Search results for: learning text
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 7957

Search results for: learning text

7387 Emotions in Health Tweets: Analysis of American Government Official Accounts

Authors: García López

Abstract:

The Government Departments of Health have the task of informing and educating citizens about public health issues. For this, they use channels like Twitter, key in the search for health information and the propagation of content. The tweets, important in the virality of the content, may contain emotions that influence the contagion and exchange of knowledge. The goal of this study is to perform an analysis of the emotional projection of health information shared on Twitter by official American accounts: the disease control account CDCgov, National Institutes of Health, NIH, the government agency HHSGov, and the professional organization PublicHealth. For this, we used Tone Analyzer, an International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) tool specialized in emotion detection in text, corresponding to the categorical model of emotion representation. For 15 days, all tweets from these accounts were analyzed with the emotional analysis tool in text. The results showed that their tweets contain an important emotional load, a determining factor in the success of their communications. This exposes that official accounts also use subjective language and contain emotions. The predominance of emotion joy over sadness and the strong presence of emotions in their tweets stimulate the virality of content, a key in the work of informing that government health departments have.

Keywords: emotions in tweets, emotion detection in the text, health information on Twitter, American health official accounts, emotions on Twitter, emotions and content

Procedia PDF Downloads 127
7386 Experiential Learning: A Case Study for Teaching Operating System Using C and Unix

Authors: Shamshuddin K., Nagaraj Vannal, Diwakar Kulkarni, Raghavendra Nakod

Abstract:

In most of the universities and colleges Operating System (OS) course is treated as theoretical and usually taught in a classroom using conventional teaching methods. In this paper we are presenting a new approach of teaching OS through experiential learning, the course is designed to suit the requirement of undergraduate engineering program of Instrumentation Technology. This new approach has benefited us to improve our student’s programming skills, presentation skills and understanding of the operating system concepts.

Keywords: pedagogy, interactive learning, experiential learning, OS, C, UNIX

Procedia PDF Downloads 597
7385 Library Support for the Intellectually Disabled: Book Clubs and Universal Design

Authors: Matthew Conner, Leah Plocharczyk

Abstract:

This study examines the role of academic libraries in support of the intellectually disabled (ID) in post-secondary education. With the growing public awareness of the ID, there has been recognition of their need for post-secondary educational opportunities. This was an unforeseen result for a population that has been associated with elementary levels of education, yet the reasons are compelling. After aging out of the school system, the ID need and deserve educational and social support as much as anyone. Moreover, the commitment to diversity in higher education rings hollow if this group is excluded. Yet, challenges remain to integrating the ID into a college curriculum. This presentation focuses on the role of academic libraries. Neglecting this vital resource for the support of the ID is not to be thought of, yet the library’s contribution is not clear. Library collections presume reading ability and libraries already struggle to meet their traditional goals with the resources available. This presentation examines how academic libraries can support post-secondary ID. For context, the presentation first examines the state of post-secondary education for the ID with an analysis of data on the United States compiled by the ThinkCollege! Project. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and statistical analysis will show regional and methodological trends in post-secondary support of the ID which currently lack any significant involvement by college libraries. Then, the presentation analyzes a case study of a book club at the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) libraries which has run for several years. Issues such as the selection of books, effective pedagogies, and evaluation procedures will be examined. The study has found that the instruction pedagogies used by libraries can be extended through concepts of Universal Learning Design (ULD) to effectively engage the ID. In particular, student-centered, participatory methodologies that accommodate different learning styles have proven to be especially useful. The choice of text is complex and determined not only by reading ability but familiarity of subject and features of the ID’s developmental trajectory. The selection of text is not only a necessity but also promises to give insight into the ID. Assessment remains a complex and unresolved subject, but the voluntary, sustained, and enthusiastic attendance of the ID is an undeniable indicator. The study finds that, through the traditional library vehicle of the book club, academic libraries can support ID students through training in both reading and socialization, two major goals of their post-secondary education.

Keywords: academic libraries, intellectual disability, literacy, post-secondary education

Procedia PDF Downloads 152
7384 The Impact of E-Learning on the Performance of History Learners in Eswatini General Certificate of Secondary Education

Authors: Joseph Osodo, Motsa Thobekani Phila

Abstract:

The study investigated the impact of e-learning on the performance of history learners in Eswatini general certificate of secondary education in the Manzini region of Eswatini. The study was guided by the theory of connectivism. The study had three objectives which were to find out the significance of e-learning during the COVID-19 era in learning History subject; challenges faced by history teachers’ and learners’ in e-learning; and how the challenges were mitigated. The study used a qualitative research approach and descriptive research design. Purposive sampling was used to select eight History teachers and eight History learners from four secondary schools in the Manzini region. Data were collected using face to face interviews. The collected data were analyzed and presented in thematically. The findings showed that history teachers had good knowledge on what e-learning was, while students had little understanding of e-learning. Some of the forms of e-learning that were used during the pandemic in teaching history in secondary schools included TV, radio, computer, projectors, and social media especially WhatsApp. E-learning enabled the continuity of teaching and learning of history subject. The use of e-learning through the social media was more convenient to the teacher and the learners. It was concluded that in some secondary school in the Manzini region, history teacher and learners encountered challenges such as lack of finances to purchase e-learning gadgets and data bundles, lack of skills as well as access to the Internet. It was recommended that History teachers should create more time to offer additional learning support to students whose performance was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic effects.

Keywords: e-learning, performance, COVID-19, history, connectivism

Procedia PDF Downloads 65
7383 Using Facebook as an Alternative Learning Tools in Malaysian Higher Learning Institutions: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

Authors: Ahasanul Haque, Abdullah Sarwar, Khaliq Ahmed

Abstract:

Networking is important among students to achieve better understanding. Social networking plays an important role in the education. Realizing its huge potential, various organizations, including institutions of higher learning have moved to the area of social networks to interact with their students especially through Facebook. Therefore, measuring the effectiveness of Facebook as a learning tool has become an area of interest to academicians and researchers. Therefore, this study tried to integrate and propose new theoretical and empirical evidences by linking the western idea of adopting Facebook as an alternative learning platform from a Malaysian perspective. This study, thus, aimed to fill a gap by being among the pioneering research that tries to study the effectiveness of adopting Facebook as a learning platform across other cultural settings, namely Malaysia. Structural equation modelling was employed for data analysis and hypothesis testing. This study findings have provided some insights that would likely affect students’ awareness towards using Facebook as an alternative learning platform in the Malaysian higher learning institutions. At the end, future direction is proposed.

Keywords: Learning Management Tool, social networking, education, Malaysia

Procedia PDF Downloads 415
7382 A Context Aware Mobile Learning System with a Cognitive Recommendation Engine

Authors: Jalal Maqbool, Gyu Myoung Lee

Abstract:

Using smart devices for context aware mobile learning is becoming increasingly popular. This has led to mobile learning technology becoming an indispensable part of today’s learning environment and platforms. However, some fundamental issues remain - namely, mobile learning still lacks the ability to truly understand human reaction and user behaviour. This is due to the fact that current mobile learning systems are passive and not aware of learners’ changing contextual situations. They rely on static information about mobile learners. In addition, current mobile learning platforms lack the capability to incorporate dynamic contextual situations into learners’ preferences. Thus, this thesis aims to address these issues highlighted by designing a context aware framework which is able to sense learner’s contextual situations, handle data dynamically, and which can use contextual information to suggest bespoke learning content according to a learner’s preferences. This is to be underpinned by a robust recommendation system, which has the capability to perform these functions, thus providing learners with a truly context-aware mobile learning experience, delivering learning contents using smart devices and adapting to learning preferences as and when it is required. In addition, part of designing an algorithm for the recommendation engine has to be based on learner and application needs, personal characteristics and circumstances, as well as being able to comprehend human cognitive processes which would enable the technology to interact effectively and deliver mobile learning content which is relevant, according to the learner’s contextual situations. The concept of this proposed project is to provide a new method of smart learning, based on a capable recommendation engine for providing an intuitive mobile learning model based on learner actions.

Keywords: aware, context, learning, mobile

Procedia PDF Downloads 237
7381 A Less Complexity Deep Learning Method for Drones Detection

Authors: Mohamad Kassab, Amal El Fallah Seghrouchni, Frederic Barbaresco, Raed Abu Zitar

Abstract:

Detecting objects such as drones is a challenging task as their relative size and maneuvering capabilities deceive machine learning models and cause them to misclassify drones as birds or other objects. In this work, we investigate applying several deep learning techniques to benchmark real data sets of flying drones. A deep learning paradigm is proposed for the purpose of mitigating the complexity of those systems. The proposed paradigm consists of a hybrid between the AdderNet deep learning paradigm and the Single Shot Detector (SSD) paradigm. The goal was to minimize multiplication operations numbers in the filtering layers within the proposed system and, hence, reduce complexity. Some standard machine learning technique, such as SVM, is also tested and compared to other deep learning systems. The data sets used for training and testing were either complete or filtered in order to remove the images with mall objects. The types of data were RGB or IR data. Comparisons were made between all these types, and conclusions were presented.

Keywords: drones detection, deep learning, birds versus drones, precision of detection, AdderNet

Procedia PDF Downloads 166
7380 Deep learning with Noisy Labels : Learning True Labels as Discrete Latent Variable

Authors: Azeddine El-Hassouny, Chandrashekhar Meshram, Geraldin Nanfack

Abstract:

In recent years, learning from data with noisy labels (Label Noise) has been a major concern in supervised learning. This problem has become even more worrying in Deep Learning, where the generalization capabilities have been questioned lately. Indeed, deep learning requires a large amount of data that is generally collected by search engines, which frequently return data with unreliable labels. In this paper, we investigate the Label Noise in Deep Learning using variational inference. Our contributions are : (1) exploiting Label Noise concept where the true labels are learnt using reparameterization variational inference, while observed labels are learnt discriminatively. (2) the noise transition matrix is learnt during the training without any particular process, neither heuristic nor preliminary phases. The theoretical results shows how true label distribution can be learned by variational inference in any discriminate neural network, and the effectiveness of our approach is proved in several target datasets, such as MNIST and CIFAR32.

Keywords: label noise, deep learning, discrete latent variable, variational inference, MNIST, CIFAR32

Procedia PDF Downloads 112
7379 Network Word Discovery Framework Based on Sentence Semantic Vector Similarity

Authors: Ganfeng Yu, Yuefeng Ma, Shanliang Yang

Abstract:

The word discovery is a key problem in text information retrieval technology. Methods in new word discovery tend to be closely related to words because they generally obtain new word results by analyzing words. With the popularity of social networks, individual netizens and online self-media have generated various network texts for the convenience of online life, including network words that are far from standard Chinese expression. How detect network words is one of the important goals in the field of text information retrieval today. In this paper, we integrate the word embedding model and clustering methods to propose a network word discovery framework based on sentence semantic similarity (S³-NWD) to detect network words effectively from the corpus. This framework constructs sentence semantic vectors through a distributed representation model, uses the similarity of sentence semantic vectors to determine the semantic relationship between sentences, and finally realizes network word discovery by the meaning of semantic replacement between sentences. The experiment verifies that the framework not only completes the rapid discovery of network words but also realizes the standard word meaning of the discovery of network words, which reflects the effectiveness of our work.

Keywords: text information retrieval, natural language processing, new word discovery, information extraction

Procedia PDF Downloads 82
7378 Introducing Transcending Pedagogies

Authors: Wajeehah Aayeshah, Joy Higgs

Abstract:

The term “transcending pedagogies” has been created to refer to teaching and learning strategies that transcend the mode of student enrolment, the needs of different students, and different learning spaces. The value of such pedagogies in the current arena when learning spaces, technologies and preferences are more volatile than ever before, is a key focus of this paper. The paper will examine current and emerging pedagogies that transcend the learning spaces and enrollment modes of on campus, distance, virtual and workplace learning contexts. A further point of interest is how academics in professional and higher education settings interpret and implement pedagogies in the current global conversation space and re-creation of higher education. This study questioned how the notion and practice of transcending pedagogies enables us to re-imagine and reshape university curricula. It explored the nature of teaching and learning spaces and those professional and higher education (current and emerging) pedagogies that can be implemented across these spaces. We set out to identify how transcending pedagogies can assist students in learning to deal with complexity, uncertainty and change in the practice worlds and better appeal to students who are making decisions on where to enrol. The data for this study was collected through in-depth interviews and focus groups with academics and policy makers within academia.

Keywords: Transcending Pedagogies, teaching and learning strategies, learning spaces, pedagogies

Procedia PDF Downloads 534
7377 Investigating The Use Of Socially Assistive Robots To Support Learner Engagement For Students With Learning Disabilities In One-to-one Instructional Settings

Authors: Jennifer Fane, Mike Gray, Melissa Sager

Abstract:

Children with diagnosed or suspected learning disabilities frequently experience significant skill gaps in foundational learning areas such as reading, writing, and math. Remedial one-to-one instruction is a highly effective means of supporting children with learning differences in building these foundational skills and closing the learning gap between them and their same-age peers. However, due to the learning challenges children with learning disabilities face, and ensuing challenges with self-confidence, many children with learning differences struggle with motivation and self-regulation within remedial one-to-one learning environments - despite the benefits of these sessions. Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) are an innovative educational technology tool that has been trialled in a range of educational settings to support diverse learning needs. Yet, little is known about the impact of SARs on the learning of children with learning differences in a one-to-one remedial instructional setting. This study sought to explore the impact of SARs on the engagement of children (n=9) with learning differences attending one-to-one remedial instruction sessions at a non-profit remedial education provider. The study used a mixed-methods design to explore learner engagement during learning tasks both with and without the use of a SAR to investigate how the use of SARs impacts student learning. The study took place over five weeks, with each session within the study followed the same procedure with the SAR acting as a teaching assistant when in use. Data from the study included analysis of time-sample video segments of the instructional sessions, instructor recorded information about the student’s progress towards their session learning goal and student self-reported mood and energy levels before and after the session. Analysis of the findings indicates that the use of SARs resulted in fewer instances of off-task behaviour and less need for instructor re-direction during learning tasks, allowing students to work in more sustained ways towards their learning goals. This initial research indicates that the use of SARs does have a material and measurable impact on learner engagement for children with learning differences and that further exploration of the impact of SARs during one-to-one remedial instruction is warranted.

Keywords: engagement, learning differences, learning disabilities, instruction, social robotics.

Procedia PDF Downloads 203
7376 An Approximation Technique to Automate Tron

Authors: P. Jayashree, S. Rajkumar

Abstract:

With the trend of virtual and augmented reality environments booming to provide a life like experience, gaming is a major tool in supporting such learning environments. In this work, a variant of Voronoi heuristics, employing supervised learning for the TRON game is proposed. The paper discusses the features that would be really useful when a machine learning bot is to be used as an opponent against a human player. Various game scenarios, nature of the bot and the experimental results are provided for the proposed variant to prove that the approach is better than those that are currently followed.

Keywords: artificial Intelligence, automation, machine learning, TRON game, Voronoi heuristics

Procedia PDF Downloads 454
7375 Nation Branding as Reframing: From the Perspective of Translation Studies

Authors: Ye Tian

Abstract:

Soft power has replaced hard power and become one of the most attractive ways nations pursue to expand their international influence. One of the ways to improve a nation’s soft power is to commercialise the country and brand or rebrand it to the international audience, and thus attract interests or foreign investments. In this process, translation has often been regarded as merely a tool, and researches in it are either in translating literature as culture export or in how (in)accuracy of translation influences the branding campaign. This paper proposes to analyse nation branding campaign with framing theory, and thus gives an entry for translation studies to come to a central stage in today’s soft power research. To frame information or elements of a text, an event, or, as in this paper, a nation is to put them in a mental structure. This structure can be built by outsiders or by those who create the text, the event, or by citizens of the nation. To frame information like this can be regarded as a process of translation, as what translation does in its traditional meaning of ‘translating a text’ is to put a framework on the text to, deliberately or not, highlight some of the elements while hiding the others. In the discourse of nations, then, people unavoidably simplify a national image and put the nation into their imaginary framework. In this way, problems like stereotype and prejudice come into being. Meanwhile, if nations seek ways to frame or reframe themselves, they make efforts to have in control what and who they are in the eyes of international audiences, and thus make profits, economically or politically, from it. The paper takes African nations, which are usually perceived as a whole, and the United Kingdom as examples to justify passive and active framing process, and assesses both positive and negative influence framing has on nations. In conclusion, translation as framing causes problems like prejudice, and the image of a nation is not always in the hands of nation branders, but reframing the nation in a positive way has the potential to turn the tide.

Keywords: framing, nation branding, stereotype, translation

Procedia PDF Downloads 144
7374 Text Mining Past Medical History in Electrophysiological Studies

Authors: Roni Ramon-Gonen, Amir Dori, Shahar Shelly

Abstract:

Background and objectives: Healthcare professionals produce abundant textual information in their daily clinical practice. The extraction of insights from all the gathered information, mainly unstructured and lacking in normalization, is one of the major challenges in computational medicine. In this respect, text mining assembles different techniques to derive valuable insights from unstructured textual data, so it has led to being especially relevant in Medicine. Neurological patient’s history allows the clinician to define the patient’s symptoms and along with the result of the nerve conduction study (NCS) and electromyography (EMG) test, assists in formulating a differential diagnosis. Past medical history (PMH) helps to direct the latter. In this study, we aimed to identify relevant PMH, understand which PMHs are common among patients in the referral cohort and documented by the medical staff, and examine the differences by sex and age in a large cohort based on textual format notes. Methods: We retrospectively identified all patients with abnormal NCS between May 2016 to February 2022. Age, gender, and all NCS attributes reports were recorded, including the summary text. All patients’ histories were extracted from the text report by a query. Basic text cleansing and data preparation were performed, as well as lemmatization. Very popular words (like ‘left’ and ‘right’) were deleted. Several words were replaced with their abbreviations. A bag of words approach was used to perform the analyses. Different visualizations which are common in text analysis, were created to easily grasp the results. Results: We identified 5282 unique patients. Three thousand and five (57%) patients had documented PMH. Of which 60.4% (n=1817) were males. The total median age was 62 years (range 0.12 – 97.2 years), and the majority of patients (83%) presented after the age of forty years. The top two documented medical histories were diabetes mellitus (DM) and surgery. DM was observed in 16.3% of the patients, and surgery at 15.4%. Other frequent patient histories (among the top 20) were fracture, cancer (ca), motor vehicle accident (MVA), leg, lumbar, discopathy, back and carpal tunnel release (CTR). When separating the data by sex, we can see that DM and MVA are more frequent among males, while cancer and CTR are less frequent. On the other hand, the top medical history in females was surgery and, after that, DM. Other frequent histories among females are breast cancer, fractures, and CTR. In the younger population (ages 18 to 26), the frequent PMH were surgery, fractures, trauma, and MVA. Discussion: By applying text mining approaches to unstructured data, we were able to better understand which medical histories are more relevant in these circumstances and, in addition, gain additional insights regarding sex and age differences. These insights might help to collect epidemiological demographical data as well as raise new hypotheses. One limitation of this work is that each clinician might use different words or abbreviations to describe the same condition, and therefore using a coding system can be beneficial.

Keywords: abnormal studies, healthcare analytics, medical history, nerve conduction studies, text mining, textual analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 86
7373 The Impact of Content Familiarity of Receptive Skills on Language Learning

Authors: Sara Fallahi

Abstract:

This paper reviews the importance of content familiarity of receptive skills and offers solutions to the issue of content unfamiliarity in language learning materials. Presently, language learning materials are mainly comprised of global issues and target language speakers’ culture(s) in receptive skills. This might leadlearners to focus on content rather than the language. As a solution, materials on receptive skills can be developed with a focus on learners’culture and social concerns, especially in the beginner levels of learning. Language learners often learn their target language through the receptive skills of listening and reading before language production ensues through speaking and writing. Students’ journey from receptive skills to productive skills is mainly concentrated on by teachers. There are barriers to language learning, such as time and energy, that can hinder learners’ understanding and ability to build the required background knowledge of the content. This is generated due to learners’ unfamiliarity with the skill’s content. Therefore, materials that improve content familiarity will help learners improve their language comprehension, learning, and usage. This presentation will conclude with practical solutions to help teachers and learners more authentically integrate language and culture to elevate language learning.

Keywords: language learning, listening content, reading content, content familiarity, ESL books, language learning books, cultural familiarity

Procedia PDF Downloads 101
7372 An Exploratory Study of the Student’s Learning Experience by Applying Different Tools for e-Learning and e-Teaching

Authors: Angel Daniel Muñoz Guzmán

Abstract:

E-learning is becoming more and more common every day. For online, hybrid or traditional face-to-face programs, there are some e-teaching platforms like Google classroom, Blackboard, Moodle and Canvas, and there are platforms for full e-learning like Coursera, edX or Udemy. These tools are changing the way students acquire knowledge at schools; however, in today’s changing world that is not enough. As students’ needs and skills change and become more complex, new tools will need to be added to keep them engaged and potentialize their learning. This is especially important in the current global situation that is changing everything: the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to Covid-19, education had to make an unexpected switch from face-to-face courses to digital courses. In this study, the students’ learning experience is analyzed by applying different e-tools and following the Tec21 Model and a flexible and digital model, both developed by the Tecnologico de Monterrey University. The evaluation of the students’ learning experience has been made by the quantitative PrEmo method of emotions. Findings suggest that the quantity of e-tools used during a course does not affect the students’ learning experience as much as how a teacher links every available tool and makes them work as one in order to keep the student engaged and motivated.

Keywords: student, experience, e-learning, e-teaching, e-tools, technology, education

Procedia PDF Downloads 99
7371 The Stereotypes of Female Roles in TV Drama of Taiwan and Japan

Authors: Ya Ting Tang

Abstract:

Social learning theory has told us that the cognitions of gender roles come from learning. Thus, the images of gender roles which media describes will shape our cognitions. Taiwan and Japan are both in the East Asian cultural Sphere, and more or less influenced by the traditional Chinese culture. But our social structure and changes must be different. Others, the study also concerns that, with the rise of female consciousness in society, whether the female stereotype in drama of Taiwan and Japan are improved. This research first uses content analysis to analyze drama of Taiwan and Japan in 2003 and 2013 on how to shape female roles. Then use text analysis to conduct a qualitative analysis. Result of this study showed that drama on how to depict women indeed have changed, women are no longer just talk about love, but can serve as president or doctor, and show its mettle in the workplace. In Japanese drama, the female roles have diverse occupation than Taiwanese drama, and not just a background character set. But in most Taiwanese drama, female roles are given a career, but it always put emphasis on women emotionally. To include, although the stereotype in the drama of Taiwan and Japan are improved, female will still be derided due to their ages, love or marriage situations. Taiwanese drama must depict the occupation of female more diverse and let the female roles have more space to play, rather than focusing on romance which women of any occupation can have.

Keywords: female images, stereotype, TV drama, gender roles

Procedia PDF Downloads 262
7370 An Experience Report on Course Teaching in Information Systems

Authors: Carlos Oliveira

Abstract:

This paper is a criticism of the traditional model of teaching and presents alternative teaching methods, different from the traditional lecture. These methods are accompanied by reports of experience of their application in a class. It was concluded that in the lecture, the student has a low learning rate and that other methods should be used to make the most engaging learning environment for the student, contributing (or facilitating) his learning process. However, the teacher should not use a single method, but rather a range of different methods to ensure the learning experience does not become repetitive and fatiguing for the student.

Keywords: educational practices, experience report, IT in education, teaching methods

Procedia PDF Downloads 383
7369 An Experimental Study of Online Peer-to-Peer Language Learning

Authors: Abrar Al-Hasan

Abstract:

Web 2.0 has significantly increased the amount of information available to users not only about firms and their offerings, but also about the activities of other individuals in their networks and markets. It is widely acknowledged that this increased availability of ‘social’ information, particularly about other individuals, is likely to influence a user’s behavior and choices. However, there are very few systematic studies of how such increased information transparency on the behavior of other users in a focal users’ network influences a focal users’ behavior in the emerging marketplace of online language learning. This study seeks to examine the value and impact of ‘social activities’ – wherein, a user sees and interacts with the learning activities of her peers – on her language learning efficiency. An online experiment in a peer-to-peer language marketplace was conducted to compare the learning efficiency of users with ‘social’ information versus users with no ‘social’ information. The results of this study highlight the impact and importance of ‘social’ information within the language learning context. The study concludes by exploring how these insights may inspire new developments in online education.

Keywords: e-Learning, language learning marketplace, peer-to-peer, social network

Procedia PDF Downloads 372
7368 Investigating the Experiences of Higher Education Academics on the Blended Approach Used during the Induction Course

Authors: Ann-May Marais

Abstract:

South African higher education institutions are following the global adoption of a blended approach to teaching and learning. Blended learning is viewed as a transformative teaching-learning approach, as it provides students with the optimum experience by mixing the best of face-to-face and online learning. Although academics realise the benefits of blended learning, they find it challenging and time-consuming to implement blended strategies. Professional development is a critical component of the adoption of higher education teaching-learning approaches. The Institutional course for higher education academics offered at a South African University was designed in a blended model, implemented and evaluated. This paper reports on a study that investigated the experiences of academics on the blended approach used during the induction course. A qualitative design-based research methodology was employed, and data was collected using participant feedback and document analysis. The data gathered from each of the four ICNL offerings were used to inform the design of the next course. Findings indicated that lecturers realised that blended learning could cater to student diversity, different learning styles, engagement, and innovation. Furthermore, it emerged that the course has to cater for diversity in technology proficiency and readiness of participants. Participants also require ongoing support in technology usage and discipline-specific blended learning workshops. This paper contends that the modelling of a blended approach to professional development can be an effective way to motivate academics to apply blended learning in their teaching-learning experiences.

Keywords: blended learning, professional development, induction course, integration of technology

Procedia PDF Downloads 154
7367 Research on Community-Based Engineering Learning and Undergraduate Students’ Creativity in China: The Moderate Effect of Engineering Identity

Authors: Liang Wang, Wei Zhang

Abstract:

There have been some existing researches on design-based engineering learning (DBEL) and project-based or problem-based engineering learning (PBEL). Those findings have greatly promoted the reform of engineering education in China. However, the engineering with a big E means that more and more engineering activities are designed and operated by communities of practice (CoPs), namely community-based engineering learning. However, whether community-based engineering learning can promote students' innovation has not been verified in published articles. This study fills this gap by investigating the relationship between community-based learning approach and students’ creativity, using engineering identity as an intermediary variable. The goal of this study is to discover the core features of community-based engineering learning, and make the features more beneficial for students’ creativity. The study created and adapted open survey items from previously published studies and a scale on learning community, students’ creativity and engineering identity. Firstly, qualitative content analysis methods by MAXQDA were used to analyze 32 open-ended questionnaires. Then the authors collected data (n=322) from undergraduate students in engineering competition teams and engineering laboratories in Zhejiang University, and structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to understand the relationship between different factors. The study finds: (a) community-based engineering learning has four main elements like real-task context, self-inquiry learning, deeply-consulted cooperation and circularly-iterated design, (b) community-based engineering learning can significantly enhance the engineering undergraduate students’ creativity, and (c) engineering identity partially moderated the relationship between community-based engineering learning and undergraduate students' creativity. The findings further illustrate the value of community-based engineering learning for undergraduate students. In the future research, the authors should further clarify the core mechanism of community-based engineering learning, and pay attention to the cultivation of undergraduate students’ engineer identity in learning community.

Keywords: community-based engineering learning, students' creativity, engineering identity, moderate effect

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7366 The Influence of Cognitive Load in the Acquisition of Words through Sentence or Essay Writing

Authors: Breno Barrreto Silva, Agnieszka Otwinowska, Katarzyna Kutylowska

Abstract:

Research comparing lexical learning following the writing of sentences and longer texts with keywords is limited and contradictory. One possibility is that the recursivity of writing may enhance processing and increase lexical learning; another possibility is that the higher cognitive load of complex-text writing (e.g., essays), at least when timed, may hinder the learning of words. In our study, we selected 2 sets of 10 academic keywords matched for part of speech, length (number of characters), frequency (SUBTLEXus), and concreteness, and we asked 90 L1-Polish advanced-level English majors to use the keywords when writing sentences, timed (60 minutes) or untimed essays. First, all participants wrote a timed Control essay (60 minutes) without keywords. Then different groups produced Timed essays (60 minutes; n=33), Untimed essays (n=24), or Sentences (n=33) using the two sets of glossed keywords (counterbalanced). The comparability of the participants in the three groups was ensured by matching them for proficiency in English (LexTALE), and for few measures derived from the control essay: VocD (assessing productive lexical diversity), normed errors (assessing productive accuracy), words per minute (assessing productive written fluency), and holistic scores (assessing overall quality of production). We measured lexical learning (depth and breadth) via an adapted Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) and a free association test. Cognitive load was measured in the three essays (Control, Timed, Untimed) using normed number of errors and holistic scores (TOEFL criteria). The number of errors and essay scores were obtained from two raters (interrater reliability Pearson’s r=.78-91). Generalized linear mixed models showed no difference in the breadth and depth of keyword knowledge after writing Sentences, Timed essays, and Untimed essays. The task-based measurements found that Control and Timed essays had similar holistic scores, but that Untimed essay had better quality than Timed essay. Also, Untimed essay was the most accurate, and Timed essay the most error prone. Concluding, using keywords in Timed, but not Untimed, essays increased cognitive load, leading to more errors and lower quality. Still, writing sentences and essays yielded similar lexical learning, and differences in the cognitive load between Timed and Untimed essays did not affect lexical acquisition.

Keywords: learning academic words, writing essays, cognitive load, english as an L2

Procedia PDF Downloads 60
7365 A Peer-Produced Community of Learning: The Case of Second-Year Algerian Masters Students at a Distance

Authors: Nihad Alem

Abstract:

Nowadays, distance learning (DL) is widely perceived as a reformed type of education that takes advantage of technology to give more appealing opportunities especially for learners whose life conditions impede their attendance to regular classrooms however, creating interactional environment for students to expand their learning community and alleviate the feeling of loneliness and isolation should receive more attention when designing a distance learning course. This research aims to explore whether the audio/video peer learning can offer pedagogical add-ons to the Algerian distance learners and what are the pros and cons of its application as an educational experience in a synchronous environment mediated by Skype. Data were collected using video recordings of six sessions, reflective logs, and in-depth semi-structured interviews and will be analyzed by qualitatively identifying and measuring the three constitutional elements of the educational experience of peer learning namely the social presence, the cognitive presence, and the facilitation presence using a modified community of inquiry coding template. The findings from this study will provide recommendations for effective peer learning educational experience using the facilitation presence concept.

Keywords: audio/visual peer learning, community of inquiry, distance learning, facilitation presence

Procedia PDF Downloads 133
7364 Web Application for Evaluating Tests in Distance Learning Systems

Authors: Bogdan Walek, Vladimir Bradac, Radim Farana

Abstract:

Distance learning systems offer useful methods of learning and usually contain final course test or another form of test. The paper proposes web application for evaluating tests using expert system in distance learning systems. Proposed web application is appropriate for didactic tests or tests with results for subsequent studying follow-up courses. Web application works with test questions and uses expert system and LFLC tool for test evaluation. After test evaluation the results are visualized and shown to student.

Keywords: distance learning, test, uncertainty, fuzzy, expert system, student

Procedia PDF Downloads 473
7363 Presence and Absence: The Use of Photographs in Paris, Texas

Authors: Yi-Ting Wang, Wen-Shu Lai

Abstract:

The subject of this paper is the photography in the 1983 film Paris, Texas, directed by Wim Wenders. Wenders is well known as a film director as well as a photographer. We have found that photography is shown as a photographic element in many of his films. Some of these photographs serve as details within the films, while others play important roles that are relevant to the story. This paper aims to consider photographs in film as a specific type of text, which is the output of both still photography and the film itself. In the film Paris, Texas, three sets of important photographs appear whose symbolic meanings are as dialectical as their text types. The relationship between the existence of these photos and the storyline is both dependent and isolated. The film’s images fly by and progress into other images, while the photos in the film serve a unique narrative function by stopping the continuously flowing images thus provide the viewer a space for imagination and contemplation. They are more than just artistic forms; they also contained multiple meanings. The photographs in Paris, Texas play the role of both presence and absence according to their shifting meanings. There are references to their presence: photographs exist between film time and narrative time, so in terms of the interaction between the characters in the film, photographs are a common symbol of the beginning and end of the characters’ journeys. In terms of the audience, the film’s photographs are a link in the viewing frame structure, through which the creative motivation of the film director can be explored. Photographs also point to the absence of certain objects: the scenes in the photos represent an imaginary map of emotion. The town of Paris, Texas is therefore isolated from the physical presence of the photograph, and is far more abstract than the reality in the film. This paper embraces the ambiguous nature of photography and demonstrates its presence and absence in film with regard to the meaning of text. However, it is worth reflecting that the temporary nature of the interpretation of the film’s photographs is far greater than any other type of photographic text: the characteristics of the text cause the interpretation results to change along with the variations in the interpretation process, which makes their meaning a dynamic process. The photographs’ presence or absence in the context of Paris, Texas also demonstrates the presence and absence of the creator, time, the truth, and the imagination. The film becomes more complete as a result of the revelation of the photographs, while the intertextual connection between these two forms simultaneously provides multiple possibilities for the interpretation of the photographs in the film.

Keywords: film, Paris, Texas, photography, Wim Wenders

Procedia PDF Downloads 302
7362 Understanding Music through the Framework of Feminist Confessional Literary Criticism: Heightening Audience Identification and Prioritising the Female Voice

Authors: Katharine Pollock

Abstract:

Feminist scholars assert that a defining aspect of feminist confessional literature is that it expresses both an individual and communal identity, one which is predicated on the commonly-shared aspects of female experience. Reading feminist confessional literature in this way accommodates a plurality of readerly experiences and textual interpretations. It affirms the individual whilst acknowledging those experiences which bind women together, and refuses traditional objective criticism. It invites readers to see themselves reflected in the text, and encourages them to share their own stories. Similarly, music which communicates women’s personal experience, fictive or not, expresses a dual identity. There is an inherent risk of imposing a confessional reading upon a musical or literary text. Understanding music as being multivocal in the same way as confessional literature negates this patriarchal tendency, and allows listeners to engage with both the subjective and collective aspects of a text. By hearing their own stories reflected in the music, listeners engage in an ongoing dialogic process in which female stories are prioritised. This refuses patriarchal silencing and ensures a diversity of female voices. To demonstrate the veracity of these claims, literary criticism is applied to Lily Allen’s music, and memoir My Thoughts Exactly.

Keywords: confession, female, feminist, literature, music

Procedia PDF Downloads 140
7361 Investigation the Impact of Flipped Learning on Developing Meta-Cognitive Ability in Chemistry Courses of Science Education Students

Authors: R. Herscu-Kluska

Abstract:

The rise of the flipped or inverted classroom meet the conceptual needs of our time. The evidence of increased student satisfaction and course grades improvement promoted the flipped learning approach. Due to the successful outcomes of the inverted classroom, the flipped learning became a pedagogy and educational rising strategy among all education sciences. The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of flipped classroom on higher order learning in chemistry courses since it has been suggested that in higher education courses, class time should focus on knowledge application. The results of this study indicate improving meta-cognitive thinking and learning skills. The students showed better ability to cope with higher order learning assignments during the actual class time, using inverted classroom strategy. These results suggest that flipped learning can be used as an effective pedagogy and educational strategy for developing higher order thinking skills, proved to contribute to building lifelong learning.

Keywords: chemistry education, flipped classroom, flipped learning, inverted classroom, science education

Procedia PDF Downloads 332
7360 Metanotes and Foreign Language Learning: A Case of Iranian EFL Learners

Authors: Nahıd Naderı Anarı, Mojdeh Shafıee

Abstract:

Languaging has been identified as a contributor to language learning. Compared to oral languaging, written languaging seems to have been less explored. In order to fill this gap, this paper examined the effect of ‘metanotes’, namely metatalk in a written modality to identify whether written languaging actually facilitates language learning. Participants were instructed to take metanotes as they performed a translation task. The effect of metanotes was then analyzed by comparing the results of these participants’ pretest and posttest with those of participants who performed the same task without taking metanotes. The statistical tests showed no evidence of the expected role of metanotes in foreign language learning.

Keywords: EFL learners, foreign language learning, language teaching, metanotes

Procedia PDF Downloads 435
7359 Scaling Siamese Neural Network for Cross-Domain Few Shot Learning in Medical Imaging

Authors: Jinan Fiaidhi, Sabah Mohammed

Abstract:

Cross-domain learning in the medical field is a research challenge as many conditions, like in oncology imaging, use different imaging modalities. Moreover, in most of the medical learning applications, the sample training size is relatively small. Although few-shot learning (FSL) through the use of a Siamese neural network was able to be trained on a small sample with remarkable accuracy, FSL fails to be effective for use in multiple domains as their convolution weights are set for task-specific applications. In this paper, we are addressing this problem by enabling FSL to possess the ability to shift across domains by designing a two-layer FSL network that can learn individually from each domain and produce a shared features map with extra modulation to be used at the second layer that can recognize important targets from mix domains. Our initial experimentations based on mixed medical datasets like the Medical-MNIST reveal promising results. We aim to continue this research to perform full-scale analytics for testing our cross-domain FSL learning.

Keywords: Siamese neural network, few-shot learning, meta-learning, metric-based learning, thick data transformation and analytics

Procedia PDF Downloads 42
7358 International Service Learning 3.0: Using Technology to Improve Outcomes and Sustainability

Authors: Anthony Vandarakis

Abstract:

Today’s International Service Learning practices require an update: modern technologies, fresh educational frameworks, and a new operating system to accountably prosper. This paper describes a model of International Service Learning (ISL), which combines current technological hardware, electronic platforms, and asynchronous communications that are grounded in inclusive pedagogy. This model builds on the work around collaborative field trip learning, extending the reach to international partnerships across continents. Mobile technology, 21st century skills and summit-basecamp modeling intersect to support novel forms of learning that tread lightly on fragile natural ecosystems, affirm local reciprocal partnership in projects, and protect traveling participants from common yet avoidable cultural pitfalls.

Keywords: International Service Learning, ISL, field experiences, mobile technology, out there in here, summit basecamp pedagogy

Procedia PDF Downloads 165