What is the Applied Probability Trust?

This is the third and last in the short series of articles outlining the work of the organisations that sponsor Teaching Statistics.     

基于区块链技术重构互联网时代的开放教育

在互联网时代,基于在线学习方式的开放教育日益被教育机构及学习者采纳和接受。开放教育在为学习者带来时空便利的同时,其在数据层面上引发的信任危机也亟待解决。开放教育可划分为教学资源开放共享、大规模教学交互、跨平台开放等三个阶段,数据在其发展过程中起到了原始驱动力的作用,并在其质量提升中扮演着重要角色。构建贯穿开放教育数据产生、流通和传播全过程的信任机制十分重要,而具有去中心化、去信任化、防篡改、可追溯等特性的区块链技术可用于构建开放教育参与者间的信任关系,进而从以下几个方面重构互联网时代的开放教育:一是实现优质教育资源在分享和传播中的确权;二是保障开放教育环境下的学习成果互认;三是保证开放教育情境中的数据可信,并准确实现教育的“以人推己”。虽然区块链技术在开放教育中具有广阔的应用前景,但针对教育的现实情境,其仍存在以下技术问题有待解决:一是数据存储受到单节点存储容量的限制;二是共识协议所支持的节点数目偏少;三是缺乏面向教育规章制度的高效合约建模及执行方法;四是数据在多方间的公开使得对用户隐私保护难以实现;五是轻客户端使得验证查询功能受限。     

高校大学生MOOC持续使用行为研究——基于ECM-ISC和承诺信任理论

新型冠状病毒疫情为MOOC平台带来的机遇,但也面临如何继续留住用户的挑战。厘清高校大学生用户MOOC持续使用行为的影响因素,对MOOC平台优化服务、提升用户体验具有重要意义。本文基于ECM-ISC模型,结合考虑交互关系的承诺信任理论模型,对高校大学生MOOC持续学习行为的因素及各因素之间的关系进行了实证分析。研究结果表明:内在动机是学习者满意度的主要影响因素;信任是用户持续使用MOOC平台的重要影响因素;引入信任和承诺后的用户持续使用行为模型具有更强的解释力;信任与承诺在满意度对用户持续使用的正向影响中起到部分中介和链式中介作用。     

Mothers’ trust toward teachers in relation to teaching practices

This study examined the extent to which mothers’ trust toward the classroom teacher of their child in first grade is related to observed teaching practices in Finland and Estonia. Sixty-six teachers (32 in Finland, 34 in Estonia) were observed using the Early Childhood Classroom Observation Measure (ECCOM; Stipek & Byler, 2004). Mothers in Finland (n = 266) and in Estonia (n = 348) filled in questionnaires measuring their trust in their child's first grade teacher. The connection between mothers’ education, child gender, and classroom size in relation to mothers’ trust was also investigated. The results of multilevel modeling showed that mothers in both countries trusted more in teachers who were characterized by a higher level of child-centered teaching practices than teacher-directed teaching practices. Furthermore, Estonian mothers showed greater trust in more experienced teachers. The results emphasize the importance of teaching practices in promoting mothers’ trust in their child's teacher.     

Leveraging social grouping for trust building in foreign electronic commerce firms: An exploratory study

Internet development has fueled e-commerce firms’ globalization efforts, but many have met with only limited success. This often stems from the foreign firms’ limited understanding of a focal country's local culture and idiosyncrasies. Foreign firms are usually viewed as out-group entities, which lowers consumers’ trust in them. The extent of such a phenomenon varies. In locations where people are more skeptical of out-groups, a critical question is whether it is possible to transform such foreign out-group firms into in-groups, specifically with the support of popular social networking media. Based on Social Identity Theory and Trust Transference Process, five strategies leveraging social grouping and social ties to build trust for foreign electronic commerce firms were proposed. A survey was conducted to examine their effectiveness. The results suggest that social-grouping strategies are useful for in-grouping foreign out-group entities to build trust, and the effectiveness of strategies is determined by the social similarity and psychological distance between the consumer and the endorser. This has important implications for scholars and practitioners, both local and abroad, to leverage social grouping to boost Internet sales.     

Reflective peer coaching: Crafting collaborative self-assessment in teaching

Reflective peer coaching is a formative model for improving teaching and learning by examining intentions prior to teaching, then reflecting upon the experience. The goal of reflective peer coaching is to promote self-assessment and collaboration for better teaching and ultimately better learning. There are obvious benefits to colleagues collaborating and sharing ideas, thoughts, and observations. However, many models of assessing teaching effectiveness focus on summative evaluation in which colleagues observe each other once or twice a year and fill out institutional evaluation forms. Rarely do colleagues engage in formative conversations about teaching that are guided by the instructor's personal goals and objectives. Reflective peer coaching necessitates a ten-minute planning conversation prior to the actual lesson and a ten-minute reflective conversation after the lesson. These conversations happen regularly and frequently to build self-awareness and self-assessment of the personal craft of teaching. The following article outlines the dynamics of the reflective peer coaching process as a formative assessment model that leads to better learning through improved teaching.     

An integrated view of particularized trust in social commerce: An empirical investigation

With the prevalence of social media and social networking, social commerce is becoming increasingly popular in both business and research areas. As in other types of e-commerce context, trust is also indispensable in social commerce. In this study, two types of trust have been discussed. This study represents an initial attempt to provide an integrated view of particularized trust in social commerce, including particularized trust antecedents, trust transfer and trust performance, so as to promote trust formation in social commerce. Using data collected from 614 social commerce users, we demonstrate that trust disposition, quality-assured shared information, familiarity and endorsement by other members are four antecedents of particularized trust. The results also indicate particularized trust can be transferred into system trust, and particularized trust only exerts positive effect on social WOM intention while system trust only exerts positive effect on social shopping intention. Furthermore, we prove perceived similarity can strengthen the relationship between trust disposition and particularized trust as well as the relationship between quality-assured shared information and particularized trust.     

层次化分布域信任模型HDRTM系统建立研究

本文提出了一种新的P2P网络信任模型—层次化分布域信任模型HDRTM(Hierarchical and Distributed Region Trust Model),即将一定数量的分布域集合视为一个更大的分布域,在该域内选取所有分布域中超级节点信任度最高的节点为高层新分布域的外部超级节点。文章着重阐述了层次化分布域信任模型HDRTM系统的建立。     

Creativity, trust and systematic processes in product development

This paper addresses the challenge of striking a balance between, on one hand, mitigating uncertainty through the existence of systematic processes and structures and, on the other, stimulating creativity through allowable variation in work processes and structures. Both objectives are fundamental aspects of product development work. Our main finding is that both objectives can be achieved simultaneously. We introduce trust as a mediating variable. We show first, that being systematic in the processes for obtaining information and applying explicit organizational rules and structures in product development work creates an atmosphere of trust in the organization. Second, we show that trust increases creativity. The paper contributes to an understanding of how and why trust is important in product development organizations and of how trust can be actively managed. Above all, the paper contributes to the understanding of how uncertainty and creativity should be managed in organizations conducting product development.     

Police-Civilian Interaction,Compliance, Accommodation,and Trust in an Intergroup Context: International Data

Abstract

Prior cross-cultural research has produced models of police-civilian interaction that highlight the effect of officers’ communication accommodation and reported trust in police on attitudinal outcomes. The present study, conducted in Korea, Japan, Guam, and Canada and involving 684 university students, continued this program of research by testing a theoretical model exploring the influence of perceived police officer communication accommodation and reported trust in police on attitudes about compliance with police requests. Findings indicated that across study locations perceived police officer communication accommodation predicted trust in police which, in turn, predicted attitudes about compliance with police requests.