ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
A Survey of Stemming Algorithms in Information Retrieval
Author: Moral, Cristian
Date: 2014-03-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Information Retrieval,Mathematics,Morphology (Languages),Classification,Evaluation

Background: During the last fifty years, improved information retrieval techniques have become necessary because of the huge amount of information people have available, which continues to increase rapidly due to the use of new technologies and the Internet. Stemming is one of the processes that can improve information retrieval in terms of accuracy and performance. Aim: This paper provides a detailed assessment of the current status of the stemming process framed in an information retrieval application field by tracing its historical evolution. Method: Papers presenting the first approaches for stemming were reviewed to extract their main features, benefits and drawbacks. Additionally, papers dealing with stemmers for non-English languages or with some more recent proposals were also consulted and compiled. Finally, experimental papers defining the most well-known methods and metrics aimed at evaluating and classifying stemmers were also taken into account to expose their contributions and results. Results: Even if not all researchers agree on the benefits and drawbacks of using stemming in an information retrieval process in general terms, many of them agree on its benefits in specific contexts, such as when the language is highly inflective, when documents are short or when there is limited space for storing data. Some researchers also state that the nature of the documents can influence the performance and the accuracy of the stemmer. Conclusions: Despite many researchers having investigated this field over many years, there are still some open questions, such as how to evaluate a stemmer independently of the information retrieval process, or how much a stemmer improves an information retrieval application in terms of speed. As a summary, some guidelines are also provided to help readers to determine which is the best stemmer for their needs and the tasks they have to carry out.
The Role of Motivators in Improving Knowledge-Sharing among Academics
Author: Tan, Christine Nya-Ling
Date: 2014-03-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Teacher Behavior,Questionnaires,Sharing Behavior,Scholarship,Least Squares Statistics,Motivation,Intention,Helping Relationship,Teacher Attitudes,Reputation,Rewards,Models,Extraversion Introversion

Introduction: This research addresses a primary issue that involves motivating academics to share knowledge. Adapting the theory of reasoned action, this study examines the role of motivation that consists of intrinsic motivators (commitment; enjoyment in helping others) and extrinsic motivators (reputation; organizational rewards) to determine and explain the behaviour of Malaysian academics in sharing knowledge. Method: A self-administered questionnaire was distributed using a non-probability sampling technique. A total of 373 completed responses were collected with a total response rate of 38.2%.  Analysis: The partial least squares analysis was used to analyse the data. Results: The results indicated that all five of the hypotheses were supported. Analysis of data from the five higher learning institutions in Malaysia found that commitment and enjoyment in helping others (i.e., intrinsic motivators) and reputation and organizational rewards (i.e., extrinsic motivators) have a positive and significant relationship with attitude towards knowledge-sharing. In addition, the findings revealed that intrinsic motivators are more influential than extrinsic motivators. This suggests that academics are influenced more by intrinsic motivators than by extrinsic motivators. Conclusions: The findings provided an indication of the determinants in enhancing knowledge-sharing intention among academics in higher education institutions through extrinsic and intrinsic motivators.
Inner Circles and Outer Reaches: Local and Global Information-Seeking Habits of Authors in Acknowledgment Paratext
Author: Desrochers, Nadine
Date: 2014-03-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Information Seeking,Authors,Books,Content Analysis,Information Sources,Interpersonal Relationship,Community,Publishing Industry,Librarians,Foreign Countries,Qualitative Research

Introduction: This research investigates paratextual acknowledgements in published codices in order to study  how relationships inform the information-seeking habits of authors, an understudied group in library and information science. Method: A purposive sample consisting of the books from the 2010 nominations list of the Canadian Governor General's Literary Awards was chosen. An in-hand examination of the books was performed to identify the acknowledgement paratext. The sum of these paratextual parts formed the dataset. Analysis: A qualitative content analysis of the acknowledgement paratext was performed. Throughout this inductive analysis, memos were used to record the creation and refinement of categories, as well as the emerging results. Results: The research reveals that authors rely on people as information resources as well as for moral and emotional support. Sources include personal allies, communities, and publishing staff. Libraries and informational professionals are generally absent from the acknowledgement paratext. Conclusion: Authors seek and find support in their local or personal circles and in global or distant horizons. An information model, based on Robert Darnton's communication circuit, is proposed. Information practitioners may be able to build on cues from the acknowledged relationships in order to tailor services to this group of users.
Creating and Sharing: Teens&apos; Information Practices in Digital Communities
Author: Harlan, Mary Ann
Date: 2014-03-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Adolescents,Internet,Creative Activities,Sharing Behavior,Grounded Theory,Information Utilization,Communities of Practice,Interviews,Observation,Experience,Aesthetics

Introduction: In a connected world youth are participating in digital content creating communities. This paper introduces a  description of teens&apos; information practices in digital content creating and sharing communities. Method: The research design was a constructivist grounded theory methodology. Seventeen interviews with eleven teens were collected and observation of their digital communities occurred over a two-year period. Analysis: The data were analysed iteratively to describe teens&apos; interactions with information through open and then focused  coding. Emergent categories were shared with participants to confirm conceptual categories. Focused coding provided connections between conceptual categories resulting in the theory, which was also shared with participants for feedback.  Results: The paper posits a substantive theory of teens&apos; information practices as they create and share content. It highlights that teens engage in the information actions of accessing, evaluating, and using information. They experienced information in five ways: participation, information, collaboration, process, and artefact. The intersection of enacting information actions and experiences of information resulted in five information practices: learning community, negotiating aesthetic, negotiating control, negotiating capacity, and representing knowledge. Conclusion: This study contributes to our understanding of youth information actions, experiences, and practices. Further research into these communities might indicate what information practices are foundational to digital communities.
Cultivating Collaboration: The Science behind Thriving Labor-Management Relationships
Author: Anrig, Greg
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Interprofessional Relationship,Teacher Administrator Relationship,Unions,Cooperation,Academic Achievement,Parent School Relationship,Trust (Psychology),Stakeholders,Labor Relations,Principals,Teachers

In recent years, rigorous studies have shown that effective public schools are built on strong collaborative relationships between administrators and teachers. The two largest national teachers' unions--the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association--have embarked on major initiatives to promote greater collaboration, supported in some cases by large foundations.  Therefore, this Winter 2013-2014 issue of &quot;American Educator&quot; is dedicated to addressing such concerns, exploring in depth why collaboration between teachers' unions and administrators has the potential to significantly improve student achievement and strengthen the nation's school systems. It synthesizes research findings; highlights districts and schools that have intensively pursued collaboration; and provides strategies to guide teachers, administrators, and public officials interested in cooperation. It also explains &quot;why&quot; collaboration is critical to raising student performance, drawing from research in other institutional settings as well.
Using Digital Counterstories as Multimodal Pedagogy among South African Pre-Service Student Educators to Produce Stories of Resistance
Author: Gachago, Daniela
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Learning Modalities,Preservice Teachers,Resistance (Psychology),Story Telling,Focus Groups,Personal Narratives,Technology Uses in Education,Video Technology,Educational Technology,Consciousness Raising,Qualitative Research

While digital storytelling has entered higher education as a vehicle to reflect on issues of identity and difference, there is a paucity of research framed by a critical perspective unpacking underlying power structures in the classroom. This study reports on an ongoing project in a South African pre-service Teacher Education course in which final-year students  reflected in the form of digital stories on the notion of difference and how it affected their journey to becoming a teacher. Drawing on theories of resistance, counterstorytelling and multimodality, five of these digital stories, students' reflective essays and discussions in a focus group were analysed to investigate types of resistance in students' narratives, their perceptions of the functions of counterstorytelling, and what multimodal analysis of these stories could tell us about the relationship of students' identities, their choice of modes and their learning. Results of the study showed students' intent to develop so-called &quot;counterstories&quot;, defined as stories that challenge social and racial injustice, which are usually not  heard in education. Students also perceived telling of counterstories as useful to building communities among marginalised  students, acting as model stories, providing an alternative window into the world of students of colour and a space for healing. While only one story could be defined as portraying &quot;transformational resistance&quot;, carrying the highest potential  for social change, others were important documents of disadvantaged students' fight for survival, and might well challenge some of the existing power structures in their classroom. Multimodal analysis of the stories revealed contradictory elements, highlighting the difficulty for students to resist dominant discourses, but also showing the increasing (conscious  or unconscious) emotional audience manipulation evidenced in production of digital stories by the more privileged students. We suggest that engaging students in multimodal analysis of their own stories could facilitate a nuanced  conversation on consciously and unconsciously held beliefs and assumptions, as well as an awareness of themselves that may lead to questioning the dominant discourse they have been socialised in.
Mobile Learning: A Kaleidoscope
Author: Kruger, Marlena
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Electronic Learning,Handheld Devices,Electronic Publishing,Faculty Development,Program Implementation,Technology Uses in Education,Intervention,Questionnaires,Content Analysis,Teacher Attitudes,Curriculum Design,Program Development,Mixed Methods Research,Design

CTI is an accredited private higher education institution (university) with the Higher Education Council (HEC) in  South Africa. Its head office is in Fourways, Johannesburg. CTI has 12 campuses nationwide and offers higher certificates  and degrees in commerce and information technology. These BCom and BSc degrees were rolled out to all 12 campuses from January 2013. All first year students received 10&quot; Samsung tablets with their textbooks and course materials in digital format. We've worked closely with all role-players to ensure that all pillars for successful implementation of the e-book tablet project are in place. Timeous completion and conversion of course materials and e-textbooks for the start of the academic year in 2013 took extra time and focus of a dedicated project manager and multi-disciplinary team members. Several aspects were focused on during the conceptual, preparation and planning phases in 2012 (phase 1). This phase  included aspects such as the student pilot project to establish the most suitable tablet to procure for students and lecturers, upgrading of infrastructure on campuses, lecturer training and the development of support materials, guidelines  and rules for user standards. Phase 2 started in January 2013 with the implementation of a design-based research project which includes several planned interventions to ensure continuous development and support of lecturers and students with the focus on enhancing the academic experience of students. During this phase qualitative and quantitative  methodologies were implemented and included the sharing of experiences using different digital media, tools and  instruments to gather data from lecturers, students and other role-players. Data was analysed and compared with different theoretical frameworks for using integrating innovative technologies in learning environments. Changes that took place in teaching and learning practices will be discussed by way of using the technology integration matrix and other measurements to determine the development and movement of teaching and learning practices towards emerging pedagogies for the information age. More detail of research methodologies, actions and interventions as well as data gathering methods during project will be focused on and shared in this article.
Banding Together: Union City's Teachers and Administrators Work Together to Improve Student Achievement
Author: Kirp, David L.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Federal Legislation,Educational Legislation,Urban Education,Scores,Achievement Tests,Caring,Expectation,Faculty Development,Student Improvement,Teacher Collaboration,Elementary School Teachers,Secondary School Teachers,Principals,Academic Achievement

For years, points out David L. Kirp, critics have lambasted public schools as fossilized bureaucracies run by paper-pushers and filled with time-serving teachers preoccupied with their job security, not the lives of their students. Yet, as this article describes, running an exemplary school system does not demand heroes or heroics, just hard and steady work. Kirp describes the efforts of the teachers and administrators of Union City, New Jersey, as an example of &quot;Banding Together&quot; to improve student achievement. Union City is a poor, densely packed community mainly composed of Latino immigrants expected to fail, yet pointing the way toward promising outcomes. How was this effected? The teachers state that the best explanation for their effectiveness is what they have learned--and keep learning--from their colleagues--that teachers improve in good measure because of the informal tutelage that the old hands give the newbies, the day-to-day collaboration, the modeling of good practice, and the swapping of ideas about what is worth trying in their classrooms. The results of this rigorous effort: students scoring on the state's achievement tests that approximate the New Jersey averages; despite their hard-knock lives, successfully competing with their suburban cousins in reading, writing, and mathematics; over 90 percent graduation from high school; and three-quarters of them enrolling in college. Kirp concludes that success stories are to be found across the country, in communities that spend frugally on their students, as well as those that are lavishly funded, in big cities as well as rural communities, and in districts with black, Latino, and poor white students. These school systems have taken the same playbook, the same priorities, the same underlying principles, the same commitment to hard and steady work, and adapted these to suit their circumstances with success.
JiFUNzeni: A Blended Learning Approach for Sustainable Teachers' Professional Development
Author: Onguko, Brown Bully
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Blended Learning,Faculty Development,Sustainability,Educational Technology,Rural Areas,Foreign Countries,Program Development,Handheld Devices,Open Source Technology,Interviews,Teacher Attitudes,Cooperative Learning,Learning Activities,Instructional Design,Disadvantaged Environment,Course Content,Computers,Training,Teaching Methods,Computer Software,Multimedia Materials,Self Evaluation (Individuals),Elementary School Teachers,Qualitative Research,Design

JiFUNzeni blended learning approach is a sustainable approach to provision of professional development (PD) for those in challenging educational contexts. JiFUNzeni approach emphasizes training regional experts to create blended learning content, working with appropriate technology while building content repositories. JiFUNzeni approach was field-tested though a design-based research intervention conducted in rural western Kenya. The field test included design, development and implementation of a blended learning course for teachers' professional development utilizing appropriate technologies including tablets powered by solar energy, open educational resources and open source software. One year after the intervention, follow-up interviews were conducted with eight of the ten teachers and two professional development tutors (PDTs) who participated in the research. The findings from the follow-up interviews shared in this paper revealed that: teachers still used cooperative learning and activity-based learning strategies in their teaching. The PDTs on the other hand designed, developed and implemented one other jiFUNzeni blended learning course for twelve teachers in one school in Korogocho slum in Nairobi city. Implementation by PDTs of jiFUNzeni approach confirmed that they had learned through a sustainable way of delivering professional development in challenging educational contexts. The PDTs utilized the instructional design approaches learned through their participation in the research in designing blended learning content, while they also innovated new ways of developing self-study content as an important creative addition to what they had previously learned. Two teenage children participated in digital content development by advising the PDTs on some appropriate ways of applying technology thus, attesting to the fact that digital natives are important reciprocal supporters to digital immigrants and vice versa.
An African Research Agenda for Computers in Education
Author: Cronje, Johannes
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Computer Uses in Education,Foreign Countries,Educational Technology,Electronic Learning,Bibliometrics,Educational Theories,Constructivism (Learning),Behaviorism,Experiential Learning,Affective Behavior,Curriculum,Teacher Characteristics,Educational Environment,Student Characteristics,Literature Reviews

This article presents an overview of research into computers and education undertaken at a the University of Pretoria since 1995. It seeks to explore the patterns that have emerged and to indicate potential directions for future research. In response to a call for research in the field to be taken seriously the article identifies the main themes that have been researched over fifteen years.The analysis shows that the main themes addressed are &quot;Didactic/Pedagogical Issues and Teaching/Learning Strategies&quot; and &quot;Architectures for Educational Technology Systems&quot;. Finally the paper recommends the development of a taxonomy of terms to be used in the classification of research on e-Learning.
Leapfrogging Pedagogy: A Design Approach to Making Change in Challenging Contexts
Author: Crichton, Susan
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Partnerships in Education,Foreign Countries,Educational Innovation,Creativity,Experiential Learning,Transformative Learning,Design,Learner Engagement,College Faculty,College School Cooperation,School Community Programs,Educational Technology,Space Utilization,Learning Laboratories

At a time of substantial change, globalization, and ubiquitous access to information, educators struggle to change even the most basic aspects of their classrooms. This is especially true for those in challenging contexts where many perpetuate the &quot;mind numbing&quot; practice of rote instruction. This paper describes a collaborative partnership among academics in Canada and East Africa as they develop Innovative Learning Centres (ILC) in their respective institutions to leapfrog pedagogy in imaginative ways, drawing on experiential learning and the Maker Movement in a studio based  learning environment.
Strengthening Partnerships: How Communication and Collaboration Contribute to School Improvement
Author: Rubinstein, Saul A.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Unions,Labor Relations,Teacher Administrator Relationship,Motivation,Cooperation,Educational Administration,Partnerships in Education,Interprofessional Relationship,Interpersonal Communication,Mentors,Participative Decision Making,Problem Solving,Academic Achievement,Teachers,Principals

For most of the past decade, this author has studied union-management efforts to improve public education, and has witnessed extraordinary examples of teachers, union leaders, and administrators working together to improve teaching and learning. In this article, seven case studies on collaborative partnerships between teachers' unions and administrators from districts located across the country and a mix of urban, rural, large and small schools are analyzed. He identifies themes and patterns common to all these districts: (1) Motivation for initiating collaboration; (2) Strategic priorities for improvement; (3) Supportive system infrastructures; and (4) Sustaining characteristics. Rubenstein then reports on the partnership attitude and climate survey data from the California Academic Performance Index (API), and social network analysis. The API includes standardized test results in math, English, social studies, and science, as well as graduation and dropout rates. Social network analysis explores who teachers and administrators communicated with on a regular basis, how they communicated, and what topics they discussed. When the data analyses were completed, the relationship of school-level partnerships (based on the partnership survey) with school-level collaboration (based on the network survey), Rubenstein found that those schools with the strongest partnerships also had the highest levels (density) of teacher-to-teacher communication, meaning that more teachers discussed student performance data, curriculum, articulation, instructional practice, and mentoring with one another in stronger-partnership schools than in weaker-partnership schools. The author concludes with recommendations for policymakers to implement in order to improve collaborative reform efforts. These partnerships take work and are difficult to sustain, but once a culture and system of collaboration is institutionalized, great results do emerge.