Implementing the SENCo system in Hong Kong: an initial investigation

Monitoring mechanisms of support services for students with special needs can be broadly classified as external and internal. Resembling the UK model, Hong Kong has adopted an internal mechanism through the establishment of the SENCo post. This investigation, written by Dr Kim Fong Poon‐McBrayer, of the Hong Kong Institute of Education, explores how SENCos understand the policy intention of their roles, what the role entails in practice, and what work conditions are usual for participants. This qualitative study involved semi‐structured interviews to probe SENCos' experiences. Findings reveal that SENCos assume management but not leadership roles in special educational needs provision. Policy deviation, and the prevalent autocratic leadership style across schools in Hong Kong, are the key contributors to conditions seen as unsatisfactory, of overwork, of the inadequate planning of provision, and of the need for professional and clerical support. It is concluded that policymakers can make improvements through implementing practical training in participatory governance for headteachers, developing a training model for SENCos, and providing SENCos with additional personnel resources. Further studies to gain a fuller picture of the organisational contexts are recommended.     

The Impacts of Library Services on Interlibrary Loan Requests Canceled due to Local Availability

Abstract

Interlibrary loan (ILL) services receive requests for resources that are available locally and form a major portion of canceled requests. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between requests canceled due to local availability and three aspects to identify impacts on ILL. The authors explored library service aspects such as collection format, the link resolver knowledge base, and discovery system functionality for potential influence on requests for locally available resources. Quantitative methods were used to identify evidence of different aspects’ impact through analysis of ILL borrowing request data. The most important finding was that the discovery system had impact on ILL services by improving retrievability of locally available resources published recently. The results suggest that a modern discovery system can efficiently provide more relevant results sourced from a carefully curated set of authoritative resources, save users’ time to access available materials, and reduce library staff members’ time and effort. This study will be helpful to libraries through its analysis of library services that impact the cancelation of ILL requests due to local availability and how those services may influence service improvement.     

Using computer vision techniques on Instagram to link users’ personalities and genders to the features of their photos: An exploratory study

Instagram and other photo-based social networking sites have emerged as a popular medium. Previous studies mainly focused on social media texts, but the current study deals with the relationships between the characteristics of Instagram users and the features of their photos. The Big Five personality traits and gender were employed as the variables for user characteristics. Content category, the number of faces, the emotions on the faces, and the pixel derived features were employed as the variables for photo characteristics. An online survey of 179 university students was conducted to measure user characteristics, and 25,394 photos in total were downloaded and analyzed from the respondents’ Instagram accounts. Results suggested that content category is associated with extraversion and gender of users. The number of faces is associated with extraversion, agreeableness, and openness of users. Extraversion, agreeableness, and openness of users were partly associated with emotions expressed on the faces in their photos. Correlations were observed among some pixel features and extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and gender of users. It was also observed that the Big Five personality traits, except for gender, can be predicted by above variables. Implications and limitations are discussed and suggestions for future research are suggested.     

Analyzing the discriminative attributes of products using text mining focused on cosmetic reviews

Consumers evaluate products through online reviews, in addition to sharing their product experiences. Online reviews affect product marketing, and companies use online reviews to investigate consumer attitudes and perceptions of their products. However, when analyzing a review, it is often the case that specific contexts are not taken into consideration and meaningful information is not obtained from the analysis results. This study suggests a methodology for analyzing reviews in the context of comparing two competing products. In addition, by analyzing the discriminative attributes of competing products, we were able to derive more specific information than an overall product analysis. Analyzing the discriminative attributes in the context of comparing competing products provides clarity on analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of competitive products and provides realistic information that can help the company's management activities. Considering this purpose, this study collected a review of the BB Cream product line in the cosmetics field. The analysis was sequentially carried out in three stages. First, we extracted words that represent discriminative attributes by analyzing the percentage difference of words. Second, different attribute words were classified according to the meaning used in the review by using latent semantic analysis. Finally, the polarity of discriminative attribute words was analyzed using Labeled-LDA. This analysis method can be used as a market research method as it can extract more information than a traditional survey or interview method, and can save cost and time through the automation of the program.     

The present state and future trends of blended learning in workplace learning settings across five countries

This article reports survey findings related to the current status and future trends of blended learning in workplace learning settings from diverse cultures. This particular survey was conducted of 674 training and human resource development professionals from five different countries, mostly from the Asia-Pacific region (i.e., China, South Korea, Taiwan, United States, and the United Kingdom). The results show that blended learning will become a popular delivery method in the future of workplace learning not only in Western countries but also in Asian countries. Still, the respondents indicated that there were several barriers to blended learning; one of the most noticeable issues was their lack of understanding of blended learning. There is a pressing need, therefore, to provide practitioners with guidance on how to implement blended learning in their organizations. Additionally, among the countries surveyed, the results of the present study revealed that there were significant differences in the current level of adoption of blended learning, the respondents’ attitudes toward and perceptions of blended learning, and the content areas taught by blended learning. Respondents’ predictions related to emerging instructional strategies, technologies, and evaluation techniques for blended learning are also reported.     

ECT Internship: Experiencing Privilege,Opportunity, and the Spirit of Giving

ect Cornerstone

ECT Internship: Experiencing Privilege, Opportunity, and the Spirit of Giving     

Action research approach on mobile learning design for the underserved

This paper discusses an action research study focused on developing a mobile learning model of literacy development for underserved migrant indigenous children in Latin America. The research study incorporated a cyclical action model with four distinctive stages (Strategize, Apply, Evaluate, and Reflect) designed to guide constituencies involved in the study to design, test, and enhance a mobile learning model. The findings, to date, reveal some of the contextual phenomena that create both challenges and opportunities for a mobile learning model. From this, design strategies are evolving focused on sustained literacy exposure for extremely marginalized (economically, educationally, geographically, and technologically) migrant indigenous children who have no consistent access to a formal education system.     

Requirements for electronic note taking systems: A field study of note taking in university classrooms

Note taking is the core activity for students in a classroom. There has been a large amount of research conducted, both from industry and from academia, into facilitating the note-taking process. There is evidence that shows that note taking can be beneficial for the students’ educational growth. There are also many available systems for taking notes electronically (e.g. Tablet PCs, PDAs). However, what has not been given as much attention is how these electronic devices affect (or support) the note taking task. In this paper, we study university students’ current note taking behavior and the changes caused by the use of electronic systems for this activity. The goal of our work is to identify issues that should be considered when evaluating electronic note taking systems and to formulate requirements for future electronic note-taking systems. Our findings show that while the technological support for writing with pens on electronic surfaces is quite advanced, the task of note taking in the classroom is not well supported. We identify the limitations of typical note taking systems and discuss the implications for the design of future note taking systems. Our work consisted of three parts: a survey of current note-taking practices, an observational study in a classroom environment, and a semester long case study of students using electronic note-taking devices. All of these activities took place at a large 4-year university. We found that the people reacted to note-taking devices very differently and that their current practices were not always well supported. The users all wanted to input information as fast as possible, in the manner they wanted but they were not always able to achieve that. Hardware limitations (i.e. screen size, responsiveness) added to this issue. We also found that the features that are well supported in an electronic medium (i.e. modification, reorganizing, multiple pen colors/styles, handwriting recognition, sharing) were not commonly used or wanted.     

Density-dependent separation of encapsulated cells in a microfluidic channel by using a standing surface acoustic wave

This study presents a method for density-based separation of monodisperse encapsulated cells using a standing surface acoustic wave (SSAW) in a microchannel. Even though monodisperse polymer beads can be generated by the state-of-the-art technology in microfluidics, the quantity of encapsulated cells cannot be controlled precisely. In the present study, mono-disperse alginate beads in a laminar flow can be separated based on their density using acoustophoresis. A mixture of beads of equal sizes but dissimilar densities was hydrodynamically focused at the entrance and then actively driven toward the sidewalls by a SSAW. The lateral displacement of a bead is proportional to the density of the bead, i.e., the number of encapsulated cells in an alginate bead. Under optimized conditions, the recovery rate of a target bead group (large-cell-quantity alginate beads) reached up to 97% at a rate of 2300 beads per minute. A cell viability test also confirmed that the encapsulated cells were hardly damaged by the acoustic force. Moreover, cell-encapsulating beads that were cultured for 1 day were separated in a similar manner. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that a SSAW can successfully separate monodisperse particles by their density. With the present technique for separating cell-encapsulating beads, the current cell engineering technology can be significantly advanced.