Developing web-based curricula: Issues and challenges

This study first offers a defence of the view that natural science has transcultural intellectual characteristics relevant to its educational purposes and examines those characteristics under their ontic, epistemic, and value‐related aspects. While the epistemic domain has been most prominent in relation to the science curriculum and its reform, it is the ontic stance of science that is its most distinctive characteristic. Science stands in an attenuated relationship to forms of human valuing, but curriculum reform has attempted to bring value‐related, and particularly ethical, matters into its remit. Science curriculum reform can be understood as an intellectual repositioning in relation to these three domains. This study relates this repositioning to the educational purposes of science, focusing particularly on a tension between liberal and instrumental purposes. Reform of the science curriculum is most coherently based on its distinctive ontic and epistemic characteristics, within a broader curricular framework.     

Investigating use continuance of data mining tools

While improving decisional quality is important to businesses, continued use of DMTs is a critical issue for managerial personnel. This problem mainly concerns the willingness of an individual to participate in the behavior. It can be further defined in a routine-based working behavior. This problem essentially involves three key issues, task fit, technology use, and habit. This study therefore integrates task-technology fit (TTF) model, expectation–confirmation mode (ECM), and habit, to examine the determinants of continued use of DMTs. Prior studies have focused on intention to use DMTs in the first time and only considered part of the three issues for identifying the determinants. 285 respondents from managerial personnel were collected to empirically evaluate this research model. The three issues are all important in influencing continuance use intention of DMTs. In particular, the task-technology fit indicates a direct effect on two factors of the technology use issue, user satisfaction and perceived usefulness, and an indirect effect on continuance use intention. User satisfaction and perceived usefulness, and habit are the key predictors of continuance use intention.     

创新人才培养模式研究

针对工程流体力学现有实验教学模式存在的弊端,提出了将基础教学实验、综合创新实验、科研创新实验相结合的实验教学模式,在实验教学过程中逐步加深学生对基础知识的理解与记忆,不断提高学生的综合分析能力、解决问题能力,并进一步培养学生的创新能力。     

Substitutive competition: Virtual pets as competitive buffers to alleviate possible negative influence on pupils

Although competition is regarded as a powerful motivator in game‐based learning, it might have a negative influence, such as damage to confidence, on students who lose the competition. In this paper, we propose an indirect approach, substitutive competition, to alleviate such negative influences. The approach is used to develop a My‐Pet v3 system, in which pupils master subject materials to make their pets stronger, and compete against each other. Specifically, pupils learn Chinese idioms in a pet‐training game scenario, and their mastery of the material is related to the pets' strength to win the competition. The result of the competition is influenced by whether pupils spend enough effort on the learning tasks. This intention is expected to alleviate the negative influence that results from direct competition. A within‐subject experiment was conducted to examine the influence of substitutive competition. The results indicated that substitutive competition seems a promising scheme to maximise the power of competition. However, there were no apparent evidences in this study to demonstrate its effect to alleviate pupils' sense of failure, as compared with other two direct competition conditions.     

The effects of appeal types and candidates' poll rankings in negative political advertising

This paper combines the persuasion knowledge model (PKM) and priming theory to investigate the effects of different appeal types in negative political ads on voters' cognitive responses and candidate responses, and explore the moderating effect of an important candidate-related variable: poll ranking. The results indicate that negative advertising based on rational appeals is more beneficial to candidates who lag in the polls. However, negative ads based on emotional appeals generate better responses from voters when used by poll leaders. These effects are observed regardless of whether the race is between an incumbent and a challenger or two challengers.     

Constructing a cooperative distance learning system: The CORAL experience

This article focuses on the Cooperative Remotely Accessible Learning (CORAL) system to promote cooperative constructive distance learning currently under development at National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. The CORAL system is a collective and collaborative project intended to integrate four major components in concept and construction: an interactive learning environment, educational foundations and implications, domain knowledge, and research efforts. The CORAL system provides the first comprehensive and networked courseware written in Chinese. The development process of CORAL including analysis, design, development, and evaluation is reported. Research issues are also addressed.     

Sticky and slippery destinations for academic mobility: the case of Singapore

This article seeks to contribute to the existing scholarship on academic mobility in two ways. First, it brings together insights on academic mobility (aspirations, desperations) and higher education internationalisation to show how we may analytically organise these insights to shed light on the shifting global higher education landscape from an experiential perspective. Second, it provides fresh data on the ‘lived experiences’ of mobile faculty members based in an attractive academic destination outside of the traditional knowledge cores—Singapore. As a city state without any natural resources, Singapore has successfully transformed its economy into one that is knowledge-intensive based on combined efforts from grooming locals to recruiting foreign talents to shore up skilled manpower needs. These efforts are reflected in the university sector where Singapore’s comprehensive universities have consistently ranked high across many global university rankings. Using survey and interview data, I show how the mobility and immobility experiences of faculty based in Singapore have contributed to its making as a ‘sticky’ and ‘slippery’ academic destination. My contributions point to the need to integrate individual-level factors underpinning academic mobility decisions with systemic developments to better understand the changing global higher education landscape today.

     

Exploring elementary english teachers’ practical knowledge: A case study of EFL teachers in Taiwan

Teaching English in elementary schools has been an important educational policy in Asian countries over the past several decades. This study investigates how in-service teachers in elementary schools conceptualize their practical knowledge about English teaching in Taiwan. It provides examples of experiences and practical knowledge that English teachers have developed in their own contexts. The practical knowledge of teachers was investigated using a qualitative case study. Three in-service teachers participated in this study. Data include interviews, classroom observations, teachers’ reflective journals, and teaching materials. The study provides practical principles and rules of practice for elementary EFL teachers. It offers insights that policy makers need to consider in setting up a sound English teaching and learning program for elementary schools in EFL contexts.     

图书馆自动化系统更新换代时数据转换问题研究

文章对基于SQL的图书馆自动化系统向ILASII系统更新换代过程中,数据进行转换时所采取的方法作了较为详细的阐述,研究并提出了数据库间进行数据转换的实施方案。