An Introduction to Servo Pneumatic Positioning: An Interactive Multimedia Program Development Supporting Outcome-driven Engineering Assessment

Servo pneumatics retains the advantages of standard pneumatics and adds the opportunity for closed-loop controlled, programmable positioning to within fractions of a millimeter in systems in which positions can be approached rapidly and without overshoot, stability under variable loads and conditions, and adaptive control for optimized positioning. Our challenge was to create an interactive multimedia program that could communicate exciting technical material to interested parties, including students and academia, professional design, industrial and manufacturing systems engineers, marketing and sales engineers and managers in a non-linear, enjoyable fashion. Our approach was that of interactive multimedia on CD-ROM, allowing the integration of text, color images, videos and animation for the purpose of following an engineering problem-solving approach, both when modeling, as well as when illustrating real-world solutions with interactive digital videos. Furthermore, this article introduces outcome-driven assessment principles ( as defined by the American Accreditation Board of Engineering Education) as the key to our educational multimedia design objectives. It illustrates open-loop controlled pneumatic and closed-loop controlled servo pneumatic positioning systems, their components, their programming and some of their applications.     

Exploring the Boundary Conditions of the Redundancy Principle

This experiment investigated whether study of a scientific text and a visual display that contained redundant text segments would affect memory and transfer. The authors randomly assigned 42 students from a university in the southwestern United States in equal numbers to 1 of 2 conditions: (a) a redundant condition, in which participants studied a scientific text that described plate tectonics and a corresponding visual display that contained redundant segments from the text; or (b) a nonredundant condition, in which participants studied the scientific text and a corresponding visual display that lacked the redundant text segments. Embedding redundant text segments within the visual display enhanced performance on 3 measures of memory but not on a measure of transfer. The authors discuss the theoretical and practical implications using the cognitive theory of multimedia learning.     

浅析多媒体课件在大学英语课堂的设计和使用

现代技术的发展使多媒体技术在中国的教育领域的应用越来越广泛。多媒体课件集文字、图片、音频和视频于一体,为学生提供了生动的情景。对英语课堂而言,该技术既能帮助学生更好地了解课程,也能因此提高他们的英语水平。但是多媒体课件在发展的过程中也呈现其不足之处。本文论述了多媒体课件在大学英语课堂运用中所存在的问题,即过于华丽的界面、过分依赖多媒体以及缺乏创造力等等。为了帮助提高多媒体在大学英语课堂的应用质量,作者提出了一些建议,如提高教师在大学英语课堂的应用技能等等。     

When quantitative details impair qualitative understanding of multimedia lessons

In the present study, we explored why interspersing quantitative details through a multimedia lesson detracts from learners’ qualitative understanding. Three experimental conditions were created. In each, participants had to study a qualitative text on the formation, propagation, and dispersion of ocean waves. In the concise condition no quantitative details were added to the text; in the expanded‐interspersed condition, quantitative details were interspersed throughout the text; and in the expanded‐after condition, quantitative details were provided after the text. The results showed that qualitative understanding was poorer in the expanded‐interspersed condition than in the concise and the expanded‐after conditions, with no difference between the latter two conditions. Furthermore, reading time of the qualitative text was comparable across the three conditions. By contrast, reading time of the quantitative information was lower in the expanded‐interspersed condition than in the expanded‐after condition. These findings are interpreted in terms of a disruption hypothesis.     

Effects of presentation modes on mobile-assisted vocabulary learning and cognitive load

Previous studies of multimedia presentations have determined the effects of the combination of text and pictures on vocabulary learning, but not those of the sound of new words. This study was intended to confirm those previous findings from the integration of mobile technologies and the approach of cognitive load. It adopted a within-subjects design and recruited 32 eighth graders in central Taiwan to participate in a vocabulary learning program on mobile phones. During the program the participants needed to learn four sets of target words in four different weeks. Each set was presented in one of the four modes: text mode, text-picture mode, text-sound mode, and text-picture-sound mode. Immediately after learning each set, all participants took a vocabulary test and completed a cognitive load questionnaire; and, two weeks later, they took the vocabulary test again. Their perceptions of the vocabulary learning program were also collected in a post-program questionnaire. The findings were that audio input helped our participants recall new words’ meanings after two weeks; and, it reduced their cognitive load of learning new words. Our participants also provided positive feedback on the mobile-assisted vocabulary learning program featuring multimedia presentations.     

Calling Iranian learners of L2 English: effect of gloss type on lexical retention and reading performance under different learning conditions

This study sought to compare how three different gloss types (text–picture, text–audio and text–picture–audio) affected English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition. The study also compared how results on comprehension and vocabulary acquisition differed across three learning conditions (i.e., incidental, intentional and explicit instruction). A between‐groups design was employed with four groups (N = 135) of Iranian university learners of L2 English. The participants (with upper‐intermediate proficiency level) read English texts. Written recall and multiple‐choice questions were used to measure reading comprehension; vocabulary knowledge scale (VKS) and contextualized vocabulary knowledge test (CVKT) were used to assess vocabulary acquisition. Results of statistical analyses revealed that while the text–picture–audio gloss type consistently resulted in better vocabulary learning and reading comprehension, the learning conditions varied in terms of their immediate and delayed effect on vocabulary and reading scores. This study suggests that learner performances across gloss types are condition specific and provides both pedagogical and theoretical implications. What is already known about this topic

• Electronic glosses foster reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition.
• There are different positions about the effectiveness of form focused instruction in grammar, with the focus on forms approach having a higher acceptable rate in SLA. But, this issue has been rarely researched in vocabulary acquisition.

What this paper adds

• This study supports the complementary nature of dual annotations in vocabulary learning and reading comprehension.
• This study extends the issue of form focused instruction to vocabulary learning by comparing the incidental, intentional and incidental–intentional learning orientations.
• This study evaluates the interaction between the multiple gloss types and the learning orientations.

Implications for theory, policy or practice

• This study provides both pedagogical and theoretical implications.

     

因特网信息与视听说课件

现代视听说教学与研究应充分利用因特网上丰富的信息资源,同时还应注重网上信息的知识性与思想性的结合,培养学生对网上信息的鉴别能力。老师应能自己动手用一些常用的计算机应用软件制作多媒体课件,要反对在多媒体课件方面的“拿来主义”思想。作以“科索活危机及中国大使馆被轰炸事件”为例,自制了一个视听说课件,详细介绍了因特网信息在多媒体课件设计中的应用。     

Interactive Multimedia Instruction Versus Traditional Training Programmes: Analysis of their Effectiveness and Perception

Abstract

In this article, the practicability of introduction of computer multimedia as an educational tool was compared with the traditional approach for training sugarcane growers in ratoon management practices in three villages of Tamil Nadu state, India using pre-test, post-test control group experimental design.

A CD-ROM was developed as a multimedia resource to support the training process using Macromedia Flash as the authorware. Three modes of message delivery—traditional lecture alone, lecture followed by multimedia and multimedia alone were analyzed for their effectiveness in terms of knowledge gain, learning index and extent of adoption. The group which was exposed to lecture followed by multimedia had better knowledge gain and learning index. Farmers perceived that the use of different multimedia building blocks made it an interesting and educative tool. The message, when given through lecture alone was perceived as boring and monotonous with limited attention span. The extent of adoption of ratoon management practices was almost on par; however the group which had received instructions through lecture followed by computer multimedia had a better adoption rate. Such a comparative analysis is an opportunity for a better understanding of the role that multimedia could play in technology transfer to farmers.     

The effect of causal diagrams on text learning

We examined the effect of studying a causal diagram on comprehension of causal relationships from an expository science text. A causal diagram is a type of visual display that explicitly represents cause-effect relationships. In Experiment 1, readers between conditions did not differ with respect to memory for main ideas, but the readers who studied the causal diagram while reading the text understood better the five causal sequences in the text even when study time was controlled. Participants in Experiment 2 studied only the causal diagram or only the text. There were no differences in memory for main ideas or the causal sequences between these groups. Results indicate that causal diagrams are not merely redundant with text and that causal diagrams affect understanding of causal relationships in the absence of a text. These findings supported the causal explication hypothesis, which states that causal diagrams improve comprehension by explicitly representing the implicit causal structure of the text in a visual format.     

Effect of on-screen text on multimedia learning with native and foreign-accented narration

This study examined the impact of redundant on-screen text on learning from an animated PowerPoint presentation, narrated either by a native or a foreign-accented narrator, with no text, summary text, or full text. Participants completed retention and transfer tests and rated the cognitive load induced by the narration and the PowerPoint materials. With a native narrator, participants performed better on transfer with no text than summary text (redundancy effect). The foreign-accented narration was perceived to be more difficult to understand. Transfer performance was worse for accented than native narration with no text, replicating a voice effect. With a foreign-accented narrator, participants performed better on retention with full text than summary text. Full text facilitated decoding of the accented narration at the word level, but it did not facilitate deep processing for knowledge transfer. The results are discussed in the context of cognitive load and the cognitive theory of multimedia learning.     

一种新的基于数字语音教室的音频与文本同步方法

音频与文本同步是设计开发数字语音教室的一个关键问题。通过对多媒体同步方法的研究，结合基于嵌入式技术的数字语音教室的实际情况，提出了一种新的应用于数字语音教室的音频与文本同步的方法。     

The modality effect in a mobile learning environment: Learning from spoken text and real objects

The finding that under split-attention conditions students learn more from a picture and spoken text than from a picture and written text (ie, the modality effect) has consistently been found in many types of computer-assisted multimedia learning environments. Using 58 fifth-grade and sixth-grade elementary school children as participants, we investigated whether the modality effect can also be found in a mobile learning environment (MLE) on plants' leaf morphology, in which students had to learn by integrating information from text and real plants in the physical environment. A single factor experimental design was used to examine the hypothesis that students in a mixed-mode condition with real plants and spoken text (STP condition) would pay more attention to the real plants, and achieve higher performance on retention, comprehension, and transfer tests than the single-mode condition with real plants and written text (WTP condition). Whereas we found that participants in the STP condition paid more attention to observing the plants, and achieved a higher score on the transfer test than participants in the WTP condition, no differences were found between the conditions for retention and comprehension test performance.     

多媒体课件制作常用软件的使用方法之探讨

多媒体课件是指运用现代教育思想和理论,借助计算机和网络工具,针对特定的教学内容,设计制作优美的多媒体教学程序。要想制作生动形象、具有艺术性、富有感染力的多媒体课件,要将文字、图形图像、动画、视频和声音等多种媒体素材在时间和空间两方面进行集成,使其融为一个有机的整体,这就要求教师必须掌握多种多媒体课件制作工具软件。     

Linkages between approaches to learning,perceived stress and expected and actual academic outcomes among first-semester psychology students

Previous research indicates that higher educational students’ perceptions of stress are in part related to the teaching and learning context, and influence academic outcomes. This study intends to deepen our understanding of these processes by examining the linkages between approaches to learning, perceived stress and expected and actual academic outcomes within a specific educational setting. First-semester psychology students (N = 191) completed a questionnaire, including short versions of ASSIST and PSS, and estimated their course grade before a written examination. Later, actual grades were added. The results suggest that surface approach to learning is positively associated with high levels of perceived stress, and reflected in lower levels of expected grades. The relationships between deep and strategic approaches to learning and perceived stress seem to be more ambivalent, despite positive associations with expected grades. Coping and motivational aspects of the concepts of surface and strategic approaches to learning seem to be crucial to understanding the linkages between the examined factors. Also, the significance of a strategic approach in relation to actual academic outcomes is highlighted.     

The Impact of Instructional Design on College Students’ Cognitive Load and Learning Outcomes in a Large Food Science and Human Nutrition Course

The effective design of course materials is critical for student learning, especially for large lecture introductory courses. This quantitative study was designed to explore the effect multimedia and content difficulty has on students’ cognitive load and learning outcomes. College students (n = 268) were randomized into 1 of 3 multimedia groups: text + graphics (Group 1–TG); audio + text + graphics (Group 2–ATG); or video + audio + text + graphics (Group 3–VATG). Participants answered a demographic survey and pretests before viewing 2 food science supplemental lecture materials (i.e., water mobility and amino acid structures) and completing the cognitive load instrument and post‐tests within a noncontrolled setting. Cognitive load scores were tabulated and compared using a 3 × 3 ANOVA and Tukey post hoc analysis across multimedia groups and food science supplemental lecture materials. Based on the post hoc, students in Group 1–TG had higher intrinsic cognitive load scores than Group 2–ATG (ANOVA, P < 0.05). Cognitive load and post‐test scores were tabulated and compared using a spearman correlation across groups. In Group 1–TG, students that reported less intrinsic cognitive load had higher post‐test scores. Also, students that reported more germane cognitive load had higher post‐test scores. In Groups 2–ATG and 3–VATG, students that reported less extraneous cognitive load had higher post‐test scores (ANOVA, P < 0.05).     

Building Educational Tools Based on Formal Concept Analysis

The increasing demand for quality in educational software makes it necessary to use tools and methodologies that support both the design and the development process of this kind of software. In this paper we propose Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) as the basis for a practical and well founded methodological approach to the design of educational applications. FCA is a technique that can be applied to model the linguistic conceptualizations that experts make when describing their expertise domain. Thus, FCA can be used as a complementary tool to support design decisions about the structure and the interface of educational applications. We also present how we are using FCA in two different projects: a help system for the Unix operating system, and a multimedia tutorial for improving second language text comprehension. In the final discussion we raise some questions about FCA applicability and introduce some future lines of work. © IFIP, published by Kluwer Academic Publishers     

浅谈多媒体文件的格式

多媒体技术是计算机系统将一些文字、图形、声音、影像等信息综合处理后再以计算机的格式输出．所有这些信息都是以文件的形式存在的，可分为文本类文件、图形(图像)类文件、音频类文件、视频类文件、动画类文件等5大类．对文件采集中常用的数据格式进行了简单地探讨，以求为教学中的多媒体应用提供帮助．     

基于MATLAB的FIR数字低通滤波器分析和设计

以FIR数字低通滤波器为例,详细分析时域卷积运算和频域加权算法的物理意义.并利用MATLAB的声音处理函数作为数据接口,利用多媒体播放器作为交互界面,利用MATLAB的FDATool作为滤波器设计工具,设计一组语音低通滤波器,通过对比滤波前后的语音效果,可加深对数字信号处理的认识.     

可直接感受的基于MATLAB的语音滤波

分析了时域卷积运算和频域加权算法的物理意义，并利用MATLAB的声音处理函数作为数据接口，利用多媒体播放器作为交互界面，利用MATLAB的FDATool作为滤波器设计工具，设计了一组语音信号滤波实验，目的在于：通过对比滤波前后的语音效果来加深对数字信号处理的认识．     

多媒体课件制作技巧探讨

多媒体课件是以现代教育理论和学习理论为理论基础,利用视频、音频、文字、图片、动画等多种媒体,通过计算机技术对教学资源进行设计、开发而成的软件.针对目前课件制作中存在的问题和不足,介绍了如何把文字、图片、声音、视频、动画等多媒体融入到PowerPoint课件中的一些处理技巧.