How day of posting affects level of critical discourse in asynchronous discussions and computer-supported collaborative argumentation

In asynchronous threaded discussions, messages posted near the end of the week provide less time for students to critically examine and respond to ideas presented in the messages than messages posted early in the week. This study examined how the day in which messages are posted (early, midweek and weekend) in computer-supported collaborative argumentation affect the number of responses elicited by arguments and challenges, and how its effects differ across the four types of exchanges (argument–challenge, challenge–counterchallenge, challenge–explain, challenge–evidence) that serve as indicators of critical discourse. This study found that the day of posting had a significant effect on the number of responses elicited per message, with the greatest to smallest effect on argument–challenge, challenge–counterchallenge, challenge–explain and challenge–evidence exchanges respectively. These findings highlight some of the limitations of asynchronous discussions, and suggest alternative ways to implement and design discussion environments to promote higher levels of critical discourse.     

‘Forgotten’ democracy,student activism,and higher education in Myanmar: past,present, and future

Asia Pacific Education Review - This paper is a historical examination of higher education in contemporary Myanmar, and its relationship to the students, the most important and visible actor in...     

A sequential analysis of responses in online debates to postings of students exhibiting high versus low grammar and spelling errors

Given that grammatical and spelling errors have been found to influence perceived competence and credibility in written communication, this study examined how a student’s grammar and spelling errors affect how other students respond to the student’s postings in four online debates hosted in asynchronous threaded discussions. Message-response exchanges were sequentially analyzed to identify patterns in students’ replies to arguments and challenges with counter-challenges, explanations, and evidentiary support posted by students that exhibited low versus high number of grammatical and spelling errors. Although no causal inferences can be drawn from this study, the findings nevertheless suggests that: (a) arguments posted by high-error students are more likely to be challenged than arguments posted by low-error students; (b) exchanges between high-error students can amplify the effects of grammar/spelling errors; and (c) higher levels of argumentation can be achieved by placing students into groups that are heterogeneous in writing skills in general. The findings and methods used in this study lay the groundwork for further research on strategies for managing individual differences in students’ grammar and spelling (and other student behaviors in general) and increasing the level of critical discourse in online discussions.     

Open Learning and New Technologies in Teacher Education: new paradigms for development

This paper suggests that teacher education is undergoing significant transformation. In most countries there is a recognition that the quality and extent of provision will need to be raised. Open and distance education, utilising new interactive forms of technology, will have a crucial, perhaps major, role to play in this process. The school will act increasingly as a ‘site’ for learning within evolving models of initial and in‐service teacher education. All forms of teacher education will exploit new technologies. There will be an increasing convergence between conventional and open and distance modes of delivery. New assessments of costs and effectiveness will need to be made. Changes in technology has rendered ‘out‐of‐date’ much of the previous evaluative evidence. National and international expertise in open and distance education, new methodologies and teacher education will need to be developed.     

The Effects of Gender Interaction Patterns on Student Participation in Computer-Supported Collaborative Argumentation

In this study we examined response patterns in exchanges between males and females and their effects on gender participation in five online debates. Students classified messages into arguments, evidence, critiques, and elaborations while posting messages to the debates to facilitate argumentation and the sequential analysis of message-response sequences. The findings revealed no differences in number of critiques posted in response to arguments because females were just as likely as males to critique messages from both males and females, and because females responded to males with critiques at a higher than expected frequency. Posthoc analysis revealed strong indications that females posted fewer rebuttals to the critiques of females than males, and males posted more rebuttals to the critiques of females than females. The methods used in this study illustrate a process-oriented approach to explain and predict gender differences in participation and serve as a framework for future research on gender participation, group interaction, and strategies for facilitating collaborative argumentation and problem solving.     

Evaluating item response theory linking and model fit for data from PISA 2000–2012

ABSTRACT

Based on concerns about the item response theory (IRT) linking approach used in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) until 2012 as well as the desire to include new, more complex, interactive items with the introduction of computer-based assessments, alternative IRT linking methods were implemented in the 2015 PISA round. The new linking method represents a concurrent calibration using all available data, enabling us to find item parameters that maximize fit across all groups and allowing us to investigate measurement invariance across groups. Apart from the Rasch model that historically has been used in PISA operational analyses, we compared our method against more general IRT models that can incorporate item-by-country interactions. The results suggest that our proposed method holds promise not only to provide a strong linkage across countries and cycles but also to serve as a tool for investigating measurement invariance.     

Co‐Design Education Based on the Changing Designer's Role and Changing Creativity

The field of fashion design relies on the originality of fashion designers and information on design trends, and design education also focuses on the creative ideas of designers; in this field, design through co‐design is a very limited area. However, with the proliferation of participatory culture, the need to diversify fashion design education methods has also emerged. The purpose of this study is to present an educational framework and an instructional strategy for co‐design based on the changing role of the designer and to obtain educational insight through the implementation of an actual education prototype. To do this, we developed an educational prototype and implemented it with six undergraduate students. Through this study, the participants engaged in the process of design development with the consumer and analysed the instructional insight. As a result, this study redefines the roles and design methods of designers for co‐design and identifies creativity characteristics through the co‐design process. The results of this study can be used as basic data for co‐design education and can contribute to the expansion of fashion design educational methods.     

Production blocking in brainstorming arguments in online group debates and asynchronous threaded discussions

Educational technology research and development - Online group debates hosted in asynchronous threaded discussions can facilitate critical thinking between discussants (and increase deeper...     

Solving Hitchcock’s transportation problem by a genetic algorithm

IntroductionTheHitchcock’sTransportationProblem(HTP)canbeformulatedasaclassiclinearprogrammingprobleminwhichthesetofconstraintsisofaspecialstructure[1,2].TheHTPisapracticaltransportationprobleminproductiondistributionsector.Alotofpracticaltrans-portationandassignmentproblems,suchastheminimumcostroadnetworktrafficflowproblemwithsolidchargeinlogistics,canbeformulatedinthisway,anditisclearlythattheHTPmaybehasmorethanoneoptimalsolution.Itisveryimportantforadecision-makertoselectafavorableone…     

Education reform and competency-based education

The core purpose of this paper is to describe a new educational paradigm as well as possible directions and tasks for education reform in the 21^st century. The present-day education system has failed to nurture the kind of creative people who can play leading roles in development or to produce citizens of a good character and democratic tendencies. We need to look at education from the standpoint of expanding the totality of possibilities for national development. The current educational system of Korea can be characterized as one of “manpower-centered education. ” In this system, education functions to produce the human resources needed by the nation, and there is a strong belief in the classification and selection of high-quality human capital via the school system. We can think of an educational model that is parallel to the current system of manpower classification and selection and call it “competency-based education. ” In this model, the identification of individual ability, talent, and aptitude is deemed to be the most important, and the key task of education is self-actualization through recognition and cultivation of such talents and abilities. What educational values should be pursued within a new competency-based paradigm? First, we can reduce the relative weight of subject-centered education and introduce a competency-based curriculum in order to teach key competences for life. Second, new intelligence theories must be introduced into education in order to foster the development of students' talents, aptitudes, and potentials. Third, we can make use of positive psychology, which is a newly emerging field, the core concept of which is the belief that happiness in life depends on one's ability to develop and maintain positive feelings and emotions.