ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
A Blended Learning Model for Teaching Practice Course
Author: Caner, Mustafa
Date: 2010-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Blended Learning,Feedback (Response),Teaching Methods,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Teacher Education,Language Teachers,Foreign Countries,Preservice Teachers,Knowledge Base for Teaching,Higher Education,Lesson Plans,Video Technology,Teacher Student Relationship

The aim of the present study is to introduce a blended learning environment and a model for pre-service teaching practice course in English Language Teacher Training Program at Anadolu University. It is supposed that providing a blended learning environment for teaching practice course would improve the practice and contribute to the professional growth of pre-service teachers. Since it will increase the contact hours among students and university supervisors and facilitate peer feedback among pre-service teachers, which in turn, create a productive learning environment for them. Thus, the present paper aimed at providing a blended learning model for teaching practice courses at teacher training institutions and give impetus for the researchers or instructors who would like to implement blended learning in their own teaching environments. Additionally, the present study intends to contribute expanded understanding to the way blending the learning environments, and contribute additional understanding to the knowledge base about the implementation of blended learning for a teaching practice course. Finally, through illustrating a blended learning environment for teaching practice course, it is hoped that this study might contribute to the growing body of knowledge of blended delivery and blended learning in higher education.
Investigating the Factor Structure of the Blog Attitude Scale
Author: Shahsavar, Zahra
Date: 2010-04-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Factor Structure,Electronic Publishing,Web Sites,Web 2.0 Technologies,Attitude Measures,Content Analysis,Undergraduate Students,Anxiety,Self Efficacy,Questionnaires,Educational Technology,Computer Uses in Education,Test Items,Test Construction,Psychometrics

Due to the wide application of advanced technology in education, many attitude scales have been developed to evaluate learners&apos; attitudes toward educational tools. However, with the rapid development of emerging technologies, using blogs as one of the Web 2.0 tools is still in its infancy and few blog attitude scales have been developed yet. In view of this need, a lot of researchers like to design a new scale based on their conceptual and theoretical framework of their own study rather than using available scales. The present study reports the design and development of a blog attitude scale (BAS). The researchers developed a pool of items to capture the complexity of the blog attitude trait, selected 29 items in the content analysis, and assigned the scale comprising 29 items to 216 undergraduate students to explore the underlying structure of the BAS. In exploratory factor analysis, three factors were discovered: blog anxiety, blog desirability, and blog self-efficacy; 14 items were excluded. The extracted items were subjected to a confirmatory factor analysis which lent further support to the BAS underpinning structure.
A Blended Education Program Based on Critical Thinking and Its Effect on Personality Type and Attribution Style of the Students
Author: Mosalanejad, Leili
Date: 2010-04-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Blended Learning,Personality Traits,Attribution Theory,Educational Technology,Quasiexperimental Design,Psychological Patterns,College Students,Conventional Instruction,Teaching Methods,Statistical Analysis,Academic Achievement,Interaction,Correlation,Teaching Styles,Scores,Foreign Countries,Critical Thinking

Blended learning is a mixture of the various learning strategies and delivery methods that will optimize the learning experience of the user. This research evaluated psychological effect of blended learning on student. This research is a quasi-experimental study. 41 students participated in two groups and they registered in the course of psychological diseases in the first semester of 2008-2009. Then, they were randomly divided into groups of traditional and blended methods. Data were gathered through Attribution Measurement Test and Neo Personality Test (Neo FFI). Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the patterns of data distribution. Analytic statistics such as paired-t test and student t-test were utilized to compare the differences of between the mean scores in pre and post tests. Then analysis of variance (MANOVA TEST) and chi square tests applied to evaluate the effects of research variables on each other. The mean score of academic achievement in the blended education group (Mean = 15.67, SD=1.65, T = 3.06, p = 0,004), was higher than that of the traditional education (Mean = 13.88, SD = 2.06). In surveying the interaction between attribution style, type of teaching, and scores of academic achievement, it was revealed that there was a significant relationship between global-local favorable condition (P = /04, F = 10/52). Evaluating the interaction between type of teaching, student's final scores and personality type based on MANOVA TEST revealed that there was a significant relationship between all personality factors(openness, extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness), except neuroticism criterion. The use of this educational method with standard designing strategies is recommended for teaching medical sciences.
Technology Supported Learning Platform: Moodle Integrated Academic Course
Author: Yaman, Saziye
Date: 2010-04-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Constructivism (Learning),Learning Theories,Integrated Learning Systems,Preservice Teachers,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Electronic Learning,Computer Mediated Communication,Cooperative Learning

It is substantially accepted that constructivism proposes knowledge as &quot;not a fixed object&quot;; constructed by an individual through her own experiences. As a learning theory, constructivism in education emphasizes collaborative learning, such as authentic challenging projects involving in students, teachers and experts in the learning community. Its goal is to create learning communities that are more closely related to the collaborative practice of the real world as strongly reflected in social constructivist idea. The technologies used in the filed of education will support learning through collaborative practices, using learners' experiences for &quot;meaning making&quot;. The challenge now is to extend the educational networks so that it offers access to learning resources, online storage and tools for communication and management not just within the limitation of school and time. Through learning platforms, such as Moodle, teachers and administrators may bring hardware, software and supporting services together to enable more effective conditions among teachers and students. In this study, Moodle was used to support the 4th grade pre-service language teachers' (student teachers) one of the academic courses, named as &quot;Field Experience&quot;. The student teachers were expected to prepare graduation theses in the field of English language teaching. Moodle was integrated as a technological learning aid and used as online support throughout a semester course. So, we will discuss how Moodle was integrated as a learning platform, while discussing, the use of Moodle as a &quot;course supporter&quot; process, steps and the sample activities will be presented as well.
Profile of the UWI Distance Learners: The Implications for Online Curriculum Development, Teaching and Learning at the University
Author: Hunte, Stephanie
Date: 2010-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Student Characteristics,Distance Education,Curriculum Development,Online Courses,Educational Trends,Profiles,Management Development,Teaching Methods,Student Motivation,Trend Analysis,Research and Development,Information Technology,Comparative Analysis,Undergraduate Students,Open Universities,Foreign Countries

The purpose of this study was to create a more recent profile of the UWI distance learners as a follow up to a study undertaken in 2000, and, based on the profile created, discuss the implications for online curriculum development, teaching and learning at the University. Data on four descriptive characteristics were collected from UWI distance students in two courses in the B. Sc Management Studies degree programme. Comparisons were made with trends in the field spanning the last decade as well as with a 2000 research and development project which examined the use of ICTs and highlighted the critical components necessary for the introduction of full online teaching and learning into the UWI's distance education programmes. The findings of the present study suggest that there has been no significant change in the demographic, motivational and experiential characteristics of the UWI distance learner over the past decade. They also suggest a new trend in the inhibitory characteristics during this period.
Physical Educators' Perspectives on Instructional Methodology of Synchronous Distance Professional Development
Author: Emmanouilidou, Kyriaki
Date: 2010-04-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Physical Education Teachers,Teacher Attitudes,Professional Continuing Education,Faculty Development,Educational Change,Teaching Methods,Elementary School Teachers,Computer Software,Distance Education,Cooperative Learning,Electronic Learning,Computer Simulation,Foreign Countries

Teachers' continuing professional development, that is an essential part of their professional career, is the subject of constant demand of them and of each educational reform interest. The rapid growth of technology and the choices of teaching and learning that it provides give possibilities for synchronous and asynchronous methods of distance continuing training which get over the problems traditional face to face methods create. A synchronous e-learning software provide virtual environment of teaching in which the possibility for enhance interactive and collaborative learning is given. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the perspectives of physical educators for the synchronous online teaching method process. The participants were 15 in-service teachers of elementary physical education who took part in a training program which was conducted with the synchronous Centra software. The results show the participants' satisfaction from the particular instructive method and their conviction that it allows the active presence and the collaborative learning, without influences by the lack of physical presence in the same space of instructor and learners.
Demystifying Virtual Communities of Practice: A Case Study of IBM
Author: Kok, Ayse
Date: 2010-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Computer Simulation,Communities of Practice,Case Studies,Volunteers,International Trade,Logical Thinking,Qualitative Research,Nonprofit Organizations,Corporations,Role,Cooperation,Dialogs (Language),Social Theories,Learning Theories,Computer Mediated Communication,Interviews

The purpose of this proposed research study is to empirically explore the nature of virtual communities of practice (CoP) in a global organisation within the context of its International Corporate Volunteer (ICV) Program. This study investigates whether and how the use of virtual CoP evolves and becomes embedded within this organization. Following the logic of inductive research, a qualitative case study will be proposed here, to gain insight on the extent to which virtual CoPs can be utilized. For this purpose, a global business organisation that established a partnership with a Canadian non-profit organisation and implements a corporate volunteer program is proposed. Although previous studies confirmed the important role that the quality of dialogue plays in the cultivation of effective communities of practice this study shows that despite the quality of exchanges, virtual CoP are not necessarily utilized due to some alternative channels of communication.
Implementation of an Online Teacher Assessment/Appraisal in Technical Education Institution: A Case Study
Author: Mandal, Sraboni
Date: 2010-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Teacher Evaluation,Technical Institutes,Case Studies,Online Systems,College Faculty,Computer Software,Client Server Architecture,Models,Programming Languages,Computer Oriented Programs,Computer Security,Student Evaluation of Teacher Performance

Presence of a teacher appraisal system plays a major role in deciding the level of professionalism of an educational institution. In addition to this it also plays a major role in improvement in quality of education imparted by the teacher. Recently assessment of the teaching fraternity has become indispensable measure and thus it is necessary to explore a new assessment techniques and proper implementation of the same in an institution. The paper discusses a case study of implementation of teacher appraisal system which initially non existed. In the first phase it was implemented using printed data forms and subsequently in the whole system was converted to online system, at NIT, Jamshedpur, India. The implementation of online system had reduced the man-hours required in manual processing of all data significantly, and also reduced chances of erroneous results in the process making the system robust.
Open Education Students' Perspectives on Using Virtual Museums Application in Teaching History Subjects
Author: Ulusoy, Kadir
Date: 2010-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Qualitative Research,Student Attitudes,Museums,History Instruction,Open Universities,Teacher Education,Scores,Experimental Groups,Statistical Analysis,Pretests Posttests,Distance Education,Attitude Measures,Foreign Countries,Teaching Methods

The study was made to determine whether the attitudes of the open education faculty students, will be changed or not by virtual museum application. The pre-test and post-test model of the experimental design was used in the research. A group of 20 was formed as an experimental group. The pre-test was given to the group before the study and the post test was given to the group at the end of the study. Furthermore t-test analysis was made on the data's to obtain whether the attitude scores of the open education faculty students, will be changed or not according to their computer knowledge. In qualitative section, the students were asked open-ended questions and their answers were given in frequency table. The data's were analyzed in two phases. In the first phase, the analysis of the pre test and post test was made. T test, arithmetic mean (X-bar) and standard deviation (Ss) were used to analyse the data's. Statistical procedures were made in SPSS 11.0 programmes. The significance of the data's was tested at the 0,05 significance level. A significant difference was determined in the students' opinions concerning the post test data's prepared to measure the attitudes towards the history lesson after the application. As a result, the students had a favourable opinion on the virtual museum application in history lessons by observing variable documents and sources.
Participation in Online Forums: Some Insights of Malaysian Distance Learners
Author: Krish, Pramela
Date: 2010-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Distance Education,Questionnaires,Management Systems,Student Attitudes,Student Participation,Computer Mediated Communication,Teacher Role,Student Role,Open Universities,English for Special Purposes,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Work Environment,Course Descriptions,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis

The use of technology is particularly significant in today's distance learning scenario. It has maximized the opportunities for interaction between discussion groups separated by time and space. This article reports the responses to a survey carried out with distance learners at a selected institution of higher learning. The learners responded to a questionnaire on their participation in online forums. It also looks at the postings or entries in the learner management system by these learners for the completion of a course. The findings suggest that both learners and instructors need to play their respective roles effectively in the cyber space to promote online interaction which is crucial to the learning.
Providing Information Communication Technology Support to Distance Education Students: A Case of the University of Ghana, Legon
Author: Agyemang, Beatrice K.
Date: 2010-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Information Technology,Distance Education,College Students,Questionnaires,Measures (Individuals),Semi Structured Interviews,Student Surveys,Internet,Student Attitudes,Positive Attitudes,Barriers,Energy,Costs,Access to Computers,Search Engines,Databases,Computer Attitudes,Instructional Materials

A study to investigate the current state of Information Communication Technology policy of the University of Ghana Distance Education (DE) programme and the extent of awareness and use of ICTs in general by the DE learners was carried out. The survey methodology was adopted using questionnaire and interview instruments. Respondents were made up of 120 DE students, the coordinator of the DE programme, and 5 workers at the DE unit. The questionnaires were distributed to all the 120 students while the workers responded to a semi-structured interview. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics (percentage frequency distribution and examining relationships). The main findings of the study revealed that there was a policy statement on providing ICT-based support to the DE learners; however, this policy has not yet been implemented. Most of the DE students were fully aware of ICT and majority of them use the internet across the regions. The students had positive attitude towards ICTs in that they deemed it necessary in the course of their studies and were willing to pay for ICT services. The main barriers identified that could affect the usefulness of the various ICTs were electricity, cost and accessibility. The study recommends among others, the forging of partnerships between distance education programmes and ICT companies, the networking of DE centres and the use of diverse ICT facilities, among others.
Determining the Navigational Aids Use on the Internet: The Information Technologies Teacher Candidates' Case
Author: Kuzu, Abdullah
Date: 2010-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Internet,Information Technology,Web Sites,Search Strategies,Online Searching,Navigation (Information Systems),Preservice Teachers,Gender Differences,Student Teacher Attitudes,Skill Development,Correlation,Surveys,Foreign Countries,Statistical Analysis

The Internet users who fail to cope with navigation may generally face various problems such as disorientation, distraction, low motivation and abandonment of information retrieval. Therefore, navigational aids are frequently used in today's Web browsers and Web sites to help users navigate on the Internet. However, it is asserted that navigational aids are still not thoroughly understood and effectively used by Information Technologies Teacher candidates. The purpose of this research is, therefore, to determine the navigational aids use by Information Technologies Candidate Teachers during information retrieval process on the Internet. A three-section survey was developed for this purpose. In this survey research, Information Technologies Teacher Candidates' use of navigational aids in Web sites and Web browsers, and the reasons for low use of navigational aids were investigated. The findings of the study revealed that the teacher candidates did not use bookmarks, Web maps, RSS and atom feeds sufficiently. Moreover, it was found out that the use of navigational aids by teacher candidates show variations according to the average Internet use.
Are You a Dream Come True or a Nightmare? Desired Characteristics in the Face to Face and Online Instructor
Author: Patton, Aldis
Date: 2010-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Characteristics,Online Courses,Student Attitudes,Surveys,Teacher Effectiveness,Teaching Methods,Undergraduate Students,Teacher Education Programs,Mathematics Instruction,Science Instruction,Methods Courses,Teaching Skills,Grades (Scholastic),Teacher Student Relationship,Teacher Motivation

All instructors would all like to be a &quot;Dream Come True&quot; but unfortunately many come across to their students as a &quot;nightmare&quot;. The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics in effective and successful online and/or face-to-face instructors. Characteristics as perceived by pre-service teachers in each setting were investigated in the survey. Results reveled that students in both types of learning environments desire and appear to need communication (or contact) with the instructor in order to be considered effective and successful in their studies. However, students held face-to-face instructors to higher standards on their knowledge than the online instructors. Survey information was divided into five categories and provided very different information. Although this was a limited study, it provided valuable information that instructors cannot view teaching both online and face to face classes as one-fits all type approach.
Information Visualization and Proposing New Interface for Movie Retrieval System (IMDB)
Author: Etemadpour, Ronak
Date: 2010-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Internet,Databases,Information Retrieval,Computer Interfaces,Visual Aids,Films,Search Engines,Comparative Analysis,Qualitative Research

This research studies the development of a new prototype of visualization in support of movie retrieval. The goal of information visualization is unveiling of large amounts of data or abstract data set using visual presentation. With this knowledge the main goal is to develop a 2D presentation of information on movies from the IMDB (Internet Movie Database) as our movie search engine. The aim is to amplify the perception of users over the retrieval environment while preserving the output quality at an acceptable meaningful level. Visualization ideas deal with visualization of information seeking results. These visualization techniques have been collected from the literature on how to map the results of the information retrieval process. We propose a 2D visual interface for mapping collections of movies and exploration of their related information to maximize density of needed information in a single page. For this purpose, we introduce a movie categorization scheme to help users in navigating through the movies information. The traditional style (interface) of clicking a link to view details of documents in most of the search engines like the IMDB (Internet Movie Database) as our movie search engine to find information is very uninteresting and tedious. This is because when clicking a particular link the user&apos;s focus is shifted to the new page, and if the information presented is not to their interest, they will need to switch back to the movie&apos;s search results. The key contribution is thus a reasonable mapping result of a query on an actor/actress movie database displayed in just one page that can amplify visual perception of retrieved movies. This theory of data graphics interface focuses on maximization of the density of useful pertinent information with respect to users query in a screen page. This method of grouping of information needs some data extraction algorithms by parsing and crawling the IMDB web pages that are useful to retrieve important movies information. Our graphical-based visualization provides a correct understanding of information that users can view information without reading them. A qualitative experimental test comparing the classic (traditional) interface of the IMDB and visual interface was conducted.