Online Course Design in Higher Education: A Review of National and Statewide Evaluation Instruments

This research identifies six online course evaluation instruments used nationally or in statewide systems. We examined the characteristics (i.e., number of standards and criteria) and coded the criteria that guide the design of online courses. We discussed the focus of the instruments and their unique features.     

MEDLINE end-user survey: the University of Florida experience

The University of Florida Health Science Center Library (UF-HSCL) surveyed MEDLINE end-user activities of the faculty from the six colleges which the UF-HSCL serves. A questionnaire was developed and sent to all faculty members. The Basic SAS program was used to analyze the collected data. This survey was intended to identify the users, the reasons for faculty members not being end users, the purpose for searching MEDLINE, the information retrieval methods, the level of end-user satisfaction, and the librarian's role in information retrieval activities. Many findings from this survey were in agreement with those of the 1988 study by the National Library of Medicine.     

Bidirectional Causality for Word of Mouth and the Movie Box Office: An Empirical Investigation of Panel Data

Word-of-mouth (WOM) is informal communication between consumers about products and services. By using text mining techniques, WOM measured for volume and valence at the movie box office in Taiwan. A simultaneous regression of a panel Granger causality test for WOM and corresponding film performance was performed. The empirical results show that dynamic causality only runs from box office to WOM volume in the short run analysis, and the causality between WOM volume and box office is bidirectional in the long run analysis. Potential customers attend movies because of WOM in the short run, but in the long run, box office forms a signal and creates WOM. In WOM valence analysis, causality runs from positive critics to the box office in the short run, and it runs from negative critics to box office in the long run. WOM providers may need to develop different strategies for encouraging WOM behavior among their users. The implication for film managers and marketers is that a reliable way to affect box office is to stimulate positive critics in the short run and negative critics in the long run.     

Activity features of high school students’ science learning in an open-inquiry-based internship programme

Science internships where students work with scientists have been suggested to have many positive impacts on students’ science learning. However, little research has been conducted to investigate the types of interactions that are beneficial for the development of science knowledge through an authentic internship experience. The purpose of this study was to illustrate the key features of dynamic interactions and activities involved in an open-inquiry-based internship programme for high school students. Drawing on cultural-historical activity theory, we aimed to describe the features of the internship activity system in terms of the moments of subject, object, tools, community, rules, division of labour, and outcome. Our analysis suggests that the activity system of the university internship has unique features that promote optimal science learning opportunities. The implications of these unique features are discussed and suggestions are made to improve K–12 science education.     

An empirical study of industrial engineering and management curriculum reform in fostering students’ creativity

The objective of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of a creativity-fostering program in industrial engineering and management (IE&M) curriculum reform. Fostering creativity in students has become a crucial issue in industrial engineering education. In a survey of previous studies, we found few on IE&M curriculum reform. In particular, no study has dealt directly with fostering students’ creativity. In this study, we propose an IE&M curriculum reform program. The core of this program is intended to enhance students’ creative problem solving ability. Based on this concept, three required courses were developed: industrial communication, creative problem solving, and scientific research methodology. To investigate the effectiveness of this curriculum reform program, we conducted a two-year follow-up study. One hundred seventy-seven IE&M undergraduates from Yuan-Ze University participated this study, and Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) were used to measure changes in their creativity. The results showed that the students, after completing this reformed curriculum program, had significantly improved their creativity.     

Maternal Support Networks, Maternal Cognitions, and Young Children's Social and Cognitive Development

The relations among maternal support networks, maternal perceptions of parenting, maternal attributions for parenting situations, and children's social development, as indexed by peer acceptance, and cognitive performance, as indexed by the PPVT-R and PSI, were examined in a sample of 69 mothers and their preschool-age children. Network characteristics directly predicted cognitive performance and indirectly predicted peer acceptance through effects on maternal perceptions and attributions. Parent cognitions as mediators of network effects on children's development are discussed, addressing variation due to network dimensions, types of parent cognitions, and domain of children's development.     

A Study of Teaching and Learning Number Sense for Sixth Grade Students in Taiwan

Two public schools (A and B) from two cities in southern Taiwan were selected to participate in this study. In each school, two sixth grade classes (an experimental and a control class) were studied. Number sense activities were conducted in the experimental classes through process-oriented teaching model to help children develop number sense, while the control classes followed the standard teaching method. Quantitative analyses showed that there were statistically significant differences on group tests in experimental classes for post-test and retention-test as compared with the pre-test at =0.01 level. However, there was no statistically significant difference between pre-test and post-test (pre-test and retention-test) for control classes at =0.01 level. Qualitative data indicated that the changes made by students in the experimental classes were apparent after the instruction and compared with the students in the control classes. There was little change found by students in the control classes after the instructions. These data demonstrated that the teaching of number sense activities is effective and helpful in developing childrens number sense in the experimental classes. Furthermore, the results of retention demonstrated that the students learning is meaningful and significant. Der-Ching Yang: Author for correspondence.     

短葶山麦冬种群分类问题的探讨

The presence of stolons is taxonomically significant in the genus Liriope Linn. However, probably due to a lapse of attention, F. T. Wang and T. Tang failed to re- cognize Ophiopogon muscari Decne., type of Liriope muscari (Decne.) Bailey, a non- stoloniferous taxon, and erroneously referred it as a synonym to the stoloniferous L. spicata Lour.  At the same time, however, they described another  non-stoloniferous species-L. platyphylla Wang et Tang (L. muscari Bailey) as new.      What, then, is the difference between L. platyphylla Wang et Tang and L. mus- cari (Decne.) Bailey?  A comparison of the type photo of Ophiopogon muscari Decne. with specimens of L. platyphylla Wang et Tang shows that the two forms are much alike, but the latter has longer scapes usually overtopping the foliage, as well as longer spikes and broader leaves. L. H. Bailey must had combined the two forms into one species. Furthermore. there are another two non-stoloniferous forms, both having scapes shorter than their foliage, but differing from L. muscari (Decne.)  Bailey in their much nar- rower leaves.  One of them has very short leaves and looks like L. minor Makino.       Finally, what are the correlations among the above four forms? By using methods of quantitative analysis, such as pictorialized scatter diagram and histogram, on her- barium material, it has been found that the L. muscari complex can be separated into two parts: 1) muscari (M), and 2) platyphylla (P).  But since these two parts dis- play a continuous variation pattern as a whole, it seems advisable to treat both as varie- ties of the same species, i. e., L. muscari (Decne.) Bailey var. muscari, and L. muscari var. communis (Maxim.) Hsu et L. C. Li. (Ophiopogon spicatus Ker-Cawl. var. com- munis Maxim.) As to the other two narrow-leaved forms, they can hardly be regarded as sufficient for two distinct infraspecific units, for they are found to be inseparablefrom each other as well as from muscari.