title: Digital technologies in the New Zealand Curriculum

authors: Kellow, Jan-Marie

abstract: The revised Technology Curriculum for years 1 - 13 now includes two Digital Technologies areas: ‘computational thinking for Digital Technologies’ and ‘designing and developing digital outcomes’. By 2020, all schools are expected to address these curriculum additions. This article outlines some of the background stated purposes for introducing this curriculum addition. I also examine some of the challenges including teacher readiness and resourcing, professional development and some resources to accompany the changes. The article also discusses how curriculum integration, including the use of authentic contexts, and the use of ‘unplugged’ resources  might alleviate some potential challenges.

text: Digital technologies in the New Zealand Curriculum The revised Technology Curriculum for years 1 - 13 now includes two Digital Technologies areas: ‘computational thinking for Digital Technologies’ and ‘designing and developing digital outcomes’. By 2020, all schools are expected to address these curriculum additions. This article outlines some of the background stated purposes for introducing this curriculum addition. I also examine some of the challenges including teacher readiness and resourcing, professional development and some resources to accompany the changes. The article also discusses how curriculum integration, including the use of authentic contexts, and the use of ‘unplugged’ resources  might alleviate some potential challenges.

year: 2018

title: A new approach to fitting linear models in high dimensional spaces

authors: Wang, Yong

abstract: This thesis presents a new approach to fitting linear models, called “pace regression”, which also overcomes the dimensionality determination problem. Its optimality in minimizing the expected prediction loss is theoretically established, when the number of free parameters is infinitely large. In this sense, pace regression outperforms existing procedures for fitting linear models. Dimensionality determination, a special case of fitting linear models, turns out to be a natural by-product. A range of simulation studies are conducted; the results support the theoretical analysis. 

Through the thesis, a deeper understanding is gained of the problem of fitting linear models. Many key issues are discussed. Existing procedures, namely OLS, AIC, BIC, RIC, CIC, CV(d), BS(m), RIDGE, NN-GAROTTE and LASSO, are reviewed and compared, both theoretically and empirically, with the new methods. 

Estimating a mixing distribution is an indispensable part of pace regression. A measure-based minimum distance approach, including probability measures and nonnegative measures, is proposed, and strongly consistent estimators are produced. Of all minimum distance methods for estimating a mixing distribution, only the nonnegative-measure-based one solves the minority cluster problem, what is vital for pace regression.

Pace regression has striking advantages over existing techniques for fitting linear models. It also has more general implications for empirical modeling, which are discussed in the thesis.

text: A new approach to fitting linear models in high dimensional spaces This thesis presents a new approach to fitting linear models, called “pace regression”, which also overcomes the dimensionality determination problem. Its optimality in minimizing the expected prediction loss is theoretically established, when the number of free parameters is infinitely large. In this sense, pace regression outperforms existing procedures for fitting linear models. Dimensionality determination, a special case of fitting linear models, turns out to be a natural by-product. A range of simulation studies are conducted; the results support the theoretical analysis. 

Through the thesis, a deeper understanding is gained of the problem of fitting linear models. Many key issues are discussed. Existing procedures, namely OLS, AIC, BIC, RIC, CIC, CV(d), BS(m), RIDGE, NN-GAROTTE and LASSO, are reviewed and compared, both theoretically and empirically, with the new methods. 

Estimating a mixing distribution is an indispensable part of pace regression. A measure-based minimum distance approach, including probability measures and nonnegative measures, is proposed, and strongly consistent estimators are produced. Of all minimum distance methods for estimating a mixing distribution, only the nonnegative-measure-based one solves the minority cluster problem, what is vital for pace regression.

Pace regression has striking advantages over existing techniques for fitting linear models. It also has more general implications for empirical modeling, which are discussed in the thesis.

year: 2000

title: Accommodating multiculturalism and biculturalism in Aotearoa New Zealand: implication for language education.

authors: May, Stephen

subjects: bilingual education

abstract: The field of language education in Aotearoa New Zealand, as elsewhere, has developed significantly since its early and almost exclusive focus on the acquisition of English literacy in schools. As the field has expanded, so too has the range of language education sectors addressed and the theoretical approaches and understandings employed in relation to language and literacy education. Both developments have resulted in a more coordinated literacy education policy - exemplified to date most clearly in the New Zealand Literacy Taskforce - and a more situated, less monolithic understanding of the widely different literacies available to learners. Despite these developments, however, one area still remains noticeably under-theorised and marginalized in relation to the ongoing development of language and literacy education policy in Aotearoa New Zealand - the place of second language learners within it. This paper explores this lacuna and the potential policy implications of addressing and integrating first and second language educational concerns within an evolving national literacy education policy. This has particular implications for the further development of bilingual education - both for Maori and, possibly, other minority groups - and for the related possibilities of multicultural education. It also requires a wider and clearer recognition of minority language education rights, as developed within both international law and political theory, in order to apply these rights appropriately to an Aotearoa New Zealand context which is currently witnessing rapid and extensive demographic (and linguistic) change.

text: Accommodating multiculturalism and biculturalism in Aotearoa New Zealand: implication for language education. The field of language education in Aotearoa New Zealand, as elsewhere, has developed significantly since its early and almost exclusive focus on the acquisition of English literacy in schools. As the field has expanded, so too has the range of language education sectors addressed and the theoretical approaches and understandings employed in relation to language and literacy education. Both developments have resulted in a more coordinated literacy education policy - exemplified to date most clearly in the New Zealand Literacy Taskforce - and a more situated, less monolithic understanding of the widely different literacies available to learners. Despite these developments, however, one area still remains noticeably under-theorised and marginalized in relation to the ongoing development of language and literacy education policy in Aotearoa New Zealand - the place of second language learners within it. This paper explores this lacuna and the potential policy implications of addressing and integrating first and second language educational concerns within an evolving national literacy education policy. This has particular implications for the further development of bilingual education - both for Maori and, possibly, other minority groups - and for the related possibilities of multicultural education. It also requires a wider and clearer recognition of minority language education rights, as developed within both international law and political theory, in order to apply these rights appropriately to an Aotearoa New Zealand context which is currently witnessing rapid and extensive demographic (and linguistic) change.

year: 2002