Cultural Beliefs about Autism in Indonesia

Cultural beliefs about parenting have an important influence on parenting behaviours, including considerations about appropriate ways to parent children with autism. Although Indonesia has one of the largest and most ethnically diverse populations in the world, little is known about cultural beliefs regarding children with autism within Indonesian cultures. The goal of the present study was to investigate how Indonesian mothers from a range of backgrounds and without a child with autism understood autism and the most appropriate ways to parent such a child. The study was a qualitative investigation using semi-structured interviews with nine Indonesian mothers. Five aspects were investigated: understanding about autism, beliefs about causes of autism, possible reactions to having a child with autism, perceptions of parenting a child with autism, and perceptions of parent-child relationships. The interviews revealed five related themes about autism, including traditional cultural beliefs about appropriate behaviour during pregnancy, karma, and God’s plan, that are not usually reported in the literature from western countries.     

A reading-level match study of phonemic processes underlying reading disabilities in a transparent orthography

The current study examined the relationship in Spanish (i.e., a transparent orthography) between different levels of phonological awareness and reading disabilities. In addition, the strategies used by the children when they resolved phoneme segmentation and reversal tasks were analyzed. A sample of 133 subjects were selected and organized in three different groups: (1) A group of 45 reading-disabled children, (2) A comparison group of 44 normal readers matched in age with the reading disabled, and (3) A reading level match group of 44 younger normal readers at the same reading level as the reading disabled. Three phonological awareness tasks were used to measure levels of intrasyllabic and phonemic awareness. The reading disabled group was equivalent to the younger reading level-matched control group in the odd-word-out task. However, there were differences in the phonemic tasks (e.g., phoneme segmentation and reversal) because the reading disabled group performed more poorly than the younger children. Overall, the children matched in age with the reading disabled group were superior in all phonological awareness tasks. There were differences between the groups when the strategies used by the children were analyzed.     

Towards learning analytics adoption: A mixed methods study of data-related practices and policies in Latin American universities

In Latin American universities, Learning Analytics (LA) has been perceived as a promising opportunity to leverage data to meet the needs of a diverse student cohort. Although universities have been collecting educational data for years, the adoption of LA in this region is still limited due to the lack of expertise and policies for processing and using educational data. In order to get a better picture of how existing data-related practices and policies might affect the incorporation of LA in Latin American institutions, we conducted a mixed methods study in four Latin American universities (two Chilean and two Ecuadorian). In this paper, the qualitative data were based on 37 interviews with managers and 16 focus groups with 51 teaching staff and 45 students; the quantitative data were collected through two surveys answered by 1884 students and 368 teachers, respectively. The findings reveal opportunities to incorporate LA services into existing data practices in the four case studies. However, the lack of reliable information systems and policies to regulate the use of data imposes challenges that need to be overcome for future LA adoption.     

The Dialectic Relationship between Research and Practice in Mathematics Teacher Education

This paper addresses issues linking research in student teacher learning with reflection on practice in mathematics teacher education. From a situated perspective on learning and practice, we explore our own practice as teacher educators while researching student teacher learning in our classrooms. We describe a study on student teacher learning, considering student teacher learning as a “process of becoming”, and how the results of this research have affected our development as mathematics teacher educators and members of a community of inquiry. Our work shows how in the mathematics teacher education context the relationship between theory and practice becomes an element of both teacher educator and researcher development.     

The Power of Language,Learning and Socialization: Romani and Ebonics

This article draws attention to the role one’s language plays in socialization and explains the misunderstandings and conflicts over integration of the Roma in the Czech Republic. Recognizing the role of home language leads to successful socialization. By not demanding that schools account for home language in the process of teaching, the Roma have implicitly agreed that Czech is the natural way through which children of diverse cultural backgrounds access education and adapt. Children of minorities and namely, the Roma, have been disadvantaged by cultural assumptions enabling teachers, curricula, and textbooks to construct the profile of a Czech student in a way that precludes his or her multicultural origin. To compare, the study provides insight into the conflict between Standard American English and Afro-American English and highlights its factors, legal resolutions, and contemporary situation. The article also reviews research on bilingual classrooms and learning in the United States and suggests that it is relevant to the contentious interrelationship of standard Czech and Romani at schools.     

Eternal vigilance: politics,race, and the struggle for educational equity in a Central Texas Community

Abstract

This article documents the emergence of a Mexican-American political consciousness in a Central Texas Community and the efforts to dismantle decades of inequitable, exclusionary educational policies and practices. We take readers into a community on the verge of profound change by exploring primary historical data and situating the voices of community leaders in a historical context. We employ a theory of change framework (RASPPA) to chronicle a community’s response to macro-level societal changes. To understand the need for Mexican-American activism in Central Texas, we providing a survey of literature that chronicles Mexican-American experience in Texas. This is a story about a community realizing its political capacity and leveraging its own agency for change. We take a walk-through history and use place, race, identity and courage to inform a new vision for educational equity.     

Spelling difficulties in Spanish-speaking children with dyslexia / Dificultades de escritura en niños españoles con dislexia

In addition to reading difficulties, a significant proportion of developmental dyslexics have spelling problems, which persist into adulthood. Studies carried out in languages with opaque orthographies have found that dyslexics frequently make phonological substitutions when spelling and have difficulties in developing orthographic representations of irregular words. Those errors seem to derive from an excessive use of phonological codes when writing. Minimal research in Spanish (relatively transparent orthography) about the relationship between dyslexia and spelling difficulties has been carried out to date. In this study, 19 Spanish-speaking developmental dyslexics (from 7 to 11 years old) and 28 controls (from 6 to 11 years old, distributed in two groups, one matched for age and the other for reading level with the dyslexics) performed a dictation task of 80 stimuli with different levels of orthographic consistency, in order to discover the codes they use in the writing process. Results showed that Spanish children with dyslexia made significantly more spelling errors, especially among the ruled and irregular words. These findings are consistent with the idea that these children have difficulties in developing orthographic representations and use phonological codes more frequently than non-dyslexics, resulting in phonologically plausible errors when writing irregular words. These results have important implications for the treatment of spelling difficulties in children with dyslexia, highlighting the need to focus on the correct acquisition of grapheme-phoneme conversion rules as well as the development of appropriate orthographic representations.     

A telepresence learning environment for opera singing: distance lessons implementations over Internet2

The Opera eLearning project developed a solution for opera singing distance lessons at the graduate level, using high bandwidth to deliver a quality audio and video experience that has been evaluated by singing teachers, chorus and orchestra directors, singers and other professional musicians. Prior to finding a technological model that suits the user's requirements, several experiments have been conducted, testing and prototyping different technologies, until arriving at a telepresence, immersive sound model. This paper summarises the findings of this pilot stage, and its interest includes the management of innovation exercises across a multidisciplinary team, based on usability and a user-centred design. Some of the technology tested includes professional audio and video equipment, software for A/V signal capturing and transmission on uncompressed formats, A/D converters, and other auxiliary devices. The resultant model has later been successfully used in a formal case study, delivering 14 remote masterclasses.     

Exploring affiliation network models as a collaborative filtering mechanism in e-learning

The online interaction of learners and tutors in activities with concrete objectives provides a valuable source of data that can be analyzed for different purposes. One of these purposes is the use of the information extracted from that interaction to aid tutors and learners in decision making about either the configuration of further learning activities or the filtering of learning resources. This article explores the use of an affiliation network model for such kind of purposes. Concretely, the use of techniques such as blockmodeling – a technique used to derive meaningful patterns of relationships in the network – and the analysis of m-slices – a technique helpful to study cohesion in relationships – are explored as tools to decide on the configuration of topics and/or learner groups. In particular, the results of the case study show that such techniques can be used to (i) filter participants for rearranging groups; (ii) rearrange topics of interest; and (iii) dynamically change the structure of a course. The techniques presented can be considered a case of collaborative filtering based on social network structure.