Analysis of MOOCs practices from the perspective of learner experiences and quality culture

This explanatory analysis of the relevant literature seeks to identify factors affecting quality in massive open online courses (MOOCs). The paper highlights sub-dimensions of quality in MOOCs using the ladder of analytical abstraction. Communication, trust, collaboration, inclusiveness, innovation, and commitment are identified as key elements in developing a quality culture in online education. In seeking to merge the organizational and pedagogical aspects of online education, MOOCs raise new questions concerning personalization, widening recruitment, internationalization or globalization, and lifelong learning. However, the pedagogical aspects of MOOCs remain insufficiently described and explored. As MOOCs are now a significant presence in digital education, it is essential to understand learners’ experiences and participation in such courses.     

Analysing the types of TV programmes viewed by children from different socio‐economic strata based on their self‐report in the Turkish context

This research investigated the amount of time that children from different socio‐economic strata spend watching television per week and whether there was a difference among children from low, middle and upper socio‐economic strata with regard to viewing programme types, including action adventure, news and information, competitions, sports, paparazzi shows, cartoons, child informative and musical and comedy. Preparing and conducting this investigation involved a survey including TV programme types and the amount of time the participants spent watching television per week. Four hundred and ninety‐two primary school children participated. They came from low, middle and upper socio‐economic strata from three different primary schools in Turkey. The results indicate that significant differences exist among children from low, middle and upper socio‐economic strata with respect to viewing different programme types like action adventure, competitions, paparazzi shows, child informative and musical and comedy, while there was a non‐significant difference among the participants from different socio‐economic strata in viewing news and information, sports and cartoons. Some implications for further research have been made for prospective researchers.

L'analyse des types de Television programmes pour les enfants de differentes classes socio‐economiques basées sur leur proper rapport dans le contexte turc

Cette recherche a exposé la quantité de temps que les enfants de differentes classes socio‐economiques ont depensé pour regarder la TV par semaine; s'il y avait une différence parmi les enfants de hautes, moyennes et basses classes socio‐economiques du point de vue des types de programme tels ques l'aventure d'action, les nouvelles la compétition d'information, les sports, le paparazzi shows, les bandes dessinées, celle d'information pour les enfants et la comédie. Préparer et conduire cette recherche a developpé une enquete comprenant les types de programme et la quantité de temps que les participants depensent pour regarder la TV par semaine. Les 492 éleves d'école primaire ont participés à cette investigation. Ils sont venus des hautes, moyennes et basses classes socio‐economiques parmi trois differents écoles primaries en Turquie. Les resultats indiquent que les differences significatives existent parmi les enfants de hautes, moyennes et basses classes socio‐economiques du point de vue des types de programme tels ques l'aventure d'action, les nouvelles la compétition d'information, les sports, le paparazzi shows, les bandes dessinées celle d'information pour les enfants et la comédie et la musique tandis qu'il n'y a pas de difference importante parmi les participants de differents de classes socio‐economiques mentionnés en regardant respectivement les nouvelles et information, les sports, les bandes dessinées. Certaines déductions pour une recherché ont été executé pour les recherches prospective.

Analyse der von Kindern verschiedener sozio‐ökonomischer Schichten ausgewähltenTypen von Fernsehprogrammen, basierend auf Eigenberichten in türkischem Kontext

In diesem Artikel werden die Zeit, die Kinder, die aus unterschiedlichen sozio‐ökonomischen Schichten kommen, in einer Woche beim Fernsehen verbringen haben, und ob es einen zeitlichen Unterschied zwischen den Kindern, die beim Fernsehen von den Programmen wie Musik‐komödie, Kinderprogramme, Zeichentrickfilme, Paparazzi‐show, Sports, Wettbewerben, Nachrichten, Abenteuerfilme gibt, untersucht. Der Zweck der Vorbereitung und Durchführung dieser Unterschung ist die Feststellung der Zeit, die die Teilnehmer in einer Woche zu den Fernsehprogrammen angewendet haben. 492 Grundschulschüler haben daran teilgenommen. Die Teilnehmer sind Grundschulschüler, die zu den unteren, mittleren und oberen sozio‐ökonomischen Klassen in der Türkei gehören. Das Ergebnis der Forschung zeigte, dass unter den Teilnehmern von unterschiedlichen sozio‐ökonomischen schichten beim Fernsehen von programmen wie nacheinander, Zeichentrickfilme, Sports und Nachrichten keinen zeitlichen Unterschied, demgegenüber beim Fernsehen von Programmen wie Musik‐komödie, Kinderprogramme, Paparazzi‐shows, Wettbewerbs und Abenteuerfilme einen wesentlichen Unterschied gibt. Zum Schluss wurde für hoffnungsvolle Forschungen manche Vorschlaege gemacht.     

Development and Validation of Chemistry Self-Efficacy Scale for College Students

This study described the process of developing and validating the College Chemistry Self-Efficacy Scale (CCSS) that can be used to assess college students’ beliefs in their ability to perform essential tasks in chemistry. In the first phase, data collected from 363 college students provided evidence for the validity and reliability of the new scale. Three dimensions emerged: self-efficacy for cognitive skills, self-efficacy for psychomotor skills, and self-efficacy for everyday applications. In the second phase, data collected from an independent sample of 353 college students confirmed the factorial structure of the 21-item CCSS. The Cronbach alpha coefficients ranged from 0.82 to 0.92. In addition, each dimension of the CCSS had moderate and significant correlations with student chemistry achievement and differentiated between major and non-major students. Followed by the additional validation studies, the CCSS will serve as a valuable tool for both instructors and researchers in science education to assess college students’ chemistry self-efficacy beliefs.     

Teachers’ practices in science learning environments and their use of formative and summative assessment tasks

This study was aimed at detecting the most frequently-used teaching and assessment activities in secondary school science classes, identifying links between these variables, and revealing possible challenges in these processes. To this end, data were gathered from 155 secondary school science teachers in 56 Israeli public schools and 380 grade eight and nine students from 22 of these using the What Is Happening In this Class? Teachers were also asked to indicate their perceptions of the extent to which they used formative assessment tasks provided by the curriculum and to specify, in their own words, the reason for insufficient usage of these tasks. Task orientation was highly used in science classes, whereas investigation was the least employed activity, according to both teachers’ and students’ perceptions. The most-frequently used tasks to evaluate students were final tests and quizzes. Path model analysis revealed that teachers who tended to use teacher-based approaches also employed traditional assessment tools, whereas teachers who allowed students to cooperate rather than compete with one another tended to use formative assessment tools. Implications limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.     

A multi-level analysis of the teacher education internship in terms of its collaborative dimension in Northern Cyprus

Partnership is a two-way enterprise which becomes meaningful when the partners at different levels are fully engaged in mutual cooperation, aiming at promoting both trainees’ and educators’ professional growth. This case study, qualitative in nature, was conducted with administrators, educators, and trainees to examine the collaboration dimension of the multi-layer processes of the EDUC420-Internship regarding its organizational and communication aspects. The data, analyzed through categorization of codes, revealed striking limitations inhibiting the collaboration dimension of the internship and suggested its reconceptualization around a formalized give-and-take mechanism to cultivate reciprocal communication among the ministry, the university and the schools.     

Use of technology-assisted techniques of mind mapping and concept mapping in science education: a constructivist study

The study aims to investigate the effects of using mind maps and concept maps on students' learning of concepts in science courses. A total of 51 students participated in this study which used a quasi-experimental research design with pre-test/post-test control groups. The constructivist-inspired study was carried out in the sixth-grade science course unit of ‘Light and Sound’ in a primary school with two experimental groups and one control group. The intervention was held in the experimental group 1 by using technology-assisted technique of mind mapping, in the experimental group 2 by using technology-assisted technique of concept mapping, and in the control group by means of traditional classroom instruction. After the intervention in the experimental groups, concept tests and open-ended questions related to the unit were used as post-tests. According to the data obtained from concept tests, it was found out that all groups' understanding of concepts was equivalent. Significantly, students in the experimental group 2 reported positive opinions, stating that learning through concept maps was useful and engaging.     

Bullying and victimization among Turkish adolescents: the predictive role of problematic internet use,school burnout and parental monitoring

Education and Information Technologies - This study aims to examine the paths between excessive Internet use, school burnout and parental monitoring and their predictor effects in peer bullying and...     

Results of a citation analysis of knowledge management in education

The purpose of this study was to examine research and trends in knowledge management in education (KME) published in selected professional sources during the period 1990–2008. Citation analysis was used in this study to investigate documents related to KME, which were indexed in the Web of Science, Education Researches Information Center and ScienceDirect. Knowledge management‐ and educational technology‐related keywords were used jointly in the search for documents. There were a total of 125 documents judged to be relevant to the field of KME and were analysed. As a result of this study, it can be seen that the documents and the number of citations related to the KME field has been continuously increasing since 2005. It is recommended that a combination of citation analysis and other types of analyses should be used in future research studies.     

PolarityRank: Finding an equilibrium between followers and contraries in a network

In this paper we present the relevance ranking algorithm named PolarityRank. This algorithm is inspired in PageRank, the webpage relevance calculus method used by Google, and generalizes it to deal with graphs having not only positive but also negative weighted arcs. Besides the definition of our algorithm, this paper includes the algebraic justification, the convergence demonstration and an empirical study in which PolarityRank is applied to two unrelated tasks where a graph with positive and negative weights can be built: the calculation of word semantic orientation and instance selection from a learning dataset.