bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Deformation based design of steel and composite structural elements
Authors: Gardner Leroy , Yun Xiang
Published: July 2018

Steel and composite structures are traditionally designed through strength based calculations. An alternative approach is to consider deformation capacity. Deformation based design enables a more accurate allowance to be made for the spread of plasticity and allows strain hardening to be considered in a systematic manner. Importantly, the level of deformation required by the structure at ultimate limit state to reach the required design capacity can also be assessed. In composite construction, deformation based design enables a more rigorous assessment to be made of the development of strength in the structural system taking due account of the compatibility between the constituent materials. In this paper, recent developments to the deformation based continuous strength method for steel and composite design are described. Comparisons of capacities obtained from experiments and numerical simulations with those predicted using the continuous strength method are presented and discussed. Recommendations for future work on this topic are also set out.
Characterisation of beam-to-column composite joints beyond current Eurocode provisions
Authors: Demonceau Jean-François
Published: July 2018

In EN 1994-1, design rules are given for the evaluation of the mechanical properties of structural steel-concrete composite joints (rotational stiffness, resistance and ductility) based on the component method offered in EN 1993-1-8 and adding specific components for composite joints. These rules cover only the situations for the joints subjected to shear forces and hogging moments. However, during the last decades, researches have been conducted on the behaviour of composite joints subjected to different kind of actions such as sagging bending moments, cyclic loadings, combined bending moments and axial loads, elevated temperatures etc. with the objective of improving/extending the rules presently proposed in the Eurocodes design rules. As an outcome of the Technical Committee 11 of the European Convention of Constructional Steelwork (ECCS) dedicated to the behaviour of composite structures, a publication summarising these recent developments and their main outcomes is under finalisation. Within the present paper, it is proposed to highlight these main outcomes which could be seen as proposals for future improvements of the beam-to-column provisions in Eurocodes in general and of Eurocode 4 in particular.
Numerical study of concrete-filled austenitic stainless steel CHS stub columns with high-strength steel inner tubes
Authors: Wang Fangying , Young Ben , Gardner Leroy
Published: July 2018

A numerical modelling programme simulating the structural behaviour of concrete-filled double skin tubular (CFDST) stub columns with stainless steel outer tubes and high strength steel inner tubes is presented in this paper. The numerical model, which was developed using the finite element package ABAQUS, was initially validated against existing experimental results considering ultimate load, load-deflection histories and failure modes, with good agreement observed. Upon validation of the FE model, an extensive parametric study was undertaken whereby the cross-section slendernesses of the outer and inner tubes, the strength of the inner tube and the concrete grades were varied. These generated results together with the experimental data were then employed to assess the suitability of the design provisions of the European Standard EN 1994-1-1 and American Specification for concrete-filled tubes. Modifications to these design rules are also proposed, and a reduction factor (η) is suggested to account for the effective compressive strength in high strength concrete.
Blockchain-backed analytics. Adding blockchain-based quality gates to data science projects.
Authors: Herrmann Markus , Petzold Jörg , Bombatkar Vivek
Published: July 2018

A typical analytical lifecycle in data science projects starts with the process of data generation and collection, continues with data preparation and preprocessing and heads towards project specific analytics, visualizations and presentations. In order to ensure high quality trusted analytics, every relevant step of the data-model-result linkage needs to meet certain quality standards that furthermore should be certified by trusted quality gate mechanisms.We propose “blockchain-backed analytics”, a scalable and easy-to-use generic approach to introduce quality gates to data science projects, backed by the immutable records of a blockchain. For that reason, data, models and results are stored as cryptographically hashed fingerprints with mutually linked transactions in a public blockchain database.This approach enables stakeholders of data science projects to track and trace the linkage of data, applied models and modeling results without the need of trust validation of escrow systems or any other third party.
Do People Pay More Attention to Earthquakes in Western Countries?
Authors: Habibi Hanna , Feld Jan
Published: July 2018

This paper investigates whether people from Western countries pay more attention to earthquakes in Western countries than those in non-Western countries. Using Google Trends data, we examine the proportion of Google searches from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand for 610 earthquakes across the world over the period of 2006-2016. Our results suggest that people in these countries pay around 44 percent more attention to earthquakes in Western countries, holding constant earthquake magnitude and number of casualties. Our results remain significant and similar in magnitude after controlling for geographical and social characteristics, but reduce in magnitude to almost zero and become insignificant after controlling for GDP per capita of the countries where the earthquake struck. Our results suggest that there is a developed country bias, rather than a Western country bias, in people’s attention. This bias might lead to a lower flow of international relief to economically less developed countries, which are less able to deal with disasters.
Validation of innovation indicators from companies’ websites
Authors: Heroux-Vaillancourt Mikael , Beaudry Catherine
Published: July 2018

In this exploratory study, we use a web mining technique to source data in order to create innovation indicators of Canadian nanotechnology and advanced materials firms. 79 websites were extracted and analysed based on keywords related to the concepts of R&D and intellectual property. To understand what our web mining indicators actually measure, we compare them with those from a classic questionnaire-based survey. Formative indices from the surveys variables were built to better represent all the possibilities resulting from the web mining indicators. A MTMM matrix lead us to conclude that the formative indices are a good representation of the web mining indicators. As a consequence, the data extracted via our web mining technique can be used as proxies for the relative importance of R&D and the importance of IP, which would have previously only been measured using conventional methods such as government administrative data or questionnaire-based surveys.
Technical Sentiment Analysis: Measuring Advantages and Drawbacks of New Products Using Social Media
Authors: Chiarello Filippo , Bonaccorsi Andrea , Fantoni Gualtiero , Ossola Giacomo , Cimino Andrea , Dell'Orletta Felice
Published: July 2018

In recent years, social media have become ubiquitous and important for social networking and content sharing. Moreover, the content generated by these websites remains largely untapped. Some researchers proved that social media have been a valuable source to predict the future outcomes of some events such as box-office movie revenues or political elections. Social media are also used by companies to measure the sentiment of customers about their brand and products. This work proposes a new social media based model to measure how users perceive new products from a technical point of view. This model relies on the analysis of advantages and drawbacks of products, which are both important aspects evaluated by consumers during the buying decision process. This model is based on a lexicon developed in a related work (Chiarello et. al, 2017) to analyse patents and detect advantages and drawbacks connected to a certain technology. The results show that when a product has a certain technological complexity and fuels a more technical debate, advantages and drawbacks analysis is more efficient than sentiment analysis in producing technical-functional judgements.
Mining for Signals of Future Consumer Expenditure on Twitter and Google Trends
Authors: Pekar Viktor
Published: July 2018

Consumer expenditure constitutes the largest component of Gross Domestic Product in developed countries, and forecasts of consumer spending are therefore an important tool that governments and central bank use in their policy-making. In this paper we examine methods to forecast consumer spending from user-generated content, such as search engine queries and social media data, which hold the promise to produce forecasts much more efficiently than traditional surveys. Specifically, the aim of the paper is to study the relative utility of evidence about purchase intentions found in Google Trends versus those found in Twitter posts, for the problem of forecasting consumer expenditure. Our main findings are that, firstly, the Google Trends indicators and indicators extracted from Twitter are both beneficial for the forecasts: adding them as exogenous variables into regression model produces improvements on the pure AR baseline,  consistently across all the forecast horizons. Secondly, we find that the Google Trends variables seem to be more useful predictors than the semantic variables extracted from Twitter posts, the differences in performance are significant, but not very large.
Transport-Health Equity Outcomes from mobile phone location data – a case study
Authors: Grant-Muller Susan , Hodgson Frances , Harrison Gillian , Malleson Nick , Redfern Tom , Snowball Rob
Published: July 2018

The work presented here demonstrates the potential of new generation data arising from innovative policies (based on persuasive technologies) in the transport sector.  Improved understanding of the spatial distribution of health impacts arising from the introduction of new travel initiatives will support more targeted and efficient policy development across both the transport and health sectors. Typical health impacts include those arising from changes in levels of personal activity with alternative mode choices. With a sectoral approach to policy development, positive impacts for one sector (i.e. improved transport services) may be negated by dis-benefits in another (e.g. low levels of active travel choice and increased obesity related disease burden). The horizontal notion of equity (Thomopoulos, Grant-Muller and Tight, 2009) is applied using a range of transport-related health outcomes including cancer, heart disease and depression. The research methodology interfaces new generation ‘Track and Trace’ information on individuals location and mode choices (detected as mobile phone app-based sensor data) with a new integrated transport and health model (IHITM), finally calculating an equity indicator based on distributional impacts.
An Unconventional Example of Big Data: BIST-100 Banking Sub-Index of Turkey
Authors: Çelik Sadullah , İşbilen Elif
Published: July 2018

This paper applies Big Data concept to an emerging economy stock exchange market by examining the relationship between price and volume of the Banking index in BIST-100. Stock markets have been commonly analyzed in big data studies as they are one of the main sources of rich data with recordings of hourly and minutely transactions. In this sense, nowcasting the economic outlook has been related to the fluctuations in the stock exchange market as news from companies open to public became important sources of changes in expectations for economic agents. However, most of the previous studies concentrated on the main stock market indices rather than the major sub-indices. This study covers the period 13 December 2017 – 12 March 2018, with minute data and approximately 31000 observations for each of the 11 bank stocks. The effects of stock market movements on exchange rates and interest rates are also examined. The methodologies used are frequency domain Granger causality of Breitung and Candelon (2006) and wavelet coherence of Grinsted et al. (2004). The main finding is the supremacy of the banking index as it seems to have great influence on economic fluctuations in Turkish economy through other high frequency variables and the households’ expectations.
The Sentiment Hidden in Italian Texts Through the Lens of A New Dictionary
Authors: Marcucci Juri , Bruno Giuseppe , Mattiocco Attilio , Scarnò Marco , Sforzini Donatella
Published: July 2018

The aim of this work is to propose a strategy to classify texts (or parts of them) in an ordinal emotional scale to gauge a sentiment indicator in every domain. In particular, we develop a new dictionary for the Italian language which is built using an objective method where the polarities of synonyms and antonyms are accounted for in an iterative process. To build our sentiment indicator negations and intensifiers are also used, thus considering the context in which the single word is written. We apply our new dictionary to extract the sentiment from a set of around 40 issues of the Bank of Italy quarterly Economic Bulletin. Our results show that our strategy is able to correctly identify the sentiment expressed in the Bulletins, which is correlated to the main macroeconomic variables (such as national GDP, investment, consumption or unemployment rate). Our analysis shows that sentiment represents not only an evaluation of the stylistic way in which texts are written, but also a valid synthesis of all the external factors analysed in the same document.
Asking is not enough. A research study on teaching qualitative interviews in Italy
Authors: Pretto Albertina
Published: July 2018

In the area of social research, it is not uncommon to come across qualitative interviews (transcribed or recorded) that present conduction strategies which seem to be in contrast to that is recommended by the literature on this subject. In order to understand the reason why this occurs, I present the results of a research carried out among Italian sociologists who use qualitative interviews for their research; I try to establish a connection between the conduction strategies used by researchers and their training. I found three different conducting styles, and divided my interviewees into three categories. But, only one of these categories presents a real positive attitude towards qualitative interviews. The problem is that all these researchers also teach qualitative methods at University or train new interviewers for their research and they pass down their same attitude to their students, for better or worse.
Competency-based learning: Music education, the great forgotten
Authors: Vernia-Carrasco Ana Mercedes
Published: July 2018

Adapting to the European framework in education, without thinking about the approaches of UNESCO, assumed that there was no type of exclusion, neither by subjects nor by profiles, however, we find a clear void regarding the competencies that a professional of music must acquire, in their training and for their employability. Not only in the strictest areas such as the Conservatories, but also in elementary schools and at the University. Our work required the help of professionals from music schools, because current laws do not refer to work in the area of competences, except in some decrees where professional competences are mentioned, or in other cases, where reference is simply made to integrate the basic skills of primary schools. The results were a proposal of basic Competences in music, which could include both conservatories and music schools, regardless of the instrumental specialty, which is a first step to establish a criterion that unifies the criteria for this group of teachers.
Successfully planning and implementing peer-to-peer lecture films – “Making it work”
Authors: Pfennig Anja
Published: July 2018

Since summer 2015 lecture videos are implemented in “inverted classroom” teaching scenarios to teach material science to first year students studying mechanical and automotive engineering at HTW Berlin. Lecture videos so far cover subjects such as material testing, corrosion, composites, defects in crystals, hardening mechanisms and materials families. These videos were initially inspired by students. Each semester a set of lecture videos is conducted during a one term semester project supervised by lecturers and film experts (peer-to-peer approach). The peer-to-peer approach is an important aspect because students` needs and their perspective on teaching material is directly included in the videos. Recordings of lectures were also successfully implemented teaching general phase diagrams and the iron-carbon-phase diagram. Both, lecture films and recordings of lectures were used to study themes after class, prepare for classes (inverted classroom scenarios) and the final exam. Students are familiar with videos as learning source, enjoyed to work independently and not only according to contact hours and were generally more active and better prepared during class resulting in better grades. The teaching method “inverted classroom” and class results directly relate to the quality of the video material. Practice examples introduce the teaching method and evaluation of both, videos and teaching method.
Autonomous Learners’ Metacognitive Awareness Development with the Help of Trello Board
Authors: Kalizhanova Anna , Ibrayeva Bayan , Ishmuratova Margarita
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on the necessity and inevitability of organization of ESL students’ self-work with the help of free online platform Trello Board. The authors point out that the use of such information and communication technology as Trello Board increases learners’ metacognitive awareness of self-regulation and self-assessment in ESL. The authors also indicate the facilitation of active feedback between ESL learners and their instructor as well as peer-review. The authors share their experience of the use of Trello Board in the educational ecosystem of Bolashak Academy in Kazakhstan. According to the authors, Trello Board provides a broad range of features to control students, maintain their level of motivation, and develop their collaboration in various project works or academic writing tasks.
A Reflection on Teaching Practice: A Level 9 Microteaching Application
Authors: Wright Angela
Published: July 2018

I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand, (Asian Proverb). The context of this research is the examinination of teaching practice through the lens of ‘microteaching’, thus affording the opportunity to reflect on and evaluate one’s personal delivery with the view to instigating better actions for practice in the future.  This study specifically contributes to a novel critical enhancement of level 9 teaching delivery where the cohort are adult learners.  The focus of this evaluation on current practices is to establish where improvements could be made to teaching delivery through the direct scrutiny of peers.  Reflection on the feedback and on the sessions was reviewed and recommendations were embraced and operationalised. The empirical data was gathered through three peer review microteaching sessions that were recorded and where feedback was given after each session.  The microteaching was repeated once a month over a 3-month interval process.  Feedback from the sessions was analysed and recommendations for practice were developed.  These recommendations will be considered, and relevant resultant changes will be made to improve future practice at level 9.  It is envisaged that the findings of this research will better inform the author, the academic plan, and the faculty for future teaching practice. Keywords: Microteaching, Instructor Evaluation, Reflection.
Participation in International Telecommunication Projects for Intercultural Communication and Creating an English Authentic Environment Development
Authors: Kalizhanova Anna , Ibrayeva Bayan , Ishmuratova Margarita
Published: July 2018

This article describes the experience of participation in one international telecommunication project My City and Me, conducted by the U.S. International Education and Resource Network (iEARN) that united 26,000 teachers, around 2,000,000 students from 140 countries for working on 3,000 projects in 30 different languages. The Project resulted in fostering ESL learner’ awareness of intercultural communication. Moreover, the Project participants learned how to choose the right technologies and software and create an authentic English environment.
In search of health evidence. Proposal for self-learning
Authors: Blasco-Igual José María , Sanchis-Sánchez Enrique , García-Molina Pablo , Balaguer-López Evelyn , Georgieva Sylvia , Sánchez-Lorente María Montserrat
Published: July 2018

Las fuentes de información son una herramienta clave en la evolución social y tecnológica actual. Si bien es cierto que no todos son beneficios. Del mismo modo, la sobreinformación es evidente y puede conducir a la extracción de conclusiones que, en muchos casos, se vuelven confusas, difusas o incluso erróneas. En este contexto, el uso de la pirámide 6S puede ayudar a encontrar la mejor evidencia de investigación con la menor cantidad de tiempo y esfuerzo. Esta propuesta de trabajo expone los métodos y el desarrollo de un programa de apoyo y capacitación para la búsqueda en la salud. Para hacerlo, los recursos de aprendizaje se han convertido a través de un servidor de acceso libre, del Centro Nacional de Servicios y Herramientas (NCCMT) de la Universidad McMaster.Más tarde, se realizó la evaluación de las competencias.
Traditional learning approach versus gamification: an example from psychology
Authors: Limniou Maria , Mansfield Rosie
Published: July 2018

Teaching research methods and statistics in Psychology is a known pedagogic challenge due to students’ varied mathematical aptitude, prior knowledge and attitudes towards modules. The aim of this investigation was to study student perspectives of an interactive learning approach for the first year practical class of a “Research Methods and Statistics” psychology module based on problems and games. The approach was developed by integrating problem-based learning and games supported by Kahoot and PollEverWhere (Web 2.0 applications). Two groups of first year psychology students (20 persons per group) attended practical classes based on an interactive and a traditional approach but following a different attending order (1. interactive and 2. traditional approach or vice versa) and completed two online surveys. Overall, the interactive approach was perceived to significantly improve student learning experience by promoting active and collaborative learning though the use of real research study applications and formative feedback.
Case Study: Use of Open Education Resources in Business Capstone
Authors: Mathien Lorena D.
Published: July 2018

Recent studies on textbook costs in the United States have indicated that there is a direct relationship between textbook costs and student success. With textbook costs increasing at a rate higher than the cost of living, many students have cited the textbook cost as an extremely important factor when obtaining (or not obtaining) a textbook. Open educational resources (OER) are tools that educators can use to supplement or build a course. OER are free for anyone to reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute and are a low-cost, tailored solution for faculty and students. There have been calls for research that demonstrates how OER are being put into practice. This case study examines the responses of users to a voluntary survey in a capstone business course that implemented OER in lieu of traditional textbooks. The study suggests that, for teachers and students, as well as self-directed learners, OER provide a valuable resource to eliminate the pay wall, improve learning design, and support the power of the community through sharing and collaboration.
Improving the quality of learning in a blended learning environment for first-year biology
Authors: Kritzinger Angelique , Lemmens Juanclaude , Potgieter Marietjie
Published: July 2018

Improving the quality of learning in a blended learning environment for first-year biology   Abstract Increased class sizes and rapid advancement of information technology has prompted institutions to move toward blended learning. The effectiveness of the instructional design of the blended learning courses has not been studied extensively in large classes. This study aims to interrogate the effectiveness of the instructional design of a large first year biology class with the aim of providing the most effective blend for all students but focusing on the at-risk and murky middle students. This was done by firstly investigating which of the different learning opportunities contributed most to the success of the students and secondly by investigating student engagement with the learning opportunities provided to them. The results show that small, face-to-face tutorial classes and online formative assessments contributed the most to student success. The results also show that at-risk and murky middle students tend to make use of learning opportunities less after the first summative assessment, possibly putting them at risk of failing.
Analysis of two Leveling Courses in Chemistry: objectives, methodology, assessments and future prospects
Authors: Arroyo-de Dompablo Elena M , Ibáñez-González María José
Published: July 2018

The purpose of this report is to analyze different aspects of two levelling courses in Chemistry, offered to entry-levels students in the Degree in Geology (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) and in the degree in Agricultural Engineering (Universidad de Almería). We comparatively analyze the motivations for offering the course, its aims and objectives, the course design and finally the methodology ans assessments of the course in both universities. The assessment of the learning process is done through quizzes at the beginning and at the end of the courses. Voluntary and anonymous surveys show that the students are very satisfied with the courses. In the future, the aim is to improve the learning methodology in order to achieve greater student motivation
A critical view to current economic topics through an Online-Forum activity
Authors: Caballer Tarazona Vicent , Caballer Tarazona María
Published: July 2018

In order to address the critical thinking and the knowledge of contemporary problems an online forum activity is proposed in this paper. The activity was applied within the World Economy subject in the degree of Business Administration.  The main aim of this teaching proposal is to discuss some current issues and events in the international economic context which likely are not addressed in the syllabus. Through an online forum both teacher and pupils posted comments about some relevant topics related with the subject content. Students have the opportunity to express their own opinion and provide additional information and resources such as news links, documentaries, Youtube videos and other kind of audio-visual material. Despite of this activity was non mandatory, the response was positive, high proportion of pupils (67.1%) were involved in it and 877 comments were published. Thus, the result was satisfactory but there was also some aspects to improve. In addition, this activity is suitable for other subjects or even other university degrees as well and can be easily adapted and modificated.
Summative Peer Review of Teaching
Authors: Crisp Geoffrey
Published: July 2018

We describe the introduction of a summative peer review of teaching process at the institutional level for the purpose of providing additional, independent evidence of the quality of teaching for teaching awards and academic promotion. This paper will describe the introduction of a formal processes at two universities where the peer review reports are used for decision making purposes. We describe why it is important to separate formative peer review of teaching for professional devlopment and self-improvement purposes from summative peer review for high stakes deciusion making purposes.
Student perceptions of a proposed generic e-Learning template aligned with the Engineering Council of South Africa accreditations template
Authors: Luwes Nicolaas , Van Heerden Leanri
Published: July 2018

The Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) audits engineering programmes every four years to grant accreditation to higher education institutions. During this audit, ECSA requests evidence of the four year instruction in a specific format. The problem is that lecturers each have their own e-learning layouts according to preference. This paper proposed and implemented a genereic e-learning template that is aligned with the ECSA specificaions for ease of archiving necessary evidence for the audit. It is however important to evaluate student feedback on this genereic format so that the main porpose for elearning as a learning tool is not missed by utilising it as a backup method. An exploratory study was employed to gather student perceptions on the new generic e-learning template. Four electrical engineering subjects’ students were used as the sample group and Google Forms was used to collect the data in an online questionnaire. Of the 36 students who responded to the questionnaire, 94% would recommend that all subjects adopt this generic e-learning template and 89% felt that having all their subject menus the same will make it easier to locate items. Due to the results of this study, the generic e-learning template will be adopted by all engineering subjects at the Central University of Technology, Free State with the addition of an introduction that explains the purpose and procedure of ECSA accreditation.
First-year business students’ entrepreneurial attitudes
Authors: Kakkonen Marja-Liisa
Published: July 2018

Entrepreneurial competences  consist of attitudes, knowledge and skills. Several higher education institutions support and promote students' learning of entrepreneurial competences during their studies. In order to verify the development of these competences they should be first examined at the early phase of the studies. Therefore, in the autumn 2017 when a new curriculum was launched in the  business department of a Finnish university of applied sciences, a follow-up study with three sub-studies was planned to annually survey students' attitudes towards entrepreneurship, generic competences and subject-specific competences of entrepreneurship.This paper presents the results of the first sub-study which examined the students' attitudes in the beginning of their studies. According to the findings, their attitudes towards entrepreneurship  are quite positive. Although the aim is not to generalize the results of the study beyond this student group, the findings provide a solid starting point for the implementation of the curriculum in this higher education institution and thus, for the development of students' even more positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship during their studies.
Medical Physics in Expertia Program
Authors: Jiménez Francisco Javier , García Eduardo , Ponce José Miguel , Gascón Marina , Puertas María del Mar , Méndez Agustina
Published: July 2018

Dosimetry and Radiation Protection, and Nuclear Physics and Technology are among the optional subjects in the degree in Physics of the University of Zaragoza.  Both of them are taught by the Atomic, Molecular and Nuclear Area in the Faculty of Science. Since 2010, teaching staff on these subjects started to collaborate with a medical physics expert. The collaboration consisted of a seminar on Medical Physics and a guided tour to the clinical facilities. In these activities, the main tasks of a Medical Physicist and the way to access to the specialized training were explained. In 2015 University of Zaragoza launched the first call of the Expertia Program.  This educational program adds professional experience to the academic programs.  Since then, the teaching staff on Dosimetry and Radiation Protection, and Nuclear Physics and Technology have applied for the Educational Expertia (Expertia Docente) Program in all the editions and the collaboration has been enlarged to include several Radiation Oncologists’ experiences in the activities.
UPCT-Bloopbusters: Teaching Science and Technology through Movie Scenes and related Experiments
Authors: Rodríguez José-Víctor , Castro-Rodríguez Enrique , Sánchez-Pérez Juan-Francisco , Serrano-Martínez José-Luis
Published: July 2018

In order to change the preconceptions of youth towards science and technology subjects (which, usually, are perceived as difficult or boring), new educational methods aimed at motivating and engaging students in learning are becoming more and more necessary. In this sense, an educational project called ‘UPCT-Bloopbusters’ through which a group of professors of the Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (UPCT), Spain, use science fiction movie scenes ─as well as experiments─ within the lecture room to teach both physics and engineering technology is hereby presented. The methodology of the project is properly described and the results of a survey carried out among the students of a course in which such methodology has been used are shown. In view of this survey, it can be concluded that the project has been more than welcome by the students while at the same time has favored the learning of a great deal of physics and technology concepts.
A framework for the evaluation of educational development programs in higher education in Chile
Authors: Chalmers Denise , Moya Beatriz , Turra Hector
Published: July 2018

This paper outlines the experience of evaluating the impact of educational development in Chilean higher education drawing on the example of the Universidad Católica de Temuco. The aim is to demonstrate the importance of a implementing a robust and flexible evaluation and impact framework to identify the effectiveness of education development programs. The rationale and processes that informed the development of the evaluation and impact framework are described and then illustrated with one example, the Faculty Learning Communities (FLC) program. The example shows how the overall framework is contextualised in a specific program, drawing on indicators and outcomes to demonstrate its flexibility and robustness. The rich evidence gathered has been used to inform the educational developers on the effectiveness of their work, and the faculty participants on their knowledge and practice. Just as importantly, it has informed the institution about the impact of the programs and student engagement. The evaluation framework provides a Chilean example informed by international best practice.
The impact of a teacher´s motivational influence on pupils´emotional experience
Authors: Sirotova Mariana , Lobotkova Alzbeta
Published: July 2018

It is necessary to pay increased attention to the managing of emotions, to motivation and empathy, which requires most of all an individual approach to pupils in the process of teaching. This scientific study focuses on motivating and demotivating reactions of teachers and their impact on positive and negative emotional experiences of pupils during lessons. Our goal was to find out, if there are differences between emotional experiences of pupils taught by teachers, whose motivating had a positive character, and pupils of those teachers, whose motivating had a negative character. We have executed a quantitative research supplemented by a qualitative analysis. The research sample consisted of students of higher secondary education and their teachers from secondary vocational schools in the Trenčín district. Ten teachers and 375 students had been included in the research. We have identified the differences with the help of a method of microteaching analysis with the use of analytical scheme AS9 (author is Miron Zelina) and a modified version of the Questionnaire of Emotional Experience. The questionnaire contains entries focusing on positive and negative experiences. In both variables we have observed a statistically significant difference with students taught by Teacher 10, whose motivating had a negative character.
Self-learning through the PhysioExTM 9.0 simulator as a teaching tool in Veterinary Physiology. The opinion of the students.
Authors: García Vázquez Francisco Alberto , Soriano Úbeda Cristina
Published: July 2018

Self-learning has been proposed as an active and plausible methodology to promote the capability of students to reach assigned objectives. During the academic year of 2016-2017, the course of Veterinary Physiology (included in the degree of Veterinary Medicine, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain) was given using a self-learning method through the computer simulator PhysioExTM 9.0. The practice consisted in  solving 6 exercises, performing simulated laboratory actions, knowing the consequences of each of their actions and answering a series of questions that were discussed afterwards with their classmates. The objective of this learning methodology was to teach students to work independently as well as a team member, promoting their skills to solve problems that might appear later in their professional life. After the practice, the students completed a voluntary survey whose results showed a satisfying opinion about using this self-learning methodology, reaching an average score on the proposed statements (a total of 7) between 4.01 and 4.71 on a Likert scale from 1 to 5. Additionally, the students associated the practice with concepts as ‘classmates’, ‘doubts’, ‘dynamic’, ‘better’, ‘help’ and ‘knowledge’. In conclusion, this activity increased the collaborative learning process of students and enhanced dynamism in class.
On the Value of Pedagogical Assets
Authors: Serna Maria , Gabarro Joaquim
Published: July 2018

University education is facing new strategical changes that will lead to deep structural changes. Course organization is evolving and the organizational decisions have an economical impact. We propose a method to measure the present value of a pedagogical asset under a return rate. We apply the method to three courses in the Computer Science curricula taught at the Facultat d’Informatica de Barcelona of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona Tech.  A large, compulsory, first year course (PRO1), a medium size undergraduate course (ALG) and a small specialized master course (AGT). Our results highlight that the present value gets higher values as a function of the size of the course and it goes in a negative relationship with respect  to the level of computer support involved in their teaching.
LEGO blocks as a gamification tool
Authors: De Carlos Villamarín Pablo , Dominguez Vila Trinidad , Alén Elisa
Published: July 2018

New teaching methodologies with a more active participation of the students are increasingly present in the educational field. One of the best known is gamification, which refers to learning through play. A tool used in this methodology are the LEGO blocks. In this paper, an analysis of the students’ skills developed by learning using LEGO blocks is carried out in two dimensions: self-connection and communication with others. A sample composed of Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering and a Master's Degree in Teaching students is analyzed, in order to identify common behavioral patterns through a cluster analysis. The results reflect the use of this tool is highly valued by students in terms of the development of the own dynamic, as well as the implicit learning that it proposes.
Teaching and Learning with Smartphone: Qualitative Explorative Study from Pakistan
Authors: Rahman Haji , Hameed Mehtab
Published: July 2018

This paper investigates the perceptions of teachers and students about using smartphone for teaching and learning practices in private sector universities of Islamabad through cross-sectional based qualitative explorative study. Focus group interviews were conducted from teachers and students through self-selection sampling technique. Current study is guided by Grounded Theory for which semi-structured questionnaire was adopted and modified. The results suggested two categories of teachers, Realistic and Idealistic. Realist teachers believe that they have to follow and act according to principles of reality that prevailes on ground. Idealist teachers believe that their job is to enlarge the intellectual capacity of students with focus on cognitive development rather vocational training. To sum up, integration of modern technologies like smartphone in higher education stimulates to adopt creative and innovative ways for teaching and learning practices because of its bilateral, media-rich and knowledge sharing nature thus necessary for gaining competitive advantage. Few restrictions were faced by researchers. The study is limited to city of Islamabad only. A practical implication of this study along with few recommendations for future research is also given. Keywords:Teaching; learning; smartphone; perceptions; private universities.
Enriching Online Education through Differentiated Learning
Authors: Montebello Matthew , Pinheiro Petrilson , Cope Bill , Kalantzis Mary , Haniya Samaa , Tzirides Anastasia Olga , Amina Tabassum , Searsmith Duane
Published: July 2018

Online education has been going through numerous transformations as new and innovative technologies influence and shape new e-learning portals. Differentiated e-learning promises to add value and enhance the educational services provided by an academic institution. In this paper we present our online learning model that advocates and endorses differentiated learning as an e-learning affordance that has been facilitated through the development of new learning technologies. We demonstrate how the online portal enables and supports multiple instances whereby differentiated learning is applied and practiced, including through the use of a novel analytics tool that sums up the overall learner effort in one visual. The paper advances the notion of “productive diversity” in learning, replacing the templated sameness characterizing the communicative practices of “didactic pedagogy,” including textbooks, lectures, tests. Today’s computer-mediated, networked learning environments can support differentiated learning on a number of dimensions, where students are able to work at their own pace, choose their own topics within a general disciplinary rubric, and offer each other feedback in such a way that differences in perspective become a valuable resource for learning. The paper concludes by demonstrating a technology that attempts to translate these principles into practice—the CGScholar platform, including the high-level progress visualizations it offers in its learning analytics.
External Peer Review of Teaching (ExPeRT) Portfolios for Promotion
Authors: Partridge Lee , Chalmers Denise
Published: July 2018

This paper focuses on the role and purpose of external expert peer review of teaching portfolios for promotion, using institutional criteria. This is grounded in the recognition that higher education institutions typically struggle to identify suitably experienced, expert reviewers of teaching portfolios for promotion purposes. It considers the feasibility of establishing a ‘College of Peers’ who are endorsed and trained teaching and learning experts to carry out the reviews. A model of training expert peer reviewers was trailed.  While grounded in the Australian context, the issues and applications are international.
EFFECTIVENESS OF BITE-SIZED LECTURE ON STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
Authors: KOH Noi Sian , GOTTIPATI Swapna , SHANKARARAMAN Venky
Published: July 2018

Bite-Sized Teaching approach uses relatively small learning units with short term focused activities. The paper presents the effectiveness of Bite-Sized lecture pedagogy on learning outcomes for an analytics course offered by the School of Information Technology at Nanyang Polytechnic. The methodology involves breaking a typical 1 hour lecture into 3 to 4 short lectures followed by related tutorial/practical exercises relevant to each respective short lecture. The results from the exercises show statistically significant improvements in the assessed learning outcomes for the Bite-Sized lecture over the traditional 1 hour lecture. 75% of the surveyed respondents agreed that the speed of the course materials presented in the Bite-Sized lecture was just right. Majority of the repondents agreed or strongly agreed that Bite-Sized lecture helped them to learn better. Although this paper is primarily based on education experiences made within an analytics module, the findings presented are applicable to any other computing related courses or even mathematics related courses in general.
Web visibility of Romanian universities – an analysis based on website analytics and social media data
Authors: Mirica Andreea , Toma Iulia Elena
Published: July 2018

There are many aspects that influence the importance of a university. Among these, web visibility is taking advantage of available technology, focusing on the benefits of internet and social media. This paper provides an analysis of the Romanian public and private universities websites, using alexa.com, a tool for website traffic analysis. Moreover, the official social media accounts of universities (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Flickr, YouTube and Instagram) were analysed, collecting several data such as: the number of likes and followers, the number of subscribers and the number of posts. The analysis was performed using ANOVA and Nonparametric Test for the presence via websites and Spearman and Pearson correlation to assess the correlation between social media and website traffic. In general, public universities from Romania have more visibility and a higher number of links to their websites compared to private ones. Based on the fact that Facebook and site content are often related, it should be noted that activity on Facebook may improve website rankings for Romanian universities.
Gentlestudent - The City as a Medium for Acquiring 21st Century Skills
Authors: Vanacker Dries , Demedts Lore , Van Puyenbroeck Hilde
Published: July 2018

Students are inextricably linked to life in a city, where they face challenges during their study period and often take their first truly independent steps in life. The city is not only an important 'living' environment for students on their way to adulthood, but can also be considered as a dynamic learning centre where they can seize many learning opportunities. Various community service learning projects show that enrolling students in authentic community projects is not only enriching for the city, but for the professional development of students as well. Such projects promote in-depth learning, but also require a great deal of coordination and support from educational institutions and the professional field. In the design study 'Cities for learning - Gentlestudent', we investigate how digital technology can connect the talents, ideas and knowledge of students with the needs of the community without direct intervention of the educational institution. Secondly, we explore how students can be encouraged to work more autonomously, starting from their own learning questions. Finally, we examine how we can valorise experiences from the informal curriculum in the formal curriculum and in function of lifelong learning by using microcredentials in the form of open badges.