The videoconferencing learning environment: Technology, interaction and learning intersect

This paper is a study on the interaction patterns of distance learners enrolled in the Mathematics and Physics programmes of Universiti Sains Malaysia in the videoconferencing learning environment (VCLE). Interaction patterns are analysed in six randomly chosen videoconferencing sessions within one academic year. The findings show there are more interactions in the graphics display mode than the video display mode. The graphics display mode, which involves the simultaneous interaction of the teacher, students and course materials, shows greater student engagement in the VCLE. The focus on a three-component interaction in distance learning differs from previous studies which looked at distinct types of two-component interactions. The types of communicative interaction, in particular the explanatory and cognitive types which are dominant in the graphics display mode, are discussed within the construct of learning. The higher number of teacher-initiated interactions may also imply that the teacher plays a crucial role in creating and maintaining a community of inquiry focused on exploring and developing content as well as giving feedback on concepts, ideas or solutions.     

A further contribution to the modelling of multi-waveform generators

A method has been presented in recent papers for deriving precisely stabilized waveform generators by relating them to second-order conservative oscillators. The present paper suggests a method for considerably generalizing the previous class ofgenerator models. This should enable the development of a larger variety of waveform generators with ease and flexibility. The new method is analyzed and is shown to possess implications to theoretical biology and other fields.     

Droits Linguistiques Et Droits A l'Education Dans Les Societes Plurilingues

Résumé L'auteur passe en revue plusieurs documents et instruments internationaux (Nations Unies, Unesco) pour examiner la place qu'ils accordent aux droits linguistiques et au rôle des langues dans l'éducation ou les activités culturelles. Il souligne le lien entre la démocratisation de l'éducation, le maintien de l'identité culturelle et l'emploi de la langue maternelle ainsi que certains facteurs qui assurent l'exercise des droits linguistiques et la réalisation de l'égalité de droit dans le domaine de l'éducation. L'auteur cherche à recenser les facteurs de la réussite d'une politique linguistique, ainsi que les principes fondamentaux qui devraient présider à son adoption, selon les documents ou instruments adoptés à l'échelle internationale. Ces principes insistent sur le rôle fondamental de la langue maternelle, sur la nécessité de considérer la planification linguistique en tant que partie intégrante de la planification sociale et économique d'un pays.

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The author surveys a number of documents and international institutions (United Nations, Unesco) to ascertain how they rate the importance of language rights and the role of languages in education and cultural activities. He emphasizes the close connection between the democratization of education, the maintaining of a cultural identity and the use of the mother tongue, and also certain factors which ensure the use of linguistic rights and the achievement of equal rights in the sphere of education. On the basis of information gained from documents and international institutions the author attempts to enumerate the factors which make for the success of a language policy as well as the fundamental principles which should govern its implementation. These principles include the fundamental importance of the mother tongue and the need to consider linguistic planning as an integral part of social and economic planning at the national level.

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Zusammenfassung Der Verfasser untersucht mehrere Schriften und bestimmte internationale Einrichtungen (UN, Unesco), um festzustellen, welche Bedeutung den sprachlichen Rechten und der Rolle der Sprachen im Bildungswesen und im kulturellen Leben beigemessen wird. Er unterstreicht die enge Beziehung zwischen der Demokratisierung des Bildungswesens, der Aufrechterhaltung einer eigenständigen Kultur und dem Gebrauch der Muttersprache; ausserdem betont er gewisse Faktoren, die die Ausübung sprachlicher Rechte und die Verwirklichung der Gleichberechtigung im Bereich der Bildung gewährleisten. Ausgehend von dem Material, das er in Dokumenten und bei internationalen Einrichtungen vorgefunden hat, untersucht der Verfasser im einzelnen die für eine erfolgreiche Sprachpolitik wichtigen Faktoren ebenso wie die bei der Durchführung einer solchen Politik vorrangigen Grundprinzipien. Betont werden in diesen Grundprinzipien die wesentliche Rolle der Muttersprache und die Notwendigkeit, die sprachliche Planung als wesentlichen Bestandteil der sozialen und ökonomischen Planung eines Staates anzusehen.

     

‘It’s a hard line to walk’: black non-binary trans* collegians’ perspectives on passing,realness, and trans*-normativity

Being labeled as ‘abnormal, or deviant, or not being one of the rest of us’ has real effects for one’s life chances. Trans* people are one such group who have continually been codified as abnormal, abject, weird, deceptive, and social pariahs. The purpose of the following study was to explore how the concepts of passing, realness, and trans*-normativity influence the experiences of two black non-binary trans* collegians. Using queer and intersectional theoretical approaches to analysis, findings from this study highlight the various ways black non-binary trans* collegians view these concepts as both limiting and emancipatory.     

The effect of manipulating maternal behavior during an interaction on three- and six-month-olds' affect and attention

3 studies were designed to examine the "still-face" paradigm, in which mothers stared at their 3- or 6-month-olds for a brief, still-face period interposed between 2 periods of normal face-to-face interaction. 6-month-olds decreased smiling and gazing at their mothers and grimaced more during the still-face period relative to the other periods; no period effects occurred in a no-change control group (Studies 1 and 2). Similar results were obtained when mothers and their infants observed and interacted with each other over closed-circuit color television monitors (Study 3). Moreover, the same relative decline in the infants' visual attention and positive affect during the still-face period occurred to a change in mothers' facial display (a televised, prerecorded, still face vs. a televised, live, interacting face) regardless of the presence or absence of their interactive voices (sound on the infants' monitor turned on or off). 3-month-olds exhibited a significant still-face effect, but only when maternal touch was a part of the manipulation (Study 1 vs. 2); therefore, the televised procedure was not conducted. The still-face effect is a robust phenomenon, produced with either "live" or "televised" procedures, both of which offer promising techniques for examining models of socioemotional perception/understanding of infants.     

Piloting a peer literacy program: Implications for teacher education

To pilot a peer literacy program, a pretest-posttest study was conducted involving seventy (70) students from Arellano High School as tutees and 12 De La Salle University-Manila College of Education students as reading tutors. Though the results suggest the lack of impact of the Program on the Reading Grades of the tutees, the tutors’ journals reveal that the tutors benefited more from the program. The problems in using the National Service Training Program or NSTP as the vehicle in piloting the program were identified and based on this, the study suggests ways to improve the content and delivery of future NSTP Peer Literacy Programs.     

Special Education in Bangladesh

SPECIAL EDUCATION in Bangladesh reflects the overall educational problems faced by the nation. While some government programs for children with sensory disabilities are provided, most special education is supported by non‐government organizations. Though planning for improved special education has occurred, implementation has been restricted by economic constraints.