A Conceptual Framework for Evolving,Recommender Online Learning Systems

A comprehensive conceptual framework is developed and described for evolving recommender‐driven online learning systems (ROLS). This framework describes how such systems can support students, course authors, course instructors, systems administrators, and policy makers in developing and using these ROLS. The design science information systems research approach was used to develop the framework. The ROLS framework incorporates both the cognitive and situative perspectives of the constructivist paradigm of learning. Research propositions are developed to highlight new research opportunities for these systems. The framework demonstrates how various components of an evolving ROLS can be integrated to provide potential benefits for all users.     

电子商务教学资源库共享服务平台的研究与实现

教学资源共享有利于提高教师教学和服务地方的水平,整体提升专业的人才培养质量和岗位贴近度。针对目前电子商务专业信息资源存在的＂信息孤岛＂问题,提出采用J2EE轻型框架技术,构建一个信息资源共享和服务平台。经过近一年时间的运行,平台运行状况良好,达到预期效果。     

Group performance and collaborative technology: a longitudinal and multilevel analysis of information quality,contribution equity,and members' satisfaction in computer‐mediated groups

This study examined changes in members' satisfaction with group processes as they worked together over time to complete a series of seven group tasks. Members of 10 groups (N=58) communicated with each other using a computer‐based collaborative technology over a 10‐week period. Satisfaction with group processes was partitioned into individual and group levels with Hierarchical Linear Modeling, and information quality and contribution equity were introduced as predictors of satisfaction. Findings indicated that (1) individuals' satisfaction increased over time; (2) the quality of information acquired from group members and the equity of contributions among members positively affected satisfaction after completion of the first group task; (3) information quality did not significantly affect the rate of changes in satisfaction, whereas contribution equity did; and (4) when individuals' contributions and others' average contributions were used as separate predictors of satisfaction, individuals' contributions were negatively related to satisfaction, but others' contributions were positively related to an individual's satisfaction.     

Vocally cued personality prototypes: An implicit personality theory approach

Competence and benevolence are two personality prototypes that have emerged in research on voice and personality. While traits comprising these prototypes have been described, there is incomplete information about the interaction effects of speech rate, pitch variation, and loudness during impression formation processes. Five hypotheses and three research questions were advanced to examine main and interaction effects of the three vocal variables on the two personality prototypes. The main effects hypotheses were significant for both prototypes. Rate and pitch variation were the most influential for competence and benevolence, respectively. For competence, one interaction effect (rate by pitch variation) was significant. For benevolence, two interaction effects were significant (pitch variation by loudness, and pitch variation by rate). The results are discussed in the theoretical framework provided by implicit personality theory and the structures of the two personality prototypes.     

A note on “Clozentropy: A procedure for testing English language proficiency of foreign students”

This study investigates whether attributions made while observing compliance‐gaining interactions always are a matter of perspective. We propose that Construct Differentiation moderates the effects of perspective on causal judgments, such that highly differentiated individuals are more responsive than less differentiated persons to information from interaction that their psychological perspective makes salient. Participants viewed three videotaped compliance‐gaining interactions, one each while taking the perspective of the message source, the message target, and a third‐party observer. Then they rated causes for the target's actions and the target's intent. As predicted, Construct Differentiation was positively associated with intrapersonal variability in ratings of causal judgments across the three perspectives, and positively associated with actor/observer differences when taking the perspective of message source versus target. Implications for interpersonal communication, constructivism, and attribution theories are discussed.     

Pre‐deliberation moderation on choice dilemmas: proposing a moderation–elasticity theory of choice shift

A moderation–elasticity theory to explain the choice shift is proposed and tested. The theory predicts that group members engage in moderation of initial decision choices in anticipation of future interaction. These moderate choices are strategic in nature, and thus are posited to disappear when anticipated interaction is eliminated. Moderation–elasticity is proposed as a form of predeliberation normative influence. A test of the theory finds support for both moderation and elasticity processes on choice dilemma item decisions.     

Self-efficacy's influence on student academic achievement in the medical anatomy curriculum

Self‐efficacy is defined as a person's beliefs in his or her own abilities to successfully complete a task and has been shown to influence student motivation and academic behaviors. More specifically, anatomical self‐efficacy is defined as an individual's judgment of his or her ability to successfully complete tasks related to the anatomy curriculum; these include dissecting, learning anatomical concepts, and applying anatomical knowledge to clinical situations. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of anatomical self‐efficacy on the academic performance of students enrolled in a medical gross anatomy course. To obtain students' anatomical self‐efficacy ratings, surveys containing the same anatomical self‐efficacy instrument were completed by first‐year medical students at a southeastern United States allopathic medical school after each of four gross anatomy assessments. Additional data collected included student demographic information, Medical College Admission Test® (MCAT®) scores, and anatomy assessment scores, both written examination and laboratory practical. To investigate the potential predictive nature of self‐efficacy for academic performance on both the written examination and the laboratory practical components of medical anatomy assessments, hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted. For these analyses, academic ability (defined as the sum of the physical sciences and biological sciences MCAT scores) was controlled. The results of the hierarchical linear regressions indicated that all four laboratory practical scores were predicted by the corresponding self‐efficacy ratings, while two (i.e., thorax/abdomen and pelvis/lower limb) of the four written examination scores were predicted by the corresponding self‐efficacy ratings (P ≤ 0.05). Anat Sci Educ. © 2012 American Association of Anatomists.     

Modernization of an anatomy class: From conceptualization to implementation. A case for integrated multimodal–multidisciplinary teaching

It has become increasingly apparent that no single method for teaching anatomy is able to provide supremacy over another. In an effort to consolidate and enhance learning, a modernized anatomy curriculum was devised by attempting to take advantage of and maximize the benefits from different teaching methods. Both the more traditional approaches to anatomy teaching, as well as modern, innovative educational programs were embraced in a multimodal system implemented over a decade. In this effort, traditional teaching with lectures and dissection was supplemented with models, imaging, computer‐assisted learning, problem‐based learning through clinical cases, surface anatomy, clinical correlation lectures, peer teaching and team‐based learning. Here, we review current thinking in medical education and present our transition from a passive, didactic, highly detailed anatomy course of the past, to a more interactive, as well as functionally and clinically relevant anatomy curriculum over the course of a decade. Anat Sci Educ. © 2012 American Association of Anatomists.     

Loosely‐guided,self‐directed learning versus strictly‐guided,station‐based learning in gross anatomy laboratory sessions

Anatomy students studying dissected anatomical specimens were subjected to either a loosely‐guided, self‐directed learning environment or a strictly‐guided, preformatted gross anatomy laboratory session. The current study's guiding questions were: (1) do strictly‐guided gross anatomy laboratory sessions lead to higher learning gains than loosely‐guided experiences? and (2) are there differences in the recall of anatomical knowledge between students who undergo the two types of laboratory sessions after weeks and months? The design was a randomized controlled trial. The participants were 360 second‐year medical students attending a gross anatomy laboratory course on the anatomy of the hand. Half of the students, the experimental group, were subjected without prior warning to station‐based laboratory sessions; the other half, the control group, to loosely‐guided laboratory sessions, which was the course's prevailing educational method at the time. The recall of anatomical knowledge was measured by written reproduction of 12 anatomical names at four points in time: immediately after the laboratory experience, then one week, five weeks, and eight months later. The strictly‐guided group scored higher than the loosely‐guided group at all time‐points. Repeated ANOVA showed no interaction between the results of the two types of laboratory sessions (P = 0.121) and a significant between‐subject effect (P ≤ 0.001). Therefore, levels of anatomical knowledge retrieved were significantly higher for the strictly‐guided group than for the loosely‐guided group at all times. It was concluded that gross anatomy laboratory sessions with strict instructions resulted in the recall of a larger amount of anatomical knowledge, even after eight months. Anat Sci Educ. © 2012 American Association of Anatomists.