ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
The Perspectives of Students and Teachers in the English Department in the College of Basic Education on the Student Evaluation of Teachers
Author: Taqi, Hanan A.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Undergraduate Students,English (Second Language),Majors (Students),Females,Student Evaluation of Teacher Performance,Teacher Effectiveness,English Departments,Teacher Attitudes,English Teachers,Surveys,Questionnaires,Statistical Analysis

In the context of students' evaluation of teachers in higher education, this paper examines the perspectives of students and faculty members in the English Department in the college of Basic education (CBE) in the State of Kuwait. The study is based on a survey that covered 320 students and 19 members of staff in the English department. The study was based on a 20 statements questionnaire; in addition to two open ended questions. The data collected was analyzed through the use of SPSS, and the open-ended questions were analyzed manually. The findings reveal a general agreement on several academic and structural issues concerning the evaluation form. Both students and teachers expressed their views in detail concerning the evaluation process. Finally, a number of recommendations based on the students' and teachers' perspectives will be given in order to make the students' evaluation of teachers more valuable and beneficial.
The Effect of Listening to Music on Iranian Children's Segmental and Suprasegmental Pronunciation
Author: Moradi, Fereshteh
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Music Education,Music Activities,English (Second Language),Teaching Methods,Suprasegmentals,Pronunciation Instruction,Hypothesis Testing,Elementary School Students,Females,Private Schools,Novices,Control Groups,Experimental Groups,Comparative Analysis,Pretests Posttests,Intonation,Educational Benefits,Statistical Analysis

The purpose of this study is to find out whether children learning English by music can improve their ability in segmental and suprasegmental pronunciation or not. In this regard, three hypotheses were proposed. A total of 30 female elementary students with the age between 9 to 12 years old were chosen. They were learning English in a private English school in Isfahan. According to the placement test of the institute, all of them were in the beginner level of pronunciation. They were assigned to two groups, that is, control group and experimental group. The selected material for both groups was &quot;Song Time&quot; book. The book was taught to the experimental group with music. The students listened to songs with music, repeated, and finally memorized them. Regarding the control group, the teacher read the songs and the students repeated after her and tried to memorize them. The results of comparing the pretest and the posttest showed that music had a better effect on pronunciation and intonation and stress pattern recognition; that is, the students in the experimental group had a better performance in these areas than the control group. Therefore, the three proposed hypotheses were safely rejected, and it was concluded that using music can push students to learn suprasegmentals better. The study has implication for teachers as well as material developers to include music in the teaching process.
Measuring Grammatical Development in Bilingual Mandarin-English Speaking Children with a Sentence Repetition Task
Author: Woon, Chai Ping
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Bilingual Students,Bilingualism,Mandarin Chinese,English,Sentences,Repetition,Task Analysis,Grammar,Language Acquisition,Language Skills,Speech Skills,Language Proficiency,Psycholinguistics,Language Impairments,Pilot Projects,Preschool Children,Error Analysis (Language),Error Patterns,Accuracy,Qualitative Research,Disability Identification

Sentence repetition (SR) tasks have been used to measure children's expressive language skills in normal and abnormal language development, and to examine the development of the speaking skills in second language acquisition, as well as to survey the proficiency of bilingual language development. Recently, SR tasks have been recognized as a potential psycholinguistic tool to identify bilingual children with language impairment. SR tasks are easy and quick to conduct, and a useful technique for obtaining quantitative and qualitative information about children's lexical and morphosyntactic knowledge, as well as language development in a complex linguistic background. This paper reports the results of a pilot study conducted to investigate the performance of SR among bilingual Mandarin-English preschoolers, from age four to six. The task was conducted in both languages: Mandarin, and English, to examine the type of grammatical errors found among different age groups in the SR task. Studying the performance of SR in both languages could provide a better understanding of children's language learning and their acquisition pattern in both the first and second language. Overall task accuracy in each language was compared; grammatical errors in the SR task were described qualitatively. The results showed that the linguistic characteristic of the stimulus materials in Mandarin and English influences the performance of these bilingual children in the SR task. The study also showed that the grammatical errors found in the SR tasks may have the potential of being used to distinguish children with typical and atypical language development in the first language (L1).
The Construction of the Teacher's Authority in Pedagogic Discourse
Author: Wenren, Xing
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Teacher Role,Professional Identity,Teacher Student Relationship,Power Structure,Teacher Empowerment,Discourse Analysis,Expertise,Knowledge Base for Teaching,Traditionalism,Cultural Maintenance,Moral Values,Social Status,Role Models,Teacher Characteristics

This article examines the discursive construction of the authoritative identity of teachers in relation to a number of issues in the classroom context, including identity negotiation, pedagogic discourse and teacher-student power relationship. A variety of classroom teacher talks are analyzed from a discourse analytical perspective, revealing the core constituent parts of the teacher's authoritative identity and the constructive process of the authoritative discourse. The analysis shows that different combinations of the constituent parts make up distinctive frameworks of the teacher's authoritative status. The discursive choices that emerge in the negotiation of the authoritative identity result in a strong or a weak form of authority. The article concludes with a discussion of the relevance of the teacher's authoritative identity to pedagogic discourse and teacher-student power relations.
Capturing the Magic of Classroom Training in Blended Learning
Author: Laiken, Marilyn E.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Blended Learning,Classroom Techniques,Online Courses,Best Practices,Adult Learning,Virtual Classrooms,Conventional Instruction,Instructional Design,Educational Principles,Organizational Development,Learning Activities,Educational Practices,Educational Change,Technology Integration,Foreign Countries

Organizations today are faced with the challenges of expanding their traditional classroom-based approaches into blended learning experiences which integrate regular classrooms, virtual classrooms, social learning, independent reading, on the job learning and other methodologies. Our team converted a two-day classroom-based program, taught from 2010-2013 through the Canadian Organization Development Institute (CODI), into an on-line offering. We used several leading edge technologies, without sacrificing the power of face-to-face training. In this article we will highlight the lessons learned and the best practices that ensured the program's success.
Effects of Outdoor School Ground Lessons on Students' Science Process Skills and Scientific Curiosity
Author: Ting, Kan Lin
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Outdoor Education,Science Process Skills,Personality Traits,Instructional Effectiveness,Quasiexperimental Design,Pretests Posttests,Elementary School Students,Foreign Countries,Science Instruction,Elementary School Science

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of outdoor school ground lessons on Year Five students' science process skills and scientific curiosity. A quasi-experimental design was employed in this study. The participants in the study were divided into two groups, one subjected to the experimental treatment, defined as &quot;eco-hunt&quot; group and the other had no experimental treatment, defined as control group. This study used intact four classes which consisted of 119 students and randomly assigned to the treatment (n = 63) and control groups (n = 56). Students' science process skill was measured by a self-developed Science Process Skills Test and students' scientific curiosity was measured using Children Scientific Curiosity Scale adapted from Harty and Beall (1984). The results showed a significant difference in post-test mean scores between students in &quot;eco-hunt&quot; group and control group in both students' science process skills and scientific curiosity. Follow-up comparisons on the dimensions of science process skills and scientific curiosity were analyzed and discussed. The findings of this study will provide a framework for science teachers to teach students through interesting and meaningful outdoor activities.
Constructing Assessment Model of Primary and Secondary Educational Quality with Talent Quality as the Core Standard
Author: Chen, Benyou
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Quality,Models,Urban Education,Rural Education,Educational Assessment,Elementary Secondary Education,Correlation

Quality is the core of education and it is important to standardization construction of primary and secondary education in urban (U) and rural (R) areas. The ultimate goal of the integration of urban and rural education is to pursuit quality urban and rural education. Based on analysing the related policy basis and the existing assessment models of urban and rural educational quality in primary and secondary schools, and through the content and the assessment index system of the standard of urban and rural educational quality in primary and secondary schools, this study is to construct a scientific, effective and very operational statistical model to assess the current quality of primary and secondary education in urban and rural areas. With the correlation coefficient to measure the development status of their educational quality and through the example calculation, this study confirms that the assessment model has good diagnostic function. According to the actual functions of the assessment model, this study puts forward some corresponding suggestions.
Fostering the Exploitation of Open Educational Resources
Author: Richter, Thomas
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Open Education,Open Source Technology,Depleted Resources,Educational Innovation,Educational Technology,Educational Quality,Evaluation Criteria,Standards,Instructional Design

The central concept behind Open Educational Resources (OER) is opening up the access to educational resources for stakeholders who are not the usual target user group. This concept must be perceived as innovative because it describes a general economic and social paradigm shift: Education, which formerly was limited to a specific group of learners, now, is promoted as a public good. However, despite very good intentions, internationally agreed quality standards, and the availability of the required technological infrastructure, the critical threshold is not yet met. Due to several reasons, the usefulness of OER is often limited to the originally targeted context. Questions arise if the existing quality standards for Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) actually meet the specific requirements within the OER value chain, if the existing quality standards are applicable to OER in a meaningful way, and under which conditions related standards generally could support the exploitation of OER. We analyze quality standards for TEL and contrast the life cycle model of commercial learning resources against the life cycle model of OER. We investigate special demands on quality from the context of OER and, taking the former results into account, derive emergent quality criteria for OER. The paper concludes with recommendations for the design of OER and a future standard development.
The Role of OER Localisation in Building a Knowledge Partnership for Development: Insights from the TESSA and TESS-India Teacher Education Projects
Author: Buckler, Alison
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Resource Units,Computer Uses in Education,Shared Resources and Services,Media Adaptation,Developing Nations,Open Universities,Educational Quality,Teacher Education,International Programs,Qualitative Research

Open educational resources (OER) continue to support the needs of educators and learners globally. However, it is clear that to maximise their potential more focus is needed on reuse and repurposing. Accordingly, adapting OER for local contexts remains one of the greatest challenges of the open education movement, with little written about how to support communities of users to adapt materials. This paper emerges from the ongoing debate around education quality in low income countries (LICs), taking as its focus two OER projects led by the Open University--TESSA and TESS-India. These projects have collaboratively developed core banks of OER for teacher education that respond to regional and national priorities and pedagogies. In this paper we explore how the projects have supported localisation of the OER and how processes of OER localisation can contribute to more equal knowledge partnerships in the pursuit of education quality. [This paper was presented at the 2014 OpenCourseWare Consortium Global Conference, held in Ljubljana (Slovenia) in April 23th-25th 2014 (http://conference.ocwconsortium.org/2014), with whom Open Praxis established a partnership. After a pre-selection by the Conference Programme Committee, the paper underwent the usual peer-review process in &quot;Open Praxis.&quot;]
Predicting Student Performance in Statewide High-Stakes Tests for Middle School Mathematics Using the Results from Third Party Testing Instruments
Author: Meylani, Rusen
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Middle School Students,Mathematics,High Stakes Tests,Mathematics Tests,Prediction,Scores,Regression (Statistics),Networks,Grade 6,Grade 7,Grade 8,Urban Schools

In this study regression and neural networks based methods are used to predict statewide high-stakes test results for middle school mathematics using the scores obtained from third party tests throughout the school year. Such prediction is of utmost significance for school districts to live up to the state's educational standards mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act by helping them take the necessary measures in a timely manner and avoid penalties such as decreased funding, salary cuts, job losses, the state taking over the school administration, etc. Although the predictive analyses were performed in the context of middle school mathematics, the suggested models can readily be applied to other grade levels and content areas as well.
Learning Competences in Open Mobile Environments: A Comparative Analysis between Formal and Non-Formal Spaces
Author: Figaredo, Daniel Domínguez
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Comparative Analysis,Nonformal Education,Conventional Instruction,Handheld Devices,Student Experience,Technology Uses in Education,Media Literacy,Educational Environment,Skill Analysis,Skill Development,Competency Based Education,Educational Practices,Undergraduate Students,Case Studies,Questionnaires,Student Surveys,Electronic Learning,Learning Processes,Foreign Countries

As a result of the increasing use of mobile devices in education, new approaches to define the learning competences in the field of digitally mediated learning have emerged. This paper examines these approaches, using data obtained from empirical research with a group of Spanish university students. The analysis is focused on the experiences of students in the use of mobile devices in both formal and open-informal educational contexts. The theoretical framework of the study is based on the ecological focus applied to explanatory models of digital literacy. As a result of the data it is possible to study this framework in depth, taking into account the theories defending an open view of digital literacy. The study may be of interest to instructional designers and researchers in the fields of open educational resources and technologies applied to education in open contexts.
The Predictive Validity of Teacher Candidate Letters of Reference
Author: Mason, Richard W.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Selection,Student Teachers,Predictive Validity,Letters (Correspondence),Student Teacher Evaluation,Employment Potential,Beginning Teachers,Teacher Effectiveness,Confidentiality,Scoring Rubrics,Interrater Reliability,Preservice Teachers,Job Performance

Letters of reference are widely used as an essential part of the hiring process of newly licensed teachers. While the predictive validity of these letters of reference has been called into question it has never been empirically studied. The current study examined the predictive validity of the quality of letters of reference for forty-one student teachers in relation to their attainment of full-time employment and performance during their first year of teaching. Results indicated that while letter quality was predictive of whether or not full-time employment was obtained, it was not predictive of performance during the first year of teaching. Findings also suggest that hiring practices should be re-examined and additional measures of teacher quality should be incorporated to increase teacher excellence in schools.
Synchronous Video Communication for Distance Education: The Educators' Perspective
Author: Themelis, Chryssoula
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Synchronous Communication,Video Technology,Distance Education,Educational Technology,Technology Uses in Education,Teacher Attitudes,Interpersonal Communication,Grounded Theory,Inquiry,Interviews,Foreign Countries,Teacher Student Relationship,Technological Literacy,Teaching Methods,Higher Education,College Faculty,College Students,Teacher Role,Cues

The paper reports on the experienced educator perspective regarding human-to-human connection in distance education. The research questions aimed to fill gaps in the existing research literature, to investigate the role of the educator, to discover how learning and subject content are affected by contextual factors, to find out if it enhances the sense of togetherness (immediacy and intimacy). The Informed Grounded Theory and the Community of Inquiry model provided a scaffolding framework for designing interview questions and analyzing findings. The outcome of the analysis formulated a new theory called tele-proximity, which gives an explanation of how presences could work in synchronicity. The findings may help educators gain insight into how to use Synchronous Video Communication (SVC) and lead future research to dig deeper into the field of synchronicity and the importance of audiovisual cues.
What It Means to Be an Adolescent Teacher-and-Peer-Independent Motivation Type
Author: Krunke, Hannah Marei
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Student Motivation,Adolescents,Personality,Adjustment (to Environment),Individual Differences,Social Influences,Structural Equation Models,Neurosis,Foreign Countries,Secondary School Students,Questionnaires,Screening Tests,Correlation

In order to enhance our understanding of interindividual differences in academic motivation, the present study examined the interplay of personality, psychosocial adjustment and socio-academic factors in a subsample of adolescent students identified as teacher-and-peer-independent motivation type (MT) (N = 295; M[subscript Age] = 13.71) in Brandenburg, Germany. A latent structural equation model was run in order to test whether psychosocial adjustment mediates the association between personality and socio-academic factors. The results revealed that psychosocial adjustment fully mediates the associations between personality and socio-academic factors. Additionally, results showed that neuroticism is a strong predictor of socio-academic difficulties. The findings could be integral of supporting students on a more individualized level.
Emerging Technologies Acceptance in Online Tutorials: Tutors' and Students' Behavior Intentions in Higher Education
Author: Susilo, Adhi
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Intention,Technology Uses in Education,Foreign Countries,Technology Integration,Online Surveys,Student Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,College Faculty,College Students,Statistical Analysis,Technological Literacy,Competence,Barriers,Multiple Regression Analysis

Tutors' and students' intentions to use emerging technologies (ETs) in e-learning systems in higher education institutions are a central concern of researchers, academicians, and practitioners. However, tutors' and students' intentions to use ETs in e-learning systems in distance learning are relatively low. The goal of the study, developed in Universitas Terbuka, was to investigate the factors that may affect tutors' and students' intentions to use ETs in online tutorials. A Web-based survey was designed to empirically assess the effect of the aforementioned constructs on tutors' and students' intentions to use ETs in online tutorials. The statistical analysis results showed that the theoretical model was able to predict instructors' and students' intention to use ETs in online tutorials. However, not all three independent variables showed significant relationships with the dependent variable. Results of MLR analysis was consistent on technology competencies (TC) as having the greatest weight on predicting instructors' and students' intentions to use ETs.