivation reconsidered: the concept of competency”, Psychological Review, No. 66, 1959, pp.279–333.
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THE EFFECT OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING ON STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN COMPUTER COURSE USING BLACKBOARD Hamid AZANI Department of Math and Computer, Qatar University Doha, Qatar [email protected] each other, and finally an analysis and discussion of the results obtained. The paper will end with conclusion and references.
ABSTRACT Cooperative Learning is one of the most successful strategies used to develop class performance [1]. This procedure involves groups of students working together to complete a given task. The presented strategy helps students with low level (weak students) of abilities to increase their understanding of a topic and then improve their grades in the exam. The purpose of this study is to explore the use of face-to-face and e-learning (Blackboard) environments used by students to communicate and collaborate with each other. Clear instructions were providing to all students in order to be part of this study. During the achievement of this strategy, students realized that each person’s work benefits not only that individual but the member of the same group as well.
II.
The course selected for the current study is computing for foundation level 1. This course is designed to provide students with learning environments to master fundamentals of computer skills. The course content is divided into three main subjects as mentioned below and it focuses on basic computing skills both theoretical (computer concepts) and practical (using operating system such as Windows XP and Microsoft Word 2003 and 2007). a. Computer Concepts: Computer components, basic computer architecture, basic networking concepts, security and legal issues associated with computers.
Keywords: Cooperative Learning, Face-to-Face and Online Environments, Learning Management Systems (LMS), Elearning Technology, Students’ Performance, and Instructions. I.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
b. Working with Windows XP and File Management: Introduction to the basic functions with other important concepts of an operating system, and skills to manage and organize files, folders and disk drives.
INTRODUCTION
The aim of this project is to examine the effects of cooperative learning on students’ performance in a computer course class. This study was conducted over two semesters of lectures in Foundation Program at Qatar University. It was tested at the computer labs as a face-to-face environment and also tested by applying the Learning Management System Blackboard as an asynchronous online environment [2]. To verify and validate the results of the strategy presented in this paper, the project took place over two semesters; spring 2007 and fall 2010. Two classes participated in the current study and each class consisted of 8 to 9 groups of two students per group. The results of another class which didn’t participate are included in this study for purpose of results comparison. Classes which had participated and which had not participated in this study had the opportunity to use blackboard. Students’ reorganization was the only difference between these classes. In addition, clear instructions were provided to students who participated in this study in order to follow. These guidelines consist mainly of attendance rate which should be 75% or above per semester, and the number of assignments (homework and quizzes) done per a student should be more than 2. The creation and formation of groups was done according to the midterm exam’s marks. Each group was formed by two students one with low and the other with high midterm exam marks. This paper will first provide a brief introduction to the course content used in this study, the participants (Students), the instructions, the LMS used by students to communicate with
c. Word Processing: Basic operations to create, edit, format, and enhance word processing documents for distribution. III.
GROUPS
Group-based learning creates an environment in which students can practice, increase, and improve their skills [3]. Advanced students can gain leadership, improve their communication and social environment. In the current study, two classes were selected; one male class (016 - spring 2007) and one female class (120 – fall 2010) to participate in this cooperative learning analysis. The results of another male class (021 – spring 2007) presented in figure (1) is included in this study in order to be compared with the other results for purpose of comparison and validation. The participants were new students to the university coming from different high schools with different level of skills and with different majors as shown in table 1. Each class consisted of 18 to 19 students. Table 1 shows an example of one male class (M16 – spring 2007) with serial number, students’ university Identification number (Student ID), specialty, and midterm exam marks out of 100.
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IV.
INSTRUCTIONS
As stated, instructions were circulated to all students and it consists of: a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. k.
A student’s attendance rate should be 75% or above Student should take at least 2 Quizzes and 2 Homework Students should respect all ideas and thoughts expressed by the other member of the group Students should prepare the topic before the lecture Students should participate online through discussion board as part of LMS Students should cooperate with other members of the group Students should be online through Blackboard for at least one hour per day after each lecture The participation to a discussion board is mandatory Students should answer questions and put their own questions related to the topic of the lecture Students should use office hours on weekly basis Students should respect their assigned groups during the achievement of the project Serial
Student ID
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 13 15 16 17 18 19 20
200607977 200601051 200600312 200600771 200604026 200603403 200607144 200603575 200600054 200604957 200607289 200606891 200607191 200607331 200602344 200602925 200607108 200608099
Specialty Science Business Science Eng. Law Art Eng. Business Art Business Eng. Business Business Business Business Business Business Business
Figure (1): Snapshot of Qatar University’s Blackboard for Class 120 VI.
GROUPS’ SELECTION METHOD
Table 1 shows a midterm grades for male class 016. According to Qatar University regulations regarding the attendance rate, students with serial numbers 11 and 14 were barred from the class. The absence rate of these two students exceeded 25%. For that raison their marks were not part of the current study and not shown in table 1. The method used to reorganize and create group was to start by sorting the students’ list as shown in table 2. The following steps describe the way used to select and reorganize the groups:
Midterm Exam 93.0 61.5 82.0 86.0 77.5 57.5 85.0 89.5 70.5 80.5 89.5 74.5 88.5 92.5 94.0 84.5 69.5 85.0
STEP 1: Sort the list in ascending order (Smallest to Largest) according to midterm marks as shown in table 2. Step 2: Divide the list into two equal sets as shown in table 2. The first set of grades will be assigned to lowest marks starting from the smallest mark at the beginning of the list and ending at the middle of the list. While the second set of grades will be given to the highest marks beginning from the middle of the list and ending to the last mark in the list.
Table 1: Class List (RAW DATA) Set1 = {min1, ..., minn} V. LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (LMS) Set2 = {max1, …, maxn} E-learning systems have become one of the main components to implement effective education systems, especially in higher education institutions [4]. This study investigated the use of computer technologies as electronic learning tools. Therefore, an online environment strategy was adopted in this study as an e-learning system. Students who participated in this cooperative learning approach were asked to use Blackboard as an asynchronous learning environment tool [5, 6]. Figure (1) is a snapshot of blackboard used with class 120 during fall 2010. A discussion board feature from blackboard was used by all groups in order to share skills and knowledge after the class meeting. Also, after each lecture, a thread was posted by the teacher in blackboard to keep students active after the lecture.
Step 3: Create groups with pair of maximum and minimum marks as shown in table 3. G1 = [maxn, min1]; G2 = [maxn-1, min2]; .
n is the number of students
. . Gm-1 = [max2, minn-1]; Gm = [max1, minn].
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m is the number of groups
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Specialty
Midterm Exam
Sets
6 2 19 9 13 5 10 3 18
200603403 200601051 200607108 200600054 200606891 200604026 200604957 200600312 200602925
Art Business Business Art Business Law Business Science Business
57.5 61.5 69.5 70.5 74.5 77.5 80.5 82 84.5
min1 min2 min3 min4 min5 min6 min7 min8 min9
7 20 4 15 8 12 16 1 17
200607144 200608099 200600771 200607191 200603575 200607289 200607331 200607977 200602344
Eng. Business Eng. Business Business Eng. Business Science Business
85 85 86 88.5 89.5 89.5 92.5 93 94
max1 max2 max3 max4 max5 max6 max7 max8 max9
Set1
Student ID
Cooperative learning effects on students’ success was observed with another male class 016 in the same semester. This progress is illustrated in figure (3). Around sixty-nine percent (68.75%) of students improved their marks in the final exam. One critical case can be mentioned in the same figure which is the student with serial number 12. The student’s mark decreased seventyfour percent (74%) from midterm to final exam. After investigation, the student’s attendance was found that it exceeded 25% after this project was started. Consequently, the mark of that student decreased.
Set2
Serial
Figure (2) illustrates results for male class 021 (spring 2007) that is not included in the current study. A result for the class where the research was conducted during the same semester is shown in figure (3). The last figure (4) verifies the achievement of the proposed cooperative learning technique. From the first graph, a progress of only 29% of students in the final exam is observed. This small improvement was expected since students worked individually without any reorganization of the class during the entire semester. These students had also access to blackboard.
As specified previously, to validate the technique offered in this paper, another class (female students - fall 2010) was included in the current study. The result is shown in figure (4). For this case, eighty-eight percent (88%) of students improved their grades in the final exam.
Table 2: Selection of set1 and set2 Serial
Student ID
Specialty
Midterm Exam
17 6 1 2 16 19 12 9 8 13 15 5 4 10 20 3 7 18
200602344 200603403 200607977 200601051 200607331 200607108 200607289 200600054 200603575 200606891 200607191 200604026 200600771 200604957 200608099 200600312 200607144 200602925
Business Art Science Business Business Business Eng. Art Business Business Business Law Eng. Business Business Science Eng. Business
94.0 57.5 93.0 61.5 92.5 69.5 89.5 70.5 89.5 74.5 88.5 77.5 86.0 80.5 85.0 82.0 85.0 84.5
Groups
The formula used to calculate the percentage mentioned on the three graphs is given by the following equation Eq. (1).
G1 G2
ࡼࢋ࢘ࢉࢋ࢚ࢇࢍࢋ% = െ ቀ
G3 G4
ࡿ࢚࢛ࢊࢋ࢚ᇲ ࢙࢚࢚ࢇ࢛࢈ࢋ࢘ିࡵ࢘࢜ࢋࢊ࢙࢚࢛ࢊࢋ࢚࢙ ࡿ࢚࢛ࢊࢋ࢚࢙ᇲ ࢚࢚ࢇ࢛࢈ࢋ࢘
ቁ כ Eq. (1)
Table 4 summarizes the results given on each graph.
G5
Total Number
Class
G6
021 016 120
G7 G8
14 16 17
Improved students 4 11 15
Percentage % 28.57% 68.57% 88%
Table 4: Students’ improvements (%)
G9
Table 3: Groups’ creation
VIII. CONCLUSION
VII. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
The aim of this study was to investigate on the effect of the cooperative learning approach by reorganizing students in computer labs after the midterm exam. This goal necessitated the implication of three classes over two semesters and the use of Blackboard as an asynchronous online tool. This current study with cooperative learning using face-to-face and online environments was positive to the achievement of almost all students. This technique will be improved and applied with other groups in the coming semesters.
After reorganization and formation of groups, students worked hard, particularly those from set2. These students improved their skills and helped other students from set1 to increase their marks. Results for three groups are presented below. Figure (2) shows graph for one male class 021 that wasn’t included in this study. Figure (3) illustrates a result for male class 016 which contributed in this research. In order to validate the result of this study offered in this paper, one more female class 120 from fall 2010 semester was added in this project. Figure (4) shows results for that female class from fall 2010. MS Excel 2010 was used as tool to process the collected data and to create charts shown in figures (2, 3, and 4). Each chart displays both midterm and final exams’ marks per class. Every student is represented in all charts by its serial number in the X axis and its midterm and final exams together in Y axis.
IX. Acknowledgements I would like to thank all students who contributed in this study. This contribution made the development and achievement of this research feasible and successful.
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Midterm & Final Exam's Marks per student Class 021 - Spring 2007
Only 28.57% from the total number of 120.0 students improved their marks
80.0 60.0
Midterm Sp07
Final Sp07
40.0 20.0
0.0 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Student's Serial Number Figure (2): Midterm vs. Final Exam Male class [021] - Group not included in the study - spring 2007
Midterm & Final Exam's Marks per student Class 016 - Spring 2007
68.75% from the total number of students improved 120.0 their marks
100.0 Midterm & Final Exam's Grades
Midterm & Final Exam's Marks
100.0
80.0 60.0 40.0 20.0 0.0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Midterm Sp07 93.0 61.5 82.0 86.0 85.0 89.5 70.5 80.5 89.5 74.5 88.5 92.5 94.0 84.5 69.5 85.0
Final Sp07
95.5 67.0 93.0 91.0 90.5 87.5 84.0 73.5 97.5 85.5 86.5 68.5 96.0 90.0 64.5 90.0 Student's Serial Number
Figure (3): Midterm vs. Final Exam Male class [016] - Group part of the study - spring 2007
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Midterm & Final Exam's Marks per student Class 120 - Fall 2010
88.3% of students improved their grades in the final 120exam
Midterm & Final Exam's Marks
100 80 60 40 20 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
19
Mid Term
72
35
53
88
59
59
41
76
74
50
98
56
82
70
80
76
92
Final Exam
96
71
56
100
91
87
77
100
98
87
100
76
97
98
44
72
98
Student's Serial Number
Figure (4): Midterm vs. Final Exam Female class [120] - Group part of the study - fall 2010
X.
REFERENCES [5] Peter Bradford, Margaret Porciello, Nancy Balkon, Debra
Backus “The Blackboard Learning System” The Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 2007
[1] Luenymorell, Rosa Buxeda, Moisésorengo, And Ailén
Sánchez “After So Much Effort: Is Faculty Using Cooperative Learning in the Classroom?”. Journal of Engineering Education. Pages 357-362, July 2001
[6] M. Thoennessen, E. Kashy, Y. Tsai, And N. E. Davis
[2] Jane E. Brindley, Christine Walti, and Lisa M. Blaschke
“Impact of Asynchronous Learning Networks in Large Lecture Classes” Kluver Academic Publishers. 1999
“Creating Effective Collaborative Learning Groups in an Online Environment” International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. June 2009 [3] Christopher Cheong “From Group-based Learning to
Cooperative Learning: A Metacognitive Approach to Project-based Group Supervision” Informing Science: the International Journal of an Emerging Trans-discipline. 2010 [4] M. Soliman and K. Shaban “Evaluation of Adaptation for
Pedagogical Objectives in E-Learning Systems” IMCL International Conference on Mobile and Computer aided Learning Pages 328-331, 2009
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establish shared knowledge [2] [12] or common purpose [1] has been determined to be important determinants to group performance in CMC. Shared knowledge in a task-based group is knowledge the group shares, and importantly, knows they share [7]. The structure in a mathematics class using either MMC or CMC thus becomes crucial. Does the curriculum establish a means whereby such knowledge and awareness of shared information is readily available?
Teaching Mathematics Using Mediated and Mixed-Mediated Communication Models James DAVIS College of Arts and Sciences, University of Phoenix Tucson, AZ 85704, USA And
Studies have shown there are major differences in effective communication styles between CMC and unmediated communication (UMC). Such differences [11] make it reasonable to assume similar differences will be found when comparing CMC to MMC. Student preferences have been found to differ among UMC, CMC, and MMC [5]. Research on whether such preferences exist among instructors has not been well established.
Susan FEREBEE College of IS&T, Kaplan University Tucson, AZ 85742, USA ABSTRACT The study examined the perception of instructors of mathematics in computer-mediated communication (CMC) versus mixed-mediated communication settings (MMC). The instructors for this study were drawn from a large private university; the instructors were trained and certified in the teaching of their subject field. The instructors were real-time instructors, some using a combination of in-class instruction and computer-mediated instruction, termed mixed-mediated communication (MMC) instruction and the remainder of the instructors using virtual instruction that consisted entirely of online instruction with no face-to-face contact. This model is termed computer mediated communication (CMC). . Keywords: Mathematics, Education, Online Education, Virtual Communication . 1.
The question of whether teaching mathematics differs from other types of course content is relevant to this study. The work that establishes such differences [6] in teaching statistics gives preliminary support to the idea that learning style preferences among students is an important factor in student success. The preference for non-traditional classes [6] is a finding that contradicts certain earlier findings, and may be an indicator that certain important factors affecting learning are emerging as students become more accustomed to new course-content modalities. Not only do students show a preference for nontraditional learning, but a 2009 meta-analysis by the Department of Education found that, on average, students in online educational environments outperformed those receiving only face-to-face education. The difference in learning outcomes was even larger for those students participating in a blended or MMC environments when compared to face-to-face instruction only. The study findings show that blended learning incorporates more learning time and different instructional components than those received in traditional learning environments [10].
INTRODUCTION
The importance of improving math education is evident from the results of a study comparing 15-year-old math students across 30 countries. The results show that math students in the United States rank 25th out of the 30 countries in math literacy and problem solving [8]. These findings suggest a need to search for tools, methods, and teaching techniques that might improve how students learn math.
In a mathematics teaching situation, feedback is essential, and the research on feedback comparing CMC and UMC is pertinent. The comparison between CMC and UMC groups have found that there is less positive and more negative feedback with CMC [12]. If true, then teams may be more negatively influenced by feedback from an instructor or a fellow-student in a CMC setting compared to a MMC model. The element of psychological distance also influences our acceptance or rejection of negative feedback [14], and the potentially greater psychological distance in a CMC versus a MMC modality might be reasonably assumed. After all, a MMC setting does have a face-to-face contact. The resistance to feedback in a CMC [16] might play a role in teacher- to- student communication, as well as the student- to- student communication. Such resistance would differ from UMC,and the composite model of MMC might reasonably differ on this factor.
This research examines the differences in math instruction between computer-mediated communication (CMC) and mixed-media communication (MMC) . The MMC model is a departure from the more normal unmediated communication model (UMC), and can be examined with regard to its effectiveness for math learning outcomes. MMC refers to a communication model that blends face-to-face in class teaching with an online component.. Clearly, MMC is a new teaching tool that will need to be understood to achieve the best chances for success with the model. 2.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The research into the differences between computer-mediated communication (CMC) and unmediated communication (UMC) is extensive [1] [2] [5] [7] [11] [12]. The comparison between CMC and a mixed-media communication is not extensive. There are significant questions to be asked when making the MMC and CMC comparisons.
In addition, the state of research with respect to CMC and the type of task being mediated has largely remain unchanged since
Certain lines of inquiry are pertinent when addressing the behavior of teaching using MMC and CMC. The failure to
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the elements of team and task were addressed by Hollingshead and & McGrath [5]. In 2010, evolving technology justifies further study of task and team relationships in both CMC and MMC settings.
3.
validity is affected by the authenticity of the sample. The subjects were actual instructors teaching actual students from a syllabus that was relatively standard across the university from which the sample was gathered. The syllabi for a MMC class and for a CMC class will differ, but that difference may well be a part of the comparison that should be present to draw meaningful conclusions.
SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
The two most important delivery tools for course content at many major universities are on-ground courses, which combine mediated and unmediated communication, and on-line courses, which use mediated communication. .Understanding how instructors perceive these two delivery methods may well provide suggestions of how to maximize the performance of the instructors, and thus how to improve the likelihood of the success for their students. 4.
Analysis The analyses of the data employed correlation and a set of difference measures between the four sets of Likert scales obtained from the MMC and the CMC instructors. The differences were evaluated using Anova to assess the significance of the differences. The sample was adequate to make comparisons, and variances were appropriately using robust adjustment for unequal variances. A content analysis was used to evaluate open-ended responses to a question asked on the questionnaire
METHODOLOGY
This study is a quantitative descriptive study examining the perceptions of math instructors with regard to feedback, class success, student performance in teams, and student learning outcomes within CMC, and MMC learning environments. Population and Sample
5. RESULTS Respondents consisted of instructors that in general taught in three modalities: teach online only, teach both face-to-face and online, and teach on-ground only. The participant breakout into these groups is shown in Table 1.
The population was university math instructors at a large private university. The sample size was 300 math instructors with differing levels of teaching experience in online and on-ground modalities. The sample represented a convenience sample.
Table 1. Participants by teaching modality CMC CMC MMC TOTALS MMC
Research Questions
6
RQ1: Is the MMC model seen as more effective than the CMC model by mathematics instructors. RQ2: Is student teamwork seen as more effective with MMC compared to CMC by mathematics instructors. RQ3: Is there a difference between MMC and CMC in the perception of student response to instructor feedback. RQ4: Do instructors perceive students are more supportive in MMC compared to CMC.
30
24
60
The instructors were asked to respond regarding a current class that they were teaching and the instructors that in general taught both on-ground and online, were, for this study, currently teaching online. So 24 participants responded with regard to an on-ground course teaching experience, and 36 participants responded with regard to an online course teaching experience. The detection of relationships among the six independent variables was assessed using Pearson product-moment correlation. The correlation coefficients provide a description of the linear relationship between two variables. The size of the relationship indicates the strength of the relationships. An examination of the correlations between independent variables indicates numerous linear relationships that exceed chance expectations. The size of the sample suggests these are valid relationships and not artifacts that can occur with large sample sizes.
Measurement The study compared several measures of instructor perceptions while teaching in a MMC or CMC environment. Measurements RI LQVWUXFWRUV¶ SHUFHptions were obtained using Likert type VFDOHV GHVLJQHG WR PHDVXUH LQVWUXFWRUV¶ SHUFHSWLRQV RI FODVVURRP VXFFHVV VWXGHQWV¶ DELOLW\ WR ZRUN LQ WHDPV LQVWUXFWRUV¶ DELOLW\ WR SURYLGH DGHTXDWH IHHGEDFN DQG ZKHWKHU students were supportive of each other. In addition, an openended question was obtained from the instructors using a content analysis methodology. This qualitative measurement was used to supplement the quantitative measures and was intended to allow the instructors to voice any concerns they have that are not captured by the Likert scales.
The results of the Likert Scale survey are shown in Table 2. Comparisons between instructor perceptions in mixed-mediated instruction, and computer-mediated instruction for class success, student supportiveness, feedback, teams, and asking content questions showed no significant differences (p >.05). 8VLQJ &RKHQ¶V >@ approach, eta squared was calculated and demonstrated the effect sizes were small(>.01). Based upon these findings, no further examination of mean differences was conducted.
7KH LQLWLDO UHOLDELOLW\ DQDO\VLV SURYLGHG D &URQEDFK¶V $OSKD RI .302. Upon examination of the scales, one scale was found which contributed significantly to the lower than expected reliability assessment. This was a scale measuring the reluctance to use tools available to the students. This scale was thus eliminated from the final analysis. The resulting &URQEDFK¶V$OSKDZDVDPRUHUHDVRQDEOH,QDGGLWLRQWKH Corrected Item-Total Correlations were in the acceptable range with the revised scale[3] . The issues of validity are, of course, present, but at least some assumptions seem warranted. The issue of criterion
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Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
The question that now needs to be examined calls for another study, asking essentially the same questions, of students¶ perceptions of the effectiveness of using the two teaching modalities. Additionally, asking instructors who teach both MMC and CMC to compare their experiences in each modality could reveal differences not revealed in this study. Finally, a rigorous before and after comparison of learning outcomes using MMC and CMC would be highly desirable.
Table 2. Likert Scale Survey Results
Dep Variables Mode N Success
Teams
Supportive
Feedback
ContQuest
Prefer
Mean
Std. Deviation Std. Error
1
6
2.0000
.00000
.00000
2
30
1.9333
.58329
.10649
3
24
2.0833
.77553
.15830
Total
60
2.0000
.63779
.08234
1
6
2.6667
.81650
.33333
2
30
2.0000
.69481
.12685
3
24
2.5833
.97431
.19888
Total
60
2.3000
.86944
.11224
1
6
2.0000
.00000
.00000
2
29
1.7586
.57664
.10708
3
23
2.1304
.54808
.11428
Total
58
1.9310
.55763
.07322
1
6
1.8333
.40825
.16667
2
27
1.7407
.59437
.11439
3
24
1.8333
.70196
.14329
Total
57
1.7895
.61924
.08202
1
6
2.5000
.83666
.34157
2
30
1.8333
.91287
.16667
3
24
2.0417
.90790
.18532
Total
60
1.9833
.91117
.11763
1
6
1.6667
.51640
.21082
2
30
2.2000
.96132
.17551
3
23
2.0000 1.00000
.20851
Total
59
2.0678
.12295
.94439
7.
With the educational landscape changing with new technologies, new formats, and new student needs, universities, schools, instructors, and accrediting agencies should be UHDVVXUHG WKDW H[SHULHQFHG PDWKHPDWLFV¶ LQVWUXFWRUV IHHO WKH\ can function well and that their students can succeed in a variety of learning environments provided by modern educational institutions.
8.
REFERENCES
[1] H.H. Clark & S. E. Brennan³Grounding in communication´. In L. B. Resnick, J. M. Levine, & S. D. (Eds.), Perceptions on socially shared cognition (pp. 127149), Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1991. [2] C.D. Cranston, ³The mutual knowledge problem and its consequences for dispersed collaboration´, Organization Science, Vol. 12, 2001, pp. 346-371. [3] L. J. Cronbach & P. B. Meehl, ³Construct validity in psychological tests´ Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 52, 1955, pp. 281-302. [4] T. L . Faux & C. Black-Hughes, (2002). ³A comparison of using the internet lectures to teach social work history ³ Research on social work practices, Vol.10, 2002, pp. 342-396. [5] A. B. Hollingshead, J. E. McGrath, & K. M. O'Connor, ³*URXSWDVNSHUIRUPDQFHDQGFRPPXQLcation technology: A longitudinal study of computer mediated vs face-to-face work groups´ Small Group Research, Vol. 2, No. 3, 1993, pp. 307-333. [6] H. D. Johnson, & N. Dasgupta, ³Traditional versus nontradtional teaching: Perspectives of students in introductory statistics classes´, Journal of statistics education, Vol. 2, 2005, pp. 1-14. Retrieved from www.org/publications/jsc/o3n2/keeler.html [7] R. Krauss & S. Fussell, ³Mutual knowledge and FRPPXQLFDWLRQHIIHFWLYHQHVV´ In J. Galegher, R. E. Kraut, & C. J. Galegher, R. E. Kraut, & C. Edigo (Eds.), Intellectual teamwork: Social and technical bases of collaborative work (pp. 111-146). Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum, 1990. [8] T. Lewin, ³Report urges changes in teaching math´ New York Times (March 14 2008). [9] J. E. McGrath & A. B. Hollingshead, Groups interacting with technology:Ideas, issues, evidence, and an agenda. Newbury Park, Ca: Sage, 1994. [10] B. Means, Y Toyama, R. Murphy, Bakia, M., & K. Jones, ³Evaluation of evidence-based practices in online learning: A meta-analysis and review of online learning studies´ U.S. Department of Education, 2009. [11] G. G. Smith, D. Ferguson, & M. Caris,´Teaching on-line versus face-to-face´ Journal of educational technology systems, Vol 30, 2001-2002, pp. . 337-365. Retrieved from http://baywood.metapress.com/app/home/contributions.asp?refe rrer=parent+backto=issue,2...
The content analysis conducted upon the open-ended questions found several categories that provided useful information. The four categories extracted were improved student preparation, too much material to cover, the use of Aleks (an on-line tool to aid in mathematics learning), and finally, good student progress. Thirteen percent of instructors said students needed better preparation prior to starting class. Eleven percent of instructors noted that there was too much material to cover in a course. Thirteen percent of instructors remarked that Aleks was an important tool for the success of the students. Finally, thirtyeight per cent of instructors remarked that the students made good progress. 6.
CONCLUSION
DISCUSSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH
In general, the results of this study support the findings of the exhaustive meta-analysis conducted by the United States Department of Education [10]. That is, on-line students perform at least as well, and in some cases superior to a blended LQVWUXFWLRQDO PHWKRG ZKHQ PHDVXUHG XVLQJ LQVWUXFWRUV¶ perceptions. The question, of whether there is a difference between CMC and MMC, has received a preliminary answer: there is no significant difference between the two modalities IURPDQLQVWUXFWRU¶VSRLQWRIYLHZZLWKUHJDUGWRFODVVVXFFHVV feedback acceptance, student teamwork, and student supportiveness.
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[12] I. F. Thompson, & M. D. Coovert, ³Teamwork online: The effects of computer conferencing on perceived confusion, satisfaction, and post discussion accuracy´Group Dynamics, Vol. 7, 2003, pp. 135-151. >@-%:DOWKHU³*URXSDQGLQWHUSHUVRQDOHIIHFWVLQ international computer-PHGLDWHGFROODERUDWLRQ´Human Communication Research, Vol. 23, 1997, pp. 342-369. [14] D. R. Ilgen, C. D. FisheU 607D\ORU³&RQVHTXHQFHV RILQGLYLGXDOIHHGEDFNRQEHKDYLRULQRUJDQL]DWLRQV´Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 64, 1979, pp. 349-371. [15] J. Cohen, Statistical power analysis for the behavior sciences (2nd Edition). Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum, 1988. >@-*3\NH --6KHUORFN³A Closer Look at InstructorStudent Feedback Online: A Case Study Analysis of the Types and Frequency´Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2010. Retrieved at http://jolt.merlot.org/vol6no1/pyke_0310.htm
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Electronic Algebra and Calculus Tutor Larissa FRADKIN and Victor ZERNOV Sound Mathematics Ltd., 11 Mulberry Close, Cambridge CB4 2AS, UK
ABSTRACT Modern undergraduates join science and engineering courses with poorer mathematical background than in the past. The problem is very acute in the United Kingdom but with more and more countries adopting less resource intensive models of teaching mathematics in schools the problem spreads. University tutors and lecturers spend more and more time delivering stepping up courses, covering the basics. However, most of them still rely on traditional methods of delivery which presuppose that the learners have a good memory and a considerable time to practice, so that they can memorize disjointed facts and discover for themselves various connections between the underlying concepts. These suppositions are particularly unrealistic when dealing with a large number of undergraduates who are ordinary learners with limited maths background. The author has developed a teaching system that allows such adult learners achieve relatively deep learning of mathematics – and remarkably quickly – through a teacher-guided (often called Socratic) dialogue, which aims at the frequent reinforcement of basic mathematical abstractions through Eulerian sequencing. These ideas have been applied to create a prototype of the first in the world Cognitive Mathematics Tutoring System aimed at teaching basic mathematics to University freshers., an electronic Personal Algebra and Calculus Tutor (e-PACT). Keywords: Undergraduate mathematics, Socratic dialogue, Eulerian sequencing, cognitive tutor 1.
INTRODUCTION
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through Eulerian sequencing. The latter is a name for a systematic approach to mathematics as a language, which allows students to analyse (sequence) given mathematical expressions and thus find relevant solution algorithm (sequence of solution steps). It teaches learners to generate self-explanations, that is argue why various steps are to be taken and not just what they are. This is important, because the amount learned is proportional to the number of selfexplanations generated. Thus, the Eulerian Socratic dialogue involves a teacher asking a series of questions surrounding a mathematical concept or solution step, and answering such questions posed by students. In addition, the teacher often asks what questions the students should ask themselves to proceed with the solution process. The dialogues are conducted in a friendly and sometimes humorous manner. Below we refer to the system as SDES (Socratic Dialogue based on Eulerian Sequencing). While the teaching methodology described above puts a great emphasis on explanation of abstract mathematical concepts, it still requires students to do a reasonable number of exercises and have their understanding of concepts and deeplevel reasoning skills reinforced every time they make a mistake. This part of the educational process can be automated with a Cognitive Tutor, a piece of software containing an artificial intelligence component to track students' work and tailor its feedback and hints, which captures teaching expertise, creating an artificial teaching expert. Two most prominent and relevant systems of this nature are AutoTutor that is designed to conduct a Socratic dialogue with freshers studying Newtonian mechanics or IT and a Carnegie Learning System that employs a similar approach to teaching school algebra and geometry. 2.
COGNITIVE TUTORING SYSTEMS
e-PACT has been conceived as a Cognitive Tutor to be integrated into the SDES mathematics teaching system. A cognitive tutor is an educational software containing an AI (Artificial Intelligence) component and as such is an example of an expert system. An expert system is a computer program which captures an expertise of a specialist in a particular domain, therefore creating an artificial expert. Areas of expertise used in systems of this nature include the diagnosis of infectious diseases, the exploration for oil and minerals, the analysis of organic compounds, income tax planning and calculation, the operation of an air defence system, the configuration of complex computer systems, and fault diagnosis in a modern automobile [1]. They all use a knowledge base - a list of fundamental facts about the domain and the rules that the human experts use, an inference engine (core) and a graphical user interface (GUI). Given an uncertainty in building the knowledge bases there is a danger in relying completely on the advice of expert systems in making life and death decisions. However, when a poor decision cannot put anybody or any business into jeopardy expert systems are worth considering.
Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
Despite the initial high hopes it soon became clear that there is more to human expertise than facts and rules. In particular, most practical educators do not believe that computers can replace a teacher. Neither do we. Still, there are aspects of teaching that can be automated. In particular, when learning mathematics there are some unequivocal facts that have to be mastered, such as algebraic or calculus rules. The connection between them can be explained by a teacher but to be internalised the explanations need a lot of reinforcing. Thus, there is a room for an expert system that can generate a large number of relatively simple mathematical exercises and comment on student mistakes in their solution, constantly reminding them of rules and definitions. Such a system would operate in a limited world of basic mathematics and even if some of its responses were imperfect it could prove a very useful teaching tool. Quite a few expert systems of pedagogical nature have been developed in recent years, with Pittsburgh University and Carnegie Melon University leading the way. The Pittsburgh University research revolves around cognitive tutors such as Andes and later AutoTutor which engage freshers in a Socratic dialogue based on the natural language by simulating the dialogue moves of human tutors. They indicate to students whether their answer is correct, can generate hints, divide the problem into different steps and provide proper feedback for each. The current versions are designed to help college students learn topics in physics and computer literacy [2] and references therein. The research by Carnegie Melon University into cognitive mathematics tutors for the middle school led to creation of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Constructive Learning Environments (CIRCLE). Principles behind some of their design ideas can be found in [3]. Both groups are widely known for their interdisciplinary approach that combines the cognitive psychology with artificial intelligence. The work of CIRCLE received accolades from the U.S. Department of Education, who in 2004 came to conclusion that out of over 800 submissions it was one of only two studies that addressed teaching and examining middle school math using a strong research design and showing positive results. There are other Intelligent Tutoring Systems based on the Socratic dialogue, such as the CIRCSIM-Tutor designed to teach the first-year medical students the reflex control of blood pressure. Recently, the Pearson Publishing House began to offer a comprehensive tutoring system MyLab [4] which covers many subjects and makes an extensive use of hinting facilities. It contains a mathematical module called MyMathLab, but this relies on the traditional approach to mathematical teaching, does not make use of either Socratic dialogue or Eulerian sequencing. It thus is not expected to promote the explanatory reasoning as e-PACT is meant to do. Practical development of cognitive tutors is now gaining momentum. A general Hinting module has been developed that can be incorporated into any cognitive tutor [5]. It is designed to help students by giving suggestions, recommendations etc. It is not optimized for any specific study area such as mathematics, but implements various hinting strategies, such as the maximum number of hints to select, meta-information for students, scoring that takes into account hints etc. In addition, a prototype has been created
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for the generation of adaptive hints based on the Semantic Web technologies. Other modern developments in technology enhanced learning revolve around web based learning environments and agent based architectures, including animated pedagogical agents, such as avatars (talking heads) which are used to model social and emotional interactions. 3. ARCHITECTURES OF CURRENT MATHEMATICS TUTORS Three major paradigms are used by designers of current mathematics tutors, Computer-aided assessment (CAA), Computer-aided instruction (CAI) and Intelligent computeraided instruction (ICAI). The CAI type tutors still represent an overwhelming majority of hundreds of mathematics software packages that can be found or found advertised on the web. A good example of CAA is Mathletics [6] which produces a large supply of questions generated at runtime, each with very complete feedback, including a fully-worked solution if a student gets an answer wrong. Examples of CAI applications include guided drill and practice exercises, computer visualization and computer-facilitated communication between students and teachers. Well known current CAI type mathematics tutors for engineering students are HELM [7]. They offer digitized lecture notes enhanced with hypertext, worksheets and multiple choice tests. Many students report enjoying the immediate responsiveness of computer interactions and appreciate the self-paced and private learning environment. Moreover, computer-learning experiences often engage the students, motivate them to learn and increase their independence and personal responsibility for education. However, in some applications, especially those involving abstract reasoning and problem-solving processes, CAI has not been very effective. Critics claim that poorly designed CAI systems can even dehumanize or regiment the educational experience and thus diminish student interest and motivation. This is not surprising, since digitized lecture notes offer only a marginal advance on textbooks, alleviating search for relevant material. If the lectures themselves do not contain deep-level reasoning and users lacktraininf in such reasoning, it is difficult to expect much pedagogical gain, whether the lecture notes are hardcopy or digitized. Open object oriented learning environments are a newer development in CAI that is meant to provide users with one platform which allows an easy access to various graphical, modeling and pedagogical tools (agents) and an easy interaction between different learners as well as learners and human tutors. While an exciting challenge to computer science and potentially an interesting tool to use in a classroom, they are subject to the same criticisms as offered above on old style CAI. The ICIA tutors come closer to implementing constructivist epistemology. The architectures of classical intelligent or cognitive tutors include procedural representations, conceptual structures and production rules while newer architectures also have multiple soft constraints (e.g. neural networks, fuzzy production systems) as well as dialogue moves generators. Propositional representations, neural networks and fuzzy production systems are relevant only to tutors involved in
Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
processing natural language. Procedural representations are used when the ordering of reasoning steps is important, as it is when teaching mathematics. Production rules are relevant to all cognitive tutors, since according to ACT-R [8] theories, cognitive skills are based on production rules. These two representations have been thoroughly discussed by designers of two major Cognitive Tutors developed to instruct in technical subjects and mentioned above, AutoTutor and the Carnegie Learning System. Both groups emphasize that the main difficulty lies in designing a Cognitive Model, that is, the part of the tutor that is charged with the task of interpreting the student performance and making instructional decisions based on this interpretation. To clarify the concept of a Cognitive Model, the one used in AutoTutor is based on the idea of curriculum scripts. These are “well-defined, loosely structured lesson plans that include important concepts, questions, cases, and problems” to be covered in a particular lesson. For example, the curriculum script for AutoTutor on computer literacy currently covers three macrotopics, hardware, the operating system, and the Internet. There are 12 topics within each of the 3 macrotopics (36 in total). The script includes 36 computer literacy questions and/or problems and 36 topic related questions/problems. It also includes 36 Ideal Answers that correspond to each of the 36 topics. The quality of any given learner contribution is determined by matching the learner contribution to each aspect and all possible combinations of aspects in a particular Ideal Answer. Additional information contained in the curriculum scripts includes: (1) anticipated bad answers for each of the 36 topics, (2) corrective splices (i.e., correct answers) for each anticipated bad answer, and (3) numerous dialogue moves (i.e., elaborations, hints, prompts, prompt responses and summaries) that are related to the aspects in the Ideal Answers. All content in the curriculum scripts is written in English, as opposed to computer code. Therefore, a teacher or other individual who is not an expert programmer can easily author a curriculum script. While holding an exciting promise, the current ICAI technologies, even as advanced as AutoTutor and the Carnegie Learning System, are still immature when it comes to teaching and learning, both because their repertoire is very limited and because the dialogue often leaves a lot to be desired. 4.
ARCHITECTURE OF E-PACT
Tutor repertoire the idea of a database/back-end is to be abandoned: e-PACT is meant to generate a large number of problems at random and programmed to “discuss” any of them. Thus, on the one hand, the e-PACT’s cognitive model is to be simpler than any of those used in AutoTutor or CLS but on the other hand, unlike them, it is to generate and discuss a large number of possible exercises (of prescribed types). This can run into hundreds. e-PACT is meant to contain Intelligent Context Aware Parsers that recognize common errors and misconceptions and dynamic Decision Trees that sequence solution steps and guide the student through them with prompts and comments. e-PACT is to tailor its hints and responses to specific mistakes in student answers. Whatever student’s turn, e-PACT is to present relevant and effective comments to build his/her mastery of the subject. By constructing human-like dialogues and using correct verbalization of mathematical processes ePACT is meant to emphasize communication skills. Whether commenting on a particular answer or engaging student in a Decision Tree based dialogue, it is difficult for ePACT creators to ascertain that an intelligent feedback is provided in all cases, and that this is always done in an understandable and conversational manner. The problem is compounded by the fact that e-PACT is meant to interpret many different styles of mathematical input, allowing for many different conventions and a lot of sloppiness. This is a conscious choice, since “in tutorial systems, effective progress in teaching the problem-solving target is frequently hindered by expressive sloppiness and low-level errors made by the student, especially in conventionalized expressions such as formulas.” [9]. Thus, the current e-PACT prototype is tolerant to a number of spaces used by the user, it can interpret a function whether the argument is bracketed or not (such inputs as sin(x), sinx and sin x would be treated the same); if an expression is bracketed more than once, it just generates a gentle warning that the input contains extra brackets; and if a bracket is missing here or there, this is also handled through warnings rather than error messages. If an error is of the type expected of a dyslexic student, say the input is ex rather than
e x the prototype sends a detailed message on the corresponding mathematical convention, drawing the student’s attention to the fact that in mathematics the order and position of symbols is often imbued with a particular meaning. The e-PACT prototype already “knows” enough algebra to be able to comment on such input as p −1 whether
The natural language processing that hampers the dialogue in such systems as AutoTutor is not to be addressed by e-PACT and therefore, it is to utilize only the following architectural features: Cognitive Model, Procedural representation (based on Decision Trees), Object-Oriented Design, Production Rules (if – then or condition-action pairs) and Dialogue Moves. 4.1 Cognitive Model and Procedural Representation e-PACT is meant to utilize the SDES lecture/tutorial model of teaching and make use of a scaffolding tool not usually adopted in mathematics instructions, a Decision Tree. The Lectures and Summaries of lectures are to be included under Help as texts containing didactic descriptions supported by examples, but some conversational aspects of the SDES methodology built around the author’s experience of how students learn and think are to be automated.To widen the
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it is given in that form or as
1 and in its messages will use p
the language appropriate to the form chosen by student. While this tolerance provides for better usability it makes interpreting the student performance and arriving at instructional decisions based on this interpretation a challenging task. 4.2 Object Oriented Design Taking into account the specific area of expertise, the ePACT’ object oriented design is based on the classes that model mathematical objects. For example, in the current prototype the class Function Elementary contains the same elements as elementary functions used in undergraduate mathematics, function name, argument and power index (if
Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
applicable); the class Sum of Two Functions models addition of functions etc. The e-PACT’s architecture as engineered at the highest level is shown in Figure 1: the Random Problem Generator are meant to generate a variety of exercises, Solvers are meant to solve them rather than have their solutions stored in a database, Intelligent Input Readers are meant to interpret a large class of possible inputs, including the ones containing extraneous symbols and Solution Comparators are meant to compare the expected answer with the one provided by a student. An e-PCT Controller is meant to manage the GUI interaction between the user and Core, including interaction with the dynamic Decision Trees to be affected via a Decision Tree Based Dialogue module (see Figure 2). It is planned that in the full version of e-PACT the Controller takes into account the particular difficulties experienced by the user and adapts by taking him/her to the topics that require extra revision. 4.3 Production Rules Comparators implemented in e-PACT are not meant to involve any statistical analysis but compare identifiable parts (aspects) of the mathematical objects, such as sign, coefficient, function name, argument, term factor, sum, product etc. All instructional decisions and messages are meant to be based on this comparison and therefore, to be context-dependent. For this reason, e-PACT messages are meant to utilize information from different pieces generated by the Compare methods in different classes, such as Elementary Function, Simple Function, Sum of Two Functions, Product of Two Functions etc., each responsible for its own portion of the mathematical input. The messages are meant to be formatted to alleviate comprehension, using indents and helpful connectives, depending on the number of identifiable aspects in the student answer and the number of mistakes in each. When creating a Cognitive Tutor, the advantages of using the object-oriented design rather than a database are two-fold: we can deal with relatively large classes of problems at once and extra levels of difficulty and extra complexity can be added without affecting the design functionality. This implies that the Cognitive Tutors designed in this manner are easily maintained and enhanced. The clarity of design is also an advantage: the Core classes model traditional mathematical concepts and thus new researchers can be easily integrated into the team. 4.4 Dialogue moves The types of dialogue moves used in e-PACT are similar to the ones used in other Cognitive Tutors but since responses are only half pre-programmed their implementation is more involved. The types of moves used in the current prototype are positive feedback, negative feedback, splice, elaboration, explanation, summary, prompt, guess and connection. A sample screen shot is presented in Figure 3. 5. THE USER REQUIREMENTS FOR E-PACT
Figure. 1. e-PACT Architecture: assessment of student’s final solution.
Figure. 2. Architecture of the Decision Tree Based Dialogue. Simple, Straightforward GUI • • • •
Straightforward presentation of mathematical symbols No distracting images or photos, minimalist presentation Intuitive Easy to use
Just-in-time Feedback • Hints are contextual and oriented towards helping the student to follow key steps in the problem. • Immediate feedback enables the student to self-correct and leads to more effective learning and applying of the mathematics • e-PACT recognizes the most common student errors and responds appropriately. Achievement monitor • As a student becomes more proficient in a skill, e-PACT progresses him/her to a higher level of difficulty. • Teachers can view off-line an immediate snapshot of each student’s progress and full dialogues. • Students receive a dynamic, strong motivator to succeed. 6.
The user requirements are similar to the requirements for the Carnegie Learning System:
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TESTING E-PACT
The tests for e-PACT can be separated into feature testing, testing of its reaction to correct answers and testing of its
Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
Figure 3. A screen shot of a recent Differentiation Tutor with a sample dialogue on Level 2 reaction to incorrect answers. Features to address revolve around mathematical conventions, usability, data typing and GUI. Both alpha and beta testing are required. 6.1 Alpha Testing A considerable amount of alpha-testing can be carried out during the implementation process. Testing of the Generate, Print and Solve methods is easily automated to ascertain that all problems and solutions are generated and printed correctly. It is more difficult to test Parsers and Compare methods. Only partial automation can be achieved: it is impossible to envisage all possible erroneous inputs. Here are several examples of issues that were addressed during the alpha feature testing of the current prototype: Issues due to mathematical conventions • The factor 1 and the term 0 can always be dropped but if a student keeps them in e-PACT does not treat this as error.
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• e-PACT is aware that both addition and multiplication are commutative. • It is a mathematical convention to drop power index 1. In view of this several issues have to be resolved: • A power index 1 should not be printed when composing a message on power: e-PACT normally mentions both the function name (power) and the power index. When the power index is 1 the function name changes to linear and there is no need to mention the power index. Usability issues To make e-PACT attractive to users it is important to address the usability issues that often plague AI projects: e-PACT presents its prompts and responses in a readable and engaging manner written in a simple yet technically correct language: • If the correct answer involves a power but the student inputs a different function instead, the error message specifies that the correct function is power but does not
Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
mention the power index. The index is mentioned only if the student answer is a power and his index is incorrect. • The argument of an exponent is referred to as a power and the argument of power is referred to as an independent variable - unless the power is -1 and the student presents the answer as “one over”, in which case the argument is referred to as a denominator. • When the student answer contains many mistakes, they are all described in a formatted and easily readable manner. • If the student enters the Decision Tree Based dialogue based on a dynamic Decision Tree, but half way through realizes what the final answer is, in order not to loose his/her interest the student is allowed to interrupt the dialogue and is provided with feedback on this answer. Data typing • If the student types a character where a number is expected this can cause software failure as data typed translations will not match. The problem is dealt with by using intermediary objects which test for appropriate input contents prior to conducting a typecast. • If the student types an extraneous input in front or at the end of legitimate input e-PACT sends a message advising them to double-check input in front or at the end or both. • If the student input misses an argument, either through oversight or due to dyslexia or dyscalculia the problem is spotted and commented. GUI issues Many GUI tests have been conducted to ascertain that editing facilities are intuitive, allowing use of the cursor and arrows as well as the DELETE key and once the SUBMIT button or carriage RETURN are pressed, it is the uncorrupted final version of their input that is passed to the Core. The beta-testing of the current prototype has highlighted the following issues: User Instructions • Inexperienced users do not read instructions issued by ePACT but scan the page for a button to push.
8.
• It is difficult for many to-day’s students to follow any but the simplest sentences. After testing e-PACT on students the wording of many of its instructions have been simplified. • to answer each Tutor question students have to be helped toconcentrate on the input box which is situated at the bottom of the Dialogue Window. At the moment this is achieved by implementing a flashing square. Also, the last input instruction is presented on a grey background, while the STUDENT box uses the white background and mathematical lines are put into the TUTOR box on the yellow background. Other attention focusing devices will be deployed in future. Using the ANSWER BOX • It is apparent that while some students prefer to submit their input by pressing ENTER others look for a SUBMIT button. Both solutions have been implemented. • It is well known that some users prefer to move the mouse to the menu bar options while others prefer hot keys. Both solutions have been implemented. 6.2 Beta Testing By way of beta testing, a number of authors’ students were observed by independent researchers using the software [10]. Even when exposed to it for the first time, most needed very little assistance with the technical aspects of communicating with e-PACT, and even less assistance with the mathematics. They found the system easy to use, since it follows the approach adopted in their lectures and tutorials. “It doesn’t tell you what to do”, one student said, and then went on to explain that the software does not show the next step in the solution or the answer, instead “the feedback encourages you to think about what you need to do; (Differentiation Module of – LF) e-PACT takes you back to the Decision Tree, so you will be able to differentiate any function”. 7.
CONCLUSION
Two modules of e-PACT, a Differentiation Tutor and Tutor for Solving Algebraic Equations are included into the current prototype of e-PACT. It is planned to use the experience gained to redesign e-PACT and implement several other modules that would allow students work on mathematical topics they need to exercise most.
REFERENCES
[1] K. Devlin Goodbye Descartes: The End of Logic and the Search for a New Cosmology of the Mind, New York: John Wiley, 1997. [2] A.C. Graesser, D. S. McNamara and K. VanLehn “Scaffolding Deep Comprehension Strategies Through Point&Query, AutoTutor, and iSTART”, Educational Psychologist, 40 (4), 225-234, 2005. [3] V. Aleven, B. Mclaren, I. Roll, and K. Koedinger, “Toward Meta-cognitive Tutoring: A Model of Help Seeking with a Cognitive Tutor”, Int. J. Artif. Intell. Ed., 16(2), 101–128, 2006. [4] http://www.coursecompass.com/ [5] P.J. Muñoz-Merino, and C.D. Kloos (2009). “An architecture for Combining Semantic Web Techniques with Intelligent Tutoring Systems”, Intelligent Tutoring Systems Conference, vol. 5091, pp. 540–550, 2009.
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[6] M. Greenhow, N. BagniTive Maths Tutor e-PACT have been ruah, M. Gill and J. Hatt, “Issues with setting objective mathematics questions and testing their efficacy”, CAA Conference, 2006. [7] http://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/helm/ [8] R.J. Anderson and C Libiere, The Atomic Components of Thought, Maywah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1998. [9] H. Horacek, M. Wolska “Handling Errors in Mathematical Formulas”, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 4053/2006, 339-348, Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer, 2006. [10] L. Fradkin, V. Zernov, C. Crisan and S. Lerman “First Year Engineering Mathematics: The London South Bank University experience”, MSOR Connections, 10(10), 2010.
Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
Design and Implementation of MMLRP on Ipv6: A Solution to Information Islands among Course Website FuJun Ji, Li Chen, JianXun Yang, Ming Gu School of Software, Tsinghua University Beijing, 100084, P.R. China resource application, meta-resource refer to the basic resource that can hardly decompose, have no necessity to reprocess and can be used directly or can be re-integrated with other resource, such as a piece of video or audio, a picture, a flash and so on. Third, for the requirement of query reuse, our MMLRP is multidimensional. Multi-dimensional means that you can not only search specific resource in the whole repository by using the combination of multidimensional resource attribute, but also search the corresponding support resource of a certain knowledge point through knowledge hierarchy of the course or field, moreover, you can search the corresponding support knowledge resource of a certain position ability through job hierarchy of one field. It also provides the method that searches corresponding knowledge resources from the whole course hierarchy. Lastly, the advantage of MMLRP is that most course knowledge resources are from a boutique course of related colleges, these courses are published by Higher Education Press, and audited by State authorities, and most resource provided by MMLRP is correct and authoritative. It avoids the problem of bad information and misleading learners on the Internet.
ABSTRACT In the past 30 years, with the development of higher education and the internet, more and more course websites have appeared. Each website has its own system in which although it can contact with another through the home page of another, this situation leads to the appearance of information islands among these course websites. And all these resources are provided on ipv4, the resources on ipv6 is very little. In order to provide huge resources of higher education on ipv6 and solve the problem of information islands to achieve better usage of resources from these websites, we present a Meta-resource based Multidimensional Learning Resource Platform (MMLRP) on ipv6, which divide learning resources of each website of course into different granularity according to the intrinsic unity of knowledge architecture, human cognition rules and teaching rules. We use meta-resource to describe the least granular of resources knowledge; moreover, our resource platform is multidimensional. In our platform, the ability to share and to reorganize resources can be enhanced so as to provide convenience to satisfy individual demand for learning resources Keywords:
MMLRP,
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 introduced the research background of resource platform and the features of our platform. Section 3 described the design and implementation of core model of MMLRP. Section 4 concludes our work and propose along with some suggests for the future development of MMLRP.
Design, Implementation, Solution,
Information Islands among Course Website, Ipv6
1. INTRODUCTION With the further development of the modern economy and society, the learning resources of high school are increasing rapidly. However, the learning resource of current education portal, course resource websites and digital libraries are relatively concentrated. They have different structures, and are stored dispersedly, which lead to the appearance of many information islands. So, we should organize the learning resource scientifically, which allows us to optimize the service of Web-based Education Resources [1]. In addition, teachers and students get the knowledge they need from the massive information of network mainly by inputting the key-words into search engine. Not only it is time-consuming, but also the authority of information cannot be ensured [2]. So, in the learning of high education, a platform that can provide authoritative and reliable knowledge quickly and meet users’ individual needs is greatly required. The MMLRP (Meta-resource based Multidimensional Learning Resource Platform) we designed and implemented meets the above-mentioned demands.
2. BACKGROUND In recent years, more and more resource platforms have appeared. Next, we will give the international approach and current trends about resource platform, and then we will give the features of our meta-resource based multidimensional learning resource platform. 2.1. International Approach and Current Trends Researchers approached this field from different directions covering the topics in resource platform from requirements, specifications, design, maintenance, verification, and applications, to name a few. From the E-government perspective, a SOA-based information resource integration platform is proposed and applied to an E-government information system [3]. From the resource construction perspective, information resource integration platform for enterprise e-commerce is constructed [4]. From the efficiency of emergency management in urban rail transit prospective, an emergency platform of urban rail transit to integrate various resources information is presented to promote ability of making scientific decision on the resource sharing base [5]. From domain ontology perspectives, the design of teaching resource sharing platform with ontology is described [6]. From network teaching perspectives, a reference for the building of current network learning resource design is provided [7]. From the unified way of managing the enterprise data resources perspective, a unified data resource management
Compared with other resource platforms of learning, MMLRP mainly have four advantages. First, it supports accessing through both ipv6 web and ipv4 web; most resource platforms only support the web of ipv4. Second, for the requirement of reorganizing resource maximum, we partition substantial learning resource by different granularity, used meta-resource to descript the least granular resource. From the perspective of
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platform is introduced [8]. From the service perspective, a methodology for determining cost-effective and robust resource platform configuration(s) for a given set of service families is presented [9]. From the equipment resource sharing perspective, equipment grid architecture is presented based on grid technology [10]. From Web services and software agents’ perspective, ITW - a multi platform and multi-language architecture used to discover (multimedia) resources is described. The ITW system is based on exploiting the relations between Websites resources. To represent these relations, a high-level RDF model is adopted using Interval Temporal Logic [11]. From the content perspective, a system resource management mechanism in a distributed web-based E-Learning platform, Asian-Mind, is proposed and implemented. Currently, Asian-Mind is successfully used as network learning platform. Twenty-four E-learning courses are available [12]. From the meta-resource and heterogeneous computing perspective, a web portal model called the Cluster Based Web submission system or CBWeB is developed, which primarily focuses on offering GRID service components or resources to the end user without the additional complexities of installing special middleware components for utilizing remote resources. The portal provides access to distribute resources, as well as to simplify the process of using such system [13].
will describe the features of MMLRP from eight aspects. a) Supporting both Ipv4 and Ipv6 The first advantage of MMLRP is that it supports accessing through both the web of ipv4 and ipv6. Ipv6 web is the next generation of ipv4, as a new thing appeared, the resources of higher education on ipv6 is little. The poor learning resource on ipv6 is one of the main reasons to construct MMLRP. b) Penetrating Horizontal It states that it is imperative to integrate the information resources in order to solve the problem of 'Information Island', to make better use of information resource, to reduce redundancy, and to establish information sharing [3]. We observed that many course websites are turning into Information Island that can be arrived only vertical. Those course websites can be put on one main web page, which is the only relationship among these websites. Our resource platform can associate them through personalized query, which binds most relative resources together throughout courses. It effectively solved the problem of Information Island among course sites. c) Reorganization of Resources We scattered most the courses sites into knowledge resources, and registered most meta-resources and secondary resources, more than ten attributes of each resource was registered detailed including title, keywords, resource description, subject, media type, application type, etc. Most of those detailed registered resources can be rearranged in order to achieve the personal requirements of different users.
Major conferences such as ICCSE/ICWL on resource platforms are still very active with many researchers’ involvement. The main content has shifted from providing resources, into reorganization of resources and model-driven development in recent years. At the same time, open and sustainable development remains as the main topics. Nevertheless, the importance of professional authority is still visible, because many researchers still use authority as the foundation of resource platform.
d) Professional Authority Most knowledge resources come from the high quality courses, which have been published by the Higher Education Press of China and reviewed by the national authorities. It effectively avoided the problem of the coexistence of good and bad internet resources, and also solved the problem that users lack of a proper sense of whether or not about resource content.
MMLRP is a research field that is closely related to meta-resource and model-driven action of resource. The article about current and future trends of resource platform describes as CBWeB Portal, which is service oriented web based metaresource sharing platform [13]. The research topics including a distributed platform based on web services for multimedia resource discovery, the system resource management in a distributed web-based E-learning platform, SOA-based E-Government resource integration platform, etc. Those approaches are accompanied by functions which benefits both technical and non-technical platform user. The main advantage that the researchers interviewed in the article agreed on was a fast turn-around time for platform development, but the most important issue is to produce sustainable high reusability and high assurance resource platform. In order to get more non-technical end users involved in platform development, the interactive features of the functions consist of not just simple operation, but also graphical interface. At the same time, the functionality are domain-specific, which allows domain knowledge to be used in not only at the initial development, but also at the maintenance and quick modification for alternatives.
e) Richness of Resources Our MMLRP provides 17 categories, more than 100 courses of higher education; the capacity of these resources on our platform is over 100G. These resources will meet the different teaching and learning needs of students and teachers in large extent. f) Multi-dimensional Association We cite the major of software engineer as an example to illustrate, our MMLRP can effectively combine knowledge resources and professional knowledge points of software engineer together, effectively combine knowledge resources and professional post ability in software engineer together, effectively combine knowledge resources and professional curriculum together. End users can search special subjects through our MMLRP by single or multi attribute of resources.
Another important trend is in resource integration. It states that information resource integration becomes the (new) development direction [4]. Compared to only relying on providing resources for validation purposes, meta-resources with related technology have added the transitional providing process.
g) Open and Sustainable Development Our MMLRP presents and realizes a service oriented common framework, which enables any web site to provide its resources list through collaboration, and to provide resources service through MMLRP. At the same time, MMLRP allows individuals to submit resources and register them. This open and sustainable development mechanism ensures that the resources can be constantly updated and maintain its further development.
2.2. Our Meta-resource Based Multidimensional Learning Resource Platform What are the advantages of MMLRP? The following paragraphs
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on Fig.1.
h) Professional Assessment Citing the major of software engineer as an example, our MMLRP allows teachers to produce test of software and allows students to answer questions, and supports automated assessment of programming assignments written in computer language of C. We avoid the possible dangerous operation of students by using virtual machine; this effectively assures the security and stability of MMLRP.
System platform is the primary platform of MMLRP, which saves the users' data and the information of resources. Using this platform, users can get the services they need such as search interesting knowledge resources; at the same time they can also go to the interactive learning platform to study courses systematically. Resource bank is the server which keeps online knowledge resources of a variety of courses. The resources provided to users on System Platform are fetched from Resource Library.
i) Role Management of Self-organization There are several kinds of roles in MMLRP; the scope of management of each role is different. We achieved some extent self-organization and management, for example, we allow a certain role to manage its scope of management.
Users can go to Interactive Learning Platform from System Platform. On Interactive Learning Platform, students can learn the courses they are interested in, download learning materials and submit their home works. Teachers can publish learning materials, assign home works and correct home works students submitted. The platform has the function of correct home works automatically.
3. DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF MMLRP CORE MODEL In this part, we will give the design and implementation of MMLRP core model. Before giving it, the usual descriptions relating to the setting up of the MMLRP used to gather the data should be introduced. We obtained over 100 independent course websites through Higher Education Press of China. We make meta-resources concept clear through research and practice about it. Then we get meta-resources list through resource consolidation of these course websites. The list information of meta-resource was imported to database of the MMLRP, which is developed mainly on java plus jsp. MMLRP is deployed on jboss server with sql database. design
Presentation layer
and
3.1. MMLRP Model Design The MMLRP model design will be given at this section. Since Meta resource knowledge is the base of the whole MMLRP; our platform will not exist without meta-resource. So, we introduce our consolidation of meta-resources knowledge in MMLRP as the first.
Business layer Data layer Data
Interactive learning platform
the
System Platform
Resource bank
The following sections will descript implementation of MMLRP core model.
Users
Access Fig.1. MMLRP’s Architecture
The main content of consolidation of resource is to register meta-resource and relative resource. Our method of consolidation is artificial, supplemented by automatic sorting.
MMLRP use SOA architecture. Resource Library provides knowledge resources and publishes these resources to System Platform which keeps the information of most resources, such as the title, key words and the location, and provides the service of searching resources.
We consolidate 100 courses of higher education capacity of more than 100GB. The work load is huge. If we consolidate resources by man power only, the efficiency and quality would be inadequate. We developed certain algorithms to help consolidation processes. The algorithm can get selected information from course websites and fill out resource list automatically. Such as the titles, path, size, format of resources. It can even get titles of pictures, videos and audios on special web sites. This way decreased the workload of consolidation in certain level.
MMLRP has the following kinds of users: System Administrator: The system administrator can create business deplorers and business consumers, can view the available business for business consumer and the results after they using the business (including view the resources published), can view, rename businesses. The existing businesses contain register (including uploading resources), edit (including alter, delete), search and publishing of resources.
The steps of consolidation meta-resource are as following: Firstly, we deploy the course websites and make it run normally. Secondly, we use our algorithm based consolidation tools to get most possible resources on one web site. Thirdly, we complete consolidate and check artificially.
Business Deplorer: The business deplorer can create business consumers and allocate, adjust and delete one or a combination of businesses of business consumers.
Now, we give the MMLRP architecture model as the second.
Business Consumer: The business consumer can use one or a combination of businesses allocated to them.
MMLRP consists 3 main parts, which are System Platform, Resource Library and Interactive Learning Platform, as shown
Guest: A guest is the user who hasn’t registered. He/She
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can only view the home page. And He/She can turn to Registered User after register. Registered User: The registered user can search dimensions and resources, can browse and download the free resources and upload his/her resources, can login Interactive Learning Platform to do his/her homework. VIP User: Besides the authority of the registered user, the VIP user can browse and download the premium resources, can login Interactive Learning Platform as a teacher to assign home works and correct home works students submitted. The VIP user can also manage and maintain the related registered users and their resources and see the resource statistics. The data model of MMLRP is described as following: MMLRP can find the knowledge resources needed from multiple dimensions which represent in the form of trees. The node in the tree branches represents the middle layer of the dimension. It can continue to go down to the more specific layers. The last layer of the dimension corresponds to the leaf node of the tree, which we call a coordinate. Through the coordinate, we can find the corresponding knowledge resources. Take software engineering for example. As shown in Fig.2, in the dimension of software engineering knowledge, “Calculation Foundation”, “Foundations of Computer Science” are middle layers, while “Programming Fundamentals (Control and Data, Type, Recursive)” is a coordinate.
Fig.3. View of Data Objects We use the data tables named knowledge_display, knowledge_info, knowledge_relation, knowledge_type to describe the details of each dimension. The data table Knowledge_display is to control the dimensions shown on the page, such as whether to display, the display order, etc. Table Knowledge_info is the main body of the manifestation of the dimension. Because the dimensions are manifested in the form of trees, a knowledge_info is a node of the tree. It’s “type code” can identify it as a branch node or a leaf node. Table Knowledge_relation is to express the relationship between knowledge_info, for constructing the tree of the dimension. As Dimensions are not independent of each other, but intertwined, different trees may have a same node. So the relation between knowledge_info is many-to-many. And table Knowledge_resource is to keep the information of most knowledge resources in Resource Libraries. This table has to be used when finding and browsing knowledge resources.
Knowledge System of software engineer Foundation of computing Foundation of computer science Foundation of programming Algorithm, data structure and complexity Problem solving techniques
3.2. MMLRP Model Implementation The MMLRP model implementation will be given at this section though three aspects. First, the key technologies of implementation will be given. Second, the implementation of core modules and interface will be given. Third, the authentication of features of MMLRP model will be descripted.
Position System of software engineer Requirements Engineer Software Architect
3.2.1. Key Technologies of Implementation At this section, we descript three key technologies of implementation. They are about fetching relevant knowledge resources from the coordinate of each dimension, decreasing correlation search of resources, fast accessing from large-scale data, supporting technology of ipv6.
Programming skills Language foundation of programming Foundation of programming Fig.2. Form of Dimension
3.2.1.1. Fetching Relevant Knowledge Resources from the Coordinate of Each Dimension From the model said above, it can be seen that there is no direct contact between the dimension (corresponding to knowledge_info table) and the resource (corresponding to knowledge_resource table). Because these tens of thousands of resources, some of which come from teaching materials, and some are provided by users, are published by various Resource Libraries, It is difficult to make direct link between the numerous resources and the existing dimensions.
MMLRP contains a number of dimensions. There may be the same coordinate between each dimension or between different layers within a dimension. As shown in Fig.2, the coordinate called “Programming Fundamentals (Control and Data, Type, Recursive)” is in some layers of both the 2 dimensions, “software engineering knowledge system” and “software engineering job system”. In addition, different dimensions may have the same layer. In this way, dimensions or layers in dimensions are interwoven to a knowledge map.
We use the method “feature search” to find the resources associated with the coordinates. Each coordinate contains a set
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of features according to which we can describe this coordinate. The keywords property of knowledge_info is the feature of the coordinate. And knowledge_resource has the keywords too, which are the features of that resource. Using these, we can create a bridge from the coordinate to the knowledge resource. By searching in the title and keywords, the piece of knowledge resource is associated to the target coordinate when it contains the set of features of the target coordinate. This method requires the feature set of the coordinate should be able to accurately describe the coordinate, and that of knowedge_resource should provide a comprehensive description of the knowledge resource.
large-scale database, we use two advanced technologies. One is the technology of using connection pool. The other is the technology of pre-making all indexes of database in advance. We load and renew all the indexes of database once the server is starting. This technology helps to significantly improve the speed of accessing data from database, but it requires a large memory of the server. 3.2.1.4. Supporting Technology of Ipv6 In order to support accessing through the web of ipv6, we replaced the server machine and firewall, which support ipv6. Then we adjust the parameters of the operation system and setup the ipv6 protocol on the server. After that, some changes were made to the java server, and we set the proper ipv6 address and router of the server. In our application of MMLRP, we abandon the using of direct accessing through ipv4 address, using ipv6 supporting technology instead, which including web surfing and database accessing technology of ipv6.
3.2.1.2. Decreasing Correlation Search of Resources Using the method said above, we can find the resource exactly matching with the target coordinate, but in experiment, the result resources are too few, even nothing is found at all. Actually, there is not always the situation that the resource and the coordinate match exactly. For example, there is a certain intersection between target coordinate and knowledge resource and the resource only meet some features of target coordinate. More features the resource meet the target coordinate, the higher relevance they have. In general circumstances, if the resource exactly matching the target coordinate is not found, users prefer to see the system showing some related or similar resources
3.2.2. Implementation of Core Modules and Interface System Platform of MMLRP is JAVA-based web application. It is in the different server from which Resource Library or Interactive Learning Platform is in. Its core functional modules in web interface show in Fig.4.
b c a
d
Fig.4. MMLRP’s Core Functional Modules in Web Interface rather than “nothing is found”.
a) Dimensions show on the page in the form of trees. In this article, there are 3 dimensions, which are Software Engineering Knowledge System, Course System and Software Engineering Career System. User can choose to view his/her interesting dimension. User can also search the tree to quickly locate the target layer.
So, we advance an algorithm called Decreasing Correlation Search to look for resources. The steps of the algorithm are the follows: a) Refine the keywords of the coordinate of the dimension. Pick the same part contained in the keywords out as a new keyword. Then, remove duplicate keywords.
b) After user clicking a leaf of the trees (It is a coordinate of the dimension), the server search resources according to Decreasing Correlation Search algorithm and return the results.
b) Search the resource exactly matching these keywords. If found, return the results.
c) Open the link of the resource and Resource Library will present it to the user.
c) If not found, if the amount of elements in keywords set k=1, then return “not found”, else, extract k-1 keywords from keywords set to build a new keywords set and repeat step 2. As
C kk −1
sets will be built, step 2 will repeat
C kk −1
d) The user can also use search bar to search resources precisely.
times.
e) Click “Online-School” and go to Interactive Learning Platform for study.
3.2.1.3. Fast Accessing From Large-Scale Data In order to accelerate the speed of accessing the data in the
By the dimension trees and the precise search bar, users can
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[4]. C.P. Hu and S.L. Deng, Platform Construction of Information Resource Integration in Enterprise E-commerce. Fifth Wuhan International Conference on E-Business, Vols.1-3 - Integration and Innovation Through Measurement and Management, 2006, pp. 232-237.
easily find the resources they need. And they can also go through the whole dimension for systematic study. 3.2.3. Authentication of Features of MMLRP Model We tested the eight properties of MMLRP model one by one, and the platform is open to undergraduate students of software school in Tsinghua University of China, we authenticate the features of MMLRP model at Penetrating horizontal, Reorganization of resources, Professional authority, Richness of resources, Multi-dimensional association, Open and sustainable development, Professional assessment and Role management of self-organization through the practice of students and test. The verification of these properties reflects the nature and advantages of the platform of MMLRP.
[5]. M. Zhang, P. Li and Y.L. Xie. Design and Implementation of Emergency Platform of Urban Rail Transit Based on Resource Sharing. International Symposium on Emergency Management 2009 (ISEM'09), 2009,pp. 660-664. [6]. W.W. Yi and Y.H. Luan, Research on The Application of Ontology on the Teaching Resource Sharing Platform. ICCSSE 2009: Proceedings of 2009 4th International Conference on Computer Science & Education, 2009,pp. 1101-1104.
4. CONCLUSION Presenting the theoretical and practical views of a meta-resource based multidimensional learning resource platform, we have recorded our experience in resource platform research. The eight features of MMLRP, which reflect the effectiveness of the original design, have been verified through practice. Our platform demonstrated that the problem of information islands among course websites can be solved through meta-resource based resource platform. The topics about resource platform range from requirements, specification, design, maintenance, verification, and application. This research descripted the development of a multidimensional learning resource platform based on meta-resource, and the practice of it. The research topic of the design and implementation of MMLRP is in accordance with the current trend in the research in resource platform. The experiences gained in MMLRP can benefit the researchers in such fields.
[7]. M. He, Y. Zhang and W.F. Yu, Research on Learning Resource Design Under the Environment of Network based on the Demonstration and Investigation about External Chinese Visualization Teaching Platform. Short Paper Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Web-Based Learning, 2009, pp. 3-8. [8]. W.W. Chen and S.L. Ma, Design and Implementation of Data Resource Management Platform for Spacecraft Testing-based Information System. Proceedings of the 2007 Chinese Control and Decision Conference, 2007, pp. 894-898. [9]. S. Hariharan and V. Allada, Uncertain Demand Driven Resource Platform Design for a Service Center. Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Division 2005, PTS A AND B, 2005: pp. 355-364.
As for future work we intend to develop MMLRP from several aspects, such as methodology for automated selecting resources in websites, evaluation technique, and community-based sharing mechanisms of recommendation and evaluation. And we will focus on evidence-based research regarding in applying different disciplines.
[10]. Y.X. Wang, L.C. Liu and C. Wu, Research on Equipment Grid Platform for Resource Sharing. Proceedings of the World Engineers' Convention 2004, Vol. A, Network Engineering and Information Society, 2004, pp. 148-151.
5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
[11]. S.C. Buraga and P. G˘abureanu. A distributed Platform Based on Web Services for Multimedia Resource Discovery, Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Parallel and Distributed Computing, 2003, pp. 57-63.
We thank the reviewers, whose comments have helped us improve the presentation of the paper. The paper is supported by demonstration project of upgrading and application of IPV6 in infrastructure of China Education and Research. (CNGI2008-115)
[12]. M.H. Lee and M Wu. The System Resource Management in a Distributed Web-based E-learning Platform, in Advances in Multimedia Information Processing - PCM 2002, PROCEEDING. 2002, pp. 1001-1008.
6. REFERENCES [1]. X.L. Zhuang and B. Sun. Design and Implementation of Service-oriented Distributed Resource Network Management Platform. Nanjing: The Seventh Chinese Conference On Application Of Computer Education. 2003.
[13]. A. Shankar, et al., Service Oriented Web Based Meta Resource Sharing Platform - the CBWEB portal. Proceedings of the International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Processing Techniques and Applications, VOLS 1-3, 2004, pp. 744-749.
[2]. X.D. Dong and Allen, The Architecture Design of Teaching Resource Library Based on Web Service. Chinese Educational Technology and Equipment, No.3, 2007, pp. 36-38. [3]. Y. Liu and H.T. Hu, Soa-based E-government Resource Integration Platform. Proceedings of 2010 Asia-Pacific Youth Conference on Communication, Vols. 1 and 2, 2010,pp. 602-606.
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VN-Sim: A Way To Keep Core Concepts in a Crowded Computing Curriculum R. Raymond LANG Computer Science, Xavier University of Louisiana New Orleans, LA 70125 and Theresa BEAUBOEUF Computer Science, Southeastern Louisiana University Hammond, LA 70402
understanding of the very basics of computer science and how hardware and software come together at a low level to perform simple calculations. This is as important to the computer scientist as the knowledge of atomic structure is to the chemist or cell functionality is to the biologist.
ABSTRACT Contemporary computer science curricula must accommodate a broad array of developments important to the field. Tough choices have to be made between introducing newer topics and retaining fundamentals that ground the discipline as a whole. All too frequently, understanding of low level coding and its relation to basic hardware is sacrificed to make room for newer material. VN-Sim, a von Neumann machine simulator, provides a mechanism for streamlined coverage of low level coding and hardware topics.
With the VNSim package, students can interactively see how code that they write is stored and implemented in hardware. They can view memory contents, and they can learn about errors that can occur in low level coding, which eventually can cause errors in high level programming applications. We give examples of the VNSim, and how it can reinforce computer science skills for beginning and more advanced students.
Keywords: von Neumann machine, simulator, machine language, assembly language, low level programming
INTRODUCTION
UNDERSTANDING BASIC HARDWARE AND MEMORY
The field of computer science has come a long way from the programming of large computers with limited memory and instruction sets to the smaller but more powerful computers of today. Likewise, programming applications also have changed to reflect this continuing LPSDFW RI 0RRUH¶V /DZ [4, 5], allowing for applications in a wide variety of fields.
Instruction in hardware fundamentals begins with the von Neumann model: a central processing unit (CPU) and a memory storing both programs and data. Student understanding of the relationship between the control unit (CU) and the arithmetic-logic unit (ALU) is important preparation for concepts such as data representation, control flow, indexing, digital logic, and more.
Computer science and programming have evolved through the years, moving more from a mathematical perspective to a development perspective, where programmers have a wide array of tools available. In practice, developers adapt existing packages to solve problems. Mathematics and problem solving skills continue to be important [1, 2], yet because of the diverse nature of the field of computer science, some technologyrelated careers paths do not rely as heavily on core computing concepts.
A static description of the von Neumann architecture [3] consists of the ubiquitous box and arrow diagram showing the connections among the components. The fetch-decode-execute cycle conveys how a storedprogram computer operates. To go beyond the fiveminute hand-wave of this topic, an instructor must describe a few instruction codes, arrange them in memory, and perform a hand execution of a program of up to a dozen lines or so. But such a presentation risks leaving students with the impression that a von Neumann machine is too simple to do anything but just the sort of programs that can be hand-traced in just a few minutes. VN-Sim is a von Neumann simulator that can provide convincing demonstrations of the power and scope of the model. It supports a better understanding of storedprogram computers by allowing direct manipulation and observation of a working example of the von Neumann architecture.
Computer science education has also changed through the years to reflect the needs of business and industry to produce graduates who can integrate packages and put together solutions by using already existing software. They use languages with object libraries built in, so they become proficient in software development environments and in searching for solutions online. Students do learn how to code, they learn about hardware, and they learn about systems. However, in this age of abstraction and code reuse, students often do not gain a fundamental
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The execution of VN-Sim is governed by its instruction set. There are instructions for clearing, loading, and storing the ALU registers, for addition and subtraction in the accumulator, and for incrementing and decrementing the x-register. The branching instructions are an unconditional jump, two jumps conditioned on the accumulator, and one jump conditioned on the x-register. The READ instruction stores into memory a value provided by the user, and the WRITE instruction displays the contents of memory to the user. HALT instructs VNSim to do just that. The instruction set and the the I/O dialogs are shown in figures 2, 3, and 4.
digits the operand, a two-digit address in the VN-6LP¶V memory. Only some instructions require an operand. In Figure 2, the operation codes are shown, followed by two dashes for operations without an operand or two plusses for operations with an operand. VN-Sim performs absolute addressing only. UNDERSTANDING LOW LEVEL PROGRAMMING A solid understanding of high-level programming languages is grounded in a grasp of operations at the lowest levels. VN-Sim illustrates how machine level operations can be arranged to perform a variety of tasks.
The opcodes are four digit decimal codes in which the leftmost digits signify the operation, and the rightmost
Figure 1: VN-Sim main window. Memory addresses 0 through 5 contain a program to add two numbers entered by the user and display the sum.
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The simulator contains a built-in program to add two values; it loads into the first six memory locations when WKH ³/RDG 6DPSOH´ EXWWRQ LV FOLFNHG VHH )LJXUH 7R reinforce the role of the program counter (and lay the groundwork for services provided by an operating system), the user must manually set the value of the PC to WKH DGGUHVV RI D SURJUDP¶V ILUVW LQVWUXFWLRQ The PC is initially set to 0 on startup, but to run the sample program more than once, the user must set it back to 0 manually.
Figure 3: VN-Sim input.
In presenting to students, the symbolic instructions are initially described as a convenience to the human programmer, who must still translate the symbolic instructions by hand to the corresponding numeric opcodes and then enter these directly into the VN-6LP¶V memory. At this level, the student must decide what memory locations will be used for data storage and take care to use the correct operands when translating the program.
Figure 4: VN-Sim output.
PROGRAM VERIFICATION FOR LEARNING PROGRAMMING
To gain familiarity with the instruction set, students are asked to modify the sample program in a variety of ways: by changing the storage locations used by the program, by making the program subtract instead of add, and so forth. Students are introduced to the jump instructions by means of a short program to read two values and output the larger. After gaining some appreciation for directly manipulating memory, students begin using files on the host system to save or load the contents of a range of memory.
VN-Sim can also be used to help beginning students understand the concepts of programming through the use of code verification. Here students are given some code and the documented requirements for the code and asked to verify that the code does what it is intended to do. Simpler programs are given at first in order to familiarize the students with basic coding concepts. However, more complex code is given shortly after, with the goal of exposing the students to high-level coding constructs, proper documentation and coding techniques, and problem solving. Through the verification of existing code, beginning students can rapidly learn the basics of coding and programming style. CONCEPTS FOR MORE ADVANCED STUDENTS Once students have mastered the basic skills of the VNSim such as the use of registers, addressing, comparisons, and jumps, they can begin to expand on these concepts to learn about such things as multi-path selection or case statements, looping constructs, function calls, and memory management. Many of these concepts can be illustrated in the VN-Sim, even with its limited memory, registers, and instruction set. Other tasks require the use of additional registers for maintaining a stack base address and stack pointer, for example. Students can attempt to solve certain problems that will lead them to identify additional system resources necessary for their implementation. Students will also gain an understanding of techniques for working with limited resources which will give them insight into problems encountered in the programming of real-time and embedded systems. This should also lead to an appreciation for the abundance of system resources available to programmers and systems engineers today.
Figure 2: VN-Sim Opcodes.
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components. We expect students in this course will be able to better visualize and learn about low-level workings of the computer and to program basic tasks. Because many students in this course are engineering technology majors, they are not as versed in programming as their classmates who are computer science majors. These students should benefit from the hands-on, virtual machine approach used by VN-Sim.
INITIAL RESULTS VN-Sim has been used thus far in two courses: (1) a breadth-first introduction to the computing discipline which students take prior to their first programming course, and (2) a senior level programming languages course. In the introductory course, VN-Sim was used to illustrate the following concepts: von Neumann architecture o the central processing unit, including the roles of the CU and of the ALU o a random access memory storing both programs and data the fetch-decode-execute cycle flow of control, esp. the use of sequence, selection, and repetition in programs machine language, assembly language, and the distinction between the two input and output mechanisms the distinction between operations and operands low level programming of small arithmetic operations, esp. performing operations that are not provided in the instruction set, e.g. multiplication debugging and code tracing
CONCLUSION Computer science brings together many areas of science, technology, communication, and human relations. Computer applications today are powerful and sophisticated, incorporating graphical user interfaces and a variety of hardware devices and networking techniques. When all is said and done, however, a computer is still a simple machine. It can store data, it can add, and it can compare two values. Every other operation is built off of these basic abilities, so an understanding of the low-level concepts related to basic computer hardware and programming is essential for computer scientists. In this paper we described the VN-Sim system and how it can be used to enhance the education of computer science students. It reinforces the fundamentals of hardware and software and their interrelationship in what we call programming. Students benefit from the hands-on approach as they examine results of instructions and learn how they can program their own instructions to achieve desired results. The VN-Sim system has proven to be both easy to learn and an effective teaching tool.
Assessment was done by in-class exercises, out of class homeworks, and quiz questions. Students were asked to describe the von Neumann architecture, define key concepts, predict the output of short programs, and to translate from assembly code to machine code and vice versa. Three weeks of class time was spent on this material.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Students found the material moderately challenging, and the grades bore this out. This was our first attempt presenting this material in this context, so there was no previous data to compare learning results.
This research was sponsored in part by the NSF grant CCF-0939108.
In the programming languages course, students were given an assignment to write a symbolic assembler targeting the VN-Sim instruction set. About two thirds of the enrolled students successfully completed the assembler or had only minor flaws, the remaining had major shortcomings or were not submitted. VN-Sim supports only absolute addressing, and the students were able to grasp the importance of relative addressing and gain greater understanding of the flexibility provided by relocatable code modules.
[1] Beaubouef, T., Why Computer Science Students Need Math, SIGCSE Bulletin (inroads), 34, (4), , 5759, 2002. [2] Beaubouef, T., Lucas, R., Howatt, J., The Unlock System: Enhancing Problem Solving Skills in CS1 Students, SIGCSE Bulletin (inroads), 33, (2), 43-46, 2001. [3] Godfrey, M., HenGU\ ' ³7KH &RPSXWHU DV 9RQ 1HXPDQQ3ODQQHG,W´,((($QQDOVRIWKH+LVWRU\RI Computing, Vol. 15, No. 1, 1993, pp. 11-21. [4] 0RRUH * ³&UDPPLQJ 0RUH &RPSRQHQWV 2QWR ,QWHJUDWHG &LUFXLWV´ Electronics, vol. 38, No. 8, 1965. [5] 6WRNHV -RQ ³8QGHUVWDQGLQJ 0RRUH¶V /DZ´ )HE 20, 2003), Retrieved Nov. 15, 2010, [6] http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2008/09/moor e.ars/1
REFERENCES
FUTURE WORK Plans are underway to use of VN-Sim in the computer organization course. This course combines a previous assembly language course that some felt was obsolete with additional concepts necessary for computer engineering technology students. VN-Sim is ideal for such a course as it illustrates assembly language program concepts basic computer hardware and architecture
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Build a prototype of new e-Learning contents by using the AR technology Akinori TOGUCHI, Hitoshi SASAKI, Kazunori MIZUNO
Faculty of Engineering, Takushoku University 815-1 Tatemachi, Hachioji, Tokyo 193-0985 JAPAN [email protected], sasaki@ cs.takushoku-u.ac.jp and Arimitsu SHIKODA
Faculty of Engineering, Tohoku Gakuin University 1-13-1 Chyo, Tagajyo-shi, Miyagi, 985-8537 JAPAN
ABSTRACT However, although software faithfully reflects the theory, unexpected difficulties can occur in the design of actual systems, resulting in a shortage of training for students. Therefore, experiments using actual electrical parts and apparatus are indispensable training for practicing engineers. In a class for more than over hundred students with a few teachers or instructors, the experiment manual plays a key role. To guide experimenters properly, refined theories and directive procedure must be described appropriately in these manuals.
In the engineering education field, laboratory courses are very important for confirming theories studied. In general, these laboratory courses are more complex than classroom lectures. On the other hand, a lot of Japanese private universities become aggressive about downsizing. Therefore, this is very difficult as there are only a few teachers for more than one hundred students in a class. We have developed a new learning environment with Web based instruction manuals as eLearning contents for these courses [1]. In our Web based instruction manual, description about experiment is doing by some illustration.
2. Individualized Experiment System
We see the next step, as students will easily understand how to operate these materials by watching the real things rather than seeing them illustrated. Therefore, we have tried to import pictures of experimental materials into this e-Leaning content. However, it was difficult to synchronize the instruction and the view of experiment materials. Therefore, we focused attention on the AR (augmented reality) Technology [2] to solve this issue. The AR Technology is a term for a live direct view of an actual-world environment that is augmented with a virtual image generated by a computer. It can enhance one’s current perception of reality. By using it, we can make a new eLearning content [3] that showing teachers through 3D computer graphics models with some instruction information attached.
We have developed a new system based on individualized experiment environment and Web based learning system with instruction manual. Each student does experiment with personal laboratory booth while seeing a web page of our Web based instruction manual by using the Web-browser. The Web based instruction manual is written by HTML and some Web technology. It is in page form, as shown Figure 2, and students can reads forward and backward page by clicking a thumbnail images in the left column. This manual acquires the access log to each page of students. 2.1 Individual Booth The individual booth is installed some experiment equipment that an oscilloscope (A&D AD-8623A) and a power supply device, a soldering iron, etc. Also, in addition to these devices are also installed PC. Each student does experiment using the individual booth individually.
Keywords: e-Learning contents, augmented reality, electronics
laboratory courses, engineering education
1. INTRODUCTION
2.2 Web based Instruction Manual
In the Engineering education field, laboratory courses are very important practical lessons for confirming the theory studied. T here are important for learners to improve their skills gradually from a rudimentary stage within a very limited classroom time.
The Web based instruction manual for experiments progress is composition by Web page of describing for theories about experiment and describing for experiments work. Student does experiment with individual booth while seeing a Web page of our Web based instruction manual. The Web based instruction manual can obtain the access log to each page of students. This is expected to help improve for next class by feedback to teachers.
A tough condition that there are only a few teachers for more th an one hundred students must be presumed in just one class. Si nce students do not have enough chance to prepare and review the experiments practically, a sort of virtual experimental envir onment is very useful in some cases. For these reasons, technol ogy that offers a virtual experimental environment that doesn’t need real parts and tools has been widely researched.
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contained in obtained picture by camera device to positioning. Currently, these applications to create by program library “ARToolKit” [4]. The library can build to AR applications using C and open source software. In addition, java developers can create AR application by use library “NyARToolKit”. This development is using “FLARToolKit” [5] that is one of the augmented reality program libraries.
In Web based instruction manual, description about the experiment items is doing use some illustrations for instruct to students. However, in the individual experiment environment, some students, there is a vague understanding of experiment items operation. We have thought that these students will understand easily how to operate these items by watching rather the real items than seeing them illustration.
A picture of actual-world environment and picture of augmented real by using AR technology as below shown in Figure 3.
Therefore, we focused attention on AR (augmented reality) Technology to solve this issue.
Figure 3. An example of a superimpose a 3D graphics model on a marker
Figure 1. Overview of the personal laboratory booth
4. New Web based instruction manual We accomplish certain results by these innovations. However, we think there is still plenty room for improvement. We believe that it will lead to study by instruction with actual items for students. Therefore, we tried to import the picture of experiment items into our Web based instruction manual (Figure 2). We record movies with Web-cam in a student booth (Figure 1) and then make a composition Web page. However, this approach could not synchronize the movie with the instruction. Therefore, we focused attention on augmented reality technology to solve this issue. The Augmented reality technology is a term for a live direct view of an actual-world environment that is augmented with virtual image generated by a computer. It can enhance one’s current perception of reality. By using FLARToolKit [5] that is one of the augmented reality program libraries [4], By using it, our Web based instruction manual will become tracking mark that uses simple black squares for positioning some instruction information (Figure 4) and then showing teacher by 3D computer graphics models with some instruction text. The size of the marker and accuracy of superimpose are proportional. However, experiments equipment does not have enough space for setting marker. Therefore, we measured the confidence of the marker.
Figure 2. An example of a Web based manual (in Japanese) 3. AR (Augmented Reality) Technology The Augmented Reality Technology can append to information such as virtual model made by a computer on information of actual-world environment. To implementation, it must consider superimposed position of virtual model fit with attitude and position of Web-cam. The sensor-based and the vision-based there are two methods to positioning. The method by sensorbased is using the some sensor to obtain the position of camera device. The method by vision-based is using the information
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4.2 Superimpose the instructions The new learning content is doing instruct to the actual experiment items by superimposing some instruction images. It needs some resource information of instruction images paths and position of superimpose, region size of images, etc. for superimpose to movie of experiment items. It is developed using the FLARToolKit and written by the Action Script 3.0. Therefore, it can embed as Flash movie into Web page of instruction manual as shown in Figure 6. Figure 4. An example of tracking marker
4.1 Measurement the confidence of the marker We have measured confidence of the markers for determine whether how much space is needed. In this measurement, 13mm, 19mm, 25mm size markers, each 30cm, 45cm, 60cm taken from a distance and then obtained the confidence as shown in Figure 5. In addition, the measurement results are shown in Table 1.
Figure 6. An example of a new Web based instruction manual (in Japanese)
This information is defined by XML format data. When student open this page, program reads this XML file and then automatically superimposes the instruction images to experiment items. Therefore, a teacher can add new instruction by simply adding element in XML.
Figure 5. An example of measurement for confidence rates
An example of a definition is shown in Figure 7. Table 1. Measurement results between markers.
Distance
30cm
45cm
60cm
13mm marker
0.48(0.87)
0.14(0.00)
0.0(0.00)
19mm marker
0.67(0.97)
0.5(0.71)
0.29(0.00)
25mm marker
0.81(1.00)
0.62(1.00)
0.45(0.62)
Annotation/PowerOFF_into_top.png -15 -140 0 25 30 Figure 7. An example of a definition
These numbers are confidence of markers by measurement at three distances. Number in round brackets in this table is meaning of the steady fraction in one second. In fact, it is need over 0.5 to ensure efficacy. As a result, this system requires at least a 19mm blank square to set a marker.
We have believed certain result that will improve further the laboratory courses by using our new e-Learning content.
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5. CONCLUSION In this paper, we proposed a new e-Learning content through the use of the augmented reality technology. Because this content is still being developed, we must strive hard toward perfection. And then we will try evaluation experiments for our university students. We think this approach can be used not only for instructional manual but also for any content, including some documentation. So, we will try to explore a new possibility, too.
6. REFERENCES [1] A. Shikoda, & H. Sasaki (2010). “A Click Stream Visualization Technique for Page Relevance Analysis on a Fully Illustrated Teaching Material Distribution System”, INFORMATION AND SYSTEMS IN EDUCATION, vol.8, No. 1, pp.65 – 71. [2] Stephen Cawood & Mark Fiala (2007), “Augmented Reality A Practical Guide”, The Pragmatic Bookshelf. [3] A.Toguchi, H. Sasaki, K. Mizuno & A. Shikoda (2011). “Development of Web based instruction manuals through the use of the augmented reality technology”, International Engineering and Technology Education Conference, CD-ROM.
[4] Philip Lamb, “ARToolKit Home page”, Retrieved October 28, 2010, from http://www.hitl.washington.edu/artoolkit [5] Spark Project, “Saqoosha/FLARToolKit”, Retrieved October 28, 2010, from http://www.libspark.org/wiki/saqoosha/FLARToolKit/en
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Using ICT to Teach Technology: A Case Study in Higher Education Susan E. YAGER Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Edwardsville, IL 62026, USA and Zsuzsanna SZABO Marist College Poughkeepsie, NY 12601, USA
and other ICT tools on students’ performance in a computer literacy course at a medium-sized, Midwestern university.
ABSTRACT This paper discusses the effect of using an electronic book and other information and communication technology (ITC) tools on students’ performance in a computer literacy course at a medium-sized, Midwestern university. Performance results and student responses to a survey are compared across ten sections using a printed book and three sections using an electronic book. Results show that students using an electronic book performed comparably to those using a printed book. Students’ study strategies and note taking habits are presented comparing the use of printed versus electronic books. In addition, electronic book users raised several issues in using e-book features. Results support the idea of cost efficiency of electronic books with no major negative effect on student performance when compared with printed book use.
2.
The computer literacy course used in this study focuses on the interaction between information and methods of communication technology. It explores the impact that technology has on individuals and organizations; the effects of current technology infrastructure; and the use, duplication, and transmission of information in our world. The course links technology with communication; this combination provides consumers with access to a wealth of data and information, both locally and globally. As course performance measures, students are required to exhibit proficiency with Microsoft Office 2007 software applications (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel) and demonstrate knowledge of computer technology and components that aide in their understanding of data and information.
Keywords: Technology in Higher Education, Electronic Textbooks, E-books, Assessment Tools, Student Performance
1.
COMPUTER LITERACY COURSE
3.
INTRODUCTION
ICT TOOLS
In higher education, more disciplines and courses utilize information and communication technology (ICT) and, consequently, require students to have computer skills. In today’s information-based society, it is imperative that college graduates have the necessary technology-based skills to be competitive in the evolving job market of the 21st century. For these reasons, many higher education institutions prepare students by offering computer literacy courses that cover basic computing concepts as well as productivity applications.
The ICT tools utilized for this course include: an electronic textbook (Emerge with Computers, version 2.0, author Ken Baldauf) that covers concepts and issues, an automated application skill assessment manager (SAM 2007 from Course Technology) that covers Microsoft Office 2007 applications, and an online study tool (StudyMate Class from Respondus). Three sections of the computer literacy course used the three tools, while ten sections utilized a traditional printed textbook, manual grading of assignments, and no study tool.
With continuing opportunities to use innovative technology in education and new possibilities of selecting publisher-provided Web-based textbooks, instructors may now choose to adopt electronic textbooks (e-books). This case study examines the effect of the use of an e-book
In the marketing materials for the e-book, the publisher suggests that this e-book helps to bridge the gap between the old model of higher education (lecture halls and printed books) and the way that students live and want to learn. An e-book allows students to explore topics and 265
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(13) sections of the computer literacy course. The pretest consisted of objective questions that cover basic computing concepts and Microsoft Office application skills. The pre-test was administered at the beginning of the semester as a non-credit exam. Instructor 4 taught using an e-book; all other instructors used the printed form of the textbook. The results (see Table 1 below) were relatively consistent across sections and reinforced faculty assertions that students enrolled in the course did not understand computing basics nor did they possess the skills needed to successfully complete the course requirements.
content as they wish, rather than forcing them to follow the linear methods previously used. Likewise, the use of an automated tool to provide training and assessment of skill-based tasks allows students to observe, review, and incorporate what they learn while receiving immediate feedback. We know that individuals use different techniques to study and assimilate information. The online study tool allows students to review material with flash cards, fill-in-the-blank, crosswords, and other gamelike presentation formats.
4.
LITERATURE REVIEW
A large amount of research has been conducted on the use of e-books, especially focusing on comprehension and improvement of literacy for students who used the ebook for learning purposes. However, research results are conflicting, covering the entire spectrum from the efficiency of e-books in learning to the lack of, or very small, effect on student learning. Zucker, Moody, and McKenna [15] conducted a meta-analysis on 27 studies concerning the effect of e-books on literacy skills in the domains of comprehension and decoding for students in K-5th grade. Their results indicate that the effects of ebooks on comprehension-related outcomes were small to medium in size. On the other hand, Cavanaugh [7] stressed the advantage of e-books, especially for teaching special needs children as well as exceptional children who need more challenging and richer information than a printed book could offer.
Number of Sections 3
Number of Students per Instructor 127
Average Score per Instructor 49.76
Instructor 1 (print text) Instructor 2 (print text) Instructor 3 (print text) Instructor 4 (e-book) Total
2
87
49.93
5
210
47.49
3
98
51.37
13
522
49.64
Table 1. Pre-test Results by Instructor The same exam was administered as a post-test. As usually occurs in a freshman-level course, student attrition and inconsistent attendance reduced the number of students completing the post-test assessment for instructors 1, 2, and 4. As shown in Table 2 (below), average scores for students of instructors 1, 2, and 4 are very similar. Students of Instructor 3 achieved a higher average score than the rest. Although instructors 1, 2, and 4 administered the post-test during the week prior to final exams as an unannounced test, instructor 3 chose to use the post-test as the final exam itself. That means that instructor 3’s students had prepared for a comprehensive final exam while the other students were unaware that the post-test would be administered until they arrived for class. This situation explains both the higher attendance and higher post-test average scores for instructor 3’s students.
Aside from the effects of e-books on learning, Grimshaw, Dungworth, McKnight, and Morris [8] studied the effect of book medium presentation on students’ motivation to read the e-book. The results indicate that the type of medium did not significantly affect the children’s enjoyment of the printed or electronic storybook. Their results also indicate that students obtained significantly higher comprehension scores when they only read the book, as compared to when narration was present (students were listening to narration at the same time they were supposed to read the printed text). Their research demonstrates that just because technology can offer many interesting features, the extra features are not always helpful. Considerable data suggest that supportive digital text can help students who are experiencing difficulty in reading ([1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14]). Korat, Segal-Drori, and Klien [12] observed the effects of e-books compared to printed books on reading comprehension. Results from their research indicated the benefits of using e-books, specifically, that using e-books increased literacy levels in low socio-economic status students.
5.
Instructor
Instructor
Number of Sections 3
Number of Students per Instructor 84
Average Score per Instructor 67.24
Instructor 1 (print text) Instructor 2 (print text) Instructor 3 (print text) Instructor 4 (e-book) Total
2
61
65.61
5
190
73.87
3
62
66.52
13
397
68.31
Table 2. Post-test Results by Instructor
PERFORMANCE RESULTS
A comparison of grade distributions for pre-test, posttest, and final course grades by instructor is presented in
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Table 3. Data listed in the table represent proportions of each respective grade from the total number of students
% grades Total # students Test type A B C D F other
in all sections of each individual instructor.
Instructor 1/print 131
Instructor 2/print 87
Instructor 3/print 208
pre 0.0 0.0 2.4 12.6 85.0 0.0
pre 0.0 1.1 6.9 10.3 81.6 0.0
pre 0.5 0.0 2.9 14.8 81.9 0.5
post 2.4 17.9 27.4 52.4 0.0 2.4
final 14.5 38.2 27.5 5.3 8.4 6.1
post 0.0 14.8 23.0 32.8 29.5 0.0
final 26.4 33.3 12.6 9.2 2.3 16.1
post 5.3 28.9 36.8 0.0 28.9 5.3
final 28.4 28.4 23.6 8.7 9.1 1.9
Instructor 4/e-book 111 pre 0.0 3.3 2.2 20.0 74.4 0.0
post 0.0 7.9 36.5 31.7 23.8 0.0
final 9.9 30.6 25.2 6.3 9.9 18.0
Table 3. Grade Distributions by Instructor
Results show that students using the e-book self-report on their class attendance frequency was similar to reports from students using printed books. The students in the ebook sections also reported that they spent comparable time outside of class, and a large majority of students in all sections spent between 1-2 hours on the course outside of class. When asked about their time reading the textbook, students using the e-book described comparable time as their counterparts using a printed book; however, 50-86% of students spent less than one hour per week reading the textbook. Regarding their textbook preference, students using a printed book thought they would be better off with an e-book, while students using an e-book preferred a printed book (grass is always greener …?). Students in all sections reported that they used lecture slides in the classroom during lecture and in preparation for exams. Students’ reported note taking behavior indicated that students took notes in class and when preparing for an exam. Of special interest was the distribution of note taking behaviors relayed by students using the e-book, which showed a more uniform note taking behavior across an assortment of activities when compared with their counterparts using the printed book. When preparing for exams, most students across all sections read the lecture slides. Students using the e-book also had the opportunity to take self quizzes and practice exams using the provided online tools, which a large majority stated that they did use for exam preparation. However, when asked more specifically if they used the self quizzes and practice exams, students stated that they used them sporadically for only a few (50%) or several (15%) topics. When asked how much time they spent practicing the skills required in the course, most students across all sections reported spending 1-2 hours per week.
When breaking down the pre-test, post-test, and final grade results by grade level across instructors, performance by students using the e-book were relatively similar to students using the printed book. The proportion of students who obtained as in the e-book sections was lower than students taught by instructors 2 and 3 but comparable with results from instructor 1. As mentioned previously, instructor 3 used the post-test as the final exam. Since students prepared for that exam (in comparison to students of other instructors, who did not know they would be tested), post-test proportions were higher for grades of A and B for instructor 3. The performance of students using the e-book was comparable to that of students using the printed book. Since we did not have access to students’ overall GPA by section, we cannot make any statement related to the knowledge level of students by instructor. For that reason, we cannot argue that use of the e-book might have had an effect on grade distributions.
6.
SURVEY RESULTS
In addition to pre- and post- tests, all students were asked at the end of the semester to complete a survey about their experience in the course. The survey was administered to all sections taught by the four instructors. All students were asked to complete ten questions, and the results were compared across instructors. In addition, students using the e-book were asked to complete an additional 15 questions about their experience. Results from survey across all sections Questions gathered student responses about their class attendance, time spent on the course outside of class, time spent reading the text, textbook preference (electronic versus printed), use of lecture slides, note-taking practices, exam preparation strategies, and time spent practicing skills. See Appendix 1 for a recap of response percentages from the survey items presented in this subsection.
Results from survey of e-book sections In addition to the survey items asked of all students, students using the e-book were asked additional questions about accessing the e-book at home, purchase of an optional printed form of the e-book, use of an online study aid, skill practice training, and skill practice exams.
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with new trends in providing training and professional education online.
The majority of e-book user students (51%) stated that they were able to access the e-book at home without any problems, while others could access it but with some difficulties (16%), or were unable to access it from home (14%). Despite their difficulties in accessing the e-book outside of the classroom, only 2% of the students stated that they purchased the printed form of the electronic textbook. Despite the fact that some students (22%) did not use or were unaware of the online study aid, most of them used it (55%), especially following lecture (21%) or in preparation for an exam (56%). Students who used the tool also stated that they had better performance on the exam because they used it (43%). Even though some students (13%) ignored the skill practice training, the majority of those who used it completed a few training practice tests (52%), while others completed several (21%) or most (12%) of the practice training made available. In general, students who used the skill practice training used all its features (observe – 36%, practice – 44%, and apply – 60%). More than half of all students (53%) stated that they completed a few of the skill practice exams, and 28% stated that they completed several or most of the skill practice exams.
9. REFERENCES [1] L. Anderson-Inman & M. Horney, “Electronic books for secondary students,” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Vol. 40, No. 6, 1997, pp. 486-491. [2] L. Anderson-Inman & M. Horney, “Electronic books: Reading and studying with supportive resources,” April 1999, retrieved October 26, 2010, from Reading Online: (http://www.readingonline.org/electronic/elec_inde x.asp?HREF=/electronic/ebook/index.html). [3] L. Anderson-Inman & M. Horney, “Transforming text for at-risk readers,” in D. Reinking, L. Labbo, M. Mckenna, & R. Kieffer, Handbook of literacy and technology: Technological transformations in a post-typographic world, Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum Pub., 1998. [4] L. Anderson-Inman, M. Horney, D. Chen, & L. Lewin, (1994). “Hypertext literacy: Observations form the ElectroText project,” Language Arts, Vol. 71, No. 4, 1994, pp. 37-45. [5] R. Boone & K. Higgins, “Hypermedia basal readers: Three years of school-based research,” Journal of Special Education Technology, Vol. 12, No. 3, 1993, pp. 86-106. [6] R. Boone, K. Higgins, A. Notari, & C. Stump, “Hypermedia prereading lessons: Learner-centered software for kindergarten,” Journal of Computing in Childhood Education, Vol. 7, No. 1/2, 1996, pp. 39-69. [7] T. Cavanaugh, “EBooks and accomodations: Is this the future of print accomodation?”, TEACHING Exceptional Children, Vol. 35, No. 2, 2002, pp. 56-61. [8] S. Grinshaw, N. Dungworth, C. McKnight, & A. Morris, “Electronic books: Children's reading and comprehension,” British Journal of Educational Technology, Vol. 38, No. 4, 2007, pp. 583-599. [9] K. Higgins, R. Boone, & T. Lovitt, “Adapting challenging textbooks to improve content area learning,” in G. Stoner, M. Shinn, & H. Walker, Interventions for academic and behavior problems (2nd ed.), Silver Spring, MD: National Association of School Psychologists Pub., 2002. [10] K. Higgins, R. Boone, & T. Lovitt, “Hypertext support for remedial students and students with learning disabilities,” Journal of Learning Disabilities, Vol. 29, No. 4, 1996, pp. 402-412. [11] M. Horney & L. Anderson-Inman, “Hypermedia for readers with hearing impairments: Promoting literacy with electronic text enhancements,” in K. Hinchman, D. Leu, & C. Kinzer, Perspectives on literacy research and practice, Chicago: National Reading Conference Pub., 1995. [12] O. Korat, O. Segal-Drori, & P. Klien, “Electronic and printed books with and without adult support as
7. DISCUSSION Pre- and post-test results indicate no significant difference between students’ performance when utilizing an e-book versus a traditional printed book. Knowing that most of the students entering college are relatively computer literate and familiar with the use of the Internet, our results help to build a case for the use of e-books. Publishers who offer e-book versions of a printed book charge a much lower price for the e-book, which is always helpful and welcomed by students. In addition to cost effectiveness, e-books are environmentally friendly, can be updated in a timely manner, can be downloaded onto laptops or e-book readers, and occupy less space in backpacks and on bookshelves. There is also less of a chance that students will lose or forget the textbook. Our results also show that e-book users develop better study skills. In light of lessons learned, we believe that use of ebooks is not only more cost effective but, given better Internet connections and familiarity with e-books, education can move online even when meetings take place in the classroom.
8.
CONCLUSION
The results of this case study have important ramifications concerning college students’ general computer literacy skills and the use of technology in instruction, especially the use of e-books. Today, it is not enough to simply prepare this new work force generation with computer skills; instructors need to use technology in all aspects of education to help students develop computer literacy, regardless of the domain of instruction. The importance of the use of e-books expands beyond higher education campuses, especially 268
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sustaining emergent literacy. Journal of Educational Computing Research, Vol. 41, No. 4, 2009, pp. 453-475. [13] B. Lenz & C. Hughes, “A word identification strategy for adolescents with learning disabilities,” Journal of Learning Disabilities, Vol. 23, No. 3, 1990, pp. 149-163. [14] C. MacArthur & J. Haynes, “Student assistant for learning from text (SALT): A hypermedia reading
aid,” Journal of Learning Disabilities, Vol. 28, No. 3, 1995, pp. 150-159. [15] T. Zucker, A. Moody, & M. McKenna, “The effects of electronic books on pre-kindergarten-to-grade 5 students' literacy and language outcomes: A research synthesis,” Journal of Educational Computing Research, Vol. 40, No. 1, 2009, pp. 47-87.
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Appendix 1 Survey Responses by Instructor* Question
Specific measure
Instructor/type of textbook 1/ print 2/ print 3/print Attendance Most times 44 40 37 frequency Every class 45 53 60 Hours of study Less 1 h 36 9 20 1-2 h 51 46 45 2-3 h 10 26 26 Hours of reading Less 1 h 86 47 79 the textbook 1-2 h 10 35 15 2-3 h 1 9 4 Preference of e-book 44 32 44 textbook Printed 25 29 23 No preference 27 32 25 Use of power point During lecture 87 57 83 Before lecture 18 4 14 lectures After lecture 26 16 32 Exam prep 80 67 73 Note taking In class 55 16 40 Reviewing slides 27 11 19 Reading txt 10 7 3 Always for exam 36 11 27 Sometimes not for exam 7 22 17 Don’t take 12 45 22 Exam preparation Read notes 63 14 34 strategies Read text 25 38 39 Read text and notes 18 14 17 Review slides 91 77 85 Self quizzes Practice exams Practice for Less 1 h 42 21 31 learning content in 1-2 h 40 52 47 this course 2-3h 11 21 15 *Note: All data are response percentages; only larger proportions are presented in the table
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4/e-book 49 45 21 45 27 62 27 8 32 45 20 62 6 27 80 18 18 13 14 22 39 30 45 12 69 43 61 33 49 13
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Global Learning and the Transformation of the 21st Century Science and Engineering Curriculum Harvey CHARLES Center for International Education, Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ 86011 Terry BAXTER Department of Civil Engineering, Construction Management, and Environmental Engineering, Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ 86011 Sheryl HOWARD Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ 86011 Phillip MLSNA Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ 86011 Niranjan VENKATRAMAN Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ 86011
ABSTRACT Keywords: Global learning, engineering, curriculum Consistent advocacy for the preparation of globally competent science and engineering students has not resulted in a universal commitment to this work. Notwithstanding, this imperative could not be greater given the rapid transformations being wrought by globalization, and the major global problems currently facing humankind. This paper uses two examples to demonstrate how compliance with ABET standards relative to global education can guide the adoption of a vision for global learning by science and engineering disciplines. This vision, defined in terms of three fundamental themes including environmental sustainability, diversity and global engagement can be used as a strategy to infuse global learning in the curriculum and offer students multiple and substantive encounters with global perspectives. The paper insists that this work must be owned and driven by faculty in each discipline and that the themes of global learning should be infused in the curriculum through the lens of that particular discipline. Developing global learning outcomes, strategies to realize these outcomes, and assessment strategies to establish that the learning outcomes adopted are being realized are key tasks of faculty who wish to infuse global learning in the major. Tweaking existing assessment practices can save significant time and resources.
INTRODUCTION The era of globalization in which we now live has brought sweeping and fundamental changes to practically every aspect of our human experience. Be it in trade, transportation, communication, or entertainment, our lives are influenced for better or worse. National borders have receded in importance as issues, once localized, have become global problems confronting the human species, including environmental degradation, water scarcity, global pandemics, terrorism, food scarcity, and the multilayered challenges around energy. These global problems all require global solutions and scientists and engineers must be in the vanguard in helping to identify and ultimately resolve these problems. HIGHER EDUCATION’S RESPONSE TO GLOBAL CHALLENGES In light of the fact that the environment within which our students will pursue their respective careers is global, it follows that the preparation they receive within the academy should be compatible with this reality. Educators should feel an increasing obligation to construct curricular and co-curricular pathways for
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students to test their learning in the context of more increasingly complex real-world issues (Elrod and Hovland, 2011). Nair (2011) argues that the western canon, which was once deemed adequate for a literate person has now been superseded by a set of new literacies, including scientific and technological, that “is requisite to participation in a globally interconnected world.” In short, scientific literacy requires that individuals possess the skills, knowledge and dispositions to effectively negotiate a global landscape. One would therefore assume that higher education in general, including science and engineering disciplines, would respond to these new realities by systematically aligning the academic experiences offered students to ensure that they have multiple and substantial encounters with global perspectives as a way of preparing them to be globally competent. Sadly, as confirmed by the American Council on Education “overall, internationalization does not permeate the fabric of most institution; it is not yet sufficiently deep, nor as widespread as it should be to prepare students to meet the challenges that they will face once they graduate” (Green, Luu and Burris, 2008).
Collegiate Employment Research Institute (2010) at Michigan State University, for example, recently published findings from a study showing that global competency among young professionals is increasingly being sought by employers and that understanding the global context is one of six competencies that has grown the most in importance to employers over the past five years they need students. ACCREDITATION CALLS FOR GLOBAL LEARNING In the American system of higher education, no other entity commands the credibility and respect associated with articulating standards that students must demonstrate in order to be deemed competent in a particular discipline as accreditation agencies. This credibility and respect is, by extension, accorded to academic units that have been granted entry to the exclusive club of accredited programs. In this regard, it is therefore salient to examine the position of ABET (formally known as Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) regarding global education.
CALLS FOR GLOBAL LEARNING OFTEN IGNORED
Criterion 3 of Engineering Criteria 2000 improved upon the previous list of eleven measurable program outcomes to include language related to the global context of engineering. Currently, the outcome for Criterion 3 (h) calls for “the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context.”
There is no shortage of reports, recommendations or pronouncements that call for the preparation of globally competent college students, including engineering majors. The American Association of College and Universities, through its Shared Futures Project (Global Learning), its LEAP Project (Essential Learning Outcomes) and its Project Kaleidoscope (focus on STEM disciplines) has done significant work in this regard over a number of years. In 1995, the American Council on Education through its Commission on International Education issued a blueprint to guide institutions in developing students with global competencies for success in a competitive and global environment. Fifteen years later, however, the overall goal to evolve international education more universally throughout higher education so that all students attain intercultural competence, understanding of global systems, and an aptitude for solving practical problems oriented around real world issues has yet to be fully realized. Even though areas of study that traditionally kept global-oriented experiences at the periphery of their curricula have recognized and promoted the case for global learning, change has been slow. Environmental engineering education programs as one example, were acknowledged by Bishop (1999) twelve years ago as being slow to follow the lead of a profession that had already become globally oriented. This is still largely the case today.
Thus, a program’s curriculum is compelled to include some elements of global learning to be in full compliance with the outcome of Criterion 3 (h). In addition, and perhaps more compelling, EC 2000 provided a clear and much more concise description of the relationship expected between a program’s educational objectives and its institution’s overall mission and its professional constituency, than what was found described in the previous conventional criteria. Criterion 2, Program Educational Objectives, currently states that a program’s educational objectives must be consistent with both “the mission of the institution” and with the “needs of the program’s various constituencies.” In this regard, compliance with Criterion 2 requires that an engineering program ensure its curriculum aligns with the institutional mission, and as institutions become substantially more globally oriented, programs must also noticeably evolve in this direction. WHAT DOES GLOBAL LEARNING MEAN At Northern Arizona University, we have sought, over the past two years, to make global learning central to the academic experience of all majors, including science and engineering majors. We concur with Olsen, Green and
Employers too have been adding their not inconsiderable voice to this matter, saying that the most effective hires are those who bring global skills to the workplace. The
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Hill, (2006) when they define global learning “as the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that students acquire through a variety of experiences that enable them to understand world cultures and events; analyze global systems; appreciate cultural differences; and apply this knowledge and appreciation to their lives as citizens and workers.” In effect, global learning is not an end it itself, but rather leads to global competence which is the ultimate aim of our efforts. Global competence will therefore be achieved through intentional curricular and co-curricular experiences that foreground global learning.
for the kind of interventions that must be made in the curriculum and even in the co-curriculum that can guarantee students multiple and substantive encounters with global perspectives. The second task is to determine the strategies that will be used in the curriculum to facilitate appropriate learning experiences for students. It may involve making changes in the gateway course and/or the capstone course, introducing a study/research/internship abroad requirement, requiring additional semesters of a second language, or addressing global themes in the first year seminar among others. The notion that these concepts can be captured in a one-course requirement is now passé. These strategies should be multiple, spread throughout the program of study and inserted in a manner that facilitates a seamless progression through the major.
We have identified three central themes to global learning that are necessary for the evolution of globally competent science and engineering graduates. They include environmental sustainability, diversity and global engagement. Global engagement is a necessary theme because “science is a global enterprise. The common laws of nature cross political boundaries, and the international movement of people and knowledge made science global long before ‘globalization’ became a label for the increasing interconnections now forming among the world’s economies” (Science and Engineering Indicators: 2010). Diversity is imperative because solving the most pressing issues we face as a nation and as a species requires that we succeed at working collaboratively with others from diverse cultural backgrounds who often define problems differently (Downey et al., 2006). Environmental sustainability must be among the three themes because scientific principles are often key to discovering practical and affordable sustainable strategies, but more significantly, nothing will matter without human survival. Integrating global learning into science and engineering curricula, therefore, requires weaving these concepts into the multiple academic experiences students encounter in such a way that these are no longer optional ideas for consideration in one’s free time, but central to how students come to understand these disciplines and foundational to professional practice.
Developing assessment strategies is the third task of faculty as it is important to establish that the strategies that are being pursued do, in fact, help students to achieve the global learning outcomes adopted. Assessment protocols do not all have to be created anew. Making slight modifications to existing assessment tools, including those used for individual courses, surveys administered to graduating seniors, and questions appended to national surveys like the National Survey of Student Engagement can provide important information on the extent to which students are acquiring a global orientation in their respective disciplines. GLOBAL LEARNING COMMITMENTS REFLECTED IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING CURRICULUM The Environmental Engineering program, although still in the process of redesigning its curriculum to give students meaningful opportunities for engagement with global learning, has made the following commitments with respect to global learning outcomes: 1. Graduates will possess foundational skills in mathematics and in the chemical, physical, and biological processes of the earth’s atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere, as well as the ability to apply these skills to advanced topics and problems appropriate to environmental engineering. 2. Graduates will be able to properly apply tools and methods of design, experimentation, modeling or simulation, and analysis to inform decisions throughout the process of design. 3. Graduates will be able to define and analyze complex local and global environmental engineering problems, and devise and document sustainable engineering design solutions that are globally and culturally appropriate. 4. Graduates will be able to communicate effectively, both written and orally, within multi- and interdisciplinary
AN APPROACH FOR ADVANCING GLOBAL LEARNING IN ENGINEERING DISCIPLINES Having articulated these themes of global learning, we believe that departmental faculty are best suited to determine how to establish global learning opportunities within the curriculum and co-curriculum. To this end, faculty must engage in three essential tasks as they embark on this project. They must first establish global learning outcomes for students expressed in the language of the discipline and considered in terms of the three themes of global learning. In effect, faculty must seek to construct a profile of what a globally competent computer scientist or electrical engineer, for example, would look like upon graduation. This vision is fundamental to the global learning project as it effectively serves as a guide
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teams, have a disposition for collaborating with indigenous or other global cultures, and possess skill in more than one language. 5. Graduates will understand relationships between professional engineering and public and private organizations, and the mutual impacts that global environments and diverse societal and political systems of the world can have on one another. 6. Graduates will understand the importance of and be motivated to continually learn about emerging global
and professional issues that will improve professional skills and abilities, and that adhere to and promote the standards and ethics of engineering practice in local, indigenous, and global contexts. The following is a chart that reflects the extent to which courses in the Environmental Engineering major (and other graduation requirements) reflect the themes of global learning:
The framework for changing the program’s curriculum to become more globally oriented and to integrate international study, is strictly founded on the idea that it will not be done unless we ensure compliance with ABET’s EAC accreditation criteria. To this end, the assessment process has been enhanced with new tools that provide a universal approach for collecting and evaluation curriculum and course data regardless of the institution from which these data are derived. Once these data are collected, the program is able to evaluate the curriculum’s ability to comply with ABET EAC accreditation criteria regarding student outcomes, the professional component of the curriculum, and the proficiencies and abilities that a program-specific curriculum must provide. The program faculty members are not only gaining a better understanding of the curriculum beyond just the courses that they teach, but are also recognizing efficiencies in the
entire assessment process, such that the long-held perceptions of increased workload are being dissipated. GLOBAL LEARNING COMMITMENTS REFLECTED IN THE ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE CURRICULUM Like the Environmental Engineering program, the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science program aims to align its curriculum with ABET learning outcomes as a way of advancing global learning in the curriculum to guarantee global competence among our majors, but also to more closely comply with ABET standards. The following are the global learning outcomes developed for these majors:
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•
• • • •
Technically competent and prepared for leadership and professional practice in a global workplace with strength in design, problem solving, communications and teaming Experienced with and having an understanding of diverse populations, such as those existing in the American Southwest Well grounded in sustainable engineering design guidelines and environmental policies Ability to function in disciplinary, multidisciplinary and diverse teams An appreciation and understanding of the global and diverse nature of the origins and development of science and engineering
comprehensive assessment tools. Existing assessment strategies such as final exams, research papers, the capstone project and the survey of graduating seniors will be tweaked to get at information that speaks to student achievement of global learning outcomes. In regard to developing indicators that allow global learning and global competency to be measured, rather than recreate a unique set of indicators, the Environmental Engineering program has found those suggested by Parkinson (2008) to be very useful and also remarkable compatible with the three themes of global learning adopted at Northern Arizona University. Over time, these will be refined for a more precise fit with the program’s global learning focus. Additionally, efficiencies in the overall process of assessing the program have been created by redesigning existing assessment data collection tools in spreadsheets so that simultaneous evaluation of the data occur.
The following are curricular strategies implemented to help students realize these global learning outcomes: Strategies to Achieve Sustainability Learning Outcomes: • Junkyard Generator Lab EE364 Electromagnetics (R) students build generator out of “found” or recycled items • Sustainable methods of power generation EE386 Engineering Design and EE401 Power Systems • Efficiency via design minimization - EE110 Digital Logic (R), EE215 Microprocessors (R) • Spectral Efficiency (maximizing use of limited spectral resources): EE348 Signals and Systems, EE430 Communication Systems
CONCLUSION Although the imperative for global learning in the Engineering curriculum is now greater, the challenges in the way of such transformation have also grown. Budget cuts have hit colleges and universities very hard and in ways that create a great deal of anxiety and uncertainty among faculty. Fewer resources mean heavier teaching loads, larger class sizes and a declining commitment to tenure track positions. And yet, among the few things that faculty still control is the curriculum. It therefore still remains an obligation for faculty to ensure that the learning experiences they facilitate are relevant to the environments their students will inhabit upon graduation. A world that is increasingly interconnected and interdependent, that requires collaboration with people of different cultural backgrounds to solve the major challenges we face and whose future will be preserved or destroyed by human action, calls for graduates who are equipped with the skills, knowledge and dispositions to both understand and negotiate this world. Putting global learning at the center of our efforts to prepare engineers for the 21st century will help ensure that we make it through this century.
Strategies to Achieve Global Engagement and Diversity Learning Outcomes: • Address the global and societal context of Electrical Engineering - EE386 Engineering Design (R) and EE401 Power Systems (senior elective) • Address historical perspective and biographical information on inventors and scientists - EE110 Digital Logic, EE188 Electrical Engineering, EE215 Microprocessors, EE325 Engineering Analysis II, EE348 Fundamentals of Signals and Systems, (all required courses), EE430 (senior elective) • Development of a new multidisciplinary course on the history of science and technology (Engineering and Civilization), that presents the global contributions to engineering by many different cultures throughout history. (R) Required
BIBLIOGRAPHY American Association of Colleges and Universities – http://www.aacu.org/ American Council on Education, Educating Americans for a World of Flux: Ten Ground Rules for Internationalizing Higher Education. Washington, DC, 1995.
ASSESSMENT OF GLOBAL LEARNING OUTCOMES
Bishop, P.L., “International Environmental Engineering Education.” Journal of Environmental Engineering, vol. 125, No. 11, 1999, pp 889.
Although both departments are still developing effective assessment procotols, there is no expectation that major investments will be made in the development of new and
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CERI Research Brief 1-2010. Under the Economic Turmoil a Skills Gap Simmers, February, 2010. Downey, Gary Lee, Juan C. Lucena, Barbara M. Moskal, Thomas Bigley, Chris Hays, Brent K. Jesiek, Liam Kelly, Jane L. Lehr, Jonson Miller, Amy Nichols-Belo, Sharon Ruff, and Rosamond Parkhurst, “The Globally Competent Engineer: Working Effectively with People Who Define Problems Differently.” Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 95, No. 2, 2006, pp. 107-122. Elrod, E., and Hovland, K., “Global Learning and Scientific Literacy at the Crossroads.” Diversity & Democracy, Vol. 14, No. 2, 2011, pp. 1 – 4. Green, M. F., Luu, D., and Burris, B., Mapping internationalization on U.S. Campuses: 2008 edition. Washington, DC: American Council on Education, 2008 Nair, Indira, “New Scientific Literacies for an Interdependent World.” Diversity & Democracy, Vol. 14, No.2, 2011, pp. 5-7. Olson, C. L., Green, M. F., and Hill, B. A., A Handbook for Advancing Comprehensive Internationalization: What Institutions Can Do and What Students Should Learn. Washington, DC: American Council on Education, 2006. Parkinson, A., Harb, J., Magleby, S. “Developing Global Competence in Engineers,: What does it mean? What is most important?” Paper 2009-571, Proceedings, 2009 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, June 2009.
Science and Engineering Indicators: 2010. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind10/c3/c3s5.htm
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Source Code Exploration as a Case Study Towards Application Comprehension Jagadeesh Nandigam Grand Valley State University Computing & Information Systems Allendale, MI 49401 [email protected] and Venkat N Gudivada Marshall University Engineering and Computer Science Huntington, WV 25755 [email protected]
Abstract Source code from hundreds of open source software projects ranging in size from small to large is freely available on the Web. This valuable resource can be utilized to effectively enhance learning of software engineering concepts, best practices, and tools. The latter can be used both in the classroom as well as in industry for beginning software engineers. In this paper, we build upon our previous work and offer concrete learning activities that range across the six levels in the revised Bloom’s taxonomy. We use Lucene, a full-featured text search engine library written entirely in Java, for the learning activities. Initial results indicate that these learning activities are quite effective in internalizing the software engineering concepts, principles, and tools in students’ minds in relatively short period of time. Keywords: Source code exploration, case study, application comprehension.
1. Motivation Several trends are affecting higher education in general, and Computer Science education in
particular. One of them is the phenomenal growth in availability of online courses. Online enrollments have been growing substantially faster (9.7%) than overall higher education enrollments (1.7%), according to a 2007 report of a study sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. These numbers are based on responses from more than 2,500 colleges and universities. Second, source code from hundreds of open source software (OSS) projects is freely available on the Web. OSS projects range in size from a few thousand lines to a few hundred thousand lines of code. Third, Web generation students prefer active learning approaches over traditional lectures. Numerous active learning activities have been used to complement classroom lectures [1, 5]. Fourth, teaching software engineering courses entail several challenges. Students often perceive software engineering as a dry subject and view it as an academic exercise [4] rather than as having relevance to real-world. But the truth is that software is so pervasive in all most all aspects of our lives. For the last several years, we have been confronted by the above problems in the teaching of software engineering courses. The problems are further exacerbated for online courses due to lack of face to face interactions. In 2007,
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we began exploring source code of a few OSS projects to provide a solid backdrop for students to appreciate and internalize software engineering concepts, best practices, and tools. The approach we have used involved the following OSS projects: ImageJ, Apache Lucene, Apache Derby, Hibernate, Eclipse, and JUnit. Each team, consisting of two to three students, worked on hands-on activities involving a distinct OSS project above. Since the OSS projects greatly vary in their scope and functionality, it became quite difficult for the instructor to sustain student engagement and to provide effective scaffolding. Each release of a OSS project created additional challenges to the instructor. To overcome the above difficulties, we changed our approach to source code exploration. We confined hands-on activities of all student teams to just one OSS project — Apache Lucene. Since the active learning components are more structured and uniform across, we moved away from the team-based approach to individual explorations. In this paper, we describe our new approach and initial results. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. A very terse introduction to Bloom’s taxonomy, and merits and drawbacks of case based approach to learning is discussed in Section 2. Hands-on activities to learning the system build process using Ant scripts are discussed in Section 4. Using source code metrics to make both qualitative and quantitative assessments about the Lucene project is discussed in Section 3. How to develop unit tests using JUnit and running the test cases using Ant are presented in Section 5. Section 6 illustrates improving the code design using Eclipse refactoring tools and Ant. Design recovery of Lucene through reverse engineering is presented in Section 7. How all of the above activities contribute to application comprehension are discussed in Section 8. Finally, Section 9 provides concluding remarks.
2.
Bloom’s Taxonomy and Study Based Learning
Case
Revised Bloom’s taxonomy evaluates students’ learning at six levels: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. These levels progress from rote memorization and recall to higher-order problem solving. Remembering level deals with recognizing and retrieving knowledge from long term memory.
Questions in this category test for listing, describing, recalling, naming, or finding knowledge. Understanding level is concerned with explaining ideas and concepts. Questions in this category assess students’ ability to interpret, summarize, paraphrase, classify, or explain ideas and concepts. The next level, applying, evaluates students’ ability to apply new knowledge learned in a context to other similar contexts. Questions at this level ask students to implement, carry out, use, or execute a procedure or mathematical equation. These three levels test students’ lower-order problem solving skills. The fourth level, analyzing, involves decomposing a complex system into constituent components, determining how the components relate to one another and to an overall structure through differentiating, organizing, and attributing. The next level, evaluating, involves making judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing. The last level, creating, tests students’ ability to assemble a system from components or reorganizing components into a new pattern or structure through generating, planning, or producing. These three levels test students’ higher-order problem solving skills. It is important that we design activities to effect active learning that spans across all the six levels. Furthermore, our activities are designed in a way to appeal to students with different learning styles. Case study based learning is the method we have chosen to realize our goals. Case study based instruction is widely used in schools such as business, law, and medicine, and recently in engineering schools [2, 3, 7]. Cases are real-world problems with solutions. They can be used to teach best practices as well the practices to avoid. National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, University at Buffalo (http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/teaching/ publications/) features several cases for teaching science. In this project, we are constructing our own case study and illustrating its to effect learning at various levels of the revised Bloom’s taxonomy.
3. Source Code Based Metrics Source code based metrics provide ample questions that span across all levels of the revised Bloom’s taxonomy. Metrics plug-in is used to generate several metrics. Remembering level
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rics plug-in on a much smaller code base than Lucene. A programming assignment that the students have done in the past is a good candidate. The metrics plug-in results are not good candidates for analyzing level questions. Metrics plug-in visual summary is an ideal candidate for evaluating level questions. Students make judgments about the quality of Lucene system from a maintenance perspective by examining the visual summary. The instructor provides a set of measures and standards to use in making judgments. The metrics plug-in results are not good candidates for creating level questions. Figure 1. Cyclomatic complexity of methods
4. System Building Using Ant
Figure 2. Weighted methods per class
questions can begin with simple summary statistics. For example, how many packages are there in Lucene? How many classes are there? What is the total number of lines of code? Which method(s) has the highest cyclomatic complexity? Which method(s) has the maximum number of levels of nesting? Which method(s) has the maximum number of locals in scope? Which method(s) has the maximum number of parameters? Which method(s) has the maximum number of statements? Answering these questions is simply a matter of looking up values from Metrics plug-in reports (Figures 1 and 2). The understanding level examines the above questions from a different perspective. Why do we choose the above metrics? What do they represent at a conceptual level? How do we measure them? What range of values are considered normal for each of the metrics? Why is it bad if the values fall outside the range? The applying level requires students demonstrate running the met-
Understanding how to develop build files for automated system building using Ant or Maven is critical to developing large scale software systems. Lucene provides a build file that can be executed using Ant to build the Lucene from its source files. Build files are XML files. We start with a small build file of about 30 lines long and explain the structure of a build file as well as terms and concepts associated with build files. This build file is created for a simple program which is about 200 lines long comprising a few classes. We introduce concepts such as target, task, dependency, path, path element, fileset, property, and patternset. Next we introduce Lucene build file which is over 600 lines long. We then ask students a series of questions constructed at the first three levels of Bloom’s taxonomy (similar to section 3 but in Ant’s context). Students add a new class to Lucene source code and modify the build file, and build the system. This task corresponds to the creating level of the taxonomy.
5. Understanding Unit Tests Test driven development (TDD) espouses the principle that tests should be written first and then the code on which the tests will be applied. Unit tests are part of Lucene source code and are executed during the system building process automatically by Ant. Questions at the first three levels of the taxonomy can be formulated quite easily along the lines discussed in section 3. For example, given a unit test, students need to come up with the method(s) on which the unit test will be applied. Questions will also require students
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to examine the various JUnit constructs such as assertEquals, assertTrue, assertNotNull.
6. Improving Code Design Through Refactoring Refactoring refers to reorganizing internal software structure without changing the external software behavior. Refactoring is primarily done to improve application comprehension and software maintenance. We formulate questions that require students to examine the visual summary to identify targets for refactoring, and the types of refactorings to be performed. For example, source code metrics such as cyclomatic complexity, lines of code in method, number of statements in method, number of locals in scope, number of indentation levels in code, number of method parameters, number of fields in class, weighted methods per class, efferent coupling, and feature envy are all quite useful in identifying potential candidates for refactoring. Furthermore, students reason out why the targets they have identified for refactoring are good candidates. Student are required to implement some small refactorings such as changing the name of a method as well as large ones such as extracting a class. They also build the system after refactorings using Ant to insure that the code still compiles without any errors. The system build fails if any of the unit tests fail.
7. Design Recovery Through Reverse Engineering Recovering design artifacts from the source code is essentially what reverse engineering is. In some cases the original design is lost. More typically, the design is not in synch with the code. This happens as code evolves over a period of time but the design artifacts are not updated. For several OSS projects, design artifacts in the form of UML diagrams are usually not available. Understanding Lucene as a system by just looking at the source code level is tedious, cumbersome, and ineffective. Constructing design artifacts such as class diagrams, collaboration and sequence diagrams using an Eclipse plug-in such as Omondo UML is an important exercise for students to gain appreciation for the artifacts. These exercises con-
tribute to analyzing level of the taxonomy. Students gain insight into the hierarchical structuring of Lucene — system is comprised of packages, packages are comprised of classes, classes encompass methods. Class diagrams reveal relationships between classes such as generalization/specialization, aggregation, and composition. These activities also contribute to evaluating level of the taxonomy.
8. Application Comprehension Application comprehension is sought for various reasons. It may be required for system maintenance (bug fixing). In this case, application comprehension requires intimate knowledge and understanding of the system at all levels of the revised Bloom’s taxonomy. On the other hand, application comprehension for system enhancement requires knowledge and understanding of the system at only the top three levels of the taxonomy. Student activities to promote application comprehension comprise writing a small report narrating the features and functionality of the system, keeping in view that the intended audience for the report are end users and business analysts.
9. Conclusions There are several other activities such as static code analysis using PMD — an Eclipse plug-in [6] — to help automatically detect a wide range of potential defects and unsafe or nonoptimized code (Figure 3). FindBugs is another Eclipse plug-in to help detect potential bugs and performance issues (Figure 4). Lastly, Checkstyle is an Eclipse plug-in that enforces coding conventions and best practice rules for Java. A Checkstyle run flags all such violations. Coding conventions and best practices can be configured in Checkstyle to reflect institutional standards. PMD, FindBugs, and Checkstyle plug-ins provide ample student activities to promote software engineering methods and best practices. We found the approach discussed in this paper to provide an effective backdrop to learn software engineering concepts and principles. Work is underway to perform formative assessment of the approach. We also plan to conduct a summative assessment after addressing the issues that might arise during the formative assessment.
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Figure 3. A sample PMD report
References [1] J. C. Bean. Engaging Ideas. Jossey-Bass, 2001. ISBN: 0787902039. [2] A. Hofsten, C. Gustafsson, and E. Haggstrom. Case seminars open doors to deeper understanding – nursing students’ experiences of learning. Nurse Education Today, 30(6):533–538, 2010. [3] D. Krauss, I. Salame, and L. Goodwyn. Using photographs as case studies to promote active learning in biology. Journal of College Science Teaching, 40(1):72–76, 2010. [4] J. Nandigam, V. Gudivada, and A. Hamou-Lhadj. Learning software engineering principles using open source software. In The 2008 Frontiers in Education Conference, pages S3H–18 – S3H–23, Saratoga Springs, NY, October 2008. [5] L. B. Nilson. Teaching at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors. Jossey-Bass, 3 edition, 2010. ISBN: 978-0-470-40104-0. [6] J. F. Smart. Java Power Tools. O’Reilly, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-596-52793-8. [7] A. Yadav, G. Shaver, and P. Meckl. Lessons learned: Implementing the case teaching method in a mechanical engineering course. Journal of Engineering Education, 99(1):55–69, 2010.
Figure 4. A sample FindBugs report
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Experimental Teaching Innovation of Intelligent Sensor System Course for Educating Innovative Ability of Students Yong Zhang, Jingyuan Zhang, Xiaohui Song, Weihua Jiang, Jin Wang, Yinghua Wang, Jipeng Lin, Junhua Liu State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, Xi'an Jiaotong University Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710049, China and Xiaoping Song School of Science, Xi'an Jiaotong University Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710049, China intelligent sensor system experiments on electric parameters and non-electric parameters, such as temperature, pressure, displacement, current and voltage, were constructed. Each experiment is composed of four stages including self-learning, self-training, self-application and self-improvement, and has detailed instructions to guide the students. By doing the work above, one distinctive experimental platform and a new experimental teaching mode, being focused on educating the abilities of practice and innovation, have been formed.
ABSTRACT In traditional experiments, the students are usually required to observe the experimental phenomena and grasp the functions of instruments, and are not taught on the methods how to realize the functions. And consequently they can not firmly grasp knowledge they have learned. For overcoming the shortcomings of the traditional experiments, the experimental teaching innovation was conducted in one of graduate degree courses, Intelligent Sensor System. A novel experimental teaching mode was proposed, having four progressive and interactive stages such as self-learning, self-training, self-application and selfimprovement. One experiment of SVM (Support Vector Machine) technology for improving the stability of system is introduced in detail. Through the experimental teaching innovation within five years, the students without professional knowledge on measurement could fully understand the principle of experiments, and grasp the function of experimental instrument and the realization methods of the functions. It indicates that the experimental teaching innovation mode could make the students learning by analogy and applying their knowledge, and thereby upgrading the innovative ability of students.
2. THE NOVEL EXPERIMENTAL TEACHING MODE WITH FOUR PROGRESSIVE AND INTERACTIVE STAGES In this paper, the novel experimental teaching mode with four progressive and interactive stages is introduced in detail, according to its application in the experiment of SVM technology for improving the stability of system. The guidance of the experiment is shown in Figure 1. Four stages are included in the process of the experiment, which are self-learning stage, self-training stage, self-application stage and self-improvement stage. Self-learning In the stage of self-learning, the students are guided to prepare the related theory, review the knowledge they have learned systematically on the course of Intelligent Sensor System, log in the remote control website (http://weblab.xjtu.edu.cn >> Instrument library >> Advanced Functional Instruments >> Multi-sensor Data Fusion Instrument with SVM), and learn the basic knowledge and functions of SVM. This stage introduces functions and operation methods of two kinds of SVM prototypes developed by LabVIEW software, the basic knowledge of experimental modeling and the principle of SVM. By doing that the students without professional knowledge on measurement can also systematically understand the principles and functions of SVM, especially those on eliminating the interference, improving the precision of the system and establishing accurate experimental inverse model of the system.
Keywords: experimental teaching mode, Teaching innovation, Innovative ability, Intelligent sensor, Support vector machine 1. INTRODUCTION Traditional experimental teaching system has the characteristic of strong specialty, and most experiments are simulation ones for explaining the experimental principles. In traditional experiments, students conduct experiment according to the given procedure in experiment guide book. Students are completely passive during the whole process of the experiment, and consequently are not interested in experimental content and experimental methods. Therefore, it is hard for traditional experimental teaching mode to realize the cultivation of practical ability and comprehensive quality of students [1-3]. Reform and innovation are strongly needed in the content and practice part of the experiments in order to educate practical ability and innovative consciousness of students [1, 4-6]. For this reason, the experimental teaching innovation is conducted by using the latest generation of instrument, virtual instrument, and the novel experimental teaching mode with four progressive and interactive stages, based on the traditional experiments of one graduate degree course, Intelligent Sensor System. The experimental teaching platform was established based on “sensor + amplifier + data acquisition card + computer”. And the
For the positive model, the input is the measurand x, and the output is the response of the system y. For the inverse model, the input is y, and the output is the fusion values of the measurand x. SVM technology can be used to establish the inverse model of the system. The structure of the inverse model has three layers, the input layer, the hidden layer and the output layer. In the input layer, the input is composed of Y , viz. the support vector being tested, as well as N support vectors Yi ( i=1, 2, ĂĂ, N). There
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ª¬ y1i , y2i ," , y ji º¼ . The hidden layer is composed of N same kernel functions K(Y, Yi). The kernel function (for example the linear kernel, the polynomial kernel or RBF kernel) can be chosen according to different situations and whether the test results of SVM meet the requirements of applications. The output of output layer is the calculation value xc(Y) corresponding to the measurand x. The structure of SVM is shown in Figure 2, and the weights Di and the offset b can be obtained after training and testing. Then the relationship between the calculation value xc(Y) and support vector Y, viz. the inverse model, can be obtained as Eq. (1).
the pressure sensor under the conditions of the operating current fluctuation interference. This exercise provides experimental data for another experiment in the third stage.
are j outputs for each support vector Yi , Yi
x c Y
N
¦ D i K Y ,Yi b
Through the experimental learning of the three basic exercises, students could grasp the method on how to set the kernel functions and parameters of the SVM design prototypes when solving different problems. Additionally, these exercises educate the students having the ability of finding problems keenly and the ability of constructing virtual sensor system. Self- application Self-application stage focuses on the practice of application, and has three subjects. (1) Project One is to identify the species of gas in the mixture of SO2 and NO2 using the qualitative identification prototype of SVM, and students prepare samples by themselves. As one qualitative identification prototype of SVM can only give qualitative identification result such as "yes" or "no" for one gas, students need to be guided to construct two SVM prototypes operating in parallel for identifying four modes of the mixture with two components. (2) Project Two is to realize accurately measurement of infrared gas sensors in the mixture of SO2 and NO2 under the condition of cross-sensitivity, using the quantitative analysis prototype of SVM, and samples are also made by students themselves. The cross-sensitivity is explained as follows. When changing the concentration of only one component in the mixture of SO2 and NO2, and keeping the concentrations of the other component unchanged, the output voltages of both the two gas sensors vary. (3) Project Three is to process the calibration data of pressure sensor obtained in Exercise Three of self-training stage, make samples and eliminate the cross-sensitivity of the fluctuation of operating current by using the quantitative analysis prototype of SVM.
(1)
i 1
When the kernel function is linear, which is the inner product of Y and Yi, the kernel function can be written as K Y,Yi
j
¦y
k
yki , and then Eq. (1) can be written as Eq. (2).
k 1
x c Y
§
N
j
¦D ¨ ¦ y i
i 1
©k
1
k
· yki ¸ b ¹
(2)
Different inverse model can be obtained when different kernel function with different expression is substituted into the Eq. (1). The function and usage of two kinds of SVM design prototypes, qualitative identification prototype (Fig. 3) and quantitative analysis prototype (Fig. 4), are introduced in detail in this stage. The qualitative identification prototype is used for qualitative pattern recognition, and the quantitative analysis prototype is used for quantitative analysis under conditions of mixed species. Data files with samples inside for the prototypes should be written in a prescribed form. It needs to be noted that training samples should not be all the same as testing samples. When samples are sufficient, training samples and testing samples can be totally different. For example, samples with odd number sequence could be chosen as training samples, and samples with even number sequence as testing samples. Both prototypes have the functions such as inputting training and testing samples, setting number of SVM structure parameters, training and testing of SVM, outputting and displaying the SVM structure parameters and testing results. All these functions can be achieved by clicking on different control buttons on the front panel of the prototype and thereby invoking different software. When training, the training samples are inputted into SVM design prototypes. When testing, the values of Di (i = 1, 2, …, N) and offset b are already obtained, and the testing results can be calculated according to Eq. (1) by substituting the testing samples into the SVM structure. After the students understand the above basic knowledge, there are also related preparation exercises for the student to finish. In this way, the students could have a further understanding of related knowledge.
Through the experimental learning of the three projects, students can grasp sample preparation methods when using SVM prototypes to solve different application problems, and the ways to solve complex application problems. Problem-solving abilities of students are greatly upgraded through the application in this stage. Self-improvement In the second and third stage described above, the structural parameters of SVM (such as the kernel function and its parameters, the weights and the offsets) are obtained, and thereby the inverse model of measurement system is also obtained. However, the problem is how to use the structural parameters of the well tested SVM to obtain the corresponding output of any measured samples. This requires the transplant of the SVM structure. After SVM structural parameters are determined, the inverse model of the system based on SVM could be programmed according to the Eq. (1) in other environment (software environment such as MATLAB, C language, or hardware environment such as MCU, DSP). After substituting the test sample Ytest into Eq. (1), an accurate output xc(Ytest) could be obtained, and consequently real-time measurement could be realized.
Self-training There are three basic exercises in self-training stage. (1) Exercise One is qualitative diagnosis of diabetes, using qualitative identification prototype of SVM and sample data of diabetes cases provided by the prototype. (2) Exercise Two is to realize accurate measurement of pressure using pressure sensors under the conditions of the operating current fluctuation interference, using the quantitative analysis prototype of SVM and samples provided by the prototype. (3) Exercise Three is the basic exercise of designing the virtual pressure sensor system. The content of this exercise is to construct virtual pressure sensor system (Fig. 5) with pressure sensor, piston oil pressure meter, amplifier, data acquisition card and computer, and then calibrate
3. REQUIREMENTS OF EXPERIMENTAL REPORTS SUBMITTED 1)
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Record, save the experimental data: SVM structural parameters, testing results and deviation curve of the test results, and write out the data processing steps and results;
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2) 3)
Answer the questions of each experiment; Summarize the problems encountered in experiments and the corresponding solutions.
decreases by nearly 3 times. In the third project, the students fit the calibration data of the pressure sensor by themselves, and the current sensitivity coefficient after SVM fitting decreases by nearly 1 time when compared with that before fitting, leading to the effective improvement of the stability of the pressure sensor. These experiments on application projects enable students to master how to make training samples and testing samples for SVM, and how to solve complex engineering practice problem by SVM prototypes. As a result, the ability of the students on solving problems is educated greatly.
4. EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS The instruments and equipments are supplied as follows in the experiment of improving the stability of the system with SVM technology. 1)
2) 3) 4) 5)
Pressure sensor system: JCY-120 silicon piezoresistive sensors (rated operational current of 20mA), DC stabilized voltage source, a milliammeter and a current-limiting resistance; Standard pressure generator: YS-6 piston manometer and the weights (0 0.6MPa); YE3817 strain amplifier, Lab-PCI-6024E data acquisition card and a computer; The qualitative identification design prototype of SVM; The quantitative analysis design prototype of SVM.
Four class hours are supplied in self-improvement stage for students to transplant well trained SVM structure, and then complete measurement. Students program the corresponding equations according to SVM output expressions under the conditions of different kernel functions (e.g., use Eq. (2) for linear kernel function), realize the transplantation of SVM, and then conduct measurement by the programs after transplanted. For example, in the second exercise of the self-training stage, the maximum deviation of test results of the inverse model of the pressure sensor is 0.025MPa at the test pressure of 0.6Mpa. After transplantation, the maximum deviation measured by transplanted inverse model is 0.0262MPa at the measurement value of 0.6Mpa. It shows that the deviation of the measuring result after transplanting is almost as small as that of the test result of SVM. By transplanting the inverse model of the SVM, students could conduct the real-time measurement, and have a deeper understanding of the principles of SVM. And consequently it is possible for the students to have the abilities of learning by analogy and applying their knowledge.
5. ANALYSIS ON EXPERIMENTAL REPORTS Through reviewing 90 pieces of experimental reports from 90 graduates of two grades, the analysis is as follows. Four class hours are supplied for students to prepare the content of the experiment systematically and comprehensively in selflearning stage. By preparing the basic knowledge and finishing preparation exercises, students could have a comprehensive understanding of the basis of experimental content, even for those who did not have professional knowledge on measurement. By doing this, the self-learning ability of students can be educated. Two preparation exercises are given in the following two aspects: (1) The basic knowledge on SVM; (2) How to operate SVM prototypes. In this stage, students are required to finish the two preparation exercises, which will be checked by teacher before entering the next stage. After finishing the tasks in self-learning stage, students could be allowed to enter the next stage.
According to the statistic on experimental reports of 40 graduates before the reform and 90 graduates of two grades after the reform, the percentage of excellent and good grades rises markedly after the reform of the experimental teaching mode with four progressive and interactive stages. The result of the statistic is shown in Figure 6, which shows that the percentage of graduates who can complete the study of self-application and self-improvement stages rises when compared with the traditional experiments. All the facts indicate that the number of graduates who can learn by analogy and apply their knowledge is rising after learning in the novel experimental teaching mode with four progressive and interactive stages.
Four class hours are supplied for students to finish the content of three experiments in self-training stage. For example, in Exercise One, the diagnosis precision of diabetes reaches 100% by setting structural parameters of SVM reasonably. In Exercise Two, the current sensitivity of the pressure sensor after SVM fitting decreases almost an order of magnitude when compared with that before SVM fitting. The stability of the pressure sensor improved greatly. Through these exercises, students master the functions of species identification and quantitative analysis of SVM, and the methods on how to operate SVM design prototypes, how to set up measuring system and calibrate the static parameters of measuring system. Meanwhile, students are inspired by questions after each exercise to analyze experiment phenomena and make conclusions, and thereby the ability of students on finding problems keenly is educated.
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Four class hours are supplied for students to complete the content of three projects in self-application stage. For example, in the first project, the precision of qualitative identification on mixture of two kinds of gases reaches 100% by using two SVM prototypes. In the second project, the infrared gas sensors are used for detecting mixture gas of two components, and the cross sensitivity coefficient of SO2 gas sensor influenced by NO2
Figure 6. The result of the statistic on the percentage of excellent and good grades
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finding problem keenly and solving problem, and the innovative ability to learn by analogy and to apply their knowledge. The novel teaching innovation mode has also been popularized and applied in the teaching innovation of other five undergraduate courses and graduate courses, leading to the outstanding success in educating the innovative ability of students, and thereby obtaining the second Award of National Teaching Achievement of 2009.
6. QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSES ON IMPLEMENTATION EFFECT OF TEACHING REFORM One hundred and six copies of questionnaires have been sent to graduate students in grade 2004. The result summarized from the questionnaires is shown as follows. Students had a deep understanding of the experimental teaching method proposed by us through four stages of learning in intelligent sensor system experimental courses. 99 percent of graduate students replied that they had already had a basic understanding of four stages focusing on educating students' innovative ability. 97 percent of graduate students replied that their practical ability has been improved a lot. 57 percent of graduate students replied that their innovation ability in intelligent sensor technology has been greatly improved. And 43 percent of graduate students replied that their ability has been improved. The result of questionnaires shows that the novel experimental teaching mode with four progressive and interactive stages we proposed achieves remarkable results.
8. REFERENCES [1]
[2]
[3]
7. CONCLUSION The novel experimental teaching mode with four progressive and interactive stages, such as self-learning, self-training, selfapplication and self-improvement, has been put in practice in one graduate degree course of Intelligent Sensor System of Xi'an Jiaotong University of China. The characteristic experiment platform and effective technical support for students has been established and provided, and consequently the students could master the intelligent sensing technology and establish the intelligent sensor system within the experiment time span of sixteen hours. The four progressive and interactive stages make the students having the self-learning ability, the ability on
[4]
[5]
[6]
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N. L. Fortenberry, J. J. Powlik. “Helping to shape the future of education.” IEEE Transactions on Education, 1997, 40 (4): 8. S. H. Li, R. Challoo. “Restructuring an electric machinery course with an integrative approach and computer-assisted teaching methodology.” IEEE Transactions on Education, 2006, 49 (1): 16-28. S. Ghosh. “An exercise in inducing creativity in undergraduate engineering students through challenging examinations and open-ended design-problems.” IEEE Transactions on Education, 1993, 36 (1): 113-119. C. J. Steiner. “Educating for innovation and management: The engineering educators' dilemma.” IEEE Transactions on Education, 1998, 48 (1): 1-7. C. R. Smaill. “The implementation and evaluation of a university-based outreach laboratory program in electrical engineering.” IEEE Transactions on Education, 2010, 53 (1): 12-17 X. P. Song, S. L. Jia, S. Yang. “Laboratory construction and management innovation.” Laboratory research and exploration of China, 2009, 28 (3): 254-256, 259.
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Stage of self-learning (four class hours)
Test scores of each part Self-learningü20’
Preparation report needs to be submitted before entering the next stage Stage of self-training Educating problem-finding skills (four class hours) Exercise one: diagnosis of diabetes by using SVM Exercise two: using SVM to eliminate the cross- sensitivity of pressure sensor Exercise three: constructing and calibrating the pressure sensor systems
Stage of self-application Educating problem-solving skills (four class hours) Subject one: using SVM to eliminate the cross - sensitivity of gas sensors for identification of gas species Subject two: using SVM to eliminate cross-sensitivity of gas sensors for improving measurement precision Subject three: using SVM to eliminate the cross- sensitivity of operating current
Stage of self-improvement (four class hours) Transplantation and reconstruction of SVM
Self-trainingü30’
Self-applicationü30’
Self-improvementü20’
Figure 1. The experimental instruction for improving the stability of the system with SVM
x c Y
Output
Output layer
D1
b
D 2 " DN
Hidden layer
K Y , Y2 " K Y ,YN
K Y ,Y1
... Ă
Y
Y1
Y 2 " Yi
" YN
Figure 2. Schematic diagram of SVM
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Figure 3. The qualitative analysis prototype of SVM
Figure 4. The quantitative analysis prototype of SVM
YS-6 Type Piston oil pressure meter
CYJ-101 Piezoresistive pressure sensor
YE3817 Type Strain Amplifier
Figure 5. Virtual pressure sensor system
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Lab-PCI-6024E Data acquisition card
Display on PC Virtual voltmeter
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Facilitation of information exhange between genetic research, primary health care and decision makers using a regional diabetes register DIREVA (Diabetes Register Vaasa) Tom Forsén 1,2, Kaj Lahti2, Johan Eriksson1, Tiinamaija Tuomi3, Bo Isomaa4, Leif Groop5 1)University of Helsinki 2) Vasa central hospital and health care centre 3)Helsinki university hospital 4)Jakobstad hospital, 5) Lund university
Background: Diabetes is a heterogenic disease which affects a significant proportion of the population leading to great health care costs. Rather than a single entity it is a heterogenic cluster of different diabetes subtypes. There is insufficient knowledge on the clinical diabetes subtypes, associated genes and the effect of treatment. The genetic profile has great potential to improve the long term prognosis with early genetically tailored treatment in order to minimize complications. Clinicians need to have access to the most recent information on the effect of treatment according to patient diabetes subtype. Since the diabetes phenotype may be changing over time, clinical information needs to be collected continuously in order to determine the distribution of the subtypes, the incidence, the prognosis and the outcome of the disease. The aim is classify the diabetes subtypes using clinical, immunological, physiological and genetic methods and to follow up the effect of treatment in these groups.
registers. Information on diabetes is facilitated between all levels: clinicians, researchers and decision makers. Relaying information has grown to be an important part of it to motivate various involved parties to collect data. A web based feedback system has been developed in order to enable information transfer between the main actors; primary health care providers and researchers. Clinicians as well as decision makers need more information quality of care and allocated resources. Due to this, the web register is also connected to laboratory and electronic medical records and is able produce reports according to diabetes subtype. This enables standardized periodical reports on patient statistics and quality indicators of care between different care providers and the register provides up to date information for clinicians and decision makers in the region. The register is also a tool intended to stimulate diabetes research in itself by creating a ready and easily accessed database for clinicians interested in following up their patients. Synergistic effects are achieved by using collected data for multiple purposes.
Methods: DIREVA is a population based diabetes register in western Finland which aims to collect genotypic and phenotypic information on all diabetes patients in the region. Information is collected from primary health care and hospital outpatient care. Based on this information, the research group will develop an explorative diabetes subtype classification. Clinicians use the register as a complement to the electronic medical record to provide structured patient clinical information to researchers. A feedback system has been built to relay information on diabetes subtype and available knowledge on genetically based therapy to primary health care. In this way primary health care providers receive better detailed knowledge of the disease subtype and individualized treatment recommendations when available. In return the geneticists receive genotypic and phenotypic information on patients. Information on disease progression is collected by linkage of the register to electronic medical records or entered by the clinicians and this provides follow up data of patients
Conclusions: In the future, the use of electronic medical records should extend from traditional clinical use. The records should also be able to serve as portals for giving clinicians individualized patient information based most recent research information, provide quality assurance data, and be used as research tools.
Results: Due to the high level of physician and researcher input, the register produces unique high quality data on diabetes subtype and outcome compared with standard
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Competing with Internet III, Twitter, Web 2.0 and Recruiting Strategies for MSIM Students Donald K. Hsu Dominican College of Blauvelt Division of Business Administration Orangeburg, New York, USA
Abstract Undergraduate IT enrollment, were down. Master Degree program in Information System Management (MISM) was struggling. Internet III, Twitter and Web 2.0 (ITW) are new fads. Students used ITW nonstop, in the classroom. Interactive teaching got their attention. Students turned off ITWs. Case studies provided communication and leadership skills. Results: MSIM enrollment was increased and a full-time faculty was hired. Keywords: Internet III, Twitter, Web 2.0, Case Studies, Full-time Faculty Hired
EISTA conferences have existed for many years.
percentage of incoming undergraduate students
Using PowerPoint lectures allowed students to
who indicated they would major in computer
retain
[2]
science programs was 15,958 in Fall 2000 and
discussed the importance of incorporating Web
7,798 in Fall 2006. As a result, there are very
2.0 technologies for IT curriculum. Tupper [3]
few students interested to pursue a Master
implemented the strategies to increase women
Degree in Information System Management
and minority enrollment using the Grace Hopper
(MISM).
more
information
[1].
Sendall
Scholars Program under the support of National
Dominican College*
Science Foundation. The Computing Research
The College is located 15 miles northwest of
Association Taulbee Survey showed that the
New York City. The Business Division offers
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two IT programs, one in Computer Information
conferences, who created the curriculum and the
System (CIS), and the other in Management
way we taught the course, were the problems.
Information System (MIS). As of the Spring
The strategies to deal with these issues were
Semester of 2011, the College student population
presented as Part One, of this paper.
was about 2100 with 3 CIS and 18 MIS majors
Keller Graduate School Management**
representing 1%. Other programs are: Arts and
Keller is part of the DeVry University (DV)
Science,
system. DV is a for-profit firm that has a
Education,
Nursing,
Occupational
Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Social Science.
significant impact to University Education.
Competing with Internet III, Twitter and
Keller has 85 locations offering online/onsite
Web 2.0 (ITW)
courses yearly to 20,000 professionals in USA. It
Since 1996, internet e-commerce has quickly
trades in the stock market under the stock
become the new mechanism for doing business.
symbol DV. The price was $44.62 as of 5/22/11.
Internet III, the mobile device, would become the
The Oracle based DV eLearning platform (eDV),
major connection tool for most people in the
is a very powerful learning tool for students. DV
world 2020 [4]. Twitter (instant messages up to
eCollege helpdesk is available 24/7 and 365
140 characters) got hundreds of followers [5].
days, with toll free telephone and online support.
Web 2.0 site Facebook got 600 million users.
Registered MBA students signed on eDV to
Students played video games on their cell
preview course syllabus, chapters, assignments
phones, BlackBerrys and iPods. Yet, when it
and references. Instructor’s screen contained the
came to choosing a major in college/university,
same materials, but instructor could modify
they did not choose Business/IT. Why? Calculus
assignments, create the grade book, and receive
and quantitative analysis discouraged them. Few
assignments online. Quizzes with multiple
women Business professors turned the young
choices and true/false questions were graded by
women away. Many students did not even take
eDV.
one computer course in four years. The IS Model
displayed on eDV. Students answered them in
Curriculum is no longer serving the needs of the
the threaded manner, and instructor graded the
society.
responses easily. Midterm exam could be done
We,
the
professors
at
EISTA
290
Threaded discussion questions were
Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
online if needed. Team or individual project
among information systems, organizations, and
guideline was posted on eDV. The important
business processes.
thing to cover was the terminal course objective
TCO C - Given the demanding and changing role
(TCO). eDV provided a detailed TCO for each
of corporate databases, evaluate various tools,
course. From 2007 to 2009, this author taught
technology and trends that can make databases
these courses at Keller MBA program: 1.
more useful.
Management
Information
TCO D - Given a business scenario, examine and
Technology, 2. Database Concepts, 3. Project
explain the management issues and difficulties,
Management Systems [6], 4. Contract and
and analyze the applicability of potential
Procurement System [7].
solutions
A. Management Application of Information
communication networks, systems security and
Technology course
controls,
The course investigated how technology changes
Extranets.
the way we communicate, make decisions,
TCO E - Given a high-level description of a
manage people, and manage business processes.
corporate information system, evaluate the issues
There were seven terminal course objectives
involved with effectively managing information
(TCO):
system
TCO A- Given a description of business
(hardware, software).
pressures
requiring
TCO F - Given a business problem that requires
information systems solutions, describe the
an information systems solution, write a plan to
evolution, the current state, and the trends in
address the problem using an information
information
systems planning approach that recognizes the
in
Application
the
digital
technology
and
of
firm
solutions
that
surrounding
and
assets,
the
wired
Internet,
resources,
and
wireless
Intranets,
and
and
processes
address those from a functional perspective.
role of information systems in business process
TCO B- Given a business scenario, explain how
re-engineering and other types of organizational
information systems can be used for strategic
change.
competitive advantages and the relationship
TCO G - Given a business scenario, examine and explain the ethical, social, political, and security
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Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
issues facing managers in the digital firm and how these issues affect the incorporation of
B. Database Concept course
information systems.
Laudon [8] was the
This author taught this course in Sept. 2007 with
textbook. This author taught this course in Sept.
5 MBA students and in Nov. 2008 with 11 MBA
2008 with 27 MBA students and in March 2009
students. Textbook used was Kroenke [9]. The
with 25 MBA students. It was a lot of work for
course covered data definition, data modeling,
students to learn 14 chapters in eight weeks. Each
database
class started with the PowerPoint slides and
implementation in the context of the relational
followed by interactive discussion. No one was
model. Relative advantages and disadvantages of
doing ITW, amazing. Using real-life cases in IBM,
database models were considered from a
Oracle, Siebel Systems, Sun Microsystems,
management standpoint. Coursework examined
students were able to understand enterprise
basic managerial issues for database publishing
computing, application database server, customer
on the Web, and for multi-user and enterprise
relationship management, and Java programming.
database processing. A term project had five
Online threaded discussion was worth 100 points.
components: 1. project proposal, 2. entity
Two quizzes were counted for 300 points. Final
relation diagram, 3. normalization and relational
exam (400 points) was conducted on the closed-
model, 4. sample data entry form, and 5. sample
book and closed-notes basis at the last class
report. The software used was Microsoft Access
(Week Eight), 3.5 hours. A research project (200
2007. There was no prerequisite for this course.
points) was due in Week Seven. Students (in
Many of them did not know MS Access. After
groups) employed books, magazines, internet
hours of “hands-on” and team work, they were
search, to find information on: client server,
able to learn MS Access. Then they were able to
database, e-business, executive support system,
complete the term projects.
access,
command
language,
and
IS acquisition, open source and outsourcing issues. The firms chosen were: Amazon, Apple
Avtech, BlueData, Netcom and Xincon**
Computer, Cisco, Dell, Ebay, SAP, Microsoft,
Even with outsourcing, the projection for IT jobs
and Oracle.
in year 2012, will be 1.6 million. Training
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companies BlueData, Netcom, and Xincon in New York and Avtech in New Jersey did very
Acknowledgment
well [6]. The job market varies from city to city.
Dr. Andres Fortino and Dr. Michael Hamlet, of
In the New York area, IT jobs are back with
Keller Graduate School were very gracious to
2570 in Java, 1120 in C#, and 5396 in Project
hire this author to teach MBA courses. Thank
Manager; paying $40,000 to $200,000 yearly for
Kathy Fan and Gary Mao of Avtech Institute
entry-level to senior manager positions.
Technology,
Jason
Recruiting Strategies
International,
Russell
At Keller Graduate School Management, the
Information Technology, and Mike Guo at
students may pursue a Master Degree in
Xincon Technology for the opportunity to train
Information Systems Management (MSIM).
their clients/students.
These courses are part of the requirement. This
Conclusion
author received good to excellent evaluations.
Management Information Systems, Database,
Student population in MSIM was steadily
Programming, Project Management courses,
increased. As a result, a full-time faculty was
were developed and taught at six organizations to
hired.
1500+ people by this author since 1999. Using
Client/Student Feedback
“hands-on”
•
•
•
Sarder
in-class
BlueData of
Netcom
team
work,
homework assignment, case studies, internet
students with assignments.
search, and final projects with oral presentation
I respect IT because of this class and the
will provide students the best chance of success.
things I learned.
Student enrollment at
Professor Hsu used real world database
increased and a full-time faculty was hired.
Keller
*Full-time position
Dr. Hsu explained everything in details
**Part-time consultant
and never missed a beat. •
of
Professor is very willing to help
examples, very informative. •
approach,
Chen
This was the best course I ever took at Keller MBA program.
293
References
MISM was
Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
[1] Mahar, S., Yaylacicegi, U. and Janicki, T. N.,
[6]
Hsu,
D.
K.,
2006,
“From
Project
2008, “Less is More When Developing
Management to Project Unlimited”,
PowerPoint Animations”, Proceeding of
Proceeding of ISECON conference,
ISECON Conference Phoenix, Arizona,
ISSN 1542-7382, Dallas, Texas, #3134.
ISSN 1542-7382, #3115.
[7] Hsu, D. K., 2009, “Case Studies in Contract
[2] Sendall, P., Ceccucci, W., and Peslak, A. R.,
and
Procurement
Management”,
2008, “Got Web 2.0? A Review of Web
Program E-Leader conference, Kuala
2.0 Tools for the Information Systems
Lumpur,
Curriculum”, Proceeding of ISECON Conference,
Phoenix,
Arizona,
ISSN 1542-7382, #3135.
Gore, M. E., 2008, “Strategies for Increasing IT Enrollment: Recruiting, Retaining and Encouraging the Transfer Women
Groups
to
Proceeding of Phoenix,
and
Underrepresented
Four-Year
Colleges”,
ISECON Conference,
Arizona,
http://www.g-
casa.com, ISSN 1935-4819, Chinese American Scholars Association, New York, New York, January.
[3] Tupper, D. H., Leitherer, B., Sorkin, S., and
of
Malaysia,
ISSN 1542-7382,
#1513. [4] Anderson, J. Q. and Lee, R., 2008, “Future of the Internet III: How the Expetrts see It”,
http://www.pewresearch.org. [5] Comm, J., 2009, “Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Twitter at A Time”, Wiley, New York, NY.
294
[8] Laudon, J. P. and Laudon, K. C., 2007, “Management Managing
the
Information Digital
Systems:
Firm”,
10th
Edition, Prentice-Hall, NJ. [9] Kroenke, D. M., 2007, “Database Processing: Fundamentals,
Design,
and
Implementation”, 10th Edition, Prentice Hall, NJ.
Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
Competing with Internet III, Twitter, Web 2.0 and Recruiting Women Business IT Majors Donald K. Hsu Dominican College of Blauvelt Division of Business Administration Orangeburg, New York, USA
Abstract Student enrollment in IT (computer science,
Keywords: Internet III, Twitter, Web 2.0, Team
information systems, etc) was done 30 to 80
Exercise, Case Studies, Recruiting Women
percent. Survey using SPSS could not provide any solutions. Working with high school
EISTA and other computer conferences have
guidance counselor did not work. Outsourcing in
existed for many years. Only 42% freshmen
IT jobs gave bad news. Internet III, Twitter and
earned
Web 2.0 (ITW) are the new fads. Students used
competency test [1]. Using PowerPoint lectures
ITW non-stop, in the classroom. Yet women
allowed students to retain more information [2].
would not major in business or IT. Using
Mathis [3] developed an introductory course that
interactive question/answer in the classroom,
retained women majors. Sendall [4] employed
coupled with PowerPoint presentation, got
the use of Web 2.0 technologies. Snyder [5]
student attention. They slowly turned off their
worked with high school guidance counselors
ITWs. “Hands-on” in-class exercises put them to
and teachers. Tupper [6] implemented strategies
work as teams. Case studies on final projects
to increase women and minority enrollment
helped them to gain communication and
using a grant from National Science Foundation.
leadership
The Computing Research Association Taulbee
skills.
Results:
women
become
Business or IT majors.
passing
grades
for
the
computer
Survey showed that the percentage of incoming undergraduate students who indicated they
295
Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
would major in computer science programs was
drafted
15,958 in Fall 2000 and 7,798 in Fall 2006.
monitor employee activities on Twitter [9].
However, the recent survey indicated the total IT
Students played video games on their cell
enrollment was up 6.2 percent from 2007 to
phones, BlackBerrys and iPods. Yet, when it
2008, first increase in six years.
came to choosing a major in college/university,
Dominican College
they did not choose Business/IT. Why? Calculus
“social
computing
guidelines”,
to
The College is located 15 miles northwest of
and quantitative analysis discouraged them. Lack
New York City. The Business Division offers
of women Business professors turned the young
two IT programs, one in Computer Information
women away. Many students did not even take
System (CIS), and the other in Management
one computer course in four years. The IS Model
Information System (MIS). As of the Spring
Curriculum no longer serves the needs of the
Semester of 2011, the College student population
society.
was about 2100 with 3 CIS and 18 MIS majors
conferences, who created the curriculum and the
representing 1%. Other programs are: Arts and
way we taught the course, are the major
Science,
problems.
Education,
Nursing,
Occupational
We,
the
professors
at
EISTA
Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Social Science.
B. Computer Literacy course
A. Competing with Internet III, Twitter and
This is the introductory course for any freshman.
Web 2.0 (ITW)
It is difficult to stop student ITW in the
Since 1996, internet e-commerce has quickly
classroom. Professors have three choices: 1.
become the new mechanism for doing business.
enforce the no-ITW policy, 2. ignore them and
Internet III, the mobile device, would become the
continue to teach, and 3. find a way to get their
major connection tool for most people in the
attention. No-ITW policy did not work. Students
world 2020 [7]. Twitter (instant messages up to
would simply take courses with professor in #2.
140 characters) got hundreds of followers [8].
The best solution is #3. On the first day of class,
Web 2.0 Facebook signed up 600 million users
ask everyone to write down his/her name,
worldwide.
blocked
address, email address, major, advisor, and what
employee access to some Web 2.0 sites. IBM
he/she expects to learn in this course. The
Enterprise
Rent-A-Car
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Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
syllabus needs to be clear on: attendance policy,
and ask students to give feedback on its good
lecture chapters, quiz dates/format, homework
points and bad points. Can business use Twitter?
due dates, research paper, midterm and final
How should companies monitor the use of
exam format. Each class consisted of lecture,
Twitter? Should Twitter charge the user? Which
discussion and/or “hands-on” work. While
is a faster access to search for items, Google or
lecturing, Mary was twittering non-stop. Walked
Ask.com? Show the students you can ping to
over to her, and said “Very interesting. Is this
ask.com and it is much faster than Google
your ex-boyfriend?” This got her immediate
search.
attention. She would turn her cell-phone off for
them on the computer to search for answers. Ask
about three seconds. John was on the iPod, he
students to write answers on a piece of paper,
tried to find out what was going on. Asked John
and hand in the paper before they leave the
a question and he would not know the answer.
room. They are allowed to work with their peers.
Back to Mary, she did not know either. Then
Instructor will check their work individually.
asked Jacob, he always paid attention. This way,
Using ATM debit card and VISA credit card, one
all three of them learned. Another strategy is to
can explain the use of COBOL programming
talk about topics of their interest. Ask them
language on the mainframe, still existing today.
about the Apple Stores. What is a killer
Teaching DOS got the student instant respect
application for iPod? Name the top three
because they did not learn DOS in high school.
downloads for iPod. Are these free downloads?
Comparisons of C#, Java, and Visual Basic were
Why or why not? Who created these iPod
made. IT careers would be thoroughly covered.
downloads? Is there any money to be made?
Students never heard about Dice.com. They were
Who are the programmers that work for Apple
impressed with IT salary. This was the recruiting
Inc? Is programmer just a nerd, who sits behind a
course for IT majors for the past 10 years.
desk all day? What is the difference between
C. One-Credit Computer Courses
iPod, BlackBerry and Google Android? Who is
12+ one-credit courses were offered including
the Founder of Facebook? What was his major in
Adobe Photoshop, Internet, MS Access, MS
College? Sign on to Twitter.com. Experiment it,
Excel, MS PowerPoint, MS Publisher MS Word
297
Since no one knows the answer, put
Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
and Web Design. Each course met twice per
Apple iPod, BlackBerry, LG Cell, MS Xbox,
week for one hour and fifteen minutes each, for
Nintendo Wii, Nokia Cell, Palm Treo, and
five weeks. There was no prerequisite. Lecture
Samsung Cell. In 2010, Mel Electronics Kit was
was kept at a minimum. Students did the “hands-
added. Mel consisted of three parts, about 300
on” exercises that came with the work book.
“hands-on” projects that students could perform
Student could complete three one-credit courses
in groups. This author taught a class using MEL
in one semester. Upon completion of six one-
in Summer 2010. Students loved it.
credit courses, the student received a “Certificate
E. Programming/System courses
in Personal Computers” approved by the State of
CIS/MIS majors had to take two different
New York. These courses have been popular
programming
among
programming course, in C#, Java, or Visual
non-business/non-IT
majors.
Many
courses,
and
one
advanced
students changed their majors to business or IT.
Basic. This author taught these programming
D. Applied Electronics course
courses [10]. The final project consisted of a 10-
This course covers the basic concept and
15 page paper, and 12-20 PowerPoint slides.
applications of electronics. Starting with resistor,
Final Java projects were: ColorChooser, Java
capacitor, microprocessor, then discussed a full
Server
system and consumer products. Using video
WebLogic, WebSphere, and XML [11]. Final
streams from Cnet.com, different features of
system and database projects were: IBM DB2,
Sonos, Xbox, etc were discussed. At Dominican
Intel ISMART, MySQL, Oracle 9i, PeopleSoft,
College, Business majors took this course, to
Sakroc Formula Management System, and
satisfy the science requirement. Four “hands-on”
Sybase Adaptive Server.
labs were done in class: 1. parts identification, 2.
F.
operational amplifier, 3. oscilloscope, and 4.
Management
semiconductor devices. 16 people enrolled in
Students who major in Business Administration
Spring 2009. Four groups were assigned with 4
at Dominican College can graduate in four years
students each. Final group projects (two per
(120 credits) with two concentrations, one in
group) were conducted using their favorite toys:
Management Information System (MIS) and the
298
Page,
PeteApplet,
Concentration
in
ProgressBar,
International
Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
other in International Management (IM). This
With IT enrollment down in USA, this author
author was the Director of the Business
taught 66 women, 45% of the total 145 students,
Administration Division from 1990 to 1996.
in Spring 2011. With two female professors in
While teaching these courses, PowerPoint slides
the Business Division and using these strategies,
were used for every IM class. Downloading the
women are taking business or IT as majors.
video segments from BusinessWeek, Cnbc,
Acknowledgment
Economist, Financial Times, Forbes, Fortune, or
Thank Dr. Clare Pennino, James Ryan, and
Msn, got the attention. What is anti-dumping? Is
Business faculty of Dominican College for their
GM bankruptcy good? What is CIF? What is
encouragement. Thank Phil Sciame for the
supply chain management?
What is a hedge
purchase of MEL kit. The faculty Research
fund? How is it different from mutual fund or
Grant and the two Sabbatical Awards from
private equity? How does the exchange rate
Dominican College are appreciated.
affect the import/export production? There are
Conclusion
hundreds of simple questions one can challenge
Computer
students in the classroom, to compete with ITW.
Electronics,
Final projects for Global E-Commerce course in
International Management courses were taught.
Spring 2009, were to compare two airlines, one
Using “hands-on” approach, in-class team work,
regular and one discount airline in 10 countries
homework assignment, case studies, internet
[12].
International
search, and final projects with oral presentation
Management in Spring 2011 were: Ahold, Aldi,
will provide students the best chance of success.
Avon, Disney, H & M, Kingdom Properties,
Women are majoring in business or IT.
Final
projects
for
Literacy,
Programming,
Loreal, LVMH, Mittal Steel, Nike, Nintendo, Pepsi,
Porsche,
Systems
and
References [1] Hulick, F. W. and Valentine, D., 2008,
Softbank, Telmex, Walmart, and Zara. Students
“Computer Competency of Incoming
gave rave reviews.
College
Women
Inc,
Applied
Severstal,
Recruiting
Reliance
One-Credit,
Business
Computer
Students”,
Proceeding
ISECON Conference, SN 1542-7382, Phoenix, Arizona, #3134.
Majors
299
of
Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
[2] Mahar, S., Yaylacicegi, U. and Janicki, T. N.,
[7] Anderson, J. Q. and Lee, R., 2008, “Future of
2008, “Less is More When Developing
Internet III: How the Experts see It”,
PowerPoint Animations”, Proceeding of
http://www.pewresearch.org.
ISECON Conference Phoenix, Arizona,
[8] Comm, J., 2009, “Twitter Power: How to
ISSN 1542-7382, #3115.
Dominate Your Market One Twitter at
[3] Mathis, S. G., 2008, “Introductory Course Improves Retention, Especially For Women”, Conference,
Proceeding Phoenix,
of
A Time”, Wiley, New York, NY. [9] Conlin, M. and MacMillan, D., 2009,
ISECON
“Managing
Arizona,
the
Tweets”,
http://www.businessweek.com.
ISSN 1542-7382, #1712. [10] Hsu, D. K., 2004, “Case Studies in [4] Sendall, P., Ceccucci, W., and Peslak, A. R., Programming and System Courses”, 2008, “A Review of Web 2.0 Tools for Proceeding of the ISECON conference, IS Curriculum”, Proceeding ISECON Conference,
Phoenix,
ISSN
1542-7382,
Newport,
Rhode
Arizona, Island, #3455.
ISSN 1542-7382, #3135. [11] Hsu, D. K., 2003, “Java, Advanced Java [5] Snyder, J., Slauson, G. J., and Carpenter, D., Projects”,
Proceeding
European
2008, “An Action Plan to Increase IS Applied Research Conference, ISSN Enrollment”, Proceeding of ISECON 1539-8757, Western Academic Press Conference,
Phoenix,
Arizona, Inc, Littleton, CO, #182, June.
ISSN 1542-7382, #3152. [12]
Hsu,
D.
K.,
2006,
“From
Project
[6] Tupper, D. H., Leitherer, B., Sorkin, S., and Management to Project Unlimited”, Gore, M. E., 2008, “Strategies for Increasing IT Enrollment”, Proceeding of
ISECON Conference, Phoenix,
Arizona, ISSN 1542-7382, #1513.
300
Proceeding ISECON conf, ISSN 15427382, Dallas, Texas, #3134.
Proceedings of The 5th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2011)
Web Based Research Mapping and Analysis: ICT-AGRI’s Meta Knowledge Base Centralizes ICT and Robotics Development in Agriculture and Related Environmental Issues K. C. Mertens, J. Vangeyte Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO) Burgemeester van Gansberghelaan 115 bus 1, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium C. Von Haselberg, Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering (ATB) Max-Eyth-Allee 100, 14469 Potsdam, Germany M. Holpp Agroscope - ART-Agricultural System Engineering Tänikon 1, Ettenhausen, Switzerland R. L. Doerfler Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food Deichmanns Aue 29, 53179 Bonn, Germany I. Thysen Danish Food Industry Agency Nyropsgade 30, Copenhagen, Denmark
process-control–information system, a useful framework was designed.
ABSTRACT Ample research is conducted on ICT, automation and robotics in agriculture and related environmental issues. ICT and Robotics innovations are rapidly emerging and have the ability to revolutionize future farming through their major impacts on productivity and profitability. Unfortunately human and financial resources and efforts are fragmented and limited. This led to the creation of the ICT-AGRI ERA-NET that provides a central structured framework. Its main objective is to strengthen and coordinate European research regarding ICT and robotics in agriculture. Besides the creation of the Meta Knowledge Base (MKB), a common European research agenda will be developed and common research calls are launched. The Meta Knowledge Base (http://dbictagri.eu) is attempting to map all relevant research and development within the selected research area. To accomplish the mapping, two types of information are collected: research profiles and research postings. To organize the postings, a three-dimensional tasktechnology oriented framework was designed. The results indicated that the three axes: task, technology and scope seemed insufficient to describe the whole research area. Therefore, an improved framework was developed. By extending the task-technology oriented framework with a
Keywords: Agriculture, Automation, ICT, Robotics, Web, Knowledge Base, Research INTRODUCTION Recently, agricultural productivity has been increasing, yet modern agriculture started to pose a threat to the environment and food safety. At the same time the intimate knowledge of farmers and farm workers about animals, crops and fields has diminished [5]. Society and politics reacted by imposing control measures on the use of chemicals. Soil, air, water and energy resources can only be protected when assuring food security and safety. These rules resulted in burdening the farmers with a heap of extra administrative work. Meanwhile new future challenges such as climate change and biodiversity protection are rising [3] while farmers’ income is decreasing by 12.2% on average between 2008 and 2009 [4]. General rules and laws are expressed implying regulations for farmers to adhere to. These regulations mainly act on an administrative farm level and are
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generally implied. However, neither agricultural management nor environmental regulations are particularly intelligent, possibly preventing an optimal application of control measures (e.g. fertilizer and pesticide application), affecting agricultural productivity in a negative manner. Today’s technology can help to counteract against these problems. Precision farming attempts to determine and control every action applied to every spot of farm land and every single farm animal. These controlled farming techniques require advanced sensors to measure the current state of animals and land. Digital data and informatisation measures can facilitate alleviating the administrative burden imposed on farmers. Modern communication techniques allow for an easy data transfer between (inter)national governments, regional authorities, farmers, tractors and robots. By putting all these technologies together, agriculture can take a leap forward in the agriculture management coping with the new challenges farmers are facing, yet taking the environment into consideration. A serious problem however, is the limited ICT adoption in agriculture.
Figure 1: Map of the participating countries in ICTAGRI
METHODOLOGY First a three dimensional task-technology oriented framework was designed. This structure combined technology (e.g. robotics), with farm tasks (e.g. milking) and subtasks (e.g. milk quality measurement) within four different scopes: fundamental, applied, innovation and standardisation. This framework was tested and evaluated by 3 working groups of 20 experts. The results indicated that the three axes: task, technology and scope seemed not sufficient to describe the whole research area.
Therefore, extensive research on ICT and Robotics in agriculture and related environmental (ICT-AGRI) issues is conducted. New ICT and Robotics technologies are rapidly emerging and can revolutionize future farming through their major impacts that relate with productivity and profitability. Unfortunately human and financial resources remain fragmented and ICT and precision farming is only slowly becoming an integrated part of farming and farm management [3]. There is little tradition for networking and collaboration within ICT and robotics in agriculture. Awareness of existing knowledge is an absolute prerequisite for faster progress in research and development. The relevant knowledge within the ICTAGRI research area is quite diffuse. It is also often timeconsuming to search for knowledge and difficult to assess the completeness of the relevant knowledge that was found.
Based on the theory of [1] and [6] an improved framework was developed. The farm was approached as a managing system controlling a process or production system and receiving input from an information system. By extending the task-technology oriented framework with the process-control–information system four main areas were created: management, operations, external services and communication. These four parts compose the main level which is called the farm system. Descriptors and keywords further specify each area. Two extra levels were added i.e. technology and application area. IT, communication, sensing, machines and modelling divide the technology level in four sublevels. The application area level was divided into crop operations, crop types, animal operations and animals and environment. Finally an extra classification layer was added that differentiates between on-going research, concluded research and finalized product. This basic concept was implemented in a structured database. The database is accessible through a web-based interface that requires registration for editing, but not for viewing. The website has many functionalities like data provision, search engine for research, person and affiliation information, forums, research call information, links to related websites, etc.
The overall aim of this project, integrated in the European Research Area-network ICT-AGRI (figure. 1) is to strengthen and coordinate the European research and to develop a common European research agenda and launch common calls within the areas of ICT and robotics in the agricultural and environmental sector. It is ICT-AGRI Meta Knowledge Base’s ambition to become the central internet-based resource for researchers, developers and users within ICT and robotics in agriculture. MKB attempts to stimulate coordination of research and development in this area through user-driven initiatives and activities. Therefore a structured framework for mapping and analysis of all relevant knowledge within the described research area is needed.
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Functionalities Each item of information is entered as either a posting or a profile. A user is able to make a personal profile or an affiliation profile for the organization, networks or associations of which he/she is a member. Organisations can have profiles for different levels in the organisational structure (e.g. university, faculty, department, research group). A profile includes address and contact information but also expertise, facilities and priorities need to be described. Edit rights can be shared with other users and contact persons can be transferred. Each member of the test group adds objects such as R&D projects, R&D facilities, publications, products and environmental administration schemes. Postings are descriptions of research items of particular interest for ICT and robotics in agriculture. It is important to stress that postings are about research results, ongoing research, automated machines and equipment, robots, software, online services, standards, etc. not purely about describing research projects. Each posting includes a title, an abstract and a text, and links to online content of any kind elsewhere. Each posting is classified using the framework described above using keywords as shown in figure 2.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION At this moment the ICT-AGRI Knowledge base is online and reachable from the ICT-AGRI website (www.ictagri.eu). The database is open to all researchers and developers. The information gathering is a continuous process, making the MKB a dynamic website. To give the database a boost at start-up, ICT-AGRI members collected relevant information. This information was entered into the database before transferring it to the relevant owners by email. They were asked to accept the transfer and become owner of the information, giving them the possibility to adapt it to their wishes. The idea behind the invitations is that once a user is acquainted with the system, the motivation to enter information into the system will be greater. Removal of the first contact barrier with a more appealing personal request will eventually lead to more information in the database. Since users are allowed to enter additional keywords to characterize their research, the keyword list has been growing since the website launch. The current classification system is shown in figure 2. Profiles from 36 different countries have been recorded already, and their number is still growing. This diversity ensures a unique platform for building and maintaining international collaboration and networks. Today, over 500 postings and more than 600 profiles have been recorded in the MKB, hopefully boosting its use and dispersion on a global scale.
Initially, a panel of researchers was asked to test the website and its functionalities. Now, researchers on ICT and robotics in agriculture from 36 different countries are involved on a European or even global scale. The provision of information by researchers, developers and other users is performed on a voluntary basis. National editors or intermediaries are responsible for stimulating the use of the website and database and for maintaining the quality, validity and integrity of the data. Finally, the database will contain information concerning a range of objects such as R&D projects, R&D facilities (including human, hardware and software resources), publications, products and environmental administration schemes. The knowledge base is populated by the researchers, developers and users, while the tasks for ICT-AGRI are to create and maintain the framework. The knowledge will be available by linking to digital material stored elsewhere. The knowledge base only holds structured metadata and each input is classified by the framework allowing different analyses. Consequently, the amount of research on each topic can be calculated and analyzed to identify duplications, gaps and needs for future research. The collected information will be classified by an overall classification system allowing different analyses. Analysis of the gathered and classified research items will form the basis for the development of a strategic research agenda.
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Europe’s research efforts. The MKB helps coordinating European research in ICT and robotics and in developing a common research agenda based on shared priorities. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The ICT-AGRI network is funded by the European Commission's ERA-NET scheme under the 7th Framework Programme for Research. The authors are indebted to Mr. Niels Gøtke and Mrs. Carina Madsen for coordinating the project and to Dr. Sjaak Wolfert for his advice on developing the framework. We also would like to thank all participants, experts and ICT-AGRI partners, for their useful and valuable contributions. Thanks to their critical comments, relevant remarks and scientific expertise the workshop was a success. REFERENCES
Figure 2: MKB’s keyword classification list
CONCLUSION The Meta Knowledge Base aims at becoming the internet reference for researchers and developers within ICT and robotics in agriculture, providing a structured framework for mapping and analysis of relevant knowledge within the described research area. This easily accessible resource can become a tool to stimulate coordination of research and development in this area through user-driven initiatives and activities. Our study tries to pool fragmented human and financial resources in order to improve both the efficiency and the effectiveness of
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[1]
De Leeuw, A.C.J., (2000). Bedrijfskundig management: primair proces, strategie en organisatie. Van Gorcum, Assen, 555p.
[2]
Gelb, E., Offer, A. (Eds.), (2010). ICT in Agriculture: Perspectives of Technological Innovation (online). Available at: http://departments.agri.huji.ac.il/economics/gelbtable.html.
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Le Foll, S., (2009). Draft report on on EU agriculture and climate change. 11p.
[4]
Lyon G., (2010). Draft report on the Future of the Common Agricultural Policy after 2013. 20p.
[5]
Thysen, I., (2009). Towards smart management and regulation in agriculture. ICT-AGR era-net Newsletter issue 1, p.5
[6]
Wolfert, J., (2002). Sustainable Agriculture: How to make it work? A modeling approach to support management of a mixed ecological farm. Phd Thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen.
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A Teaching and Learning Model: A World Sociology Evidenced by Linking Common Social and Societal Realities through the Reciprocity of Thinking and Feelings
Reverend Dr. Marjorie S. Schiering Division of Education, Molloy College Rockville Centre, New York USA
This may have served as the impetus for going into the educational field. To be good at this craft of teaching, we understand that those recipients of information are not just thinkers, but feeling human beings. Subsequently, in order to teach the whole child, there needs to be an acknowledgment of differences and similarities of students in our charge. This learning and teaching model was created to stimulate this awareness and bring it to realization. This model presents the things that influence our lives both internally and externally. Just recognizing this presents a broad picture of what impacts learning—our own and that of our students.
ABSTRACT This paper is designed to assist in the comprehension of learners’ being multi-faceted persons who are unique. Discovering the whole individual is incumbent upon realizing the teaching/learning environments. This is respective of academic and socio-societal factors, which establish who one is as a learner and teacher. The author proposes and explains the concept of each individual being one who thinks and feels simultaneously with reciprocity existing within and between these two skills—so strongly that it is often difficult to separate one from the other. It’s proposed that each of us experiences an interconnectedness and, in many cases, an interdependency with respect to the commonality of social and societal realities within academic and other environments. These interconnections form a world sociology, which is realized by our thinking and feelings. Cross culturally, each one of us being exposed to a mutuality of needs is based in part upon belief and value systems. As one’s education evolves, each becomes his/her experiential past with respect to thinking, feeling, actions taken or inactivity’s that result in behaviors which define one as an individual learner and teacher. The overall purpose of this paper is to empower the thinker, the learner and the teacher by presenting “Teaching and Learning: A Model for Academic and Social Cognition” (Schiering, Bogner, Buli-Holmberg, 2011). This presents a comprehensive theoretical framework of academic and social cognition, as a basis for effective learning and teaching with implications for practice, as the author maintains that the purpose of theory is to guide practice. Keywords: Model, Reciprocity, Social and societal realities, Interconnectedness.
The philosophies presented in this paper are based on concepts relating to the model’s theoretical constructs. The core perspective is that there’s an interrelationship between thinking and feelings that is reciprocal. Reflection on past experiences effect behaviors in the present and influence one’s future actions. Thinking and feeling are seen as major influences for behaviors and actions in academic and social settings. The concept of holons—everything being connected to something (Koestler, 1978), or nothing being separate from anything else, with an interdependence being realized—is part of the model’s philosophy. Common social and societal realities experienced in all settings impact on an individual as well as whole groups’ belief and value systems. These philosophies serve as the underpinning and overriding components for knowing who one is as a learner and teacher. They collectively rely on awareness of academic and social thinking and feelings/emotions. A model for academic and social cognition was developed by Schiering in 2003. However, the implementation and ever-modified practice of it began in 1965 in her fifthgrade, inner-city, culturally diverse classroom in midAmerica. In the years that followed, she implemented the model in various international and national geographical locations, when teaching varied grade levels, which included college undergraduate and graduate courses, as well as during her conference presentations, and in educational journal publications. In 2008, as she worked with Bogner and Buli-Holmberg, the final model was developed and presented to various international groups of educators. These presentations and the audience’s responsive sharing resulted in the following synthesized concepts: 1. each learner and teacher knowing who he or she is when learning and teaching, 2. each learner and teacher realizing they’re individuals and acknowledging his/her learning preferences, 3. both the learner and teacher understanding the phenomena of learning so that they may
1. BACKGROUND Examining teaching models was first realized by addressing what is a “model?” What leads one to wanting to be a teacher with the idea of examining what’s remembered about elementary, middle, and high school was questioned. Are those memories mostly positive or negative? Perhaps there is a mixture of feelings and emotions attached to those years. While some teachers excited us about learning, others did not. Some classes were enjoyed and some just had to be gotten through, taking in curriculum that was required by our state government’s educational standards. Something led to wanting to teach. Was it an interest in children’s success, both academically and socially? Was it a desire to facilitate students’, at whatever age, in knowing themselves— impacting their future in a positive manner?
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be effectively managed, and 4. using the model to promote a holistic view of learning and teaching for realizing a classroom community that encompasses an overall sense of security and well-being.
deep structure of neural organization and personality that molds and is molded by human development and the cultural experiences of home, school, and society” (Schiering, 1999). In summation, learning is a complex phenomenon that is influenced by many factors. At its foundation, it’s a reconstruction of past experience that influences individuals’ and whole groups’ behavior and dispositions. With respect to a model, learning is related by the processes that enable one to use his/her cognition to develop concepts and initiate actions that address these.
As individuals, both the learner and teacher in the roles of students and/or educators experience phenomena through interaction with the environment, responding cognitively or emotionally. In order to be an effective teacher, one must realize who one is as a learner and teacher, thereby gaining a working comprehension of individual uniqueness and strengths, as well as being aware of what one is thinking and feeling. This is done in conjunction with realizing students’ thoughts and emotional responses, resulting from their shared and/or internalized experiences.
Defining teaching Teaching is the act of passing on information for learning. This may be accomplished in a variety of ways. Most importantly, teaching is defined by the style of delivery and attention to learners’ needs that one uses on a regular basis in the classroom or other settings where learning occurs. Haugsbakk and Nordkvelle (2007), referencing the new language of learning, related that “teaching is the facilitation of learning.” For teaching to be effective and affective the learner is understood to be more than a passive recipient of knowledge, but rather one who is actively engaged in the learning process. When a model is used there is the information transference from the components of the model to the practical application of its components.
2. INTRODUCTION Perhaps first it is important to define a learning model. “The noun model implies an active, personal construction of one’s own theory, as well as its inevitable change in content and function with experience” (Bretherton, 1985). Additionally, models of learning and teaching address things such as cognition and meta-cognition, and strategies used to teach. To be effective, a model must be accessible to learners and teachers with ownership, as opposed to borrowing some components while disposing of others. A pervading attitude that this belongs to me, because I adhere to its philosophy, techniques, and instrumentation while internalizing and personalizing it, is recognized when using a model (Borkowski, Estrada, Milstead, and Hale, 1989, p. 64) “To own a model, in this sense, implies that a teacher/student must practice its major components, receive guidance in modifying related instructional techniques, adapt the model’s characteristics to the unique circumstances of the classroom, and update the model based on personal experiences” (Borkowski, 1992, p. 253). As Idol, Jones, and Mayer (1991) stated, “Students using models and guides allow for exposure to critical thinking competencies within the curriculum content and do not require the creation of a separate timetable, but allow for a natural transfer of thought” (p. 52). The most important component is that one takes ownership of the model and uses it.
3. FIVE LEARNING AND TEACHING PERSPECTIVES The following are from “Teaching and Learning: A Model for Academic and Social Cognition” (Schiering, Bogner, Buli-Holmberg, 2011) Experiential Learning: Dewey and Kolb As explained by Bogner (1990), according to Dewey, “learning may be defined as a reconstruction or reorganization of experience which adds to the meaning of experience and increases ability to direct the course of subsequent experience.” Learning is a directed mental activity. The processes of learning and thinking are intricately connected, with neither being a random process, but seen as being linked to specific needs or goals. According to Dewey (1938), all knowledge, thinking, and learning grow out of experience. One must do, but in order for learning to occur, one must also reflect on the doing. The act of learning involves both a sensory or experiential component and a mental or cognitive component.
Defining Learning related to a model 1.Learning is psychological. This is where learning is perceived as and described what’s going on in each individual. It happens while being characterized by a stable behavioral pattern, as a result of experiences and training. 2. Learning is the interaction processes (direction) between the individual and the surroundings, where the psychological processes are more or less involved. 3.Learning is a by-product of one’s experiential environment in accordance with how one responds to it. And it is synonymous with teaching, as imagined that the learner has learned what has been taught.
Developmental or Hierarchical Learning: Piaget Piaget (1936/1963) focuses on how the development of language influences the process of thinking. His theory focuses on maturation and cognitive development in agerelated sequential stages. The basic principle in his theory is that children construct their own understanding. Knowledge is not a copy of the reality. Therefore, learning is a process in which the child, through assimilation and accommodation, develops meaningful structures of knowledge.
Synthesized, “Learning involves how a learner perceives, interacts with, and responds to the learning environment. It may be provided by oneself or others and is formed in the
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Socio-cultural Learning: Vygotsky This theoretical perspective is based on learning as a construction of knowledge between the individual and the society. As social beings, much of our learning occurs within some type of social setting, happening within groups or as a result of interactions with others. Vygotsky (1978) was concerned with the process of developing the higher levels of thinking such as memory, attention, decision-making, and concept formation. According to his theory, each of these results from culturally required development by scaffolding or building knowledge. He maintains that the individual, already from his or her birth, is a social and collective human being. The person’s development is dependent on surrounding conditions such as home conditions and the learning environment in schools.
Defining thinking and feelings The following are definitions resulting from conversations examining the concepts of thinking skills by Schiering and Bogner, 2007. “Thoughts: Immediate conscious responses to reflection, which involve memory. Reflection is further defined by Schön (1997) as having two forms, which are reflection “in” action, or thoughts occurring now in the present, and reflection “on” action, as referencing something that happened in the past. Example: From my experience, I have thoughts that focus on learning being multidimensional. 2. Ideas: A prediction of future responses or speculation based on one’s perspective as a result of reflection. Example: She got the idea about good teaching practices from the book on educational theory. 3. Opinions: A combination of thoughts and ideas in that a formulated concept results. The teachers were asked their opinions of the curriculum. 4. Judgments: Concretized thoughts, ideas, and opinions which are impacted by memory, while being based on reflection concerning past experiences. Oftentimes based on one’s level of attachment to a situation. Judgments are not easily changed, but they may well change. If easily modified, then you’ve expressed a thought, idea, or opinion, as opposed to a judgment. Example: My judgment is that many teachers are facilitators of learning. Until evidence of this is demonstrated on a continual basis not to be true for you, the judgment will remain a judgment— solidified thought. 5. Feelings: A sensory and/or emotional response to stimuli that may be descriptive or classificatory. Example: The water felt soft as it slid through my open fingers. Feelings are also defined as being the quality that something has in that one responds in a manner that connotes feeling of an emotional or intuitive nature and/or reflects on something to establish a formed response that is grounded in thought, ideas, opinions, and judgments. Example: The music collectively evoked the audience’s strong sense of joy as the symphony began. Subsequently, feelings and emotions are one and the same and can be observed or defined as being joined. These then are transrational responses to stimuli in that a sensory response to situations occurs at the same juncture as deeply held thoughts, ideas, opinions, and judgments. Feelings/emotions may be seen as “root responses” to stimuli.”
Ecological Learning: Bronfenbrenner The ecological components of Bronfenbrenner (1979) include various aspects that impact the human development processes, as well as learning. Special emphasis is placed on the social settings where learning occurs. His learning theory gives possibilities for analyzing complex and dynamic developmental processes. Bronfenbrenner defines the method of this ecological process as being progressive, a reciprocal adaptation between an individual’s development and the changeable environment that surrounds him or her. Biological Brain-Based Learning: Jensen, Damasio, and Brandt Biological theorists focus on the anatomical and physiological changes that occur within the brain as learning occurs. These theorists are concerned with describing the ways in which memories are formed and understanding the variables that impact these processes. Brain-based theorists connect holistic health issues such as exercise, emotions, stress, nutrition, and positive attitudes to healthy brain functioning. 4. CONNECTING THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES Each of the aforementioned learning and teaching perspectives has useful and viable components in and by themselves. However, none of them, as with most learning and teaching models, are comprehensive. Most present one or two constructs with regard to the learner and teacher interplay. However, a model for academic and social cognition incorporates something from each perspective while adding to them. This is done by providing an interconnection of a world sociology through social and academic cognition, and reciprocity of thinking and feeling. Additionally, there are external components that influence common social and societal realities and belief and value systems. Realizing these provides the knowledge about who one is as a learner and teacher. This results in the formation of an all-inclusive theoretical construct that may be implemented with practical classroom applications involving the components of thinking and feelings.
Realizing what one is thinking and/or feelings assists in comprehension of presented, read, or experienced material. Comprehension is realized in three formats. These are: 1. Literal Comprehension: this pertains to fact-based understanding where learners may retrieve information from a printed or reliable source; 2. Applied Comprehension: this pertains to the learner relating information to his/her personal experience; 3. Implied Comprehension: This pertains to inference in that the learner is led to information by inferential clues and uses inductive or deductive reasoning.
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3. Academics refer to the scholarly activities of a school or learning setting that impact the student learner’s belief systems, self-actualization, and achievement levels. 4. Politics refers to the influence of governing agencies and the exercising of power in the government or public affairs of a state, municipality, home, or school.
5. A TEACHING AND LEARNING MODEL
These four factors of religion, economics, academics, and politics move inwardly and outwardly to influence behaviors and attitudes in the commonality of groupings, regardless of their geographical location. REAP is an understanding of a disposition of these situations that addresses what come to be recognized as habitual behaviors within cultures and non-cultural congregates, but nonetheless form a World Sociology. The Models Interior Component: Common Social and Societal Realities These are explained as being the broad, familiar, or ordinary things we share as persons living together as a group in that dealing with one another affects our welfare. Subsequently, these realties address interconnected, interdependent individuals and cultures. The conduct, standards, and activities of the setting form the definition for the word society. Each person is not unto himself or herself, but rather lives in an assemblage governed by mutual needs. In a society of learners we share many common social and societal realities.
Figure 1: A Model for Academic and Social Cognition The Model’s Foundation The Model rests on the foundational premise that there’s a connection between SOW/a world sociology and REAP/ external factors of religion, economics, academics, and politics. These four components influence individuals’ lives inwardly and outwardly from their earliest beginnings.
Our individual and oftentimes shared viewpoints influence dispositions, character, temperaments, spirit, desires, hopes, beliefs, and values, as well as our behaviors. Some of these realities stay the same and some do not. Common social and societal realities may be seen as defining us through personal perceptions and those shared by those around us, or on a wider scale . . . the world. Most times in a person’s daily routines, the things we have in common are not given much thought. We just go about doing what’s expected and unless something interrupted these familiar actions, we’d say, when asked about what’s happening, “STDD—same thing, different day.” That’s a normal response and part of one’s social reality. Yet it’s these commonalities—general daily occurrences—that bind us together into a society where we discover who we are as individuals and members of units, as well as learners and teachers.
The Acronym of SOW Sociology is defined as the science of human society and of social relations that exist within and between organizations. This includes changes within those settings, which specifically addresses the needs and development of such groups. In that simplistic definition, this concept is reliant upon linked experiences—those read about, modeled, observed, or listened to, that are universal and conventional within and between varied groups of people . . .in a neighborhood . . . in schools . . . in classrooms . . . everywhere. The Acronym of REAP Within the context of the classroom, with regard to SOW it is helpful to identify specific factors, external to the teaching and learning instruction, that may shape or influence what happens to both the teacher and the students. There are many, but we have chosen to focus on the primary ones that are identified by the acronym REAP. These are the four, with definitions of each, for our comprehensive learning and teaching model. 1. Religion refers to the belief or non-belief in a deity, adhering to this belief, and worship of a supreme being or beings’ controlling power. It is based on a faith practice that adheres to worship and traditions imposed by either humankind, or a deity/deities’ concept that attempts to explain the unexplainable. 2. Economics refers to the science that deals with material or emotional-based welfare, in that material welfare influences perceptions of life experiences.
The Model’s Interior Component: Belief and Value Systems Belief systems are concepts that incorporate feelings on whether something is true or untrue, good, bad, or even exists. Values are ideas that focus on whether something is important or the magnitude of its worth. Values include beliefs regarding right and wrong, or the level of importance something has, resulting from one’s experience. The word systems refers to the grouping of one’s beliefs and values. Through the reflective reciprocity of thinking and feelings, common social and societal realities and belief and value systems, are linked together, as part of a world sociology.
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Some beliefs become strengthened over time as reflections upon experiences solidify already held assumptions. For example, religious belief in the power of prayer, or a political belief in the sanctity of a free-market economy, will become a concretizing influence subsequent to our reflections.
6. RECIPROCAL THINKING
A value system, however, is a different matter. For example, holding fast to the concept that all female adults are kind and giving may change as future experience demonstrates this to be otherwise. What one comes to value is changeable in accordance with what one is thinking and feeling. Nonetheless, there are values that may be held by whole groups of people, such as the importance of good nutrition, providing for others, or the acts of being caring, respectful, and kind. Also, some values are being a good citizen, being responsible, being fair, doing well in school, getting along with others, being acceptable at sports, being in organizations, volunteering, and those behaviors which are socially common in the places we live. 5. THE COGNITIVE COLLECTIVE
Figure 2: Reciprocal Thinking Phases
The reciprocity of thinking and feeling form the Cognitive Collective (Schiering, 2008). Reciprocal thinking and feelings are the thoughts, ideas, opinions, judgments, and emotions everyone has. They result in a continual structuring and restructuring of our reality—beliefs and values upon which we take action. This is accomplished through personal and shared reflection, represented by the model’s umbrella term of reflection by encompassing past and present experiences. All of the model’s elements of common social and societal realities, belief and value systems, and the model’s foundation of SOW and REAP are impacted by one’s thinking and feelings.
“The first Phase involves skill development in beginning awareness with student competence in using a targeted number of cognitive functions that relate to fact finding and ordering techniques. In the following Phase skills related to the learner relying on past awareness to construct new meaning and hypothesizing, making analogies and predictions are realized. Finally, in the third Phase the learner actually experiences what he/she wants to know with self-assessment and self-adjustment. All the Phases are reciprocal in that there is movement within and between them, simultaneously” (Schiering, 1999). I think, therefore I am.
The reason for using the term reciprocal is that there’s movement between and among what one is thinking and feeling. Each impacts the other and individuals move simultaneously through and around these. • What one is thinking and or feeling is so closely woven together it’s oftentimes difficult to distinguish one from the other. • Thinking impacts one’s feelings and vice versa. • These interactions shape the dynamics of the classroom and the likelihood that students will achieve the desired learning outcome. • What one thinks and feels results, oftentimes, in what one says and does. • All of the model’s elements of common social and societal realities, and belief and value systems, as well as the model’s foundation of SOW and REAP, are impacted by one’s thinking and feelings, which is the cognitive collective; • The presence of these thoughts and feelings is a representation of the reality that human beings feel as well as think. This reality happens within the classroom as well as outside of it.
7. RECIPROCAL FEELINGS Who one is as a learner and teacher is incumbent upon the interrelationship of the model’s interior and exterior components. These are evidenced in one’s knowing what one is reciprocally thinking and feeling. Knowing is a byproduct of reflections about common social and societal realities, and belief and value systems—what one lives each day. Feelings we have assist us in realizing who one is as a learner. This is based upon individuals’, as well as whole-groups’, past experiences, which ultimately impact on the dispositions, demeanors, and attitudes brought to school, the workplace, home, and everywhere. I feel, therefore I am. Feelings are divided into two categories, which are physical and emotional. The physical ones are when there’s a sensory response to some stimulus. Examples might be you feeling hot or cold, having a ringing in your ears, tasting something that’s spicy and your tongue burning, seeing a balloon fly, or smelling the fire in a fireplace. These physical or sensory responses involve one’s senses. Emotional feelings are in a category somewhat exclusive to a non-sensory response to stimuli. And yet it may be that such sensory stimuli cause you to
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have an emotional response. Feelings and emotions are interchangeable. One may recognize a feeling when substituting the words “I am” for “I feel,” and having the statement make sense. An example of a properly expressed feeling would be, “I feel elated. I am elated.”
[7] U.Bronfenbrenner, The Ecology of Development. Harvard University Press. 1979.
Human
[8] A. R. Damasio, The Neuroscience of the Brain. 4th International Brain World Conference. Ellenville, NY. 2008.
Although feelings are not categorized into Phases as thinking skills are, they are nonetheless reciprocal in nature. Feelings exist without a labeling of being right or wrong and they are interchangeable depending on one’s emotional reaction to stimuli.
[9] J. Dewey, Experience and Education, vol. 13 (19381939), John Dewey: The later works 1925-1953, (1988). 1938. pp. 1-62. [10] G. Haugsbakk, and Y. Nordvelle. The rhetoric of ICT and the new language of learning: a critical analysis of the use of ICT in the curricular field, European Educational Research Journal, 6(1), 2007. pp.1-12.
8. SUMMATION This theoretical position paper relates that the teaching and learning model presented in this paper explains a world sociology that is evidenced by linking common social and societal realities through the reciprocity of thinking and feelings. External factors of religion, economics, academics, and politics influence our lives in such a manner that, through the reciprocity of thinking and feeling, who one is as a learner is incumbent upon shared common social and societal realities, belief and value systems, the Cognitive Collective, and reflection. By comprehending the implications of the model’s learning and teaching philosophy, one may be guided to practice and realizing the similarities and differences of individual students. This is evidenced in the sense that each one has experiences that have shaped and will continue to form personalities that welcome learning when the realization of who one is as a learner may be cognitively addressed in the classroom setting.
[11] L. Idol, B. Jones, and R. Mayer. The Teaching of Thinking, Educational Values and Cognitive Instruction: Implications for Reform. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1991. pp. 32-54. [12] E. Jensen, Brain-based learning: The New Paradigm in Teaching. McCowan Publishers. 2008. [13] A. Koestler, Janus: A Summing Up. New York: Random House. 1978. [14] J. Piaget, The Origins of Intelligence in Children. New York: W. Norton & Company.1936; 1963. [15] M. Schiering, The affects of Learning-style Instructional Resources on Fifth Grade Suburban Students’ Meta-cognition, Achievement, Attitudes, and Ability to Teach Themselves. Ed.D. diss., St. John’s University.
REFERENCES [1] D. Bogner and M. Schiering, Conversations and Unpublished Narrative on the Definitions of Thoughts, Ideas, Opinions, Judgments, and Feelings. Molloy College, Rockville Centre, New York. 2007.
[16] M. Schiering and D. Bogner, Conversations on the Definition of Thinking Skills and Feelings. Molloy college, Rockville centre, New York. 2007.
[2] D. Bogner, John Dewey’s Theory of Adult Education and Adult Development. Ph.D. diss., University of Kansas. 1990.
[17] M. Schiering, D. Bogner, J. Buli-Holmberg, Teaching and Learning: A Model for Academic and Social Cognition. Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group, Lanham, MD. 2011.
[3] J.G. Borkowski, Metacognitive theory: A Framework for Teaching Literacy, Writing, and Math Skills:. Journal of Learning Disabilities 25 (4) 1992, pp. 253-257.
[19] D. Schön, Reflective Practice and Professional Development: ERIC Digest. Washington, D.C. 1997. [20] L. S. Vygotsky, Interaction between learning and development (M. Lopez-Morillas, Trans.). In M.Cole, Et. al. (Eds.), Mind in Society: Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1978. pp. 79-91.
[4] J.G. Borkowski, T.M. Estrada, M. Milstead, and C.A. Hale. (1989). General Problem Solving Skills: Relations between Metacognitive and Strategic Processing. Learning Disability Quarterly 12: 1989. 57-70. [5] R. Brandt, Educators need to know about the human brain. Phi Delta KAPPAN 81 (3): 1999. 235-238. [6] J. Bretherton, Attachment Theory: Retrospect and Prospect. In Growing points of attachment theory and research, edited by J. Bretherton and E. Waters. SRCD monographs 50 (209): 1985.pp. 32-35.
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Strengthen management consultancy capacity in Colombia - The experience of learning by doing course David SCHNARCH [email protected] School of Management, Universidad de los Andes Bogotá, COLOMBIA and Bart VAN HOOF [email protected] School of Management, Universidad de los Andes Bogotá, COLOMBIA ABSTRACT Scholars such as McKenna (2006a) even define management consultancy as “the world’s newest profession”. A dynamic profession that creates its own demand in periods of economic bonanza, offering solutions to expand, and during economic crunch, services to overcome crisis. These thoughts may be very interesting in the context of an emerging market were needs and management capacity of the complex context is a requirement for organizational success (Gómez & Dávila, 2007).
This paper illustrates how a leaning-by-doing consultancy course at the Universidad de los Andes School of Management contributes to the dynamism of local management consultancy market in two levels: First, it gives management students and future managers the expertise to use management consultancy as a decision-making tool. Second, the program enables students to develop competences and methodologies that are valuable for consultants and managers. The research questions attended in this study are: What does a manager has to know about management consulting? What competences share management consultants and business managers? We use different methods such as descriptive statistics of feedback questionnaires filled out by students and in-depth interviews with consultants and former students to collect our research data. By documenting and analyzing the experience of consultancy practice in Colombia, this study contributes to literature about management consulting in emerging markets.
Study of the consultancy practice in an emerging market such as Colombia shows a disperse panorama. Even though the arrival of international consulting firms revitalized the practice and enforced new professional standards, most of the consultants in the country lack of methodologies and preparation. Sometimes the consultancy practice is even seen as the first alternative in case of unemployment. On the other hand, most small and medium sized enterprises, public institutions and non-governmental organizations don´t recognize the value of management consulting as a way to improve the effectiveness of their organizations. The consultancy market in Colombia seems to be captured in a vicious circle: On one side, the need for management consulting is present in many organizations with precarious management practices and requires capacity to solve urgent problems. On the other hand, many organizations don´t know how to select and “use” the consultancy tool. To make matters worse, a disperse consulting industry doesn´t contribute to un-trap this market dilemma.
Keywords: Management consultancy in Colombia, learning-bydoing, business administration. 1. INTRODUCTION In the last decade academic interest in management consulting has grown (Engwall and Kipping, 2002). Academics and practitioners are paying attention to the evolution of the consulting industry. The rapid development of this sector has led to a growing literature covering a wide range of issues, including consulting markets, consulting interventions and general overviews of how consultants work (see Kipping and Armbrüster, 1998). There is also an interest on how to measure and analyze the impact of consulting on organizations (Alvesson, 1993; Wrigth and Kitay, 2002) and how business schools contribute to the development of this profession (Robinson et al, 2010).
Existing research on management consultancy provides little signals on these dilemmas as it is focused mainly on experiences from the industrialized “north” (Wolf, 1978; Ferguson, 2002; Engwall & Kipping, 2002; McKenna, 2006a; McKenna, 2006b). Literature on the development and understanding of management consultancy in emerging markets is limited. Our objective is to minimize this gap.
Beyond those topics, is undeniable that more and more private and public organizations are recognizing management consulting as a useful tool to solve problems, improve organizational performance, learn from others, or seize new business opportunities. At the same time, it can be treated as a method of assisting organizations and executives to improve management and business practices, as well as individual and organizational performance. Kubr (2002:4) point out that this “method can be, and is, applied not only by full-time consultants, but also many other technically competent persons”. Furthermore, Block (2000: 2) emphasizes that “you are consulting any time you are trying to change or improve a situation but you don’t have direct control over the implementation (…). Most people in staff roles in organizations are really consultants even if they don’t officially call themselves consultants”.
To do so we use the case of a consultancy program developed at the School of Management of Universidad de los Andes, one of the leading private universities Bogotá. The experience consists of a learning-by-doing course in consultancy practice were students of the undergraduate and MBA programs learn about the consultancy methodology. Clients such as small and medium sized enterprises and non-profit organizations, with generally limited access to management consultancy services, obtain valuable advice, and learn how to use and value external consultancy services. From an academic perspective, the course is considered as a capstone-course that integrates functional knowledge and managerial skills acquired by the students along the interdisciplinary management program.
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international consulting firms1 and a significant growth in consultants: at the end of the decade Colombia had about 1500 consultants, a number three times higher than before 1990 (Dinero, 1999). The increase of consultants and international firms also brought better methodologies. A consultant with wide experience in Colombia‟s market affirms that “the professional consultancy arrived in the 90’s with companies like McKinsey, Booz Allen, and Arthur D. Little. Those firms revolutionized the standards and the perception of consultancy in Colombia”.
This paper analyzes results of this learning-by-doing consultancy practice using evidence collected in the period 2008 - 2011. It evaluates the impact of this course in relation to the perceptions of the students about the consultancy profession and the competences related. The research questions that guide our study are: What does a manager has to know about management consulting? What competences do management consultants and business managers‟ share? The latter of the article is organized as follows. The second section develops our conceptual framework based on a literature review of the competences of management consultants and the pillars of the management education of the Universidad de los Andes School of Management. The third section describes the details of the learning-by-doing experience. Section four provides a description of the data base and methodology used for its analysis. Section five presents the results and section six provides a discussion of these. Section seven concludes.
At that time it was clear that management consultancy was gaining importance in large Colombian companies. A leading business journal highlighted that situation: "The consultancy industry, which lives on the transformation of businesses and the complexity of markets, is rapidly increasing its presence in companies’ board of directors" (Dinero, 1999). But in 1999 Colombia suffered one of the most difficult crises of the century. The Gross Domestic Product decreased 4.3% and the consultancy industry passed through rough times until 2001 where, after reorganization, the provision of professional services had a positive trend in recent years. Parker (2005) classified Colombia in 6th place of market potential of management consulting services in the Americas with a latent demand of 2,014 million dollars, above countries like Chile, Venezuela and Peru.
2. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Management consulting as a decision making tool Decision makers hire management consultancy for different reasons. Firstly, consults are hired when an external point of view is needed on topics that influence business success. This is especially valuable when the business dilemma is specific and complex. Here the expertise of an experimented “counselor” -who has tackled similar situations-, generates value (Kubr, 2002). Another reason to hire management consultants can be found in their need to develop specific management tools such as information systems, market analysis, organizational structures, among others. “Outsourcing” the development of these tools complements the organizational capacity on a temporary basis (Kipping and Wright, 2009).
Colombia´s consultancy industry has about 15 well-developed professional firms such as Deloitte Consulting, Price Water House Consulting, KPMG Advisory, McKinsey, Ernst & Young Consulting, Stratco, Accenture, Booz Allen, Remolina & Estrada and Estrategias Corporativas. In addition the market is overwhelmed by a large group of small formal and informal consultancies. By 2008, 95% of the 1500 registered consulting firms where micro (had less than 10 employees) and near 70% of the consultants in the country where independent (Misión PYME, 2008). Colombia still has a strong backlog in the professionalization of consulting practice. Almost 75% of consultancy total sells are made by informal consultants, many of them with little training and methodologies. An associate director of KPMG Colombia affirms that "Colombia is in the middle of a specialization process that countries like the United States or Spain had gone through".
The history of the management consultancy profession is closely related to the management professionalization (Kipping, 1999). In 1965 Business Week remarked that there was one consultant for every hundred managers. By 1995 the ratio grew to one consultant for every thirteen managers (McKenna, 2006a). By 2008 the global management consultancy market generated total revenues of $315.3 billion, representing a compound annual growth rate of 7.3% for the period 2004-2008 (Datamonitor, 2009). Also Colombia‟s management consulting had a significant growth in recent years. In the period 2007-2010 the total sales in the industry increased 26% (Barnes, 2010). By 2010 the industry sells where nearly 2800 million dollars, representing a 12% rise compared to the 2009 amount (Barnes, 2010).
One explanation of the situation described above is the limited experience of managers to evaluate and hire good consulting projects. Despite the fact that large Colombian companies have experience with consultancy, know how to design and follow up projects, and have incorporated consulting as a decision making tool; medium and small companies lack of this knowledge. Like many developing countries, about 99% of all companies are small and medium sized enterprises –SME- (Zevallos, 2003). Aside of having less employees and financial capacity than larger firms, the professional ability of employees and managers is also limited (Correa et al, 2010). It is common that a General Manager of an SME seldom has received formal training in business education including management consultancy concepts. Therefore, many managers in Colombia don‟t have elements to appraise good consultants. If the demand of management consultancy is not challenging consultants, there are no incentives for those micro firms to develop or improve their methodologies and specific knowledge.
Much of the literature with regards to management consultancy has focused on the development of consultancy in the United States (Wolf, 1978; McKenna, 2006a), the expansion of American consultancy (Kipping, 1999), and the development in the UK (Ferguson, 1999). This seems related to the fact that consulting has developed early in those countries (Engwall & Kipping, 2002). Little research has been done about consultancy in others regions and countries. That is especially true in Colombia, a developing country with lack of academic research in this area. Only some journalist articles and State statistics have been published in recent years (Dinero, 1999; Sena, 2006; Dinero, 2009).
Management consultancy competences The main assets of a management consultant are the use of specific methodologies and specific personal competences. As
Although some foreign management consultants visited Colombia in the fifties and sixties, the consultancy industry only took off after the opening of new international trade opportunities during the first half of the nineties. This encouraged the arrival of
1
Andersen Consulting arrived in 1989; Booz Allen & Hamilton in 1992; McKinsey & Company in 1994; and Arthur D. Little in 1994.
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described earlier, management consulting can be seen as a method to provide practical advice and help (Stroh and Johnson, 2006). Greiner and Metzger (1983: 7) describe that method or process: “Management consulting is an advisory service contracted for and provided to organizations by specially trained and qualified persons to help, in an objective and independent manner, the client organization to identify management problems, analyze such problems, recommend solutions to these problems, and help, when requested, in the implementation of solutions”. But to be effective, a consultant “need to master consulting tools, skills, and observe the fundamental behavioral rules of professional consulting” (Kubr, 2002: 4).
If you explore the skills and competencies related to management consulting, you will realize that those are valid and valuable also for managers. In this way Block‟s (2000) appreciation when he observes that many managers have fulfilled functions of “consultants” on their own organizations makes sense. Furthermore, many of those competences are central pieces in Business Schools programs around the word. At Universidad de los Andes School of Management, for example, those abilities are incorporated in the Undergraduate and MBA learning goals (Uniandes, 2009). The course that inspired this paper is, in fact, a capstone in which students integrate and articulate the programs learning goals. At this time it becomes significant to observe how we have approached the development of these competences from a management consulting course.
This leads us to analyze the consulting process and the competences related to this practice. Even though each consultancy project has a different nature and objectives, it is possible to identify steps in the consulting process. Some authors (Bruckman and Iman, 1980; Kubr, 2002; Stroh and Johnson, 2006) identify –with some differences in the formulation – a “standard” structure to address a management consulting project. For this analysis we divided the process in five stages: i) Identification of client‟s needs and proposal development and presentation; ii) comprehensive analysis of the client‟s needs; iii) research of alternatives or scenarios; iv) solution definition and client‟s appropriation; and v) implementation assist.
3. THE LEARNING-BY-DOING COURSE CASE The presented context and challenges of Colombian management consultancy promoted the development of a sixteen week course in Universidad de los Andes School of Management for both undergraduates and MBA students. In this course students carry out management consultancy projects for real clients within a professional context of a consultancy firm: ConsultAndes. The ConsultAndes program is designed to develop the competences and skills described above (teamwork, comprehensive analysis of business and decision making). These competences fit in the profile of management. The consultancy course also integrates functional knowledge obtained during the academic program and, therefore, is considered a “capstone”2 course.
On the subject of competences associated to management consulting process we identify three. The first one is teamwork. This is the capacity to work with others committed; cooperative and coordinated towards the achievement of a common goal (see Heyse and Erpenbeck, 2004). It also involves effective and productive communication and relations with clients and colleagues. Table 1 summarizes the competences associated to successful management consultants.
The course is immersed in a management consulting methodology which allows students to: a) Expand their understanding of functional tools and concepts in finance, marketing, logistics, organizations and strategy; b) understand the importance of the overall strategic framework of the organization and its stakeholders; c) identify opportunities, evaluate courses of action and propose innovative solutions to organizational situations; and d) develop teamwork, communication and relationship skills.
Table 1: Management consulting competences Competence Abilities to: Teamwork and Work with others in a committed, relations cooperative and coordinated manner. Have effective and productive relation and communication with clients and colleagues. Comprehensive Analyze organizations beyond functional approach areas and departments. toward Make critical approximation to complex problems problems. Decision Construct a viable set of alternatives and to making establish a system for judging or evaluating them. Evaluate decisions based on incomplete information. Apply analytical frameworks and models.
Exposure to practical projects is a central mechanism to provide students a critical approach to management learning, inviting them to reflect on the strengths, weaknesses and interdependences between theory and practice (Kenworthy –U´Ren, 2005). This process allows participants to deepen their functional knowledge in management, and understanding its importance within the overall strategic framework of the organization (Godfrey et al., 2005). The consulting projects in this course are carried out in teams of four students. In this model, the teacher‟s role is different from regular courses. Instead of being an „information provider‟, he or she supervises and guides each team through discussions of best consulting practices and methodologies through four stages of the project: i) project definition; ii) comprehensive analysis of the organization, the project context and its stakeholders; iii) evaluation and courses of action; and iv) final results presentation. Each part of the project is implemented by the students and the teacher transfers the leadership of the learning process from the classroom to them. By doing so, students empower themselves of their own learning process (Robinson et al, 2010).
The second capacity is to have a comprehensive approach toward problems beyond the limits of functional areas, departments within an organization, paradigms, or specific knowledge (Uniandes, 2009). This includes the ability to make a critical integration of information and analysis of complex problems. Decision making is another capacity of great importance on management consulting. This refers to the capability to construct a viable set of alternatives and to establish a system for judging or evaluating them. This entails the capacity to evaluate decisions based on incomplete information (assuming the consequences of the decision made), and be able to appropriately apply analytical frameworks and models (Heyse and Erpenbeck, 2004).
2
A capstone course is an opportunity for students to demonstrate that they have achieved the goals for learning established by their educational institution and major department (Moore, N.D)
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consultancy; an important factor in Colombia‟s consulting market professionalization.
Consequently, the learning process is cyclical. Students gain experience during the project, enabling them to conceptualize through academic discussions and feedback (Kolb, 2005). In the learning-by-doing methodology the student constructs professionally useful knowledge, develops self-directed learning strategies, increase motivation and becomes an effective team member (Sherwood, 2004). Table 2 illustrates the different roles of “stakeholders” within the learning-by-doing methodology.
4. METHODOLOGY AND DATA BASE We use the program database and its descriptive statistics to provide evidence for our research questions. This includes (i) intake questionnaires about students‟ learning, (ii) documents of consultancy projects and grades, (iv) students‟ final essay´s on learning experiences, (iii) interviews with professional consultants, and (iv) workshops with former students.
Table 2: Learning-by-doing characteristics of ConsultAndes Role / Characteristic Student Leadership of his/her learning process. Knowledge construction through experiences. Knowledge integration and skill development. Teacher Learning process coordinator. Facilitator, supporter. Guide, counselor. Feedback and information provider. Team Learning source. members Feedback providers. Client Learning source. Feedback providers. Academic Cyclical and cumulative learning process. dynamics Errors and conflicts as learning moments. Actual process (not a simulation). Comprehensive evaluation process (teacher, client and colleagues.)
To answer our first question, what does a manager has to know about management consultancy? We used a variety of sources. First, we carried out a feedback inquiry that measured students change of perceptions about management consultancy as a decision making tool. To avoid bias, the instrument was structured with open questions regarding the students experience, learning and expectations. We considered that providing multiple choice questions would limit the critical opinions and "pigeonholed" the student‟s answers. Open questions allow each participant to give his/her opinion freely and without boundaries (Schuman and Presser, 1979). The questions we asked to address this element were: Has the program contributed to change your perception on management consultancy? If so, which are the changes in perception and why? Will you continue deepening on management consulting topics (with other projects, additional courses or as professional consultant)? The inquiry was filled out by 366 students once they finished the consulting project in the last two years. For data collection we used internet-based survey software and handed out paper surveys, which were answered by students in the classroom.
High professional standards are fundamental to achieve effective learning process and high impact on clients. To ensure the quality of the consulting projects, each team has expert advice on particular issues and a close supervision from the teacher and experts. In addition, every four weeks, each team has a „board of directors‟ meeting with the client, the teacher and other four colleges -who are working in similar projects-, to track the project. In these formal meetings the teams present the results and receive feedback from the board.
The analysis and tabulation of open questions it‟s more difficult than multiple choice questions. To get valid results, we reviewed all responses and grouped by representative topics. Most of the responses could be classified into five major themes that we analyzed statistically. We also identified representative quotes to describe the findings.
Program indicators Since 2007 we have had 1042 participants (52% were male and 48% female). Of the total, 16% were last semester MBA students and the rest were senior management undergraduate students.
Secondly, we carried out semi-structured in-depth interviews with 13 senior professional consultants from the most important consulting firms to observe their perspective on management consultancy and its relevance as a managerial decision making tool. Each interview lasted an average of two hours. All were recorded, transcribed and examined using the qualitative data analysis software AtlasTi. Results from this interviews were used to contrast experts positions with the students perceptions about the management consultancy as a decision making tool.
We have done consultancy projects with 208 clients. An important part of them have been SME –under 100 employees(63% of the total); 23% were large –more than 100 employees-; 9% were non-governmental organizations; and 5% where State agencies. In regard of clients‟ sectors and industries, 16% of them were in the food industry; 9% were social enterprises; 8% worked in technology and informatics; 8% were related to manufacturing; and 7% provided health and beauty services. The functional areas of the projects concern standard management topics in Marketing (48%) and Strategy (27%); followed by Finance (12%), Logistics (8%), and Organizations (5%).
Third, we had two workshops of four hours with 21 former students to compare their experiences with the results of students and experts. Most of them were working in middle management levels, some in family business and two were working as consultants. The information resulted from these workshops helped us to interpret and confirm the contributions of ConsultAndes in their managerial skills.
This practice generates added value to organizations that would not have access or simply haven´t recognized specialized consulting services (such as small companies, NGOs or family enterprises); and it gives them the opportunity to experience a professional consultancy providing managers elements to identify, evaluate and contract management consultancy projects. By doing so, this course is contributing to qualify the demand of
We also took into account the number of former students that have used ConsultAndes services in their own companies. This is an indicator of how now they use consultancy as a decision making tool.
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Figure 1: Students‟ changes in perception on consulting
Our second research question, what competences share management consultants and business managers? was approached analyzing three elements. First, an additional question of the feedback inquiry described earlier was studied. The question related to competences was: What is/are the most pronounced learning acquired after your participation in this program? We analyzed the responses, categorized them into seven major competences and took analyzed them.
21%
15%
Second, we use the grades obtained by students in their consultancy projects as a measure of the consultancy capacities improvement. The methodologies used to grade students allow the measure the learning objectives, which are constructed on the basis of the competences described above. This information was contrasted and complemented with the analysis of the final essays written by students at the end of the course. Table 3 summarizes the methodology components used to answer the research questions. The third column identifies the instruments used to measure variables (second column) that lead us to answer the questions. Table 3: Methodology Question Variables Research What does a - Contributions from manager has consultancy to the to know organizational about world. management - Management consultancy? consultancy as a Decision making tool. - The consulting process. What - Competences competences learned during the share program management consultants and business managers?
37%
The value of management consulting methodology to approach managerial issues The importance of having a holistic approach to business situations The method to approach clients' needs Others
27% As the figure 1 show, 37% of the students are valuing more the management consulting methodology as a tool to approach complex situations than before the program. A former student that now is working in a multinational firm confirmed that appreciation: “I think that you have to apply the consulting practice as a method to evaluate alternatives for projects that occur in everyday life”. In the same direction, another said: "I plan to run my family business under the management consulting methodology”. Complementary, 27% of the survey respondents recognize the importance of comprehensive understanding of business situations and 15% changed their perception of how to identify the organizational problems and needs: “I thought a consultancy was based only on external advising. Now I realize that it comes from understanding the whole enterprise reality and finding practical solutions to their problems”.
Methodology - 366 feedback inquiries. - 13 in-depth interviews with professional consultants. - 4 workshops with former students and ConsultAndes clients. - 366 feedback inquiry. - Course grades - Final essay´s on students learning experiences.
Consultancy approach also provides tools and elements to bring the companies‟ vision into reality, a useful component for managerial activity. This perception was confirmed by all the consultants interviewed. A McKinsey consultant said that the consulting methodology "helps clients to set goals and achieve them. The emphasis is on: How do I translate this strategy into something applicable that generates value for the company?" Another essential component of management consultancy is the opportunity to access specialized knowledge. A senior consultant from Heinsohn Colombia affirmed: “The client seeks to have an extension of the internal capacity. The daily operation does not give managers enough time to acquire relevant know-how. So managers rely on consultants to access specialized knowledge quickly”. A PricewaterhouseCoopers partner sustained that “what sells today is applied knowledge. From his own experience the consultant brings his understanding of what is applicable in an organization at any given time”. Nevertheless, the mentioned lack of experience of most managers in Colombia regarding consultancy is a challenge in this market. Regarding this, all former students agreed that the course gave them elements to evaluate and use consultancy services: "Now I know what to expect and how to hire consulting services", a student said. In fact, 25 former students returned to ConsultAndes as clients within three years after taken the course.
The combination of the methodologies used to address the two research questions (survey, in-depth interviews, workshops, grades and essays analysis) allowed us to compare and validate the information recollected. This “constant contrasting” involved going back and forth between data and the existing literature in an effort to find relevant elements for our research (see Glasser and Strauss, 1967; and Locke, 2001). 5. RESULTS What does a manager has to know about management consultancy? Management consultancy as a structured method to approach and solve problems is very valuable on the organizational world. This appreciation was confirmed by ConsultAndes students in their responses to the inquiry. To the question “Has the program contributed to change your perception on management consultancy?” 66% confirmed that it did. The results for the question “If so, what are the changes in perception?” are presented in the figure 1.
An additional fact to view the impact of the course on students‟ perception on consulting was presented are presented in the last question of the inquiry: “Will you continue deepening on management consulting topics?” 55% of them affirmed that they planned to continue deepening on the subject in the future (as consultants and clients).
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What competences share management consultants and business managers? The findings show that all the consultancy competences described in the conceptual framework where developed in the ConsultAndes experience. The figure 2 presents the result of students‟ principal learning during the course.
Number of students
Figure 3: Grades distribution in 2010.
Figure 2: Student‟s principal learning 6% 5% 9%
27%
100 50 0 2,5
3
3,5
4
4,5
5
Grades
10%
According to these data, only 3% of the students didn‟t achieve the learning goals (had 2.5 in their final grade3). On the contrary, 37% had outstanding grades (4.5 and 5.0) and 33% received 4.0 as final grade. In accordance to this, students reached the learning objectives proposed by the course.
17%
10%
150
16%
In summary, the statistical results show that the seven abilities related to the competencies described in the conceptual framework were highlighted by students in their open responses the inquiry. It is interesting that teamwork and the ability to use functional frameworks obtained high responses rates (27% and 17%, respectively). The first may be due to the special emphasis that, throughout the project, we made on the importance of cooperative and coordinated behavior. The second item is explained by the fact that the ConsultAndes program was design as a capstone course. In this regard, this was the first opportunity for students to apply previous knowledge in a real life situation.
Teamwork and relations had 28% of the responses. Most of them even identified this element as one more complex components of the experience, but after the process they feel better team members. The second most frequently mentioned learning was a deeper understanding of functional tools and concepts in management. 17% percent of the students affirmed that this experience was an opportunity to integrate and use previously acquired functional knowledge in finance, marketing, logistics, organizations and strategy. It also allowed them to contrast and analyze the difference between theory and practice. One student quote: “The most valuable learning was to understand that although the theory you learn in the University is important, it becomes a challenge to know how to implement in a real environment”.
6. DISCUSSION Our study illustrates some specific characteristics of management consultancy in an emerging market such as Colombia. In first place, it shows that “the world newest profession” (McKenna, 2006a) still is an incognita for most of the potential decision makers in the country (such as management students and possible clients, including SME). Moreover, the demand for high-qualified management consultancy services is limited to large multinationals firms with operations in Colombia.
The third learning, with 16% of the responses, was related to the creation and manages of good relations with the client. This involves communication skills and the ability to work closely with the client, adapting the project to his/her real needs. One student affirmed in her survey that “one of the main lessons came from the interaction with the client. We learned to understand in a very short time his needs and make a project based on their requirements and business reality”.
The experience of ConsultAndes illustrates how it‟s possible to increase the recognition of management consultancy services in a developing country. Many organizations need to improve their management capacity mainly through standard administrative applications and simple organizational models. These pragmatic management consultancy services differ from the more specialized and sophisticated ones offered by large multinational consulting firms.
The capability to construct a viable set of alternatives and decide a viable course of action had 10% of the answers. A student concluded: “Learning focused on the elements, procedures and use of methodological tools that allow us to propose solutions in uncertain scenarios”. The comprehensive approach toward problems and the importance of the overall strategic framework of the organization obtained 10% of the answers. A student declared: “The biggest learning was how to approach the customer's problem. Before taking the course I thought this was easy, but after seeing all the elements affecting the performance of the companies I realized that this was not so simple”.
The need for smaller organizational consultancy services represents a potential scope for the development of management consultancy profession in an emerging market. This progress generates various benefits for business and society. In first place, business increases its competitiveness by improving their management capacity. Second, a dynamic management consultancy market provides employments options to young ambiguous management school graduates in a context were unemployment and low quality jobs are very common. Third, the availability of a high quality management consultancy infrastructure is a key ingredient for competitive clusters and regional development (Enright, 1998; Nachum & Keeble, 2001).
The conceptualization of a management consultancy methodology represented 9%. A student said: “I learned how to work with a structured methodology to see a problem, analyze it and provide possible ways to solve it”. As mentioned before, another element to measure the competence developing is by analyzing the students‟ grades. Figure 3 shows the final results from the 2010.
3
We use a scale in which 5.0 is the highest grade and 1.5 is the lowest. Students pass with 3.0.
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In this manner, consultancy programs developed in Universities have high potential to interrupt the vicious circle of management consultancy demand and supply mentioned before. They can impulse the market demand by enabling small and medium sized companies‟ access to consultancy services as a management decision making tool. The same programs also equip potential management consultants with qualified methods and competences.
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Empresarios del conocimiento. Revista Dinero No. 332. August. Engwall, L. & Kipping, M. (2002). Introduction: Management Consulting as a Knowledge Industry. In Kipping, M. & Engwall, L. (eds.). Management Consulting. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Enright , M.(1998). Survey on the characterization of regional clusters: Initial results. Working paper. Institute of Economic Policy. Ferguson, M. (2002). The rise of management consulting in Bitain. Burlington: Ashgate Godfrey, P. C., Illes, L. M., & Berry, G. R. (2005). Creating breadth in business education through service-learning. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 4, 309-323. Gómez, H. & Dávila, C. (2007). Indigenous Management Practices: Insights from Latin America. Bogotá: Galeras de Administración 18. Glasser, B. & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies of qualitative research. London: Wiedenfeld and Nicholson. Greiner, L. & Metzger, R. (1983). Consulting to management. 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Management consulting: A guide to the profession (fourth edition). Geneva: International Labor Office. Kolb, A. Y., & Kolb, D. A. (2005). Learning styles and learning spaces: Enhancing experiential learning in higher education. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 4, 193-212. Locke, K. (2001). Grounded theory in management research. London: Sage. McKenna, C. (2006a). The world‟s newest profession: managemnt consulting in the twentieth century. New York: Cambridge University Press. McKenna, C. (2006b). McKinsey‟s Marvin Bower: Vision, leadership and creation of management consulting. Business History Review, 381. Mickletwait, J. & Woolddridge, A. (1996). The witch doctors: Making Sense of the Management Gurus. New York: New York Times Books – Random House. Misión PYME (2008). El reto, la credibilidad. Revista Misión PYME. Agosto 29. Moore, R. (ND). Capstone Courses. Available in http://users.etown.edu/m/moorerc/capstone.html Nachum & Keeble (2001) Parker, P. (2005). The 2006-2011 World Outlook for Management Consulting Services. ICON Group International, Inc. Robinson, D; Lloyd, A & DePaolo, C (2010).Service-Learning by Doing: How a Student-run Consulting Capstone Course. Journal of Management Education; 34. Sena (2006). Estudio de caracterización de la consultoría. Bogotá: Sena. Sherwood, A. L. (2004). Problem-based learning in management education: A framework for designing context. Journal of Management Education, 28, 536-557. Schuman, H. & Presser, S. (1979). The open and closed questions. American Sociological Review, Oct79, Vol. 44 Issue 5, p692-712, 21p Stroh, L. & Johnson, H. (2006). The basic principles of effective consulting. Manwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Steel, F. (1975). Consulting for organizational change. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. Uniandes (2009). AACSB Executive Summary Application Profile Summary. Bogotá: Universidad de los Andes Wolf, W. (1978). Management and Consulting: An introduction to James O. 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Despite these potential strengths of consultancy programs offered by universities, it‟s also important to consider that studentprograms also can distort the consultancy market. By offering “cheap high quality service”, they may compete with small consultancy firms and even their own graduates. Strong policies that subscribe the academic character of consultancy practicums such as ConsultAndes are necessary to assure high turnover of clients. 7. CONCLUSIONS Our study is one of the first academic explorations of the management consultancy practice in Colombia. Its results indicate trends and challenges that differ clearly from the conditions in more industrialized economies. Aside the international consultancy firms that offer, since various decades, their services to a small group of exclusive companies, management consultancy seems to be in the early stage in the country. Certified capacity building and professionalization of a dynamic and high quality consultancy infrastructure is needed. The sustained economic growth and foreign investment in the country will boost the consultancy market perspectives. This progress will influence the evolution of sophisticated management consultancy services. However, this will also promote management consultancy services for local small and medium sized organizations. The ConsultAndes experience shows that it‟s possible to develop managerial capacities through consultancy projects. The results illustrate that all relevant abilities for consultants and managers were developed by students during the course. We also had found that this experience contributed to strengthen management consultancy capacity in Colombia by providing elements to professionalize the consultancy practice. Within this respect, a consultant with wide experience affirmed: “In Colombia we have a challenge on the professionalization of the industry. The efforts to close the gap must also come from the universities, training students in consulting, like ConsultAndes does". In addition, this learning-by-doing course gives management students and future managers the expertise to evaluate and contract management consultancy as a decision-making tool, improving market sophistication. One limitation of our study was our focus on the specific case of a consultancy program at a leading management school in Bogotá. Although we interviewed a significant group of consultants and companies, our main evidence was based on the experience of management students of a particular program. Our recommendations for further research go in two directions. First, focuses on expanding the study of the ConsultAndes case. We plan measure the impact of the consultancy projects on clients. With this research we expect to obtain valuable feedback to adjust and improve the methodology of the program. Second, we suggest the exploration of the consultancy market in Colombia, its structure and operation. It is important to expand the limited existing academic research on the subject. This
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Oeno Farma-ceuticals, From the Grape to the Glass: An e-Training Platform on Health and Safety Issues for Wine Makers and Consumers. Konstantinos SFLOMOS, Department of Food Technology, Technological Educational Institution of Athens, Ag. Spyridonos, 12210, Athens, Greece,
Panagiotis ZOUMPOULAKIS, Institute of Organic and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, National Hellenic Research Foundation, 48 Vas. Constantinou Ave., 11635, Athens, Greece, and Vasilia SINANOGLOU, Department of Food Technology, Technological Educational Institution of Athens, Ag. Spyridonos, 12210, Athens, Greece.
ABSTRACT Keywords: Multi-Actor Cooperation, Training Needs Analysis, wine, vine, Health and Safety, nutraceuticals.
A pedagogical platform has been developed as a result of a close cooperation between many actors and stakeholders of the wine sector including consumers. This long term Multi-Actor Cooperation (MAC approach) of European Universities and Wine Industries was based on Analysis of the Training Needs (TNA) of the latter sector and their expressed interest to the former, willing to produce a flexible (distance learning) and friendly to nonspecialists training tool. This tool can therefore be distributed and add value to the activities and education of wine makers. It is also feasible for integration into the teaching curricula of the relative Educational and Research Institutions. The Health aspects of wine were chosen as the most representative and “popular” Case Study of the above e-training platform. Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) and wine consumers are also interested in various Health and Safety issues linked with the quality management in all links of the chain “from the grape to the glass” In connection with the theoretical presentation of the relevant issues, potential users of the platform can be trained through specially selected case studies, developed in the framework of synergistic research activities of the participating actors (research and training organizations).
1. INTRODUCTION Beneficial factors linked with wine consumption have always attracted the interest of both wine producers and consumers. There are a lot of studies supporting the relevant theories starting from the so-called French paradox up to latest research findings attributing anti-oxidative properties to wine products. The French paradox: despite the higher lipid composition of their diet, French people do not necessarily show increased incidence of cardiovascular diseases and this, is attributed-to a certain degree- to the presence of resveratrol in the wine. In a close relation to this, the anti-oxidative properties of similar wine constituents like the polyphenols, are also linked with lower incidence of cell-damage, including carcinogenesis and aging. Despite though their beneficial effects, wine products are often contaminated with certain hazardous substances as a result of the environmental pollution (dioxins and aflatoxins found in the grapes) or from improper industrial treatments (methanol and increased
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concentration of sulfites), not to exclude the adverse effects of the presence of ethanol itself. Local wineries and relevant enterprises producing alcoholic beverages (SMEs) seeking staff-training in the above lately developed fields, have expressed their needs and interest to the collaborating Institutions in order to prepare a distance learning tool that would ameliorate the quality of their products. This e-training tool, although designated mainly for oenologists, it is developed on a more general (scientifically and technologically) background. Therefore students attending relevant Courses and consumers could also be educated and benefit from the e-learning platform of Oeno Farma-ceuticals. Finally, the e-learning platform can be used on a dual basis for the wine industry and the relative (wine) Institutions and for two main purposes: a) critical components (for the human health and the wine industry) can become known and naturally exploited; b) Hazardous for the human organism and the overall quality of the wine products will stay away from the food (wine) chain from the farm to the glass.
training activities and projects showed also that in connection with the basic knowledge provided through these training packages, the latter have to include two critical elements; (i) a shelf-evaluation Questionnaire, usually of the Multiple Choice type and (ii) the teaching approach should be accompanied with the relevant Success Stories, taken mainly from the industrial sector. Both demands of the TNA for Oeno Farma-ceuticals were fulfilled as it is explained below. The Modules that have been proved of having the highest priority for training among the “actors” of the Wine scene were those dealing with the Health and Safety issues. A holistic approach was implemented in order to cover the whole spectrum of the chemical, biological and nutritional parameters involved in the production and consumption of wines and alcoholic beverages, from the grape to the glass and eventually to the human body. In order to facilitate the training dimension and use of the platform, the critical (on Health and Safety issues) substances of the wine and the wine beverages, were classified in two main categories: a) beneficial compounds and b) undesirable substances. In the class of beneficial -to human health – compounds, the flavonoids (polyphenols) and the case of resveratrol are described in more details. These compounds are found in many varieties of vines, especially the red ones. They exhibit anti-oxidant properties and they are acting as free-radical scavengers. That means that they can “capture” mutagenic entities and prevent some potentially carcinogenic reactions which are possible to take place within the human body. The anticancer properties of polyphenols can be therefore easily understood and reports in the literature are in line with this hypothesis. A second beneficial effect of the anti – oxidant activities of flavonoids is their involvement in the formation of the atheromatic plaque within the arteries of the human body. They prevent the Low Density Lipoproteins – linked with cholesterol (i.e. the LDL cholesterol or bad cholesterol) to stay in the blood and make deposits in the arteries, thus preventing
2. METHODOLOGY A pedagogical platform has been developed as a result of a close cooperation between many actors and stakeholders of the wine sector including consumers. This long and fruitful Multi-Actor Cooperation (MAC approach) of European Universities, Research Institutions and Wine Industries has also produced similar training material, based on relevant Analyses of the Training Needs (TNA) of the food and beverage sector. Training products relevant to the above MAC approach have been disseminated via similar Conferences and the Internet. [1-3]. Concerning the tool (etraining platform) the TNA for Oeno Farmaceuticals showed that wine producers and the corresponding stakeholders would be interested for an easily accessible (distance learning) and flexible (modular-type) training tool. Previous experience and ex-post evaluation of similar
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atherosclerosis, a factor linked directly with many cardiovascular episodes and strokes. Concerning the undesirable substances the training platform examines both environmental and industrial contaminants. From the environmental contaminants the platform provides information for the most frequently polluting agents which contaminate not only the grapes but also some cereals where from, certain alcoholic beverages like beer, whiskey and gin are produced. The environmental pollutants presented in the training platform "Oeno Farma-ceuticals" are the dioxins and the aflatoxins. Dioxins that are found in the grapes are usually produced from open-air fires for burning near - by agricultural residues. When they contaminate the skin of the grapes, it is difficult to remove them from the grapes and their relevant products (raisins). Since these chemicals belong to the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP), are not water - soluble and extremely toxic, a special attention should be taken in the cultivation fields to prevent the corresponding contamination. Otherwise the grapes should be discarded. Aflatoxins and especially ochratoxin A that contaminate grapes and certain cereals, are products of metabolic reactions taking place within certain migroorganisms like Aspergillus flavus. Therefore the only means to prevent contamination with these very toxic metabolites is to protect the relevant raw materials from developing their corresponding precursors (fungi). The safest means for prevention is to keep them away (when possible) from higher humidity and temperatures, at least during storage. The third undesirable compound produced during the vinification process is methanol. This is also toxic and it is mainly a by-product of the alcoholic fermentation, when - together with the grape sugars -other wood polysaccharides (lignin, cellulose) are present in the fermented material. The safest method for the elimination of methanol which is also called wood alcohol is to keep control of the temperature of the distillation, during production of the alcoholic drinks. Finally the issue of sulfites addition as preservative, being under surveillance from the corresponding
specifications and authorities, it is studied in connection with the research efforts to find other means and methods for the preservation of wines. (See Case Study below, on wine irradiation). Apart from the improper industrial treatments, leading to the existence of methanol and increased concentration of sulfites, health and safety training modules gave proper attention to the adverse effects of the presence of ethanol itself which can cause a plethora of health problems. To facilitate the clear understanding from non specialists and even simple wineconsumers, an Appendix with the necessary technical and scientific terms is attached (elinked) to the platform. Concerning the second category of the critical (to human health) substances of the wine and the alcoholic beverages, the compounds that were chosen for the relevant training are the most frequently found to contaminate and therefore to lower the quality of the polluted products. The substances chosen are either coming from the environment or from pollutants derived from improper storage (dioxins or mycotoxins – ochratoxin A), but also from technological disadvantages and/or deviations from the relevant specifications and guidelines (methanol and sulfite salts). Again, the above Appendix with the corresponding terms is linked wherever is considered necessary. Since there are many controversial reports in the literature regarding ethanol’s both beneficial effects (under moderate consumption) and adverse reactions and toxicity, the issue is presented on a separate and a more integrated Unit. The Unit starts with the biochemical reactions linked with ethanol, continues with its toxicity to human cells and body tissues and ends with the metabolic pathways that are thought to be responsible for the distribution and fate of ethanol into and from the various organs and systems of the human body. The ethanol Unit is accompanied with a practical test, assisted by a Virtual Reality training tool, similar to the well known breath alcohol test “alcotest”. With this example the absorption, distribution and elimination of ethanol from the human body is better
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understood, explaining also the foods that might be involved in the absorption and fate of alcohol from the human body. The ethanol Unit is also linked with one of the Success Stories presented in the e-training platform “Oeno Farma-ceuticals”, taken from a joint European project, namely “Oeno-MAC” [2] The Success Story of this Unit, deals with the development of Alcohol-free wine-like products. In connection to this issue, a SWOT analysis for ethanol is presented, being concentrated more on the opportunities that the production of dealcoholized wines might have for nutritional (minimizing calories, pregnant women, young people, etc), ethical (drivers, alcoholics, certain religions etc) and industrial/commercial (innovative/novel products) reasons. The second success story presented in the platform is an outcome of a research project developed with collaborative activities of the authors, in their home Institutions [4-5]. This Story explains how the use of gamma – irradiation might be of use for a potential reduction or elimination, of anti-microbial agents added to the wine (like metabisulfite), at least to synergistic - with the chemicals used at present - levels, provided that such treatments obtain the necessary permission and certification from the responsible food authorities, worldwide.
within their main constituent, ethanol. This tool can therefore be distributed and add value to the activities and formal education of wine makers. As a training tool for providing information via teaching and research, it is also feasible for integration into the teaching curricula of some sectoral Educational and Research Institutions.
5. REFERENCES [1] Agro-MAC VET - Multi Actors Cooperation for Vocational Education Training in Agro and rural business development, Leonardo da Vinci Partnership programme, www.agronet.eu [2] Oeno-MAC, Providing Oenovation, Leonardo da Vinci Transfer of Innovation programme, www.oenomac.eu [3] P. Zoumpoulakis, W. Lorig, P. Zaverdinos, D. Christodouleas, G. Hatziandreou, K. Sflomos, Effects of Gamma - Irradiation on White-Wine Samples, 1st International Congress on Food Technology, 3-6 November 2010, Antalya, Turkey. [4] T-I. Lafka, V.J. Sinanoglou, E.S. Lazos, “On the extraction and antioxidant activity of phenolic compounds from winery wastes”, Food Chemistry, Vol. 104, 2007, pp. 1206– 1214. [5] A.M. Βatrinou, D. Koraki, V. Sinanoglou, A.D. Karagouni, K. Sflomos, V. Pletsa, “Effect of ionising radiation on the quantification of genetically modified foods”, Food Biotechnology, Vol. 22, 2008, pp. 338–351.
4. CONCLUSIONS A systematic approach to document and exploit the potential biological activities and health benefits of wine and alcoholic beverages, linked with the presence of nutraceuticals, is presented with the e-training platform "Oeno Farma-ceuticals". With this training tool the wine industry can approach the very promising era of nutraceuticals from their development in the vines and the grapes to the final products (wine and alcoholic beverages). Consumers of alcoholic drinks can also obtain the relevant life-long learning not only on the health benefits of wine but also on the potential danger that might be hidden in these products, especially
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AUTHORS INDEX Volume I
Abbad, Muneer Achcaoucaou-Iallouchen, Fariza Aguado, Pedro Ahmed, Hussain A. Ainsa, Ignacio Al-Dosari, Bakheet Alsuwaidi, Khalifa Ali Álvarez, Ramón Antonucci, Paul Assaf, Dorit Ayuga, Francisco Ayuga-Téllez, Esperanza Azani, Hamid Barker, Gail Barqawi, Amjad Barreiro, Pilar Baxter, Terry Beauboeuf, Theresa Bernardo-Vilamitjana, Merce Bilodeau, Victor Bocatto, Evandro Brannagan, Kim B. Briassoulis, Demetres Byeon, Soon Cheon Carmean, Colleen Carson, Matthew Casquero, Pedro Charles, Harvey Chen, Hao Chen, Li Chern, Jin-Yuan
Clavería, Isabel Clay, Dorie Coe, Kathryn Comparetti, Antonio Cooley, Janae Cunha Campos, André Maurício das Chagas Lemos, Elizama Davis, James de Martino, José Mario de Oliveira, Rômulo De Salas, Leticia Devece, Carlos Diezma, Belén Doerfler, R. L. Dotter, Franz Dunn, R. Scott Eden, Catherine Eriksson, Johan Febo, Pierluigi Fehrmann, Jens Ferebee, Susan Fernández, Ángel Flugman, Bert Forsén, Tom Fradkin, Larissa Fuentes, José-María García, Ana-Isabel Gil, Ignacio Golsch, Amanda González-García, Concepción Grande-Ortiz, Mª Ángeles
152 227 1; 7 212 87 52 212 7 218 108 1; 21 12; 27 233 73 158 17 271 257 227 37 37 41 1 254 73 124 7 271 135 248 182
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Groop, Leif Gu, Ming Gudivada, Venkat N. Guertzenstein Angare, Leandro Martin Guitart-Tarrés, Laura Hartpence, Bruce H. Hearn, Christopher Helmstetter, Charles E. Hendel, Russell Jay Herget, Deborah Hess, Linda Hilzensauer, Marlene Hiryak, Christopher Hla, Htay Holpp, M. Househ, Mowafa Said Howard, Sheryl Hsu, Donald K. Hudesman, John Hughey, Aaron W. Isaac, Sharlene Isomaa, Bo Jaber, Faten Javierre, Carlos Ji, FuJun Jiang, Weihua Kim, Seong-Jin Kostolányová, Kateřina Kowalski, Amy Lahti, Kaj Lang, R. Raymond Lapiedra, Rafael Lin, Jipeng Liu, Junhua Liu, Yitong Machado do Amaral, Wanessa Mahoney, Jeff Manco, Charlene M. Martin, Christopher Martínez, Ana
288 248 277
Mertens, K. C. Métioui, Abdeljalil Miller, Jaimie L. Miravitlles-Matamoros, Paloma Mizuno, Kazunori Mlsna, Phillip Morris, David Moya-González, Adolfo Na, Divya Nakajima, Hidehiro Nandigam, Jagadeesh Navickas, Kestutis Ni, Zhengwei Nord, Gail Nord, John Núñez-Carballosa, Ana O’Sullivan, Jill O'Donnell, Colm Panagakis, Panagiotis Pérez de Toledo, Eloisa Pfeifer, Rolf Ramírez, Álvaro Rastogi, Rahul Rubio de Juan, Asunción Saa, José Saddik, Basema Särkilahti, Maarit Šarmanová, Jana Sasaki, Hitoshi Scarascia-Mugnozza, Giacomo Schiering, Marjorie S. Schnarch, David Selezneva, Elena Sflomos, Konstantinos Shaban, Sami Sharma, Anil Shikoda, Arimitsu Sienkiewicz, Frank Sinanoglou, Vasilia Soldevilla, Carlos Song, Xiaohui
93 227 76 120 147 81 130 73 46 73 73 301 52 271 289; 295 124 169 124 288 152 87 248 282 254 175 130 288 257 114 282 282 135 93 130 169 73 32
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Song, Xiaoping Styron, Jennifer Styron, Jr., Ronald A. Szabo, Zsuzsanna Takács, Ondřej Tascón, Alberto Tevar-Sánz, Gonzalo Thysen, I. Toguchi, Akinori Trudel, Louis Tuhkanen, Tuula Tuomi, Tiinamaija Valero, Costantino van Hoof, Bart Vangeyte, J. Veiga, Alberto Venkatraman, Niranjan Vischer, Norbert O. E. von Haselberg, C. von Solms, Rossouw Vranesh, Richard H. Wang, Jin Wang, Sy-Chyi Kiky Wang, Yinghua Ward, R. Bruce Wei, Kai Weinstein, Ronald S. Wen, Si Wintrich, Ina Woldringh, Conrad L. Wu, Jianwei Yager, Susan E. Yang, Hongwen Yang, JianXun You, Sukkyung Younger, Ziv Yuan, Wancheng Zaritsky, Arieh Zernov, Victor Zhang, Jingyuan
282 66 66 265 175 7 27 301 261 186; 203 144 288 17 311 301 61 271 147 301 55; 179 192 282 182 282 218 197 73 135 73 147 135 265 135 248 223 130 197 147 242 282
Zhang, Yong Zhang, Yuye Zoumpoulakis, Panagiotis
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