Augmenting Traditional Books with Context-Aware Learning Supports from Online Learning Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Gwo-Dong; Chao, Po-Yao

2008-01-01

Recent advances in ubiquitous computing technologies have brought reality augmentation of traditional objects to context-aware and social supports. Although a significant proportion of students prefer poring over traditional paper textbooks over electronic books, few studies have enhanced reading practice of traditional books with ubiquitous…

Effects of the Team Competition-Based Ubiquitous Gaming Approach on Students' Interactive Patterns, Collective Efficacy and Awareness of Collaboration and Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Chih-Hung; Hwang, Gwo-Jen

2017-01-01

Previous research has illustrated the importance of acquiring knowledge from authentic contexts; however, without full engagement, students' learning performance might not be as good as expected. In this study, a Team Competition-based Ubiquitous Gaming approach was proposed for improving students' learning effectiveness in authentic learning…

Personalised Context-Aware Ubiquitous Learning System for Supporting Effective English Vocabulary Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Chih-Ming; Li, Yi-Lun

2010-01-01

Because learning English is extremely popular in non-native English speaking countries, developing modern assisted-learning schemes that facilitate effective English learning is a critical issue in English-language education. Vocabulary learning is vital within English learning because vocabulary comprises the basic building blocks of English…

A Folksonomy-Based Guidance Mechanism for Context-Aware Ubiquitous Learning: A Case Study of Chinese Scenic Poetry Appreciation Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shih, Wen-Chung; Tseng, Shian-Shyong; Yang, Che-Ching; Lin, Chih-Yu; Liang, Tyne

2012-01-01

In this work ubiquitous learning technologies are applied to Chinese scenic poetry appreciation. A folksonomy-based approach is proposed to accumulate knowledge about poems and their corresponding scenic spots. A user can use a "Tagging" operation by a smart phone to associate a concept (a word, a phrase or a sentence) with a scenic…

Outdoor Natural Science Learning with an RFID-Supported Immersive Ubiquitous Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Tsung-Yu; Tan, Tan-Hsu; Chu, Yu-Ling

2009-01-01

Despite their successful use in many conscientious studies involving outdoor learning applications, mobile learning systems still have certain limitations. For instance, because students cannot obtain real-time, context-aware content in outdoor locations such as historical sites, endangered animal habitats, and geological landscapes, they are…

From Learning Object to Learning Cell: A Resource Organization Model for Ubiquitous Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yu, Shengquan; Yang, Xianmin; Cheng, Gang; Wang, Minjuan

2015-01-01

This paper presents a new model for organizing learning resources: Learning Cell. This model is open, evolving, cohesive, social, and context-aware. By introducing a time dimension into the organization of learning resources, Learning Cell supports the dynamic evolution of learning resources while they are being used. In addition, by introducing a…

The Effect of Absorptive Capacity Perceptions on the Context Aware Ubiquitous Learning Acceptance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Hsiu-Fen

2013-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of absorptive capacity (understanding, assimilating and applying u-learning) perceptions on behavioral intention to use u-learning through path analysis and applies the technology acceptance model (TAM) as a theoretical foundation, simultaneously improving the model by adopting prior…

Considering Learning Styles and Context-Awareness for Mobile Adaptive Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tortorella, Richard A. W.; Graf, Sabine

2017-01-01

Mobile devices are becoming ubiquitous in our society and more so with school aged children. In order to get the most out of the portable computing power present at students' fingertips, this paper proposes an approach for providing mobile, personalized course content tailored to each individual's learning style while incorporating adaptive…

A wearable context aware system for ubiquitous healthcare.

PubMed

Kang, Dong-Oh; Lee, Hyung-Jik; Ko, Eun-Jung; Kang, Kyuchang; Lee, Jeunwoo

2006-01-01

Recent developments of information technologies are leading the advent of the era of ubiquitous healthcare, which means healthcare services at any time and at any places. The ubiquitous healthcare service needs a wearable system for more continual measurement of biological signals of a user, which gives information of the user from wearable sensors. In this paper, we propose a wearable context aware system for ubiquitous healthcare, and its systematic design process of a ubiquitous healthcare service. Some wearable sensor systems are introduced with Zigbee communication. We develop a context aware framework to send information from wearable sensors to healthcare service entities as a middleware to solve the interoperability problem between sensor makers and healthcare service providers. And, we propose a systematic process of design of ubiquitous healthcare services with the context aware framework. In order to show the feasibility of the proposed system, some application examples are given, which are applied to remote monitoring, and a self check service.

Understanding Angle and Angle Measure: A Design-Based Research Study Using Context Aware Ubiquitous Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crompton, Helen

2015-01-01

Mobile technologies are quickly becoming tools found in the educational environment. The researchers in this study use a form of mobile learning to support students in learning about angle concepts. Design-based research is used in this study to develop an empirically-substantiated local instruction theory about students' develop of angle and…

A Context-Aware Knowledge Map to Support Ubiquitous Learning Activities for a u-Botanical Museum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Shu-Lin; Chen, Chia-Chen; Zhang, Zhe George

2015-01-01

Recent developments in mobile and wireless communication technologies have played a vital role in building the u-learning environment that now combines both real-world and digital learning resources. However, learners still require assistance to control real objects and manage the abundance of available materials; otherwise, their mental workload…

A Context-Aware Ubiquitous Learning Approach to Conducting Scientific Inquiry Activities in a Science Park

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Tsai, Chin-Chung; Chu, Hui-Chun; Kinshuk; Chen, Chieh-Yuan

2012-01-01

Fostering students' scientific inquiry competence has been recognised as being an important and challenging objective of science education. To strengthen the understanding of science theories or notations, researchers have suggested conducting some learning activities in the field via operating relevant devices. In a traditional infield scientific…

A Dynamic Ubiquitous Learning Resource Model with Context and Its Effects on Ubiquitous Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Min; Yu, Sheng Quan; Chiang, Feng Kuang

2017-01-01

Most ubiquitous learning researchers use resource recommendation and retrieving based on context to provide contextualized learning resources, but it is the kind of one-way context matching. Learners always obtain fixed digital learning resources, which present all learning contents in any context. This study proposed a dynamic ubiquitous learning…

Privacy-Related Context Information for Ubiquitous Health

PubMed Central

Nykänen, Pirkko; Ruotsalainen, Pekka

2014-01-01

Background Ubiquitous health has been defined as a dynamic network of interconnected systems. A system is composed of one or more information systems, their stakeholders, and the environment. These systems offer health services to individuals and thus implement ubiquitous computing. Privacy is the key challenge for ubiquitous health because of autonomous processing, rich contextual metadata, lack of predefined trust among participants, and the business objectives. Additionally, regulations and policies of stakeholders may be unknown to the individual. Context-sensitive privacy policies are needed to regulate information processing. Objective Our goal was to analyze privacy-related context information and to define the corresponding components and their properties that support privacy management in ubiquitous health. These properties should describe the privacy issues of information processing. With components and their properties, individuals can define context-aware privacy policies and set their privacy preferences that can change in different information-processing situations. Methods Scenarios and user stories are used to analyze typical activities in ubiquitous health to identify main actors, goals, tasks, and stakeholders. Context arises from an activity and, therefore, we can determine different situations, services, and systems to identify properties for privacy-related context information in information-processing situations. Results Privacy-related context information components are situation, environment, individual, information technology system, service, and stakeholder. Combining our analyses and previously identified characteristics of ubiquitous health, more detailed properties for the components are defined. Properties define explicitly what context information for different components is needed to create context-aware privacy policies that can control, limit, and constrain information processing. With properties, we can define, for example, how data can be processed or how components are regulated or in what kind of environment data can be processed. Conclusions This study added to the vision of ubiquitous health by analyzing information processing from the viewpoint of an individual’s privacy. We learned that health and wellness-related activities may happen in several environments and situations with multiple stakeholders, services, and systems. We have provided new knowledge regarding privacy-related context information and corresponding components by analyzing typical activities in ubiquitous health. With the identified components and their properties, individuals can define their personal preferences on information processing based on situational information, and privacy services can capture privacy-related context of the information-processing situation. PMID:25100084

Privacy-related context information for ubiquitous health.

PubMed

Seppälä, Antto; Nykänen, Pirkko; Ruotsalainen, Pekka

2014-03-11

Ubiquitous health has been defined as a dynamic network of interconnected systems. A system is composed of one or more information systems, their stakeholders, and the environment. These systems offer health services to individuals and thus implement ubiquitous computing. Privacy is the key challenge for ubiquitous health because of autonomous processing, rich contextual metadata, lack of predefined trust among participants, and the business objectives. Additionally, regulations and policies of stakeholders may be unknown to the individual. Context-sensitive privacy policies are needed to regulate information processing. Our goal was to analyze privacy-related context information and to define the corresponding components and their properties that support privacy management in ubiquitous health. These properties should describe the privacy issues of information processing. With components and their properties, individuals can define context-aware privacy policies and set their privacy preferences that can change in different information-processing situations. Scenarios and user stories are used to analyze typical activities in ubiquitous health to identify main actors, goals, tasks, and stakeholders. Context arises from an activity and, therefore, we can determine different situations, services, and systems to identify properties for privacy-related context information in information-processing situations. Privacy-related context information components are situation, environment, individual, information technology system, service, and stakeholder. Combining our analyses and previously identified characteristics of ubiquitous health, more detailed properties for the components are defined. Properties define explicitly what context information for different components is needed to create context-aware privacy policies that can control, limit, and constrain information processing. With properties, we can define, for example, how data can be processed or how components are regulated or in what kind of environment data can be processed. This study added to the vision of ubiquitous health by analyzing information processing from the viewpoint of an individual's privacy. We learned that health and wellness-related activities may happen in several environments and situations with multiple stakeholders, services, and systems. We have provided new knowledge regarding privacy-related context information and corresponding components by analyzing typical activities in ubiquitous health. With the identified components and their properties, individuals can define their personal preferences on information processing based on situational information, and privacy services can capture privacy-related context of the information-processing situation.

Learning about Drinking Water: How Important Are the Three Dimensions of Knowledge That Can Change Individual Behavior?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fremerey, Christian; Bogner, Franz X.

2014-01-01

Clean drinking water, our most important resource, needs comprehensive protection. Due to its ubiquitous availability, the awareness of the importance of clean drinking water has partially vanished. Therefore, sensitizing within this context and improving individual ecological behavior has become an important issue in science curricula. We…

Introduction to This Special Issue on Context-Aware Computing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moran, Thomas P.; Dourish, Paul

2001-01-01

Discusses pervasive, or ubiquitous, computing; explains the notion of context; and defines context-aware computing as the key to disperse and enmesh computation into our lives. Considers context awareness in human-computer interaction and describes the broad topic areas of the essays included in this special issue. (LRW)

Context-awareness in ubiquitous computing and the mobile devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akçit, Nuhcan; Tomur, Emrah; Karslıoǧlu, Mahmut Onur

2015-06-01

Mobile device use has vastly increased in the last few years. Many people use many mobile devices in their daily lives. Context-aware computing is the main feature of pervasive and ubiquitous computing. Context awareness is also an important topic that becomes more available with ubiquitous computing. As the sensors increase, the data collected via mobile device sensors and sensor networks do not have much value because of the difficulty in analysis and understanding the data. Context-aware computing helps us store contextual information and use or search it by mobile devices when we want to see or analyze it. Contextual data can be made more meaningful by context-aware processing. There are different types of data and context information that must be considered. By combining spatial and contextual data, we obtain more meaningful data based on the entities. Contextual data is any information that can be used to characterize the situation of the entity. The entity is a person, place, or object considered relevant to the interaction between the user and an application, including the users and the applications. Using contextual data and good integration to mobile devices adds great value to this data, and combining these with our other data sets will allow us to obtain more useful information and analysis.

Trust-based information system architecture for personal wellness.

PubMed

Ruotsalainen, Pekka; Nykänen, Pirkko; Seppälä, Antto; Blobel, Bernd

2014-01-01

Modern eHealth, ubiquitous health and personal wellness systems take place in an unsecure and ubiquitous information space where no predefined trust occurs. This paper presents novel information model and an architecture for trust based privacy management of personal health and wellness information in ubiquitous environment. The architecture enables a person to calculate a dynamic and context-aware trust value for each service provider, and using it to design personal privacy policies for trustworthy use of health and wellness services. For trust calculation a novel set of measurable context-aware and health information-sensitive attributes is developed. The architecture enables a person to manage his or her privacy in ubiquitous environment by formulating context-aware and service provider specific policies. Focus groups and information modelling was used for developing a wellness information model. System analysis method based on sequential steps that enable to combine results of analysis of privacy and trust concerns and the selection of trust and privacy services was used for development of the information system architecture. Its services (e.g. trust calculation, decision support, policy management and policy binding services) and developed attributes enable a person to define situation-aware policies that regulate the way his or her wellness and health information is processed.

Study on the context-aware middleware for ubiquitous greenhouses using wireless sensor networks.

PubMed

Hwang, Jeonghwang; Yoe, Hyun

2011-01-01

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) technology is one of the important technologies to implement the ubiquitous society, and it could increase productivity of agricultural and livestock products, and secure transparency of distribution channels if such a WSN technology were successfully applied to the agricultural sector. Middleware, which can connect WSN hardware, applications, and enterprise systems, is required to construct ubiquitous agriculture environment combining WSN technology with agricultural sector applications, but there have been insufficient studies in the field of WSN middleware in the agricultural environment, compared to other industries. This paper proposes a context-aware middleware to efficiently process data collected from ubiquitous greenhouses by applying WSN technology and used to implement combined services through organic connectivity of data. The proposed middleware abstracts heterogeneous sensor nodes to integrate different forms of data, and provides intelligent context-aware, event service, and filtering functions to maximize operability and scalability of the middleware. To evaluate the performance of the middleware, an integrated management system for ubiquitous greenhouses was implemented by applying the proposed middleware to an existing greenhouse, and it was tested by measuring the level of load through CPU usage and the response time for users' requests when the system is working.

A Ubiquitous English Vocabulary Learning System: Evidence of Active/Passive Attitudes vs. Usefulness/Ease-of-Use

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Yueh-Min; Huang, Yong-Ming; Huang, Shu-Hsien; Lin, Yen-Ting

2012-01-01

English vocabulary learning and ubiquitous learning have separately received considerable attention in recent years. However, research on English vocabulary learning in ubiquitous learning contexts has been less studied. In this study, we develop a ubiquitous English vocabulary learning (UEVL) system to assist students in experiencing a systematic…

New Theoretical Approach Integrated Education and Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ding, Gang

2010-01-01

The paper focuses on exploring new theoretical approach in education with development of online learning technology, from e-learning to u-learning and virtual reality technology, and points out possibilities such as constructing a new teaching ecological system, ubiquitous educational awareness with ubiquitous technology, and changing the…

A Context-Adaptive Teacher Training Model in a Ubiquitous Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Min; Chiang, Feng Kuang; Jiang, Ya Na; Yu, Sheng Quan

2017-01-01

In view of the discrepancies in teacher training and teaching practice, this paper put forward a context-adaptive teacher training model in a ubiquitous learning (u-learning) environment. The innovative model provides teachers of different subjects with adaptive and personalized learning content in a u-learning environment, implements intra- and…

Social Knowledge Awareness Map for Computer Supported Ubiquitous Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

El-Bishouty, Moushir M.; Ogata, Hiroaki; Rahman, Samia; Yano, Yoneo

2010-01-01

Social networks are helpful for people to solve problems by providing useful information. Therefore, the importance of mobile social software for learning has been supported by many researches. In this research, a model of personalized collaborative ubiquitous learning environment is designed and implemented in order to support learners doing…

PERKAM: Personalized Knowledge Awareness Map for Computer Supported Ubiquitous Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

El-Bishouty, Moushir M.; Ogata, Hiroaki; Yano, Yoneo

2007-01-01

This paper introduces a ubiquitous computing environment in order to support the learners while doing tasks; this environment is called PERKAM (PERsonalized Knowledge Awareness Map). PERKAM allows the learners to share knowledge, interact, collaborate, and exchange individual experiences. It utilizes the RFID ubiquities technology to detect the…

WebIntera-Classroom: An Interaction-Aware Virtual Learning Environment for Augmenting Learning Interactions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Jingjing; Xu, Jianliang; Tang, Tao; Chen, Rongchao

2017-01-01

Interaction is critical for successful teaching and learning in a virtual learning environment (VLE). This paper presents a web-based interaction-aware VLE--WebIntera-classroom--which aims to augment learning interactions by increasing the learner-to-content and learner-to-instructor interactions. We design a ubiquitous interactive interface that…

Shifting Contexts: Investigating the Role of Context in the Use of Ubiquitous Computing for Design-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Willis, Katharine S.; Corino, Gianni

2014-01-01

In design teaching ubiquitous technologies can offer new ways of situating learning within real world experiences. Yet they require new types of knowledge; both an understanding of how to work with the technology and also an understanding of how to use the technologies to respond to changing contexts such as the place and the people. We sought to…

Researching the Ethical Dimensions of Mobile, Ubiquitous and Immersive Technology Enhanced Learning (MUITEL): A Thematic Review and Dialogue

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lally, Vic; Sharples, Mike; Tracy, Frances; Bertram, Neil; Masters, Sherriden

2012-01-01

In this article, we examine the ethical dimensions of researching the mobile, ubiquitous and immersive technology enhanced learning (MUITEL), with a particular focus on learning in informal settings. We begin with an analysis of the interactions between mobile, ubiquitous and immersive technologies and the wider context of the digital economy. In…

Ubiquitous Learning: Determinants Impacting Learners' Satisfaction and Performance with Smartphones

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jung, Hee-Jung

2014-01-01

Although the concept of ubiquitous technologies has been introduced to many parts of society, there have been limited applications, and little is known about learners' behavior toward ubiquitous technologies, particularly in the context of English learning. This study considers a sample of Korean students to identify the key factors that influence…

FleXConf: A Flexible Conference Assistant Using Context-Aware Notification Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Armenatzoglou, Nikos; Marketakis, Yannis; Kriara, Lito; Apostolopoulos, Elias; Papavasiliou, Vicky; Kampas, Dimitris; Kapravelos, Alexandros; Kartsonakis, Eythimis; Linardakis, Giorgos; Nikitaki, Sofia; Bikakis, Antonis; Antoniou, Grigoris

Integrating context-aware notification services to ubiquitous computing systems aims at the provision of the right information to the right users, at the right time, in the right place, and on the right device, and constitutes a significant step towards the realization of the Ambient Intelligence vision. In this paper, we present FlexConf, a semantics-based system that supports location-based, personalized notification services for the assistance of conference attendees. Its special features include an ontology-based representation model, rule-based context-aware reasoning, and a novel positioning system for indoor environments.

A Model for Ubiquitous Serious Games Development Focused on Problem Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dorneles, Sandro Oliveira; da Costa, Cristiano André; Rigo, Sandro José

2015-01-01

The possibility of using serious games with problem-based learning opens up huge opportunities to connect the experiences of daily life of students with learning. In this context, this article presents a model for serious and ubiquitous games development, focusing on problem based learning methodology. The model allows teachers to create games…

Smart learning services based on smart cloud computing.

PubMed

Kim, Svetlana; Song, Su-Mi; Yoon, Yong-Ik

2011-01-01

Context-aware technologies can make e-learning services smarter and more efficient since context-aware services are based on the user's behavior. To add those technologies into existing e-learning services, a service architecture model is needed to transform the existing e-learning environment, which is situation-aware, into the environment that understands context as well. The context-awareness in e-learning may include the awareness of user profile and terminal context. In this paper, we propose a new notion of service that provides context-awareness to smart learning content in a cloud computing environment. We suggest the elastic four smarts (E4S)--smart pull, smart prospect, smart content, and smart push--concept to the cloud services so smart learning services are possible. The E4S focuses on meeting the users' needs by collecting and analyzing users' behavior, prospecting future services, building corresponding contents, and delivering the contents through cloud computing environment. Users' behavior can be collected through mobile devices such as smart phones that have built-in sensors. As results, the proposed smart e-learning model in cloud computing environment provides personalized and customized learning services to its users.

Smart Learning Services Based on Smart Cloud Computing

PubMed Central

Kim, Svetlana; Song, Su-Mi; Yoon, Yong-Ik

2011-01-01

Context-aware technologies can make e-learning services smarter and more efficient since context-aware services are based on the user’s behavior. To add those technologies into existing e-learning services, a service architecture model is needed to transform the existing e-learning environment, which is situation-aware, into the environment that understands context as well. The context-awareness in e-learning may include the awareness of user profile and terminal context. In this paper, we propose a new notion of service that provides context-awareness to smart learning content in a cloud computing environment. We suggest the elastic four smarts (E4S)—smart pull, smart prospect, smart content, and smart push—concept to the cloud services so smart learning services are possible. The E4S focuses on meeting the users’ needs by collecting and analyzing users’ behavior, prospecting future services, building corresponding contents, and delivering the contents through cloud computing environment. Users’ behavior can be collected through mobile devices such as smart phones that have built-in sensors. As results, the proposed smart e-learning model in cloud computing environment provides personalized and customized learning services to its users. PMID:22164048

Framework for Designing Context-Aware Learning Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tortorella, Richard A. W.; Kinshuk; Chen, Nian-Shing

2018-01-01

Today people learn in many diverse locations and contexts, beyond the confines of classical brick and mortar classrooms. This trend is ever increasing, progressing hand-in-hand with the progress of technology. Context-aware learning systems are systems which adapt to the learner's context, providing tailored learning for a particular learning…

A Conceptual Framework and a Toolkit for Supporting the Rapid Prototyping of Context-Aware Applications.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dey, Anind K.; Abowd, Gregory D.; Salber, Daniel

2001-01-01

Discusses the trend toward ubiquitous computing and the challenge to enhance the behavior of any application by informing it of the context of its use. Defines context related to the interaction between humans, applications, and the surrounding environment; and presents a conceptual framework and a toolkit for supporting the rapid prototyping of…

Supporting Teacher Orchestration in Ubiquitous Learning Environments: A Study in Primary Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muñoz-Cristóbal, Juan A.; Jorrín-Abellán, Iván M.; Asensio-Pérez, Juan I.; Martínez-Monés, Alejandra; Prieto, Luis P.; Dimitriadis, Yannis

2015-01-01

During the last decades, educational contexts have transformed into complex technological and social ecologies, with mobile devices expanding the scope of education beyond the traditional classroom, creating so-called Ubiquitous Learning Environments (ULEs). However, these new technological opportunities entail an additional burden for teachers,…

Mobile Learning Application Interfaces: First Steps to a Cognitive Load Aware System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deegan, Robin

2013-01-01

Mobile learning is a cognitively demanding application and more frequently the ubiquitous nature of mobile computing means that mobile devices are used in cognitively demanding environments. This paper examines the nature of this use of mobile devices from a Learning, Usability and Cognitive Load Theory perspective. It suggests scenarios where…

Learning Potentials of the Ubiquitous Internet: Using Mobile Devices to Support the Individual, Social and Physical Context of the Learner

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dalsgaard, Christian; Pedersen, Nicholai Friis; Aaen, Janus Holst

2013-01-01

The aim of this paper is to identify the key learning potentials of the ubiquitous internet. Rather than focusing on mobile technology or the mobility of the learner, the paper emphasises the ubiquity of internet access as a paramount catalyst for new learning in the digital age. From a sociocultural perspective the paper discusses different ways…

Ubiquitous Geo-Sensing for Context-Aware Analysis: Exploring Relationships between Environmental and Human Dynamics

PubMed Central

Sagl, Günther; Blaschke, Thomas; Beinat, Euro; Resch, Bernd

2012-01-01

Ubiquitous geo-sensing enables context-aware analyses of physical and social phenomena, i.e., analyzing one phenomenon in the context of another. Although such context-aware analysis can potentially enable a more holistic understanding of spatio-temporal processes, it is rarely documented in the scientific literature yet. In this paper we analyzed the collective human behavior in the context of the weather. We therefore explored the complex relationships between these two spatio-temporal phenomena to provide novel insights into the dynamics of urban systems. Aggregated mobile phone data, which served as a proxy for collective human behavior, was linked with the weather data from climate stations in the case study area, the city of Udine, Northern Italy. To identify and characterize potential patterns within the weather-human relationships, we developed a hybrid approach which integrates several spatio-temporal statistical analysis methods. Thereby we show that explanatory factor analysis, when applied to a number of meteorological variables, can be used to differentiate between normal and adverse weather conditions. Further, we measured the strength of the relationship between the ‘global’ adverse weather conditions and the spatially explicit effective variations in user-generated mobile network traffic for three distinct periods using the Maximal Information Coefficient (MIC). The analyses result in three spatially referenced maps of MICs which reveal interesting insights into collective human dynamics in the context of weather, but also initiate several new scientific challenges. PMID:23012571

An Effect of Interactive Media in a Social Awareness Ubiquitous Learning Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Na-songkhla, Jaitip

2011-01-01

Chulalongkorn University collaboratively worked with the Office of Basic Education, and Department of Highways, with support from a Corporate Social Responsibility Unit (CSR) of Toyota motor Thailand in a Road Safety Project. The project was aimed at cultivating a social awareness, "from a school to a community", using a set of…

Development, awareness and inductive selectivity.

PubMed

Hayes, Brett K; Lim, Melissa

2013-05-01

Two studies examined whether adults and children could learn to make context-dependent inferences about novel stimuli and the role of awareness of context cues in such learning. Participants were trained to match probes to targets on the basis of shape or color with the relevant dimension shifting according to item context. A selective induction test then examined context-dependent responding in a more complex matching task. Awareness of the role of context was assessed using a behavioral task and explicit questions. Experiment 1 showed that after training with the procedure described by Sloutsky and Fisher (2008), only a minority of adults showed evidence of context-dependent responding in the selective induction test. Experiment 2 used a modified training protocol that promoted attention to context cues. This led to reliable selective induction in a majority of adults and a sizeable proportion of 4- to 6-year-olds. Crucially, in both age groups, selective induction was dependent on awareness of context. Hence, children as young as 4 can learn to make selective inferences about novel stimuli, but only when they are aware of the relevant context cues. These results challenge previous claims that selective induction in children is the product of implicit learning.

Ubiquitous Learning (U-Learning) Awareness among the Tuticorin District B.Ed., Trainees

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thiyagu, K.

2011-01-01

The rapid development of information and communication technologies during the past two decades has had many points of contact with education and training. The use of technology in colleges and schools is not new. Teacher training often includes computer-assisted learning along with other multimedia presentation techniques. The power of ICT over…

Technical Feasibility of a Mobile Context-Aware (Social) Learning Schedule Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yau, Jane Y. K.; Joy, Mike

2013-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to show the technical feasibility of implementing their mobile context-aware learning schedule (mCALS) framework as a software application on a mobile device using current technologies, prior to its actual implementation. This process draws a set of compatible mobile and context-aware technologies at present and can be…

A Two-Stage Composition Method for Danger-Aware Services Based on Context Similarity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Junbo; Cheng, Zixue; Jing, Lei; Ota, Kaoru; Kansen, Mizuo

Context-aware systems detect user's physical and social contexts based on sensor networks, and provide services that adapt to the user accordingly. Representing, detecting, and managing the contexts are important issues in context-aware systems. Composition of contexts is a useful method for these works, since it can detect a context by automatically composing small pieces of information to discover service. Danger-aware services are a kind of context-aware services which need description of relations between a user and his/her surrounding objects and between users. However when applying the existing composition methods to danger-aware services, they show the following shortcomings that (1) they have not provided an explicit method for representing composition of multi-user' contexts, (2) there is no flexible reasoning mechanism based on similarity of contexts, so that they can just provide services exactly following the predefined context reasoning rules. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a two-stage composition method based on context similarity to solve the above problems. The first stage is composition of the useful information to represent the context for a single user. The second stage is composition of multi-users' contexts to provide services by considering the relation of users. Finally the danger degree of the detected context is computed by using context similarity between the detected context and the predefined context. Context is dynamically represented based on two-stage composition rules and a Situation theory based Ontology, which combines the advantages of Ontology and Situation theory. We implement the system in an indoor ubiquitous environment, and evaluate the system through two experiments with the support of subjects. The experiment results show the method is effective, and the accuracy of danger detection is acceptable to a danger-aware system.

Impact of Contextuality on Mobile Learning Acceptance: An Empirical Study Based on a Language Learning App

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Böhm, Stephan; Constantine, Georges Philip

2015-01-01

The mobility of both the device and the learner will determine how mobile learning takes place. Mobile learning offers new educational opportunities that allow for autonomous, personalized and context aware learning. This paper focuses on contextualized features for mobile language learning apps. Context-awareness is seen as a particularly…

A Context-Aware Self-Adaptive Fractal Based Generalized Pedagogical Agent Framework for Mobile Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boulehouache, Soufiane; Maamri, Ramdane; Sahnoun, Zaidi

2015-01-01

The Pedagogical Agents (PAs) for Mobile Learning (m-learning) must be able not only to adapt the teaching to the learner knowledge level and profile but also to ensure the pedagogical efficiency within unpredictable changing runtime contexts. Therefore, to deal with this issue, this paper proposes a Context-aware Self-Adaptive Fractal Component…

Activity Theory Approach to Developing Context-Aware Mobile Learning Systems for Understanding Scientific Phenomenon and Theories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Uden, Lorna; Hwang, Gwo-Jen

2013-01-01

Mobile computing offers potential opportunities for students' learning especially when it combines a sensing device such as RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). Researchers have indicated that a key feature of in-field learning supported by mobile devices and technology is context awareness, with which context and functionality provided by…

Ubiquitous Learning Website: Scaffold Learners by Mobile Devices with Information-Aware Techniques

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, G. D.; Chang, C. K.; Wang, C. Y.

2008-01-01

The portability and immediate communication properties of mobile devices influence the learning processes in interacting with peers, accessing resources and transferring data. For example, the short message and browsing functions in a cell phone provide users with timely and adaptive information access. Although many studies of mobile learning…

Learning Analytics for Supporting Seamless Language Learning Using E-Book with Ubiquitous Learning System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mouri, Kousuke; Uosaki, Noriko; Ogata, Hiroaki

2018-01-01

Seamless learning has been recognized as an effective learning approach across various dimensions including formal and informal learning contexts, individual and social learning, and physical world and cyberspace. With the emergence of seamless learning, the majority of the current research focuses on realizing a seamless learning environment at…

A Social Approach to High-Level Context Generation for Supporting Context-Aware M-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pan, Xu-Wei; Ding, Ling; Zhu, Xi-Yong; Yang, Zhao-Xiang

2017-01-01

In m-learning environments, context-awareness is for wide use where learners' situations are varied, dynamic and unpredictable. We are facing the challenge of requirements of both generality and depth in generating and processing high-level context. In this paper, we present a social approach which exploits social dynamics and social computing for…

Analyzing the Effects of Context-Aware Mobile Design Principles on Student Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seneca, Eric

2014-01-01

The adoption of mobile technology is rapidly transforming how individuals obtain information. Learning occurs when content is accessed in a recursive process of awareness, exploration, reflection and resolution within one's social context. Specifically, the most visible, current definitions of mobile learning provide an overview of the learning…

Explicit Context Matching in Content-Based Publish/Subscribe Systems

PubMed Central

Vavassori, Sergio; Soriano, Javier; Lizcano, David; Jiménez, Miguel

2013-01-01

Although context could be exploited to improve performance, elasticity and adaptation in most distributed systems that adopt the publish/subscribe (P/S) communication model, only a few researchers have focused on the area of context-aware matching in P/S systems and have explored its implications in domains with highly dynamic context like wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and IoT-enabled applications. Most adopted P/S models are context agnostic or do not differentiate context from the other application data. In this article, we present a novel context-aware P/S model. SilboPS manages context explicitly, focusing on the minimization of network overhead in domains with recurrent context changes related, for example, to mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). Our approach represents a solution that helps to efficiently share and use sensor data coming from ubiquitous WSNs across a plethora of applications intent on using these data to build context awareness. Specifically, we empirically demonstrate that decoupling a subscription from the changing context in which it is produced and leveraging contextual scoping in the filtering process notably reduces (un)subscription cost per node, while improving the global performance/throughput of the network of brokers without altering the cost of SIENA-like topology changes. PMID:23529118

Development, Awareness and Inductive Selectivity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hayes, Brett K.; Lim, Melissa

2013-01-01

Two studies examined whether adults and children could learn to make context-dependent inferences about novel stimuli and the role of awareness of context cues in such learning. Participants were trained to match probes to targets on the basis of shape or color with the relevant dimension shifting according to item context. A selective induction…

A Context-Aware Solution in Mobile Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fatahipour, Majid; Ghaseminajm, Mahnaz

2014-01-01

Despite obvious benefits, some challenges exist in the way of sustainable utilization of mobile phone technology for language learning tasks. This paper shows how these challenges can be better addressed in the light of recent advancements in mobile phone technology, like context aware mobile learning, informed with a sound pedagogical basis for…

To Activate English Learning: Listen and Speak in Real Life Context with an AR Featured U-Learning System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ho, Shu-Chun; Hsieh, Sheng-Wen; Sun, Pei-Chen; Chen, Cheng-Ming

2017-01-01

The increasing advance of mobile devices and wireless technologies has generated great interest in ubiquitous learning (u-learning) among academia, practitioners, and policy makers. However, design elements that incorporate learning styles and learning strategies into u-learning system applications in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education…

HERA: A New Platform for Embedding Agents in Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alonso, Ricardo S.; de Paz, Juan F.; García, Óscar; Gil, Óscar; González, Angélica

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) based systems require the development of innovative solutions that integrate distributed intelligent systems with context-aware technologies. In this sense, Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are two key technologies for developing distributed systems based on AmI scenarios. This paper presents the new HERA (Hardware-Embedded Reactive Agents) platform, that allows using dynamic and self-adaptable heterogeneous WSNs on which agents are directly embedded on the wireless nodes This approach facilitates the inclusion of context-aware capabilities in AmI systems to gather data from their surrounding environments, achieving a higher level of ubiquitous and pervasive computing.

Architecture of a framework for providing information services for public transport.

PubMed

García, Carmelo R; Pérez, Ricardo; Lorenzo, Alvaro; Quesada-Arencibia, Alexis; Alayón, Francisco; Padrón, Gabino

2012-01-01

This paper presents OnRoute, a framework for developing and running ubiquitous software that provides information services to passengers of public transportation, including payment systems and on-route guidance services. To achieve a high level of interoperability, accessibility and context awareness, OnRoute uses the ubiquitous computing paradigm. To guarantee the quality of the software produced, the reliable software principles used in critical contexts, such as automotive systems, are also considered by the framework. The main components of its architecture (run-time, system services, software components and development discipline) and how they are deployed in the transportation network (stations and vehicles) are described in this paper. Finally, to illustrate the use of OnRoute, the development of a guidance service for travellers is explained.

The Impacts of Network Centrality and Self-Regulation on an E-Learning Environment with the Support of Social Network Awareness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Jian-Wei; Huang, Hsieh-Hong; Chuang, Yuh-Shy

2015-01-01

An e-learning environment that supports social network awareness (SNA) is a highly effective means of increasing peer interaction and assisting student learning by raising awareness of social and learning contexts of peers. Network centrality profoundly impacts student learning in an SNA-related e-learning environment. Additionally,…

Ubiquitous testing using tablets: its impact on medical student perceptions of and engagement in learning.

PubMed

Kim, Kyong-Jee; Hwang, Jee-Young

2016-03-01

Ubiquitous testing has the potential to affect medical education by enhancing the authenticity of the assessment using multimedia items. This study explored medical students' experience with ubiquitous testing and its impact on student learning. A cohort (n=48) of third-year students at a medical school in South Korea participated in this study. The students were divided into two groups and were given different versions of 10 content-matched items: one in text version (the text group) and the other in multimedia version (the multimedia group). Multimedia items were delivered using tablets. Item response analyses were performed to compare item characteristics between the two versions. Additionally, focus group interviews were held to investigate the students' experiences of ubiquitous testing. The mean test score was significantly higher in the text group. Item difficulty and discrimination did not differ between text and multimedia items. The participants generally showed positive responses on ubiquitous testing. Still, they felt that the lectures that they had taken in preclinical years did not prepare them enough for this type of assessment and clinical encounters during clerkships were more helpful. To be better prepared, the participants felt that they needed to engage more actively in learning in clinical clerkships and have more access to multimedia learning resources. Ubiquitous testing can positively affect student learning by reinforcing the importance of being able to understand and apply knowledge in clinical contexts, which drives students to engage more actively in learning in clinical settings.

Language Learning Podcasts and Learners' Belief Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Basaran, Süleyman; Cabaroglu, Nese

2014-01-01

The ubiquitous use of Internet-based mobile devices in educational contexts means that mobile learning has become a plausible alternative to or a good complement for conventional classroom-based teaching. However, there is a lack of research that explores and defines the characteristics and effects of mobile language learning (LL) through language…

Learning Group Formation Based on Learner Profile and Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muehlenbrock, Martin

2006-01-01

An important but often neglected aspect in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) is the formation of learning groups. Until recently, most support for group formation was based on learner profile information. In addition, the perspective of ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence allows for a wider perspective on group formation,…

Connecting Learning Spaces Using Mobile Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Wenli; Seow, Peter; So, Hyo-Jeong; Toh, Yancy; Looi, Chee-Kit

2010-01-01

The use of mobile technology can help extend children's learning spaces and enrich the learning experiences in their everyday lives where they move from one context to another, switching locations, social groups, technologies, and topics. When students have ubiquitous access to mobile devices with full connectivity, the in-situ use of the mobile…

mlCAF: Multi-Level Cross-Domain Semantic Context Fusioning for Behavior Identification.

PubMed

Razzaq, Muhammad Asif; Villalonga, Claudia; Lee, Sungyoung; Akhtar, Usman; Ali, Maqbool; Kim, Eun-Soo; Khattak, Asad Masood; Seung, Hyonwoo; Hur, Taeho; Bang, Jaehun; Kim, Dohyeong; Ali Khan, Wajahat

2017-10-24

The emerging research on automatic identification of user's contexts from the cross-domain environment in ubiquitous and pervasive computing systems has proved to be successful. Monitoring the diversified user's contexts and behaviors can help in controlling lifestyle associated to chronic diseases using context-aware applications. However, availability of cross-domain heterogeneous contexts provides a challenging opportunity for their fusion to obtain abstract information for further analysis. This work demonstrates extension of our previous work from a single domain (i.e., physical activity) to multiple domains (physical activity, nutrition and clinical) for context-awareness. We propose multi-level Context-aware Framework (mlCAF), which fuses the multi-level cross-domain contexts in order to arbitrate richer behavioral contexts. This work explicitly focuses on key challenges linked to multi-level context modeling, reasoning and fusioning based on the mlCAF open-source ontology. More specifically, it addresses the interpretation of contexts from three different domains, their fusioning conforming to richer contextual information. This paper contributes in terms of ontology evolution with additional domains, context definitions, rules and inclusion of semantic queries. For the framework evaluation, multi-level cross-domain contexts collected from 20 users were used to ascertain abstract contexts, which served as basis for behavior modeling and lifestyle identification. The experimental results indicate a context recognition average accuracy of around 92.65% for the collected cross-domain contexts.

mlCAF: Multi-Level Cross-Domain Semantic Context Fusioning for Behavior Identification

PubMed Central

Villalonga, Claudia; Lee, Sungyoung; Akhtar, Usman; Ali, Maqbool; Kim, Eun-Soo; Khattak, Asad Masood; Seung, Hyonwoo; Hur, Taeho; Kim, Dohyeong; Ali Khan, Wajahat

2017-01-01

The emerging research on automatic identification of user’s contexts from the cross-domain environment in ubiquitous and pervasive computing systems has proved to be successful. Monitoring the diversified user’s contexts and behaviors can help in controlling lifestyle associated to chronic diseases using context-aware applications. However, availability of cross-domain heterogeneous contexts provides a challenging opportunity for their fusion to obtain abstract information for further analysis. This work demonstrates extension of our previous work from a single domain (i.e., physical activity) to multiple domains (physical activity, nutrition and clinical) for context-awareness. We propose multi-level Context-aware Framework (mlCAF), which fuses the multi-level cross-domain contexts in order to arbitrate richer behavioral contexts. This work explicitly focuses on key challenges linked to multi-level context modeling, reasoning and fusioning based on the mlCAF open-source ontology. More specifically, it addresses the interpretation of contexts from three different domains, their fusioning conforming to richer contextual information. This paper contributes in terms of ontology evolution with additional domains, context definitions, rules and inclusion of semantic queries. For the framework evaluation, multi-level cross-domain contexts collected from 20 users were used to ascertain abstract contexts, which served as basis for behavior modeling and lifestyle identification. The experimental results indicate a context recognition average accuracy of around 92.65% for the collected cross-domain contexts. PMID:29064459

Context-Aware Local Binary Feature Learning for Face Recognition.

PubMed

Duan, Yueqi; Lu, Jiwen; Feng, Jianjiang; Zhou, Jie

2018-05-01

In this paper, we propose a context-aware local binary feature learning (CA-LBFL) method for face recognition. Unlike existing learning-based local face descriptors such as discriminant face descriptor (DFD) and compact binary face descriptor (CBFD) which learn each feature code individually, our CA-LBFL exploits the contextual information of adjacent bits by constraining the number of shifts from different binary bits, so that more robust information can be exploited for face representation. Given a face image, we first extract pixel difference vectors (PDV) in local patches, and learn a discriminative mapping in an unsupervised manner to project each pixel difference vector into a context-aware binary vector. Then, we perform clustering on the learned binary codes to construct a codebook, and extract a histogram feature for each face image with the learned codebook as the final representation. In order to exploit local information from different scales, we propose a context-aware local binary multi-scale feature learning (CA-LBMFL) method to jointly learn multiple projection matrices for face representation. To make the proposed methods applicable for heterogeneous face recognition, we present a coupled CA-LBFL (C-CA-LBFL) method and a coupled CA-LBMFL (C-CA-LBMFL) method to reduce the modality gap of corresponding heterogeneous faces in the feature level, respectively. Extensive experimental results on four widely used face datasets clearly show that our methods outperform most state-of-the-art face descriptors.

The Social Semantic Web in Intelligent Learning Environments: State of the Art and Future Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jovanovic, Jelena; Gasevic, Dragan; Torniai, Carlo; Bateman, Scott; Hatala, Marek

2009-01-01

Today's technology-enhanced learning practices cater to students and teachers who use many different learning tools and environments and are used to a paradigm of interaction derived from open, ubiquitous, and socially oriented services. In this context, a crucial issue for education systems in general, and for Intelligent Learning Environments…

Parental Support and Enjoyment of Learning in Mathematics: Does Change in Parental Support Predict Change in Enjoyment of Learning?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buff, Alex; Reusser, Kurt; Dinkelmann, Iris

2017-01-01

Positive and negative emotions are ubiquitous in everyday school life, and can foster or impair processes of learning and achievement. However, learning- and achievement-related emotions are not based solely on experiences from respective situations in the school context. Rather, experiences outside of school, e.g. learning at home, are also…

Analysis of Means for Building Context-Aware Recommendation System for Mobile Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shcherbachenko, Larysa; Nowakowski, Samuel

2017-01-01

One of the rapidly developing tools for online learning is learning through a mobile environment. Therefore, developing and improving mobile learning environments is an active topic now. One of the ways to adapt the learning environment to the user's needs is to use his context. Context of the user consists of the current context in online…

Architecture of a Framework for Providing Information Services for Public Transport

PubMed Central

García, Carmelo R.; Pérez, Ricardo; Lorenzo, Álvaro; Quesada-Arencibia, Alexis; Alayón, Francisco; Padrón, Gabino

2012-01-01

This paper presents OnRoute, a framework for developing and running ubiquitous software that provides information services to passengers of public transportation, including payment systems and on-route guidance services. To achieve a high level of interoperability, accessibility and context awareness, OnRoute uses the ubiquitous computing paradigm. To guarantee the quality of the software produced, the reliable software principles used in critical contexts, such as automotive systems, are also considered by the framework. The main components of its architecture (run-time, system services, software components and development discipline) and how they are deployed in the transportation network (stations and vehicles) are described in this paper. Finally, to illustrate the use of OnRoute, the development of a guidance service for travellers is explained. PMID:22778585

Peer Interaction and Social Network Analysis of Online Communities with the Support of Awareness of Different Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Jian-Wei; Mai, Li-Jung; Lai, Yung-Cheng

2015-01-01

Although several studies related to social-context awareness (SA) and knowledge-context awareness (KA) argued that each (SA or KA) can individually enhance peer interaction in an online learning community, other studies reached opposite conclusions. These conflicting findings likely stem from different experimental settings. Most importantly, few…

Design, Development, and Evaluation of a Mobile Learning Application for Computing Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oyelere, Solomon Sunday; Suhonen, Jarkko; Wajiga, Greg M.; Sutinen, Erkki

2018-01-01

The study focused on the application of the design science research approach in the course of developing a mobile learning application, MobileEdu, for computing education in the Nigerian higher education context. MobileEdu facilitates the learning of computer science courses on mobile devices. The application supports ubiquitous, collaborative,…

Ubiquitous testing using tablets: its impact on medical student perceptions of and engagement in learning

PubMed Central

Kim, Kyong-Jee; Hwang, Jee-Young

2016-01-01

Purpose: Ubiquitous testing has the potential to affect medical education by enhancing the authenticity of the assessment using multimedia items. This study explored medical students’ experience with ubiquitous testing and its impact on student learning. Methods: A cohort (n=48) of third-year students at a medical school in South Korea participated in this study. The students were divided into two groups and were given different versions of 10 content-matched items: one in text version (the text group) and the other in multimedia version (the multimedia group). Multimedia items were delivered using tablets. Item response analyses were performed to compare item characteristics between the two versions. Additionally, focus group interviews were held to investigate the students’ experiences of ubiquitous testing. Results: The mean test score was significantly higher in the text group. Item difficulty and discrimination did not differ between text and multimedia items. The participants generally showed positive responses on ubiquitous testing. Still, they felt that the lectures that they had taken in preclinical years did not prepare them enough for this type of assessment and clinical encounters during clerkships were more helpful. To be better prepared, the participants felt that they needed to engage more actively in learning in clinical clerkships and have more access to multimedia learning resources. Conclusion: Ubiquitous testing can positively affect student learning by reinforcing the importance of being able to understand and apply knowledge in clinical contexts, which drives students to engage more actively in learning in clinical settings. PMID:26838569

An Experiment for Improving Students Performance in Secondary and Tertiary Education by Means of M-Learning Auto-Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de-Marcos, Luis; Hilera, Jose Ramon; Barchino, Roberto; Jimenez, Lourdes; Martinez, Jose Javier; Gutierrez, Jose Antonio; Gutierrez, Jose Maria; Oton, Salvador

2010-01-01

Mobile learning is considered an evolution of e-learning that embraces the ubiquitous nature of current computational systems in order to improve teaching and learning. Within this context it is possible to develop mobile applications oriented to learning, but it is also important to assess to what extent such applications actually work. In this…

A Mobile Context-Aware Framework for Managing Learning Schedules--Data Analysis from a Diary Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yau, Jane Y.-K.; Joy, Mike; Dickert, Stephan

2010-01-01

We report the results of a diary study to determine whether a diary approach could be used as a successful way of retrieving a) the user's learning contexts, b) which learning contexts are significant for consideration within an m-learning application, and c) which learning materials are appropriate for which learning situation. Analyses of data…

Brief Report: Teachers' Awareness of the Relationship between Prior Knowledge and New Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 2016

2016-01-01

The author examined the degree to which experienced teachers are aware of the relationship between prior knowledge and new learning. Interviews with teachers revealed that they were explicitly aware of when students made connections between prior knowledge and new learning, when they applied their prior knowledge to new contexts, and when they…

An Exploration into First-Year University Students' Approaches to Inquiry and Online Learning Technologies in Blended Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ellis, Robert A.; Bliuc, Ana-Maria

2016-01-01

The use of online learning technologies in experiences of inquiry is increasingly ubiquitous in university contexts. In blended environments, research into university experiences suggests that student approaches to learning are a key determiner of the quality of outcomes. The purpose of this study was to develop relevant measures which help…

The Lost Lamb: A Literature Review on the Confusion of College Students in China

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dong, Jianmei; Han, Fubin

2010-01-01

With the development of mass higher education in China, confusion--a contradictory state between college students' awareness of employment, learning, morality, and their own behavior and societal requirements--is proving a ubiquitous problem among college students. His confusion has garnered much social attention. In this paper, the origins of…

Does Daltonism Influence Young Children's Learning?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suero, M.I.; Perez, A.L.; Diaz, F.; Montanero, M.; Pardo, P.J.; Gil, J.; Palomino, M.I.

2005-01-01

Anomalies in colour vision constitute a particular type of sensory deficiency whose influence in educational contexts has attracted surprisingly little research attention given its ubiquitous use in various learning activities as a code, an aid, or even as the focus of the activity itself, especially during early education. We here describe a…

Computer Assisted Language Learning and the Internationalisation of the Portuguese Language in Higher Education Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sevilla-Pavón, Ana

2015-01-01

The internationalisation of the Portuguese language has become a priority for academic institutions of different Portuguese-speaking countries which are trying to adapt to the current context of globalisation and ubiquitous communications through digital media. In order to achieve it, several challenges should be faced, namely providing…

Minimalism context-aware displays.

PubMed

Cai, Yang

2004-12-01

Despite the rapid development of cyber technologies, today we still have very limited attention and communication bandwidth to process the increasing information flow. The goal of the study is to develop a context-aware filter to match the information load with particular needs and capacities. The functions include bandwidth-resolution trade-off and user context modeling. From the empirical lab studies, it is found that the resolution of images can be reduced in order of magnitude if the viewer knows that he/she is looking for particular features. The adaptive display queue is optimized with real-time operational conditions and user's inquiry history. Instead of measuring operator's behavior directly, ubiquitous computing models are developed to anticipate user's behavior from the operational environment data. A case study of the video stream monitoring for transit security is discussed in the paper. In addition, the author addresses the future direction of coherent human-machine vision systems.

An Infrastructure to Enable Lightweight Context-Awareness for Mobile Users

PubMed Central

Curiel, Pablo; Lago, Ana B.

2013-01-01

Mobile phones enable us to carry out a wider range of tasks every day, and as a result they have become more ubiquitous than ever. However, they are still more limited in terms of processing power and interaction capabilities than traditional computers, and the often distracting and time-constricted scenarios in which we use them do not help in alleviating these limitations. Context-awareness is a valuable technique to address these issues, as it enables to adapt application behaviour to each situation. In this paper we present a context management infrastructure for mobile environments, aimed at controlling context information life-cycle in this kind of scenarios, with the main goal of enabling application and services to adapt their behaviour to better meet end-user needs. This infrastructure relies on semantic technologies and open standards to improve interoperability, and is based on a central element, the context manager. This element acts as a central context repository and takes most of the computational burden derived from dealing with this kind of information, thus relieving from these tasks to more resource-scarce devices in the system. PMID:23899932

Hybrid Multiagent System for Automatic Object Learning Classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gil, Ana; de La Prieta, Fernando; López, Vivian F.

The rapid evolution within the context of e-learning is closely linked to international efforts on the standardization of learning object metadata, which provides learners in a web-based educational system with ubiquitous access to multiple distributed repositories. This article presents a hybrid agent-based architecture that enables the recovery of learning objects tagged in Learning Object Metadata (LOM) and provides individualized help with selecting learning materials to make the most suitable choice among many alternatives.

Harnessing the power of mobile technologies for collaborating, crowdsourcing, and creating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crompton, H.

2015-12-01

Today's digital technologies can have a powerful influence on teaching and learning. M-learning and u-learning in particular are changing pedagogical practice. Sub categories are rapidly emerging, such as context-aware ubiquitous learning, that involve students learning subject content while immersed in authentic and relevant surroundings. Learning cultures are a nebulous blend of traditions, values, beliefs, and rituals built up over time. For a long time, education has long been conceived as classroom-based and predominantly sedentary (Merchant, 2012). Recent mobile technologies are disrupting this culture in favor of learning that is contextualized, personalized, on demand, and ubiquitous (Crompton, 2013). 21st century students are a different breed than past generations (Prensky, 2001). These students have grown up in a time that has not only altered their perceptions and practices but modified the wiring of the brain through neuroplasticity (Crompton, 2012). Students now cognitively receive information quickly through non-linear methods (Gross, 2003, Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005). They think differently. They also seem to be attached to mobile devices 24/7, although the content of the lesson does not match what they seem to be doing on the mobile devices. This presentation will showcase how to get your students to harness the power of mobile devices for educational purposes. For example, students in your classes will be using devices to collaborate on activities with Google Forms, crowdsourcing the best class questions in Slido, and screencasting thoughts and ideas to share with others with Educreations. These are examples of free apps or Web 2.0 tools that can be used on all the major mobile platforms. Crompton, H. (2013). Mobile learning: New approach, new theory. In Z. L. Berge & L. Y. Muilenburg (Eds.), Handbook of mobile learning (pp. 47-57). Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. Mcb University Press, 9(5). Oblinger, D., & Oblinger, J. (2005). Educating the Net Generation. EDUCAUSE http://www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen Merchant, G. (2012). Mobile practices in everyday life: Popular digital technologies and schooling revisited. British Journal of Educational Technology, 43(5), 770-782.

Improving Understanding and Trust with Intelligibility in Context-Aware Applications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lim, Brian Y.

2012-01-01

To facilitate everyday activities, context-aware applications use sensors to detect what is happening and use increasingly complex mechanisms ( e.g., by using big rule-sets or machine learning) to infer the user's context and intent. For example, a mobile application can recognize that the user is in a conversation and suppress any incoming…

CAMS 2009 PC Co-chairs' Message

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hinze, Annika; Buchanan, George

In the four years since the first CAMS workshop, context awareness has become an increasingly commonplace tool for mobile developers. The limited screen displays of many mobile devices mean that content must be carefully selected to match the user's needs and expectations, and context provides one powerful means of performing such tailoring. Furthermore, increasing availability of additional hardware sensors has bolstered the use of context. GPS, Near-Field Communication, Bluetooth and WiFi have all been used to sense the general environment and to determine the devices' location. Light and tilt sensors have also been used to tune simple features such as the strength of the display lighting, through to complex uses in game control. Context-aware mobile systems are becoming ubiquitous. With this hardware comes the opportunity for "on-board" applications to use location data to provide new services - until recently such systems could only be created with complex and expensive components. Furthermore, the current "mode" of the phone (e.g., silent, meeting, outdoors), contents of the built-in calendar, etc., can all used to provide a rich context for the user's immediate environment.

The Pedagogic Architecture of MOOC: A Research Project on Educational Courses in Spanish

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fernández-Díaz, Elia; Rodríguez-Hoyos, Carlos; Salvador, Adelina Calvo

2017-01-01

This study has been carried out within the context of the ECO European Project (E-learning, Communication Open-Data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous, and Open Learning) which is being financed by the European Union over four years (2014-17). It analyses the pedagogic architecture of MOOC on pedagogic/educational subjects in Spanish over one academic…

Intercultural Learning--An Undergraduate Module Supporting the Development of Students' Cultural Awareness in International Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colaiacomo, Silvia; Puntil, Donata

2018-01-01

This report illustrates the context and development of the Intercultural Learning module, provided by the Modern Language Centre (MLC), King's College London. The Intercultural Learning Module is a one semester undergraduate course mostly attended by visiting study abroad students. The module aims to enhance students' intercultural awareness and…

How Do School Leaders Navigate ICT Educational Reform? Policy Learning Narratives from a Singapore Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chua Reyes, Vicente

2015-01-01

The purpose of this research inquiry focuses on how school leaders "make sense" of educational reform in their local contexts. In order to do this, an exploratory qualitative case study of two schools that took part in policy reform initiatives directed at ubiquitous use of information communication and technology (ICT) in the Singapore…

Location-Based Learning through Augmented Reality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chou, Te-Lien; Chanlin, Lih-Juan

2014-01-01

A context-aware and mixed-reality exploring tool cannot only effectively provide an information-rich environment to users, but also allows them to quickly utilize useful resources and enhance environment awareness. This study integrates Augmented Reality (AR) technology into smartphones to create a stimulating learning experience at a university…

Amplifying Student Learning through Volunteering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McFadden, Amanda; Smeaton, Kathleen

2017-01-01

Student volunteer experiences are ubiquitous within higher education contexts. Despite this, there is further scope for understanding the qualitatively different ways students experience volunteering. To achieve this an explicit focus on understanding volunteer experiences from the students' perspective and the relationship these experiences have…

Adaptive Multimedia Content Delivery for Context-Aware U-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhao, Xinyou; Okamoto, Toshio

2011-01-01

Empowered by mobile computing, teachers and students can benefit from computing in more scenarios beyond the traditional computer classroom. But because of the much diversity of device specification, learning contents and mobile context existing today, the learners get a bad learning experience (e.g. rich contents cannot be displayed correctly)…

Awareness as an Enactivist Framework for the Mathematical Learning of Teachers, Mentors and Institutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Preciado-Babb, Armando Paulino; Metz, Martina; Marcotte, Chenoa

2015-01-01

This paper explores the learning of both individuals and organizations within the context of a 3-year professional development program for mathematics and science teachers in a middle school. We propose to extend the notion of awareness from individuals to autonomous systems as a means to study the learning of teachers, mentors, the school, and…

Toward interactive context-aware affective educational recommendations in computer-assisted language learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santos, Olga C.; Saneiro, Mar; Boticario, Jesus G.; Rodriguez-Sanchez, M. C.

2016-01-01

This work explores the benefits of supporting learners affectively in a context-aware learning situation. This features a new challenge in related literature in terms of providing affective educational recommendations that take advantage of ambient intelligence and are delivered through actuators available in the environment, thus going beyond previous approaches which provided computer-based recommendation that present some text or tell aloud the learner what to do. To address this open issue, we have applied TORMES elicitation methodology, which has been used to investigate the potential of ambient intelligence for making more interactive recommendations in an emotionally challenging scenario (i.e. preparing for the oral examination of a second language learning course). Arduino open source electronics prototyping platform is used both to sense changes in the learners' affective state and to deliver the recommendation in a more interactive way through different complementary sensory communication channels (sight, hearing, touch) to cope with a universal design. An Ambient Intelligence Context-aware Affective Recommender Platform (AICARP) has been built to support the whole experience, which represents a progress in the state of the art. In particular, we have come up with what is most likely the first interactive context-aware affective educational recommendation. The value of this contribution lies in discussing methodological and practical issues involved.

A Context Awareness System for Online Learning: Design Based Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laffey, James; Amelung, Chris; Goggins, Sean

2009-01-01

A design based research strategy examining the impressions and behavior of members of courses taught entirely online is used for refining a context-aware activity notification system (CANS). The findings show that CANS must address substantial variety in courses and members while also fitting with multitasking between online and real world…

AI Techniques in a Context-Aware Ubiquitous Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coppola, Paolo; Mea, Vincenzo Della; di Gaspero, Luca; Lomuscio, Raffaella; Mischis, Danny; Mizzaro, Stefano; Nazzi, Elena; Scagnetto, Ivan; Vassena, Luca

Nowadays, the mobile computing paradigm and the widespread diffusion of mobile devices are quickly changing and replacing many common assumptions about software architectures and interaction/communication models. The environment, in particular, or more generally, the so-called user context is claiming a central role in everyday’s use of cellular phones, PDAs, etc. This is due to the huge amount of data “suggested” by the surrounding environment that can be helpful in many common tasks. For instance, the current context can help a search engine to refine the set of results in a useful way, providing the user with a more suitable and exploitable information. Moreover, we can take full advantage of this new data source by “pushing” active contents towards mobile devices, empowering the latter with new features (e.g., applications) that can allow the user to fruitfully interact with the current context. Following this vision, mobile devices become dynamic self-adapting tools, according to the user needs and the possibilities offered by the environment. The present work proposes MoBe: an approach for providing a basic infrastructure for pervasive context-aware applications on mobile devices, in which AI techniques (namely a principled combination of rule-based systems, Bayesian networks and ontologies) are applied to context inference. The aim is to devise a general inferential framework to make easier the development of context-aware applications by integrating the information coming from physical and logical sensors (e.g., position, agenda) and reasoning about this information in order to infer new and more abstract contexts.

Health Communications in Rural America: Lessons Learned from an Arthritis Campaign in Rural Arkansas

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balamurugan, Appathurai; Rivera, Mark; Sutphin, Kim; Campbell, Debbie

2007-01-01

Context: Lack of awareness about diseases and associated risk factors could partially account for some rural health disparities. Health communications campaigns can be an effective means of increasing awareness in these areas. Purpose: To review findings and lessons learned from a rural health communications campaign. Methods: The health…

Hybrid-Aware Model for Senior Wellness Service in Smart Home.

PubMed

Jung, Yuchae

2017-05-22

Smart home technology with situation-awareness is important for seniors to improve safety and security. With the development of context-aware computing, wearable sensor technology, and ubiquitous computing, it is easier for seniors to manage their health problem in smart home environment. For monitoring senior activity in smart home, wearable, and motion sensors-such as respiration rate (RR), electrocardiography (ECG), body temperature, and blood pressure (BP)-were used for monitoring movements of seniors. For context-awareness, environmental sensors-such as gas, fire, smoke, dust, temperature, and light sensors-were used for senior location data collection. Based on senior activity, senior health status can be classified into positive and negative. Based on senior location and time, senior safety is classified into safe and emergency. In this paper, we propose a hybrid inspection service middleware for monitoring elderly health risk based on senior activity and location. This hybrid-aware model for the detection of abnormal status of seniors has four steps as follows: (1) data collection from biosensors and environmental sensors; (2) monitoring senior location and time of stay in each location using environmental sensors; (3) monitoring senior activity using biometric data; finally, (4) expectation-maximization based decision-making step recommending proper treatment based on a senior health risk ratio.

Hybrid-Aware Model for Senior Wellness Service in Smart Home

PubMed Central

Jung, Yuchae

2017-01-01

Smart home technology with situation-awareness is important for seniors to improve safety and security. With the development of context-aware computing, wearable sensor technology, and ubiquitous computing, it is easier for seniors to manage their health problem in smart home environment. For monitoring senior activity in smart home, wearable, and motion sensors—such as respiration rate (RR), electrocardiography (ECG), body temperature, and blood pressure (BP)—were used for monitoring movements of seniors. For context-awareness, environmental sensors—such as gas, fire, smoke, dust, temperature, and light sensors—were used for senior location data collection. Based on senior activity, senior health status can be classified into positive and negative. Based on senior location and time, senior safety is classified into safe and emergency. In this paper, we propose a hybrid inspection service middleware for monitoring elderly health risk based on senior activity and location. This hybrid-aware model for the detection of abnormal status of seniors has four steps as follows: (1) data collection from biosensors and environmental sensors; (2) monitoring senior location and time of stay in each location using environmental sensors; (3) monitoring senior activity using biometric data; finally, (4) expectation-maximization based decision-making step recommending proper treatment based on a senior health risk ratio. PMID:28531157

What is the context of contextual cueing?

PubMed

Makovski, Tal

2016-12-01

People have a powerful ability to extract regularities from noisy environments and to utilize this knowledge to assist in visual search. Extensive research has shown that this ability, termed contextual cueing (CC), is robust and ubiquitous, but it is still unclear what exactly is the context that is being leaned. Researchers have typically focused on how people learn spatial configuration regularities and have hence used simplified, meaningless search stimuli. Here, observers performed visual search tasks using images of real-world objects. The results revealed that, contrary to past findings, the repetition of either arbitrary spatial information or identity information was not sufficient to produce context learning. Instead, learning was found only when both types of information were repeated together. These results were further replicated in hybrid search tasks, in which subjects looked for multiple target templates. Together, these data suggest that CC is more limited than typically assumed, yet this learning is highly robust.

Teaching Creativity in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Livingston, Larry

2010-01-01

Individual creativity is ubiquitous. New technologies both enable and urge fresh approaches to creativity in the context of education. University-level education offers a natural place to adjust pedagogical structures in favor of a more individual approach to learning that organizes the intellectual community into new patters of interaction and…

A Study of User's Acceptance on Situational Mashups in Situational Language Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Angus F. M.; Yang, Stephen J. H.; Liaw, Shu-Sheng

2012-01-01

Situational awareness and mashups are two key factors influencing the success of situational language teaching. However, traditional situational language teaching cannot smoothly conduct relevant learning activities in changing learning context. This study developed a situational mashups system for detecting users' context and proposed a research…

Gamifying Outdoor Social Inquiry Learning with Context-Aware Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jong, Morris Siu-Yung; Chan, Tom; Tam, Vincent; Hue, Ming-Tak

2017-01-01

Gamification is a strategy of using game mechanics and experience design to digitally engage people to achieve intended goals in non-game contexts. There has been increasing discussion among educators and researchers about harnessing the idea of gamification to enhance current learning and teaching practices in school education. This paper…

A Collaborative Model for Ubiquitous Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barbosa, Jorge; Barbosa, Debora; Rabello, Solon

2016-01-01

Use of mobile devices and widespread adoption of wireless networks have enabled the emergence of Ubiquitous Computing. Application of this technology to improving education strategies gave rise to Ubiquitous e-Learning, also known as Ubiquitous Learning. There are several approaches to organizing ubiquitous learning environments, but most of them…

Homeschooling, Virtual Learning, and the Eroding Public/Private Binary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saiger, Aaron

2016-01-01

Regulators ubiquitously dichotomize schooling into two discrete sectors: "public" and "private". Although homeschooling is regulated in some contexts as a third sector, the general approach is to treat it as a species of private education by subjecting it to public regulation while simultaneously denying it public funds. But…

Childhood Wellbeing: What Role for Education?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spratt, Jennifer

2016-01-01

The word wellbeing is ubiquitous in political discourse, and concerns about childhood wellbeing are particularly rife. This paper identifies, in the context of Scottish policy, how different professional discourses of wellbeing have migrated into education policy and it examines how this relates to learning. Taking a view of policy enactment as…

A Mobile Gamification Learning System for Improving the Learning Motivation and Achievements

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Su, C-H.; Cheng, C-H.

2015-01-01

This paper aims to investigate how a gamified learning approach influences science learning, achievement and motivation, through a context-aware mobile learning environment, and explains the effects on motivation and student learning. A series of gamified learning activities, based on MGLS (Mobile Gamification Learning System), was developed and…

The Construction of an Ontology-Based Ubiquitous Learning Grid

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liao, Ching-Jung; Chou, Chien-Chih; Yang, Jin-Tan David

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study is to incorporate adaptive ontology into ubiquitous learning grid to achieve seamless learning environment. Ubiquitous learning grid uses ubiquitous computing environment to infer and determine the most adaptive learning contents and procedures in anytime, any place and with any device. To achieve the goal, an…

Context-Aware Recommender Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adomavicius, Gediminas; Tuzhilin, Alexander

The importance of contextual information has been recognized by researchers and practitioners in many disciplines, including e-commerce personalization, information retrieval, ubiquitous and mobile computing, data mining, marketing, and management. While a substantial amount of research has already been performed in the area of recommender systems, most existing approaches focus on recommending the most relevant items to users without taking into account any additional contextual information, such as time, location, or the company of other people (e.g., for watching movies or dining out). In this chapter we argue that relevant contextual information does matter in recommender systems and that it is important to take this information into account when providing recommendations. We discuss the general notion of context and how it can be modeled in recommender systems. Furthermore, we introduce three different algorithmic paradigms - contextual prefiltering, post-filtering, and modeling - for incorporating contextual information into the recommendation process, discuss the possibilities of combining several contextaware recommendation techniques into a single unifying approach, and provide a case study of one such combined approach. Finally, we present additional capabilities for context-aware recommenders and discuss important and promising directions for future research.

What's in a Word? Some Ideas to Help with Spelling Awareness. P.E.N. (Primary English Notes) 50.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Barbara

1985-01-01

The teaching activities presented in this pamphlet present some ways of helping children acquire a few "mechanisms" to support exploration, growth, and search in language learning and, more specifically, in spelling awareness. The pamphlet begins with a discussion of the context for learning strategies to use in exploring language. Then…

Context-aware workflow management of mobile health applications.

PubMed

Salden, Alfons; Poortinga, Remco

2006-01-01

We propose a medical application management architecture that allows medical (IT) experts readily designing, developing and deploying context-aware mobile health (m-health) applications or services. In particular, we elaborate on how our application workflow management architecture enables chaining, coordinating, composing, and adapting context-sensitive medical application components such that critical Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Context (QoC) requirements typical for m-health applications or services can be met. This functional architectural support requires learning modules for distilling application-critical selection of attention and anticipation models. These models will help medical experts constructing and adjusting on-the-fly m-health application workflows and workflow strategies. We illustrate our context-aware workflow management paradigm for a m-health data delivery problem, in which optimal communication network configurations have to be determined.

Mobile-Based Collaborative Learning in the Fitness Center: A Case Study on the Development of English Listening Comprehension with a Context-Aware Application

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Gi-Zen; Chen, Jing-Yao; Hwang, Gwo-Jen

2018-01-01

Mobile applications on the go have been adopted in many fields and areas. However, there has been little research regarding the development and use of a context-aware application for users to improve their English listening comprehension through collaboration. This research aimed at helping users improve their listening comprehension with a…

An Intelligent Semantic E-Learning Framework Using Context-Aware Semantic Web Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Weihong; Webster, David; Wood, Dawn; Ishaya, Tanko

2006-01-01

Recent developments of e-learning specifications such as Learning Object Metadata (LOM), Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), Learning Design and other pedagogy research in semantic e-learning have shown a trend of applying innovative computational techniques, especially Semantic Web technologies, to promote existing content-focused…

Foundations of the Self Awareness and Interpersonal Communication Workshop.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keltner, John W.

A review of the history and development of experiential learning in its educational and therapeutic contexts emphasizes the value of self-awareness as a prerequisite to interpersonal and group development. It also serves to underscore the potential of the Self Awareness and Interpersonal Communication (SAIC) program in an American society with…

Language Learning Experience in School Context and Metacognitive Awareness of Multilingual Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Le Pichon Vorstman, Emmanuelle; De Swart, Henriette; Ceginskas, Viktorija; Van Den Bergh, Huub

2009-01-01

What is the influence of a language learning experience (LLE) in a school context on the metacognitive development of children? To answer that question, we presented 54 multilingual preschoolers with two movie clips and examined their reactions to an exolingual situation of communication. These preschoolers were aged four and a half to six and a…

How International Field Experiences Promote Cross-Cultural Awareness in Preservice Teachers through Experiential Learning: Findings from a Six-Year Collective Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malewski, Erik; Sharma, Suniti; Phillion, JoAnn

2012-01-01

Background/Context: The article examines how international field experiences promote cross-cultural awareness in U.S. American preservice teachers through experiential learning. The findings presented here are based on a 6-year study of a short-term study abroad program in Honduras that included an international field experience component and took…

Supporting Interoperability and Context-Awareness in E-Learning through Situation-Driven Learning Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dietze, Stefan; Gugliotta, Alessio; Domingue, John

2009-01-01

Current E-Learning technologies primarily follow a data and metadata-centric paradigm by providing the learner with composite content containing the learning resources and the learning process description, usually based on specific metadata standards such as ADL SCORM or IMS Learning Design. Due to the design-time binding of learning resources,…

Awareness and Monitoring in Outdoor Marine Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stepath, Carl

2004-01-01

Background: This paper examines learning relationships associated with awareness, attitude and participatory action skills in the context of community education programs concerning the marine environment. Purpose: An investigation of the relationship of experiential marine education to environmental knowledge, attitudes and responsible ecological…

Context-Aware Recommender Systems for Learning: A Survey and Future Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Verbert, K.; Manouselis, N.; Ochoa, X.; Wolpers, M.; Drachsler, H.; Bosnic, I.; Duval, E.

2012-01-01

Recommender systems have been researched extensively by the Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) community during the last decade. By identifying suitable resources from a potentially overwhelming variety of choices, such systems offer a promising approach to facilitate both learning and teaching tasks. As learning is taking place in extremely…

Understanding Resistance: Reflections on Race and Privilege through Service-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Espino, Michelle M.; Lee, Jenny J.

2011-01-01

Service-learning has been hailed as an effective means to bridge classroom learning with practical application in the local context. Numerous studies have demonstrated the educational value of service-learning, particularly the potential to build awareness and appreciation for diversity. Students' resistance to even acknowledging issues of…

Ubiquitous Versus One-to-One

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McAnear, Anita

2006-01-01

When we planned the editorial calendar with the topic ubiquitous computing, we were thinking of ubiquitous computing as the one-to-one ratio of computers to students and teachers and 24/7 access to electronic resources. At the time, we were aware that ubiquitous computing in the computer science field had more to do with wearable computers. Our…

Critical Language Awareness in Pedagogic Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ali, Shamim

2011-01-01

This study was designed to investigate the significance of developing students' critical language awareness through explicit teaching methodology of some procedures of critical discourse analysis. The researcher integrated critical activities into her teaching and students' learning process. The study was planned prudently to discover the…

Towards New Learning Partnerships in Bilingual Educational Contexts--Raising "Learner Awareness" and Creating Conditions for "Reciprocity" and "Pedagogic Attention"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruiz de Zarobe, Yolanda; Coyle, Do

2015-01-01

This article addresses the need to develop new pedagogic approaches which promote learner independence in contexts where learning takes place through the medium of more than one language. The challenges of responding to a rapidly changing educational landscape to ensure that our learners become pluriliterate global citizens are presented through…

From Learning Object to Learning Cell: A Resource Organization Model for Ubiquitous Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yu, Shengquan; Yang, Xianmin; Cheng, Gang

2013-01-01

The key to implementing ubiquitous learning is the construction and organization of learning resources. While current research on ubiquitous learning has primarily focused on concept models, supportive environments and small-scale empirical research, exploring ways to organize learning resources to make them available anywhere on-demand is also…

New Aspect of Technology Adoption: A Case Study of Students' Self-Made English-Learning Video

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tai, Yaming; Ting, Yu-Liang

2016-01-01

Understanding how students perceive and adopt technology in their daily life is particularly relevant to today's Information and Communication Technology (ICT) environment, in which versatile ICT tools are becoming more and more pervasive, almost ubiquitous in our day-to-day activities. In the context of English as a foreign language, this study…

Formative Research in Ubiquitous and Virtual Environments in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Velandia-Mesa, Cristian; Serrano-Pastor, Francisca-José; Martínez-Segura, María-José

2017-01-01

Academic training in research is fundamental in the quality of higher education and within this context, technological mediation becomes pivotal to reach student-centered learning objectives in any moment and at any time. The findings of a study, the purpose of which has been to evaluate the results of the formative research of two groups of…

Cloud computing for context-aware enhanced m-Health services.

PubMed

Fernandez-Llatas, Carlos; Pileggi, Salvatore F; Ibañez, Gema; Valero, Zoe; Sala, Pilar

2015-01-01

m-Health services are increasing its presence in our lives due to the high penetration of new smartphone devices. This new scenario proposes new challenges in terms of information accessibility that require new paradigms which enable the new applications to access the data in a continuous and ubiquitous way, ensuring the privacy required depending on the kind of data accessed. This paper proposes an architecture based on cloud computing paradigms in order to empower new m-Health applications to enrich their results by providing secure access to user data.

A survey of online activity recognition using mobile phones.

PubMed

Shoaib, Muhammad; Bosch, Stephan; Incel, Ozlem Durmaz; Scholten, Hans; Havinga, Paul J M

2015-01-19

Physical activity recognition using embedded sensors has enabled many context-aware applications in different areas, such as healthcare. Initially, one or more dedicated wearable sensors were used for such applications. However, recently, many researchers started using mobile phones for this purpose, since these ubiquitous devices are equipped with various sensors, ranging from accelerometers to magnetic field sensors. In most of the current studies, sensor data collected for activity recognition are analyzed offline using machine learning tools. However, there is now a trend towards implementing activity recognition systems on these devices in an online manner, since modern mobile phones have become more powerful in terms of available resources, such as CPU, memory and battery. The research on offline activity recognition has been reviewed in several earlier studies in detail. However, work done on online activity recognition is still in its infancy and is yet to be reviewed. In this paper, we review the studies done so far that implement activity recognition systems on mobile phones and use only their on-board sensors. We discuss various aspects of these studies. Moreover, we discuss their limitations and present various recommendations for future research.

Learning Activities: Students and Recycling. [and] Automobile Aerodynamics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLaughlin, Charles H., Jr.; Schieber, Rich

1994-01-01

The first learning activity is intended to heighten students' awareness of the need for recycling, reuse, and reduction of materials; the second explores the aerodynamics of automobiles. Both include context, concept, objectives, procedure, and materials needed. (SK)

Active and Passive Technology Integration: A Novel Approach for Managing Technology's Influence on Learning Experiences in Context-Aware Learning Spaces

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laine, Teemu H.; Nygren, Eeva

2016-01-01

Technology integration is the process of overcoming different barriers that hinder efficient utilisation of learning technologies. The authors divide technology integration into two components based on technology's role in the integration process. In active integration, the technology integrates learning resources into a learning space, making it…

Context-Aware Generative Adversarial Privacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Chong; Kairouz, Peter; Chen, Xiao; Sankar, Lalitha; Rajagopal, Ram

2017-12-01

Preserving the utility of published datasets while simultaneously providing provable privacy guarantees is a well-known challenge. On the one hand, context-free privacy solutions, such as differential privacy, provide strong privacy guarantees, but often lead to a significant reduction in utility. On the other hand, context-aware privacy solutions, such as information theoretic privacy, achieve an improved privacy-utility tradeoff, but assume that the data holder has access to dataset statistics. We circumvent these limitations by introducing a novel context-aware privacy framework called generative adversarial privacy (GAP). GAP leverages recent advancements in generative adversarial networks (GANs) to allow the data holder to learn privatization schemes from the dataset itself. Under GAP, learning the privacy mechanism is formulated as a constrained minimax game between two players: a privatizer that sanitizes the dataset in a way that limits the risk of inference attacks on the individuals' private variables, and an adversary that tries to infer the private variables from the sanitized dataset. To evaluate GAP's performance, we investigate two simple (yet canonical) statistical dataset models: (a) the binary data model, and (b) the binary Gaussian mixture model. For both models, we derive game-theoretically optimal minimax privacy mechanisms, and show that the privacy mechanisms learned from data (in a generative adversarial fashion) match the theoretically optimal ones. This demonstrates that our framework can be easily applied in practice, even in the absence of dataset statistics.

Integrating Collaborative and Decentralized Models to Support Ubiquitous Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barbosa, Jorge Luis Victória; Barbosa, Débora Nice Ferrari; Rigo, Sandro José; de Oliveira, Jezer Machado; Rabello, Solon Andrade, Jr.

2014-01-01

The application of ubiquitous technologies in the improvement of education strategies is called Ubiquitous Learning. This article proposes the integration between two models dedicated to support ubiquitous learning environments, called Global and CoolEdu. CoolEdu is a generic collaboration model for decentralized environments. Global is an…

RFID sensor-tags feeding a context-aware rule-based healthcare monitoring system.

PubMed

Catarinucci, Luca; Colella, Riccardo; Esposito, Alessandra; Tarricone, Luciano; Zappatore, Marco

2012-12-01

Along with the growing of the aging population and the necessity of efficient wellness systems, there is a mounting demand for new technological solutions able to support remote and proactive healthcare. An answer to this need could be provided by the joint use of the emerging Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies and advanced software choices. This paper presents a proposal for a context-aware infrastructure for ubiquitous and pervasive monitoring of heterogeneous healthcare-related scenarios, fed by RFID-based wireless sensors nodes. The software framework is based on a general purpose architecture exploiting three key implementation choices: ontology representation, multi-agent paradigm and rule-based logic. From the hardware point of view, the sensing and gathering of context-data is demanded to a new Enhanced RFID Sensor-Tag. This new device, de facto, makes possible the easy integration between RFID and generic sensors, guaranteeing flexibility and preserving the benefits in terms of simplicity of use and low cost of UHF RFID technology. The system is very efficient and versatile and its customization to new scenarios requires a very reduced effort, substantially limited to the update/extension of the ontology codification. Its effectiveness is demonstrated by reporting both customization effort and performance results obtained from validation in two different healthcare monitoring contexts.

Context-aware access control for pervasive access to process-based healthcare systems.

PubMed

Koufi, Vassiliki; Vassilacopoulos, George

2008-01-01

Healthcare is an increasingly collaborative enterprise involving a broad range of healthcare services provided by many individuals and organizations. Grid technology has been widely recognized as a means for integrating disparate computing resources in the healthcare field. Moreover, Grid portal applications can be developed on a wireless and mobile infrastructure to execute healthcare processes which, in turn, can provide remote access to Grid database services. Such an environment provides ubiquitous and pervasive access to integrated healthcare services at the point of care, thus improving healthcare quality. In such environments, the ability to provide an effective access control mechanism that meets the requirement of the least privilege principle is essential. Adherence to the least privilege principle requires continuous adjustments of user permissions in order to adapt to the current situation. This paper presents a context-aware access control mechanism for HDGPortal, a Grid portal application which provides access to workflow-based healthcare processes using wireless Personal Digital Assistants. The proposed mechanism builds upon and enhances security mechanisms provided by the Grid Security Infrastructure. It provides tight, just-in-time permissions so that authorized users get access to specific objects according to the current context. These permissions are subject to continuous adjustments triggered by the changing context. Thus, the risk of compromising information integrity during task executions is reduced.

Role of Passive Capturing in a Ubiquitous Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ogata, Hiroaki; Hou, Bin; Li, MengMeng; Uosaki, Noriko; Mouri, Kousuke

2013-01-01

Ubiquitous Learning Log (ULL) is defined as a digital record of what you have learned in the daily life using ubiquitous technologies. This paper focuses on how to capture learning experiences in our daily life for vocabulary learning. In our previous works, we developed a system named SCROLL (System for Capturing and Reminding Of Learning Log) in…

Toward Interactive Mobile Synchronous Learning Environment with Context-Awareness Service

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Yueh-Min; Kuo, Yen-Hung; Lin, Yen-Ting; Cheng, Shu-Chen

2008-01-01

Mobile synchronous learning is a new challenge in the e-learning domain. While popular mobile communication devices, such as cell phones, cannot directly accommodate traditional synchronous content due to the major limitation of display size, other constraints also restrict convenient interactions while using mobile devices in a synchronous…

Postmodern imaginative constructivism for STSE understanding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robertson, Christian

The influences of science and technology on society and the environment (STSE) have been an integral component of the formal educational curricula for four decades, and yet industrialized countries frequently struggle to balance the benefits of science and technology with the social justice and environmental issues inherent to contemporary society. Canadian citizens often fail to connect scientific and technological understandings with the subtle and yet ubiquitous personal, political, cultural, environmental, and social consequences that result from these understandings. This phenomenological research will explore potential discourses of control within education and society that may preclude authentic, contextual, and meaningful understandings of science and technology relative to their significant consequences, and an imaginative adaptation of Egan's Ironic Understanding and McGinn's Foreground and Background Dimensions to imaginatively express an awareness of postmodern STSE understandings. This research is designed to explore student understandings of how the diverse and complex influences of science and technology affect students through postmodern, imaginative, and constructivist photography. Participants demonstrated a limited Ironic Understanding of STSE, a critical awareness of specific modernist influences, increased personal and affective connections to science and technology, and an awareness of the duality of STSE. Participants' photographic artifacts can be utilized to inform teaching and learning strategies in order to purposefully craft curriculum and lesson plan design for personalized and engaging learning opportunities that incorporate students' awareness of STSE.

ITS, The End of the World as We Know It: Transitioning AIED into a Service-Oriented Ecosystem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nye, Benjamin D.

2016-01-01

Advanced learning technologies are reaching a new phase of their evolution where they are finally entering mainstream educational contexts, with persistent user bases. However, as AIED scales, it will need to follow recent trends in service-oriented and ubiquitous computing: breaking AIED platforms into distinct services that can be composed for…

Higher Order Thinking in an Online World: Toward a Theory of Web-Mediated Knowledge Synthesis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeSchryver, Michael

2014-01-01

Background/Context: The rapid pace of technological change, undergirded by near ubiquitous access to the web, is producing a new learning ecology--a new ecology of information, of knowledge, of reading, of teaching, and of thinking. This instant availability of digital resources frees both time and cognitive energy that may be used to facilitate…

The Timing of Feedback on Mathematics Problem Solving in a Classroom Setting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fyfe, Emily R.; Rittle-Johnson, Bethany

2015-01-01

Feedback is a ubiquitous learning tool that is theorized to help learners detect and correct their errors. The goal of this study was to examine the effects of feedback in a classroom context for children solving math equivalence problems (problems with operations on both sides of the equal sign). The authors worked with children in 7 second-grade…

Context-Aware Writing Support for SNS: Connecting Formal and Informal Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waragai, Ikumi; Kurabayashi, Shuichi; Ohta, Tatsuya; Raindl, Marco; Kiyoki, Yasushi; Tokuda, Hideyuki

2014-01-01

This paper presents another stage in a series of research efforts by the authors to develop an experience-connected mobile language learning environment, bridging formal and informal learning. Building on a study in which the authors tried to connect classroom learning (of German in Japan) with learners' real life experiences abroad by having…

Dashboard for Analyzing Ubiquitous Learning Log

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lkhagvasuren, Erdenesaikhan; Matsuura, Kenji; Mouri, Kousuke; Ogata, Hiroaki

2016-01-01

Mobile and ubiquitous technologies have been applied to a wide range of learning fields such as science, social science, history and language learning. Many researchers have been investigating the development of ubiquitous learning environments; nevertheless, to date, there have not been enough research works related to the reflection, analysis…

Both memory and attention systems contribute to visual search for targets cued by implicitly learned context

PubMed Central

Giesbrecht, Barry; Sy, Jocelyn L.; Guerin, Scott A.

2012-01-01

Environmental context learned without awareness can facilitate visual processing of goal-relevant information. According to one view, the benefit of implicitly learned context relies on the neural systems involved in spatial attention and hippocampus-mediated memory. While this view has received empirical support, it contradicts traditional models of hippocampal function. The purpose of the present work was to clarify the influence of spatial context on visual search performance and on brain structures involved memory and attention. Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed that activity in the hippocampus as well as in visual and parietal cortex was modulated by learned visual context even though participants’ subjective reports and performance on a post-experiment recognition task indicated no explicit knowledge of the learned context. Moreover, the magnitude of the initial selective hippocampus response predicted the magnitude of the behavioral benefit due to context observed at the end of the experiment. The results suggest that implicit contextual learning is mediated by attention and memory and that these systems interact to support search of our environment. PMID:23099047

Psycho-Linguistic Model of Reading Strategies Awareness in EFL Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ghahari, Shima; Basanjideh, Mahin

2017-01-01

With the advent of learner-centered approaches to language learning and life skills education paradigm in psychology, language classrooms are conceived a fitting educational setting for life skills intervention. This study investigated reading strategies awareness, as a legacy of humanistic psychology and learner-centered movement, of language…

Telecollaboration and Sociopragmatic Awareness in the Foreign Language Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martí, Natalia Morollón; Fernández, Susana S.

2016-01-01

This paper discusses the design and implementation of a pedagogical intervention aimed at raising sociopragmatic awareness in the context of Spanish as a foreign language in Denmark. The intervention consists of a blended-learning environment where the three main components are synchronous telecollaboration via Skype, reflection sessions in groups…

Teacher Language Awareness in Supervisory Feedback Cycles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindahl, Kristen; Baecher, Laura

2016-01-01

This study investigates pre- and post-observation feedback provided to TESOL teacher candidates who are preparing to work in content-based instruction/content and language integrated learning contexts, extending the conceptualization of teacher language awareness (TLA) to candidate supervision. It examines the extent to which TLA is manifested by…

Implicit Learning of Recursive Context-Free Grammars

PubMed Central

Rohrmeier, Martin; Fu, Qiufang; Dienes, Zoltan

2012-01-01

Context-free grammars are fundamental for the description of linguistic syntax. However, most artificial grammar learning experiments have explored learning of simpler finite-state grammars, while studies exploring context-free grammars have not assessed awareness and implicitness. This paper explores the implicit learning of context-free grammars employing features of hierarchical organization, recursive embedding and long-distance dependencies. The grammars also featured the distinction between left- and right-branching structures, as well as between centre- and tail-embedding, both distinctions found in natural languages. People acquired unconscious knowledge of relations between grammatical classes even for dependencies over long distances, in ways that went beyond learning simpler relations (e.g. n-grams) between individual words. The structural distinctions drawn from linguistics also proved important as performance was greater for tail-embedding than centre-embedding structures. The results suggest the plausibility of implicit learning of complex context-free structures, which model some features of natural languages. They support the relevance of artificial grammar learning for probing mechanisms of language learning and challenge existing theories and computational models of implicit learning. PMID:23094021

Context-aware and locality-constrained coding for image categorization.

PubMed

Xiao, Wenhua; Wang, Bin; Liu, Yu; Bao, Weidong; Zhang, Maojun

2014-01-01

Improving the coding strategy for BOF (Bag-of-Features) based feature design has drawn increasing attention in recent image categorization works. However, the ambiguity in coding procedure still impedes its further development. In this paper, we introduce a context-aware and locality-constrained Coding (CALC) approach with context information for describing objects in a discriminative way. It is generally achieved by learning a word-to-word cooccurrence prior to imposing context information over locality-constrained coding. Firstly, the local context of each category is evaluated by learning a word-to-word cooccurrence matrix representing the spatial distribution of local features in neighbor region. Then, the learned cooccurrence matrix is used for measuring the context distance between local features and code words. Finally, a coding strategy simultaneously considers locality in feature space and context space, while introducing the weight of feature is proposed. This novel coding strategy not only semantically preserves the information in coding, but also has the ability to alleviate the noise distortion of each class. Extensive experiments on several available datasets (Scene-15, Caltech101, and Caltech256) are conducted to validate the superiority of our algorithm by comparing it with baselines and recent published methods. Experimental results show that our method significantly improves the performance of baselines and achieves comparable and even better performance with the state of the arts.

Construction of Course Ubiquitous Learning Based on Network

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Xue; Zhang, Wei; Yang, Xinhui

2017-01-01

Ubiquitous learning has been more and more recognized, which describes a new generation of learning from a new point of view. Ubiquitous learning will bring the new teaching practice and teaching reform, which will become an essential way of learning in 21st century. Taking translation course as a case study, this research constructed a system of…

Disciplinary Cultures of Teaching and Learning as Socially Situated Practice: Rethinking the Space between Social Constructivism and Epistemological Essentialism from the South African Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mathieson, Susan

2012-01-01

There is a growing awareness of the need to move beyond generic approaches to teaching, learning and assessment (TLA) to consider the importance of context in shaping TLA practices. However, efforts to engage with context have focused primarily on disciplinary epistemologies and in particular the differences between hard, soft, pure and applied…

An appraisal of students' awareness of "self-reflection" in a first-year pathology course of undergraduate medical/dental education.

PubMed

Kanthan, Rani; Senger, Jenna-Lynn B

2011-09-23

Self-reflection and reflective practice are increasingly considered as essential attributes of competent professionals functioning in complex and ever-changing healthcare systems of the 21st century. The aim of this study was to determine the extent of students' awareness and understanding of the reflective process and the meaning of 'self-reflection' within the contextual framework of their learning environment in the first-year of their medical/dental education. We endorse that the introduction of such explicit educational tasks at this early stage enhances and promotes students' awareness, understanding, and proficiency of this skill in their continuing life-long health professional learning. Over two years, students registered in first-year pathology at the University of Saskatchewan were introduced to a self-reflection assignment which comprised in the submission of a one-page reflective document to a template of reflective questions provided in the given context of their learning environment. This was a mandatory but ungraded component at the midterm and final examinations. These documents were individually analyzed and thematically categorized to a "5 levels-of-reflection-awareness" scale using a specially-designed rubric based on the accepted major theories of reflection that included students' identification of: 1) personal abilities, 2) personal learning styles 3) relationships between course material and student history 4) emotional responses and 5) future applications. 410 self-reflection documents were analyzed. The student self-awareness on personal learning style (72.7% level 3+) and course content (55.2% level 3+) were well-reflected. Reflections at a level 1 awareness included identification of a) specific teaching strategies utilized to enhance learning (58.4%), b) personal strengths/weaknesses (53%), and c) emotional responses, values, and beliefs (71.5%). Students' abilities to connect information to life experiences and to future events with understanding were more evenly distributed across all 5 levels of reflection-awareness. Exposure to self-reflection assignments in the early years of undergraduate medical education increases student awareness and promotes the creation of personal meaning of one's reactions, values, and premises in the context of student learning environments. Early introduction with repetition to such cognitive processes as practice tools increases engagement in reflection that may facilitate proficiency in mastering this competency leading to the creation of future reflective health professionals.

An appraisal of students' awareness of "self-reflection" in a first-year pathology course of undergraduate medical/dental education

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Self-reflection and reflective practice are increasingly considered as essential attributes of competent professionals functioning in complex and ever-changing healthcare systems of the 21st century. The aim of this study was to determine the extent of students' awareness and understanding of the reflective process and the meaning of 'self-reflection' within the contextual framework of their learning environment in the first-year of their medical/dental education. We endorse that the introduction of such explicit educational tasks at this early stage enhances and promotes students' awareness, understanding, and proficiency of this skill in their continuing life-long health professional learning. Methods Over two years, students registered in first-year pathology at the University of Saskatchewan were introduced to a self-reflection assignment which comprised in the submission of a one-page reflective document to a template of reflective questions provided in the given context of their learning environment. This was a mandatory but ungraded component at the midterm and final examinations. These documents were individually analyzed and thematically categorized to a "5 levels-of-reflection-awareness" scale using a specially-designed rubric based on the accepted major theories of reflection that included students' identification of: 1) personal abilities, 2) personal learning styles 3) relationships between course material and student history 4) emotional responses and 5) future applications. Results 410 self-reflection documents were analyzed. The student self-awareness on personal learning style (72.7% level 3+) and course content (55.2% level 3+) were well-reflected. Reflections at a level 1 awareness included identification of a) specific teaching strategies utilized to enhance learning (58.4%), b) personal strengths/weaknesses (53%), and c) emotional responses, values, and beliefs (71.5%). Students' abilities to connect information to life experiences and to future events with understanding were more evenly distributed across all 5 levels of reflection-awareness. Conclusions Exposure to self-reflection assignments in the early years of undergraduate medical education increases student awareness and promotes the creation of personal meaning of one's reactions, values, and premises in the context of student learning environments. Early introduction with repetition to such cognitive processes as practice tools increases engagement in reflection that may facilitate proficiency in mastering this competency leading to the creation of future reflective health professionals. PMID:21943239

Learning Awareness: Constructing Formative Assessment in the Classroom, in the School and across Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blanchard, John

2008-01-01

This article gives details of the Portsmouth Learning Community Assessment for Learning (AfL) project from 2002 to 2007. A context of research is given and a reframing of formative assessment suggested. Qualitative, positive effects are indicated resulting from teachers' collaborative action research and learners' involvement in classroom…

Interactive Syllable-Based English Vocabulary Learning in a Context-Aware Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Wen-Yen; Huang, Yueh-Min

2017-01-01

English is one of the most important second languages in nonnative English-speaking countries, where learning English usually begins in primary school. To this end, vocabulary learning is regarded as the most fundamental and crucial stage in developing the student's English language capability. While some studies have explored strategies of…

Developing Communication Management Skills: Integrated Assessment and Reflection in an Experiential Learning Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cyphert, Dale; Dodge, Elena Nefedova; Duclos (Wilson), Leslie K.

2016-01-01

The value of experiential learning is widely acknowledged, especially for the development of communication skills, but students are not always aware of their own learning. While we can observe students practicing targeted skills during the experiential activity, the experience can also color their explicit understanding of those skills. Transfer…

Impact on Student Motivation by Using a QR-Based U-Learning Material Production System to Create Authentic Learning Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chin, Kai-Yi; Lee, Ko-Fong; Chen, Yen-Lin

2015-01-01

This study developed a QR-based U-Learning Material Production System (QR-ULMPS) that provides teachers with an education tool to motivate college level students enrolled in a liberal arts course. QR-ULMPS was specifically designed to support the development of u-learning materials and create an engaging context-aware u-learning environment for…

Ubiquitous learning model using interactive internet messenger group (IIMG) to improve engagement and behavior for smart campus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Umam, K.; Mardi, S. N. S.; Hariadi, M.

2017-01-01

The recent popularity of internet messenger based smartphone technologies has motivated some university lecturers to use them for educational activities. These technologies have enormous potential to enhance the teaching and ubiquitous learning experience for smart campus development. However, the design ubiquitous learning model using interactive internet messenger group (IIMG) and empirical evidence that would favor a broad application of mobile and ubiquitous learning in smart campus settings to improve engagement and behavior is still limited. In addition, the expectation that mobile learning could improve engagement and behavior on smart campus cannot be confirmed because the majority of the reviewed studies followed instructions paradigms. This article aims to present ubiquitous learning model design and showing learners’ experiences in improved engagement and behavior using IIMG for learner-learner and learner-lecturer interactions. The method applied in this paper includes design process and quantitative analysis techniques, with the purpose of identifying scenarios of ubiquitous learning and realize the impressions of learners and lecturers about engagement and behavior aspect, and its contribution to learning.

Context-Aware Mobile Role Playing Game for Learning--A Case of Canada and Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lu, Chris; Chang, Maiga; Kinshuk; Huang, Echo; Chen, Ching-Wen

2014-01-01

The research presented in this paper is part of a 5-year renewable national research program in Canada, namely the NSERC/iCORE/Xerox/Markin research chair program that aims to explore possibilities of adaptive mobile learning and to provide learners with a learning environment which facilitates personalized learning at any time and any place. One…

The Awareness of Morphemic Knowledge for Young Adults' Vocabulary Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Varatharajoo, Chandrakala; Asmawi, Adelina Binti; Abdallah, Nabeel; Abedalaziz, Mohammad

2015-01-01

The study explored the awareness of morphemic knowledge among young adult learners in the ESL context. Morphological Relatedness Test and Morphological Structure Test (adapted from Curinga, 2014) were two important tools used to assess the students' morphemic knowledge in this study. The tests measured the students' ability to reflect and…

Fear conditioning to subliminal fear relevant and non fear relevant stimuli.

PubMed

Lipp, Ottmar V; Kempnich, Clare; Jee, Sang Hoon; Arnold, Derek H

2014-01-01

A growing body of evidence suggests that conscious visual awareness is not a prerequisite for human fear learning. For instance, humans can learn to be fearful of subliminal fear relevant images--images depicting stimuli thought to have been fear relevant in our evolutionary context, such as snakes, spiders, and angry human faces. Such stimuli could have a privileged status in relation to manipulations used to suppress usually salient images from awareness, possibly due to the existence of a designated sub-cortical 'fear module'. Here we assess this proposition, and find it wanting. We use binocular masking to suppress awareness of images of snakes and wallabies (particularly cute, non-threatening marsupials). We find that subliminal presentations of both classes of image can induce differential fear conditioning. These data show that learning, as indexed by fear conditioning, is neither contingent on conscious visual awareness nor on subliminal conditional stimuli being fear relevant.

Developing Tools for Assessing and Using Commercially Available Reading Software Programs to Promote the Development of Early Reading Skills in Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wood, Eileen; Gottardo, Alexandra; Grant, Amy; Evans, Mary Ann; Phillips, Linda; Savage, Robert

2012-01-01

As computers become an increasingly ubiquitous part of young children's lives there is a need to examine how best to harness digital technologies to promote learning in early childhood education contexts. The development of emergent literacy skills is 1 domain for which numerous software programs are available for young learners. In this study, we…

How Are We Approaching Data-Informed Practice? Development of the "Survey of Data Use and Professional Learning"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jimerson, Jo Beth

2016-01-01

As in international schooling contexts, talk about data-driven practice has become ubiquitous in schooling dialogues in the USA, and with the pending reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act (the main driver of increased data use in American schools), educators in the USA should expect even greater calls for formalized data use. Yet, the…

Why Virtual, Why Environments? Implementing Virtual Reality Concepts in Computer-Assisted Language Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwienhorst, Klaus

2002-01-01

Discussion of computer-assisted language learning focuses on the benefits of virtual reality environments, particularly for foreign language contexts. Topics include three approaches to learner autonomy; supporting reflection, including self-awareness; supporting interaction, including collaboration; and supporting experimentation, including…

Digital Literacy and Netiquette: Awareness and Perception in EFL Learning Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nia, Sara Farshad; Marandi, Susan

2014-01-01

With the growing popularity of digital technologies and computer-mediated communication (CMC), various types of interactive communication technology are being increasingly integrated into foreign/second language learning environments. Nevertheless, due to its nature, online communication is susceptible to misunderstandings and miscommunications,…

Interoperability in Personalized Adaptive Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aroyo, Lora; Dolog, Peter; Houben, Geert-Jan; Kravcik, Milos; Naeve, Ambjorn; Nilsson, Mikael; Wild, Fridolin

2006-01-01

Personalized adaptive learning requires semantic-based and context-aware systems to manage the Web knowledge efficiently as well as to achieve semantic interoperability between heterogeneous information resources and services. The technological and conceptual differences can be bridged either by means of standards or via approaches based on the…

Development of a Ubiquitous Learning Platform Based on a Real-Time Help-Seeking Mechanism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Wu, Chih-Hsiang; Tseng, Judy C. R.; Huang, Iwen

2011-01-01

The popularity of mobile devices has encouraged the advance of ubiquitous learning, in which students are situated in a real-world learning environment with support from the digital world via the use of mobile, wireless communications, or even sensing technologies. Most of the ubiquitous learning systems are implemented with high-cost sensing…

Ubiquitous Learning Project Using Life-Logging Technology in Japan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ogata, Hiroaki; Hou, Bin; Li, Mengmeng; Uosaki, Noriko; Mouri, Kosuke; Liu, Songran

2014-01-01

A Ubiquitous Learning Log (ULL) is defined as a digital record of what a learner has learned in daily life using ubiquitous computing technologies. In this paper, a project which developed a system called SCROLL (System for Capturing and Reusing Of Learning Log) is presented. The aim of developing SCROLL is to help learners record, organize,…

Knowing more than they can tell: An assessment of genre awareness among students in writing intensive zoology and civil engineering courses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanson, Joleen Kidwell

Developing genre awareness as a means of "learning how to learn" in new writing situations is a goal of four recently proposed writing pedagogies that recognize the context-dependent nature of standards for "good writing" (Devitt, Reiff, and Bawarshi (2004); Beaufort (2007); Johns (2008); Downs and Wardle (2007)). Yet other scholars argue that useful genre knowledge cannot be taught explicitly in the classroom, but must be acquired tacitly through participation in a workplace or other discourse community (Dias et al. (1999); Freedman (1994); Smit (2004)). This qualitative study investigates the range of variability and potential sources of genre awareness among undergraduates who had not received explicit teaching about genre awareness. It presents students' explicit understanding of why particular genre conventions are followed in a particular context by examining what they could tell about learning the advanced lab report in writing-in-the-major courses in either Zoology or Civil Engineering. Research data includes surveys of all students in three courses (n=112), interviews with a subset in each course (n=24) and with all instructors (n=7), samples of graded student lab reports, and classroom observations. Overall, few study participants demonstrated genre awareness as defined by Devitt. Students showed limited awareness of the rhetorical purposes of the advanced lab report and even less awareness of the values and beliefs embedded in its discourse conventions. Disciplinary identification and mentoring experiences were found to be factors that might contribute to the development of genre awareness. Unexpected findings were that some insecure writers showed relatively high overall genre awareness, while some confident writers showed relatively low genre awareness. Further research is needed to refine an assessment instrument that could be readily used by other researchers. However, the instrument for assessing genre awareness that was developed for this project generated rich observations of student perspectives about learning to perform a new genre. The data illustrated some of the problems that advocates of explicit teaching of genre awareness seek to address. In particular, this study suggests that lack of genre awareness may contribute to the development of disciplinary prejudice and, as a result, reduce possibilities for effective collaboration across disciplinary borders.

Impacts of Integrating the Repertory Grid into an Augmented Reality-Based Learning Design on Students' Learning Achievements, Cognitive Load and Degree of Satisfaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Po-Han; Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Yang, Mei-Ling; Chen, Chih-Hung

2018-01-01

Augmented reality (AR) offers potential advantages for intensifying environmental context awareness and augmenting students' experiences in real-world environments by dynamically overlapping digital materials with a real-world environment. However, some challenges to AR learning environments have been described, such as participants' cognitive…

a Context-Aware Tourism Recommender System Based on a Spreading Activation Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bahramian, Z.; Abbaspour, R. Ali; Claramunt, C.

2017-09-01

Users planning a trip to a given destination often search for the most appropriate points of interest location, this being a non-straightforward task as the range of information available is very large and not very well structured. The research presented by this paper introduces a context-aware tourism recommender system that overcomes the information overload problem by providing personalized recommendations based on the user's preferences. It also incorporates contextual information to improve the recommendation process. As previous context-aware tourism recommender systems suffer from a lack of formal definition to represent contextual information and user's preferences, the proposed system is enhanced using an ontology approach. We also apply a spreading activation technique to contextualize user preferences and learn the user profile dynamically according to the user's feedback. The proposed method assigns more effect in the spreading process for nodes which their preference values are assigned directly by the user. The results show the overall performance of the proposed context-aware tourism recommender systems by an experimental application to the city of Tehran.

Context-aware system design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, Christine S.; Ostertag, Michael H.; Akyürek, Alper Sinan; Šimunić Rosing, Tajana

2017-05-01

The Internet of Things envisions a web-connected infrastructure of billions of sensors and actuation devices. However, the current state-of-the-art presents another reality: monolithic end-to-end applications tightly coupled to a limited set of sensors and actuators. Growing such applications with new devices or behaviors, or extending the existing infrastructure with new applications, involves redesign and redeployment. We instead propose a modular approach to these applications, breaking them into an equivalent set of functional units (context engines) whose input/output transformations are driven by general-purpose machine learning, demonstrating an improvement in compute redundancy and computational complexity with minimal impact on accuracy. In conjunction with formal data specifications, or ontologies, we can replace application-specific implementations with a composition of context engines that use common statistical learning to generate output, thus improving context reuse. We implement interconnected context-aware applications using our approach, extracting user context from sensors in both healthcare and grid applications. We compare our infrastructure to single-stage monolithic implementations with single-point communications between sensor nodes and the cloud servers, demonstrating a reduction in combined system energy by 22-45%, and multiplying the battery lifetime of power-constrained devices by at least 22x, with easy deployment across different architectures and devices.

?Ffects of Using of Contemporary Art in High Education on Students Metacognitive Awareness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Delibaltova, Vasya

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of the use of contemporary art in High Education on Students' Metacognitive Awareness from students' point of view after their involvement in specially designed activities. The learning context was created under the main thesis that metacognitive development can be supported by the creation of…

Fostering Computer-Mediated L2 Interaction beyond the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barrs, Keith

2012-01-01

In language learning contexts a primary concern is how to maximise target language interaction both inside and outside of the classroom. With the development of digital technologies, the proliferation of language learning applications, and an increased awareness of how technology can assist in language education, educators are being presented with…

Developing Students' Skills in Reflective Practice: Design and Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pavlovich, Kathryn; Collins, Eva; Jones, Glyndwr

2009-01-01

This article examines learning journals as a method for developing self-awareness within a business education context, exploring "how can effective design and assessment of reflective journals assist the development of students' self-knowledge?" The authors describe three different approaches to learning journals, with each case study outlining…

Teaching Emotional Self-Awareness through Inquiry-Based Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perez, Linda M.

2011-01-01

This exploratory case study examined how graduate students' understanding about their own emotions and regulatory patterns influenced their ability to co-regulate young children's emotions. The study also explored the effectiveness of creating a learning context in which the students could learn the value of self-reflection and thoughtful inquiry…

Conjoint Analysis for Mobile Devices for Ubiquitous Learning in Higher Education: The Korean Case

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Hyeongjik

2013-01-01

Despite the increasing importance of mobile devices in education, the essential features of these devices for ubiquitous learning have not been empirically addressed. This study empirically investigated the necessary conditions for using mobile devices as an educational tool for ubiquitous learning in higher education by a conjoint method. The…

Internet messenger based smart virtual class learning using ubiquitous computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Umam, K.; Mardi, S. N. S.; Hariadi, M.

2017-06-01

Internet messenger (IM) has become an important educational technology component in college education, IM makes it possible for students to engage in learning and collaborating at smart virtual class learning (SVCL) using ubiquitous computing. However, the model of IM-based smart virtual class learning using ubiquitous computing and empirical evidence that would favor a broad application to improve engagement and behavior are still limited. In addition, the expectation that IM based SVCL using ubiquitous computing could improve engagement and behavior on smart class cannot be confirmed because the majority of the reviewed studies followed instructions paradigms. This article aims to present the model of IM-based SVCL using ubiquitous computing and showing learners’ experiences in improved engagement and behavior for learner-learner and learner-lecturer interactions. The method applied in this paper includes design process and quantitative analysis techniques, with the purpose of identifying scenarios of ubiquitous computing and realize the impressions of learners and lecturers about engagement and behavior aspect and its contribution to learning

A Survey of Online Activity Recognition Using Mobile Phones

PubMed Central

Shoaib, Muhammad; Bosch, Stephan; Incel, Ozlem Durmaz; Scholten, Hans; Havinga, Paul J.M.

2015-01-01

Physical activity recognition using embedded sensors has enabled many context-aware applications in different areas, such as healthcare. Initially, one or more dedicated wearable sensors were used for such applications. However, recently, many researchers started using mobile phones for this purpose, since these ubiquitous devices are equipped with various sensors, ranging from accelerometers to magnetic field sensors. In most of the current studies, sensor data collected for activity recognition are analyzed offline using machine learning tools. However, there is now a trend towards implementing activity recognition systems on these devices in an online manner, since modern mobile phones have become more powerful in terms of available resources, such as CPU, memory and battery. The research on offline activity recognition has been reviewed in several earlier studies in detail. However, work done on online activity recognition is still in its infancy and is yet to be reviewed. In this paper, we review the studies done so far that implement activity recognition systems on mobile phones and use only their on-board sensors. We discuss various aspects of these studies. Moreover, we discuss their limitations and present various recommendations for future research. PMID:25608213

Informal Learning in Science Museum: Development and Evaluation of a Mobile Exhibit Label System with iBeacon Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Guang; Xin, Youlong; Chen, Nian-Shing

2017-01-01

Informal science learning has drawn the attention of researchers, educators and museum administrators for a long time. However, the problem of how to better support visitors to be more engaged while visiting exhibits and improve informal science learning performance is still missing. Context-aware technologies have the advantages of fostering…

Mixing Face-to-Face and Online Interactions in a Leadership Development Programme: A Blended Action Learning Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thornton, Kate; Yoong, Pak

2011-01-01

The purpose of this research was to explore the use of ICT to support leadership learning within an education context. Leadership development opportunities that encourage reflection, the development of self-awareness, the sharing of practice, and that support the transfer of learning back to the workplace are challenging to fit into the life of…

An Education in Awareness: Self, Motivation, and Self-Regulated Learning in Contemplative Perspective

PubMed Central

Roeser, Robert W.; Peck, Stephen C.

2009-01-01

Consistent with the aims of this special issue, we present a systems perspective on self/identity, predicated on William James’s classic distinction between I and Me, and use this perspective to explore conceptual relations between self/identity, motivation to learn, and self-regulated learning. We define the I self functionally in terms of the capacity for the conscious shifting and sustaining of awareness. The I is conceived of as that aspect of the self-system that affords the potential for the conscious and willful, rather than the non-conscious and automatic, motivation and regulation of behavior. We introduce contemplative education as a set of pedagogical practices designed to cultivate conscious awareness in an ethical-relational context in which the values of personal growth, learning, moral living, and caring for others are nurtured. We discuss the implications of contemplative education for the cultivation of conscious and willful forms of learning and living among students and educators alike. PMID:20419040

Context matters when striving to promote active and lifelong learning in medical education.

PubMed

Berkhout, Joris J; Helmich, Esther; Teunissen, Pim W; van der Vleuten, Cees P M; Jaarsma, A Debbie C

2018-01-01

WHERE DO WE STAND NOW?: In the 30 years that have passed since The Edinburgh Declaration on Medical Education, we have made tremendous progress in research on fostering 'self-directed and independent study' as propagated in this declaration, of which one prime example is research carried out on problem-based learning. However, a large portion of medical education happens outside of classrooms, in authentic clinical contexts. Therefore, this article discusses recent developments in research regarding fostering active learning in clinical contexts. Clinical contexts are much more complex and flexible than classrooms, and therefore require a modified approach when fostering active learning. Recent efforts have been increasingly focused on understanding the more complex subject of supporting active learning in clinical contexts. One way of doing this is by using theory regarding self-regulated learning (SRL), as well as situated learning, workplace affordances, self-determination theory and achievement goal theory. Combining these different perspectives provides a holistic view of active learning in clinical contexts. ENTRY TO PRACTICE, VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Research on SRL in clinical contexts has mostly focused on the undergraduate setting, showing that active learning in clinical contexts requires not only proficiency in metacognition and SRL, but also in reactive, opportunistic learning. These studies have also made us aware of the large influence one's social environment has on SRL, the importance of professional relationships for learners, and the role of identity development in learning in clinical contexts. Additionally, research regarding postgraduate lifelong learning also highlights the importance of learners interacting about learning in clinical contexts, as well as the difficulties that clinical contexts may pose for lifelong learning. However, stimulating self-regulated learning in undergraduate medical education may also make postgraduate lifelong learning easier for learners in clinical contexts. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and The Association for the Study of Medical Education.

Playing in School or at Home? An Exploration of the Effects of Context on Educational Game Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De Grove, Frederik; Van Looy, Jan; Neys, Joyce; Jansz, Jeroen

2012-01-01

The goal of this study is to gain insight into the effects of context on educational game experience. Using a quasi-experimental setup, it compares the playing and learning experiences of adolescent players of the awareness-raising game PING in a domestic (N=135) and a school (N=121) context. Results indicate that both gaming (identification,…

Is awareness necessary for true inference?

PubMed

Leo, Peter D; Greene, Anthony J

2008-09-01

In transitive inference, participants learn a set of context-dependent discriminations that can be organized into a hierarchy that supports inference. Several studies show that inference occurs with or without task awareness. However, some studies assert that without awareness, performance is attributable to pseudoinference. By this account, inference-like performance is achieved by differential stimulus weighting according to the stimuli's proximity to the end items of the hierarchy. We implement an inference task that cannot be based on differential stimulus weighting. The design itself rules out pseudoinference strategies. Success on the task without evidence of deliberative strategies would therefore suggest that true inference can be achieved implicitly. We found that accurate performance on the inference task was not dependent on explicit awareness. The finding is consistent with a growing body of evidence that indicates that forms of learning and memory supporting inference and flexibility do not necessarily depend on task awareness.

Does technology really enhance nurse education?

PubMed

Goodchild, Tim

2018-07-01

Technology has clearly impacted upon our working lives, and the purpose of this paper is to offer a critical insight into the ubiquitous presence of technology in nurse education. This paper argues that technology enhanced learning is predicated on the promise of potential and purported transformation of teaching and learning. It suggests that there is a lack of critical engagement in the academic field of technology enhanced learning, and adds a critical voice to some of the emerging arguments in this area. There is also a lack of systematic evidence supporting the enhancement offered by technology, and yet the technology enhanced project continues to persist. The discourse surrounding technology enhanced learning has become so dominant, so pervasive, that those of us within it can no longer see alternatives. But there are alternatives, and this paper argues that we need to challenge the dominance of technology enhanced learning, and become aware of its contingent nature. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mobile Augmented Communication for Remote Collaboration in a Physical Work Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pejoska-Laajola, Jana; Reponen, Sanna; Virnes, Marjo; Leinonen, Teemu

2017-01-01

Informal learning in a physical work context requires communication and collaboration that build on a common ground and an active awareness of a situation. We explored whether mobile video conversations augmented with on-screen drawing features were beneficial for improving communication and remote collaboration practices in the construction and…

Reflection Paper on a Ubiquitous English Vocabulary Learning System: Evidence of Active/Passive Attitude vs. Usefulness/Ease-of-Use

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lim, Jeff

2013-01-01

"A ubiquitous English vocabulary learning system: evidence of active/passive attitudes vs. usefulness/ease-of-use" introduces and develops "Ubiquitous English Vocabulary Learning" (UEFL) system. It introduces to the memorization using the video clips. According to their paper the video clip gives a better chance for students to…

Developmental Levels and Suggested Learning Activities for the Visually Impaired Preschool Child. A Special Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrell, Lois, Comp.

The paper presents developmental charts detailing the needs and patterns of very young visually impaired children. Five age levels are considered (0-6 months, 6-12 months, 1-.25 years, 2.5-4 years, and 4-5 years) within the context of auditory awareness, body image, development of meaningful language, tactual awareness and manipulative skills,…

Effects of Teaching and Learning Styles on Students' Reflection Levels for Ubiquitous Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsieh, Sheng-Wen; Jang, Yu-Ruei; Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Chen, Nian-Shing

2011-01-01

Ubiquitous learning (u-learning), in conjunction with supports from the digital world, is recognized as an effective approach for situating students in real-world learning environments. Earlier studies concerning u-learning have mainly focused on investigating the learning attitudes and learning achievements of students, while the causations such…

The Efficacy of Three Learning Methods Collaborative, Context-Based Learning and Traditional, on Learning, Attitude and Behaviour of Undergraduate Nursing Students: Integrating Theory and Practice.

PubMed

Hasanpour-Dehkordi, Ali; Solati, Kamal

2016-04-01

Communication skills training, responsibility, respect, and self-awareness are important indexes of changing learning behaviours in modern approaches. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of three learning approaches, collaborative, context-based learning (CBL), and traditional, on learning, attitude, and behaviour of undergraduate nursing students. This study was a clinical trial with pretest and post-test of control group. The participants were senior nursing students. The samples were randomly assigned to three groups; CBL, collaborative, and traditional. To gather data a standard questionnaire of students' behaviour and attitude was administered prior to and after the intervention. Also, the rate of learning was investigated by a researcher-developed questionnaire prior to and after the intervention in the three groups. In CBL and collaborative training groups, the mean score of behaviour and attitude increased after the intervention. But no significant association was obtained between the mean scores of behaviour and attitude prior to and after the intervention in the traditional group. However, the mean learning score increased significantly in the CBL, collaborative, and traditional groups after the study in comparison to before the study. Both CBL and collaborative approaches were useful in terms of increased respect, self-awareness, self-evaluation, communication skills and responsibility as well as increased motivation and learning score in comparison to traditional method.

Self-Awareness Emotional Learning during Mediation Procedures in the School Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ibarrola-García, Sara; Iriarte, Concha; Aznárez-Sanado, Maite

2017-01-01

Introduction: Studies stress the importance of emotions in conflict, describing how they influence any mediation process. Resolving conflicts requires emotional abilities and it usually implies emotional learning. One of the main objectives of this paper is to better understand the role of emotions in mediation processes: how they impact this…

Intergenerational Learning and Social Capital. ERIC Digest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kerka, Sandra

The concept of social capital refers to the resources of networks, norms or shared values, and trust to which individuals have access as community members. A reason to consider intergenerational learning in the context of social capital is awareness of unequal access to positive social capital and the risk that social exclusion and disadvantage…

The Role of Agent Age and Gender for Middle-Grade Girls

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Yanghee

2016-01-01

Compared to boys, many girls are more aware of a social context in the learning process and perform better when the environment supports frequent interactions and social relationships. For these girls, embodied agents (animated on-screen characters acting as tutors) could afford simulated social interactions in computer-based learning and thereby…

High School Students' Use of Digital Tools for Learning English Vocabulary in an EFL Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cojocnean, Diana

2015-01-01

This study investigated Romanian high school students' use of digital tools for learning vocabulary in English. Although students have a wide range of technological affordances at their disposal, little is known about how they make use of them or the extent to which they are aware of how to use them in their vocabulary learning. The study features…

Website Analysis in an EFL Context: Content Comprehension, Perceptions on Web Usability and Awareness of Reading Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roy, Debopriyo; Crabbe, Stephen

2015-01-01

Website analysis is an interdisciplinary field of inquiry that focuses on both digital literacy and language competence (Brugger, 2009). Website analysis in an EFL learning context has the potential to facilitate logical thinking and in the process develop functional language proficiency. This study reported on an English language website…

Twenty-First Century Learning: Communities, Interaction and Ubiquitous Computing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leh, Amy S.C.; Kouba, Barbara; Davis, Dirk

2005-01-01

Advanced technology makes 21st century learning, communities and interactions unique and leads people to an era of ubiquitous computing. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the discussion of learning in the 21st century. The paper will review literature on learning community, community learning, interaction, 21st century learning and…

Debriefing olympics-a workshop concept to stimulate the adaptation of debriefings to learning contexts.

PubMed

Dieckmann, Peter

2012-06-01

Debriefing is important in simulation-based education but rarely studied empirically. In this article, I describe an experience-based workshop concept that was tested with approximately 80 participants during the Annual Meeting of the Society in Europe for Simulation Applied to Medicine (SESAM), June 2 to 4, 2011, in Granada, Spain. On a metalevel, the goal of the workshop was to raise the awareness of debriefing as an important part of simulation-based learning and to increase the awareness about different styles of debriefing-possibly stimulating further investigations of debriefings.

A nursing theory of personal system empathy: interpreting a conceptualization of empathy in King's interacting systems.

PubMed

Alligood, M R; May, B A

2000-07-01

This article presents a theory of empathy discovered through rational hermeneutic interpretation within King's personal system. Personal system concepts from King's general systems framework include perception, self, growth and development, body image, space, time, and learning. Propositions for each concept in the personal system were explicated and a theory of nursing empathy was developed. This nursing theory proposes that empathy organizes perceptions; facilitates awareness of self and others; increases sensitivity; promotes shared respect, mutual goals, and social awareness; cultivates understanding of individuals within a historical and social context; and affects learning.

The Effects of Team Personality Awareness Exercises on Team Satisfaction and Performance: The Context of Marketing Course Projects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lancellotti, Matthew P.; Boyd, Thomas

2008-01-01

Marketing courses heavily utilize team projects that can enhance student learning and make students more desirable to recruiters seeking greater teamwork skills and experience from students. Unfortunately team projects that provide opportunities to learn and improve such skills can also be great sources of frustration and dissatisfaction for…

The Influence of Clickers Use on Metacognition and Learning Outcomes in College English Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhonggen, Yu; Liu, Chang

2014-01-01

Use of Clickers in classroom teaching and learning has become growingly popular in USA. This study aims to identify whether use of Clickers in college English class can improve learners' English proficiency and enhance students' awareness of metacognition compared with traditional multimedia aided pedagogy in Malaysian contexts. By comparing the…

What Do Context Aware Electronic Alerts from Virtual Learning Environments Tell Us about User Time & Location?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crane, Laura; Benachour, Phillip

2013-01-01

The paper describes the analysis of user location and time stamp information automatically logged when students receive and interact with electronic updates from the University's virtual learning environment. The electronic updates are sent to students' mobile devices using RSS feeds. The mobile reception of such information can be received in…

Circle Solutions, a Philosophy and Pedagogy for Learning Positive Relationships: What Promotes and Inhibits Sustainable Outcomes?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roffey, Sue; McCarthy, Florence

2013-01-01

Educators are increasingly aware that the efficacy of social and emotional learning (SEL) is dependent on implementation factors, not just program content. These include the philosophy underpinning an intervention, the beliefs as well as the skills of facilitators, and the classroom/whole school context in which the intervention takes place. This…

A Context-Aware Mobile Learning System for Supporting Cognitive Apprenticeships in Nursing Skills Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Po-Han; Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Su, Liang-Hao; Huang, Yueh-Min

2012-01-01

The aim of nursing education is to foster in students the competence of applying integrated knowledge with clinical skills to the application domains. In the traditional approach, in-class knowledge learning and clinical skills training are usually conducted separately, such that the students might not be able to integrate the knowledge and the…

Responding to Outreach and Training Challenges in Health Information: A Case Study from Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chimalizeni, Michael; Chimwaza, Gracian; Chataira, Blessing; Msengezi, Chipo

2014-01-01

This article shares the experience and lessons learned by Information Training and Outreach Center for Africa (ITOCA) in rolling out an on-line distance learning course. Key objectives were to explore the efficacy of online courses in increasing skills and awareness of electronic resources access initiatives. This is in the context of responding…

The Foundations of a Theory-Aware Authoring Tool for CSCL Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Isotani, Seiji; Mizoguchi, Riichiro; Inaba, Akiko; Ikeda, Mitsuru

2010-01-01

One of the most useful ways to enhance collaboration is to create scenarios where learners are able to interact more effectively. Nevertheless, the design of pedagogically sound and well-thought-out collaborative learning scenarios is a complex issue. This is due to the context of group learning where the synergy among learners' interactions…

Towards Cultural Responsiveness in Music Instruction with Black Detained Youth: An Analytic Autoethnography

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Jason D.

2015-01-01

There is an increased interest in music instruction and research with incarcerated populations. Amid this attention is a need to learn more about how music teachers develop competencies for working with juvenile offenders and navigate this unfamiliar context, how they come to learn more about culturally diverse music, and how they become aware of…

A survey of context recognition in surgery.

PubMed

Pernek, Igor; Ferscha, Alois

2017-10-01

With the introduction of operating rooms of the future context awareness has gained importance in the surgical environment. This paper organizes and reviews different approaches for recognition of context in surgery. Major electronic research databases were queried to obtain relevant publications submitted between the years 2010 and 2015. Three different types of context were identified: (i) the surgical workflow context, (ii) surgeon's cognitive and (iii) technical state context. A total of 52 relevant studies were identified and grouped based on the type of context detected and sensors used. Different approaches were summarized to provide recommendations for future research. There is still room for improvement in terms of methods used and evaluations performed. Machine learning should be used more extensively to uncover hidden relationships between different properties of the surgeon's state, particularly when performing cognitive context recognition. Furthermore, validation protocols should be improved by performing more evaluations in situ and with a higher number of unique participants. The paper also provides a structured outline of recent context recognition methods to facilitate development of new generation context-aware surgical support systems.

Enculturating Seamless Language Learning through Artifact Creation and Social Interaction Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Lung-Hsiang; Chai, Ching Sing; Aw, Guat Poh; King, Ronnel B.

2015-01-01

This paper reports a design-based research (DBR) cycle of MyCLOUD (My Chinese ubiquitOUs learning Days). MyCLOUD is a seamless language learning model that addresses identified limitations of conventional Chinese language teaching, such as the decontextualized and unauthentic learning processes that usually hinder reflection and deep learning.…

Application of the Multicontextual Approach in Promoting Learning and Transfer of Strategy Use in an Individual with TBI and Executive Dysfunction.

PubMed

Toglia, Joan; Goverover, Yael; Johnston, Mark V; Dain, Barry

2011-01-01

The multicontext approach addresses strategy use and self-monitoring skills within activities and contexts that are systematically varied to facilitate transfer of learning. This article illustrates the application of the multicontext approach by presenting a case study of an adult who is 5 years post-traumatic brain injury with executive dysfunction and limited awareness. A single case study design with repeated pre-post measures was used. Methods to monitor strategy generation and specific awareness within intervention are described. Findings suggest improved functional performance and generalization of use of an external strategy despite absence of changes in general self-awareness of deficits. This case describes the multicontext intervention process and provides clinical suggestions for working with individuals with serious deficits in awareness and executive dysfunction following traumatic brain injury. Copyright 2011, SLACK Incorporated.

The Efficacy of Three Learning Methods Collaborative, Context-Based Learning and Traditional, on Learning, Attitude and Behaviour of Undergraduate Nursing Students: Integrating Theory and Practice

PubMed Central

Hasanpour-Dehkordi, Ali

2016-01-01

Introduction Communication skills training, responsibility, respect, and self-awareness are important indexes of changing learning behaviours in modern approaches. Aim The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of three learning approaches, collaborative, context-based learning (CBL), and traditional, on learning, attitude, and behaviour of undergraduate nursing students. Materials and Methods This study was a clinical trial with pretest and post-test of control group. The participants were senior nursing students. The samples were randomly assigned to three groups; CBL, collaborative, and traditional. To gather data a standard questionnaire of students’ behaviour and attitude was administered prior to and after the intervention. Also, the rate of learning was investigated by a researcher-developed questionnaire prior to and after the intervention in the three groups. Results In CBL and collaborative training groups, the mean score of behaviour and attitude increased after the intervention. But no significant association was obtained between the mean scores of behaviour and attitude prior to and after the intervention in the traditional group. However, the mean learning score increased significantly in the CBL, collaborative, and traditional groups after the study in comparison to before the study. Conclusion Both CBL and collaborative approaches were useful in terms of increased respect, self-awareness, self-evaluation, communication skills and responsibility as well as increased motivation and learning score in comparison to traditional method. PMID:27190926

From Virtual Environments to Physical Environments: Exploring Interactivity in Ubiquitous-Learning Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peng, Hsinyi; Chou, Chien; Chang, Chun-Yu

2008-01-01

Computing devices and applications are now used beyond the desktop, in diverse environments, and this trend toward ubiquitous computing is evolving. In this study, we re-visit the interactivity concept and its applications for interactive function design in a ubiquitous-learning system (ULS). Further, we compare interactivity dimensions and…

The Future of Ubiquitous Elearning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arndt, Timothy

2014-01-01

Post-secondary students are increasingly receiving instruction by eLearning. Many or these are part-time students or are working while taking classes. In such circumstances, students may find themselves short of time to study. One mechanism that can be exploited to make the best use of available time is ubiquitous eLearning. Ubiquitous eLearning…

Action Recognition Using Nonnegative Action Component Representation and Sparse Basis Selection.

PubMed

Wang, Haoran; Yuan, Chunfeng; Hu, Weiming; Ling, Haibin; Yang, Wankou; Sun, Changyin

2014-02-01

In this paper, we propose using high-level action units to represent human actions in videos and, based on such units, a novel sparse model is developed for human action recognition. There are three interconnected components in our approach. First, we propose a new context-aware spatial-temporal descriptor, named locally weighted word context, to improve the discriminability of the traditionally used local spatial-temporal descriptors. Second, from the statistics of the context-aware descriptors, we learn action units using the graph regularized nonnegative matrix factorization, which leads to a part-based representation and encodes the geometrical information. These units effectively bridge the semantic gap in action recognition. Third, we propose a sparse model based on a joint l2,1-norm to preserve the representative items and suppress noise in the action units. Intuitively, when learning the dictionary for action representation, the sparse model captures the fact that actions from the same class share similar units. The proposed approach is evaluated on several publicly available data sets. The experimental results and analysis clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Supramodal processing optimizes visual perceptual learning and plasticity.

PubMed

Zilber, Nicolas; Ciuciu, Philippe; Gramfort, Alexandre; Azizi, Leila; van Wassenhove, Virginie

2014-06-01

Multisensory interactions are ubiquitous in cortex and it has been suggested that sensory cortices may be supramodal i.e. capable of functional selectivity irrespective of the sensory modality of inputs (Pascual-Leone and Hamilton, 2001; Renier et al., 2013; Ricciardi and Pietrini, 2011; Voss and Zatorre, 2012). Here, we asked whether learning to discriminate visual coherence could benefit from supramodal processing. To this end, three groups of participants were briefly trained to discriminate which of a red or green intermixed population of random-dot-kinematograms (RDKs) was most coherent in a visual display while being recorded with magnetoencephalography (MEG). During training, participants heard no sound (V), congruent acoustic textures (AV) or auditory noise (AVn); importantly, congruent acoustic textures shared the temporal statistics - i.e. coherence - of visual RDKs. After training, the AV group significantly outperformed participants trained in V and AVn although they were not aware of their progress. In pre- and post-training blocks, all participants were tested without sound and with the same set of RDKs. When contrasting MEG data collected in these experimental blocks, selective differences were observed in the dynamic pattern and the cortical loci responsive to visual RDKs. First and common to all three groups, vlPFC showed selectivity to the learned coherence levels whereas selectivity in visual motion area hMT+ was only seen for the AV group. Second and solely for the AV group, activity in multisensory cortices (mSTS, pSTS) correlated with post-training performances; additionally, the latencies of these effects suggested feedback from vlPFC to hMT+ possibly mediated by temporal cortices in AV and AVn groups. Altogether, we interpret our results in the context of the Reverse Hierarchy Theory of learning (Ahissar and Hochstein, 2004) in which supramodal processing optimizes visual perceptual learning by capitalizing on sensory-invariant representations - here, global coherence levels across sensory modalities. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Peer-to-Peer Learning and the Army Learning Model

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-08

their goals. 4. Capability to operate and provide advice at the national level. 5. Cultural astuteness and ability to use this awareness and...Joint and cultural context of the Operating Environment, collaborative skills are required. This survey finds that collaboration among peers ranked...and engagement (oral, written, negotiation) • Critical thinking and problem solving • Cultural and joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and

Chemistry Teaching and Learning in the Context of a Problem Found at Home

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vogelezang, Michiel

2012-01-01

Noticing the presence of colourless crystals in a glass of white wine was the starting point for some simple experiments to identify their chemical nature. The author did not succeed in identifying the chemical, but learned about the presence of an acid-base indicator. In retrospect, he was aware of the special chemical way he had considered the…

Using Location-Aware Technology for Learning Geography in a Real Digital Space outside the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cowan, Pamela; Butler, Ryan

2013-01-01

The use of new mobile technologies is still in its infancy in many secondary schools and there is limited evidence of the educational and pedagogical benefits on pupils' learning in the formal school context. This qualitative study focuses on the use of handheld devices to teach a topic in geography to an examination class. Action research…

The Spiritual Dimension of Adult Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tisdell, Elizabeth J.

1999-01-01

Describes psychological perspectives on spiritual development within cultural contexts. Recommends that adult educators acknowledge the search for meaning, recognize adult learning is intended to nurture the soul, and become aware of how humans construct knowledge through images and symbols. (SK)

Ubiquitous Knowledge Construction: Mobile Learning Re-Defined and a Conceptual Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peng, Hsinyi; Su, Yi-Ju; Chou, Chien; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2009-01-01

Emerging from recent mobile technologies, mobile learning, or m-learning, is beginning to offer "stunning new technical capabilities" in education (DiGiano et al., 2003). This new genre of learning is viewed as a revolutionary stage in educational technology. However, ubiquitous computing technologies have given rise to several issues. This…

PACALL: Supporting Language Learning Using SenseCam

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hou, Bin; Ogata, Hiroaki; Kunita, Toma; Li, Mengmeng; Uosaki, Noriko

2013-01-01

The authors' research defines a ubiquitous learning log (ULLO) as a digital record of what a learner has learned in the daily life using ubiquitous technologies. In their previous works, the authors proposed a model named LORE (Log--Organize--Recall--Evaluate) to describe the learning process of ULLO and developed a system named SCROLL to…

Optimizing T-Learning Course Scheduling Based on Genetic Algorithm in Benefit-Oriented Data Broadcast Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Yong-Ming; Chen, Chao-Chun; Wang, Ding-Chau

2012-01-01

Ubiquitous learning receives much attention in these few years due to its wide spectrum of applications, such as the T-learning application. The learner can use mobile devices to watch the digital TV based course content, and thus, the T-learning provides the ubiquitous learning environment. However, in real-world data broadcast environments, the…

Impaired awareness of action-outcome contingency and causality during healthy ageing and following ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions.

PubMed

O'Callaghan, Claire; Vaghi, Matilde M; Brummerloh, Berit; Cardinal, Rudolf N; Robbins, Trevor W

2018-02-02

Detecting causal relationships between actions and their outcomes is fundamental to guiding goal-directed behaviour. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) has been extensively implicated in computing these environmental contingencies, via animal lesion models and human neuroimaging. However, whether the vmPFC is critical for contingency learning, and whether it can occur without subjective awareness of those contingencies, has not been established. To address this, we measured response adaption to contingency and subjective awareness of action-outcome relationships in individuals with vmPFC lesions and healthy elderly subjects. We showed that in both vmPFC damage and ageing, successful behavioural adaptation to variations in action-outcome contingencies was maintained, but subjective awareness of these contingencies was reduced. These results highlight two contexts where performance and awareness have been dissociated, and show that learning response-outcome contingencies to guide behaviour can occur without subjective awareness. Preserved responding in the vmPFC group suggests that this region is not critical for computing action-outcome contingencies to guide behaviour. In contrast, our findings highlight a critical role for the vmPFC in supporting awareness, or metacognitive ability, during learning. We further advance the hypothesis that responding to changing environmental contingencies, whilst simultaneously maintaining conscious awareness of those statistical regularities, is a form of dual-tasking that is impaired in ageing due to reduced prefrontal function. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Mitigating road impacts on animals through learning principles.

PubMed

Proppe, D S; McMillan, N; Congdon, J V; Sturdy, C B

2017-01-01

Roads are a nearly ubiquitous feature of the developed world, but their presence does not come without consequences. Many mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians suffer high rates of mortality through collision with motor vehicles, while other species treat roads as barriers that reduce gene flow between populations. Road effects extend beyond the pavement, where traffic noise is altering communities of songbirds, insects, and some mammals. Traditional methods of mitigation along roads include the creation of quieter pavement and tires and the construction of physical barriers to reduce sound transmission and movement. While effective, these forms of mitigation are costly and time-consuming. One alternative is the use of learning principles to create or extinguish aversive behaviors in animals living near roads. Classical and operant conditioning are well-documented techniques for altering behavior in response to novel cues and signals. Behavioral ecologists have used conditioning techniques to mitigate human-wildlife conflict challenges, alter predator-prey interactions, and facilitate reintroduction efforts. Yet, these principles have rarely been applied in the context of roads. We suggest that the field of road ecology is ripe with opportunity for experimentation with learning principles. We present tangible ways that learning techniques could be utilized to mitigate negative roadside behaviors, address the importance of evaluating fitness within these contexts, and evaluate the longevity of learned behaviors. This review serves as an invitation for empirical studies that test the effectiveness of learning paradigms as a mitigation tool in the context of roads.

AUDIS wear: a smartwatch based assistive device for ubiquitous awareness of environmental sounds.

PubMed

Mielke, Matthias; Bruck, Rainer

2016-08-01

A multitude of assistive devices is available for deaf people (i.e. deaf, deafened, and hard of hearing). Besides hearing and communication aids, devices to access environmental sounds are available commercially. But the devices have two major drawbacks: 1. they are targeted at indoor environments (e.g. home or work), and 2. only specific events are supported (e.g. the doorbell or telephone). Recent research shows that important sounds can occur in all contexts and that the interests in sounds are diverse. These drawbacks can be tackled by using modern information and communication technology that enables the development of new and improved assistive devices. The smartwatch, a new computing platform in the form of a wristwatch, offers new potential for assistive technology. Its design promises a perfect integration into various different social contexts and thus blends perfectly into the user's life. Based on a smartwatch and algorithms from pattern recognition, a prototype for awareness of environmental sounds is presented here. It observes the acoustic environment of the user and detects environmental sounds. A vibration is triggered when a sound is detected and the type of sound is shown on the display. The design of the prototype was discussed with deaf people in semi-structured interviews, leading to a set of implications for the design of such a device.

Orchestrating Tangible Music Interfaces for In-Classroom Music Learning through a Fairy Tale: The Case of ImproviSchool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palaigeorgiou, George; Pouloulis, Christos

2018-01-01

Ubiquitous music is a relatively new research area which seeks ways to involve novices in music learning, playing and improvisation. Despite the ambitious goals, ubiquitous music is still unknown territory in schools. In this study, we have tried to identify whether ubiquitous music environments can enable novice music students to participate in…

iSELF: The Development of an Internet-Tool for Self-Evaluation and Learner Feedback

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Theunissen, Nicolet; Stubbé, Hester

2014-01-01

This paper describes the theoretical basis and development of the iSELF: an Internet-tool for Self-Evaluation and Learner Feedback to stimulate self-directed learning in ubiquitous learning environments. In ubiquitous learning, learners follow their own trails of interest, scaffolded by coaches, peers and tools for thinking and learning.…

The Green Bean Has to Be Longer than Your Thumb: An Observational Study of Preschoolers' Math and Science Experiences in a Garden

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vandermaas-Peeler, Maureen; McClain, Cara

2015-01-01

School gardening has become increasingly popular as a context for learning in which children construct new knowledge, learn cultural and societal values related to ecological awareness, and develop and practice authentic or real-world skills (Blair, 2009; Bowker & Tearle, 2007). The present research was a longitudinal case study of children's…

Mobile Learning as a Method of Ubiquitous Learning: Students' Attitudes, Readiness, and Possible Barriers to Implementation in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alhassan, Riyadh

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes and level of readiness, and possible barriers to implementing Mobile Learning as a part of ubiquitous learning. In addition, the study attempted to find out to what extent students are interested in mobile learning. It also aimed to answer the question regarding the readiness of college…

Ubiquitous Learning Ecologies for a Critical Cyber-Citizenship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Díez-Gutiérrez, Enrique; Díaz-Nafría, José-María

2018-01-01

The aim of this research is to identify and analyse the ubiquitous learning acquired through blending education settings devoted to the "lifelong training of trainers" and how these contribute to the development of a conscious, critic and engaged citizenship. Through active exploration of the learning process, the study analyses the…

The "proactive" model of learning: Integrative framework for model-free and model-based reinforcement learning utilizing the associative learning-based proactive brain concept.

PubMed

Zsuga, Judit; Biro, Klara; Papp, Csaba; Tajti, Gabor; Gesztelyi, Rudolf

2016-02-01

Reinforcement learning (RL) is a powerful concept underlying forms of associative learning governed by the use of a scalar reward signal, with learning taking place if expectations are violated. RL may be assessed using model-based and model-free approaches. Model-based reinforcement learning involves the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). The model-free system involves the pedunculopontine-tegmental nucleus (PPTgN), the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the ventral striatum (VS). Based on the functional connectivity of VS, model-free and model based RL systems center on the VS that by integrating model-free signals (received as reward prediction error) and model-based reward related input computes value. Using the concept of reinforcement learning agent we propose that the VS serves as the value function component of the RL agent. Regarding the model utilized for model-based computations we turned to the proactive brain concept, which offers an ubiquitous function for the default network based on its great functional overlap with contextual associative areas. Hence, by means of the default network the brain continuously organizes its environment into context frames enabling the formulation of analogy-based association that are turned into predictions of what to expect. The OFC integrates reward-related information into context frames upon computing reward expectation by compiling stimulus-reward and context-reward information offered by the amygdala and hippocampus, respectively. Furthermore we suggest that the integration of model-based expectations regarding reward into the value signal is further supported by the efferent of the OFC that reach structures canonical for model-free learning (e.g., the PPTgN, VTA, and VS). (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Exploring the Effects of Web-Mediated Computational Thinking on Developing Students' Computing Skills in a Ubiquitous Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsai, Chia-Wen; Shen, Pei-Di; Tsai, Meng-Chuan; Chen, Wen-Yu

2017-01-01

Much application software education in Taiwan can hardly be regarded as practical. The researchers in this study provided a flexible means of ubiquitous learning (u-learning) with a mobile app for students to access the learning material. In addition, the authors also adopted computational thinking (CT) to help students develop practical computing…

Navigation as a New Form of Search for Agricultural Learning Resources in Semantic Repositories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cano, Ramiro; Abián, Alberto; Mena, Elena

Education is essential when it comes to raise public awareness on the environmental and economic benefits of organic agriculture and agroecology (OA & AE). Organic.Edunet, an EU funded project, aims at providing a freely-available portal where learning contents on OA & AE can be published and accessed through specialized technologies. This paper describes a novel mechanism for providing semantic capabilities (such as semantic navigational queries) to an arbitrary set of agricultural learning resources, in the context of the Organic.Edunet initiative.

Design Principles for Augmented Reality Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunleavy, Matt

2014-01-01

Augmented reality is an emerging technology that utilizes mobile, context-aware devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets) that enable participants to interact with digital information embedded within the physical environment. This overview of design principles focuses on specific strategies that instructional designers can use to develop AR learning…

Visual object recognition for mobile tourist information systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paletta, Lucas; Fritz, Gerald; Seifert, Christin; Luley, Patrick; Almer, Alexander

2005-03-01

We describe a mobile vision system that is capable of automated object identification using images captured from a PDA or a camera phone. We present a solution for the enabling technology of outdoors vision based object recognition that will extend state-of-the-art location and context aware services towards object based awareness in urban environments. In the proposed application scenario, tourist pedestrians are equipped with GPS, W-LAN and a camera attached to a PDA or a camera phone. They are interested whether their field of view contains tourist sights that would point to more detailed information. Multimedia type data about related history, the architecture, or other related cultural context of historic or artistic relevance might be explored by a mobile user who is intending to learn within the urban environment. Learning from ambient cues is in this way achieved by pointing the device towards the urban sight, capturing an image, and consequently getting information about the object on site and within the focus of attention, i.e., the users current field of view.

Development and Evaluation of an RFID-Based Ubiquitous Learning Environment for Outdoor Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tan, Tan-Hsu; Liu, Tsung-Yu; Chang, Chi-Cheng

2007-01-01

Many issues have been identified in outdoor teaching, especially in places that lack the capacity to effectively present information about such subjects as historical relics, rare animals, and geological landscapes. This study proposes an Environment of Ubiquitous Learning with Educational Resources (EULER) based on radio frequency identification…

From Many-to-One to One-to-Many: The Evolution of Ubiquitous Computing in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Wenli; Lim, Carolyn; Tan, Ashley

2011-01-01

Personal, Internet-connected technologies are becoming ubiquitous in the lives of students, and ubiquitous computing initiatives are already expanding in educational contexts. Historically in the field of education, the terms one-to-one (1:1) computing and ubiquitous computing have been interpreted in a number of ways and have at times been used…

Multi-Sensor Fusion for Enhanced Contextual Awareness of Everyday Activities with Ubiquitous Devices

PubMed Central

Guiry, John J.; van de Ven, Pepijn; Nelson, John

2014-01-01

In this paper, the authors investigate the role that smart devices, including smartphones and smartwatches, can play in identifying activities of daily living. A feasibility study involving N = 10 participants was carried out to evaluate the devices' ability to differentiate between nine everyday activities. The activities examined include walking, running, cycling, standing, sitting, elevator ascents, elevator descents, stair ascents and stair descents. The authors also evaluated the ability of these devices to differentiate indoors from outdoors, with the aim of enhancing contextual awareness. Data from this study was used to train and test five well known machine learning algorithms: C4.5, CART, Naïve Bayes, Multi-Layer Perceptrons and finally Support Vector Machines. Both single and multi-sensor approaches were examined to better understand the role each sensor in the device can play in unobtrusive activity recognition. The authors found overall results to be promising, with some models correctly classifying up to 100% of all instances. PMID:24662406

Multi-sensor fusion for enhanced contextual awareness of everyday activities with ubiquitous devices.

PubMed

Guiry, John J; van de Ven, Pepijn; Nelson, John

2014-03-21

In this paper, the authors investigate the role that smart devices, including smartphones and smartwatches, can play in identifying activities of daily living. A feasibility study involving N = 10 participants was carried out to evaluate the devices' ability to differentiate between nine everyday activities. The activities examined include walking, running, cycling, standing, sitting, elevator ascents, elevator descents, stair ascents and stair descents. The authors also evaluated the ability of these devices to differentiate indoors from outdoors, with the aim of enhancing contextual awareness. Data from this study was used to train and test five well known machine learning algorithms: C4.5, CART, Naïve Bayes, Multi-Layer Perceptrons and finally Support Vector Machines. Both single and multi-sensor approaches were examined to better understand the role each sensor in the device can play in unobtrusive activity recognition. The authors found overall results to be promising, with some models correctly classifying up to 100% of all instances.

Learning situation models in a smart home.

PubMed

Brdiczka, Oliver; Crowley, James L; Reignier, Patrick

2009-02-01

This paper addresses the problem of learning situation models for providing context-aware services. Context for modeling human behavior in a smart environment is represented by a situation model describing environment, users, and their activities. A framework for acquiring and evolving different layers of a situation model in a smart environment is proposed. Different learning methods are presented as part of this framework: role detection per entity, unsupervised extraction of situations from multimodal data, supervised learning of situation representations, and evolution of a predefined situation model with feedback. The situation model serves as frame and support for the different methods, permitting to stay in an intuitive declarative framework. The proposed methods have been integrated into a whole system for smart home environment. The implementation is detailed, and two evaluations are conducted in the smart home environment. The obtained results validate the proposed approach.

A service based adaptive U-learning system using UX.

PubMed

Jeong, Hwa-Young; Yi, Gangman

2014-01-01

In recent years, traditional development techniques for e-learning systems have been changing to become more convenient and efficient. One new technology in the development of application systems includes both cloud and ubiquitous computing. Cloud computing can support learning system processes by using services while ubiquitous computing can provide system operation and management via a high performance technical process and network. In the cloud computing environment, a learning service application can provide a business module or process to the user via the internet. This research focuses on providing the learning material and processes of courses by learning units using the services in a ubiquitous computing environment. And we also investigate functions that support users' tailored materials according to their learning style. That is, we analyzed the user's data and their characteristics in accordance with their user experience. We subsequently applied the learning process to fit on their learning performance and preferences. Finally, we demonstrate how the proposed system outperforms learning effects to learners better than existing techniques.

A Service Based Adaptive U-Learning System Using UX

PubMed Central

Jeong, Hwa-Young

2014-01-01

In recent years, traditional development techniques for e-learning systems have been changing to become more convenient and efficient. One new technology in the development of application systems includes both cloud and ubiquitous computing. Cloud computing can support learning system processes by using services while ubiquitous computing can provide system operation and management via a high performance technical process and network. In the cloud computing environment, a learning service application can provide a business module or process to the user via the internet. This research focuses on providing the learning material and processes of courses by learning units using the services in a ubiquitous computing environment. And we also investigate functions that support users' tailored materials according to their learning style. That is, we analyzed the user's data and their characteristics in accordance with their user experience. We subsequently applied the learning process to fit on their learning performance and preferences. Finally, we demonstrate how the proposed system outperforms learning effects to learners better than existing techniques. PMID:25147832

Body image, media, and eating disorders.

PubMed

Derenne, Jennifer L; Beresin, Eugene V

2006-01-01

Eating disorders, including obesity, are a major public health problem today. Throughout history, body image has been determined by various factors, including politics and media. Exposure to mass media (television, movies, magazines, Internet) is correlated with obesity and negative body image, which may lead to disordered eating. The authors attempt to explain the historical context of the problem and explore potential avenues for change. The authors review changes in ideal female body type throughout history, comment on current attitudes toward shape and weight in both men and women, and outline interventions aimed at increasing healthy habits and fostering self-esteem in youth. Throughout history, the ideal of beauty has been difficult to achieve and has been shaped by social context. Current mass media is ubiquitous and powerful, leading to increased body dissatisfaction among both men and women. Parents need to limit children's exposure to media, promote healthy eating and moderate physical activity, and encourage participation in activities that increase mastery and self-esteem. Funding for high-quality, visible advertising campaigns promoting healthy life styles may increase awareness.

Context Aware Middleware Architectures: Survey and Challenges

PubMed Central

Li, Xin; Eckert, Martina; Martinez, José-Fernán; Rubio, Gregorio

2015-01-01

Context aware applications, which can adapt their behaviors to changing environments, are attracting more and more attention. To simplify the complexity of developing applications, context aware middleware, which introduces context awareness into the traditional middleware, is highlighted to provide a homogeneous interface involving generic context management solutions. This paper provides a survey of state-of-the-art context aware middleware architectures proposed during the period from 2009 through 2015. First, a preliminary background, such as the principles of context, context awareness, context modelling, and context reasoning, is provided for a comprehensive understanding of context aware middleware. On this basis, an overview of eleven carefully selected middleware architectures is presented and their main features explained. Then, thorough comparisons and analysis of the presented middleware architectures are performed based on technical parameters including architectural style, context abstraction, context reasoning, scalability, fault tolerance, interoperability, service discovery, storage, security & privacy, context awareness level, and cloud-based big data analytics. The analysis shows that there is actually no context aware middleware architecture that complies with all requirements. Finally, challenges are pointed out as open issues for future work. PMID:26307988

CILT2000: Ubiquitous Computing--Spanning the Digital Divide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tinker, Robert; Vahey, Philip

2002-01-01

Discusses the role of ubiquitous and handheld computers in education. Summarizes the contributions of the Center for Innovative Learning Technologies (CILT) and describes the ubiquitous computing sessions at the CILT2000 Conference. (Author/YDS)

The Status of Ubiquitous Computing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, David G.; Petitto, Karen R.

2003-01-01

Explains the prevalence and rationale of ubiquitous computing on college campuses--teaching with the assumption or expectation that all faculty and students have access to the Internet--and offers lessons learned by pioneering institutions. Lessons learned involve planning, technology, implementation and management, adoption of computer-enhanced…

Disabled Children and Child Protection: Learning from Literature through a Non-Tragedy Lens

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flynn, Susan; McGregor, Caroline

2017-01-01

Disabled children experience unique vulnerabilities in the context of child protection and welfare services. Current research alludes to strong concerns about social inequality, professional responses, judgement, knowledge and awareness limitations, and practical constraints. This article presents a focused commentary on the literature pertaining…

Environmental Peace Education in Foreign Language Learners' English Grammar Lessons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arikan, Arda

2009-01-01

English language teachers create contexts to teach grammar so that meaningful learning occurs. In this study, English grammar is contextualized through environmental peace education activities to raise students' awareness of global issues. Two sources provided data to evaluate the success of this instructional process. Fourth-year pre-service…

The Socio-Cultural Context of Operations: Culture and Foreign Language Learning for Company-Grade Officers

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-01

Perspective taking Cultural acuity Observational skills Willingness to engage ...Communicate through an interpreter. Flexibility Willingness to engage Social initiative Perspective taking & empathy Non-ethnocentrism Self...Flexibility Willingness to engage Social initiative Perspective taking & empathy Non-ethnocentrism Self-awareness Self-monitoring Cultural

Integration Framework for Heterogeneous Analysis Components: Building a Context Aware Virtual Analyst

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-11-01

understands commands) modes are supported. By default, Julius comes with the Japanese language support. English acoustic and language models are...GUI, natura atar represent gue managem s the activitie ystem to und ry that suppo the Dialogu der to call arning (ML) learning ca r and feedb

Ubiquitous computing in sports: A review and analysis.

PubMed

Baca, Arnold; Dabnichki, Peter; Heller, Mario; Kornfeind, Philipp

2009-10-01

Ubiquitous (pervasive) computing is a term for a synergetic use of sensing, communication and computing. Pervasive use of computing has seen a rapid increase in the current decade. This development has propagated in applied sport science and everyday life. The work presents a survey of recent developments in sport and leisure with emphasis on technology and computational techniques. A detailed analysis on new technological developments is performed. Sensors for position and motion detection, and such for equipment and physiological monitoring are discussed. Aspects of novel trends in communication technologies and data processing are outlined. Computational advancements have started a new trend - development of smart and intelligent systems for a wide range of applications - from model-based posture recognition to context awareness algorithms for nutrition monitoring. Examples particular to coaching and training are discussed. Selected tools for monitoring rules' compliance and automatic decision-making are outlined. Finally, applications in leisure and entertainment are presented, from systems supporting physical activity to systems providing motivation. It is concluded that the emphasis in future will shift from technologies to intelligent systems that allow for enhanced social interaction as efforts need to be made to improve user-friendliness and standardisation of measurement and transmission protocols.

Learning in Authentic Earth and Planetary Contexts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fergusson, J. A.; Oliver, C. A.

2006-12-01

A Virtual Field Trip project has been developed in collaboration with NASA Learning Technologies to allow students, internationally, to accompany scientists on a field trip to the Pilbara region of Western Australia to debate the relevance of ancient structures called stromatolites, to the origins of life on Earth and the search for life on Mars. The project was planned with the aim of exposing high school students to `science in the making', including exposure to the ongoing debate and uncertainties involved in scientific research. The development of the project stemmed from both research-based and anecdotal evidence that current science education programs are not providing secondary students with a good understanding of the processes of science. This study seeks to examine the effectiveness of student use of the tools to increase awareness of the processes of science and to evaluate the effectiveness of the tools in terms of student learning. The literature reports that there is a need for learning activities to be conducted within meaningful contexts. The virtual field trip tools create an environment that simulates key elements in the scientific process. Such an approach allows students to learn by doing, to work like scientists and apply their learning in an authentic context.

A course designed for undergraduate biochemistry students to learn about cultural diversity issues.

PubMed

Benore-Parsons, Marilee

2006-09-01

Biology, biochemistry, and other science students are well trained in science and familiar with how to conduct and evaluate scientific experiments. They are less aware of cultural issues or how these will impact their careers in research, education, or as professional health care workers. A course was developed for advanced undergraduate science majors to learn about diversity issues in a context that would be relevant to them, entitled "Diversity Issues in Health Care: Treatment and Research." Learning objectives included: developing awareness of current topics concerning diversity issues in health care; learning how research is carried out in health care, including pharmaceutical research, clinical trials, and social research; and learning about health care practices. Lectures and projects included readings on laboratory and clinical research, as well as literature on legal, race, gender, language, age, and income issues in health care research and clinical practice. Exams, papers, and a service learning project were used to determine the final course grade. Assessment indicated student understanding of diversity issues was improved, and the material was relevant. Copyright © 2006 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Activity Learning as a Foundation for Security Monitoring in Smart Homes.

PubMed

Dahmen, Jessamyn; Thomas, Brian L; Cook, Diane J; Wang, Xiaobo

2017-03-31

Smart environment technology has matured to the point where it is regularly used in everyday homes as well as research labs. With this maturation of the technology, we can consider using smart homes as a practical mechanism for improving home security. In this paper, we introduce an activity-aware approach to security monitoring and threat detection in smart homes. We describe our approach using the CASAS smart home framework and activity learning algorithms. By monitoring for activity-based anomalies we can detect possible threats and take appropriate action. We evaluate our proposed method using data collected in CASAS smart homes and demonstrate the partnership between activity-aware smart homes and biometric devices in the context of the CASAS on-campus smart apartment testbed.

Human Behavior Analysis by Means of Multimodal Context Mining

PubMed Central

Banos, Oresti; Villalonga, Claudia; Bang, Jaehun; Hur, Taeho; Kang, Donguk; Park, Sangbeom; Huynh-The, Thien; Le-Ba, Vui; Amin, Muhammad Bilal; Razzaq, Muhammad Asif; Khan, Wahajat Ali; Hong, Choong Seon; Lee, Sungyoung

2016-01-01

There is sufficient evidence proving the impact that negative lifestyle choices have on people’s health and wellness. Changing unhealthy behaviours requires raising people’s self-awareness and also providing healthcare experts with a thorough and continuous description of the user’s conduct. Several monitoring techniques have been proposed in the past to track users’ behaviour; however, these approaches are either subjective and prone to misreporting, such as questionnaires, or only focus on a specific component of context, such as activity counters. This work presents an innovative multimodal context mining framework to inspect and infer human behaviour in a more holistic fashion. The proposed approach extends beyond the state-of-the-art, since it not only explores a sole type of context, but also combines diverse levels of context in an integral manner. Namely, low-level contexts, including activities, emotions and locations, are identified from heterogeneous sensory data through machine learning techniques. Low-level contexts are combined using ontological mechanisms to derive a more abstract representation of the user’s context, here referred to as high-level context. An initial implementation of the proposed framework supporting real-time context identification is also presented. The developed system is evaluated for various realistic scenarios making use of a novel multimodal context open dataset and data on-the-go, demonstrating prominent context-aware capabilities at both low and high levels. PMID:27517928

Human Behavior Analysis by Means of Multimodal Context Mining.

PubMed

Banos, Oresti; Villalonga, Claudia; Bang, Jaehun; Hur, Taeho; Kang, Donguk; Park, Sangbeom; Huynh-The, Thien; Le-Ba, Vui; Amin, Muhammad Bilal; Razzaq, Muhammad Asif; Khan, Wahajat Ali; Hong, Choong Seon; Lee, Sungyoung

2016-08-10

There is sufficient evidence proving the impact that negative lifestyle choices have on people's health and wellness. Changing unhealthy behaviours requires raising people's self-awareness and also providing healthcare experts with a thorough and continuous description of the user's conduct. Several monitoring techniques have been proposed in the past to track users' behaviour; however, these approaches are either subjective and prone to misreporting, such as questionnaires, or only focus on a specific component of context, such as activity counters. This work presents an innovative multimodal context mining framework to inspect and infer human behaviour in a more holistic fashion. The proposed approach extends beyond the state-of-the-art, since it not only explores a sole type of context, but also combines diverse levels of context in an integral manner. Namely, low-level contexts, including activities, emotions and locations, are identified from heterogeneous sensory data through machine learning techniques. Low-level contexts are combined using ontological mechanisms to derive a more abstract representation of the user's context, here referred to as high-level context. An initial implementation of the proposed framework supporting real-time context identification is also presented. The developed system is evaluated for various realistic scenarios making use of a novel multimodal context open dataset and data on-the-go, demonstrating prominent context-aware capabilities at both low and high levels.

Context-aware personal navigation using embedded sensor fusion in smartphones.

PubMed

Saeedi, Sara; Moussa, Adel; El-Sheimy, Naser

2014-03-25

Context-awareness is an interesting topic in mobile navigation scenarios where the context of the application is highly dynamic. Using context-aware computing, navigation services consider the situation of user, not only in the design process, but in real time while the device is in use. The basic idea is that mobile navigation services can provide different services based on different contexts-where contexts are related to the user's activity and the device placement. Context-aware systems are concerned with the following challenges which are addressed in this paper: context acquisition, context understanding, and context-aware application adaptation. The proposed approach in this paper is using low-cost sensors in a multi-level fusion scheme to improve the accuracy and robustness of context-aware navigation system. The experimental results demonstrate the capabilities of the context-aware Personal Navigation Systems (PNS) for outdoor personal navigation using a smartphone.

Leveraging Large-Scale Semantic Networks for Adaptive Robot Task Learning and Execution.

PubMed

Boteanu, Adrian; St Clair, Aaron; Mohseni-Kabir, Anahita; Saldanha, Carl; Chernova, Sonia

2016-12-01

This work seeks to leverage semantic networks containing millions of entries encoding assertions of commonsense knowledge to enable improvements in robot task execution and learning. The specific application we explore in this project is object substitution in the context of task adaptation. Humans easily adapt their plans to compensate for missing items in day-to-day tasks, substituting a wrap for bread when making a sandwich, or stirring pasta with a fork when out of spoons. Robot plan execution, however, is far less robust, with missing objects typically leading to failure if the robot is not aware of alternatives. In this article, we contribute a context-aware algorithm that leverages the linguistic information embedded in the task description to identify candidate substitution objects without reliance on explicit object affordance information. Specifically, we show that the task context provided by the task labels within the action structure of a task plan can be leveraged to disambiguate information within a noisy large-scale semantic network containing hundreds of potential object candidates to identify successful object substitutions with high accuracy. We present two extensive evaluations of our work on both abstract and real-world robot tasks, showing that the substitutions made by our system are valid, accepted by users, and lead to a statistically significant reduction in robot learning time. In addition, we report the outcomes of testing our approach with a large number of crowd workers interacting with a robot in real time.

Context-Aware Personal Navigation Using Embedded Sensor Fusion in Smartphones

PubMed Central

Saeedi, Sara; Moussa, Adel; El-Sheimy, Naser

2014-01-01

Context-awareness is an interesting topic in mobile navigation scenarios where the context of the application is highly dynamic. Using context-aware computing, navigation services consider the situation of user, not only in the design process, but in real time while the device is in use. The basic idea is that mobile navigation services can provide different services based on different contexts—where contexts are related to the user's activity and the device placement. Context-aware systems are concerned with the following challenges which are addressed in this paper: context acquisition, context understanding, and context-aware application adaptation. The proposed approach in this paper is using low-cost sensors in a multi-level fusion scheme to improve the accuracy and robustness of context-aware navigation system. The experimental results demonstrate the capabilities of the context-aware Personal Navigation Systems (PNS) for outdoor personal navigation using a smartphone. PMID:24670715

Conscious awareness is required for holistic face processing

PubMed Central

Axelrod, Vadim; Rees, Geraint

2014-01-01

Investigating the limits of unconscious processing is essential to understand the function of consciousness. Here, we explored whether holistic face processing, a mechanism believed to be important for face processing in general, can be accomplished unconsciously. Using a novel “eyes-face” stimulus we tested whether discrimination of pairs of eyes was influenced by the surrounding face context. While the eyes were fully visible, the faces that provided context could be rendered invisible through continuous flash suppression. Two experiments with three different sets of face stimuli and a subliminal learning procedure converged to show that invisible faces did not influence perception of visible eyes. In contrast, surrounding faces, when they were clearly visible, strongly influenced perception of the eyes. Thus, we conclude that conscious awareness might be a prerequisite for holistic face processing. PMID:24950500

Virtual Social Network Communities: An Investigation of Language Learners' Development of Sociopragmatic Awareness and Multiliteracy Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blattner, Geraldine; Fiori, Melissa

2011-01-01

Although often neglected in language textbooks and classrooms, sociopragmatic and multiliteracy skills are crucial elements in language learning that language educators should not disregard. This article investigates whether a social networking community (SNC) website such as Facebook can be exploited in the context of an intermediate foreign…

Occupational Component. 36-Level Courses. Program of Studies/Curriculum Guide. Integrated Occupational Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alberta Dept. of Education, Edmonton. Curriculum Branch.

The Integrated Occupational Program (IOP) enables students in Alberta (Canada) who have experienced difficulty in learning to develop essential concepts, skills, and attitudes in the context of one or more occupational clusters. The IOP has four levels: occupational awareness (grades 8-9), career exploration (level 16), occupational orientation…

Finding Common Ground: Identifying and Eliciting Metacognition in ePortfolios across Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bokser, Julie A.; Brown, Sarah; Chaden, Caryn; Moore, Michael; Cleary, Michelle Navarre; Reed, Susan; Seifert, Eileen; Zecker, Liliana Barro; Wozniak, Kathryn

2016-01-01

Research has suggested ePortfolios reveal and support students' metacognition, that is, their awareness, tracking, and evaluation of their learning over time. However, due to the wide variety of purposes and audiences for ePortfolios, it has been unclear whether there might be common criteria for identifying and assessing metacognition in…

Engaging Preservice Teachers in Context-Based, Action-Oriented Curriculum Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richards, K. Andrew R.; Ressler, James D.

2016-01-01

Physical education teacher education programs have a responsibility to prepare students in the technical aspects of teaching physical education, while also helping them to develop an awareness of the micropolitical cultures of schools that have implications for the implementation of what has been learned. Without the latter, beginning teachers may…

Rural Women and Osteoporosis: Awareness and Educational Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matthews, Hollie L.; Laya, Mary; DeWitt, Dawn E.

2006-01-01

Context: Little is known about rural women's knowledge about osteoporosis. Purpose: To explore what women from high-prevalence rural communities know about osteoporosis and to assess their learning preferences. Methods: We surveyed 437 women in rural Washington and Oregon. Findings: The response rate was 93% (N = 406). The mean age of respondents…

Prototype of an auto-calibrating, context-aware, hybrid brain-computer interface.

PubMed

Faller, J; Torrellas, S; Miralles, F; Holzner, C; Kapeller, C; Guger, C; Bund, J; Müller-Putz, G R; Scherer, R

2012-01-01

We present the prototype of a context-aware framework that allows users to control smart home devices and to access internet services via a Hybrid BCI system of an auto-calibrating sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) based BCI and another assistive device (Integra Mouse mouth joystick). While there is extensive literature that describes the merit of Hybrid BCIs, auto-calibrating and co-adaptive ERD BCI training paradigms, specialized BCI user interfaces, context-awareness and smart home control, there is up to now, no system that includes all these concepts in one integrated easy-to-use framework that can truly benefit individuals with severe functional disabilities by increasing independence and social inclusion. Here we integrate all these technologies in a prototype framework that does not require expert knowledge or excess time for calibration. In a first pilot-study, 3 healthy volunteers successfully operated the system using input signals from an ERD BCI and an Integra Mouse and reached average positive predictive values (PPV) of 72 and 98% respectively. Based on what we learned here we are planning to improve the system for a test with a larger number of healthy volunteers so we can soon bring the system to benefit individuals with severe functional disability.

Adult Environmental Education: Awareness and Environmental Action. Adult Learning in the Context of Environment, Health and Population. A Series of 29 Booklets Documenting Workshops Held at the Fifth International Conference on Adult Education (Hamburg, Germany, July 14-18, 1997).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Hamburg (Germany). Inst. for Education.

This booklet discusses the present state of environmental adult education and its major difficulties and shortcomings and develops recommendations for further development of this field. Section 1 discusses linking environmental and social issues and locating environmental problems within the context of one's daily life and action. Section 2…

Developing and Sustaining a Science and Technology Center Education Program: "Inquiry" as a Means for Organizational Change and Institutional Legitimacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ball, T.; Hunter, L.

2010-12-01

Formal organizations have become ubiquitous in contemporary society and since so many of us spend so much of our daily lives working, learning, and socializing in them it is important to understand not only how they govern our interactions but also how we can incite (and sustain) organizational change. This is especially true for STEM education; learning about science, technology, engineering or mathematics rarely occurs outside of formal settings and educators need to be aware of how learning goals, priorities and practices are permeable to the institutional processes that structure sponsoring organizations. Adopting a historical perspective, this paper reports on organizational changes at the Center for Adaptive Optics in relation to an emerging emphasis on inquiry learning. The results of our analysis show how the inquiry model functioned as a boundary object and was instrumental in transforming members' expectations and assumptions about educational practice in STEM while securing the institutional legitimacy of the CfAO as a whole. Our findings can inform the advancement of educational initiatives within the STEM research community and are particularly useful in relation to concerns around accommodating and integrating individuals from non-dominant backgrounds.

Influences of an Inquiry-based Ubiquitous Gaming Design on Students' Learning Achievements, Motivation, Behavioral Patterns, and Tendency towards Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Chen, Chih-Hung

2017-01-01

In this paper, an inquiry-based ubiquitous gaming approach was proposed. The objective of the study was to enhance students' performances in in-field learning activities. To show the advantages of the approach, an experiment was carried out to assess the effects of it on students' learning achievement, motivation, critical thinking, and problem…

Psychoanalysis as cognitive remediation: Dynamic and Vygotskian perspectives in the analysis of an early adolescent dyslexic girl.

PubMed

Weinstein, Lissa; Saul, Laurence

2005-01-01

The interface of neurocognitive problems and dynamic concerns are examined in the treatment of an early adolescent dyslexic girl. Despite previous intensive remediation, she had been unable to master reading and spelling, but made remarkable progress after a relatively brief period of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic and Vygotskian perspectives are integrated to provide a model of how play, within the analytic context, is mutative for learning disabled children. Through the process of reexteriorization in the transference, play allows for the interpretation and resolution of traumatic situations which have become associated with learning. As the act of learning becomes separate from the personal and affective context in which it took place, the child gains access to other, more normative, functions of play. These functions include the development of the capacity to separate meaning from action and the ability to understand words as generalized categories which represent objects, rather than being part of the specific object named. These two capacities, fundamental to the development of abstract thought, will support reflective awareness and help modulate affective states. The abilities furthered in play also act to remediate one component of dyslexia-the difficulty separating context from more abstract bits of knowledge. Finally, the child learns to "play at reality, " often trying on the new role of "student". As Vygotsky notes, play is essential in allowing the child to become aware of what she knows. For a dyslexic child, for whom reading may never become completely a part of procedural memory, becoming conscious of what he knows may also enhance mastery of the skills of phonological processing, albeit more slowly than normally developing readers. The pleasure in play and the repetition it generates aids the internalization of the task and the development of automaticity.

U-ALS: A Ubiquitous Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piovesan, Sandra Dutra; Passerino, Liliana Maria; Medina, Roseclea Duarte

2012-01-01

The diffusion of the use of the learning virtual environments presents a great potential for the development of an application which meet the necessities in the education area. In view of the importance of a more dynamic application and that can adapt itself continuously to the students' necessities, the "U-ALS" (Ubiquitous Adapted Learning…

Ubiquitous and Ambient Intelligence Assisted Learning Environment Infrastructures Development--A Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kanagarajan, Sujith; Ramakrishnan, Sivakumar

2018-01-01

Ubiquitous Learning Environment (ULE) has been becoming a mobile and sensor based technology equipped environment that suits the modern world education discipline requirements for the past few years. Ambient Intelligence (AmI) makes much smarter the ULE by the support of optimization and intelligent techniques. Various efforts have been so far…

But science is international! Finding time and space to encourage intercultural learning in a content-driven physiology unit

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Internationalization of the curriculum is central to the strategic direction of many modern universities and has widespread benefits for student learning. However, these clear aspirations for internationalization of the curriculum have not been widely translated into more internationalized course content and teaching methods in the classroom, particularly in scientific disciplines. This study addressed one major challenge to promoting intercultural competence among undergraduate science students: finding time to scaffold such learning within the context of content-heavy, time-poor units. Small changes to enhance global and intercultural awareness were incorporated into existing assessments and teaching activities within a second-year biomedical physiology unit. Interventions were designed to start a conversation about global and intercultural perspectives on physiology, to embed the development of global awareness into the assessment and to promote cultural exchanges through peer interactions. In student surveys, 40% of domestic and 60% of international student respondents articulated specific learning about interactions in cross-cultural groups resulting from unit activities. Many students also identified specific examples of how cultural beliefs would impact on the place of biomedical physiology within the global community. In addition, staff observed more widespread benefits for student engagement and learning. It is concluded that a significant development of intercultural awareness and a more global perspective on scientific understanding can be supported among undergraduates with relatively modest, easy to implement adaptations to course content. PMID:25039086

But science is international! Finding time and space to encourage intercultural learning in a content-driven physiology unit.

PubMed

Etherington, Sarah J

2014-06-01

Internationalization of the curriculum is central to the strategic direction of many modern universities and has widespread benefits for student learning. However, these clear aspirations for internationalization of the curriculum have not been widely translated into more internationalized course content and teaching methods in the classroom, particularly in scientific disciplines. This study addressed one major challenge to promoting intercultural competence among undergraduate science students: finding time to scaffold such learning within the context of content-heavy, time-poor units. Small changes to enhance global and intercultural awareness were incorporated into existing assessments and teaching activities within a second-year biomedical physiology unit. Interventions were designed to start a conversation about global and intercultural perspectives on physiology, to embed the development of global awareness into the assessment and to promote cultural exchanges through peer interactions. In student surveys, 40% of domestic and 60% of international student respondents articulated specific learning about interactions in cross-cultural groups resulting from unit activities. Many students also identified specific examples of how cultural beliefs would impact on the place of biomedical physiology within the global community. In addition, staff observed more widespread benefits for student engagement and learning. It is concluded that a significant development of intercultural awareness and a more global perspective on scientific understanding can be supported among undergraduates with relatively modest, easy to implement adaptations to course content.

Activity Learning as a Foundation for Security Monitoring in Smart Homes

PubMed Central

Dahmen, Jessamyn; Thomas, Brian L.; Cook, Diane J.; Wang, Xiaobo

2017-01-01

Smart environment technology has matured to the point where it is regularly used in everyday homes as well as research labs. With this maturation of the technology, we can consider using smart homes as a practical mechanism for improving home security. In this paper, we introduce an activity-aware approach to security monitoring and threat detection in smart homes. We describe our approach using the CASAS smart home framework and activity learning algorithms. By monitoring for activity-based anomalies we can detect possible threats and take appropriate action. We evaluate our proposed method using data collected in CASAS smart homes and demonstrate the partnership between activity-aware smart homes and biometric devices in the context of the CASAS on-campus smart apartment testbed. PMID:28362342

Applying dynamic priority scheduling scheme to static systems of pinwheel task model in power-aware scheduling.

PubMed

Seol, Ye-In; Kim, Young-Kuk

2014-01-01

Power-aware scheduling reduces CPU energy consumption in hard real-time systems through dynamic voltage scaling (DVS). In this paper, we deal with pinwheel task model which is known as static and predictable task model and could be applied to various embedded or ubiquitous systems. In pinwheel task model, each task's priority is static and its execution sequence could be predetermined. There have been many static approaches to power-aware scheduling in pinwheel task model. But, in this paper, we will show that the dynamic priority scheduling results in power-aware scheduling could be applied to pinwheel task model. This method is more effective than adopting the previous static priority scheduling methods in saving energy consumption and, for the system being still static, it is more tractable and applicable to small sized embedded or ubiquitous computing. Also, we introduce a novel power-aware scheduling algorithm which exploits all slacks under preemptive earliest-deadline first scheduling which is optimal in uniprocessor system. The dynamic priority method presented in this paper could be applied directly to static systems of pinwheel task model. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm with the algorithmic complexity of O(n) reduces the energy consumption by 10-80% over the existing algorithms.

Applying Dynamic Priority Scheduling Scheme to Static Systems of Pinwheel Task Model in Power-Aware Scheduling

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Power-aware scheduling reduces CPU energy consumption in hard real-time systems through dynamic voltage scaling (DVS). In this paper, we deal with pinwheel task model which is known as static and predictable task model and could be applied to various embedded or ubiquitous systems. In pinwheel task model, each task's priority is static and its execution sequence could be predetermined. There have been many static approaches to power-aware scheduling in pinwheel task model. But, in this paper, we will show that the dynamic priority scheduling results in power-aware scheduling could be applied to pinwheel task model. This method is more effective than adopting the previous static priority scheduling methods in saving energy consumption and, for the system being still static, it is more tractable and applicable to small sized embedded or ubiquitous computing. Also, we introduce a novel power-aware scheduling algorithm which exploits all slacks under preemptive earliest-deadline first scheduling which is optimal in uniprocessor system. The dynamic priority method presented in this paper could be applied directly to static systems of pinwheel task model. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm with the algorithmic complexity of O(n) reduces the energy consumption by 10–80% over the existing algorithms. PMID:25121126

A model of influences on the clinical learning environment: the case for change at one U.S. medical school.

PubMed

Fleit, Howard B; Iuli, Richard J; Fischel, Janet E; Lu, Wei-Hsin; Chandran, Latha

2017-03-23

The learning environment within a school of medicine influences medical students' values and their professional development. Despite national requirements to monitor the learning environment, mistreatment of medical students persists. We designed a program called WE SMILE: We can Eradicate Student Mistreatment In the Learning Environment with a vision to enhance trainee and faculty awareness and ultimately eliminate medical student mistreatment. We provide a description of our program and early outcomes. The program has enhanced student awareness of what constitutes mistreatment and how to report it. Faculty members are also aware of the formal processes and procedures for review of such incidents. Our proposed model of influences on the learning environment and the clinical workforce informs the quality of trainee education and safety of patient care. Institutional leadership and culture play a prominent role in this model. Our integrated institutional response to learning environment concerns is offered as a strategy to improve policy awareness, reporting and management of student mistreatment concerns. Our WE SMILE program was developed to enhance education and awareness of what constitutes mistreatment and to provide multiple pathways for student reporting, with clear responsibilities for review, adjudication and enforcement. The program is demonstrating several signs of early success and is offered as a strategy for other schools to adopt or adapt. We have recognized a delicate balance between preserving student anonymity and informing them of specific actions taken. Providing students and other stakeholders with clear evidence of institutional response and accountability remains a key challenge. Multiple methods of reporting have been advantageous in eliciting information on learning environment infringements. These routes and types of reporting have enhanced our understanding of student perceptions and the specific contexts in which mistreatment occurs, allowing for targeted interventions. A common platform across the healthcare professions to report and review concerns has afforded us opportunities to deal with interprofessional issues in a respectful and trustworthy manner. We offer a model of learning environment influences with leadership and institutional culture at the helm, as a way to frame a comprehensive perspective on this challenging and complex concern.

Context Representation and Fusion: Advancements and Opportunities

PubMed Central

Khattak, Asad Masood; Akbar, Noman; Aazam, Mohammad; Ali, Taqdir; Khan, Adil Mehmood; Jeon, Seokhee; Hwang, Myunggwon; Lee, Sungyoung

2014-01-01

The acceptance and usability of context-aware systems have given them the edge of wide use in various domains and has also attracted the attention of researchers in the area of context-aware computing. Making user context information available to such systems is the center of attention. However, there is very little emphasis given to the process of context representation and context fusion which are integral parts of context-aware systems. Context representation and fusion facilitate in recognizing the dependency/relationship of one data source on another to extract a better understanding of user context. The problem is more critical when data is emerging from heterogeneous sources of diverse nature like sensors, user profiles, and social interactions and also at different timestamps. Both the processes of context representation and fusion are followed in one way or another; however, they are not discussed explicitly for the realization of context-aware systems. In other words most of the context-aware systems underestimate the importance context representation and fusion. This research has explicitly focused on the importance of both the processes of context representation and fusion and has streamlined their existence in the overall architecture of context-aware systems’ design and development. Various applications of context representation and fusion in context-aware systems are also highlighted in this research. A detailed review on both the processes is provided in this research with their applications. Future research directions (challenges) are also highlighted which needs proper attention for the purpose of achieving the goal of realizing context-aware systems. PMID:24887042

Learning with Ubiquitous Computing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenheck, Louisa

2008-01-01

If ubiquitous computing becomes a reality and is widely adopted, it will inevitably have an impact on education. This article reviews the background of ubiquitous computing and current research projects done involving educational "ubicomp." Finally it explores how ubicomp may and may not change education in both formal and informal settings and…

Incidental Learning of Melodic Structure of North Indian Music.

PubMed

Rohrmeier, Martin; Widdess, Richard

2017-07-01

Musical knowledge is largely implicit. It is acquired without awareness of its complex rules, through interaction with a large number of samples during musical enculturation. Whereas several studies explored implicit learning of mostly abstract and less ecologically valid features of Western music, very little work has been done with respect to ecologically valid stimuli as well as non-Western music. The present study investigated implicit learning of modal melodic features in North Indian classical music in a realistic and ecologically valid way. It employed a cross-grammar design, using melodic materials from two modes (rāgas) that use the same scale. Findings indicated that Western participants unfamiliar with Indian music incidentally learned to identify distinctive features of each mode. Confidence ratings suggest that participants' performance was consistently correlated with confidence, indicating that they became aware of whether they were right in their responses; that is, they possessed explicit judgment knowledge. Altogether our findings show incidental learning in a realistic ecologically valid context during only a very short exposure, they provide evidence that incidental learning constitutes a powerful mechanism that plays a fundamental role in musical acquisition. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Developing Interactional Awareness in the Second Language Classroom through Teacher Self-Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walsh, Steve

2003-01-01

This paper proposes a process model of reflective practice for second language teachers, designed to facilitate a closer understanding of language use and interactive decision-making. The L2 classroom is portrayed as a dynamic and complex series of inter-related contexts, in which interaction is central to teaching and learning. An understanding…

Home Is My Area Code: Thinking about, Teaching, and Learning Globalization in Introductory World Religions Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeTemple, Jill

2012-01-01

There has been significant and growing interest in teaching religious studies, and specifically world religions, in a "global' context. Bringing globalization into the classroom as a specific theoretical and pedagogical tool, however, requires not just an awareness that religions exist in an ever-globalizing environment, but a willingness to…

Inquiry, Discourse and Metacognition: Promoting Students' Learning in a Bioethical Context.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conner, Lindsey N.

This research reports on interpretive and cognitive approaches that were used in a unit of work with a final year high school biology class. The aim of the intervention was to promote students' awareness and communication of the biological, social, and ethical issues associated with cancer. Students were encouraged to use an inquiry approach. They…

Assessing Input Enhancement as Positive Factor and Its Impact on L2 Vocabulary Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Motlagh, Seyyed Fariborz Pishdadi; Nasab, Mahdiyeh Seyed Beheshti

2015-01-01

Input enhancement's role to promote learners' awareness in L2 contexts has caused a tremendous amount of research. Conspicuously, by regarding all aspects of input enhancement, the study aimed to find out how differently many kinds of input enhancement factors such as bolding, underlining, and capitalizing impact on L2 learners' vocabulary…

Empowering Communities in Educational Management: Participatory Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruechakul, Prayad; Erawan, Prawit; Siwarom, Manoon

2015-01-01

The participatory learning and action: PLA was the process used for empowering in this program. This process has four steps: 1) create awareness, 2) specify problems or needs, 3) act and 4) present and reflect or monitor. The purposes of this study were: 1) to investigate the conditions of communities in terms of context and problems or needs in…

Practical Implications of a Constructivist Approach to EFL Teaching in a Higher Education Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iglesias Xamani, Montserrat

2013-01-01

Traditional pedagogical approaches may not be the best way to cater for the specific needs of learners in higher education settings, particularly those of university students with special expectations and professional prospects. The question of enhancing language learning awareness as a means of fostering the acquisition of a foreign language…

Network-Based Learning and Assessment Applications on the Semantic Web

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gibson, David

2005-01-01

Today's Web applications are already "aware" of the network of computers and data on the Internet, in the sense that they perceive, remember, and represent knowledge external to themselves. However, Web applications are generally not able to respond to the meaning and context of the information in their memories. As a result, most applications are…

A Simulated Learning Environment of History Games for Enhancing Players' Cultural Awareness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shih, Ju-Ling; Jheng, Shun-Cian; Tseng, Jia-Jiun

2015-01-01

This research attempted to create the historical context of Southern Taiwan in the late nineteenth century based on the martial art novel "Xiao-Mao" (Pussy) by designing a role-play digital game "Taiwan Epic Game" about the war time; in which, Taiwanese history, geography, and culture are presented in an innovative way with…

gPhysics--Using Smart Glasses for Head-Centered, Context-Aware Learning in Physics Experiments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuhn, Jochen; Lukowicz, Paul; Hirth, Michael; Poxrucker, Andreas; Weppner, Jens; Younas, Junaid

2016-01-01

Smart Glasses such as Google Glass are mobile computers combining classical Head-Mounted Displays (HMD) with several sensors. Therefore, contact-free, sensor-based experiments can be linked with relating, near-eye presented multiple representations. We will present a first approach on how Smart Glasses can be used as an experimental tool for…

Developing Pragmatic Awareness of Suggestions in the EFL Classroom: A Focus on Instructional Effects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinez-Flor, Alicia; Soler, Eva Alcon

2007-01-01

The role of instruction to develop learners' pragmatic competence in both second and foreign language contexts has recently motivated a great deal of research. However, most of this research has adopted an explicit instructional approach with only a few studies attempting to operationalise a more implicit condition for pragmatic learning. In order…

Metacognition in the Classroom: Motivation and Self-Awareness of Mathematics Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karaali, Gizem

2015-01-01

Metacognition as a dimension of learning ranks highest in the revised Bloom's Taxonomy of cognitive tasks. In this paper we illustrate how it can be incorporated into a repeated exercise in the mathematics classroom, through a specific case study in the context of a liberal arts mathematics course. Through the semester, students were asked weekly…

Ubiquitous Computing and Changing Pedagogical Possibilities: Representations, Conceptualizations and Uses of Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swan, Karen; Van 'T Hooft, Mark; Kratcoski, Annette; Schenker, Jason

2007-01-01

This article reports on preliminary findings from an ongoing study of teaching and learning in a ubiquitous computing classroom. The research employed mixed methods and multiple measures to document changes in teaching and learning that result when teachers and students have access to a variety of digital devices wherever and whenever they need…

Evaluating and Measuring How New Technologies and Ubiquitous Connectivity Affect University Students' Psychosocial Wellbeing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, J.; Salvagno, M.; Morris, R.; Hutchings, M.; Bobeva, M.

2018-01-01

Where universities focus on the benefits of technology-enhanced learning (TEL), they tend to underestimate the impact on learners' experiences and wellbeing. The goal of the research reported in this article was to investigate how new technologies and ubiquitous connectivity affect students' day-to-day life, learning habits and consequent…

[Discovery-based teaching and learning strategies in health: problematization and problem-based learning].

PubMed

Cyrino, Eliana Goldfarb; Toralles-Pereira, Maria Lúcia

2004-01-01

Considering the changes in teaching in the health field and the demand for new ways of dealing with knowledge in higher learning, the article discusses two innovative methodological approaches: problem-based learning (PBL) and problematization. Describing the two methods' theoretical roots, the article attempts to identify their main foundations. As distinct proposals, both contribute to a review of the teaching and learning process: problematization, focused on knowledge construction in the context of the formation of a critical awareness; PBL, focused on cognitive aspects in the construction of concepts and appropriation of basic mechanisms in science. Both problematization and PBL lead to breaks with the traditional way of teaching and learning, stimulating participatory management by actors in the experience and reorganization of the relationship between theory and practice. The critique of each proposal's possibilities and limits using the analysis of their theoretical and methodological foundations leads us to conclude that pedagogical experiences based on PBL and/or problematization can represent an innovative trend in the context of health education, fostering breaks and more sweeping changes.

Context Inference for Mobile Applications in the UPCASE Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santos, André C.; Tarrataca, Luís; Cardoso, João M. P.; Ferreira, Diogo R.; Diniz, Pedro C.; Chainho, Paulo

The growing processing capabilities of mobile devices coupled with portable and wearable sensors have enabled the development of context-aware services tailored to the user environment and its daily activities. The problem of determining the user context at each particular point in time is one of the main challenges in this area. In this paper, we describe the approach pursued in the UPCASE project, which makes use of sensors available in the mobile device as well as sensors externally connected via Bluetooth. We describe the system architecture from raw data acquisition to feature extraction and context inference. As a proof of concept, the inference of contexts is based on a decision tree to learn and identify contexts automatically and dynamically at runtime. Preliminary results suggest that this is a promising approach for context inference in several application scenarios.

Trust Information and Privacy Policies - Enablers for pHealth and Ubiquitous Health.

PubMed

Ruotsalainen, Pekka; Blobel, Bernd

2014-01-01

pHealth occurs in uncontrolled and unsecure environment where predefined organizational trust does not exist. To be accepted by users, pHealth requires a privacy model where privacy is a personal property, i.e., a person can perform own will and define policies which regulate how personal health information (PHI) is used. Privacy and trust are interconnected concepts. Therefore, before beginning to use pHealth services, the person needs practical and reliable information that enables her or him to determine the trustworthiness level of services. To avoid the use of blind trust, organizations, researchers, policymakers, and standardization organizations have proposed the use of dynamic context-aware policies for privacy management in pHealth. To make meaningful privacy decision, a person should understand the impact of selected policy rules on the processing of PHI in different situations. In this paper, the use of computational trust information for defining privacy polies and reducing their number is proposed. A trust value and understandable trust attributes enable a person to tailor privacy policies requested for trustworthy use of pHealth services. Trust attributes proposed are derived from privacy concerns existing in open ubiquitous environment. These attributes also force pHealth services providers to publish information needed for trust calculation and in this way to support openness and transparency.

Young Children Learning from Touch Screens: Taking a Wider View

PubMed Central

Lovato, Silvia B.; Waxman, Sandra R.

2016-01-01

Touch screen devices such as smartphones and tablets are now ubiquitous in the lives of American children. These devices permit very young children to engage interactively in an intuitive fashion with actions as simple as touching, swiping and pinching. Yet, we know little about the role these devices play in very young children’s lives or their impact on early learning and development. Here we focus on two areas in which existing research sheds some light on these issues with children under 3 years of age. The first measures transfer of learning, or how well children use information learned from screens to reason about events off-screen, using object retrieval and word learning tasks. The second measures the impact of interactive screens on parent-child interactions and story comprehension during reading time. More research is required to clarify the pedagogical potential and pitfalls of touch screens for infants and very young children, especially research focused on capabilities unique to touch screens and on the social and cultural contexts in which young children use them. PMID:27486421

Diverse Region-Based CNN for Hyperspectral Image Classification.

PubMed

Zhang, Mengmeng; Li, Wei; Du, Qian

2018-06-01

Convolutional neural network (CNN) is of great interest in machine learning and has demonstrated excellent performance in hyperspectral image classification. In this paper, we propose a classification framework, called diverse region-based CNN, which can encode semantic context-aware representation to obtain promising features. With merging a diverse set of discriminative appearance factors, the resulting CNN-based representation exhibits spatial-spectral context sensitivity that is essential for accurate pixel classification. The proposed method exploiting diverse region-based inputs to learn contextual interactional features is expected to have more discriminative power. The joint representation containing rich spectral and spatial information is then fed to a fully connected network and the label of each pixel vector is predicted by a softmax layer. Experimental results with widely used hyperspectral image data sets demonstrate that the proposed method can surpass any other conventional deep learning-based classifiers and other state-of-the-art classifiers.

Social influences on adaptive criterion learning.

PubMed

Cassidy, Brittany S; Dubé, Chad; Gutchess, Angela H

2015-07-01

People adaptively shift decision criteria when given biased feedback encouraging specific types of errors. Given that work on this topic has been conducted in nonsocial contexts, we extended the literature by examining adaptive criterion learning in both social and nonsocial contexts. Specifically, we compared potential differences in criterion shifting given performance feedback from social sources varying in reliability and from a nonsocial source. Participants became lax when given false positive feedback for false alarms, and became conservative when given false positive feedback for misses, replicating prior work. In terms of a social influence on adaptive criterion learning, people became more lax in response style over time if feedback was provided by a nonsocial source or by a social source meant to be perceived as unreliable and low-achieving. In contrast, people adopted a more conservative response style over time if performance feedback came from a high-achieving and reliable source. Awareness that a reliable and high-achieving person had not provided their feedback reduced the tendency to become more conservative, relative to those unaware of the source manipulation. Because teaching and learning often occur in a social context, these findings may have important implications for many scenarios in which people fine-tune their behaviors, given cues from others.

Constructing Media Artifacts in a Social Constructivist Environment to Enhance Students' Environmental Awareness and Activism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karahan, Engin; Roehrig, Gillian

2015-02-01

Current science education reforms and policy documents highlight the importance of environmental awareness and perceived need for activism. As "environmental problems are socially constructed in terms of their conceptualized effects on individuals, groups, other living things and systems research based on constructivist principles provides not only a coherent framework in which to theorize about learning, but also a context for understanding socially constructed issues" (Palmer and Suggate in Res Pap Educ 19(2), 2004, p. 208). This research study investigated the impacts of the learning processes structured based on the theories of constructionism and social constructivism on students' environmental awareness and perceived need for activism. Students constructed multimedia artifacts expressing their knowledge, attitudes, awareness, and activism about environmental issues through a constructionist design process. In addition, a social networking site was designed and used to promote social interaction among students. Twenty-two high school environmental science students participated in this study. A convergent mixed methods design was implemented to allow for the triangulation of methods by directly comparing and contrasting quantitative results with qualitative findings for corroboration and validation purposes. Using a mixed method approach, quantitative findings are supported with qualitative data (student video projects, writing prompts, blog entries, video projects of the students, observational field notes, and reflective journals) including spontaneous responses in both synchronous and asynchronous conversations on the social network to provide a better understanding of the change in students' environmental awareness and perceived need for activism. The findings of the study indicated that students' environmental awareness and perceived need for activism were improved at different scales (personal, community, global) throughout the constructionist and social constructivist learning processes.

Exploring the Potential of Podcasting to Deliver Mobile Ubiquitous Learning in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Mark J. W.; Chan, Anthony

2006-01-01

Podcasting facilitates the timely delivery of digital audio content such as MP3 files to a user's desktop, as it becomes available. The authors believe it holds tremendous potential as a low-cost, low-barrier tool for mobile ubiquitous learning, given the large uptake of portable music players. This paper explores some of the possibilities for…

A New Paradigm of Engineering Education for the 21st Century:Perspectives of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Western, Arthur; Stamper, Richard

Strategic initiatives for engineering education in the next decade as planned by the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology are presented. The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is a private college in the United States that specializes in undergraduate engineering, mathematics and science education. The initiatives are in response to broad changes in the practice of the engineering profession in its modern global context. The initiatives comprise five strategic thrust areas and five programmatic themes. The thrust areas are: Energy and Environment; Health and Safety; Transportation; Materials; and Information, Computation, and Communication. The programmatic themes are: Excellence in Education; International Awareness; Business Awareness;Service Learning; and Life-long Learning. The objective of these initiatives is to prepare students to meet the challenges of the 21st century and to serve as leaders in society.

The theory of reasoned action as parallel constraint satisfaction: towards a dynamic computational model of health behavior.

PubMed

Orr, Mark G; Thrush, Roxanne; Plaut, David C

2013-01-01

The reasoned action approach, although ubiquitous in health behavior theory (e.g., Theory of Reasoned Action/Planned Behavior), does not adequately address two key dynamical aspects of health behavior: learning and the effect of immediate social context (i.e., social influence). To remedy this, we put forth a computational implementation of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) using artificial-neural networks. Our model re-conceptualized behavioral intention as arising from a dynamic constraint satisfaction mechanism among a set of beliefs. In two simulations, we show that constraint satisfaction can simultaneously incorporate the effects of past experience (via learning) with the effects of immediate social context to yield behavioral intention, i.e., intention is dynamically constructed from both an individual's pre-existing belief structure and the beliefs of others in the individual's social context. In a third simulation, we illustrate the predictive ability of the model with respect to empirically derived behavioral intention. As the first known computational model of health behavior, it represents a significant advance in theory towards understanding the dynamics of health behavior. Furthermore, our approach may inform the development of population-level agent-based models of health behavior that aim to incorporate psychological theory into models of population dynamics.

The Theory of Reasoned Action as Parallel Constraint Satisfaction: Towards a Dynamic Computational Model of Health Behavior

PubMed Central

Orr, Mark G.; Thrush, Roxanne; Plaut, David C.

2013-01-01

The reasoned action approach, although ubiquitous in health behavior theory (e.g., Theory of Reasoned Action/Planned Behavior), does not adequately address two key dynamical aspects of health behavior: learning and the effect of immediate social context (i.e., social influence). To remedy this, we put forth a computational implementation of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) using artificial-neural networks. Our model re-conceptualized behavioral intention as arising from a dynamic constraint satisfaction mechanism among a set of beliefs. In two simulations, we show that constraint satisfaction can simultaneously incorporate the effects of past experience (via learning) with the effects of immediate social context to yield behavioral intention, i.e., intention is dynamically constructed from both an individual’s pre-existing belief structure and the beliefs of others in the individual’s social context. In a third simulation, we illustrate the predictive ability of the model with respect to empirically derived behavioral intention. As the first known computational model of health behavior, it represents a significant advance in theory towards understanding the dynamics of health behavior. Furthermore, our approach may inform the development of population-level agent-based models of health behavior that aim to incorporate psychological theory into models of population dynamics. PMID:23671603

Conceptualising GP teachers' knowledge: a pedagogical content knowledge perspective.

PubMed

Cantillon, Peter; de Grave, Willem

2012-05-01

Most teacher development initiatives focus on enhancing knowledge of teaching (pedagogy), whilst largely ignoring other important features of teacher knowledge such as subject matter knowledge and awareness of the learning context. Furthermore, teachers' ability to learn from faculty development interventions is limited by their existing (often implicit) pedagogical knowledge and beliefs. Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) represents a model of teacher knowledge incorporating what they know about subject matter, pedagogy and context. PCK can be used to explore teachers' prior knowledge and to structure faculty development programmes so that they take account of a broader range of teachers' knowledge. We set out to examine the application of a PCK model in a general practice education setting. This study is part of a larger study that employed a mixed method approach (concept mapping, phenomenological interviews and video-stimulated recall) to explore features of GP teachers' subject matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and knowledge of the learning environment in the context of a general practice tutorial. This paper presents data on GP teachers' pedagogical and context knowledge. There was considerable overlap between different GP teachers' knowledge and beliefs about learners and the clinical learning environment (i.e. knowledge of context). The teachers' beliefs about learners were largely based on assumptions derived from their own student experiences. There were stark differences, however, between teachers in terms of pedagogical knowledge, particularly in terms of their teaching orientations (i.e. transmission or facilitation orientation) and this was manifest in their teaching behaviours. PCK represents a useful model for conceptualising clinical teacher prior knowledge in three domains, namely subject matter, learning context and pedagogy. It can and should be used as a simple guiding framework by faculty developers to inform the design and delivery of their faculty development programmes.

Health Awareness Days: Sufficient Evidence to Support the Craze?

PubMed Central

Roman, Leah A.

2015-01-01

Health awareness initiatives are a ubiquitous intervention strategy. Nearly 200 health awareness days, weeks, and months are on the US National Health Observances calendar, and more than 145 awareness day bills have been introduced in Congress since 2005. We contend that health awareness days are not held to appropriate scrutiny given the scale at which they have been embraced and are misaligned with research on the social determinants of health and the tenets of ecological models of health promotion. We examined health awareness days from a critical public health perspective and offer empirically supported recommendations to advance the intervention strategy. If left unchecked, health awareness days may do little more than reinforce ideologies of individual responsibility and the false notion that adverse health outcomes are simply the product of misinformed behaviors. PMID:25879148

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Professional Development for Interdisciplinary Civic Education: Impacts on Humanities Teachers and Their Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barr, Dennis J.; Boulay, Beth; Selman, Robert L.; McCormick, Rachel; Lowenstein, Ethan; Gamse, Beth; Fine, Melinda; Leonard, M. Brielle

2015-01-01

Background/Context: Billions of dollars are spent annually on professional development (PD) for educators, yet few randomized controlled trials (RCT) have demonstrated the ultimate impact PD has on student learning. Further, while policymakers and others speak to the role schools should play in developing students' civic awareness, RCTs of PD…

Creating User-Generated Content for Location-Based Learning: An Authoring Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

FitzGerald, E.

2012-01-01

Two recent emerging trends are that of Web 2.0, where users actively create content and publish it on the Web, and also location awareness, where a digital device utilizes a person's physical location as the context to provide specific services and/or information. This paper examines how these two phenomena can be brought together so that…

Developing a Motivational Teaching Practice in EFL Teachers in Slovakia: Challenges of Promoting Teacher Change in EFL Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kubanyiova, Magdalena

2006-01-01

Raising awareness of the teacher's role in creating conducive learning environments has not traditionally been part of the aims of EFL teacher preparation programmes. This longitudinal mixed methods study explores the impact of a 20-hour experiential in-service teacher development course with the knowledge base drawn from L2 motivation theory,…

Sustainability and Science Learning: Perceptions from 8th Grade Students Involved with a Role Playing Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freire, Sofia; Baptista, Mónica; Freire, Ana

2016-01-01

Raising awareness about sustainability is an urgent need and as such education for sustainability has gained relevancy for the last decades. It is acknowledged that science education can work as an important context for educating for sustainability. The goal of the present paper is to describe a role-playing activity about the construction of a…

Teaching and Learning about Universal Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law: Digital Resources and Global Expectations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blanchard, Rosemary Ann

2013-01-01

Today's education for civic engagement requires a global dimension. To live responsibly in their own communities, young people need to situate their personal and local interests in the context of their global interconnections. Bridging the personal, local, and global begins with an awareness of the universal aspirations for dignity and human…

Ubiquitous Performance-Support System as Mindtool: A Case Study of Instructional Decision Making and Learning Assistant

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peng, Hsinyi; Chuang, Po-Ya; Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Chu, Hui-Chun; Wu, Ting-Ting; Huang, Shu-Xian

2009-01-01

Researchers have conducted various studies on applying wireless communication and ubiquitous computing technologies to education, so that the technologies can provide learners and educators with more active and adaptive support. This study proposes a Ubiquitous Performance-support System (UPSS) that can facilitate the seamless use of powerful new…

Multi-sensor physical activity recognition in free-living.

PubMed

Ellis, Katherine; Godbole, Suneeta; Kerr, Jacqueline; Lanckriet, Gert

Physical activity monitoring in free-living populations has many applications for public health research, weight-loss interventions, context-aware recommendation systems and assistive technologies. We present a system for physical activity recognition that is learned from a free-living dataset of 40 women who wore multiple sensors for seven days. The multi-level classification system first learns low-level codebook representations for each sensor and uses a random forest classifier to produce minute-level probabilities for each activity class. Then a higher-level HMM layer learns patterns of transitions and durations of activities over time to smooth the minute-level predictions. [Formula: see text].

Should bilingual children learn reading in two languages at the same time or in sequence?

PubMed Central

Berens, Melody S.; Kovelman, Ioulia; Petitto, Laura-Ann

2013-01-01

Is it best to learn reading in two languages simultaneously or sequentially? We observed 2nd and 3rd grade children in two-way dual-language learning contexts: (i) 50:50 or Simultaneous dual-language (two languages within same developmental period) and (ii) 90:10 or Sequential dual-language (one language, followed gradually by the other). They were compared to matched monolingual English-only children in single-language English schools. Bilinguals (home language was Spanish only, English-only, or Spanish and English in dual-language schools), were tested in both languages, and monolingual children were tested in English using standardized reading and language tasks. Bilinguals in 50:50 programs performed better than bilinguals in 90:10 programs on English Irregular Words and Passage Comprehension tasks, suggesting language and reading facilitation for underlying grammatical class and linguistic structure analyses. By contrast, bilinguals in 90:10 programs performed better than bilinguals in the 50:50 programs on English Phonological Awareness and Reading Decoding tasks, suggesting language and reading facilitation for surface phonological regularity analysis. Notably, children from English-only homes in dual-language learning contexts performed equally well, or better than, children from monolingual English-only homes in single-language learning contexts. Overall, the findings provide tantalizing evidence that dual-language learning during the same developmental period may provide bilingual reading advantages. PMID:23794952

Soft systems thinking and social learning for adaptive management.

PubMed

Cundill, G; Cumming, G S; Biggs, D; Fabricius, C

2012-02-01

The success of adaptive management in conservation has been questioned and the objective-based management paradigm on which it is based has been heavily criticized. Soft systems thinking and social-learning theory expose errors in the assumption that complex systems can be dispassionately managed by objective observers and highlight the fact that conservation is a social process in which objectives are contested and learning is context dependent. We used these insights to rethink adaptive management in a way that focuses on the social processes involved in management and decision making. Our approach to adaptive management is based on the following assumptions: action toward a common goal is an emergent property of complex social relationships; the introduction of new knowledge, alternative values, and new ways of understanding the world can become a stimulating force for learning, creativity, and change; learning is contextual and is fundamentally about practice; and defining the goal to be addressed is continuous and in principle never ends. We believe five key activities are crucial to defining the goal that is to be addressed in an adaptive-management context and to determining the objectives that are desirable and feasible to the participants: situate the problem in its social and ecological context; raise awareness about alternative views of a problem and encourage enquiry and deconstruction of frames of reference; undertake collaborative actions; and reflect on learning. ©2011 Society for Conservation Biology.

Investigation of Learning Behaviors and Achievement of Vocational High School Students Using an Ubiquitous Physics Tablet PC App

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Purba, Siska Wati Dewi; Hwang, Wu-Yuin

2017-01-01

In this study, we designed and developed an app called Ubiquitous-Physics (U-Physics) for mobile devices like tablet PC or smart phones to help students learn the principles behind a simple pendulum in Physics. The unique characteristic of U-Physics is the use of sensors on mobile devices to collect acceleration and velocity data during pendulum…

Perceptual context and individual differences in the language proficiency of preschool children.

PubMed

Banai, Karen; Yifat, Rachel

2016-02-01

Although the contribution of perceptual processes to language skills during infancy is well recognized, the role of perception in linguistic processing beyond infancy is not well understood. In the experiments reported here, we asked whether manipulating the perceptual context in which stimuli are presented across trials influences how preschool children perform visual (shape-size identification; Experiment 1) and auditory (syllable identification; Experiment 2) tasks. Another goal was to determine whether the sensitivity to perceptual context can explain part of the variance in oral language skills in typically developing preschool children. Perceptual context was manipulated by changing the relative frequency with which target visual (Experiment 1) and auditory (Experiment 2) stimuli were presented in arrays of fixed size, and identification of the target stimuli was tested. Oral language skills were assessed using vocabulary, word definition, and phonological awareness tasks. Changes in perceptual context influenced the performance of the majority of children on both identification tasks. Sensitivity to perceptual context accounted for 7% to 15% of the variance in language scores. We suggest that context effects are an outcome of a statistical learning process. Therefore, the current findings demonstrate that statistical learning can facilitate both visual and auditory identification processes in preschool children. Furthermore, consistent with previous findings in infants and in older children and adults, individual differences in statistical learning were found to be associated with individual differences in language skills of preschool children. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Conscious awareness is required for holistic face processing.

PubMed

Axelrod, Vadim; Rees, Geraint

2014-07-01

Investigating the limits of unconscious processing is essential to understand the function of consciousness. Here, we explored whether holistic face processing, a mechanism believed to be important for face processing in general, can be accomplished unconsciously. Using a novel "eyes-face" stimulus we tested whether discrimination of pairs of eyes was influenced by the surrounding face context. While the eyes were fully visible, the faces that provided context could be rendered invisible through continuous flash suppression. Two experiments with three different sets of face stimuli and a subliminal learning procedure converged to show that invisible faces did not influence perception of visible eyes. In contrast, surrounding faces, when they were clearly visible, strongly influenced perception of the eyes. Thus, we conclude that conscious awareness might be a prerequisite for holistic face processing. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ubiquitous Mobile Knowledge Construction in Collaborative Learning Environments

PubMed Central

Baloian, Nelson; Zurita, Gustavo

2012-01-01

Knowledge management is a critical activity for any organization. It has been said to be a differentiating factor and an important source of competitiveness if this knowledge is constructed and shared among its members, thus creating a learning organization. Knowledge construction is critical for any collaborative organizational learning environment. Nowadays workers must perform knowledge creation tasks while in motion, not just in static physical locations; therefore it is also required that knowledge construction activities be performed in ubiquitous scenarios, and supported by mobile and pervasive computational systems. These knowledge creation systems should help people in or outside organizations convert their tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge, thus supporting the knowledge construction process. Therefore in our understanding, we consider highly relevant that undergraduate university students learn about the knowledge construction process supported by mobile and ubiquitous computing. This has been a little explored issue in this field. This paper presents the design, implementation, and an evaluation of a system called MCKC for Mobile Collaborative Knowledge Construction, supporting collaborative face-to-face tacit knowledge construction and sharing in ubiquitous scenarios. The MCKC system can be used by undergraduate students to learn how to construct knowledge, allowing them anytime and anywhere to create, make explicit and share their knowledge with their co-learners, using visual metaphors, gestures and sketches to implement the human-computer interface of mobile devices (PDAs). PMID:22969333

Ubiquitous mobile knowledge construction in collaborative learning environments.

PubMed

Baloian, Nelson; Zurita, Gustavo

2012-01-01

Knowledge management is a critical activity for any organization. It has been said to be a differentiating factor and an important source of competitiveness if this knowledge is constructed and shared among its members, thus creating a learning organization. Knowledge construction is critical for any collaborative organizational learning environment. Nowadays workers must perform knowledge creation tasks while in motion, not just in static physical locations; therefore it is also required that knowledge construction activities be performed in ubiquitous scenarios, and supported by mobile and pervasive computational systems. These knowledge creation systems should help people in or outside organizations convert their tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge, thus supporting the knowledge construction process. Therefore in our understanding, we consider highly relevant that undergraduate university students learn about the knowledge construction process supported by mobile and ubiquitous computing. This has been a little explored issue in this field. This paper presents the design, implementation, and an evaluation of a system called MCKC for Mobile Collaborative Knowledge Construction, supporting collaborative face-to-face tacit knowledge construction and sharing in ubiquitous scenarios. The MCKC system can be used by undergraduate students to learn how to construct knowledge, allowing them anytime and anywhere to create, make explicit and share their knowledge with their co-learners, using visual metaphors, gestures and sketches to implement the human-computer interface of mobile devices (PDAs).

The effect of different levels of realism of context learning on the prescribing competencies of medical students during the clinical clerkship in internal medicine: an exploratory study.

PubMed

Tichelaar, Jelle; van Kan, Coen; van Unen, Robert J; Schneider, Anton J; van Agtmael, Michiel A; de Vries, Theo P G M; Richir, Milan C

2015-02-01

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of different levels of realism of context learning on the prescribing competencies of medical students during the clinical clerkship in internal medicine. Between 2001 and 2007, 164 medical students took part in the prospective explorative study during their clinical clerkship in internal medicine at the VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. In a fixed order, each student had to formulate a treatment plan for a real patient in three situations of increasing realism: a minimal level (studying a patient record), medium level (preparing for a therapeutic consultation), and optimal level (preparing for and performing a therapeutic consultation with the patient). In comparison to studying a patient record (minimal context level), preparing a therapeutic consultation (medium context) improved four of the six steps of the WHO six-step plan. Preparing and performing a therapeutic consultation with a real patient (optimal context) further improved three essential prescribing competencies, namely checking for contraindications and interactions, prescription writing, and instructions to the patient. The results of this first explorative study suggest that enrichment of the learning context (responsibility for patient care) might be an important factor to improve the training of rational prescribing skills of medical students during their clinical clerkship in internal medicine. Clinical (pharmacology) teachers should be aware that seemingly small adaptations in the learning context of prescribing training during clinical clerkships (i.e., with or without involvement with and responsibility for patient care) may have relatively large impact on the development of prescribing competencies of our future doctors.

Service-learning from the views of university teachers: a qualitative study based on focus groups.

PubMed

Shek, Daniel T L; Chan, Stephen C F

2013-01-01

Under the New Undergraduate Curriculum at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), students are required to take a 3-credit subject to fulfill service-learning requirements. To understand the views of teachers regarding service-learning, five focus group interviews (n=33) are conducted to examine the perceived characteristics and myths of service-learning as well as colleagues' views on the policy at PolyU. Results showed that most informants are aware of service-learning and have seen its benefits to both students and teachers. Most informants also possess positive views about service-learning. Nevertheless, in terms of service-learning at PolyU, three different groups of views on service-learning are observed, namely, positive, negative, and mixed views. This paper also discusses teachers' views on the anticipated difficulties of service-learning implementation and the ways, by which to promote the subject in the PolyU context.

Fidget physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marks, Julian; Bradfield, Philip

2017-08-01

Even without living with younger children, you can’t but be aware of the toy called a fidget spinner that is now ubiquitous and can be a nuisance when travelling on the bus with school children who continually fiddle with them.

The future is 'ambient'

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lugmayr, Artur

2006-02-01

The research field of ambient media starts to spread rapidly and first applications for consumer homes are on the way. Ambient media is the logical continuation of research around media. Media has been evolving from old media (e.g. print media), to integrated presentation in one form (multimedia - or new media), to generating a synthetic world (virtual reality), to the natural environment is the user-interface (ambient media), and will be evolving towards real/synthetic undistinguishable media (bio-media or bio-multimedia). After the IT bubble was bursting, multimedia was lacking a vision of potential future scenarios and applications. Within this research paper the potentials, applications, and market available solutions of mobile ambient multimedia are studied. The different features of ambient mobile multimedia are manifold and include wearable computers, adaptive software, context awareness, ubiquitous computers, middleware, and wireless networks. The paper especially focuses on algorithms and methods that can be utilized to realize modern mobile ambient systems.

Context aware decision support in neurosurgical oncology based on an efficient classification of endomicroscopic data.

PubMed

Li, Yachun; Charalampaki, Patra; Liu, Yong; Yang, Guang-Zhong; Giannarou, Stamatia

2018-06-13

Probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy (pCLE) enables in vivo, in situ tissue characterisation without changes in the surgical setting and simplifies the oncological surgical workflow. The potential of this technique in identifying residual cancer tissue and improving resection rates of brain tumours has been recently verified in pilot studies. The interpretation of endomicroscopic information is challenging, particularly for surgeons who do not themselves routinely review histopathology. Also, the diagnosis can be examiner-dependent, leading to considerable inter-observer variability. Therefore, automatic tissue characterisation with pCLE would support the surgeon in establishing diagnosis as well as guide robot-assisted intervention procedures. The aim of this work is to propose a deep learning-based framework for brain tissue characterisation for context aware diagnosis support in neurosurgical oncology. An efficient representation of the context information of pCLE data is presented by exploring state-of-the-art CNN models with different tuning configurations. A novel video classification framework based on the combination of convolutional layers with long-range temporal recursion has been proposed to estimate the probability of each tumour class. The video classification accuracy is compared for different network architectures and data representation and video segmentation methods. We demonstrate the application of the proposed deep learning framework to classify Glioblastoma and Meningioma brain tumours based on endomicroscopic data. Results show significant improvement of our proposed image classification framework over state-of-the-art feature-based methods. The use of video data further improves the classification performance, achieving accuracy equal to 99.49%. This work demonstrates that deep learning can provide an efficient representation of pCLE data and accurately classify Glioblastoma and Meningioma tumours. The performance evaluation analysis shows the potential clinical value of the technique.

Context-Aware Intelligent Assistant Approach to Improving Pilot's Situational Awareness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spirkovska, Lilly; Lodha, Suresh K.

2004-01-01

Faulty decision making due to inaccurate or incomplete awareness of the situation tends to be the prevailing cause of fatal general aviation accidents. Of these accidents, loss of weather situational awareness accounts for the largest number of fatalities. We describe a method for improving weather situational awareness through the support of a contextaware,domain and task knowledgeable, personalized and adaptive assistant. The assistant automatically monitors weather reports for the pilot's route of flight and warns her of detected anomalies. When and how warnings are issued is determined by phase of flight, the pilot s definition of acceptable weather conditions, and the pilot's preferences for automatic notification. In addition to automatic warnings, the pilot is able to verbally query for weather and airport information. By noting the requests she makes during the approach phase of flight, our system learns to provide the information without explicit requests on subsequent flights with similar conditions. We show that our weather assistant decreases the effort required to maintain situational awareness by more than 5.5 times when compared to the conventional method of in-flight weather briefings.

A Multi-Temporal Context-Aware System for Competences Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosa, João H.; Barbosa, Jorge L.; Kich, Marcos; Brito, Lucas

2015-01-01

The evolution of computing technology and wireless networks has contributed to the miniaturization of mobile devices and their increase in power, providing services anywhere and anytime. In this scenario, applications have considered the user's contexts to make decisions (Context Awareness). Context-aware applications have enabled new…

Learning Setting-Generalized Activity Models for Smart Spaces

PubMed Central

Cook, Diane J.

2011-01-01

The data mining and pervasive computing technologies found in smart homes offer unprecedented opportunities for providing context-aware services, including health monitoring and assistance to individuals experiencing difficulties living independently at home. In order to provide these services, smart environment algorithms need to recognize and track activities that people normally perform as part of their daily routines. However, activity recognition has typically involved gathering and labeling large amounts of data in each setting to learn a model for activities in that setting. We hypothesize that generalized models can be learned for common activities that span multiple environment settings and resident types. We describe our approach to learning these models and demonstrate the approach using eleven CASAS datasets collected in seven environments. PMID:21461133

Trust-Based and Context-Aware Authentication in a Software Architecture for Context and Proximity-Aware Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lenzini, Gabriele

We describe an existing software architecture for context and proximity aware services that enables trust-based and context-aware authentication. A service is proximity aware when it automatically detects the presence of entities in its proximity. Authentication is context-aware when it uses contextual information to discern among different identities and to evaluate to which extent they are authentic. The software architecture that we describe here is functioning in our Institute: It manages a sensor network to detect the presence and location of users and their devices. A context manager is responsible to merge the different sources of contextual information, to solve potential contradictions, and to determine the level of authentication of the identity of the person approaching one of the services offered in the coffee-break corners of our Institute. In our solution for context-aware authentication, sensors are managed as if they were recommenders having subjective belief, disbelief, and uncertainty (i.e., trust) on the position and identity of users. A sensor’s subjective trust depends on what it has been sensing in the environment. We discuss the results of an array of simulations that we conducted to validate our concept of trust-based and context-aware authentication. We use Subjective Logic to manage trust.

Context Aware Systems, Methods and Trends in Smart Home Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robles, Rosslin John; Kim, Tai-Hoon

Context aware applications respond and adapt to changes in the computing environment. It is the concept of leveraging information about the end user to improve the quality of the interaction. New technologies in context-enriched services will use location, presence, social attributes, and other environmental information to anticipate an end user's immediate needs, offering more-sophisticated, situation-aware and usable functions. Smart homes connect all the devices and appliances in your home so they can communicate with each other and with you. Context-awareness can be applied to Smart Home technology. In this paper, we discuss the context-aware tools for development of Smart Home Systems.

CAreDroid: Adaptation Framework for Android Context-Aware Applications

PubMed Central

Elmalaki, Salma; Wanner, Lucas; Srivastava, Mani

2015-01-01

Context-awareness is the ability of software systems to sense and adapt to their physical environment. Many contemporary mobile applications adapt to changing locations, connectivity states, available computational and energy resources, and proximity to other users and devices. Nevertheless, there is little systematic support for context-awareness in contemporary mobile operating systems. Because of this, application developers must build their own context-awareness adaptation engines, dealing directly with sensors and polluting application code with complex adaptation decisions. In this paper, we introduce CAreDroid, which is a framework that is designed to decouple the application logic from the complex adaptation decisions in Android context-aware applications. In this framework, developers are required— only—to focus on the application logic by providing a list of methods that are sensitive to certain contexts along with the permissible operating ranges under those contexts. At run time, CAreDroid monitors the context of the physical environment and intercepts calls to sensitive methods, activating only the blocks of code that best fit the current physical context. CAreDroid is implemented as part of the Android runtime system. By pushing context monitoring and adaptation into the runtime system, CAreDroid eases the development of context-aware applications and increases their efficiency. In particular, case study applications implemented using CAre-Droid are shown to have: (1) at least half lines of code fewer and (2) at least 10× more efficient in execution time compared to equivalent context-aware applications that use only standard Android APIs. PMID:26834512

CAreDroid: Adaptation Framework for Android Context-Aware Applications.

PubMed

Elmalaki, Salma; Wanner, Lucas; Srivastava, Mani

2015-09-01

Context-awareness is the ability of software systems to sense and adapt to their physical environment. Many contemporary mobile applications adapt to changing locations, connectivity states, available computational and energy resources, and proximity to other users and devices. Nevertheless, there is little systematic support for context-awareness in contemporary mobile operating systems. Because of this, application developers must build their own context-awareness adaptation engines, dealing directly with sensors and polluting application code with complex adaptation decisions. In this paper, we introduce CAreDroid, which is a framework that is designed to decouple the application logic from the complex adaptation decisions in Android context-aware applications. In this framework, developers are required- only-to focus on the application logic by providing a list of methods that are sensitive to certain contexts along with the permissible operating ranges under those contexts. At run time, CAreDroid monitors the context of the physical environment and intercepts calls to sensitive methods, activating only the blocks of code that best fit the current physical context. CAreDroid is implemented as part of the Android runtime system. By pushing context monitoring and adaptation into the runtime system, CAreDroid eases the development of context-aware applications and increases their efficiency. In particular, case study applications implemented using CAre-Droid are shown to have: (1) at least half lines of code fewer and (2) at least 10× more efficient in execution time compared to equivalent context-aware applications that use only standard Android APIs.

Impact of an informal learning science camp on urban, low socioeconomic status middle school students and participating teacher-leaders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Votaw, Nikki L.

Studies suggest that students have difficulty connecting science to their own lives (Lee & Fradd, 1998; Aikenhead, 1996). This difficulty results in a decline in students' attitudes toward science, leading to low science achievement. These factors result in fewer students interested in careers related to science, specifically for urban, minority students. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact that a ten day informal learning immersion science camp had on the participants, both urban, low-socioeconomic status middle school students and teacher-leaders. The students were incoming seventh grade students involved in a community-based scholar program designed to recruit and support socioeconomically disadvantaged, academically talented students. The teacher-leaders were professional educators working toward an advanced degree. This ten day camp included seven visits to different sites and complementary classroom-based activities. The purpose of the camp was to immerse the students in informal learning environments that affect their daily lives. Students and teacher-leaders visited facilities that provide public utility services (i.e. power plant, sewage treatment facility, and water company), zoo, large commercial cave system, planetarium, university based electrooptics and nanotechnology center, and forest and arboretum. These site visits were supported by activities that were provided by teacher-leaders. A model used as a framework for studying learning in the context of this ten day camp as Falk and Dierking's (2000) Contextual Model for Learning. This model described three basic intersecting elements that contributed to learning within the given context. The three contexts (personal, sociocultural, and physical) intersect affecting the learning that takes place. A mixed methodology design was employed to determine the impact of the camp on students' content knowledge and attitudes toward science. Qualitative data were collected to determine the impact of the camp on teacher-leaders' content knowledge and pedagogy. A variety of data sources were used including data collected before, during, and immediately following the camp as well as data collected several months after the conclusion of the camp. Results of the study indicated that both students and teacher-leaders were positively impacted by their experience at the camp. Data from the content assessments, interviews, and student journals indicate that students' content knowledge was enhanced and expanded through the learning of factual knowledge as well as understanding of the importance of broad scientific processes. Through their new experiences, students developed an awareness of the natural world and a foundation for future learning. Students also developed an awareness of science as it applies to their own lives. Data from students' letters to themselves, student interviews, and parent focus groups indicated that students' attitudes toward science were positively impacted through development of an increased resource appreciation, positive social experiences, and experiential sharing with others. Teacher-leader experiences with the camp also had positive results. Teacher-leaders entered the camp with a variety of unique personal contexts, and in spite of this variability each reported that this was a value-added experience for their teaching. These personal contexts helped to enhance the sociocultural context which provided a rich environment to support teacher-leader learning. Among the pedagogical impacts, teacher-leaders expressed enhanced teaching capacity through acquisition of: new classroom activities; new connections among science content; new stories and experiences to share with future classes; and new contexts for situating the understanding of science principles. Along with the positive impacts, teacher-leaders also identified and articulated several barriers to implementing site visits in their own classrooms. This camp is unique in that it is an immersion experience within informal learning contexts where seven sites were visited within ten days. It is also unique in that students and teacher-leaders were simultaneously experiencing most of these sites for the first time. This study has implications for science camp coordinators (i.e. university faculty), classroom teachers, and informal educators (i.e. museum, zoo, planetarium).

Parents' Metacognitive Knowledge: Influences on Parent-Child Interactions in a Science Museum Setting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thomas, Gregory P.; Anderson, David

2013-06-01

Despite science learning in settings such as science museums being recognized as important and given increasing attention in science education circles, the investigation of parents' and their children's metacognition in such settings is still in its infancy. This is despite an individual's metacognition being acknowledged as an important influence on their learning within and across contexts. This research investigated parents' metacognitive procedural and conditional knowledge, a key element of their metacognition, related to (a) what they knew about how they and their children thought and learned, and (b) whether this metacognitive knowledge influenced their interactions with their children during their interaction with a moderately complex simulation in a science museum. Parents reported metacognitive procedural and conditional knowledge regarding their own and their children's thinking and learning processes. Further, parents were aware that this metacognitive knowledge influenced their interactions with their children, seeing this as appropriate pedagogical action for them within the context of the particular exhibit and its task requirements at the science museum, and for the child involved. These findings have implications for exhibit and activity development within science museum settings.

Framework model and principles for trusted information sharing in pervasive health.

PubMed

Ruotsalainen, Pekka; Blobel, Bernd; Nykänen, Pirkko; Seppälä, Antto; Sorvari, Hannu

2011-01-01

Trustfulness (i.e. health and wellness information is processed ethically, and privacy is guaranteed) is one of the cornerstones for future Personal Health Systems, ubiquitous healthcare and pervasive health. Trust in today's healthcare is organizational, static and predefined. Pervasive health takes place in an open and untrusted information space where person's lifelong health and wellness information together with contextual data are dynamically collected and used by many stakeholders. This generates new threats that do not exist in today's eHealth systems. Our analysis shows that the way security and trust are implemented in today's healthcare cannot guarantee information autonomy and trustfulness in pervasive health. Based on a framework model of pervasive health and risks analysis of ubiquitous information space, we have formulated principles which enable trusted information sharing in pervasive health. Principles imply that the data subject should have the right to dynamically verify trust and to control the use of her health information, as well as the right to set situation based context-aware personal policies. Data collectors and processors have responsibilities including transparency of information processing, and openness of interests, policies and environmental features. Our principles create a base for successful management of privacy and information autonomy in pervasive health. They also imply that it is necessary to create new data models for personal health information and new architectures which support situation depending trust and privacy management.

Estilo de Liderazgo de Maestros y Maestras de Salud Escolar del Nivel Secundario en la Implantacion del Programa de Educacion en Salud Escolar en Puerto Rico

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosario Arroyo, Luis Antonio

2012-01-01

Health education school programs have a planned activity structure that focus on developing awareness on the need of keeping an adequate integral health, through the teaching and learning processes within an appropriate methodological context that promotes students full development. It is expected that school health teachers are effective leaders;…

Development of the volunteer peer educator role in a community Cardiovascular Health Awareness Program (CHAP): a process evaluation in two communities.

PubMed

Karwalajtys, Tina; McDonough, Beatrice; Hall, Heather; Guirguis-Younger, Manal; Chambers, Larry W; Kaczorowski, Janusz; Lohfeld, Lynne; Hutchison, Brian

2009-08-01

Volunteers can support the delivery and sustainability of programs promoting chronic disease awareness to improve health at the community level. This paper describes the development of the peer education component of the Cardiovascular Health Awareness Program (CHAP) and assessment of the volunteer peer educator role in a community-wide demonstration project in two mid-sized Ontario communities. A case study approach was used incorporating process learning, a volunteer survey and debriefing discussions with volunteers. A post-program questionnaire was administered to 48 volunteers. Five debriefing discussions were conducted with 27 volunteers using a semi-structured interview guide. Discussions were audio-recorded and transcribed. Analysis used an editing approach to identify themes, taking into account the community-specific context. Volunteers reported an overall positive experience and identified rewarding aspects of their involvement. They felt well prepared but appreciated ongoing training and support and requested more refresher training. Understanding of program objectives increased volunteer satisfaction. Volunteers continued to develop their role during the program; however, organizational and logistical factors sometimes limited skill acquisition and contributions. The prospect of greater involvement in providing tailored health education resources addressing modifiable risk factors was acceptable to most volunteers. Continued refinement of strategies to recruit, train, retain and support volunteers strengthened the peer education component of CHAP. The experience and contributions of volunteers were influenced by the wider context of program delivery. Process evaluation allowed program planners to anticipate challenges, strengthen support for volunteer activities, and expand the peer educator role. This learning can inform similar peer-led health promotion initiatives.

The Spatial Scaffold: The Effects of Spatial Context on Memory for Events

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robin, Jessica; Wynn, Jordana; Moscovitch, Morris

2016-01-01

Events always unfold in a spatial context, leading to the claim that it serves as a scaffold for encoding and retrieving episodic memories. The ubiquitous co-occurrence of spatial context with events may induce participants to generate a spatial context when hearing scenarios of events in which it is absent. Spatial context should also serve as an…

Using Appreciative Inquiry for an e-Learning Change Management Programme: The ENTICE Project at Brunel University

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murray, Linda A.; Alberts, Philip P.; Stephenson, Julia E.

Brunel University's e-Learning strategy provides direction for the teaching staff, but remains flexible. Although all Schools had engaged with e-Learning in the past, detailed consideration of effective e-Learning and the e-experience of students had not been generally in evidence. We sought to address this gap in the strategic work of schools by implementing a change management program, the major elements of which were the development of a local evidence-base of effectiveness of e-Learning practices and conversations for change. Our program was based on the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) method, which we adapted for this educational context. The aim was to identify the pedagogic value of the diverse range of e-Learning activities already being undertaken and to encourage more widespread use. There was also a longer-term objective of assisting schools to establish or review their own e-Learning strategies and action plans. In terms of the effectiveness of the process, it is evident that the AI methodology was very beneficial. There is greater awareness among academic staff of the range of e-Learning activities that are currently being used in teaching designs of teaching staff at the University and about student use and attitudes to those activities. The evidence provides inputs to the development/review of e-Learning action plans and strategies for each school, usually within the context of the overall school plan.

CyberPsychological Computation on Social Community of Ubiquitous Learning.

PubMed

Zhou, Xuan; Dai, Genghui; Huang, Shuang; Sun, Xuemin; Hu, Feng; Hu, Hongzhi; Ivanović, Mirjana

2015-01-01

Under the modern network environment, ubiquitous learning has been a popular way for people to study knowledge, exchange ideas, and share skills in the cyberspace. Existing research findings indicate that the learners' initiative and community cohesion play vital roles in the social communities of ubiquitous learning, and therefore how to stimulate the learners' interest and participation willingness so as to improve their enjoyable experiences in the learning process should be the primary consideration on this issue. This paper aims to explore an effective method to monitor the learners' psychological reactions based on their behavioral features in cyberspace and therefore provide useful references for adjusting the strategies in the learning process. In doing so, this paper firstly analyzes the psychological assessment of the learners' situations as well as their typical behavioral patterns and then discusses the relationship between the learners' psychological reactions and their observable features in cyberspace. Finally, this paper puts forward a CyberPsychological computation method to estimate the learners' psychological states online. Considering the diversity of learners' habitual behaviors in the reactions to their psychological changes, a BP-GA neural network is proposed for the computation based on their personalized behavioral patterns.

CyberPsychological Computation on Social Community of Ubiquitous Learning

PubMed Central

Zhou, Xuan; Dai, Genghui; Huang, Shuang; Sun, Xuemin; Hu, Feng; Hu, Hongzhi; Ivanović, Mirjana

2015-01-01

Under the modern network environment, ubiquitous learning has been a popular way for people to study knowledge, exchange ideas, and share skills in the cyberspace. Existing research findings indicate that the learners' initiative and community cohesion play vital roles in the social communities of ubiquitous learning, and therefore how to stimulate the learners' interest and participation willingness so as to improve their enjoyable experiences in the learning process should be the primary consideration on this issue. This paper aims to explore an effective method to monitor the learners' psychological reactions based on their behavioral features in cyberspace and therefore provide useful references for adjusting the strategies in the learning process. In doing so, this paper firstly analyzes the psychological assessment of the learners' situations as well as their typical behavioral patterns and then discusses the relationship between the learners' psychological reactions and their observable features in cyberspace. Finally, this paper puts forward a CyberPsychological computation method to estimate the learners' psychological states online. Considering the diversity of learners' habitual behaviors in the reactions to their psychological changes, a BP-GA neural network is proposed for the computation based on their personalized behavioral patterns. PMID:26557846

Perceived facial expressions of emotion as motivational incentives: evidence from a differential implicit learning paradigm.

PubMed

Schultheiss, Oliver C; Pang, Joyce S; Torges, Cynthia M; Wirth, Michelle M; Treynor, Wendy; Derryberry, Douglas

2005-03-01

Participants (N = 216) were administered a differential implicit learning task during which they were trained and tested on 3 maximally distinct 2nd-order visuomotor sequences, with sequence color serving as discriminative stimulus. During training, 1 sequence each was followed by an emotional face, a neutral face, and no face, using backward masking. Emotion (joy, surprise, anger), face gender, and exposure duration (12 ms, 209 ms) were varied between participants; implicit motives were assessed with a picture-story exercise. For power-motivated individuals, low-dominance facial expressions enhanced and high-dominance expressions impaired learning. For affiliation-motivated individuals, learning was impaired in the context of hostile faces. These findings did not depend on explicit learning of fixed sequences or on awareness of sequence-face contingencies. Copyright 2005 APA, all rights reserved.

A Novel Approach for Creating Activity-Aware Applications in a Hospital Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bardram, Jakob E.

Context-aware and activity-aware computing has been proposed as a way to adapt the computer to the user’s ongoing activity. However, deductively moving from physical context - like location - to establishing human activity has proved difficult. This paper proposes a novel approach to activity-aware computing. Instead of inferring activities, this approach enables the user to explicitly model their activity, and then use sensor-based events to create, manage, and use these computational activities adjusted to a specific context. This approach was crafted through a user-centered design process in collaboration with a hospital department. We propose three strategies for activity-awareness: context-based activity matching, context-based activity creation, and context-based activity adaptation. We present the implementation of these strategies and present an experimental evaluation of them. The experiments demonstrate that rather than considering context as information, context can be a relational property that links ’real-world activities’ with their ’computational activities’.

Enhancing meaningful learning and self-efficacy through collaboration between dental hygienist and physiotherapist students - a scholarship project.

PubMed

Johannsen, A; Bolander-Laksov, K; Bjurshammar, N; Nordgren, B; Fridén, C; Hagströmer, M

2012-11-01

Within the field of Dental Hygiene (DH) and Physiotherapy (PT), students are taught to use an evidence-based approach. Educators need to consider the nature of evidence-based practice from the perspective of content knowledge and learning strategies. Such effort to seek best available evidence and to apply a systematic and scholarly approach to teaching and learning is called scholarship of teaching and learning. To evaluate the application of the scholarship model including an evidence-based approach to enhance meaningful learning and self-efficacy among DH and PT students. Based on the research on student learning, three central theories were identified (constructivism, meaningful learning and self-efficacy). These were applied in our context to support learner engagement and the application of prior knowledge in a new situation. The DH students performed an oral health examination on the PT students, and the PT students performed an individual health test on the DH students; both groups used motivational interviewing. Documentation of student's learning experience was carried out through seminars and questionnaires. The students were overall satisfied with the learning experience. Most appreciated are that it reflected a 'real' professional situation and that it also reinforced important learning from their seminars. The scholarship model made the teachers aware of the importance of evidence-based teaching. Furthermore, the indicators for meaningful learning and increased self-efficacy were high, and the students became more engaged by practising in a real situation, more aware of other health professions and reflected about tacit knowledge. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Construction of a Digital Learning Environment Based on Cloud Computing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ding, Jihong; Xiong, Caiping; Liu, Huazhong

2015-01-01

Constructing the digital learning environment for ubiquitous learning and asynchronous distributed learning has opened up immense amounts of concrete research. However, current digital learning environments do not fully fulfill the expectations on supporting interactive group learning, shared understanding and social construction of knowledge.…

Learning from Mistakes

PubMed Central

Fischer, Melissa A; Mazor, Kathleen M; Baril, Joann; Alper, Eric; DeMarco, Deborah; Pugnaire, Michele

2006-01-01

CONTEXT Trainees are exposed to medical errors throughout medical school and residency. Little is known about what facilitates and limits learning from these experiences. OBJECTIVE To identify major factors and areas of tension in trainees' learning from medical errors. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Structured telephone interviews with 59 trainees (medical students and residents) from 1 academic medical center. Five authors reviewed transcripts of audiotaped interviews using content analysis. RESULTS Trainees were aware that medical errors occur from early in medical school. Many had an intense emotional response to the idea of committing errors in patient care. Students and residents noted variation and conflict in institutional recommendations and individual actions. Many expressed role confusion regarding whether and how to initiate discussion after errors occurred. Some noted the conflict between reporting errors to seniors who were responsible for their evaluation. Learners requested more open discussion of actual errors and faculty disclosure. No students or residents felt that they learned better from near misses than from actual errors, and many believed that they learned the most when harm was caused. CONCLUSIONS Trainees are aware of medical errors, but remaining tensions may limit learning. Institutions can immediately address variability in faculty response and local culture by disseminating clear, accessible algorithms to guide behavior when errors occur. Educators should develop longitudinal curricula that integrate actual cases and faculty disclosure. Future multi-institutional work should focus on identified themes such as teaching and learning in emotionally charged situations, learning from errors and near misses and balance between individual and systems responsibility. PMID:16704381

Students awareness of learning styles and their perceptions to a mixed method approach for learning.

PubMed

Bhagat, Anumeha; Vyas, Rashmi; Singh, Tejinder

2015-08-01

Individualization of instructional method does not contribute significantly to learning outcomes although it is known that students have differing learning styles (LSs). Hence, in order to maximally enhance learning, one must try to use a mixed method approach. Our hypothesis was that awareness of preferred LS and motivation to incorporate multiple learning strategies might enhance learning outcomes. Our aim was to determine the impact of awareness of LS among medical undergraduates and motivating students to use mixed methods of learning. Before awareness lecture, LS preferences were determined using Visual, Aural, Read/Write, and Kinesthetic (VARK) questionnaire. Awareness of LS was assessed using a validated questionnaire. Through a lecture, students were oriented to various LSs, impact of LS on their performance, and benefit of using mixed method approach for learning. Subsequently, group discussions were organized. After 3 months, VARK preferences and awareness of LSs were reassessed. Student narratives were collected. Qualitative analysis of the data was done. There was a significant increase in the number of students who were aware of LS. The number of participants showing a change in VARK scores for various modalities of learning was also significant (P < 0.001). Thus, awareness of LSs motivated students to adapt other learning strategies and use mixed methods for learning.

Awareness on Learning Disabilities among Elementary School Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Menon K. P., Seema

2016-01-01

The study aims to find out the awareness on learning disabilities among elementary school teachers. The sample for the present study consisted of 500 elementary school teachers of Kerala. In this study the investigator used an Awareness Test on Learning Disabilities to measure the Awareness on Learning Disabilities among Elementary School…

Modeling Learner Situation Awareness in Collaborative Mobile Web 2.0 Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Norman, Helmi; Nordin, Norazah; Din, Rosseni; Ally, Mohamed

2016-01-01

The concept of situation awareness is essential in enhancing collaborative learning. Learners require information from different awareness aspects to deduce a learning situation for decision-making. Designing learning environments that assist learners to understand situation awareness via monitoring actions and reaction of other learners has been…

Combining Digital Archives Content with Serious Game Approach to Create a Gamified Learning Experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shih, D.-T.; Lin, C. L.; Tseng, C.-Y.

2015-08-01

This paper presents an interdisciplinary to develop content-aware application that combines game with learning on specific categories of digital archives. The employment of content-oriented game enhances the gamification and efficacy of learning in culture education on architectures and history of Hsinchu County, Taiwan. The gamified form of the application is used as a backbone to support and provide a strong stimulation to engage users in learning art and culture, therefore this research is implementing under the goal of "The Digital ARt/ARchitecture Project". The purpose of the abovementioned project is to develop interactive serious game approaches and applications for Hsinchu County historical archives and architectures. Therefore, we present two applications, "3D AR for Hukou Old " and "Hsinchu County History Museum AR Tour" which are in form of augmented reality (AR). By using AR imaging techniques to blend real object and virtual content, the users can immerse in virtual exhibitions of Hukou Old Street and Hsinchu County History Museum, and to learn in ubiquitous computing environment. This paper proposes a content system that includes tools and materials used to create representations of digitized cultural archives including historical artifacts, documents, customs, religion, and architectures. The Digital ARt / ARchitecture Project is based on the concept of serious game and consists of three aspects: content creation, target management, and AR presentation. The project focuses on developing a proper approach to serve as an interactive game, and to offer a learning opportunity for appreciating historic architectures by playing AR cards. Furthermore, the card game aims to provide multi-faceted understanding and learning experience to help user learning through 3D objects, hyperlinked web data, and the manipulation of learning mode, and then effectively developing their learning levels on cultural and historical archives in Hsinchu County.

Effects of Collaborative Learning Styles on Performance of Students in a Ubiquitous Collaborative Mobile Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fakomogbon, Michael Ayodele; Bolaji, Hameed Olalekan

2017-01-01

Collaborative learning is an approach employed by instructors to facilitate learning and improve learner's performance. Mobile learning can accommodate a variety of learning approaches. This study, therefore, investigated the effects of collaborative learning styles on performance of students in a mobile learning environment. The specific purposes…

User Situational Context: An Essential Challenge to Context Awareness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mowafi, Yaser Abdallah

2009-01-01

Existing research on context and context awareness has broadly focused on the technical aspects of context acquisition and interpretation of users' surroundings, also called physical or sensor-based context. Such an approach has lacked from reconciling the perception of real-world context exhibited by humans, also known as user context, and…

Learning Orthographic Structure With Sequential Generative Neural Networks.

PubMed

Testolin, Alberto; Stoianov, Ivilin; Sperduti, Alessandro; Zorzi, Marco

2016-04-01

Learning the structure of event sequences is a ubiquitous problem in cognition and particularly in language. One possible solution is to learn a probabilistic generative model of sequences that allows making predictions about upcoming events. Though appealing from a neurobiological standpoint, this approach is typically not pursued in connectionist modeling. Here, we investigated a sequential version of the restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM), a stochastic recurrent neural network that extracts high-order structure from sensory data through unsupervised generative learning and can encode contextual information in the form of internal, distributed representations. We assessed whether this type of network can extract the orthographic structure of English monosyllables by learning a generative model of the letter sequences forming a word training corpus. We show that the network learned an accurate probabilistic model of English graphotactics, which can be used to make predictions about the letter following a given context as well as to autonomously generate high-quality pseudowords. The model was compared to an extended version of simple recurrent networks, augmented with a stochastic process that allows autonomous generation of sequences, and to non-connectionist probabilistic models (n-grams and hidden Markov models). We conclude that sequential RBMs and stochastic simple recurrent networks are promising candidates for modeling cognition in the temporal domain. Copyright © 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Multiple systems for motor skill learning.

PubMed

Clark, Dav; Ivry, Richard B

2010-07-01

Motor learning is a ubiquitous feature of human competence. This review focuses on two particular classes of model tasks for studying skill acquisition. The serial reaction time (SRT) task is used to probe how people learn sequences of actions, while adaptation in the context of visuomotor or force field perturbations serves to illustrate how preexisting movements are recalibrated in novel environments. These tasks highlight important issues regarding the representational changes that occur during the course of motor learning. One important theme is that distinct mechanisms vary in their information processing costs during learning and performance. Fast learning processes may require few trials to produce large changes in performance but impose demands on cognitive resources. Slower processes are limited in their ability to integrate complex information but minimally demanding in terms of attention or processing resources. The representations derived from fast systems may be accessible to conscious processing and provide a relatively greater measure of flexibility, while the representations derived from slower systems are more inflexible and automatic in their behavior. In exploring these issues, we focus on how multiple neural systems may interact and compete during the acquisition and consolidation of new behaviors. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Motor Skill and Performance. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Attitudes to sex and sexual behaviour in rural Matabeleland, Zimbabwe.

PubMed

Vos, T

1994-01-01

Though HIV prevention campaigns in Zimbabwe have increased public awareness of HIV, they have not meaningfully changed sexual behaviour. Possibly these campaigns are based on wrong assumptions about sexual behaviour. By means of 111 structured interviews with hospital patients, secondary school students and teachers, and 11 focus group discussions with traditional healers, midwives, village community workers, secondary school students and teachers, and commercial sex workers in a rural district of Matabeleland in Zimbabwe, this low-budget study explores attitudes towards sex and sexual behaviour in order to define more appropriate health education messages. Results indicate that traditional sex education no longer takes place and that communication between sexual partners is limited. The almost ubiquitous expectation of women to get rewards for sex outside marriage motivates mostly single women out of economic necessity to meet the male demand for sexual partners, which is created by large scale migrant labour and men's professed 'biological' need for multiple partners. Types of sexual behaviour other than penetrative vaginal sex are uncommon and considered deviant. Safe sex messages from the West therefore are inappropriate in the Zimbabwean context. Recommendations are given to restore traditional communication about sexual matters across generations and to urge sexual partners to discuss sex. Women who, for economic reasons, engage in casual sex should at least learn to negotiate the use of condoms. Men seriously need to reconsider their attitudes to sex and sexual practices in view of the high HIV sero-prevalence. Faithfulness, rather than multiple sexual contacts, should become a reason to boast.

Investigating the Educational Value of Social Learning Networks: A Quantitative Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dafoulas, Georgios; Shokri, Azam

2016-01-01

Purpose: The emergence of Education 2.0 enabled technology-enhanced learning, necessitating new pedagogical approaches, while e-learning has evolved into an instrumental pedagogy of collaboration through affordances of social media. Social learning networks and ubiquitous learning enabled individual and group learning through social engagement and…

Student-perceived barriers and facilitators to e-learning in continuing professional development in primary care.

PubMed

Docherty, Andrea; Sandhu, Harbinder

2006-01-01

WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN IN THIS AREA • E-learning is being increasingly used within learning and teaching including its application within healthcare education and service provision. Multiple advantages have been identified including enhanced accessibility and increased flexibility of learning. Guidance on the generic-design and development of e-learning courses has been generated. WHAT THIS WORK ADDS • This paper provides a detailed understanding of the barriers and facilitators to e-learning as perceived by students on a continuing professional development (CPD); course arid highlights its multifaceted values. In addition, the paper ṕrovides evidence-based guidance for the development of courses within CPD utilising e-learning. SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH • Future research would benefit from, focusing upon the perceptions of staff including barriers and facilitators to the implementation of e-learning and awareness of student experience to generate a balanced and informed understanding of e-learning within the context-of CPD.

Multiple Intelligence and Digital Learning Awareness of Prospective B.Ed Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gracious, F. L. Antony; Shyla, F. L. Jasmine Anne

2012-01-01

The present study Multiple Intelligence and Digital Learning Awareness of prospective B.Ed teachers was probed to find the relationship between Multiple Intelligence and Digital Learning Awareness of Prospective B.Ed Teachers. Data for the study were collected using self made Multiple Intelligence Inventory and Digital Learning Awareness Scale.…

Learning in non-formal education: Is it "youthful" for youth in action?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Norqvist, Lars; Leffler, Eva

2017-04-01

This article offers insights into the practices of a non-formal education programme for youth provided by the European Union (EU). It takes a qualitative approach and is based on a case study of the European Voluntary Service (EVS). Data were collected during individual and focus group interviews with learners (the EVS volunteers), decision takers and trainers, with the aim of deriving an understanding of learning in non-formal education. The research questions concerned learning, the recognition of learning and perspectives of usefulness. The study also examined the Youthpass documentation tool as a key to understanding the recognition of learning and to determine whether the learning was useful for learners (the volunteers). The findings and analysis offer several interpretations of learning, and the recognition of learning, which take place in non-formal education. The findings also revealed that it is complicated to divide learning into formal and non- formal categories; instead, non-formal education is useful for individual learners when both formal and non-formal educational contexts are integrated. As a consequence, the division of formal and non-formal (and possibly even informal) learning creates a gap which works against the development of flexible and interconnected education with ubiquitous learning and mobility within and across formal and non-formal education. This development is not in the best interests of learners, especially when seeking useful learning and education for youth (what the authors term "youthful" for youth in action).

New Perspectives on Teaching and Working with Languages in the Digital Era

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pareja-Lora, Antonio, Ed.; Calle-Martínez, Cristina, Ed.; Rodríguez-Arancón, Pilar, Ed.

2016-01-01

This volume offers a comprehensive, up-to-date, empirical and methodological view over the new scenarios and environments for language teaching and learning recently emerged (e.g. blended learning, e-learning, ubiquitous learning, social learning, autonomous learning or lifelong learning), and also over some of the new approaches to language…

Configuring a Context-Aware Middleware for Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Gámez, Nadia; Cubo, Javier; Fuentes, Lidia; Pimentel, Ernesto

2012-01-01

In the Future Internet, applications based on Wireless Sensor Networks will have to support reconfiguration with minimum human intervention, depending on dynamic context changes in their environment. These situations create a need for building these applications as adaptive software and including techniques that allow the context acquisition and decisions about adaptation. However, contexts use to be made up of complex information acquired from heterogeneous devices and user characteristics, making them difficult to manage. So, instead of building context-aware applications from scratch, we propose to use FamiWare, a family of middleware for Ambient Intelligence specifically designed to be aware of contexts in sensor and smartphone devices. It provides both, several monitoring services to acquire contexts from devices and users, and a context-awareness service to analyze and detect context changes. However, the current version of FamiWare does not allow the automatic incorporation related to the management of new contexts into the FamiWare family. To overcome this shortcoming, in this work, we first present how to model the context using a metamodel to define the contexts that must to be taken into account in an instantiation of FamiWare for a certain Ambient Intelligence system. Then, to configure a new context-aware version of FamiWare and to generate code ready-to-install within heterogeneous devices, we define a mapping that automatically transforms metamodel elements defining contexts into elements of the FamiWare family, and we also use the FamiWare configuration process to customize the new context-aware variant. Finally, we evaluate the benefits of our process, and we analyze both that the new version of the middleware works as expected and that it manages the contexts in an efficient way. PMID:23012505

A Review of Shared Vision and its Application within an Army Context

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-07-01

convention and attitudes (p. 134). What is most important to remember is that employees can influence the success of learning organisation practices...require a change in attitude at the leadership level. In changing environments leaders must be people “who are self-aware, adaptive, and agile...Hesselbein and Shinseki, 2004, xviii). Leaders must be willing to work with employees, casting aside their own agendas to work towards shared

Students awareness of learning styles and their perceptions to a mixed method approach for learning

PubMed Central

Bhagat, Anumeha; Vyas, Rashmi; Singh, Tejinder

2015-01-01

Background: Individualization of instructional method does not contribute significantly to learning outcomes although it is known that students have differing learning styles (LSs). Hence, in order to maximally enhance learning, one must try to use a mixed method approach. Hypothesis: Our hypothesis was that awareness of preferred LS and motivation to incorporate multiple learning strategies might enhance learning outcomes. Aim: Our aim was to determine the impact of awareness of LS among medical undergraduates and motivating students to use mixed methods of learning. Materials and Methods: Before awareness lecture, LS preferences were determined using Visual, Aural, Read/Write, and Kinesthetic (VARK) questionnaire. Awareness of LS was assessed using a validated questionnaire. Through a lecture, students were oriented to various LSs, impact of LS on their performance, and benefit of using mixed method approach for learning. Subsequently, group discussions were organized. After 3 months, VARK preferences and awareness of LSs were reassessed. Student narratives were collected. Qualitative analysis of the data was done. Results: There was a significant increase in the number of students who were aware of LS. The number of participants showing a change in VARK scores for various modalities of learning was also significant (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Thus, awareness of LSs motivated students to adapt other learning strategies and use mixed methods for learning. PMID:26380214

A decentralized and onsite wastewater management course: bringing together global concerns and practical pedagogy.

PubMed

Gaulke, L S; Borgford-Parnell, J L; Stensel, H D

2008-01-01

This paper reports on the design, implementation, and results of a course focused on decentralized and onsite wastewater treatment in global contexts. Problem-based learning was the primary pedagogical method, with which students tackled real-world problems and designed systems to meet the needs of diverse populations. Both learning and course evaluations demonstrated that the course was successful in fulfilling learning objectives, increasing student design skills, and raising awareness of global applications. Based on this experience a list of recommendations was created for co-developing and team-teaching multidisciplinary design courses. These recommendations include ideas for aligning student and teacher goals, overcoming barriers to effective group-work, and imbedding continuous course assessments. Copyright IWA Publishing 2008.

Accreditation of prior learning: andragogy in action or a 'cut price' approach to education?

PubMed

Howard, S

1993-11-01

The rapid changes in nurse education are proceeding within the wider context of developments in adjacent educational fields, which are themselves subject to external influences, and one such development is the accreditation of prior experiential learning (APEL). In order to be critically aware of the potential involved in embracing this concept, it is necessary to clarify and examine the influencing factors which guide the current andragogical climate of nurse education, and those which predispose to the recognition of APEL. Utilizing a case-study approach, this paper will examine the relevant issues as they relate to experienced students pursuing the learning outcomes of Project 2000, and will address the question of value for all parties concerned.

A model of the hierarchy of behaviour, cognition, and consciousness.

PubMed

Toates, Frederick

2006-03-01

Processes comparable in important respects to those underlying human conscious and non-conscious processing can be identified in a range of species and it is argued that these reflect evolutionary precursors of the human processes. A distinction is drawn between two types of processing: (1) stimulus-based and (2) higher-order. For 'higher-order,' in humans the operations of processing are themselves associated with conscious awareness. Conscious awareness sets the context for stimulus-based processing and its end-point is accessible to conscious awareness. However, the mechanics of the translation between stimulus and response proceeds without conscious control. The paper argues that higher-order processing is an evolutionary addition to stimulus-based processing. The model's value is shown for gaining insight into a range of phenomena and their link with consciousness. These include brain damage, learning, memory, development, vision, emotion, motor control, reasoning, the voluntary versus involuntary debate, and mental disorder.

The Comparison of Students' Satisfaction between Ubiquitous and Web-Based Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Virtanen, Mari Aulikki; Kääriäinen, Maria; Liikanen, Eeva; Haavisto, Elina

2017-01-01

Higher education is moving towards digitalized learning. The rapid development of technological resources, devices and wireless networks enables more flexible opportunities to study and learn in innovative learning environments. New technologies enable combining of authentic and virtual learning spaces and digital resources as multifunctional…

Ubiquitous English Learning System with Dynamic Personalized Guidance of Learning Portfolio

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Ting-Ting; Sung, Tien-Wen; Huang, Yueh-Min; Yang, Chu-Sing; Yang, Jin-Tan

2011-01-01

Situated learning has been recognized as an effective approach in enhancing learning impressions and experiences for students. Can we take advantage of situated learning in helping students who are not English native speakers to read English articles more effective? Can the effectiveness of situated learning be further promoted by individual…

Mobile Learning: A Powerful Tool for Ubiquitous Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gomes, Nelson; Lopes, Sérgio; Araújo, Sílvia

2016-01-01

Mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, e-readers, etc.) have come to be used as tools for mobile learning. Several studies support the integration of such technological devices with learning, particularly with language learning. In this paper, we wish to present an Android app designed for the teaching and learning of Portuguese as a foreign…

Design of a Microlecture Mobile Learning System Based on Smartphone and Web Platforms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wen, Chuanxue; Zhang, Junfei

2015-01-01

This paper first analyzes the concept and features of microlecture, mobile learning, and ubiquitous learning, then presents the combination of microlecture and mobile learning, to propose a novel way of micro-learning through mobile terminals. Details are presented of a microlecture mobile learning system (MMLS) that can support multiplatforms,…

Empowering Pre-Service Teachers to Produce Ubiquitous Flipped Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

García-Sánchez, Soraya; Santos-Espino, Jose Miguel

2017-01-01

This work focuses on technological and educational outcomes that resulted from the production of foreign language educational videos by 90 pre-service instructors enrolled in an official Master's Degree in Secondary Education programme. This teaching practice, conducted during two consecutive years, was set in a ubiquitous learning environment…

Avoiding the conflict: Metacognitive awareness drives the selection of low-demand contexts.

PubMed

Desender, Kobe; Buc Calderon, Cristian; Van Opstal, Filip; Van den Bussche, Eva

2017-07-01

Previous research attempted to explain how humans strategically adapt behavior in order to achieve successful task performance. Recently, it has been suggested that 1 potential strategy is to avoid tasks that are too demanding. Here, we report 3 experiments that investigate the empirically neglected role of metacognitive awareness in this process. In these experiments, participants could freely choose between performing a task in either a high-demand or a low-demand context. Using subliminal priming, we ensured that participants were not aware of the visual stimuli creating these different demand contexts. Our results showed that participants who noticed a difference in task difficulty (i.e., metacognitive aware participants) developed a clear preference for the low-demand context. In contrast, participants who experienced no difference in task difficulty (i.e., metacognitive unaware participants) based their choices on variables unrelated to cognitive demand (e.g., the color or location associated with a context), and did not develop a preference for the low-demand context. Crucially, this pattern was found despite identical task performance in both metacognitive awareness groups. A multiple regression approach confirmed that metacognitive awareness was the main factor driving the preference for low-demand contexts. These results argue for an important role of metacognitive awareness in the strategic avoidance of demanding tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

MO-DE-BRA-02: From Teaching to Learning: Systems-Based-Practice and Practice-Based-Learning Innovations in Medical Physics Education Programs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kapur, A

Purpose: The increasing complexity in the field of radiation medicine and concomitant rise in patient safety concerns call for enhanced systems-level training for future medical physicists and thus commensurate innovations in existing educational program curricula. In this work we report on the introduction of three learning opportunities to augment medical physics educational programs towards building systems-based practice and practice-based learning competencies. Methods: All initiatives were introduced for senior -level graduate students and physics residents in an institution with a newly established medical-physics graduate program and therapeutic-physics residency program. The first, centered on incident learning, was based on a spreadsheet toolmore » that incorporated the reporting structure of the Radiation Oncology-incident Learning System (ROILS), included 120 narratives of published incidents and enabled inter-rater variability calculations. The second, centered on best-practices, was a zero-credit seminar course, where students summarized select presentations from the AAPM virtual library on a weekly basis and moderated class discussions using a point/counterpoint approach. Presentation styles were critiqued. The third; centered on learning-by-teaching, required physics residents to regularly explain fundamental concepts in radiological physics from standard textbooks to board certified physics faculty members. Results: Use of the incident-learning system spreadsheet provided a platform to recast known accidents into the framework of ROILS, thereby increasing awareness of factors contributing to unsafe practice and appreciation for inter-rater variability. The seminar course enhanced awareness of best practices, the effectiveness of presentation styles and encouraged critical thinking. The learn-by-teaching rotation allowed residents to stay abreast of and deepen their knowledge of relevant subjects. Conclusion: The incorporation of systems-driven initiatives broadens comprehension of the wider systems context of medical physics, enhances awareness of resources for innovation, communication and sustained learning while maintaining a metric-driven focus on patient safety within the formative phase of student careers. The initiatives were well-received, feasible, and utilized available or shared-resources translatable across educational programs.« less

Do Runner Beans Really Make You Run Fast? Young Children Learning About Science-Related Food Concepts in Informal Settings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cumming, Jenny

2003-08-01

Early years practitioners acknowledge that much learning takes place in a family context. Science educators, in particular, recognise the importance of children's prior knowledge, both as a foundation on which to build and as a possible source of misconceptions. However, little work has been done to discover what young children learn outside school. This study utilised parent diaries and questionnaires to elucidate the experiences of children aged four to seven which might contribute to their knowledge about the origin of food and its destiny after being eaten. The findings indicate that children learn more scientifically correct information with friends and family than teachers might realise. Awareness of children's informal knowledge can assist teachers when planning activities. As well as this, children's prior knowledge can be utilised in classroom discourse to promote understanding.

Hypergame theory applied to cyber attack and defense

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

House, James Thomas; Cybenko, George

2010-04-01

This work concerns cyber attack and defense in the context of game theory--specifically hypergame theory. Hypergame theory extends classical game theory with the ability to deal with differences in players' expertise, differences in their understanding of game rules, misperceptions, and so forth. Each of these different sub-scenarios, or subgames, is associated with a probability--representing the likelihood that the given subgame is truly "in play" at a given moment. In order to form an optimal attack or defense policy, these probabilities must be learned if they're not known a-priori. We present hidden Markov model and maximum entropy approaches for accurately learning these probabilities through multiple iterations of both normal and modified game play. We also give a widely-applicable approach for the analysis of cases where an opponent is aware that he is being studied, and intentionally plays to spoil the process of learning and thereby obfuscate his attributes. These are considered in the context of a generic, abstract cyber attack example. We demonstrate that machine learning efficacy can be heavily dependent on the goals and styles of participant behavior. To this end detailed simulation results under various combinations of attacker and defender behaviors are presented and analyzed.

Contingency learning in human fear conditioning involves the ventral striatum.

PubMed

Klucken, Tim; Tabbert, Katharina; Schweckendiek, Jan; Merz, Christian Josef; Kagerer, Sabine; Vaitl, Dieter; Stark, Rudolf

2009-11-01

The ability to detect and learn contingencies between fearful stimuli and their predictive cues is an important capacity to cope with the environment. Contingency awareness refers to the ability to verbalize the relationships between conditioned and unconditioned stimuli. Although there is a heated debate about the influence of contingency awareness on conditioned fear responses, neural correlates behind the formation process of contingency awareness have gained only little attention in human fear conditioning. Recent animal studies indicate that the ventral striatum (VS) could be involved in this process, but in human studies the VS is mostly associated with positive emotions. To examine this question, we reanalyzed four recently published classical fear conditioning studies (n = 117) with respect to the VS at three distinct levels of contingency awareness: subjects, who did not learn the contingencies (unaware), subjects, who learned the contingencies during the experiment (learned aware) and subjects, who were informed about the contingencies in advance (instructed aware). The results showed significantly increased activations in the left and right VS in learned aware compared to unaware subjects. Interestingly, this activation pattern was only found in learned but not in instructed aware subjects. We assume that the VS is not involved when contingency awareness does not develop during conditioning or when contingency awareness is unambiguously induced already prior to conditioning. VS involvement seems to be important for the transition from a contingency unaware to a contingency aware state. Implications for fear conditioning models as well as for the contingency awareness debate are discussed.

Information Technology (IT) Ethics: Training and Awareness Materials for the Department of the Navy

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-06-01

systems, organ transplantation and donation, artificial insemination , and in vitro fertilization. [Ref. 12] Yet another explanation could be that...multitude of ways, whether it be E-mail servers, workplace Internet access, decision support systems, or satellite links. The ubiquitous nature of

Meeting People's Needs in a Fully Interoperable Domotic Environment

PubMed Central

Miori, Vittorio; Russo, Dario; Concordia, Cesare

2012-01-01

The key idea underlying many Ambient Intelligence (AmI) projects and applications is context awareness, which is based mainly on their capacity to identify users and their locations. The actual computing capacity should remain in the background, in the periphery of our awareness, and should only move to the center if and when necessary. Computing thus becomes ‘invisible’, as it is embedded in the environment and everyday objects. The research project described herein aims to realize an Ambient Intelligence-based environment able to improve users' quality of life by learning their habits and anticipating their needs. This environment is part of an adaptive, context-aware framework designed to make today's incompatible heterogeneous domotic systems fully interoperable, not only for connecting sensors and actuators, but for providing comprehensive connections of devices to users. The solution is a middleware architecture based on open and widely recognized standards capable of abstracting the peculiarities of underlying heterogeneous technologies and enabling them to co-exist and interwork, without however eliminating their differences. At the highest level of this infrastructure, the Ambient Intelligence framework, integrated with the domotic sensors, can enable the system to recognize any unusual or dangerous situations and anticipate health problems or special user needs in a technological living environment, such as a house or a public space. PMID:22969322

Meeting people's needs in a fully interoperable domotic environment.

PubMed

Miori, Vittorio; Russo, Dario; Concordia, Cesare

2012-01-01

The key idea underlying many Ambient Intelligence (AmI) projects and applications is context awareness, which is based mainly on their capacity to identify users and their locations. The actual computing capacity should remain in the background, in the periphery of our awareness, and should only move to the center if and when necessary. Computing thus becomes 'invisible', as it is embedded in the environment and everyday objects. The research project described herein aims to realize an Ambient Intelligence-based environment able to improve users' quality of life by learning their habits and anticipating their needs. This environment is part of an adaptive, context-aware framework designed to make today's incompatible heterogeneous domotic systems fully interoperable, not only for connecting sensors and actuators, but for providing comprehensive connections of devices to users. The solution is a middleware architecture based on open and widely recognized standards capable of abstracting the peculiarities of underlying heterogeneous technologies and enabling them to co-exist and interwork, without however eliminating their differences. At the highest level of this infrastructure, the Ambient Intelligence framework, integrated with the domotic sensors, can enable the system to recognize any unusual or dangerous situations and anticipate health problems or special user needs in a technological living environment, such as a house or a public space.

Horror Image Recognition Based on Context-Aware Multi-Instance Learning.

PubMed

Li, Bing; Xiong, Weihua; Wu, Ou; Hu, Weiming; Maybank, Stephen; Yan, Shuicheng

2015-12-01

Horror content sharing on the Web is a growing phenomenon that can interfere with our daily life and affect the mental health of those involved. As an important form of expression, horror images have their own characteristics that can evoke extreme emotions. In this paper, we present a novel context-aware multi-instance learning (CMIL) algorithm for horror image recognition. The CMIL algorithm identifies horror images and picks out the regions that cause the sensation of horror in these horror images. It obtains contextual cues among adjacent regions in an image using a random walk on a contextual graph. Borrowing the strength of the fuzzy support vector machine (FSVM), we define a heuristic optimization procedure based on the FSVM to search for the optimal classifier for the CMIL. To improve the initialization of the CMIL, we propose a novel visual saliency model based on the tensor analysis. The average saliency value of each segmented region is set as its initial fuzzy membership in the CMIL. The advantage of the tensor-based visual saliency model is that it not only adaptively selects features, but also dynamically determines fusion weights for saliency value combination from different feature subspaces. The effectiveness of the proposed CMIL model is demonstrated by its use in horror image recognition on two large-scale image sets collected from the Internet.

Integrate WeChat with Moodle to Provide a Mobile Learning Environment for Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Zhigao; Fan, Yibo; Jiao, Jianli

2016-01-01

In the information age, learning has become ubiquitous, and mobile learning enabled by mobile technologies is expected to play a significant role in various educational settings. Currently, there exist some limitations on mobile learning from the perspective of technology. The implementation of mobile learning usually depends on the development of…

Risky Business or Sharing the Load?--Social Flow in Collaborative Mobile Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryu, Hokyoung; Parsons, David

2012-01-01

Mobile learning has been built upon the premise that we can transform traditional classroom or computer-based learning activities into a more ubiquitous and connected form of learning. Tentative outcomes from this assertion have been witnessed in many collaborative learning activities, but few analytic observations on what triggers this…

Exploring Students' Progression in an Inquiry Science Curriculum Enabled by Mobile Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Looi, Chee-Kit; Sun, Daner; Xie, Wenting

2015-01-01

The research literature reports on designs of ubiquitous and seamless learning environments enabled by the integration of mobile technology into learning. However, the lack of good pedagogical designs that provide for sustainability and the inadequate investigation of learning outcomes remain major gaps in the current studies on mobile learning.…

A Study of the Effects of Digital Learning on Learning Motivation and Learning Outcome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Ming-Hung; Chen, Huang-Cheng; Liu, Kuang-Sheng

2017-01-01

In the modern society when intelligent mobile devices become popular, the Internet breaks through the restrictions on time and space and becomes a ubiquitous learning tool. Designing teaching activity for digital learning and flexibly applying technology tools are the key issues for current information technology integrated education. In this…

Online CKD education for medical students, residents, and fellows: training in a new era.

PubMed

Bhasin, Bhavna; Estrella, Michelle M; Choi, Michael J

2013-07-01

CKD and its complications are associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Studies have highlighted significant deficiencies in resident knowledge and awareness of CKD and its complications. There is a need to improve CKD education through medical school and residency. There is also a need to provide alternatives to traditional teaching methods to meet the challenges of learning in the context of work-hour restrictions and increasing workload among residents and fellows. Internet-based learning resources offer various educational tools, including websites, kidney blogs, online modules, and smartphone applications, which could potentially and efficiently advance CKD knowledge among medical trainees. In this review, we describe several online resources for CKD education that could be useful for medical students, residents, and fellows. Increased awareness of these tools and their utilization may significantly influence and hopefully improve the recognition and management of patients with CKD. Future studies may help evaluate the effectiveness of these online learning methods and their effect on CKD patient outcomes. In addition, in light of increased concern about nephrology workforce issues, the potential for these online tools to augment interest in nephrology careers should be investigated. Copyright © 2013 National Kidney Foundation, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Applying an AR Technique to Enhance Situated Heritage Learning in a Ubiquitous Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Yi Hsing; Liu, Jen-ch'iang

2013-01-01

Since AR can display 3D materials and learner motivation is enhanced in a situated learning environment, this study explores the learning effectiveness of learners when combining AR technology and the situation learning theory. Based on the concept of embedding the characteristics of augmented reality and situated learning into a real situation to…

The role of medial prefrontal cortex in memory and decision making.

PubMed

Euston, David R; Gruber, Aaron J; McNaughton, Bruce L

2012-12-20

Some have claimed that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) mediates decision making. Others suggest mPFC is selectively involved in the retrieval of remote long-term memory. Yet others suggests mPFC supports memory and consolidation on time scales ranging from seconds to days. How can all these roles be reconciled? We propose that the function of the mPFC is to learn associations between context, locations, events, and corresponding adaptive responses, particularly emotional responses. Thus, the ubiquitous involvement of mPFC in both memory and decision making may be due to the fact that almost all such tasks entail the ability to recall the best action or emotional response to specific events in a particular place and time. An interaction between multiple memory systems may explain the changing importance of mPFC to different types of memories over time. In particular, mPFC likely relies on the hippocampus to support rapid learning and memory consolidation. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Modified UTAUT2 Model for M-Learning among Students in India

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bharati, V. Jayendra; Srikanth, R.

2018-01-01

Ubiquitous technologies have a great potential to enrich students' academic experience. Students are more interested in using interactive learning techniques apart from the traditional learning techniques. Several research studies for m-learning has been done in the USA, UK concentrating on students undergoing a graduation degree, especially…

Performance, Cognitive Load, and Behaviour of Technology-Assisted English Listening Learning: From CALL to MALL

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Chi-Cheng; Warden, Clyde A.; Liang, Chaoyun; Chou, Pao-Nan

2018-01-01

This study examines differences in English listening comprehension, cognitive load, and learning behaviour between outdoor ubiquitous learning and indoor computer-assisted learning. An experimental design, employing a pretest-posttest control group is employed. Randomly assigned foreign language university majors joined either the experimental…

Connected and Ubiquitous: A Discussion of Two Theories That Impact Future Learning Applications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bair, Richard A.; Stafford, Timothy

2016-01-01

Mobile media break down traditional barriers that have defined learning in schools because they enable constant, personalized access to media. This information-rich environment could dramatically expand learning opportunities. This article identifies and discusses two instructional design theories for mobile learning including the major…

Mobile Learning: Extreme Outcomes of "Everywhere, Anytime"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De Simone, Giuseppe Cosimo

2016-01-01

Mobile learning, if considered in its most enthusiastic versions, promises to transform the world of learning. It seems that mobile devices will lead to overcome the narrow limits of the classroom to achieve ubiquitous learning. But if we analyze critically the promise of the everywhere, anytime, suspending judgment on its feasibility, interesting…

Multiplatform E-Learning Systems and Technologies: Mobile Devices for Ubiquitous ICT-Based Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goh, Tiong Thye, Ed.

2010-01-01

Multiplatform e-learning systems are emerging technologies that provide integrated learning content to various accessing devices. This book addresses technical challenges, design frameworks, and development experiences of the future that integrate multiple mobile devices into a single multiplatform e-learning system. With expert international…

Users' Behavior towards Ubiquitous M-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suki, Norazah Mohd; Suki, Norbayah Mohd

2011-01-01

Mobile technologies have enabled a new way of communicating, for whom mobile communications are part of normal daily interaction. This paper explores the proposed and verified Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) that can be employed to explain the acceptance of Mobile Learning (M-learning), an activity in which users access learning material with…

Conditions for Ubiquitous Computing: What Can Be Learned from a Longitudinal Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lei, Jing

2010-01-01

Based on survey data and interview data collected over four academic years, this longitudinal study examined how a ubiquitous computing project evolved along with the changes in teachers, students, the human infrastructure, and technology infrastructure in the school. This study also investigated what conditions were necessary for successful…

Structural Analysis of a Tablet PC Based Language Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Magal Royo, Teresa; Garcia Laborda, Jesus; Gimenez Lopez, Jose Luis; Otero de Juan, Nuria

2015-01-01

Ubiquitous language learning and testing has become a new challenging trend. Budget constraints in Europe and the rest of the world have made this way of delivery very attractive for materials designers as well as language testing organizations. Ubiquitous testing has a very especial interest in low and medium stakes language testing in which…

Undergraduate interprofessional education using high-fidelity paediatric simulation.

PubMed

Stewart, Moira; Kennedy, Neil; Cuene-Grandidier, Hazel

2010-06-01

High-fidelity simulation is becoming increasingly important in the delivery of teaching and learning to health care professionals within a safe environment. Its use in an interprofessional context and at undergraduate level has the potential to facilitate the learning of good communication and teamworking, in addition to clinical knowledge and skills. Interprofessional teaching and learning workshops using high-fidelity paediatric simulation were developed and delivered to undergraduate medical and nursing students at Queen's University Belfast. Learning outcomes common to both professions, and essential in the clinical management of sick children, included basic competencies, communication and teamworking skills. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation was undertaken using published questionnaires. Quantitative results - the 32-item questionnaire was analysed for reliability using spss. Responses were positive for both groups of students across four domains - acquisition of knowledge and skills, communication and teamworking, professional identity and role awareness, and attitudes to shared learning. Qualitative results - thematic content analysis was used to analyse open-ended responses. Students from both groups commented that an interprofessional education (IPE) approach to paediatric simulation improved clinical and practice-based skills, and provided a safe learning environment. Students commented that there should be more interprofessional and simulation learning opportunities. High-fidelity paediatric simulation, used in an interprofessional context, has the potential to meet the requirements of undergraduate medical and nursing curricula. Further research is needed into the long-term benefits for patient care, and its generalisability to other areas within health care teaching and learning. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2010.

Making It Personal: Performance-Based Assessments, Ubiquitous Technology, and Advanced Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arispe, Kelly; Burston, Jack

2017-01-01

This pedagogical implementation study advocates for performance-driven assessments to help learners become aware of and improve upon presentational speaking skills at the advanced level. A social media content creation tool, Adobe Spark Video, enabled learners to practice oral skills outside of class. The task design, implementation, and…

Communication Vulnerability in the Digital Age: A Missed Concern in Constructivism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Katada, Fusa

2016-01-01

The current wave of globalization aided by ubiquitous computing necessarily involves interaction and integration among people and human institutions worldwide. This has led to a worldwide awareness that professionals in academia need to have effective communication skills. Such communication-driven academic discourse puts much demand on language…

Online Leadership at the Vortex of Academic Destiny

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halfond, Jay A.

2014-01-01

As online education becomes more ubiquitous nationally, it becomes even more strategic locally on each college campus. Some higher education institutions have been more dynamic and decisive, and others paralyzed to act. The very balance of academic power--as measured by enrollments, institutional reach and public awareness-- has begun to shift…

Snap Shots: Using Photography for Intercultural Awareness and Understanding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alvaray, Luisela

2014-01-01

Watching images through mass media presents a challenge for understanding the complexities of different cultures within and outside the United States. Photographic images, in particular, are ubiquitous in our mediated world, populating old and interactive media and many times serving to perpetuate established codes of understanding and action.…

Effects of a phonological awareness program on English reading and spelling among Hong Kong Chinese ESL children.

PubMed

Yeung, Susanna S S; Siegel, Linda S; Chan, Carol K K

2013-05-01

This study investigated the effects of a 12-week language-enriched phonological awareness instruction on 76 Hong Kong young children who were learning English as a second language. The children were assigned randomly to receive the instruction on phonological awareness skills embedded in vocabulary learning activities or comparison instruction which consisted of vocabulary learning and writing tasks but no direct instruction in phonological awareness skills. They were tested on receptive and expressive vocabulary, phonological awareness at the syllable, rhyme and phoneme levels, reading, and spelling in English before and after the program implementation. The results indicated that children who received the phonological awareness instruction performed significantly better than the comparison group on English word reading, spelling, phonological awareness at all levels and expressive vocabulary on the posttest when age, general intelligence and the pretest scores were controlled statistically. The findings suggest that phonological awareness instruction embedded in vocabulary learning activities might be beneficial to kindergarteners learning English as a second language.

Perceptions of Healthy Eating in Four Alberta Communities: A Photovoice Project

PubMed Central

Hammer, Brent A.; Vallianatos, Helen; Nieuwendyk, Laura M.

2016-01-01

Peoples’ perceptions of healthy eating are influenced by the cultural context in which they occur. Despite this general acceptance by health practitioners and social scientists, studies suggest that there remains a relative homogeneity around peoples’ perceptions that informs a hegemonic discourse around healthy eating. People often describe healthy eating in terms of learned information from sources that reflect societies’ norms and values, such as the Canada Food Guide and the ubiquitous phrase “fruits and vegetables”. Past research has examined how built environments shape people’s access to healthy living options, such as distribution of grocers versus convenience stores and fast food restaurants. Often overlooked is an in-depth understanding of how social contexts interact with built environments, molding peoples’ perceptions of healthy eating. This paper reports on perceptions of healthy eating in four communities across Alberta, Canada. A photovoice methodology was employed to elicit perceptions of healthy eating with 35 participants. This study illustrates how participants’ photographs and their stories convey multiple meanings about healthy eating within their own lives and communities. Findings suggest that a ‘local’ context is an important part of the discourse centered around the promotion of healthy eating practices in these and potential other communities. PMID:27390390

Perceptions of Healthy Eating in Four Alberta Communities: A Photovoice Project.

PubMed

Hammer, Brent A; Vallianatos, Helen; Nykiforuk, Candace; Nieuwendyk, Laura M

2015-01-23

Peoples' perceptions of healthy eating are influenced by the cultural context in which they occur. Despite this general acceptance by health practitioners and social scientists, studies suggest that there remains a relative homogeneity around peoples' perceptions that informs a hegemonic discourse around healthy eating. People often describe healthy eating in terms of learned information from sources that reflect societies' norms and values, such as the Canada Food Guide and the ubiquitous phrase "fruits and vegetables". Past research has examined how built environments shape people's access to healthy living options, such as distribution of grocers versus convenience stores and fast food restaurants. Often overlooked is an in-depth understanding of how social contexts interact with built environments, molding peoples' perceptions of healthy eating. This paper reports on perceptions of healthy eating in four communities across Alberta, Canada. A photovoice methodology was employed to elicit perceptions of healthy eating with 35 participants. This study illustrates how participants' photographs and their stories convey multiple meanings about healthy eating within their own lives and communities. Findings suggest that a 'local' context is an important part of the discourse centered around the promotion of healthy eating practices in these and potential other communities.

Understanding the Behavioral Intention to Play Austronesian Learning Games: From the Perspectives of Learning Outcome, Service Quality, and Hedonic Value

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsiao, Kuo-Lun; Huang, Tien-Chi; Chen, Mu-Yen; Chiang, Nien-Ting

2018-01-01

Although ubiquitous learning is a novel and creative teaching approach, two key issues inhibit its success overall: a lack of appropriate learning strategies regarding learning objectives, and ineffective learning tools for receiving knowledge regarding the chosen subjects. To address these issues, we develops and designs a game-based educational…

English in Class and on the Go: Multimodal U-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

García-Sánchez, Soraya

2012-01-01

This article aims to analyse different ubiquitous learning (u-Learning) platforms used when learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) as part of the Modern Languages Degree at the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC). The combination of face-to-face lessons with multimedia content and digital mediated learning allows today's native…

Toward Medical Documentation That Enhances Situational Awareness Learning

PubMed Central

Lenert, Leslie A.

2016-01-01

The purpose of writing medical notes in a computer system goes beyond documentation for medical-legal purposes or billing. The structure of documentation is a checklist that serves as a cognitive aid and a potential index to retrieve information for learning from the record. For the past 50 years, one of the primary organizing structures for physicians’ clinical documentation have been the SOAP note (Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan). The cognitive check list is well-suited to differential diagnosis but may not support detection of changes in systems and/or learning from cases. We describe an alternative cognitive checklist called the OODA Loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. Through incorporation of projections of anticipated course events with and without treatment and by making “Decisions” an explicit category of documentation in the medical record in the context of a variable temporal cycle for observations, OODA may enhance opportunities to learn from clinical care. PMID:28269872

Mindtool-Assisted In-Field Learning (MAIL): An Advanced Ubiquitous Learning Project in Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Hung, Pi-Hsia; Chen, Nian-Shing; Liu, Gi-Zen

2014-01-01

Scholars have identified that learning in an authentic environment with quality contextual and procedural supports can engage students in thorough observations and knowledge construction. Moreover, the target is that students are able to experience and make sense of all of the learning activities in the real-world environment with meaningful…

The Best of All Worlds: Immersive Interfaces for Art Education in Virtual and Real World Teaching and Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grenfell, Janette

2013-01-01

Selected ubiquitous technologies encourage collaborative participation between higher education students and educators within a virtual socially networked e-learning landscape. Multiple modes of teaching and learning, ranging from real world experiences, to text and digital images accessed within the Deakin studies online learning management…

UK Higher Education Institutions' Technology-Enhanced Learning Strategies from the Perspective of Disruptive Innovation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flavin, Michael; Quintero, Valentina

2018-01-01

The publication of institutional strategies for learning, teaching and assessment in UK higher education is practically ubiquitous. Strategies for technology-enhanced learning are also widespread. This article examines 44 publicly available UK university strategies for technology-enhanced learning, aiming to assess the extent to which…

Social Cues Alter Implicit Motor Learning in a Serial Reaction Time Task.

PubMed

Geiger, Alexander; Cleeremans, Axel; Bente, Gary; Vogeley, Kai

2018-01-01

Learning is a central ability for human development. Many skills we learn, such as language, are learned through observation or imitation in social contexts. Likewise, many skills are learned implicitly, that is, without an explicit intent to learn and without full awareness of the acquired knowledge. Here, we asked whether performance in a motor learning task is modulated by social vs. object cues of varying validity. To address this question, we asked participants to carry out a serial reaction time (SRT) task in which, on each trial, people have to respond as fast and as accurately as possible to the appearance of a stimulus at one of four possible locations. Unbeknownst to participants, the sequence of successive locations was sequentially structured, so that knowledge of the sequence facilitates anticipation of the next stimulus and hence faster motor responses. Crucially, each trial also contained a cue pointing to the next stimulus location. Participants could thus learn based on the cue, or on learning about the sequence of successive locations, or on a combination of both. Results show an interaction between cue type and cue validity for the motor responses: social cues (vs. object cues) led to faster responses in the low validity (LV) condition only. Concerning the extent to which learning was implicit, results show that in the cued blocks only, the highly valid social cue led to implicit learning. In the uncued blocks, participants showed no implicit learning in the highly valid social cue condition, but did in all other combinations of stimulus type and cueing validity. In conclusion, our results suggest that implicit learning is context-dependent and can be influenced by the cue type, e.g., social and object cues.

Feminist Articulations, Social Literacies, and Ubiquitous Mobile Technology Use in Kenya

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanya, Brenda N.; Odero, Phantus W.

2017-01-01

This article examines the changes occurring in learning and literacy in the age of ubiquitous mobile phone use. Focusing on rural Kenyan women's use of mobile phone technologies in civic education programs, mobile banking, and to contact family members, the article explores how these women's use of mobile phones, based on their everyday needs, has…

Bringing Mohamed to the Mountain: Situated Professional Development in a Ubiquitous Computing Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swan, Karen; Kratcoski, Annette; Mazzer, Pat; Schenker, Jason

2005-01-01

This article describes an ongoing situated professional development program in which teachers bring their intact classes for an extended stay in a ubiquitous computing environment equipped with a variety of state-of-the-art computing devices. The experience is unique in that it not only situates teacher learning about technology integration in…

Boundary Crossing during Pre-service Teacher Training: empowering or hampering professional growth?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harrison, Christine

2017-10-01

Yuli Rahmawati's paper presents an auto-ethnographic inquiry into her lived experiences as a science teacher in different countries. Through her reflections and analysis of events, Yuli captures and builds a model of her identity and explores the influence of inter- and intra-cultural perspectives in shaping how she recognizes herself and brings meaning to her professional life. Yuli's insights and explanations of teaching within different cultural contexts highlight the importance of personally relevant and meaningful knowledge, where expectations and accepted norms, that might fit well within one community, may be seen quite differently in another. While for Yuli, this led to professional growth as she inquired and made sense of her new context, my concern is that the social and cultural change could, in some instances, lead to disengagement rather than professional growth. My concern is that the conflict that arises from boundary crossing may be experienced even stronger by inexperienced professionals, such as pre-service teachers. The learning trajectory of pre-service teachers is steep; they need to gain stronger knowledge of curriculum and pedagogy and an awareness of how their students learn. They also need to build confidence in their professional self and what they can do to support and trigger student learning. For this to happen, in the tight time frames available on teacher education courses, pre-service teachers need to understand and engage with the new community that they are placed in very quickly, to make sense of both their role and that of others within the community. This paper suggests that pre-service providers should carefully consider the learning opportunities offered by school contexts, that may vary dramatically from the social and cultural contexts experienced by their teachers as part of their own education, to prevent disengagement or misunderstanding hampering professional growth.

Diversity Awareness for K-6 Teachers: The Impact on Student Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLeod, Rona Leach

2011-01-01

"Diversity Awareness for K-6 Teachers: The Impact on Student Learning" is a resource guide for elementary teachers and college-level student teachers for teaching diversity awareness across the various areas of content. It contains many exciting activities teachers can use to enhance learning while making learning and teaching fun and exciting.…

Library learning space--empirical research and perspective.

PubMed

Littleton, Dawn; Rethlefsen, Melissa

2008-01-01

Navigate the Net columns offer navigation to Web sites of value to medical librarians. For this issue, the authors recognize that librarians are frequently challenged to justify the need for the physical space occupied by a library in the context of the wide availability of electronic resources, ubiquitous student laptops, and competition for space needed by other institutional priorities. While this trend started years ago, it continues to raise a number of important practical and philosophical questions for libraries and the institutions they serve. What is the library for? What is library space best used for? How does the concept of "Library as Place" support informed decisions for librarians and space planners? In this issue, Web-based resources are surveyed that address these questions for libraries generally and health sciences libraries more specifically.

PLEXIL-DL: Language and Runtime for Context-Aware Robot Behaviour

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moser, Herwig; Reichelt, Toni; Oswald, Norbert; Förster, Stefan

Faced with the growing complexity of application scenarios social robots are involved with, the perception of environmental circumstances and the sentient reactions are becoming more and more important abilities. Rather than regarding both abilities in isolation, the entire transformation process, from context-awareness to purposive behaviour, forms a robot’s adaptivity. While attaining context-awareness has received much attention in literature so far, translating it into appropriate actions still lacks a comprehensive approach. In this paper, we present PLEXIL-DL, an expressive language allowing complex context expressions as an integral part of constructs that define sophisticated behavioural reactions. Our approach extends NASA’s PLEXIL language by Description Logic queries, both in syntax and formal semantics. A prototypical implementation of a PLEXIL-DL interpreter shows the basic mechanisms facilitating the robot’s adaptivity through context-awareness.

Creating the Future of Games and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Squire, Kurt

2015-01-01

Games for learning are poised to enter mainstream education. Several factors driving this movement are the following: (1) Digital distribution through cloud computing services and ubiquitous connectivity which will make digital learning tools--such as games--affordable and easily accessible; (2) The proliferation of digital devices; (3) Digital…

Pervasive Computing and Communication Technologies for U-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Young C.

2014-01-01

The development of digital information transfer, storage and communication methods influences a significant effect on education. The assimilation of pervasive computing and communication technologies marks another great step forward, with Ubiquitous Learning (U-learning) emerging for next generation learners. In the evolutionary view the 5G (or…

An Investigation of Mobile Learning Readiness in Higher Education Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheon, Jongpil; Lee, Sangno; Crooks, Steven M.; Song, Jaeki

2012-01-01

This study investigated the current state of college students' perceptions toward mobile learning in higher education. Mobile learning is a new form of learning utilizing the unique capabilities of mobile devices. Although mobile devices are ubiquitous on college campuses, student readiness for mobile learning has yet to be fully explored in the…

Introspection on Uncertainty and Judicious Help-Seeking during the Preschool Years

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coughlin, Christine; Hembacher, Emily; Lyons, Kristen E.; Ghetti, Simona

2015-01-01

Little is known about the mechanisms underlying a ubiquitous behavior in preschoolers, help-seeking. We tested the hypothesis that preschoolers' awareness of their own uncertainty is associated with help-seeking. Three-, 4-, and 5-year-olds (N = 125) completed a perceptual identification task twice: once independently and once when they could…

Resident Role Modeling: "It Just Happens".

PubMed

Sternszus, Robert; Macdonald, Mary Ellen; Steinert, Yvonne

2016-03-01

Role modeling by staff physicians is a significant component of the clinical teaching of students and residents. However, the importance of resident role modeling has only recently emerged, and residents' understanding of themselves as role models has yet to be explored. This study sought to understand residents' perceptions of themselves as role models, describe how residents learn about role modeling, and identify ways to improve resident role modeling. Fourteen semistructured interviews were conducted with residents in internal medicine, general surgery, and pediatrics at the McGill University Faculty of Medicine between April and September 2013. Interviews were audio-recorded and subsequently transcribed for analysis; iterative analysis followed principles of qualitative description. Four primary themes were identified through data analysis: residents perceived role modeling as the demonstration of "good" behaviors in the clinical context; residents believed that learning from their role modeling "just happens" as long as learners are "watching"; residents did not equate role modeling with being a role model; and residents learned about role modeling from watching their positive and negative role models. While residents were aware that students and junior colleagues learned from their modeling, they were often not aware of role modeling as it was occurring; they also believed that learning from role modeling "just happens" and did not always see themselves as role models. Helping residents view effective role modeling as a deliberate process rather than something that "just happens" may improve clinical teaching across the continuum of medical education.

Leapfrogging Pedagogy: A Design Approach to Making Change in Challenging Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crichton, Susan

2014-01-01

At a time of substantial change, globalization, and ubiquitous access to information, educators struggle to change even the most basic aspects of their classrooms. This is especially true for those in challenging contexts where many perpetuate the "mind numbing" practice of rote instruction. This paper describes a collaborative…

Do dental hygiene students fit the learning profile of the millennial student?

PubMed

Blue, Christine M

2009-12-01

Differences in learning and the cultural context of our students' life experiences are important variables that faculty members need to understand in order to be effective in the classroom. Faculty members are finding that millennial students' approaches to learning are often vastly different from their own and as a result feel frustrated in their ability to help these students with their learning needs. Cultivating awareness of how today's dental hygiene student learns as well as the millennial learner profile can help faculty members address this educational challenge. The purpose of this study was to identify the learning styles of three groups of dental hygiene students and determine if they fit the learning profile of the millennial student as measured by the Learning Type Measure. Given this new generation of learners, it was hypothesized that dental hygiene students' learning style preferences would fit the learning profile of the millennial student. The Learning Type Measure was administered to 101 dental hygiene students at the University of Minnesota, University of Arizona, and Virginia Commonwealth University. The results from the study revealed that dental hygiene students do exhibit learning style preferences consistent with the millennial learner profile.

Influence of contingency awareness on neural, electrodermal and evaluative responses during fear conditioning

PubMed Central

Merz, Christian J.; Klucken, Tim; Schweckendiek, Jan; Vaitl, Dieter; Wolf, Oliver T.; Stark, Rudolf

2011-01-01

In an fMRI study, effects of contingency awareness on conditioned responses were assessed in three groups comprising 118 subjects. A differential fear-conditioning paradigm with visual conditioned stimuli, an electrical unconditioned stimulus and two distractors was applied. The instructed aware group was informed about the contingencies, whereas the distractors prevented contingency detection in the unaware group. The third group (learned aware) was not informed about the contingencies, but learned them despite the distractors. Main effects of contingency awareness on conditioned responses emerged in several brain structures. Post hoc tests revealed differential dorsal anterior cingulate, insula and ventral striatum responses in aware conditioning only, whereas the amygdala was activated independent of contingency awareness. Differential responses of the hippocampus were specifically observed in learned aware subjects, indicating a role in the development of contingency awareness. The orbitofrontal cortex showed varying response patterns: lateral structures showed higher responses in instructed aware than unaware subjects, the opposite was true for medial parts. Conditioned subjective and electrodermal responses emerged only in the two aware groups. These results confirm the independence of conditioned amygdala responses from contingency awareness and indicate specific neural circuits for different aspects of fear acquisition in unaware, learned aware and instructed aware subjects. PMID:20693389

Online Formative Assessments with Social Network Awareness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Jian-Wei; Lai, Yuan-Cheng

2013-01-01

Social network awareness (SNA) has been used extensively as one of the strategies to increase knowledge sharing and collaboration opportunities. However, most SNA studies either focus on being aware of peer's knowledge context or on social context. This work proposes online formative assessments with SNA, trying to address the problems of online…

The influence of two cognitive-linguistic variables on incidental word learning in 5-year-olds.

PubMed

Abel, Alyson D; Schuele, C Melanie

2014-08-01

The relation between incidental word learning and two cognitive-linguistic variables--phonological memory and phonological awareness--is not fully understood. Thirty-five typically developing, 5-year-old, preschool children participated in a study examining the association between phonological memory, phonological awareness, and incidental word learning. Children were exposed to target words in a read-aloud story that accompanied a wordless picture book. Target word comprehension was assessed before and after two readings of the story. Phonological awareness predicted incidental word learning but phonological memory did not. The influence of phonological awareness and phonological memory on word learning may be dependent on the demands of the word learning task.

Learning Design for Multiple Modes of Provision: The Zambian Community School Teacher Development Programme

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amory, Alan; Bialobrzeska, Maryla; Welch, Tessa

2018-01-01

The use of technology to support learning is becoming ubiquitous in Africa. However, technology is more often used to distribute information rather than as a tool to mediate learning. The work presented here on a programme for Zambian community school teachers (non-traditional students) illustrates how learning design allied to appropriate…

Digital "Learning Trails": Scaling Technology-Facilitated Curricular Innovation in Schools with a "Rhizomatic" Lens

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jamaludin, Azilawati; Hung, David Wei Loong

2016-01-01

Technological advances in the form of ubiquitous computing has altered the learning landscape today. Contemporary modes of learning afford curricular innovations in schools. While learning journeys of decades ago entailed field trips to places of interest such as museums and zoos where students completed tasks or worksheets after each trip, the…

Ubiquitous Knowledge and Experiences to Foster EFL Learning Affordances

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

García-Sánchez, Soraya; Luján-García, Carmen

2016-01-01

This article explores the implementation of experiential learning affordances to improve skills in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in higher education. The administration of an online anonymous survey to 100 students of different undergraduate degrees presents current learning reflections from EFL students at the Universidad de Las Palmas de…

Learning Orthographic Structure with Sequential Generative Neural Networks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Testolin, Alberto; Stoianov, Ivilin; Sperduti, Alessandro; Zorzi, Marco

2016-01-01

Learning the structure of event sequences is a ubiquitous problem in cognition and particularly in language. One possible solution is to learn a probabilistic generative model of sequences that allows making predictions about upcoming events. Though appealing from a neurobiological standpoint, this approach is typically not pursued in…

Digital Tools and Solutions for Inquiry-Based STEM Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levin, Ilya, Ed.; Tsybulsky, Dina, Ed.

2017-01-01

In the digital age, the integration of technology has become a ubiquitous aspect of modern society. These advancements have significantly enhanced the field of education, allowing students to receive a better learning experience. "Digital Tools and Solutions for Inquiry-Based STEM Learning" is a comprehensive source of scholarly material…

Developing Autonomous Learning for Oral Proficiency Using Digital Storytelling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, SoHee

2014-01-01

Since online educational technology can support a ubiquitous language learning environment, there are many ways to develop English learners' autonomy through self-access learning. This study investigates whether English as a second language (ESL) learners can improve their oral proficiency through independent study by using online self-study…

Complex Mobile Learning That Adapts to Learners' Cognitive Load

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deegan, Robin

2015-01-01

Mobile learning is cognitively demanding and frequently the ubiquitous nature of mobile computing means that mobile devices are used in cognitively demanding environments. This paper examines the use of mobile devices from a Learning, Usability and Cognitive Load Theory perspective. It suggests scenarios where these fields interact and presents an…

Organization of Distributed Adaptive Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vengerov, Alexander

2009-01-01

The growing sensitivity of various systems and parts of industry, society, and even everyday individual life leads to the increased volume of changes and needs for adaptation and learning. This creates a new situation where learning from being purely academic knowledge transfer procedure is becoming a ubiquitous always-on essential part of all…

Culture and its influences on dental education.

PubMed

Chuenjitwongsa, S; Bullock, A; Oliver, R G

2018-02-01

Culture is an important factor influencing how students develop learning and how educators provide support to students. The aim of this paper is to explore a concept of national European cultures, and relationships between culture and educational practice with the intention of helping the dental profession gain a better understanding of effective teaching and learning in dentistry. Culture represents the collective behaviours, values and beliefs of people in a society. How people react to education is partly explained by culture. Students utilise different culturally based strategies to develop learning. We apply Hofstede's model to explore European cultures and implications for dental education and educational practice. Most Western students possess assimilating learning styles enabling them to learn effectively in student-centred contexts while most Eastern students have accommodating learning styles and are more familiar with teacher-centred learning. Eastern students may need to adapt their approach to learning to better benefit from student-centred learning. Culture influences students' learning and educational practice. Dental educators should be aware of such influences and provide support that acknowledges students' different cultural backgrounds. Cultural competence is fundamental for effective teaching and learning in dentistry. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Learning with sublexical information from emerging reading vocabularies in exceptionally early and normal reading development.

PubMed

Thompson, G Brian; Fletcher-Flinn, Claire M; Wilson, Kathryn J; McKay, Michael F; Margrain, Valerie G

2015-03-01

Predictions from theories of the processes of word reading acquisition have rarely been tested against evidence from exceptionally early readers. The theories of Ehri, Share, and Byrne, and an alternative, Knowledge Sources theory, were so tested. The former three theories postulate that full development of context-free letter sounds and awareness of phonemes are required for normal acquisition, while the claim of the alternative is that with or without such, children can use sublexical information from their emerging reading vocabularies to acquire word reading. Results from two independent samples of children aged 3-5, and 5 years, with mean word reading levels of 7 and 9 years respectively, showed underdevelopment of their context-free letter sounds and phoneme awareness, relative to their word reading levels and normal comparison samples. Despite such underdevelopment, these exceptional readers engaged in a form of phonological recoding that enabled pseudoword reading, at the level of older-age normal controls matched on word reading level. Moreover, in the 5-year-old sample further experiments showed that, relative to normal controls, they had a bias toward use of sublexical information from their reading vocabularies for phonological recoding of heterophonic pseudowords with irregular consistent spelling, and were superior in accessing word meanings independently of phonology, although only if the readers were without exposure to explicit phonics. The three theories were less satisfactory than the alternative theory in accounting for the learning of the exceptionally early readers. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Understanding social disparities in hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control: the role of neighborhood context.

PubMed

Morenoff, Jeffrey D; House, James S; Hansen, Ben B; Williams, David R; Kaplan, George A; Hunte, Haslyn E

2007-11-01

The spatial segregation of the US population by socioeconomic position and especially race/ethnicity suggests that the social contexts or "neighborhoods" in which people live may substantially contribute to social disparities in hypertension. The Chicago Community Adult Health Study did face-to-face interviews, including direct measurement of blood pressure, with a representative probability sample of adults in Chicago. These data were used to estimate socioeconomic and racial-ethnic disparities in the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension, and to analyze how these disparities are related to the areas in which people live. Hypertension was significantly negatively associated with neighborhood affluence/gentrification, and adjustments for context eliminated the highly significant disparity between blacks/African-Americans and whites, and reduced the significant educational disparity by 10-15% to borderline statistical significance. Awareness of hypertension was significantly higher in more disadvantaged neighborhoods and in places with higher concentrations of blacks (and lower concentrations of Hispanics and immigrants). Adjustment for context completely eliminated blacks' greater awareness, but slightly accentuated the lesser awareness of Hispanics and the greater levels of awareness among the less educated. There was no consistent evidence of either social disparities in or contextual associations with treatment of hypertension, given awareness. Among those on medication, blacks were only 40-50% as likely as whites to have their hypertension controlled, but context played little or no role in either the level of or disparities in control of hypertension. In sum, residential contexts potentially play a large role in accounting for racial/ethnic and, to a lesser degree, socioeconomic disparities in hypertension prevalence and, in a different way, awareness, but not in treatment or control of diagnosed hypertension.

Understanding Social Disparities in Hypertension Prevalence, Awareness, Treatment, and Control: The Role of Neighborhood Context

PubMed Central

House, James S; Hansen, Ben B; Williams, David R; Kaplan, George A; Hunte, Haslyn E

2007-01-01

The spatial segregation of the U.S. population by socioeconomic position and especially race-ethnicity suggests that the social contexts or “neighborhoods” in which people live may substantially contribute to social disparities in hypertension. The Chicago Community Adult Health Study did face-to-face interviews, including direct measurement of blood pressure, with a representative probability sample of adults in Chicago. These data were used to estimate socioeconomic and racial-ethnic disparities in the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension, and to analyze how these disparities are related to the areas in which people live. Hypertension was significantly negatively associated with neighborhood affluence/gentrification, and adjustments for context eliminated the highly significant disparity between blacks/African-Americans and whites, and reduced the significant educational disparity by 10–15% to borderline statistical significance. Awareness of hypertension was significantly higher in more disadvantaged neighborhoods and in places with higher concentrations of blacks (and lower concentrations of Hispanics and immigrants). Adjustment for context completely eliminated blacks’ greater awareness, but slightly accentuated the lesser awareness of Hispanics and the greater levels of awareness among the less educated. There was no consistent evidence of either social disparities in or contextual associations with treatment of hypertension, given awareness. Among those on medication, blacks were only 40–50% as likely as whites to have their hypertension controlled, but context played little or no role in either the level of or disparities in control of hypertension. In sum, residential contexts potentially play a large role in accounting for racial-ethnic, and to a lesser degree, socioeconomic disparities in hypertension prevalence and, in a different way, awareness, but not in treatment or control of diagnosed hypertension. PMID:17640788

Classroom Preschool Science Learning: The Learner, Instructional Tools, and Peer-Learning Assignments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reuter, Jamie M.

The recent decades have seen an increased focus on improving early science education. Goals include helping young children learn about pertinent concepts in science, and fostering early scientific reasoning and inquiry skills (e.g., NRC 2007, 2012, 2015). However, there is still much to learn about what constitutes appropriate frameworks that blend science education with developmentally appropriate learning environments. An important goal for the construction of early science is a better understanding of appropriate learning experiences and expectations for preschool children. This dissertation examines some of these concerns by focusing on three dimensions of science learning in the preschool classroom: (1) the learner; (2) instructional tools and pedagogy; and (3) the social context of learning with peers. In terms of the learner, the dissertation examines some dimensions of preschool children's scientific reasoning skills in the context of potentially relevant, developing general reasoning abilities. As young children undergo rapid cognitive changes during the preschool years, it is important to explore how these may influence scientific thinking. Two features of cognitive functioning have been carefully studied: (1) the demonstration of an epistemic awareness through an emerging theory of mind, and (2) the rapid improvement in executive functioning capacity. Both continue to develop through childhood and adolescence, but changes in early childhood are especially striking and have been neglected as regards their potential role in scientific thinking. The question is whether such skills relate to young children's capacity for scientific thinking. Another goal was to determine whether simple physics diagrams serve as effective instructional tools in supporting preschool children's scientific thinking. Specifically, in activities involving predicting and checking in scientific contexts, the question is whether such diagrams facilitate children's ability to accurately recall initial predictions, as well as discriminate between the outcome of a scientific manipulation and their original predictions (i.e., to determine whether one's predictions were confirmed). Finally, this dissertation also explores the social context of learning science with peers in the preschool classroom. Due to little prior research in this area, it is currently unclear whether and how preschool children may benefit from working with peers on science activities in the classroom. This work aims to examine preschoolers' collaboration on a science learning activity, as well as the developmental function for such collaborative skills over the preschool years.

The influence of inquiry learning model on additives theme with ethnoscience content to cultural awareness of students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sudarmin, S.; Selia, E.; Taufiq, M.

2018-03-01

The purpose of this research is to determine the influence of inquiry learning model on additives theme with ethnoscience content to cultural awareness of students and how the students’ responses to learning. The method applied in this research is a quasi-experimental with non-equivalent control group design. The sampling technique applied in this research is the technique of random sampling. The samples were eight grade students of one of junior high schools in Semarang. The results of this research were (1) thestudents’ cultural awareness of the experiment class is better than the control class (2) inquiry learning model with ethnoscience content strongly influencing the cultural awareness of students by 78% and (3) students gave positive responses to inquiry learning model with ethnoscience content. The conclusions of this research are inquiry-learning model with ethnoscience content has positive influence on students’ cultural awareness.

'I now have a visual image in my mind and it is something I will never forget': an analysis of an arts-informed approach to health professions ethics education.

PubMed

Kinsella, Elizabeth Anne; Bidinosti, Susan

2016-05-01

This paper reports on a study of an arts informed approach to ethics education in a health professions education context. The purpose of this study was to investigate students' reported learning experiences as a result of engagement with an arts-informed project in a health professions' ethics course. A hermeneutic phenomenological methodological approach was adopted for the study. The data were collected over 5 years, and involved analysis of 234 occupational therapy students' written reflections on learning. Phenomenological methods were used. Five key themes were identified with respect to students' reported learning including: becoming aware of values, (re) discovering creativity, coming to value reflection in professional life, deepening self-awareness, and developing capacities to imagine future practices. There appear to be a number of unique ways in which arts-informed approaches can contribute to health professions education including: activating imaginative engagement, fostering interpretive capacity, inspiring transformative understandings, offering new ways of knowing, deepening reflection, and heightening consciousness, while also enriching the inner life of practitioners. Innovative approaches are being used to introduce arts-informed practices in health professions curricula programs. The findings point to the promise of arts-informed approaches for advancing health sciences education.

Implicit Learning in the Crowd: Investigating the Role of Awareness in the Acquisition of L2 Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kerz, Elma; Wiechmann, Daniel; Riedel, Florian B.

2017-01-01

A growing field of research has made use of a semiartificial language paradigm to investigate the role of awareness in L2 acquisition. A central and empirically still unresolved issue in this field concerns the possibility of learning implicitly, that is, without intention to learn and without awareness of what has been learned. Up until now,…

A Knowledge Acquisition Approach to Developing Mindtools for Organizing and Sharing Differentiating Knowledge in a Ubiquitous Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Chu, Hui-Chun; Lin, Yu-Shih; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2011-01-01

Previous studies have reported the importance and benefits of situating students in a real-world learning environment with access to digital-world resources. At the same time, researchers have indicated the need to develop learning guidance mechanisms or tools for assisting students to learn in such a complex learning scenario. In this study, a…

Dendrites, deep learning, and sequences in the hippocampus.

PubMed

Bhalla, Upinder S

2017-10-12

The hippocampus places us both in time and space. It does so over remarkably large spans: milliseconds to years, and centimeters to kilometers. This works for sensory representations, for memory, and for behavioral context. How does it fit in such wide ranges of time and space scales, and keep order among the many dimensions of stimulus context? A key organizing principle for a wide sweep of scales and stimulus dimensions is that of order in time, or sequences. Sequences of neuronal activity are ubiquitous in sensory processing, in motor control, in planning actions, and in memory. Against this strong evidence for the phenomenon, there are currently more models than definite experiments about how the brain generates ordered activity. The flip side of sequence generation is discrimination. Discrimination of sequences has been extensively studied at the behavioral, systems, and modeling level, but again physiological mechanisms are fewer. It is against this backdrop that I discuss two recent developments in neural sequence computation, that at face value share little beyond the label "neural." These are dendritic sequence discrimination, and deep learning. One derives from channel physiology and molecular signaling, the other from applied neural network theory - apparently extreme ends of the spectrum of neural circuit detail. I suggest that each of these topics has deep lessons about the possible mechanisms, scales, and capabilities of hippocampal sequence computation. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The potential of transnational language policy to promote social inclusion of immigrants: An analysis and evaluation of the European Union's INCLUDE project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bian, Cui

2017-08-01

Language issues and social inclusion consistently remain two major concerns for member countries of the European Union (EU). Despite an increasing awareness of the importance of language learning in migrants' social inclusion, and the promotion of language policies at European and national levels, there is still a lack of common actions at the European level. Challenged by questions as to whether language learning should be prioritised as a human right or as human capital building, how host/mainstream language learning can be reinforced while respecting language diversity, and other problems, member countries still need to find solutions. Confronting these dilemmas, this study analyses the relationship and interactions between language learning and immigrants' social inclusion in different contexts. It explores the potential of enhancing the effectiveness of language policies via a dialogue between policies and practices in different national contexts and research studies in the field of language and social inclusion. The research data are derived from two databases created by a European policy for active social inclusion project called INCLUDE. This project ran from 2013 to 2016 under the EU's lifelong learning programme, with funding support from the European Commission. Through an analysis of these two project databases, the paper reviews recent national language policies and their effect on the social inclusion of migrants. In the second part of her article, the author interprets the process of language learning and social inclusion using poststructuralist theories of language and identity.

Bluetooth-Assisted Context-Awareness in Educational Data Networks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonzalez-Castano, F. J.; Garcia-Reinoso, J.; Gil-Castineira, F.; Costa-Montenegro, E.; Pousada-Carballo, J. M.

2005-01-01

In this paper, we propose an auxiliary "location network", to support user-independent context-awareness in educational data networks; for example, to help visitors in a museum. We assume that, in such scenarios, there exist "service servers" that need to be aware of user location in real-time. Specifically, we propose the implementation of a…

Facilitating learning through an international virtual collaborative practice: A case study.

PubMed

Wihlborg, Monne; Friberg, Elizabeth E; Rose, Karen M; Eastham, Linda

2018-02-01

Internationalisation of higher education involving information and communication technology such as e-learning opens opportunities for innovative learning approaches across nations and cultures. Describe a case in practice of collaborative and transformative learning in relation to 'internationalisation on home grounds' with the broader learning objective of 'becoming aware and knowledgeable'. A mutually developed project established a virtual international collaborative exchange for faculty and students using a course management software (MOODLE) and open access technology (Adobe CONNECT). Two research universities in Sweden and the United States. Approximately 90 nursing students from each university per semester over several semesters. A collaborative process to develop a joint learning community to construct a virtual module and learning activity involving academics and nursing students in two countries using principles of meaning construction and negotiated learning. Developed possibilities for dealing with the challenges and finding strategies for a future higher education system that opens dialogues worldwide. Virtual international exchanges open innovative communication and learning contexts across nations and cultures. Internationalisation is so much more than students and teachers' mobility. 'Internationalisation on home grounds' (internationalisation for all) should receive more attention to support faculty and student collaboration, learning, and professional development. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dynamic Distribution and Layouting of Model-Based User Interfaces in Smart Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roscher, Dirk; Lehmann, Grzegorz; Schwartze, Veit; Blumendorf, Marco; Albayrak, Sahin

The developments in computer technology in the last decade change the ways of computer utilization. The emerging smart environments make it possible to build ubiquitous applications that assist users during their everyday life, at any time, in any context. But the variety of contexts-of-use (user, platform and environment) makes the development of such ubiquitous applications for smart environments and especially its user interfaces a challenging and time-consuming task. We propose a model-based approach, which allows adapting the user interface at runtime to numerous (also unknown) contexts-of-use. Based on a user interface modelling language, defining the fundamentals and constraints of the user interface, a runtime architecture exploits the description to adapt the user interface to the current context-of-use. The architecture provides automatic distribution and layout algorithms for adapting the applications also to contexts unforeseen at design time. Designers do not specify predefined adaptations for each specific situation, but adaptation constraints and guidelines. Furthermore, users are provided with a meta user interface to influence the adaptations according to their needs. A smart home energy management system serves as running example to illustrate the approach.

Physicians' Perceptions of Clinical Teaching: A Qualitative Analysis in the Context of Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knight, Lynn V.; Bligh, John

2006-01-01

Background: Change is ubiquitous. Current trends in both educational and clinical settings bring new challenges to clinicians and have the potential to threaten the quality of clinical teaching. Objective: To investigate hospital specialists' perceptions of clinical teaching in the context of change. Design: Qualitative study using in-depth…

Analyzing How Emotion Awareness Influences Students' Motivation, Engagement, Self-Regulation and Learning Outcome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arguedas, Marta; Daradoumis, Thanasis; Xhafa, Fatos

2016-01-01

Considering social and emotional competence in learning, "emotion awareness" aims to detect the emotions that students show during their learning interactions and make these emotions explicit to them. Being aware of their emotions, students become more conscious of their situation, what may prompt them to behavioral change. The main goal…

Self and Peer Assessments in Active Learning Model to Increase Metacognitive Awareness and Cognitive Abilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pantiwati, Yuni; Husamah

2017-01-01

Metacognitive awareness constitutes a part of thinking skills to continuously retain and develop. One of efforts to increase metacognitive awareness is conducting training through lecture integrated in active learning. Self and peer-assessments encourage students to be more responsible for their performance improvement and learning. The population…

Using a Context-aware Medical Application to Address Information Needs for Extubation Decisions

PubMed Central

Zhu, Xinxin; Lord, William

2005-01-01

Information overload has been one of the causes of preventable medical errors [1] and escalating costs [2]. A context-aware application with embedded clinical knowledge is proposed to provide practitioners with the appropriate amount of information and content. We developed a prototype of a context-aware medical application to address clinicians’ information needs that arise in a data-intensive unit, the Cardio-Thoracic Intensive Care Unit (CTICU). A major clinical decision supported by the prototype, the extubation decision, is illustrated. PMID:16779455

Are Mash-Ups the Future for Online Learning Platforms? Psychology A-Level Students' Judgements about VLE and MUPPLE Interfaces

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jarvis, Matt; Gauntlett, Lizzie; Collins, Hayley

2011-01-01

Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) have become ubiquitous in colleges and universities but have failed to consistently improve learning (Machin, 2007). An alternative interface can be provided in the form of a mashed-up personal learning environment (MUPPLE). The aim of this study was to investigate student perceptions of its desirability and…

Learning Behavior Analysis of a Ubiquitous Situated Reflective Learning System with Application to Life Science and Technology Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Wu-Yuin; Chen, Hong-Ren; Chen, Nian-Shing; Lin, Li-Kai; Chen, Jin-Wen

2018-01-01

Education research has shown that reflective study can efficiently enhance learning, and the acquisition of knowledge and skills from real-life situations has become a focus of interest for scholars. The knowledge-learning model based on verbal instruction, used in traditional classrooms, does not make use of real-life situations that encourage…

E-Learning 2.0 Technologies and Web Applications in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pelet, Jean-Eric, Ed.

2014-01-01

Once considered the traditional approach to education, brick and mortar institutions are no longer the norm due to e-learning technologies. Populations are turning into ubiquitous human beings, and educational practices are reflecting this change. "E-Learning 2.0 Technologies and Web Applications in Higher Education" compiles the latest…

A Review of Models and Frameworks for Designing Mobile Learning Experiences and Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsu, Yu-Chang; Ching, Yu-Hui

2015-01-01

Mobile learning has become increasingly popular in the past decade due to the unprecedented technological affordances achieved through the advancement of mobile computing, which makes ubiquitous and situated learning possible. At the same time, there have been research and implementation projects whose efforts centered on developing mobile…

The Implementation and Evaluation of a New Learning Space: A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Gail; Randall, Marcus

2012-01-01

A dramatic, pedagogical shift has occurred in recent years in educational environments in higher education, supported largely by the use of ubiquitous technologies. Increasingly, emphasis is being placed on the design of new learning spaces, often referred to as "Next Generation Learning Spaces" (NGLS) and their impact on pedagogy. The…

The Design of Motivational Agents and Avatars

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baylor, Amy L.

2011-01-01

While the addition of an anthropomorphic interface agent to a learning system generally has little direct impact on learning, it potentially has a huge impact on learner motivation. As such agents become increasingly ubiquitous on the Internet, in virtual worlds, and as interfaces for learning and gaming systems, it is important to design them to…

Mobile Devices, Learning and Clinical Workplaces: Medical Student Use of Smartphones in Parisian Hospitals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phelps, Megan; Scott, Karen M.; Chauffeté-Manillier, Martine; Lenne, Frédéric; Le Jeunne, Claire

2017-01-01

Mobile devices are ubiquitous worldwide, including in hospitals. "Just in time" learning provided by these devices is important for students. We investigated current use of, and learning with, smartphones and other mobile devices by medical students in Parisian hospitals. A survey with quantitative and qualitative items previously used…

LSQuiz: A Collaborative Classroom Response System to Support Active Learning through Ubiquitous Computing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caceffo, Ricardo; Azevedo, Rodolfo

2014-01-01

The constructivist theory indicates that knowledge is not something finished and complete. However, the individuals must construct it through the interaction with the physical and social environment. The Active Learning is a methodology designed to support the constructivism through the involvement of students in their learning process, allowing…

School Librarians Fully Online: Preparing the Twenty-First Century Professional

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Santos Green, Lucy; Jones, Stephanie A.; Burke, Panne Andrea

2017-01-01

Online learning, already an essential component of the higher-education and professional landscape, has now developed a more ubiquitous presence in K-12 learning due to educational trends such as flipped education and use of tools such as Google Classroom. Despite the increasingly important role of online learning in K-12 education, little…

Development of Social Mediation and Emotional Regulation in Virtual Learning Environment Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lehtonen, Miika; Page, Tom; Miloseva, Lence; Thorsteinsson, Gisli

2008-01-01

This paper puts forward a series of theoretical underpinnings and design considerations for embodying emotional and aesthetic aspects of virtual (reality) and learning environment (VLEs) in support of ubiquitous teaching, studying and learning. The authors assert that a VLE should be considered as an interactive and sensation-producing affordances…

A Case of a Laptop Learning Campus: How Do Technology Choices Affect Perceptions?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Percival, Jennifer; Percival, Nathan

2009-01-01

Laptop learning programs have been developed to create ubiquitous online learning environments. Given the infancy of many programs, there is little understanding of aspects of the program are perceived to provide value to faculty and students. This paper focuses on the value proposition (with respect to perceived benefits versus capital…

Location Based Services for Outdoor Ecological Learning System: Design and Implementation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsiao, Hsien-Sheng; Lin, Chih-Cheng; Feng, Ruei-Ting; Li, Kun Jing

2010-01-01

This paper aimed to demonstrate how location-based services were implemented in ubiquitous outdoor ecological learning system. In an elementary school in northern Taiwan, two fifth grade classes on an ecology project were randomly selected: The experimental group could access the ecological learning system on hand-held devices while the control…

The Use of Ubiquitous Sensor Technology in Evaluating Student Thought Process during Practical Operations for Improving Student Technical and Creative Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jou, Min; Wang, Jingying

2015-01-01

This study investigated a Ubiquitous Sensor System (USS) that we developed to assess student thought process during practical lessons on a real-time basis and to provide students with a reflective learning environment. Behavioral curves and data obtained by the USS would help students understand where they had made mistakes during practical…

The "I Am Learning" Curriculum: Developing a Movement Awareness in Young Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carson, Linda M.

2001-01-01

Discusses the importance of developing young children's movement awareness, focusing on the components of movement awareness; comprehensive movement awareness categories (traveling, stabilizing, and manipulating actions); and movement concepts as the modifiers of the actions. The paper explains how to implement the "I Am Learning" movement…

Triangulating Measures of Awareness: A Contribution to the Debate on Learning without Awareness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rebuschat, Patrick; Hamrick, Phillip; Riestenberg, Kate; Sachs, Rebecca; Ziegler, Nicole

2015-01-01

Williams's (2005) study on "learning without awareness" and three subsequent extensions (Faretta-Stutenberg & Morgan-Short, 2011; Hama & Leow, 2010; Rebuschat, Hamrick, Sachs, Riestenberg, & Ziegler, 2013) have reported conflicting results, perhaps in part due to differences in how awareness has been measured. The present…

QoS and energy aware cooperative routing protocol for wildfire monitoring wireless sensor networks.

PubMed

Maalej, Mohamed; Cherif, Sofiane; Besbes, Hichem

2013-01-01

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are presented as proper solution for wildfire monitoring. However, this application requires a design of WSN taking into account the network lifetime and the shadowing effect generated by the trees in the forest environment. Cooperative communication is a promising solution for WSN which uses, at each hop, the resources of multiple nodes to transmit its data. Thus, by sharing resources between nodes, the transmission quality is enhanced. In this paper, we use the technique of reinforcement learning by opponent modeling, optimizing a cooperative communication protocol based on RSSI and node energy consumption in a competitive context (RSSI/energy-CC), that is, an energy and quality-of-service aware-based cooperative communication routing protocol. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm performs well in terms of network lifetime, packet delay, and energy consumption.

The effects of field dependent/independent style awareness on learning strategies and outcomes in an instructional hypermedia module

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fyle, Clifford Omodele

The purpose of this study was to examine whether field-dependent/independent style awareness affects learning outcomes and learning strategies used in a hypermedia instructional module. Field-dependent/independent style was measured using the Global Embedded Figures Test. Style awareness meant that students were provided with information and explanations about their individual cognitive styles and the learning strategies that accommodate those styles. The study entailed examining students' achievement in a multiple-choice test and performance in a design task, and also their navigation patterns as they studied a science-oriented Webquest. The sample consisted of 149 eighth-grade students in 10 sections of a science class taught by two teachers in a public middle school. A two-group posttest-only design on one factor (style awareness) was used. Sixty-eight students in five sections of the class were assigned to the treatment group (field dependent/independent style awareness) while the other 81 students in five sections were assigned to the control group (no field dependent/independent style awareness). The study took place over a period of 6 days. On the first day, students in the treatment group were first tested and debriefed on their individual styles. Next, all students in both the treatment and control groups studied the hypermedia instructional module (Webquest) over a period of two days. On the fourth and fifth days students worked on the performance tasks, and on the sixth day students took the multiple-choice test and students in the control group were tested and debriefed on their individual styles. The findings indicate that style awareness significantly influenced the learning strategies of field-dependent students as they studied and carried out learning tasks in the Webquest. Field-dependent students with style awareness used hypertext links and navigated the menu sequentially a greater number of times than their counterparts with no style awareness. Correspondingly, there were no significant findings for field-independent students of the effects of style awareness on learning strategies. The findings also revealed significant differences in terms of style awareness and its interactions with achievement on the multiple-choice test. Both field-dependent and field-independent students with style awareness achieved higher scores than their counterparts who received no style awareness. There were however no significant findings with respect to the effects of style awareness on performance on the design task. Overall this study demonstrated that providing middle-school students with cognitive-style awareness training can improve both their academic performance as well as enable them to adopt more effective learning strategies when learning in hypermedia environments.

Grounding cognitive control in associative learning.

PubMed

Abrahamse, Elger; Braem, Senne; Notebaert, Wim; Verguts, Tom

2016-07-01

Cognitive control covers a broad range of cognitive functions, but its research and theories typically remain tied to a single domain. Here we outline and review an associative learning perspective on cognitive control in which control emerges from associative networks containing perceptual, motor, and goal representations. Our review identifies 3 trending research themes that are shared between the domains of conflict adaptation, task switching, response inhibition, and attentional control: Cognitive control is context-specific, can operate in the absence of awareness, and is modulated by reward. As these research themes can be envisaged as key characteristics of learning, we propose that their joint emergence across domains is not coincidental but rather reflects a (latent) growth of interest in learning-based control. Associative learning has the potential for providing broad-scaled integration to cognitive control theory, and offers a promising avenue for understanding cognitive control as a self-regulating system without postulating an ill-defined set of homunculi. We discuss novel predictions, theoretical implications, and immediate challenges that accompany an associative learning perspective on cognitive control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Ubiquitous CM and DM

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crowley, Sandra L.

2000-01-01

Ubiquitous is a real word. I thank a former Total Quality Coach for my first exposure some years ago to its existence. My version of Webster's dictionary defines ubiquitous as "present, or seeming to be present, everywhere at the same time; omnipresent." While I believe that God is omnipresent, I have come to discover that CM and DM are present everywhere. Oh, yes; I define CM as Configuration Management and DM as either Data or Document Management. Ten years ago, I had my first introduction to the CM world. I had an opportunity to do CM for the Space Station effort at the NASA Lewis Research Center. I learned that CM was a discipline that had four areas of focus: identification, control, status accounting, and verification. I was certified as a CMIl graduate and was indoctrinated about clear, concise, and valid. Off I went into a world of entirely new experiences. I was exposed to change requests and change boards first hand. I also learned about implementation of changes, and then of technical and CM requirements.

Teachers' Awareness of the Semio-Cognitive Dimension of Learning Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iori, Maura

2018-01-01

While many semiotic and cognitive studies on learning mathematics have focused primarily on students, this study focuses mainly on teachers, by seeking to bring to light their awareness of the semiotic and cognitive aspects of learning mathematics. The aim is to highlight the degree of awareness that teachers show about: (1) the distinction…

Is sequence awareness mandatory for perceptual sequence learning: An assessment using a pure perceptual sequence learning design.

PubMed

Deroost, Natacha; Coomans, Daphné

2018-02-01

We examined the role of sequence awareness in a pure perceptual sequence learning design. Participants had to react to the target's colour that changed according to a perceptual sequence. By varying the mapping of the target's colour onto the response keys, motor responses changed randomly. The effect of sequence awareness on perceptual sequence learning was determined by manipulating the learning instructions (explicit versus implicit) and assessing the amount of sequence awareness after the experiment. In the explicit instruction condition (n = 15), participants were instructed to intentionally search for the colour sequence, whereas in the implicit instruction condition (n = 15), they were left uninformed about the sequenced nature of the task. Sequence awareness after the sequence learning task was tested by means of a questionnaire and the process-dissociation-procedure. The results showed that the instruction manipulation had no effect on the amount of perceptual sequence learning. Based on their report to have actively applied their sequence knowledge during the experiment, participants were subsequently regrouped in a sequence strategy group (n = 14, of which 4 participants from the implicit instruction condition and 10 participants from the explicit instruction condition) and a no-sequence strategy group (n = 16, of which 11 participants from the implicit instruction condition and 5 participants from the explicit instruction condition). Only participants of the sequence strategy group showed reliable perceptual sequence learning and sequence awareness. These results indicate that perceptual sequence learning depends upon the continuous employment of strategic cognitive control processes on sequence knowledge. Sequence awareness is suggested to be a necessary but not sufficient condition for perceptual learning to take place. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Are Learning Logs Related to Procrastination? From the Viewpoint of Self-Regulated Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yamada, Masanori; Oi, Misato; Konomi, Shin'ichi

2017-01-01

This study investigated the relationships between self-regulated learning (SRL) awareness, time-management awareness, learning behaviors (report submission), and learning performance. Psychometric data and learning logs for both in-class and out-of-class activities were collected in the lecture course, and their relationships were analyzed using…

Learner Outcomes in Science in South Africa: Role of the Nature of Learner Difficulties with the Language for Learning and Teaching Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oyoo, Samuel Ouma

2017-08-01

Paul Leslie Gardner pioneered the study of student difficulties with everyday words presented in the science context (Gardner 1971); several similarly designed studies (e.g. Cassels and Johnstone 1985; Tao in Research in Science Education, 24, 322-330, 1994; Farell and Ventura in Language and Education, 12(4), 243-254, 1998; Childs and O'Farell in Chemistry Education: Research and Practice, 4(3), 233-247, 2003) have since been reported in literature. This article draws from an exploratory study of the difficulties South African High School physical science learners encounter with everyday English words when presented in the science context. The participants (1107 learners and 35 respective physical science teachers) were drawn from 35 public secondary schools in Johannesburg area of South Africa. Data were obtained through a word test to participant learners followed by group interviews but face-to-face interviews with each physical science teacher. This study has revealed that in similar ways as have been reported in each of the studies so far, South African learners also face difficulties with meanings of everyday words presented in a science context. The main source of difficulties encountered was learner inability to distinguish between the meanings of familiar everyday words as used in everyday parlance from the `new' meanings of the same everyday words when used in the science context. Interpretations of learner interview responses revealed that fewer difficulties would have been experienced by learners if science teachers generally explained the context meanings of the words as used during science teaching. The findings suggest that focusing on contextual proficiency more than on general proficiency in the language of learning and teaching (LOLT) during teaching perhaps holds more promise for enhanced learning and achievement in science. Steps necessary to raise teacher awareness of the potential impact of context on meanings of everyday words of the LOLT are discussed. This article stands as an evidence-led discussion of the issues around the language-related difficulties that learners in South Africa may encounter as they learn school science.

Theorizing College Governance across Epistemic Differences: Awareness Contexts of College Administrators and Faculty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muzzin, Linda

2016-01-01

Awareness contexts are useful concepts in symbolic interactionist research, which focusses on how everyday realities are constructed. To provide a fresh perspective on governance in Canada's colleges, I sorted vignettes in interview data collected from administrators and faculty into four types of contexts originally derived from observation of…

Assessing the chances of success: naïve statistics versus kind experience.

PubMed

Hogarth, Robin M; Mukherjee, Kanchan; Soyer, Emre

2013-01-01

Additive integration of information is ubiquitous in judgment and has been shown to be effective even when multiplicative rules of probability theory are prescribed. We explore the generality of these findings in the context of estimating probabilities of success in contests. We first define a normative model of these probabilities that takes account of relative skill levels in contests where only a limited number of entrants can win. We then report 4 experiments using a scenario about a competition. Experiments 1 and 2 both elicited judgments of probabilities, and, although participants' responses demonstrated considerable variability, their mean judgments provide a good fit to a simple linear model. Experiment 3 explored choices. Most participants entered most contests and showed little awareness of appropriate probabilities. Experiment 4 investigated effects of providing aids to calculate probabilities, specifically, access to expert advice and 2 simulation tools. With these aids, estimates were accurate and decisions varied appropriately with economic consequences. We discuss implications by considering when additive decision rules are dysfunctional, the interpretation of overconfidence based on contest-entry behavior, and the use of aids to help people make better decisions.

Foundations for context-aware information retrieval for proactive decision support

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mittu, Ranjeev; Lin, Jessica; Li, Qingzhe; Gao, Yifeng; Rangwala, Huzefa; Shargo, Peter; Robinson, Joshua; Rose, Carolyn; Tunison, Paul; Turek, Matt; Thomas, Stephen; Hanselman, Phil

2016-05-01

Intelligence analysts and military decision makers are faced with an onslaught of information. From the now ubiquitous presence of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms providing large volumes of sensor data, to vast amounts of open source data in the form of news reports, blog postings, or social media postings, the amount of information available to a modern decision maker is staggering. Whether tasked with leading a military campaign or providing support for a humanitarian mission, being able to make sense of all the information available is a challenge. Due to the volume and velocity of this data, automated tools are required to help support reasoned, human decisions. In this paper we describe several automated techniques that are targeted at supporting decision making. Our approaches include modeling the kinematics of moving targets as motifs; developing normalcy models and detecting anomalies in kinematic data; automatically classifying the roles of users in social media; and modeling geo-spatial regions based on the behavior that takes place in them. These techniques cover a wide-range of potential decision maker needs.

Error Analysis for RADAR Neighbor Matching Localization in Linear Logarithmic Strength Varying Wi-Fi Environment

PubMed Central

Tian, Zengshan; Xu, Kunjie; Yu, Xiang

2014-01-01

This paper studies the statistical errors for the fingerprint-based RADAR neighbor matching localization with the linearly calibrated reference points (RPs) in logarithmic received signal strength (RSS) varying Wi-Fi environment. To the best of our knowledge, little comprehensive analysis work has appeared on the error performance of neighbor matching localization with respect to the deployment of RPs. However, in order to achieve the efficient and reliable location-based services (LBSs) as well as the ubiquitous context-awareness in Wi-Fi environment, much attention has to be paid to the highly accurate and cost-efficient localization systems. To this end, the statistical errors by the widely used neighbor matching localization are significantly discussed in this paper to examine the inherent mathematical relations between the localization errors and the locations of RPs by using a basic linear logarithmic strength varying model. Furthermore, based on the mathematical demonstrations and some testing results, the closed-form solutions to the statistical errors by RADAR neighbor matching localization can be an effective tool to explore alternative deployment of fingerprint-based neighbor matching localization systems in the future. PMID:24683349

Error analysis for RADAR neighbor matching localization in linear logarithmic strength varying Wi-Fi environment.

PubMed

Zhou, Mu; Tian, Zengshan; Xu, Kunjie; Yu, Xiang; Wu, Haibo

2014-01-01

This paper studies the statistical errors for the fingerprint-based RADAR neighbor matching localization with the linearly calibrated reference points (RPs) in logarithmic received signal strength (RSS) varying Wi-Fi environment. To the best of our knowledge, little comprehensive analysis work has appeared on the error performance of neighbor matching localization with respect to the deployment of RPs. However, in order to achieve the efficient and reliable location-based services (LBSs) as well as the ubiquitous context-awareness in Wi-Fi environment, much attention has to be paid to the highly accurate and cost-efficient localization systems. To this end, the statistical errors by the widely used neighbor matching localization are significantly discussed in this paper to examine the inherent mathematical relations between the localization errors and the locations of RPs by using a basic linear logarithmic strength varying model. Furthermore, based on the mathematical demonstrations and some testing results, the closed-form solutions to the statistical errors by RADAR neighbor matching localization can be an effective tool to explore alternative deployment of fingerprint-based neighbor matching localization systems in the future.

Individual differences in adult foreign language learning: the mediating effect of metalinguistic awareness.

PubMed

Brooks, Patricia J; Kempe, Vera

2013-02-01

In this study, we sought to identify cognitive predictors of individual differences in adult foreign-language learning and to test whether metalinguistic awareness mediated the observed relationships. Using a miniature language-learning paradigm, adults (N = 77) learned Russian vocabulary and grammar (gender agreement and case marking) over six 1-h sessions, completing tasks that encouraged attention to phrases without explicitly teaching grammatical rules. The participants' ability to describe the Russian gender and case-marking patterns mediated the effects of nonverbal intelligence and auditory sequence learning on grammar learning and generalization. Hence, even under implicit-learning conditions, individual differences stemmed from explicit metalinguistic awareness of the underlying grammar, which, in turn, was linked to nonverbal intelligence and auditory sequence learning. Prior knowledge of languages with grammatical gender (predominantly Spanish) predicted learning of gender agreement. Transfer of knowledge of gender from other languages to Russian was not mediated by awareness, which suggests that transfer operates through an implicit process akin to structural priming.