title: Text categorization using compression models

authors: Frank, Eibe

subjects: computer science

abstract: Text categorization, or the assignment of natural language texts to predefined categories based on their content, is of growing importance as the volume of information available on the internet continues to overwhelm us. The use of predefined categories implies a “supervised learning” approach to categorization, where already-classified articles which effectively define the categories are used as “training data” to build a model that can be used for classifying new articles that comprise the “test data”. This contrasts with “unsupervised” learning, where there is no training data and clusters of like documents are sought amongst the test articles. With supervised learning, meaningful labels (such as keyphrases) are attached to the training documents, and appropriate labels can be assigned automatically to test documents depending on which category they fall into.

text: Text categorization using compression models Text categorization, or the assignment of natural language texts to predefined categories based on their content, is of growing importance as the volume of information available on the internet continues to overwhelm us. The use of predefined categories implies a “supervised learning” approach to categorization, where already-classified articles which effectively define the categories are used as “training data” to build a model that can be used for classifying new articles that comprise the “test data”. This contrasts with “unsupervised” learning, where there is no training data and clusters of like documents are sought amongst the test articles. With supervised learning, meaningful labels (such as keyphrases) are attached to the training documents, and appropriate labels can be assigned automatically to test documents depending on which category they fall into.

year: 2000-01

title: Conclusion

authors: Williams, P. John

subjects: education

abstract: As the preceding papers have illustrated, there are two innovations within project e-scape. The first concerns the development of an e-portfolio system that enables learners to capture evidence of their activity (using hand-held devices in the workshop/studio/science lab/playing field) and to lodge it in a web-space where their portfolio emerges dynamically, in real-time. Teachers and examination bodies can interact with this system to a greater or lesser extent according to the circumstances. If the activity is part of a formal examination, then the Awarding Body can specify the task and the activity framework (all of which can be downloaded by the school) and teachers in many schools can then run the same activity in a standard way. If the activity is a normal piece of curriculum, then teachers can design activities for individuals or groups of learners and either run them with the learners, or enable the learners themselves to work through the activity autonomously. In any event, the outcome of all this is a web-portfolio.
The second innovation concerns the assessment of these portfolios. Using comparative judgement and the pairs engine, groups of teachers and/or examiners can collaborate in the assessment of groups of portfolios. This might be for an Awarding Body, with the results counting towards an official award, or it might be within a school, where collaborating teachers use the data for their own purposes. These two innovations were launched in 2009 with the final report of phase 3 of the e-scape project. The purpose of this concluding piece is to reflect on what has happened since then; on the extent to which these innovations have been adopted in various parts of the world and the issues that this adoption is raising. Sometimes the adoption has been of only one of the innovations (either the portfolio-building or the comparative judgement), and sometimes it has been both.

text: Conclusion As the preceding papers have illustrated, there are two innovations within project e-scape. The first concerns the development of an e-portfolio system that enables learners to capture evidence of their activity (using hand-held devices in the workshop/studio/science lab/playing field) and to lodge it in a web-space where their portfolio emerges dynamically, in real-time. Teachers and examination bodies can interact with this system to a greater or lesser extent according to the circumstances. If the activity is part of a formal examination, then the Awarding Body can specify the task and the activity framework (all of which can be downloaded by the school) and teachers in many schools can then run the same activity in a standard way. If the activity is a normal piece of curriculum, then teachers can design activities for individuals or groups of learners and either run them with the learners, or enable the learners themselves to work through the activity autonomously. In any event, the outcome of all this is a web-portfolio.
The second innovation concerns the assessment of these portfolios. Using comparative judgement and the pairs engine, groups of teachers and/or examiners can collaborate in the assessment of groups of portfolios. This might be for an Awarding Body, with the results counting towards an official award, or it might be within a school, where collaborating teachers use the data for their own purposes. These two innovations were launched in 2009 with the final report of phase 3 of the e-scape project. The purpose of this concluding piece is to reflect on what has happened since then; on the extent to which these innovations have been adopted in various parts of the world and the issues that this adoption is raising. Sometimes the adoption has been of only one of the innovations (either the portfolio-building or the comparative judgement), and sometimes it has been both.

year: 2011

title: Māori medium children’s views about learning mathematics: possibilities for future directions

authors: Hāwera, Ngārewa

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: Pre-European traditional Māori education in New Zealand was integrated and holistic. With Western influence many Maori children struggled to achieve at school. Māori medium education based on retaining Māori values, language and culture therefore emerged to provide an alternative avenue for education. A key element in this initiative is to increase children’s engagement with, and learning of, mathematics. Views from 61 Year 5-8 children in Māori medium contexts have been sought to provide insights about their mathematics education. This paper discusses some of these views and raises possibilities for future directions to support the momentum of this positive initiative.

text: Māori medium children’s views about learning mathematics: possibilities for future directions Pre-European traditional Māori education in New Zealand was integrated and holistic. With Western influence many Maori children struggled to achieve at school. Māori medium education based on retaining Māori values, language and culture therefore emerged to provide an alternative avenue for education. A key element in this initiative is to increase children’s engagement with, and learning of, mathematics. Views from 61 Year 5-8 children in Māori medium contexts have been sought to provide insights about their mathematics education. This paper discusses some of these views and raises possibilities for future directions to support the momentum of this positive initiative.

year: 2011