An analysis of ill-formed input in natural language queries to document retrieval systems

We analyzed natural language document retrieval queries from the Thomas Cooper Library at the University of South Carolina in order to investigate the frequency of various types of ill-formed input, such as spelling errors, co-occurrence violations, conjunctions, ellipsis and missing or incorrect punctuation. The primary reason for analyzing ill-formed inputs was to determine whether there is a significant need to study ill-formed inputs in detail. After analyzing the queries, we found that most of the queries were sentence fragments and that many of them contained some type of ill-formed input. Conjunctions caused the most problems. The next most serious problem was caused by punctuation errors. Spelling errors occurred in a small number of the queries. The remaining types of ill-formed input considered, ellipsis and co-occurrence violations, were not found in the queries.     

Labour Market Influence on Recruitment to Higher Education – Gender and Class Perspectives

The hypothesis that an economic recession in society leads to class equalisation in the recruitment of new students to higher education is tested, using data from Sweden. The 1990s is a period suitable for these analyses, as the recession started in 1991, reached the highest unemployment level in 1993; finally, at the end of the decade the labour market recovered. Multivariate, binary logistic regressions of entry into higher education are performed with gender divided analyses. Register data from Sweden comprising the total population in the age range 18–21 years from six cohorts are analysed. When the labour market was the most difficult, more young students from lower classes entered higher education. When the labour market recovered, men from lower classes tended to abandon higher education. However, women from lower classes continued to increase their involvement. The result indicate that the Swedish Scholastic Assessment Test, works in favour of men from higher classes through repeated test taking. The hypothesis about the influence from the labour market was supported for the group of men, while results were less clear for women. The results indicate that future research must carefully consider gender aspects.     

The importance of shared environment in mother-infant attachment security: a behavioral genetic study

In a sample of 157 monozygotic and dizygotic twins, genetic and environmental influences on infant attachment and temperament were quantified. Only unique environmental or error components could explain the variance in disorganized versus organized attachment as assessed in the Ainsworth Strange Situation Procedure. For secure versus nonsecure attachment, 52% of the variance in attachment security was explained by shared environment, and 48% of the variance was explained by unique environmental factors and measurement error. The role of genetic factors in attachment disorganization and attachment security was negligible. Genetic factors explained 77% of the variance in temperamental reactivity, and unique environmental factors and measurement error explained 23%. Differences in temperamental reactivity were not associated with attachment concordance.     

Group work at university: significance of personal goals in the regulation strategies of students with positive and negative appraisals

This paper examines the mediating role of students’ goals in group work at university. Research on cooperative and collaborative learning has provided empirical support for the cognitive, motivational and social benefits of group work but the antecedents of motivation and ongoing management of emerging motivational and socio‐emotional issues have received less attention. A theory of self‐regulation that incorporates students’ personal goals and perceptions of context, combined with a sociocultural perspective on co‐regulation of individuals and contexts, can help understand why and how some groups resolve their social challenges while others are less successful. An empirical study highlighted the mediating role of students’ goals in their appraisals of group assignments, perceptions of various aspects of the contexts, and in turn regulation strategies to achieve their goals. Qualitative differences were found in the regulation strategies of students with positive and negative appraisals.     

Non-linear instructional design model: eternal, synergistic design and development

Instructional design is at the heart of each educational endeavour. This process revolves around the steps through which the thoughtful productions of superior products are created. The ADDIE generic instructional design model emphasises five basic steps within the instructional design process: analyse, design, develop, implement and evaluate. The simplistic nature of the ADDIE model, including the ease of application and possibilities towards the cyclical features of the process, enable a more holistic overview of the instructional design process. The Eternal, Synergistic Design Model emphasises the non‐linear nature of the instructional design process. The continuous design and development focuses upon the core evaluation of the product, wherein the Pareto principle emphasises the feedback related to the 20% of difficulties while maintaining an eye upon the 80% neutral and positive aspects of the product.     

Can the English Baccalaureate act as an educational equaliser?

ABSTRACT

Ensuring equal access to a broad and balanced curriculum for all students is a key component of a socially just education system. Yet in England, the freedom that 16-year-old students have to choose the GCSE subjects they study has created divisions in the pathways taken by students from different backgrounds. In 2010, a new accountability measure, the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), was introduced to encourage more disadvantaged students to study the ‘core academic’ GCSE subjects. This paper investigates the success of this initiative by analysing the relationship between free school meal (FSM) eligibility, studying the EBacc subjects and GCSE attainment. The findings are used to illustrate the complexities of balancing equal access to academic subjects against fair access to future opportunities, which often depend on good grades, when trying to deliver social justice in an education system that has an entrenched attainment gap.     

Perceptions of low ability students on group project work and cooperative learning

The benefits of cooperative learning strategies, such as group project work, have been advocated in a wide range of educational contexts. There is however, scant information on the outcome of such programs on students of low academic ability. In this study, interviews were conducted with four groups of low-ability students, with the aim of investigating their perceptions on the effectiveness of group project work in promoting their social and cognitive skills. Our findings show that although the students recognized that the program improved their competence in interacting with others, there are problematic organizational and instructional issues that have to be ironed out before students can profit fully from cooperative learning programs.     

Contemporary induction to teaching in Australian universities

Australia has 42 universities. In 2015/16, 30 of 40 universities reviewed provided one or more days of teaching induction for their staff, while 10 did not. Twenty-six of the 30 teaching induction program directors were surveyed and 24 of those were interviewed to provide a snapshot of professional development for new teaching staff in Australian universities. The key findings of that research showed that almost two thirds of universities did not pay sessional staff to attend a teaching induction program; just over half the programs included peer observation of teaching; only one in five programs offered mentoring opportunities; three quarters of programs included assessment; and approximately a third of programs provided credit towards an award course. We conclude that all universities need to provide new teaching staff with a longer teaching induction program, which will support them to develop student-centred, scholarly behaviours and attitudes.     

A longitudinal study of upper secondary school students’ values and beliefs regarding policy responses to climate change

Abstract

This article explores changes of environmental values and beliefs among secondary school business and economics students regarding government and market solutions to climate change. The quantitative study is longitudinal and a survey was administrated to students at two occasions including 212 participants in the first measurement. Results show a small significant increase in importance for altruistic, biospheric and egoistic value orientations at average. At an individual level, there are substantial movements over time. Nearly two-thirds of the students changed the strength of their value orientations over time. Taxes and legislation were regarded as the most effective solutions to climate change, however there was a decrease in seeing market prices as important mechanisms for change. Analysis suggested no direct relationship between change in environmental value orientation and change in norms. However indirect associations were mediated by changing beliefs in the efficacy of education and information and the efficacy of tax policies. For example, students who became more egoistic and more convinced about the efficacy of tax were less likely than others to be willing to take personal actions.