Access to Public-Sector Information in Europe: Policy, Rights, and Obligations

The article reviews the debates and policies on access to public-sector information (PSI) in Europe in relation to the contests between policies of open access, rights of access to PSI by citizens and business, and the assessment of the cost benefits of PSI to the economy and society. The political dimension of these debates within the European Union is highlighted to demonstrate the complexities of the governance of information within a pan-European regulatory framework.     

The complexity of the learning and teaching of EFL among Swedish‐minority students in bilingual Finland

In Finland, English is widely visible outside the school context, above all in the area of entertainment and mass media, and is no longer regarded as a foreign language in the old sense of the word. Among Swedish‐minority students in Finland, the dominant status of English in various mass media leads to positive attitudes towards English among students and provides strong motivation to acquire the language. This paper considers whether the incidental learning of English taking place outside the classroom results in the same kind of proficiency as that resulting from formal classroom learning.     

AI in education: learner choice and fundamental rights

ABSTRACT

This article examines benefits and risks of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education in relation to fundamental human rights. The article is based on an EU scoping study [Berendt, B., A. Littlejohn, P. Kern, P. Mitros, X. Shacklock, and M. Blakemore. 2017. Big Data for Monitoring Educational Systems. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/94cb5fc8-473e-11e7-aea8-01aa75ed71a1/]. The study takes into account the potential for AI and ‘Big Data’ to provide more effective monitoring of the education system in real-time, but also considers the implications for fundamental human rights and freedoms of both teachers and learners. The analysis highlights a need to balance the benefits and risks as AI tools are developed, marketed and deployed. We conclude with a call to embed consideration of the benefits and risks of AI in education as technology tools into the development, marketing and deployment of these tools. There are questions around who – which body or organisation – should take responsibility for regulating AI in education, particularly since AI impacts not only data protection and privacy, but on fundamental rights in general. Given AI’s global impact, it should be regulated at a trans-national level, with a global organisation such as the UN taking on this role.     

Is peer review an appropriate form of assessment in a MOOC? Student participation and performance in formative peer review

Many aspects of higher education must be reconceptualised for massive open online courses (MOOCs). Formative and summative assessment of qualitative work in particular requires novel approaches to cope with the numbers involved. Peer review has been proposed as one solution, and has been widely adopted by major MOOC providers, but there is currently little evidence about whether it is appropriate or under what conditions. Here, we examine student participation, performance and opinions of a peer review task in a biomedical science MOOC. We evaluate data from approximately 200 student topic summaries and 300 qualitative peer reviews of those summaries, and compare these to student demographic data (gender, age, employment status, education, national language) and to performance in multiple choice tests. We show that higher performance in the written topic summary correlated with both higher participation in the peer review task and with writing higher quality peer reviews. Qualitative analysis of student comments revealed that student opinion on the usefulness of the peer review task was mixed: some strongly believed it benefitted their learning, while others did not find it useful or did not participate. We suggest instructional design strategies to improve student participation and increase learning gain from peer review in the MOOC context.     

Notices

In this study, we examined whether a preparatory perceptual ‘anchoring’ technique would enhance the reproducibility (test–retest reliability) of adolescent children in their ability to self-regulate their exercise output on the basis of their effort perceptions. Forty-one adolescents aged 12.6±0.7 years (mean±s), randomly assigned to either an anchor or non-anchor group, undertook two identical production trials (three 3-min cycle ergometer bouts at levels 3, 6 and 8 of the Children's Effort Rating Table) over 8 days. Before each trial, the anchor group received an experiential (exercise) trial intended to provide a frame of reference for their perceived exertions. The test–retest reproducibility of the heart rates and power outputs produced during the production trials was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients and 95% limits of agreement analysis. For the anchor group, the intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.68 to 0.81 for heart rate and from 0.39 to 0.86 for power output. For the non-anchor group, they were generally higher: 0.86 to 0.93 and 0.81 to 0.95 for heart rate and power output, respectively. The 95% limits of agreement indicated no marked differences between the two groups in the amount of bias and within-subject error. The results suggest that among these adolescents, the implementation of an experiential anchoring protocol had no positive effect on the reproducibility of their exercise regulation during prescribed cycling.     

Fluid and electrolyte balance in elite male football (soccer) players training in a cool environment

There are few data in the published literature on sweat loss and drinking behaviour in athletes training in a cool environment. Sweat loss and fluid intake were measured in 17 first-team members of an elite soccer team training for 90 min in a cool (5°C, 81% relative humidity) environment. Sweat loss was assessed from the change in body mass after correction for the volume of fluid consumed. Sweat electrolyte content was measured from absorbent patches applied at four skin sites. Mean (?± s) sweat loss during training was 1.69?±?0.45 l (range 1.06?-?2.65 l). Mean fluid intake during training was 423?±?215 ml (44?-?951 ml). There was no apparent relationship between the amount of sweat lost and the volume of fluid consumed during training (r ² = 0.013, P = 0.665). Mean sweat sodium concentration was 42.5?±?13.0 mmol?·?l^?1 and mean sweat potassium concentration was 4.2?±?1.0 mmol?·?l^?1. Total salt (NaCl) loss during training was 4.3?±?1.8 g. The sweat loss data are similar to those recorded in elite players undergoing a similar training session in warm environments, but the volume of fluid ingested is less.     

Access to Public-Sector Information in Europe: Policy,Rights, and Obligations

The article reviews the debates and policies on access to public-sector information (PSI) in Europe in relation to the contests between policies of open access, rights of access to PSI by citizens and business, and the assessment of the cost benefits of PSI to the economy and society. The political dimension of these debates within the European Union is highlighted to demonstrate the complexities of the governance of information within a pan-European regulatory framework.