A Cross-National Study of Computer News Sites: Global News,Local Sites

The Internet is not only an object of and a tool for study; it is also both simultaneously global and local. In order to address how global and how local it is, this study compares the news content of 1 week from four different computer news web sites in four different countries (using four different languages). These sites use the same code base and all strive to be the same in terms of computer culture. They are global in their reach and in the news they cover, yet they are all local in terms of language and geography. They are ideal locales to study how forces of the global and the local play out on the highly connected Internet, using Google language tools for translation. Findings were surprising in that they showed very little in terms of a pattern of any sort. This is similar to a 1953 UNESCO study of newspapers, but strange in that given the passing of 50 years and the connectedness of the Internet, greater overlap was expected. Link destinations for stories that were on more than one site were also examined, and the Japanese site had more in common with the American site while the two European sites were more alike in this lens. This is also surprising, given that an East/West split was expected. Little work in this specific area was found, and this study highlights some of the questions and methodological difficulties that need to be addressed.     

Teaching Inquiry to High School Teachers Through the Use of Mathematics Action Research Projects

Abstract

This paper describes the use of Mathematics Action Research Projects (ARPs) as a capstone experience in lieu of a Master’s Thesis in a Master’s program for in-service secondary teachers. The ARPs include two primary components: (i) each teacher participant conducts mathematical research that is new to them on a topic that is connected in some way to the material they teach in one of their classes; and (ii) each teacher participant also creates an in-class innovation related to the mathematical research they have been doing, and implements it in their own classroom. Ten teacher participants have completed such ARPs with the author over the last 3 years. In completing their ARPs, teacher participants not only learn how to conduct mathematical inquiry themselves, but also most often choose to implement some kind of inquiry-based classroom innovation that allows them to share some of this experience with their own students. This course structure has had the effect of encouraging teachers to decide to try more inquiry-based teaching methods, and at the same time, has given them the knowledge and tools to be successful in doing so.     

Cryptography in Context: Co-teaching Ethics and Mathematics

Abstract

Many of the applied mathematics courses we teach touch upon a range of rich and important ethical issues – issues that, for a number of reasons, are rarely openly discussed in class. In this work, we describe a sequence of activities co-designed and co-taught by philosophy and mathematics faculty in the hopes of bridging the divide between the application and implementation of modern cryptography and the ethical dilemmas it creates. Although we have specifically focused on one area of applied mathematics at one particular type of institution, we highlight throughout the work the areas in which our approach can be changed to suit different content areas and student populations.     

A Version of Access

This article explores accessibility ontologically, proposing nonequal design as a way to include and encourage difference. Part One situates the possibility for a multiple version approach to accessibility; Part Two finds affinities in science and technology studies where several figures have explored the politics of multiple versions of ontologies; Part Three introduces three design principles—syncopation, medium specificity, and versioning—for enacting how an nonequal approach opens up generative possibilities for accessibility.     

Exam Scams and Classroom Flimflams: Urban Legends as an Alternative Lens for Viewing the College Classroom Experience

Campus-based urban legends have the potential to convey and construct student culture in higher education. Basic qualitative and humanistic research methods were used to collect, analyze, and interpret legends related to the academic experience of collegiate life.

Teacher stress interventions: A systematic review

Due to the increased pressure from test‐based accountability practices, teachers have reported high levels of stress and burnout. High teacher stress has an impact on school outcomes, including links to absenteeism, burnout, school climate, and teacher behavior management. Teacher stress interventions may be an important first step toward reducing these negative outcomes. Although there have been several recent intervention studies in the domain of teacher stress, there has been no systematic review to compare the type and effectiveness of teacher stress interventions. Included within this review are interventions from a variety of modalities such as knowledge‐based, behavioral, cognitive‐behavioral, and mindfulness approaches. Results indicated that the most effective interventions were in the mindfulness, behavioral, and cognitive‐behavioral domains. Interventions which delivered solely informational content were among the least effective.     

An Adaptive Blended Learning Model for the Implementation of an Integrated Medical Neuroscience Course During the Covid-19 Pandemic

The implementation of an integrated medical neuroscience course by technologically pivoting an in-person neuroscience course to online using an adaptive blended method may provide a unique approach for teaching a medical neuroscience course during the Covid-19 pandemic. An adaptive blended learning method was developed in response to the requirements necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic. This model combined pedagogical needs with digital technology using online learning activities to implement student learning in a medical neuroscience course for year one medical students. This approach provided medical students with an individually customized learning opportunity in medical neuroscience. The students had the complete choice to engage the learning system synchronously or asynchronously and learn neuroscience materials at different locations and times in response to the demands required to deal with the pandemic. Students' performance in summative and formative examinations of the adaptive blended learning activities were compared with the previous performance obtained the previous year when the contents of the medical neuroscience course were implemented using the conventional “face-to-face” learning approach. While the cohort of our students in 2019 and 2020 changed, the contents, sessions, volume of material, and assessment were constant. This enabled us to compare the results of the 2019 and 2020 classes. Overall, students' performance was not significantly different between the adaptive blended learning and the in-person approach. More students scored between 70% and 79% during the adaptive blended learning compared with in-class teaching, while more students scored between 80% and 89% during the in-person learning than during the adaptive blended learning. Finally, the percentage of students that scored >90% was not significantly different for both Years 2019 and 2020. The adaptive blended learning approach was effective in enhancing academic performance for high-performing medical students. It also permitted the early identification of underachieving students, thereby serving as an early warning sign to permit timely intervention.     

“It will be hard because I will have to learn lots of English”: experiences of education for children newly arrived in Australia

Educational experiences during childhood are critically important for development, but migrant children often experience unique challenges. To ameliorate these, extra training in English language – such as provided by the intensive English language programme in South Australia (IELP) – is frequently offered to children taking on English as an additional language. The present study aimed to examine the experience of transition into mainstream classes for children in the IELP, particularly in relation to their overall well-being. As such, the study utilised interviews conducted with newly arrived children in Australia aged 5–13 who were enrolled in an IELP, with interviews conducted both pre- and post-transition into mainstream primary school classes. The findings indicate that most children felt anxious prior to transition, especially regarding speaking English, but were less concerned about this once entering their new class. Making friends was considered to be difficult, but easier when there were children with whom they were familiar from other contexts or if there was another child in the class with a shared cultural or linguistic background.     

New verse or the same old chorus?: looking holistically at distance education research

While there continues to be a proliferation in the number of studies conducted on various aspects of distance education, we are often left with little understanding of the holistic planning and effects of it. This paper draws lessons learned from the literature on distance education over the past five years. This review did not seek to be exhaustive in presenting the findings of every study, but instead focuses on specific instruction we can take from past research at the institutional, faculty, and student levels.