A review of educational technology research in Taiwan

Conclusion Beginning in 1989, the Ministry of Education and the National Science Council of Taiwan have sponsored an international biennial conference organized by different local universities. The purpose of this conference, the International Conference on Computers in Education (ICCE), is to report educational technology research. After the 1993 conference, it became a regional biennial conference held by different countries in the Asia-Pacific region. ICCE 95 was held in Singapore and ICCE 97 will be in Malaysia. After 1997, ICCE will again become an annual conference to reflect the growing research impetus in the region.In Taiwan, after exporting ICCE to the region, the funding agents continue to support an annual conference with a different name, International Conference on Computer Assisted Instruction (ICCAI). This locally organized conference has been held annually since 1994. As a natural result of these activities and consistent support by funding agents, a growing number of international publications are reporting on the more mature results of educational technology research at international conferences and in journals.Contributors included Jon-Chao Hong, Professor of Industrial Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan; Jihn-Chang Jehng, Associate Professor, Human Resources Management, National Central University, Taiwan; Yu-Fen Shih, Associate Professor, Media and Library Science, Tamkang University, Taiwan; and Gary Chon-Wen Shyi, Associate Professor, Psychology, National Chung- Cheng University, Taiwan.Tak-Wai Chan is an Associate Professor of Computer Science and Information Engineering at National Central University. He is also the President of the Asia-Pacific Chapter of the Association for the Advancement of Computers in Education and is an Associate Editor of theInternational Journal of Educational Telecommunications.     

A narrative review of Greek myths as interpretative metaphors in educational research and evaluation

This paper reviews a series of Greek myths put forward as cultural narratives that could be used as metaphors or interpretative similes for explanatory and evaluative purposes in educational research and evaluation. These myths have been used in educational research literature, and most of them were found by carrying out an exhaustive search of that literature. In particular, the paper discusses Procrustes, referring to the use of arbitrary evaluative standards; the myth of Mentor, the embodiment of the researcher as facilitator/improver for new, inexperienced researchers; Prometheus, or the archetype of the self-sacrificing researcher; Periphetes, representing the evaluator who is cruel through incompetence; Sisyphus, symbolising the researcher’s anxiousness to achieve his goals; and Ulysses, an archetype for qualitative research.These myths are still absolutely relevant today, after more than 20 centuries, and can be used as powerful explicative frameworks of phenomena in the field of educational research and evaluation. By using myths to interpret educational phenomena, one reconnects contemporary qualitative educational enquiry with its ancient predecessor forms of meaning making.     

Enhancing survey participation: Facebook advertisements for recruitment in educational research*

Surveys are commonly used to determine how people feel about a specific issue. The increasing availability of the internet and popularity of social networking sites have opened up new possibilities for conducting surveys and, with limited additional costs, enlarge the pool of volunteer respondents with the desired background, experience, or characteristics. In this paper, three different educational research studies are described. In each, a Facebook advertisement was among the methods used for recruitment of survey participants. In two of the studies, Facebook advertising was adopted to overcome obstacles encountered when more traditional sampling procedures failed; in the third study, Facebook was used to broaden representation to include international participants within project budget limitations. Details of the studies and of the recruitment approaches adopted, and the effectiveness of using Facebook advertising are presented. The limitations of using Facebook as a source of recruitment are also considered.     

论现代教育技术环境的创设

创设现代教育技术环境必须要以现代教育思想和现代教育理论为指导,以现代信息技术为手段,以硬件建设为基础,软件建设为关键,潜件建设为龙头,发动广大教师积极参与,运用现代教育技术,探索新型教学模式,实施素质教育,为新世纪我国教育走向现代化作出贡献。     

职业教育制度研究综述

目前,关于职业教育制度的各种研究层出不穷,学者们不仅对职业教育制度概念的看法有很大差异,而且对职业教育制度所包含的内容等也各持己见,当然对于新时期职业教育制度的构建更是仁者见仁智者见智了。但归纳起来,关于职业教育制度的研究大致涉及到内涵研究、比较研究、高等职业教育制度研究、农村职业教育制度研究、职业教育公平问题研究、新时期职业教育制度的构建研究等几大方面的内容。     

A comparative analysis of e-mail and face-to-face communication in an educational environment

Electronic mail (e-mail) is an extremely important medium for Internet-based education. Due to its unique characteristics, there is reason to be concerned that students do not put appropriate care into writing messages that are sent via e-mail. This has significant implications for the effectiveness of online learning environments. This paper describes an empirical research project to investigate the amount of thought students put into e-mail communication versus traditional face-to-face communication. A survey was administered to 596 undergraduates. The results of this survey indicate that students put significantly more thought into e-mail communication with the instructor and groups of peers than they do for equivalent face-to-face communication. At the same time, students tend to put about the same amount of thought into e-mail compared to verbal communication with individual peers. Finally, the research uncovered some interesting patterns concerning student gender and technology comfort as predictors of thought put into e-mail communication.     

网格信任声誉评估模型研究进展

信任、声誉等基于社群的自适应性测度已成为网格环境下支撑服务质量需求的砖石.借鉴社会学、心理学和诸如P2P计算、普适计算等计算机科学中的相关研究,网格环境下的信任声誉研究主要应用在资源管理和调度中.对网格环境信任声誉评估的典型模型进行评述与比较,包括基本模型、离散模型、Bayesian模型、信念模型和模糊逻辑模型.在设计评估模型时应该考虑计算收敛能力,动态性和健壮性等多方面因素.考虑评估模型对负载的影响,设计针对网格环境特性的信任声誉评估模型是一个发展方向.     

Instrumentalism as an educational concept

Experiences of teachers give evidence that the usal distinction between instrumental and relational understanding, as defined by the psychologist, is insufficient to interpret learning in an educational context. The learner often possesses relational understanding of some knowledge, for which he sees no use, outside its importance as schoolknowledge. The author analyzes a more general concept of instrumentalism. He defines it as a rationale for learning, connected to the role school has as an instrument for future schooling and employment. Examples of use of the project method are given, which can help to establish another rationale for learning.Bergen State College of EducationThe author of this article is a senior lecturer at the Bergen State College of Education. He has practised for several years as a teacher in the comprehensive school, where he has worked especially among the slow learners. In his native language he has written several books on mathematics education.     

Action research as a methodology for professional development in leading an educational process

The need to resolve a researcher’s discomfort, resulting from the inherent gap between values and beliefs and their practical implementation, led to using action research methodology during an academy-field partnership. Two teacher educators, 24 pre-service teachers specializing in science, and six teachers participated in the study. Throughout the two years of the partnership this study describes a reflective perspective process that focuses on actions, events, thoughts, dilemmas and feelings of the participants that emerged from the researcher's reflective journal. Cycles of reflection on thinking and doing helped monitoring the complex process of the partnership that bridges the gap between the academic and field cultures. The collected data underwent three stages of interpretative content analysis that point to the role of reflection cycles on thinking and doing, resulting in the interweaving of cognitive, affective, theoretical and practical features during the academy-field practice model.     

The Domesday Project‐‐an educational review

The BBC Domesday Project is publishing a national database on the United Kingdom on two interactive videodiscs which will be officially launched in November 1986. The two videodiscs contain national statistics, text and pictures on all aspects of British life, as well as information sent in by over 12,000 schools which took part in the Domesday Project during 1985. The organisation of the Schools Domesday Survey is described, the educational design and information content discussed, and the Domesday videodiscs assessed as an educational resource for schools     

Big Data and data science: A critical review of issues for educational research

Big Data refers to large and disparate volumes of data generated by people, applications and machines. It is gaining increasing attention from a variety of domains, including education. What are the challenges of engaging with Big Data research in education? This paper identifies a wide range of critical issues that researchers need to consider when working with Big Data in education. The issues identified include diversity in the conception and meaning of Big Data in education, ontological, epistemological disparity, technical challenges, ethics and privacy, digital divide and digital dividend, lack of expertise and academic development opportunities to prepare educational researchers to leverage opportunities afforded by Big Data. The goal of this paper is to raise awareness on these issues and initiate a dialogue. The paper was inspired partly by insights drawn from the literature but mostly informed by experience researching into Big Data in education.     

Conceptualising the use of Facebook in ethnographic research: as tool,as data and as context

This paper explores what it means to engage as an ethical researcher in the conduct of critical ethnography. During the years in which this critical ethnography of new language learners in a midwestern high school, the ethnographer actively participated in the life of the site. This paper poses the question of what such active involvement means for research ethics. Much of the literature on research ethics deals with Internal Review Boards standards, but this paper takes a reflective, ethnographic look at the researcher's own ethical practices in order to articulate and examine the underlying principles entailed in the decisions to intervene or not in the ongoing life of the site.     

A review of challenges in South African education and possible ways to improve educational outcome as suggested by decades of research

Despite many positive developments in South Africa (SA), the education system and educational outcome face many challenges and require further improvement. This is reflected by elevated school dropout rates and suboptimal annual pass rates in various grades (Grades 7–12). Over the years, a plethora of studies has identified methods through which academic performance/educational outcome can be improved. However, from a practical point of view it might be difficult to implement these methods in for example a classroom or school, particularly because these methods are mainly discovered upon thorough online literature searches, and therefore published methods to improve educational outcomes are not always within reach of schools or teachers. Our aim is thus to provide a review paper that contains a collation and overview of the possible methods that can be used by various education stakeholders in order to contribute to better educational outcome. Essentially, we are attempting to answer the questions, “What does decades of research tell us about possible ways in which educational outcome can be improved in SA? Can we use these methods in the classroom or school?” This review therefore demonstrates (1) demonstrates various ways education stakeholders/influencers (teachers, learners, parents, government, non-governmental organisations and school governing bodies) can contribute to improved educational outcome, and (2) provides a useful overview of these methods that can be used within or without the classroom.     

Against autonomy as an educational aim

It is widely held that personal autonomy is a quality of character at which educators ought to aim. In this paper I argue that those who hold this view are misguided. I identify two ordinary senses of autonomy, and a range of technical senses currently popular with philosophers, and show that none of them constitutes a defensible educational aim.     

In your Facebook: Examining Facebook usage as misbehavior on perceived teacher credibility

Teachers sometimes do things that negatively impact their own credibility in classroom settings. One way instructors maintain credibility among students is by keeping a veil between their personal and professional personas. The advent of Facebook presents new challenges for instructors seeking to keep their personal lives private in order to maintain credibility among students. In educational settings, Facebook communications can blur the personal and professional boundaries that students and professors are accustomed to. As such, instructors in higher education sometimes struggle with the implications of ‘friending’ students in the context of social networking. The purpose of this study was to examine whether or not educator usage of Facebook had any impact on student perceptions of instructor credibility. Facebook presence was examined in the context of teacher ‘misbehaviors’ (that is, actions by educators that negatively impact their credibility). A modified version of Teven and McCroskey’s (1997) Source Credibility Instrument was given to a sample of college students (N?=?187) to compare instructors that use Facebook with those who do not. While students appear to be generally accepting of instructor usage of the social tool, some findings suggest that there are probably ways to abuse it in a manner that could lead to negative perceptions of credibility. Ultimately, results from this study indicated that there were no significant differences among student perceptions of instructor credibility based on whether or not an educator used Facebook.