Perceived Dwelling Environment, Social Environment and Interpersonal Relationship of a Group of Inhabitants of Own Houses Adjacent to Eastern Metropolitan Bypass of Kolkata

Kolkata＇s eastern expansion has been accelerated by the construction of the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass and the various connectors are connected the main city to the bypass. Permanent dwellers of a locality generally live together in such a way that they share the basic conditions of a community life and develop a strong positive feeling for the locality which finally becomes a part of their respective self-identity. The present investigation has been designed to study the perceived dwelling environment, social environment and interpersonal relationship of a group of inhabitants of own houses adjacent to EM Bypass of Kolkata. Accordingly, 200 adult inhabitants （100 male and 100 female） were randomly selected as subjects from own houses adjacent to EM Bypass of Kolkata. General Information Schedule, Perceived Dwelling Environment Questionnaire, Perceived Social Environment Questionnaire and Perceived Interpersonal Relationship Questionnaire were administered to them. The findings reveal that the inhabitants perceive the dwelling environment unfavorably, on the contrary, they perceive the social environment favorably. They are also maintaining good interpersonal relationship with neighbors. Those who are living in the same environment of above five years perceive the environment more favorable than those who are living in the same environment of below five years.     

Do teachers, principals, and superintendents perceive leadership the same way?

Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used in this study to determine the extent to which teachers, principals, and superintendents perceive the leadership construct in the same way. The researchers found that the two-factor model fits the principal group and particularly the superintendent group better than does the four-factor model. The principals and particularly the superintendents appear to have a more tightly focused mental model of leadership than teachers. The test of structural invariance across the three groups indicated that there was configural and weak invariance, but not strong or strict invariance. It appears that the item-loading patterns and item loadings are invariant, but the intercepts are different, which suggests that the groups put different emphases on the importance of the factors. The study affirms the importance of determining and reporting the extent to which comparison groups share the same mental model for leadership.      

Game-based learning in an OpenSim-supported virtual environment on perceived motivational quality of learning

This experimental study was intended to examine whether game-based learning (GBL) that encompasses four particular game characteristics (challenges, a storyline, immediate rewards and the integration of game-play with learning content) in an OpenSimulator-supported virtual reality learning environment can improve perceived motivational quality of the learning activity (P-MQLA) for elementary school students. In this pre- and post-test experimental comparison study, data were collected from 132 fourth-graders through a Short Instructional Materials Motivation Survey. The same tasks were provided for the experimental and control groups, except that the control group’s tasks did not include the four aforementioned gaming characteristics. The non-GBL for the control group involved mainly web-based word problems such as selecting the correct answer by clicking on the potential responses. P-MQLA was improved after the intervention in both groups. There is a trend that the experimental group improved the P-MQLA more than the control group, at borderline statistical significance. The analysis of covariance also indicated a significant interaction between the group variable and the pre-intervention P-MQLA, indicating that the effect of the virtual reality-supported GBL is moderated by learners’ pre-intervention report of P-MQLA.     

婴幼儿自尊的前兆与形成

自尊是个体对自我能力和自我价值的评价性情感体验,由能力感和价值感组成。婴幼儿自尊的前兆源于主体我带来的掌控感及亲子依恋带来的归属感,这是一种处在行动水平的自尊。随着儿童自身的发展和社会化程度的加深,他们逐渐认识到自己不同领域的能力并习得社会价值标准,进而产生能力感和价值感,形成初步的自尊,这是一种处在前概念水平的自尊,是个体自尊今后发展的逻辑起点。     

消费者感知价值的结构与测量研究述评

感知价值是消费心理研究领域的核心变量,感知价值结构与测量是系统研究消费者感知价值的基础。感知价值结构研究历经从“平面单维”到“立体多维”的演变,感知价值测量研究也从“手段单一”发展到“方法多样”,但目前感知价值结构与测量研究还存在局限。未来研究应基于研究视角、研究观点、研究对象、研究方法及研究操作等层面,建构“多维”“立体”的消费者感知价值结构模型,开发出适合我国消费者的具有普适性且能够适用于不同阶层、群体及发展阶段的感知价值系列化测量工具。     

A Study on Information Security Solution Mechanism in Cloud Computing： From a Perspective of Enterprise Users＇ Perception

指出信息安全问题已成为云计算进一步发展的主要障碍之一。针对以往研究主要基于云计算服务提供商视角提出云安全问题解决策略的不足,从企业用户感知这一新视角,总结出云安全存在的风险特性,提出改善用户安全感知的解决策略,包括改善环境和行为感知、降低感知风险和提升感知价值等。     

Fostering children's acceptance of educational apps: The importance of designing enjoyable learning activities

Educational applications (apps) offer opportunities for designing learning activities children enjoy and benefit from. We redesigned a typical mobile learning activity to make it more enjoyable and useful for children. Relying on the technology acceptance model, we investigated whether and how implementing this activity in an app can increase children's intention to use. During the 27-day study, children (N = 103, 9–14 years) used the app to memorize one-sentence learning plans each day. Children used three different app-based learning activities throughout the study. In two standard activities, children reread or reassembled the words of the plan. In the redesigned activity, children represented the meaning of the plan with emojis. Children repeatedly reported on their attitude towards each activity. Subsequently, children reported perceived enjoyment and intention to use the app. Results showed children found the emoji activity most enjoyable, and enjoyment of the emoji activity contributed uniquely towards intention to use. Additionally, children's enjoyment of the app mediated their intention to use the app in the future. Overall, the study suggests that children's enjoyment of an app is crucial in predicting their subsequent intention to use, and it provides a concrete example of how emojis can be used to boost enjoyment.

Practitioner notes

What is already known about this topic

• Educational applications provide children with unrestricted access to mobile learning resources.
• Positive attitudes towards educational applications predict behavioural intention to use these applications, at least in young adults.
• There is a need for more research examining the relevance of enjoyable learning activities in fostering children's sustained usage of an educational application.

What this paper adds

• Positive attitude towards the use of emojis during learning activities uniquely contributed to children's behavioural intention to use the application.
• Perceived enjoyment predicted behavioural intention to use the application.
• Perceived enjoyment mediated the effect of attitude towards using learning activities on the behavioural intention to use the mobile educational application.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• These findings highlight the importance of enjoyment for children's' acceptance of educational applications.
• Enjoyable learning activities are necessary to ensure sustained usage of educational applications.
• The paper provides a concrete example of how emojis can be used to boost enjoyment of a typical mobile learning activity.

     

Video demonstrations can predict the intention to use digital learning technologies

The technology acceptance model (TAM) uses perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use to predict the intention to use a technology which is important when deciding to invest in a technology. Its extension for e-learning (the general extended technology acceptance model for e-learning; GETAMEL) adds subjective norm to predict the intention to use. Technology acceptance is typically measured after the technology has been used for at least three months. This study aims to identify whether a minimal amount of exposure to the technology using video demonstrations is sufficient to predict the intention to use it three months later. In two studies—one using TAM and one using GETAMEL—we showed students of different cohorts (94 and 111 participants, respectively) video demonstrations of four digital technologies (classroom response system, classroom chat, e-lectures, mobile virtual reality). We then measured technology acceptance immediately after the demonstration and after three months of technology use. Using partial least squares modelling, we found that perceived usefulness significantly predicted the intention to use three months later. In GETAMEL, perceived usefulness significantly predicted the intention to use for three of the four learning technologies, while subjective norm only predicted the intention to use for mobile virtual reality. We conclude that video demonstrations can provide valuable insight for decision-makers and educators on whether students will use a technology before investing in it.

Practitioner notes

What is already known about this topic

• The technology acceptance model helps decision-makers to determine whether students and teachers will adopt a new technology.
• Technology acceptance is typically measured after users have used the technology for three to twelve months.
• Perceived usefulness is a strong predictor of intention to use the technology.
• The predictive power of perceived ease of use for the intention to use varies from insignificant to strong.

What this paper adds

• For the four digital learning technologies (classroom chat, classroom response system, e-lectures and mobile virtual reality), we measure technology acceptance after a video demonstration and again after three months of usage.
• Using structural equation modelling, we are able to predict intention to use after three months, with perceived usefulness measured after the video demonstration.
• We replicate these findings with a second study using the general extended technology acceptance model.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• Short video demonstrations can provide information for educators to predict whether students will use a technology.
• Early impressions of perceived usefulness are very important and valuable to predict whether students will use a technology.