Using word embeddings in Twitter election classification

Word embeddings and convolutional neural networks (CNN) have attracted extensive attention in various classification tasks for Twitter, e.g. sentiment classification. However, the effect of the configuration used to generate the word embeddings on the classification performance has not been studied in the existing literature. In this paper, using a Twitter election classification task that aims to detect election-related tweets, we investigate the impact of the background dataset used to train the embedding models, as well as the parameters of the word embedding training process, namely the context window size, the dimensionality and the number of negative samples, on the attained classification performance. By comparing the classification results of word embedding models that have been trained using different background corpora (e.g. Wikipedia articles and Twitter microposts), we show that the background data should align with the Twitter classification dataset both in data type and time period to achieve significantly better performance compared to baselines such as SVM with TF-IDF. Moreover, by evaluating the results of word embedding models trained using various context window sizes and dimensionalities, we find that large context window and dimension sizes are preferable to improve the performance. However, the number of negative samples parameter does not significantly affect the performance of the CNN classifiers. Our experimental results also show that choosing the correct word embedding model for use with CNN leads to statistically significant improvements over various baselines such as random, SVM with TF-IDF and SVM with word embeddings. Finally, for out-of-vocabulary (OOV) words that are not available in the learned word embedding models, we show that a simple OOV strategy to randomly initialise the OOV words without any prior knowledge is sufficient to attain a good classification performance among the current OOV strategies (e.g. a random initialisation using statistics of the pre-trained word embedding models).     

Taking charge and letting go: exploring the ways a Transition to Adulthood project for teenagers with Duchenne muscular dystrophy has supported parents to prepare for the future

The new Special Educational Needs and Disability legislation in the Children and Families Act 2014 intends to raise the aspirations of young people with special educational needs and their families, and improve their life outcomes. But what do raised aspirations and better outcomes look like for young people who have a life‐limiting impairment? This article draws on data from a parent evaluation of a lottery‐funded Transition to Adulthood project for boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), called ‘Takin’ Charge’, focusing in particular on whether or not the project helped parents of boys with DMD prepare for the future. Key themes that emerged were the importance and novelty of older role models with DMD in the project who were able to share their journeys into adulthood, the support between families that the project enabled, the meaning of family resilience and aspirations for a normal life. The use of solution‐focused questioning with families affected by a life‐limiting impairment is also explored.     

Technology’s role in learning at a commuter campus: The student perspective

Patterns of technology ownership and usage, as well as skills with and preferences for various technologies, affect the college experience (Educause 2012). Students at a commuter campus of a large Midwestern public university were surveyed about technology and the learning process: 94% of the respondents believed that technology had the potential to benefit learning and 85% thought it was central to their academic success. Students credited technology-enhanced courses with increased and more effective communication with instructors, the ability to better manage course activities and expanded opportunities for practice and reinforcement. Students’ prior experiences with a course management system affected their perceptions of the role of technology and their subsequent beliefs about the benefits of its use in their university courses. Implications for administrators who make decisions about faculty development, student retention and funding for technology-enhanced course offerings are discussed.     

Stepping out: collaborative research across disciplines

This paper offers the experiences and insights of two faculty members, located in two separate disciplines, as they engaged in collaborative research. While knowledge created by stepping out and reaching across disciplines reflects the reality of an increasingly complex world, their experiences highlight both the benefits of a supportive collaborative partnership as well as the risks and discomfort experienced without tangible discipline support, when researchers stray too far from their home discipline. While transparency and attention to process is critical to all researchers engaged in collaborative partnership, its necessity is heightened when venturing beyond the territory of familiar disciplines.     

Understanding young Chinese Australian's (dis)engagement in Health and Physical Education and school sport

Background: School Health and Physical Education (HPE) and sport has increasingly become a complex cultural contact zone. With global population shifts, schools need policies and strategies to attend to the interests and needs of diverse student populations. School HPE and sport is a particularly significant site as it is a touchpoint for a range of cultural values and practices related to physical activity, the body, health and lifestyle proprieties.

Purpose: While there is a high Chinese student population in Australian schools, little research has been undertaken to understand their needs, experiences and perceptions in schools HPE and sport. In addition, research in the physical activity field is accentuated by paradigms that assume and perpetuate the binary notion of cultural beliefs and practices such as ‘West’ versus ‘East’ and in association with ‘Normal’ versus ‘Problematic’ lifestyles in relation to physical activity. We argue that, without conceding the epistemological understanding of ‘difference’, policies and practices that promote diversity can remain socially unjust and superficial.

Research design: This paper focuses on two schools in Queensland. The data collection process was underpinned by critical and interpretive ethnographic methods. The participants in Sage College consisted of seven girls of whom three were in Year 8, three in Year 9 and one in Year 10. At Routledge State High, a state-owned, secular and coeducational secondary school, the cohort consisted of two girls in Year 8, one girl and two boys from Year 9.

Results: This paper draws on Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, capital, field and doxa and the Chinese Confucianism philosophy of ‘Complementary difference’ to understand the various perceptions and experiences of young Chinese Australians in schools HPE and sport. Results invite us to seek an understanding of students’ subjectivities and disrupt the binary differences in cultural values and attributes to promote multicultural education.

Conclusion and recommendation: Moving beyond the Australia's Anglo-Celtic centred HPE and the limitations of a Western view of exclusive opposites, this paper makes an original contribution to knowledge by presenting a ‘heuristic of difference’ model that accommodates Western and Chinese perspectives in Australian HPE research.