Can Interactive Web-based CAD Tools Improve the Learning of Engineering Drawing? A Case Study

Many current Web-based learning environments facilitate the theoretical teaching of a subject but this may not be sufficient for those disciplines that require a significant use of graphic mechanisms to resolve problems. This research study looks at the use of an environment that can help students learn engineering drawing with Web-based CAD tools, including a self-correction component. A comparative study of 121 students was carried out. The students were divided into two experimental groups using Web-based interactive CAD tools and into two control groups using traditional learning tools. A statistical analysis of all the samples was carried out in order to study student behavior during the research and the effectiveness of these self-study tools in the learning process. The results showed that a greater number of students in the experimental groups passed the test and improved their test scores. Therefore, the use Web-based graphic interactive tools to learn engineering drawing can be considered a significant improvement in the teaching of this kind of academic discipline.     

Dependency parsing with finite state transducers and compression rules

This article proposes a syntactic parsing strategy based on a dependency grammar containing formal rules and a compression technique that reduces the complexity of those rules. Compression parsing is mainly driven by the ‘single-head’ constraint of Dependency Grammar, and can be seen as an alternative method to the well-known constructive strategy. The compression algorithm simplifies the input sentence by progressively removing from it the dependent tokens as soon as binary syntactic dependencies are recognized. This strategy is thus similar to that used in deterministic dependency parsing. A compression parser was implemented and released under General Public License, as well as a cross-lingual grammar with Universal Dependencies, containing only broad-coverage rules applied to Romance languages. The system is an almost delexicalized parser which does not need training data to analyze Romance languages. The rule-based cross-lingual parser was submitted to CoNLL 2017 Shared Task: Multilingual Parsing from Raw Text to Universal Dependencies. The performance of our system was compared to the other supervised systems participating in the competition, paying special attention to the parsing of different treebanks of the same language. We also trained a supervised delexicalized parser for Romance languages in order to compare it to our rule-based system. The results show that the performance of our cross-lingual method does not change across related languages and across different treebanks, while most supervised methods turn out to be very dependent on the text domain used to train the system.     

Multimedia integration for language e-learning： Content, context and the e-dossier

In the education world, it is widely accepted that language learning is one of the pioneering disciplines in the application and use of the information and communication technologies, initially preceded by the widespread use of audiovisual resources which, finally integrated in the digital space, bring about the use of multimedia. Additionally, language learning has greatly contributed to standardizing lesson plans. They set the basis for learning design, one of the last advances in the pedagogical organization of education through the use of computers in learning managing systems. Most recently, language learning has also played an innovative role in the implementation of portfolios to education. These three perspectives address different issues for e-learning： the access to content through technology; the design of the learning initially with the help of tutors and then applying institutional frameworks for their own personal learning processes; and the edition of the resulting e-learning experience as evidence with the e-dossier, a part of the e-portfolio. Currently, the web is evolving towards its original function as the read/write web where the user, apart from accessing information, can create their own information and communicate more interactively, using technology-enhanced learning environments to integrate text and multimedia for real audiences both in the classroom and outside. Thus, taking language learning guided by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, the authors present here a complete e-learning system which integrates textual as well as multimedia facilities to acquire learning content, edit learning design and report learning experiences.     

Study of context influence on classifiers trained under different video-document representations

The problem of content-based video retrieval continues to pose a challenge to the research community, the performance of video retrieval systems being low due to the semantic gap. In this paper we consider whether taking advantage of context can aid the video retrieval process by making the prediction of relevance easier, i.e. if it is easier for a classification system to predict the relevance of a video shot under a given context, then that context has potential in also improving retrieval, since the underlying features better differentiate relevant from non-relevant video shots. We use an operational definition of context, where datasets can be split into disjoint sub-collections which reflect a particular context. Contexts considered include task difficulty and user expertise, among others. In the classification process, four main types of features are used to represent video-shots: conventional low-level visual features representing physical properties of the video shots, behavioral features which are based on user interaction with the video shots, and two different bag-of-words features obtained from the Automatic Speech Recognition from the audio of the video.     

Evolution in Freedom? The Meanings of ‘Free School’ in Chile

This article examines the background in which enterprises called free schools, as well as complementary educational activities, have taken root in Chile. Two kinds of recently burgeoning free schools are identified; one supplementing regular schooling with a social justice focus, and another that is a fully fledged alternative to other schooling. The history of freedom itself in Chile is explored from a historical perspective, contrasting somewhat with freedom as it is understood in more developed countries. Parallels to Anglophone free schools such as AS Neill’s Summerhill are also discussed, as well as the sociopolitical context in which Chilean free schools continue to develop.     

Student-designed games in secondary education. Effects and perspectives from students and teachers

Abstract

The goal was to gain a deeper understanding of the extended use of student-designed games. 207 students (grades: eight, nine, eleven) from one school participated. They were randomly divided in Experimental (student-designed games) and Equivalent group (traditional instruction). Both experienced the same learning units (two, 12 sessions) over the same time (six weeks). The study followed a pretest, post-test, quantitative-qualitative research design. Data was obtained through questionnaire, diary and open-ended question. Quantitative results showed statistically significant differences at post-test in Autonomy and Important role favoring the Experimental group. Students’ qualitative data produced positive: student empowerment, innovation, fun and learning, and negative themes: lack of flow, boring and no democracy. From the teacher’s diary also emerged positive: student empowerment and increased participation and negative themes: lack of flow. Student-designed games can empower students, increasing their autonomy and important role, but they also have limitations.     

头戴百角的奥拉夫

Olav was the most terrible of all the 1)Vikings.With just his bare hands,he could defeat a bull in seconds.To let people know who he was,he adorned his 2)helmet with a hundred 3)horns,and on his 4)cloak were a thousand 5)precious stones,one stone for each enemy he had defeated.     

Spanish parents’ perception of family media literacy / Percepción de padres y madres españoles acerca de la alfabetización audiovisual familiar

The family is the main network of relationships in which the values and norms for living in society are transmitted. In a society where the presence of the media is prominent, media literacy in the family is more important than ever. For this reason, this study aims to analyse Spanish families’ perception of all aspects related to their knowledge about the media, their use of the media, their critical and expressive capacity and their perception of the weaknesses and risks of the media. To do so, we have analysed data from nine Spanish regions through focus groups (FG) with the participation of parents representing different kinds of families. The evidence collected highlights the need for media training for all family members so they can actively, critically and creatively take advantage of the potential afforded by the technologies and media in education for active, participatory citizenship.     

Making Real Analysis Relevant to Secondary Teachers: Building Up from and Stepping Down to Practice

Future teachers often claim that advanced undergraduate courses, even those that attempt to connect to school mathematics, are not useful for their teaching. This paper proposes a new way of designing advanced undergraduate content courses for secondary teachers. The model involves beginning with an analysis of the curriculum and practices of school mathematics and its teaching, and then using those to build up to the advanced mathematics – in this case, real analysis. After developing definitions, examples, theorems, and proofs, the model then reconnects to practice, asking the teachers to translate ideas from real analysis in ways that are appropriate for teaching high school content to students. To illustrate the model, we provide and discuss two example tasks.