ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Teacher's and Students' Beliefs on English for General Academic Purposes: The Case of Iranian University Students
Author: Kojour, Masoud Kermani
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Sociocultural Patterns,Grammar,Vocabulary Development,Teaching Methods,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,College Students,Questionnaires,Semi Structured Interviews,Student Attitudes,Statistical Analysis,Grounded Theory,Reading Strategies,Reading Comprehension,English for Academic Purposes,Foreign Countries,College Faculty,Teacher Attitudes,Second Language Instruction,Metacognition,Difficulty Level,Qualitative Research

This study was framed in the sociocultural theory to look into the evolution of L2 learners' beliefs about the general English course during a term. One hundred ninety-eight male and female university students and their general English course teacher were randomly selected as the participants of the study. Data were gathered through the administration of Horwitz's (1988) BALLI questionnaire. Among the participants, 38 students were invited to take part in semi-structured interview sessions and fill in an open-ended questionnaire at the beginning and end of the term. Descriptive statics were applied to precisely analyze the quantitative data based on the questionnaire. In order to qualitatively analyze the data, the grounded theory methodology was utilized to code the data and find the main categories in line with the research questions of the study. Findings concluded that all the learners changed their simplistic beliefs about the general English course highlighting the attention to grammar and vocabulary. In fact, the teacher believed in teaching strategies to pave the way for the learners to comprehend the text better and apply the strategies while reading. The teacher's meditational activity assisted the learners to evolve their simplistic beliefs and be able to benefit from reading strategies for better comprehension. Awareness-raising activities should be done in terms of teachers' and students' beliefs about EGAP (English for general academic purposes) to equip L2 learners with better educational environments resulting in their enjoyment of the learning process.
iMOOC on Climate Change: Evaluation of a Massive Open Online Learning Pilot Experience
Author: Coelho, José
Date: 2015-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Online Courses,Open Universities,Educational Technology,Climate,Integrated Learning Systems,College Faculty,Open Source Technology,Computer Software,College Students,Instructional Effectiveness,Academic Persistence,Technology Integration,Pilot Projects,Large Group Instruction

MOOCs are a recent phenomenon, although given their impact, they have been subject to a large debate. Several questions have been raised by researchers and educators alike regarding their sustainability, both economically and as an efficient mode of education provision. In this paper we contribute to this discussion by presenting a case study of the MOOC on Lived Experiences of Climate Change, which piloted the iMOOC pedagogical model developed at Universidade Aberta (UAb), the Portuguese Distance Learning University. The iMOOC is a hybrid model which incorporates elements from existing MOOCs but adds other features drawn from UAb's experience with online learning and aims at better integrating in the larger context of the institutional pedagogical culture. The iMOOC implied also an integration of platforms--Moodle and Elgg. The pilot course had more than one thousand registrations, and it was the largest MOOC course on Portuguese language delivered so far. We discuss the effort required to design and deliver the course, the technological solution developed, and the results obtained. We registered a moderate effort to create and run the course, ensured by internal staff from the University. The technological solution was a success: an integrated architecture combining well-established, well-tested open software. The completion rate was 3.3%, but the high success of this innovative learning experience was demonstrated by the active involvement of about 50% of the registered participants, that followed the course until the end. Lessons learned from this experience and future research on the field are also discussed.
Using MOOCs at Learning Centers in Northern Sweden
Author: Norberg, Anders
Date: 2015-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Online Courses,Community Centers,Group Activities,Universities,Higher Education,Asynchronous Communication,Blended Learning,Open Education,Global Approach,Access to Education,Heuristics,Educational Technology,Semi Structured Interviews

This paper describes the use of globally accessible Massive Open Online Courses, MOOCs, for addressing the needs of learners at community learning centers in Northern Sweden. The Scandinavian &quot;study circle&quot; concept is used to facilitate the studying of MOOCs, thereby forming &quot;blended&quot; or &quot;glonacal&quot; courses. Although the technical possibilities for Swedish universities to offer accessible education are steadily increasing, most universities do not, at present, prioritize courses for off-campus students. The available web courses in asynchronous formats are also difficult to master for untraditional learners and leaves the local learning centers with limited possibilities. Therefore a Nordplus Horizontal project 2014-2016, with partners in three Nordic countries, is developing models for the use of MOOCs in learning centers and organizations. A small pilot course case at the learning center in Arvidsjaur and its outcome is presented, including the interactions with Lund University which has an ongoing piloting project on use and examination of MOOCs. This concept development is discussed as a blended learning design and as a &quot;glonacal&quot; phenomenon with Marginson and Rhoades' &quot;glonacal agency heuristics&quot;. Possible future scenarios are outlined.
Toward Differentiated Assessment in a Public College in Oman
Author: Ali, Holi Ibrahim Holi
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Public Colleges,College Faculty,Teacher Attitudes,Questionnaires,Models,Individualized Instruction,Alternative Assessment,Concept Mapping,Teacher Surveys,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Barriers

Differentiated assessment (DA) seeks to address the individual differences between students and provides them with the appropriate assessment strategy. This paper looks into the possibility of implementing differentiated assessment in a public college in Oman. Additionally, it attempts to explore teachers' views about the possibility of implementing DA and to what extent do they support the idea of using DA and why. Further, it strives to identify some institutional, instructional and pedagogical challenges which might hinder the implementation of differentiated assessment and to find some best possible ways and strategies for implementing it in this context in question. A questionnaire was administered to 40 teachers to answer the study questions and to propose an assessment model on differentiated assessment. The results revealed that all the participants strongly support the idea of implementing the use of differentiated assessment in the Department of English Language and Literature (DELL), however, there are many institutional and pedagogical challenges need to be considered. Some recommendations and pedagogical implications were presented.
Developing and Validating a Survey of Korean Early Childhood English Teachers' Knowledge
Author: Kim, Jung In
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Second Language Learning,Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Semi Structured Interviews,Teacher Surveys,Reliability,Questionnaires,Elementary School Teachers,Early Childhood Education,Protocol Analysis,Construct Validity,Validity,Likert Scales

The main purpose of this study is to develop and validate a valid measure of the early childhood (EC) English teacher knowledge. Through extensive literature review on second/foreign language (L2/FL) teacher knowledge, early childhood teacher knowledge and early childhood language teacher knowledge, and semi-structured interviews from current early childhood English teacher, the initial survey questionnaire was developed. Then, think-aloud interviews were conducted with samples from four groups with different teaching experience as they took the survey to see whether or not they understood the survey questions and whether or not the survey questions/statements represented their professional knowledge accurately. Lastly, a finalized survey was distributed to 40 current early childhood English teachers (K-2) in Korea. The theoretical framework of teacher knowledge was drawn upon Grossman's (1999) &quot;model of teacher knowledge&quot; such as subject matter knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and knowledge of context. The data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, Cronbach-alpha, and split-half. The findings will show subcomponent of teacher knowledge, characteristics of the participants and survey items' reliability. The implications of analyzing teacher knowledge survey to gain insight into developing curriculum in early childhood English teacher education.
A MOOC on Approaches to Machine Translation
Author: Costa-jussà, Mart R.
Date: 2015-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Online Courses,Computational Linguistics,Translation,Universities,Higher Education,Tests,Educational Technology,Course Content,Audio Equipment,Video Technology,College Faculty,Student Motivation,Demography,Student Participation,Feedback (Response),Correlation

This paper describes the design, development, and analysis of a MOOC entitled &quot;Approaches to Machine Translation: Rule-based, statistical and hybrid&quot;, and provides lessons learned and conclusions to be taken into account in the future. The course was developed within the Canvas platform, used by recognized European universities. It contains video-lectures, quizzes, and laboratory assignments. Evaluation was through on-line quizzes, programming assignments assessed by means of a specific code evaluation, and peer-to-peer strategies. This MOOC allowed people from various fields to be introduced to the theory and practice of Machine Translation. It also enabled us to internationally publicize various tools developed at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.
Comparing MOOC Adoption Strategies in Europe: Results from the HOME Project Survey
Author: Jansen, Darco
Date: 2015-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Online Courses,Higher Education,Universities,Comparative Analysis,Strategic Planning,Electronic Learning,Open Education,Measures (Individuals),Online Surveys,Likert Scales,School Surveys,Institutional Mission,Educational Objectives,Large Group Instruction,Educational Technology

Much of the literature and the academic discussion about institutional strategic planning of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) has been centred on the U.S. context. Literature on MOOCs in Europe is still developing and just recently some empirical studies were conducted. However, these studies are not comparable, and it is hard to learn about differences between regions and types of educational institutions. Given the very different institutional, political and cultural contexts, it is interesting to analyse how in these two different regions Higher Education institutions (HEIs) are responding to the challenges of the MOOC phenomena and are integrating it in their own strategic planning. The current research presents the first attempt to conduct a comparative study of institutional MOOC strategies in Europe and U.S. It is based on a survey launched by the EU-funded HOME project and compares results with a similar survey conducted in U.S. Results show that there are significant differences in how the U.S. and European HEIs understand the impact of massive open education and also how they perceive the efficiency of digital education and online learning.
The Implementation of Interactive Multimedia Learning Materials in Teaching Listening Skills
Author: Ampa, Andi Tenri
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Multimedia Materials,Teaching Methods,Listening Skills,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Learning Processes,College Students,Audio Equipment,Experimental Groups,Statistical Analysis,Computer Software,Validity,Control Groups,Instructional Materials,Pretests Posttests,Instructional Effectiveness,Foreign Countries,Quasiexperimental Design

One of the factors that may affect the success of the learning process is the use of learning media. Therefore, this research aimed to implement and evaluate the interactive multimedia learning materials using Wondershare Quizcreator program and audio materials in teaching &quot;English listening skills&quot;. The research problem was whether or not there was a significant difference between the results of teaching listening skills through the interactive multimedia learning materials using Wondershare Quizcreator program and the results of teaching listening skills through audio materials. The earlier process used in the research was to produce new products to be implemented. The product had been validated by the experts and tried out to the college students to get their responses towards the validity and the practicality of the products. Furthermore, the products as new materials were implemented to the experimental group and the conventional materials (audio materials) were implemented to the control group. Pretest and posttest had been conducted before implementation. The results of statistical analysis (SPSS) showed that there was no significant difference between the results of pretest of the two groups, but there was a significant difference between the results of posttest of experimental and control groups. It was proved that the t-cal. was greater than the t-table (5.583 &gt; 2.000) at df 70 and p.0.05. So, it was concluded that the interactive multimedia learning materials using Wondershare Quizcreator program were effective in teaching &quot;English listening skills&quot;.
Theories and Applications of Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs): The Case for Hybrid Design
Author: Anders, Abram
Date: 2015-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Online Courses,Technology Uses in Education,Instructional Design,Large Group Instruction,Blended Learning,Learning Theories,Social Networks,Teaching Methods,Models,Course Content,Video Technology,Communities of Practice,Case Studies

Initial studies of learning in massive open online courses (MOOCs) primarily focused on participation patterns and participant experiences. More recently, research has addressed learning theories and offered case studies of different pedagogical designs for MOOCs. Based on a meta-analysis and synthesis of the research literature, this study develops a conceptual model of prominent theories and applications of MOOCs. It proposes a continuum of MOOC learning design that consolidates previous theories into a tripartite scheme corresponding to primary types of MOOCs including content-based, community/tasked-based, and network-based applications. A series of MOOC hybrids are analyzed to demonstrate the value of this model while also clarifying appropriate applications and significant design challenges for MOOCs. Results indicate that hybrid design may support the greatest diversity of learners and scaffold engagement with networked and emergent learning contexts.
Opportunities and Threats of the MOOC Movement for Higher Education: The European Perspective
Author: Schuwer, Robert
Date: 2015-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Opportunities,Mass Instruction,Open Universities,Higher Education,Distance Education,Online Courses,Educational Change,Conventional Instruction,Campuses,International Cooperation,Educational Cooperation,Educational History,Informal Education,Educational Innovation,Models,Foreign Countries,College Faculty,Teacher Attitudes,Online Surveys

The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) movement is the latest &quot;big thing&quot; in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) which threatens to transform Higher Education. Both opportunities and threats are extensively discussed in literature, comprising issues on opening up education for the whole world, pedagogy and online versus campus education. Most of the literature focus on the origin of the MOOC movement in the US. The specific context of Europe with on the one hand autonomous countries and educational systems and on the other hand cross-border cooperation and regulations through the European Union differs from the US context. This specific context can influence the way in which the MOOC movement affect education in Europe, both reusing MOOCs from other continents (US) as publishing MOOCs, on a European platform or outside of Europe. In the context of the EU funded HOME project, a research was conducted to identify opportunities and threats of the MOOC movement on the European institutions of higher education. Three sources of data were gathered and analysed. Opportunities and threats were categorized in two levels. The macro level comprises issues related to the higher education system, European context, historical period and institutional level. The micro level covers aspects related to faculty, professors and courses, thus to the operational level. The main opportunities mentioned were the ECTS system as being a sound base for formal recognition of accomplishments in MOOCs, the tendency to cooperate between institutions, stimulated by EU funded programs and the many innovative pedagogical models used in MOOCs published in Europe. The main threats mentioned were a lacking implementation of the ECTS system, hindering bridging non/formal and formal education and too much regulation, hindering experimenting and innovation.
Setting-up a European Cross-Provider Data Collection on Open Online Courses
Author: Kalz, Marco
Date: 2015-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Online Courses,Large Group Instruction,Student Diversity,Foreign Countries,Educational Policy,Cultural Influences,Technology Uses in Education,Disproportionate Representation,Socioeconomic Status,Lifelong Learning,Individual Characteristics,Student Motivation,Intention,Dropouts,Test Construction,Surveys,Questionnaires,Pretests Posttests

While MOOCS have emerged as a new form of open online education around the world, research is stilling lagging behind to come up with a sound theoretical basis that can cover the impact of socio-economic background variables, ICT competences, prior experiences and lifelong learning profile, variance in intentions, environmental influences, outcome expectations, learning experience and economic return on taking and completing Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The potential diversity of participants of MOOCs has been taken as a starting point to develop a theoretical model and survey instrument with the goal to establish a large-scale, cross-provider data collection of participants of (European) MOOCs. This article provides and overview of the theoretical model begin the project and reflects about first experiences with the cross-provider data collection.
Dimensions of Openness: Beyond the Course as an Open Format in Online Education
Author: Dalsgaard, Christian
Date: 2015-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Online Courses,Teaching Methods,Technology Uses in Education,Open Education,Higher Education,Large Group Instruction,Student Role,Interaction,Communication Strategies,Cooperation,Design

The objective of the paper is to present a pedagogical approach to openness. The paper develops a framework for understanding the pedagogical opportunities of openness in education. Based on the pragmatism of John Dewey and sociocultural learning theory, the paper defines openness in education as a matter of engaging educational activities in sociocultural practices of a surrounding society. Openness is not only a matter of opening up the existing, but of developing new educational practices that interact with society. The paper outlines three pedagogical dimensions of openness: transparency, communication, and engagement. &quot;Transparency&quot; relates to the opening up of student work, thoughts, activities, and products in order to provide students with insight into each other's activities. &quot;Communication&quot; aims at establishing interaction between educational activities of an institution and surrounding practices. Openness as joint &quot;engagement&quot; in the world aims at establishing interdependent collaborative relationships between educational institutions and external practices. To achieve these dimensions of openness, educational activities need to change and move beyond the course as the main format for openness. With examples from a university case, the paper discusses how alternative pedagogical formats and educational technologies can support the three dimensions of openness.
Deductibility of Expenses for Studying Abroad
Author: Slater, Robert
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Study Abroad,Taxes,Tax Rates,Costs,Expenditures,Tax Credits,Student Employment,Self Employment

In this paper the authors examine the tax treatment of study abroad expenses for students who engage in study abroad activities. Study abroad activity has increased dramatically at U.S. universities. The Institute of International Education (IIE) reports that 289,408 U.S. students studied abroad in 2013 up 2.1% from 2012 (IIE 2014). Over the past decade, the number of U.S. students studying abroad has increased by over 160%, despite consistently increasing costs. The Institute of International Education's 2013 study (as cited by Stansbury, 2013) reports that the average cost of studying abroad for one semester is currently $17,785 for the 2012-2013 academic year. The cost of an international study abroad educational experience may include expenses such as airfare, short-term housing, day-trips, and cultural activities in the host country. But not all study abroad trips are created equally. Study abroad trips run the gamut from seven day excursions to full semester trips to multiple year, multiple country trips. While both students and faculty participate in study abroad opportunities, the tax consequences of study abroad expenses are dependent upon the type of trip chosen, the duration of the visit, and the role of the participants involved. Students participating in a study abroad trip have multiple options when it comes to deducting their study abroad expenses. Students need to consider whether their study abroad educational expenses are personal educational expenses or work related educational expenses. Qualified personal educational expenses may be deducted through tax credits such as the American Opportunity Tax Credit or the Lifetime Learning Credit, while qualified work related educational expenses are generally deducted either on Schedule A as an itemized deduction or on Schedule C. Qualifying educational expenses, whether work related or personal, may also be used to reduce taxable income by utilizing the tuition and fees deduction or the student loan interest deduction. Students need to understand each of these alternative tax treatments and the expenses which are considered qualified for each one. The internal revenue service does not allow double counting of educational expenses. Taxpayers are responsible for determining which option is most beneficial to them. It is important for students to understand the nuances of the US tax code when considering costs incurred while studying abroad. This paper discusses and provides examples of the alternative tax treatments of study abroad expenses for students.