Measuring styles of learning and motivation

The theoretical basis, the development and the use of an inventory designed to measure styles of learning and motivation are described. On the basis of previous research, items within the inventory were located on 20 sub-scales. The ten motivation sub-scales were derived from a theory of school motivation which was based on extensive interview and inventory work carried out in Hungary with children, their parents and teachers. The ten scales describing styles of learning were derived from concepts describing learning approaches and styles which emerged from interviews and experimental research with students in British and Swedish higher education. Versions were prepared in both English and Hungarian and given to samples of 614 British and 579 Hungarian pupils aged between 13 and 17 years. A remarkably similar factor structure was obtained in each sample. An analysis of mean scores indicated distinctive differences both between boys and girls, and between British and Hungarian pupils. Cluster analysis was used to investigate the possible existence of styles which combined both approaches to learning and aspects of school motivation. The potentiality of the inventory for use in conjunction with study skills courses is discussed.     

Application of ICT and rubrics to the assessment process where professional judgement is involved: the features of an e‐marking tool

This paper describes a new ICT assessment tool that reduces multi‐handling of marks, comments and scores specifically where professional judgement is involved. Whereas previous ICT applications in most fields of education have focused on student learning, this tool focuses on the lecturer task of the assessment process. Unlike many ICT based assessment tools, it enables the assessor to make and record professional judgements. This tool moves the marking/recording sheet off the desk and onto the desktop (computer screen). The aim in using the tool is to reduce the unproductive busy work of marking such as adding up of marks, recording, and spell checking of comments by hand, also it allow for many different views of the information, and to increase the time spent on feedback, reflection and moderation. The tool combines features of the word processor, spreadsheet and database applications, and paper‐based marking. These features are described and discussed as working examples are presented. The paper also describes other features or possible uses of the tool, including the development and refinement of rubric‐based scales; the recording of feedback by markers about the quality of the marking key during and after marking; the ability to compare one’s marks with those of the coordinator electronically; the evaluating and analysing of results; and the printing out of many different views of the data.     

Immersed in Design: Using an Immersive Teaching Space to Visualise Design Solutions

A significant component of design pedagogy is the need to foster critical design thinking and to support students in understanding links between educational exercises and their potential application in professional design practice. Problem solving is central to design so it is also essential that students understand that there can be multiple solutions to a design brief, and are supported in creative experimentation and in generating imaginative outcomes. This article examines some innovative approaches to addressing these pedagogical needs. It investigates the effectiveness of pedagogical design incorporating the Immerse Lab, a three‐wall projection room at an Australian university, as a learning context for design practice, for generating ideas and for supporting learning involving the comparative display of design outcomes. Anonymous student survey results revealed that the majority of students found learning in the Immerse Lab to be beneficial; comparative review more effective than in standard tutorial rooms; that the activity generated new ideas; it encouraged students to think differently about their designs; and it inspired students to develop their existing designs or create new ones. The project demonstrated that curricula involving immersive spaces can be effective in supporting engaging and relevant design pedagogy.     

A Murray Cod assemblage: Re/considering riverScape pedagogy

ABSTRACT

This article enacts Deleuze and Guattari's (1987 Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1987). A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia (B. Massumi, Trans.). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. (Original work published in 1980) [Google Scholar]) concept assemblage to craft a riverScape pedagogy that is informed by, and responsive to, the Murray Cod, the river, and its circumstances. The Murray Cod, the largest fish species in Australia's Murray-Darling Basin, has diverse cultural meanings. Cod are at once a creation being of Indigenous people, a migratory predator that breeds in response to warm floodwaters, and a fish suffering significant ecological decline as a result of changes to land and water use in its habitat. Murray Cod assemblage weaves these elements together to re/create a bioegalitarian pedagogy, part thought experiment and part teaching strategy.     

Systems Not Projects: focusing on evaluating overall student experience,rather than isolated innovations

This article describes evaluation of the Veterinary Bacteriology and Mycology problem‐based learning multimedia project at the University of Melbourne over a period of seven years. The design of the initial project will be described, together with learning benefits that short‐term evaluations revealed — including better information management skills, improved higher order cognitive skills, increased interest in the subject, better collaborative learning skills, better written and oral communication skills and better computer skills. All very impressive. However, follow‐up studies with staff and students in clinical years of the veterinary course indicated clearly that the positive benefits were not sustained in the long term, as this was a once‐off experience for students. We clearly needed a new approach. Since 1995, the institutional climate, opportunities provided by new technologies and international links have shifted the policy in the Faculty of Veterinary Science towards the development of online problem‐based subjects, hopefully enabling students to have a much greater exposure to a problem‐based learning approach.     

Investigating relationships between features of learning designs and student learning outcomes

This article reports a study of eLearning in 21 courses in Hong Kong universities that had a blended design of face-to-face classes combined with online learning. The main focus of the study was to examine possible relationships between features of online learning designs and student learning outcomes. Data-collection strategies included expert reviews of the learning designs, student surveys of perceptions of the web environment and their own learning outcomes, and a SOLO (structure of observed learning outcomes) analysis of assessment evidence of student learning outcomes. The findings of this correlational study indicate mild relationships between features of learning design and student perceptions of their learning outcomes. Both the provision of learning resources and the engagement of students in online communication relate to aspects of learning (acquisition of knowledge and skills, and enhancement of learning motivation). Also, the relationship was stronger when eLearning strategies were more extensively used. However, no relationship was found between learning design and the student performance in assessment tasks, possibly because of the limited assessment data that was examined.     

The Use of Computers in the Education of Open University Students with Disabilities

Abstract

In 1988 the Open University is implementing a major new policy on the use of computers in its courses; students taking certain courses will be obliged to have access to a microcomputer. This new policy has many far‐reaching consequences, not least for students who are disabled. In the past most computing in Open University courses has been done by students using terminals in local study centres, linked to the University's mainframe computers. Also, a number of students who are disabled have used computers in their studies, principally for word‐processing written work. By interviewing disabled students who have taken such courses, and surveying other disabled students, it has been possible to anticipate to some extent the likely impact of the home‐computing (HC) policy. Results suggest that for many disabled‐ students the HC policy represents an improvement in their opportunities; now they will be able to study courses involving computers entirely at home. However, a number of problems have also been identified. Hopefully, as many of these have been recognised at an early stage, it will be possible to address them before they affect students directly.     

Binary Interpolative Coding for Effective Index Compression

Information retrieval systems contain large volumes of text, and currently have typical sizes into the gigabyte range. Inverted indexes are one important method for providing search facilities into these collections, but unless compressed require a great deal of space. In this paper we introduce a new method for compressing inverted indexes that yields excellent compression, fast decoding, and exploits clustering—the tendency for words to appear relatively frequently in some parts of the collection and infrequently in others. We also describe two other quite separate applications for the same compression method: representing the MTF list positions generated by the Burrows-Wheeler Block Sorting transformation; and transmitting the codebook for semi-static block-based minimum-redundancy coding.     

Solving the mystery of vanishing rivers in China

A major controversy was sparked worldwide by a recent national water census claiming that the number of Chinese rivers with watersheds ≥100 km² was less than half the previous estimate of 50 000 rivers, which also stimulates debates on the potential causes and consequences. Here, we estimated the number of rivers in terms of stream-segmentation characteristics described by Horton, Strahler and Shreve stream-order rules, as well as their mixed mode for named rivers recorded in the Encyclopedia of Rivers and Lakes in China. As a result, the number of ‘vanishing rivers’ has been found to be highly relevant to statistical specifications in addition to the erroneous inclusion of pseudo-rivers primarily generated in arid or frost-thaw areas. The modified Horton stream-order scheme reasonably depicts the configuration of complete natural streams from headwater to destination, while the Strahler largely projects the fragmentation of the named river networks associated with human aggregation to the hierarchical river systems.