Process mining techniques for analysing patterns and strategies in students’ self-regulated learning

Referring to current research on self-regulated learning, we analyse individual regulation in terms of a set of specific sequences of regulatory activities. Successful students perform regulatory activities such as analysing, planning, monitoring and evaluating cognitive and motivational aspects during learning not only with a higher frequency than less successful learners, but also in a different order—or so we hypothesize. Whereas most research has concentrated on frequency analysis, so far, little is known about how students’ regulatory activities unfold over time. Thus, the aim of our approach is to also analyse the temporal order of spontaneous individual regulation activities. In this paper, we demonstrate how various methods developed in process mining research can be applied to identify process patterns in self-regulated learning events as captured in verbal protocols. We also show how theoretical SRL process models can be tested with process mining methods. Thinking aloud data from a study with 38 participants learning in a self-regulated manner from a hypermedia are used to illustrate the methodological points.     

Family firms and R&D behavior – New evidence from a large-scale survey

This paper analyzes how founders and their families influence R&D intensity. Information on R&D comes from a large-scale, bi-annual survey among listed German firms. We find that R&D intensity is higher in firms that are actively managed by the family. The impact of family control (via voting rights) is negative, but mostly not significant. While this negative family control effect is in line with hitherto existing literature, the positive impact of family management is surprising. Indeed, this positive effect disappears if we follow previous research and use R&D information from financial statements. We show that this puzzling result is related to corporate opacity. Opaque family managed firms report too conservative R&D expenditures, especially if they face financial constraints. This leads to an under-estimation of R&D intensity in these firms if accounting figures are used.     

Analyzing the impact of sport infrastructure on sport participation using geo-coded data: Evidence from multi-level models

Sport policies aiming at increasing mass participation and club participation have stressed the importance of sport infrastructure. Previous research has mainly analyzed the influence of individual factors (age, income, etc.) on sport participation. Although a few studies have dealt with the impact of sport facilities on sport participation, some methodological shortcomings can be observed regarding the integration of sport infrastructure into the research design. Oftentimes, subjective measures of infrastructure are employed, leading to biased results, for example inactive people have a worse perception of the actual supply of facilities. In fact it is important to measure the available sport infrastructure objectively using a quantitative approach and integrate it into statistical models. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of individual and infrastructure variables on sport participation in general and in sport clubs using geo-coded data following a multi-level design. For this purpose, both primary data (individual level) and secondary data (infrastructure level) were collected in the city of Munich, Germany. A telephone survey of the resident population was carried out (n = 11,175) and secondary data on the available sport infrastructure in Munich were collected. Both datasets were geo-coded using Gauss–Krueger coordinates and integrated into multi-level analyses. The multi-level models show that swimming pools are of particular importance for sport participation in general and sport fields for participation in sport clubs. Challenges and implications for a more holistic modeling of sport participation including infrastructure variables are discussed.     

Digital sketching. Aesthetic practices and technological entanglements

ABSTRACT

This article explores the ways aesthetic practices and emerging digital technologies are entangled in the practices of industrial designers. Despite the increased interest in the socio-materiality of aesthetic practices, the conception of the materiality and historicity of digital artefacts remains an open issue. It is suggested that the concept of operational form provides an integrative perspective on the technical development and practical enactment of digital technologies. Drawing on an ethnographic case study on the appropriation of a digital sketching application, it is shown how the aesthetic practices and qualities of the digital technologies are reflexively coupled. The study points to the fact that digital technologies are inherently reductive in that they have to abstract from the particularities and richness of concrete aesthetic practices.     

The role of vocabulary components in second language learners' early reading comprehension

Background

In countries with German as an official language, children with German as a second language perform overall worse in school than their German native speaking peers. This particularly affects written language skills, which require advanced language knowledge. The reasons are manifold, but one is prominent, namely poor vocabulary knowledge. Vocabulary, however, consists not only of the number of known words but also of a complex and hitherto under-researched lexico-semantic framework, which is referred to as vocabulary depth.

Method

In the present study, a sample of 373 children (322 German native speakers and 51 with German as a second language) was examined longitudinally in Grade 2 and 3 for their reading comprehension and vocabulary breadth and depth. Vocabulary depth was defined as relational and semantic word knowledge. Latent change score models on vocabulary breadth and depth development including reading precursor skills, non-verbal intelligence and SES were conducted.

Results

The children with German as a second language scored lower than the native German speakers in reading and vocabulary tests, with the difference in vocabulary depth being more pronounced than in vocabulary breadth. Importantly, the differences did not tend to diminish over time, which could have been expected. The differences in reading comprehension can be accounted for mainly by the variations in vocabulary, especially in vocabulary depth.

Conclusions

These findings emphasise the importance of including not only vocabulary breadth but also vocabulary depth in the context of reading research on children who do not speak the majority language.