ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Democratizing Higher Education: Exploring MOOC Use among Those Who Cannot Afford a Formal Education
Author: Dillahunt, Tawanna
Date: 2014-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Higher Education,Online Courses,Electronic Learning,Access to Education,Paying for College,Demography,Comparative Analysis,Certification,Student Surveys,Student Motivation,Academic Achievement,Enrollment,Learner Engagement

Massive open online courses (&quot;MOOCs&quot;) provide free access to higher education for anyone with Internet access. MOOCs are considered a means for democratizing education. These courses will hopefully provide an opportunity for individuals to learn from the best educators in the world, as well as help expand their personal networks, and facilitate their career development. However, research thus far shows that the majority of people taking advantage of these courses are already employed, have post-secondary degrees, and have encountered few barriers related to the affordability of higher education. Little is known about MOOC learners with financial constraints and who do not fit the typical profile of MOOC learners. This paper presents the results of the analysis of data from six Coursera courses offered by the University of Michigan from fall 2012 through winter 2013. In this analysis learners who self-identified as being unable to afford to pursue a formal education (the target group) were contrasted to other learners (the comparison group) in terms of demographics, motivations, course enrollment, engagement and performance. Learners in the target group were primarily male and over 25 years old. A statistically significant portion of the target group held less than a 4-year college degree than the comparison group. Target learners were also significantly underrepresented in the enrollment of the courses examined here. Although the comparison group had a significantly higher completion rate overall than the target group, the target group had a statistically significant higher rate of completing courses with certificates of distinction. This article provides a discussion of these results and suggests how MOOCs could be adapted to better address the needs of learners who feel financially unable to pursue a more traditional path to a post-secondary education.
Supporting Professional Learning in a Massive Open Online Course
Author: Milligan, Colin
Date: 2014-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Online Courses,Large Group Instruction,Learning Strategies,Self Management,Professional Education,Health Personnel,Semi Structured Interviews,Student Motivation,Goal Orientation,Learning Processes,Role,Student Surveys,Web Sites,Cognitive Style,Student Attitudes

Professional learning, combining formal and on the job learning, is important for the development and maintenance of expertise in the modern workplace. To integrate formal and informal learning, professionals have to have good self-regulatory ability. Formal learning opportunities are opening up through massive open online courses (MOOCs), providing free and flexible access to formal education for millions of learners worldwide. MOOCs present a potentially useful mechanism for supporting and enabling professional learning, allowing opportunities to link formal and informal learning. However, there is limited understanding of their effectiveness as professional learning environments. Using self-regulated learning as a theoretical base, this study investigated the learning behaviours of health professionals within Fundamentals of Clinical Trials, a MOOC offered by edX. Thirty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed to explore how the design of this MOOC supported professional learning to occur. The study highlights a mismatch between learning intentions and learning behaviour of professional learners in this course. While the learners are motivated to participate by specific role challenges, their learning effort is ultimately focused on completing course tasks and assignments. The study found little evidence of professional learners routinely relating the course content to their job role or work tasks, and little impact of the course on practice. This study adds to the overall understanding of learning in MOOCs and provides additional empirical data to a nascent research field. The findings provide an insight into how professional learning could be integrated with formal, online learning.
Towards an Integration of Text and Graph Clustering Methods as a Lens for Studying Social Interaction in MOOCs
Author: Yang, Diyi
Date: 2014-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Online Courses,Electronic Learning,Social Structure,Discussion Groups,Dropout Rate,Student Attrition,Probability,Predictive Validity,Models,Student Subcultures,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis

In this paper, we describe a novel methodology, grounded in techniques from the field of machine learning, for modeling emerging social structure as it develops in threaded discussion forums, with an eye towards application in the threaded discussions of massive open online courses (MOOCs). This modeling approach integrates two simpler, well established prior techniques, namely one related to social network structure and another related to thematic structure of text. As an illustrative application of the integrated technique&apos;s use and utility, we use it as a lens for exploring student dropout behavior in three different MOOCs. In particular, we use the model to identify twenty emerging subcommunities within the threaded discussions of each of the three MOOCs. We then use a survival model to measure the impact of participation in identified subcommunities on attrition along the way for students who have participated in the course discussion forums of the three courses. In each of three MOOCs we find evidence that participation in two to four subcommunities out of the twenty is associated with significantly higher or lower dropout rates than average. A qualitative post-hoc analysis illustrates how the learned models can be used as a lens for understanding the values and focus of discussions within the subcommunities, and in the illustrative example to think about the association between those and detected higher or lower dropout rates than average in the three courses. Our qualitative analysis demonstrates that the patterns that emerge make sense: It associates evidence of stronger expressed motivation to actively participate in the course as well as evidence of stronger cognitive engagement with the material in subcommunities associated with lower attrition, and the opposite in subcommunities associated with higher attrition. We conclude with a discussion of ways the modeling approach might be applied, along with caveats from limitations, and directions for future work.
A Comparison of Learner Intent and Behaviour in Live and Archived MOOCs
Author: Campbell, Jennifer
Date: 2014-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Online Courses,Large Group Instruction,Intention,Student Behavior,Statistics,Computer Science,Student Surveys,Student Characteristics,Video Technology,Student Evaluation,Independent Study,Student Participation,Discussion (Teaching Technique),Computer Mediated Communication,Databases,Archives,Educational Objectives,Peer Influence,Cooperative Learning,Course Content,Teacher Role

The advent of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has created opportunities for learning that are clearly in high demand, but the direction in which MOOCs should evolve to best meet the interests and needs of learners is less apparent. Motivated by our interest in whether there are potential and purpose for archived MOOCs to be used as learning resources beyond and between instructor-led live-sessions, we examined the use of a statistics MOOC and a computer science MOOC, both of which were made available as archived-courses after a live-session and for which enrolment continued to grow while archived. Using data collected from surveys of learner demographics and intent, the course database of major learner activity, and the detailed clickstream of all learner actions, we compared the demographics, intent, and behaviour of live- and archived-learners. We found that archived-learners were interested in the live-MOOC and that their patterns of use of course materials, such as the number and sequence of videos they watched, the number of assessments they completed, their demonstration of self-regulatory behaviour, and their rate of participation in the discussion forums, were similar to the live-learners. In addition, we found evidence of learners drawing on an archived-MOOC for use as reference material. Anticipated areas of impact of this work include implications for the future development of MOOCs as resources for self-study and professional development, and in support of learner success in other courses.
Making &quot;MOOCs&quot;: The Construction of a New Digital Higher Education within News Media Discourse
Author: Bulfin, Scott
Date: 2014-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Online Courses,Large Group Instruction,Higher Education,News Media,Educational Technology,Academic Discourse,Educational Change,Electronic Learning,Discourse Analysis,Criticism,Student Recruitment,Credentials,College Faculty

One notable &quot;disruptive&quot; impact of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has been an increased public discussion of online education. While much debate over the potential and challenges of MOOCs has taken place online confined largely to niche communities of practitioners and advocates, the rise of corporate &quot;xMOOC&quot; ventures such as Coursera, edX and Udacity has prompted popular mass media interest at levels not seen with previous educational innovations. This article addresses this important societal outcome of the recent emergence of MOOCs as an educational form by examining the popular discursive construction of MOOCs over the past 24 months within mainstream news media sources in United States, Australia and the UK. In particular, we provide a critical account of what has been an important phase in the history of educational technology--detailing a period when popular discussion of MOOCs has far outweighed actual use/participation. We argue that a critical analysis of MOOC discourse throughout the past two years highlights broader societal struggles over education and digital technology--capturing a significant moment before these debates subside with the anticipated normalization and assimilation of MOOCs into educational practice. This analysis also sheds light on the influences underpinning how many people perceive MOOCs thereby leading to a better understanding of acceptance/adoption and rejection/resistance amongst various professional and popular publics.
A Phenomenological Examination of the Influence of Culture on Treating and Caring for Hispanic Children with Autism
Author: Estrada, Lynette
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Phenomenology,Cultural Influences,Pervasive Developmental Disorders,Autism,Therapy,Family Involvement,Hispanic American Students,Clinical Diagnosis,Demography,Interviews,Parent Surveys,Parent Attitudes,Parent Participation,Social Support Groups,Barriers,Parent Teacher Cooperation,Counselor Client Relationship,Caring,Children,Intervention

Researchers have found that cultural factors may lead to lower rates of diagnosis in Hispanic children with autism and that parents lack the knowledge of therapies and practices used in the treatment of the autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Five research questions guided this phenomenological study. The focus of the first two questions was how culture may affect families seeking assistance; the third question queried how professionals play a part in the choice of therapies ; the fourth question dealt with how do families choose a therapy to aid their child with ASD. The focus of the last question was the involvement of other family members. The major themes included professional influences, concerns for children's futures as adults, parental involvement, and personalismo/familismo. The outcomes of the study demonstrate the influence professionals have on the families and the choices families make to aid their children with ASD. These findings will assist professionals to understand the Hispanic culture as it may relate to having a child with ASD and thus assist families to understand how to acquire the services needed.
The Intuitive Physics of the Equilibrium of the Lever and of the Hydraulic Pressures: Implications for the Teaching of Elementary Physics
Author: Masin, Sergio Cesare
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Physics,Scientific Principles,Science Instruction,Intuition,Scientific Concepts,Knowledge Level,Hypothesis Testing,College Science,Science Experiments,Equations (Mathematics)

The research field of intuitive physics focuses on discrepancies between theoretical and intuitive physical knowledge. Consideration of these discrepancies can help in the teaching of elementary physics. However, evidence shows that theoretical and intuitive physical knowledge may also be congruent. Physics teaching could further benefit from understanding the reasons for this congruence. The present study explored these reasons by investigating the intuitive physics of the equilibrium of the lever and of the hydraulic pressures. It was found that the intuitive-physics law of the lever was multiplicative for all participants while the intuitive-physics law of the hydraulic pressures differed among participants. Since these laws are equally simple and the layman probably has had extensive experience with the lever and scarce or no experience with the hydraulic lift, these findings support the general hypothesis that physical laws and corresponding intuitive-physics laws are congruent when people have had experience with the respective phenomena. The results and theoretical considerations suggest two strategic principles for teaching elementary physics.
A Functional Measurement Study on Averaging Numerosity
Author: Tira, Michael D.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Number Concepts,Number Systems,Numbers,Science Experiments,Mathematical Formulas,Problem Solving,Undergraduate Students,Courseware,Computer Uses in Education,Stimuli,Reaction Time,Computation,Mathematical Models,Foreign Countries,Teaching Methods

In two experiments, participants judged the average numerosity between two sequentially presented dot patterns to perform an approximate arithmetic task. In Experiment 1, the response was given on a 0-20 numerical scale (categorical scaling), and in Experiment 2, the response was given by the production of a dot pattern of the desired numerosity (numerosity production). The experiments found that the responses were shaped according to an averaging integration model. This suggests the linearity in the response scale of both of the response methods in the approximate arithmetic task.
An Information Integration Study on the Intuitive Physics of the Newton&apos;s Cradle
Author: De Sá Teixeira, Nuno Alexandre
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Science Instruction,Physics,Scientific Principles,Motion,Energy,Kinetics,Science Experiments,Laboratory Equipment,Prediction,Scientific Concepts,College Students,Visual Stimuli,Equations (Mathematics),Algebra,Cognitive Processes,Models,Pictorial Stimuli,Foreign Countries

Newton's cradle, a device consisting of a chain of steel balls suspended in alignment, has been used extensively in physics teaching to demonstrate the principles of conservation of momentum and kinetic energy in elastic collisions. The apparent simplicity of the device allows one to test commonly hold views regarding the intuitive understanding of physics by lay people. We present and discuss the results of two experiments wherein the extension of the chain, the height of release (experiment 1) and the material of the balls (experiment 2) were systematically varied in graphical depictions of the Newton's cradle. Participants had to estimate the height that the last ball in the chain would reach if a collision took place. The outcomes revealed a sophisticated cognitive model wherein the magnitude of the displacement of the target ball increased in direct proportion with the acceleration of the launcher and in inverse proportion with the number of balls in the chain. The results closely mimicked the predicted behavior of a Newton's cradle if the collisions were not perfectly elastic. This isomorphism shows that judgments of physical events are not detached from the environment, as one seldom sees a perfectly elastic collision, and it speaks unfavorably to the hypothesis that, in such tasks, people rely on simple heuristics.
How Verb Tense Affects the Construal of Action: The Simple Past Tense Leads People into an Abstract Mindset
Author: Carrera, Pilar
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Verbs,Morphemes,Grammar,Alcohol Abuse,Personal Narratives,Models,Spanish,Foreign Countries,Familiarity,Undergraduate Students,Linguistic Theory,Psychology,Statistical Analysis

Two experiments examined the influence of verb tense on how abstractly people construe action representations. Experiment 1 revealed that written descriptions of several daily events using the simple past tense (vs. simple present tense) resulted in actions and the action's target being seen as less likely and less familiar, respectively. In Experiment 2 participants wrote about a personal episode of binge drinking (using the simple past tense vs. simple present tense), and the resulting narratives were coded using the Linguistic Category Model (see Semin &amp; Fiedler, 1991). Results revealed that events were described at a more abstract level when texts were written using the simple past tense (vs. simple present tense). The results are discussed in the context of other effects of verb form and in relation to construal level of events.
Analysis of Rater Severity on Written Expression Exam Using Many Faceted Rasch Measurement
Author: Prieto, Gerardo
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Item Response Theory,Interrater Reliability,Rating Scales,Error of Measurement,Statistics,Statistical Analysis,Scoring Rubrics,Spanish,Second Language Learning,Language Tests,Writing Tests

This paper describes how a Many Faceted Rasch Measurement (MFRM) approach can be applied to performance assessment focusing on rater analysis. The article provides an introduction to MFRM, a description of MFRM analysis procedures, and an example to illustrate how to examine the effects of various sources of variability on test takers' performance on a writing test by means of a MFRM analysis. Results highlight the usefulness of the MFRM to detect raters that have extreme values on the severity continuum. MRFM provides a common metric for the facet scores (test takers, tasks, raters). This is advantageous because it facilitates understanding of the assessment process as well as providing objective measurement of facet elements.
Haptic Identification of Raised-Line Drawings When Categorical Information Is Given: A Comparison between Visually Impaired and Sighted Children
Author: Picard, Delphine
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Visual Impairments,Children,Tactual Perception,Comparative Analysis,Freehand Drawing,Semantics,Cues,Hypothesis Testing,Accuracy,Manipulative Materials,Naming

Research into haptic picture perception has mostly concerned adult participants, and little is known about haptic picture perception in visually impaired and sighted children. In the present study, we compared 13 visually impaired children (early blind and low vision) aged 9-10 years and 13 agematched blindfolded sighted children on their ability to identify raised-line pictures of common objects when information about object category was provided prior to picture presentation (semantic cueing). The visually impaired children had moderate practice with tactile pictures, whereas the sighted controls had no prior practice with tactile pictures. We sought to determine whether the benefits of semantic cueing would add to those of practice, resulting in higher performance in the visually impaired children compared to the sighted controls (hypothesis 1), or whether semantic cueing would compensate for the lack of practice with tactile pictures in the sighted children, leading to a possible disappearance of the advantage of the visually impaired children over the sighted controls (hypothesis 2). In line with hypothesis 1, the results showed that the visually impaired children outperformed the sighted controls on both identification accuracy and response time to correct naming. We concluded that the visually impaired children outperformed the sighted controls because they benefited from both semantic cueing and superior exploration skills. By contrast, in the sighted children, semantic cueing was not sufficient to compensate for their encoding difficulties.
Intuitive Physics of Free Fall: An Information Integration Approach to the Mass-Speed Belief
Author: Vicovaro, Michele
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Physics,Intuition,Scientific Concepts,Beliefs,Perceptual Motor Learning,Theories,Measurement,Science Education,Teaching Methods,Foreign Countries,College Students,Psychology,Vision,Visual Stimuli,Questionnaires

In this study, the intuitive physics of free fall was explored using Information Integration Theory and Functional Measurement. The participants had to rate the speed of objects differing in mass and height of release at the end of an imagined free fall. According to physics, falling speed increases with height of release but it is substantially independent of mass. The results reveal that the participants hold a strong mass-speed belief, i.e., they believe that heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones. Mass and height of release are integrated according to a multiplicative rule. The results are interpreted as providing support to the hypothesis of the perceptual-motor origin of the mass-speed belief. Implications of the results for physics education are discussed.
How Does Speed and Accuracy in Reading Relate to Reading Comprehension in Arabic?
Author: Abu-Leil, Aula Khateeb
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Reading Comprehension,Semitic Languages,Reading Rate,Accuracy,Decoding (Reading),Vowels,Native Speakers,Silent Reading,Oral Reading,Correlation,Grade 8,Junior High School Students,Foreign Countries,Questionnaires

The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential contribution of decoding efficiency to the development of reading comprehension among skilled adult native Arabic speakers. In addition, we tried to investigate the influence of Arabic vowels on reading accuracy, reading speed, and therefore to reading comprehension. Seventy-five Arabic native speakers read fully pointed, unpointed and pseudowords lists of Arabic and silent reading comprehension of pointed and unpointed paragraphs were tested. Reading speed and accuracy measures revealed a slowest and less accurate in reading pseudowords, and fastest and most accurate in reading unpointed words with pointed word naming speed and accuracy in between. Subjects who were fast and accurate in reading isolated words were also fast and accurate in reading all varieties of printed words. Pearson correlation procedures indicated that silent reading comprehension of pointed and unpointed Arabic texts was uncorrelated with either oral reading speed or accuracy. Our findings with regard to the cross-linguistic research literature as well as the specific features of Arabic language are discussed.