Evaluating collaborative filtering recommendations inside large learning object repositories

Collaborative filtering (CF) algorithms are techniques used by recommender systems to predict the utility of items for users based on the similarity among their preferences and the preferences of other users. The enormous growth of learning objects on the internet and the availability of preferences of usage by the community of users in the existing learning object repositories (LORs) have opened the possibility of testing the efficiency of CF algorithms on recommending learning materials to the users of these communities. In this paper we evaluated recommendations of learning resources generated by different well known memory-based CF algorithms using two databases (with implicit and explicit ratings) gathered from the popular MERLOT repository. We have also contrasted the results of the generated recommendations with several existing endorsement mechanisms of the repository to explore possible relations among them. Finally, the recommendations generated by the different algorithms were compared in order to evaluate whether or not they were overlapping. The results found here can be used as a starting point for future studies that account for the specific context of learning object repositories and the different aspects of preference in learning resource selection.     

Role of vitamin B12 on methylmalonyl-CoA mutase activity

Vitamin B₁₂ is an organometallic compound with important metabolic derivatives that act as cofactors of certain enzymes, which have been grouped into three subfamilies depending on their cofactors. Among them, methylmalonyl-CoA mutase (MCM) has been extensively studied. This enzyme catalyzes the reversible isomerization of L-methylmalonyl-CoA to succinyl-CoA using adenosylcobalamin (AdoCbl) as a cofactor participating in the generation of radicals that allow isomerization of the substrate. The crystal structure of MCM determined in Propionibacterium freudenreichii var. shermanii has helped to elucidate the role of this cofactor AdoCbl in the reaction to specify the mechanism by which radicals are generated from the coenzyme and to clarify the interactions between the enzyme, coenzyme, and substrate. The existence of human methylmalonic acidemia (MMA) due to the presence of mutations in MCM shows the importance of its role in metabolism. The recent crystallization of the human MCM has shown that despite being similar to the bacterial protein, there are significant differences in the structural organization of the two proteins. Recent studies have identified the involvement of an accessory protein called MMAA, which interacts with MCM to prevent MCM’s inactivation or acts as a chaperone to promote regeneration of inactivated enzyme. The interdisciplinary studies using this protein as a model in different organisms have helped to elucidate the mechanism of action of this isomerase, the impact of mutations at a functional level and their repercussion in the development and progression of MMA in humans. It is still necessary to study the mechanisms involved in more detail using new methods.     

Balancing Tensions During Convergence: Duality Management in a Newspaper Company

Abstract

Media companies inherently face organizational tensions, as dual—artistic and commercial—orientations are part of their mission. Yet, it is still poorly understood what the existence of such tensions implies for managing media companies that undergo organizational changes to embrace technological convergence. Based on a case study with a European media company, this article argues that different organizational tensions exist and exemplifies this by characterizing structural, processual, and cultural tensions. This study finds that these tensions are interlinked, interdependent, and dynamic—namely, when media companies change, their inherent tensions are also likely to change. Thus, they need to be actively and comprehensively managed to avoid disfunctionalities. In fact, considering the different tensions in the reorganizing process might enhance its chances of success. Relocating the tension, enhancing perception of the tension, and providing training to increase awareness of employees emerge from this case as different strategies for managing tensions.     

Making sense of learners making sense of written language: the selected works of Kenneth S. Goodman and Yetta M. Goodman

It is not an easy task to describe how an organization affects educational processes or events. First, the organization is a blend of multiple countries and changes dynamically; second, a segment of educational processes like the reforms of educational media are changing permanently as well. The changes are induced by institutional, legal, financial and other various factors as well. It is important to emphasize that the reforms in educational media were greatly influenced by the improvements in technology of the recent years. It is exciting and interesting to explore what actual and secondary effects an organization had in its field, that Hungary has been a member of for over 30 years. To analyse these effects, we have to give an overview of two things. First, we have to detail the role of educational media reform in the past, especially during a period when Hungary joined this international organization; second, we have to describe the curricula that was in effect during the implementation of the reforms. We also have to introduce the international organization and the changes in its goals, structure and function.

Die Wirkung von ICEM auf den Entwicklungsprozeß von Bildungsmedien in Ungarn

Es ist keine leichte Aufgabe, zu beschreiben, wie eine Organisation Bildungsprozesse oder ‐ereignisse beeinflußt. Erstens ist die Organisation eine Mischung der Einflüsse vieler Länder und ändert sich dynamisch, zweitens verändert sich ebenso durch die permanenten Reformen der Bildungsmedien ein Segment der Bildungsprozesse selbst. Die Änderungen werden aber ebenfalls von institutionellen, rechtlichen, finanziellen und anderen verschiedenen Faktoren herbeigeführt. Es ist wichtig, hervorzuheben, daß in den letzten Jahren die Reformen der Bildungsmedien sehr von Verbesserungen der Technologie beeinflußt wurden. Es ist aufregend und interessant, zu erkunden, welche tatsächlichen Effekte und Nebenwirkungen eine Organisation, der Ungarn seit über 30 Jahren angehört, in ihrem Feld hatte. Um diese Wirkungen analysieren zu können, müssen wir uns zwei Dinge genauer anschauen: Einmal die Rolle der Bildungsmedienreform in der Vergangenheit, insbesondere während der Zeit, als Ungarn sich dieser internationalen Organisation anschloss, zum anderen müssen wir die Lehrpläne beschreiben, die während der Durchführung der Reformen gültig waren. Wir müssen auch die internationale Organisation, die Änderungen in ihren Zielen, ihrer Struktur und ihrer Funktion vorstellen.     

Cultural transition and academic achievement of students from ethnic minority backgrounds: a content analysis of empirical research on acculturation

Background: The achievement gap between immigrant and non-immigrant students that has been identified in most OECD countries and the considerable educational dropout rate among students from ethnic minority backgrounds in some countries have become serious challenges for national educational systems. The educational underachievement of young people from ethnic minority backgrounds is embedded in the process of their acculturation. In the tradition of cross-cultural psychology, acculturation describes individual or ethno-cultural group changes in behaviour and attitudes in the situation of intercultural contact. Such cultural changes are central to the experience of ethnic minority students including newly arriving immigrants, children of immigrants and members of marginalised ethnic and racial groups. Acculturation has been described as a stressful process, and acculturation orientations adopted by young people from ethnic minority backgrounds have been shown to have an impact on their adjustment.

Purpose: The school context has been recognised to be the crucial context for acculturation of young people from ethnic minority backgrounds. The academic achievement of these students is thus embedded in the acculturation process, which involves cultural identity development, psychological adjustment and behavioural adjustment. The study is aimed at analysing and systematising the findings of empirical research on acculturation in the school context with a focus on the academic achievement of young people from minority backgrounds.

Design and methods: For this study, 29 peer-reviewed articles from a total of 348 articles that matched the search criteria in the database of the Education Resources Information Centre were selected according to inclusion criteria. The selected articles addressed academic achievement of young people from minority backgrounds in relation to at least one of the issues of acculturation such as cultural identity, psychological adjustment and behavioural adjustment. The articles were analysed by applying the method of qualitative content analysis, using MAXQDA software. The findings presented in the selected articles were analysed and integrated according to a deductively developed and inductively enriched category system.

Conclusions: Overall, the results of our analysis offer insight into issues of acculturation in relation to academic achievement. Moreover, our findings reveal the complexity of the relationship between cultural transition and school adjustment for young people. As shown in our review, although a bi-cultural orientation was predominantly positively related to school adjustment of minority students, some studies also identified assimilative attitudes as advantageous for students’ academic achievement as well as for their psychological and behavioural adjustment. Moreover, our study has also shown that young people’s acculturative attitudes may have a different impact on their school adjustment relative to acculturative behaviours.     

Perceptions of Learning Environment and On‐Task Orientation Among Students Reporting Different Achievement Levels: A Study Conducted Among Norwegian Secondary School Students

The aim of this study was to explore students’ perceptions of their learning environment and on‐task orientation across different achievement levels. Data were gathered in two independent cross‐sectional studies of Norwegian students in grades 8, 9, and 10 (n = 3453 in 2001 and n = 2987 in 2004). Students within the middle achievement levels reported more positive perceptions of learning environments than the high and low achievers. The amount of variance in on‐task orientation that was accounted for by the learning environment was higher for low achievers than for the rest of the students. Furthermore, students in the 2004 sample gave a more positive report of their learning environment and their on‐task orientation than students in 2001. Finally, we found that the improvement in the perceptions of learning environment was stronger for those students who reported low and high achievement than for the rest of the students.     

Roads to Success in the Belgian French Community’s Higher Education System: Predictors of Dropout and Degree Completion at the Université Libre de Bruxelles

In this paper we study the factors that influence both dropout and (4-year) degree completion throughout university by applying the set of discrete-time methods for competing risks in event history analysis, as described in Scott and Kennedy (2005). In the French-speaking Belgian community, participation rates are very high given that higher education is largely financed through public funds, but at the same time, the system performs very poorly in terms of degree completion. In this particular context, we explore two main questions. First, to what extent is socioeconomic background still a determinant of success for academic careers in a system that, by construction, aims to eliminate economic barriers to higher education? Second, given the high proportion of students who fail their first year and are unable to move to their second year, can authorities promote degree completion and decrease dropout among students who have already experienced a failure? Using the competing risks model, we show that in spite of low entry barriers, students coming from lower socioeconomic background are more vulnerable to dropout along the whole academic path because of financial constraints that prevent them from re-enrolling. Also, our results reveal that, after a failed year, a significantly higher proportion of students who re-enroll in a different field obtain a degree compared to those that re-enroll in the same field, suggesting that universities should rethink the mechanisms available to manage failure and guide student choices.