title: Speeding up logistic model tree induction

authors: Sumner, Marc

subjects: computer science

abstract: Logistic Model Trees have been shown to be very accurate and compact classifiers [8]. Their greatest disadvantage is the computational complexity of inducing the logistic regression models in the tree. We address this issue by using the AIC criterion [1] instead of cross-validation to prevent overfitting these models. In addition, a weight trimming heuristic is used which produces a significant speedup. We compare the training time and accuracy of the new induction process with the original one on various datasets and show that the training time often decreases while the classification accuracy diminishes only slightly.

text: Speeding up logistic model tree induction Logistic Model Trees have been shown to be very accurate and compact classifiers [8]. Their greatest disadvantage is the computational complexity of inducing the logistic regression models in the tree. We address this issue by using the AIC criterion [1] instead of cross-validation to prevent overfitting these models. In addition, a weight trimming heuristic is used which produces a significant speedup. We compare the training time and accuracy of the new induction process with the original one on various datasets and show that the training time often decreases while the classification accuracy diminishes only slightly.

year: 2005

title: Mentoring: Using an inquiry approach to support the development of higher education teachers' pedagogical practice

authors: Ferrier-Kerr, Jenny L.

subjects: Higher education teaching

abstract: Mentoring has been proven to contribute to the development of higher education teachers’ pedagogical practice by expanding their knowledge and understanding for teaching in an adult learning context. This development can be enhanced when in parallel, mentors encourage higher education teachers to explore the factors that influence their practice.
In this study the influence of mentoring on the development of higher education teachers’ pedagogical practice was investigated. The study was conducted in one New Zealand university where the participants and the researcher are academics who teach and engage in research. The seven participants hailed from two faculties and a teaching development centre. They elected to take part in the study because of their articulated commitment and desire to contribute to the development of effective higher education teaching. Their respective lived experiences of the ways that mentoring can support the development of higher education teachers’ pedagogical practice was integral to their decision-making. 
A qualitative in-depth narrative methodology framed by a constructivist research paradigm was used to investigate the participants’ experiences of mentoring and the implications for their practice. The main sources of data were generated by the in-depth narrative semi-structured interviews. Thematic data analysis was conducted via the interview transcripts and subsequently reinforced by re-storying. These approaches to data generation and analysis enabled an in-depth scrutiny of the participants’ experiences of both teaching and mentoring.
The study revealed that the participants’ beliefs about teaching, their prior experiences, professional development, tacit theories of learning, reflection, and mentoring were factors that had shaped and influenced their pedagogical practice. In the subsequent exploration of the participants’ experiences of being mentored and of mentoring others, mentoring was identified as a significant influence. For most of the participants mentoring had not only supported the development of their pedagogical practice, it had helped them to make sense of why they taught the way that they did. Notably, the participants indicated a preference for mentoring approaches which promoted the co-construction of learning about teaching, encouraged co-inquiry into their teaching practice and gave them ownership of the mentoring process.
Three key recommendations about mentoring for the development of higher education teachers’ pedagogical practice emerged from the study, and signal implications for higher education teachers and universities. First, that the influences on higher education teachers’ practice should be intentionally explored in mentoring settings given the significant impact these influences have upon teachers pedagogical practice; second, that mentoring must be understood and pertinent to sustain higher education teachers’ motivation and commitment to the ongoing development of their practice; third, that mentoring should be positioned as intentional and purposeful for learning about teaching.
This study has the potential to add to understandings about mentoring for the development of teachers’ pedagogical practice in higher education. It is anticipated that it will contribute to both higher education teaching and mentoring discourses. A key aspiration of this study, drawn from the participants’ insightful and honest sharing of their experiences, is for mentoring to be deliberately employed as an inquiry approach to support the development of higher education teachers’ pedagogical practice.

text: Mentoring: Using an inquiry approach to support the development of higher education teachers' pedagogical practice Mentoring has been proven to contribute to the development of higher education teachers’ pedagogical practice by expanding their knowledge and understanding for teaching in an adult learning context. This development can be enhanced when in parallel, mentors encourage higher education teachers to explore the factors that influence their practice.
In this study the influence of mentoring on the development of higher education teachers’ pedagogical practice was investigated. The study was conducted in one New Zealand university where the participants and the researcher are academics who teach and engage in research. The seven participants hailed from two faculties and a teaching development centre. They elected to take part in the study because of their articulated commitment and desire to contribute to the development of effective higher education teaching. Their respective lived experiences of the ways that mentoring can support the development of higher education teachers’ pedagogical practice was integral to their decision-making. 
A qualitative in-depth narrative methodology framed by a constructivist research paradigm was used to investigate the participants’ experiences of mentoring and the implications for their practice. The main sources of data were generated by the in-depth narrative semi-structured interviews. Thematic data analysis was conducted via the interview transcripts and subsequently reinforced by re-storying. These approaches to data generation and analysis enabled an in-depth scrutiny of the participants’ experiences of both teaching and mentoring.
The study revealed that the participants’ beliefs about teaching, their prior experiences, professional development, tacit theories of learning, reflection, and mentoring were factors that had shaped and influenced their pedagogical practice. In the subsequent exploration of the participants’ experiences of being mentored and of mentoring others, mentoring was identified as a significant influence. For most of the participants mentoring had not only supported the development of their pedagogical practice, it had helped them to make sense of why they taught the way that they did. Notably, the participants indicated a preference for mentoring approaches which promoted the co-construction of learning about teaching, encouraged co-inquiry into their teaching practice and gave them ownership of the mentoring process.
Three key recommendations about mentoring for the development of higher education teachers’ pedagogical practice emerged from the study, and signal implications for higher education teachers and universities. First, that the influences on higher education teachers’ practice should be intentionally explored in mentoring settings given the significant impact these influences have upon teachers pedagogical practice; second, that mentoring must be understood and pertinent to sustain higher education teachers’ motivation and commitment to the ongoing development of their practice; third, that mentoring should be positioned as intentional and purposeful for learning about teaching.
This study has the potential to add to understandings about mentoring for the development of teachers’ pedagogical practice in higher education. It is anticipated that it will contribute to both higher education teaching and mentoring discourses. A key aspiration of this study, drawn from the participants’ insightful and honest sharing of their experiences, is for mentoring to be deliberately employed as an inquiry approach to support the development of higher education teachers’ pedagogical practice.

year: 2022

title: Kūkupa, koro, and kai: The use of Māori vocabulary items in New Zealand English children's picture books

authors: Daly, Nicola

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: When a linguistic form from one language is used in another language, such words are known as borrowings or loan words (Crystal 2003: 56). The English language is renowned for its large capacity for borrowing and it has been suggested that the growth in internationalism in recent times has led to people seeking new words to indicate their local identity (Crystal 1995; Crystal 2003). Certainly this is the case of New Zealand English, the most distinctive aspect of which is borrowings from te reo Maori (Deverson 1991). In 1984 Deverson estimated that most New Zealanders have a passive knowledge of at least 40-50 borrowed Maori loan words (Deverson 1984). This figure has been recently revised by Macalister to 70-80 such words (20,-,63.). A study of the frequency of Maori loan words in New Zealand English in New Zealand School Journals of the 1960s and 1990s showed an incidence of around 6 words per 1,000 (Macalister 1999). Kennedy and Yamazaki (1999) also found borrowed Maori words at a rate of 6 per thousand words. Macalister (2006b) has examined the use of Maori loan words in New Zealand English across a 150 year period from 1850-2000. He examined a corpus of a little under five and a half million words from three sources: Newspapers, parliamentary debates and School Journals. Across the three sources there was an increase from 3.29 words per 1,000 in 1850 to 8.8 per thousand in 2000. Macalister lists the reasons for this change as including urbanisation of the Maori population between 1945 and 1975, which created more contact; the changing status of the Maori language with the kOhanga reo movement; the establishment of the Maori Language Commission (Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori) and legislation of Maori as an official language of New Zealand in 1987.

text: Kūkupa, koro, and kai: The use of Māori vocabulary items in New Zealand English children's picture books When a linguistic form from one language is used in another language, such words are known as borrowings or loan words (Crystal 2003: 56). The English language is renowned for its large capacity for borrowing and it has been suggested that the growth in internationalism in recent times has led to people seeking new words to indicate their local identity (Crystal 1995; Crystal 2003). Certainly this is the case of New Zealand English, the most distinctive aspect of which is borrowings from te reo Maori (Deverson 1991). In 1984 Deverson estimated that most New Zealanders have a passive knowledge of at least 40-50 borrowed Maori loan words (Deverson 1984). This figure has been recently revised by Macalister to 70-80 such words (20,-,63.). A study of the frequency of Maori loan words in New Zealand English in New Zealand School Journals of the 1960s and 1990s showed an incidence of around 6 words per 1,000 (Macalister 1999). Kennedy and Yamazaki (1999) also found borrowed Maori words at a rate of 6 per thousand words. Macalister (2006b) has examined the use of Maori loan words in New Zealand English across a 150 year period from 1850-2000. He examined a corpus of a little under five and a half million words from three sources: Newspapers, parliamentary debates and School Journals. Across the three sources there was an increase from 3.29 words per 1,000 in 1850 to 8.8 per thousand in 2000. Macalister lists the reasons for this change as including urbanisation of the Maori population between 1945 and 1975, which created more contact; the changing status of the Maori language with the kOhanga reo movement; the establishment of the Maori Language Commission (Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori) and legislation of Maori as an official language of New Zealand in 1987.

year: 2007