Dr. Jekyll vis-à-vis Mr. Hyde: Personality variation between virtual and real worlds

Organizations use virtual-worlds to enhance group discussion; it allows an individual to decouple his or her rendered from actual behavior; resulting in others perceiving him or her to have two or more personalities. Building on self-regulation theory, we examined how satisfaction in the virtual-world was affected by these personality differences. A field study was conducted to attempt to understand this; it involved 297 students engaged in a virtual tutorial group using Second Life. We found that small variations in personality between the virtual and real world groups (such as being helpful, sociable, seeking recognition, or submissive) could lead to greater satisfaction of the discussion.     

Qualitative findings of students’ perception on practice of self-regulated strategies in online community discussion

With rapid emergence to the birth of the knowledge era, an active and interactive learning environment is fundamental to any teaching and learning process. Over time, negative implications of traditional learning environment are mounting, and measures must be taken to challenge it. With extensive research on available learning tools, it has become more feasible to provide our students with better learning opportunities. Such was the anticipation in the Malaysian educational context. Hence, this paper aims to address qualitative findings of a study on self-regulated learning strategies conveyed through the proposed interactive e-learning community (iELC). In duration of eight weeks, students (n = 50) from regular national secondary schools were subjected to online learning tasks aimed to advance strategies on self-regulated learning. To date, strategies of self-regulated learning have been perceived as key to learner to succeed academically and after the schooling years. By means of semi-structured interview, data were collected from small group and one-to-one perception. Results were directed at the overall development of self-regulated learning strategies and its diffusion in the iELC discussion platform. Conclusively, these findings add significantly to the understanding of self-regulated learning strategies in an online learning environment.     

Grounded design: Design patterns as the link between theory and practice

The process of designing a networked learning environment can be characterized by a high degree of uncertainty. This is especially true when the design includes innovative technologies. It is difficult to design a networked learning environment that closely fits the requirements of the educational practice. Often the technology seems leading in the design process because it is the most tangible aspect of the e-learning environment. This brings along the risk that the technology becomes detached from its context of use.Design patterns are a means to overcome this problem of detachment between design and practice. Design patterns make the tight relationship between the two more explicit. In this paper we further elaborate on the relationship between design and practice. We will stress the importance of theory in the development of design patterns. Theory development is an essential aspect of our approach to the development of design patterns. The approach is oriented towards a systematic analysis of problems and the development of conceptual models that guide the definition and evaluation of design patterns. In this paper we present a case study of how the approach was used to develop design patterns for networked learning in the classroom.     

The effect of moderator’s facilitative strategies on online synchronous discussions

Moderators play an important role within a computer supported collaborative learning environment, and thus facilitative strategies and communication technology are nowadays used to enhance students’ learning. This study proposed facilitative strategies as a guide for students’ learning, and explored the influence of these strategies on the students’ online synchronous discussion. A total of 331 senior high school students from eight computer classes in northern Taiwan were recruited to participate in this study. They were randomly assigned into an experimental condition, with the moderators’ facilitation to complete online learning tasks, and the control condition without moderators’ support. To fulfill the goal of the research, four strategies—helping students focus on the main topic, facilitating students’ making argumentation, giving students positive feedback, and helping students sustain threaded discussion—were adopted to facilitate the online synchronous discussion in the experimental condition. According to the results of the content analysis, four group discussion patterns were revealed, including collaboration, centralization, partial contribution, and non-interaction. The findings suggest that the moderator helped enhance the collaboration pattern and increase the online participation rate. In addition, it was found that the strategies of helping students focus on the main topic and giving students positive feedback were frequently employed.     

Predicting social cues during online discussions: Effects of evaluations and knowledge content

This study examined whether evaluations (agreements, disagreements), knowledge content (new ideas, justifications), or social cues (SCs) in recent messages affected a current message’s positive or negative SC during asynchronous, online discussions. Using statistical discourse analysis, we modeled 894 messages by 183 participants on 60 high school mathematics topics (typically eight people posted per topic) on a mathematics problem solving website not connected to any class or school. Results showed that recent agreements increased the likelihood of positive SC, whereas justifications reduced it. Disagreements increased the likelihood of negative SC, whereas new ideas reduced it. Meanwhile, recent positive or negative SCs did not affect the likelihood of a subsequent SC. Together, these results suggest that judicious use of positive SCs rather than negative SCs during disagreements can help students both construct knowledge and maintain social relationships.     

哈佛大学本科生创新教育的特色及其借鉴意义

哈佛大学独特的创新教育思想,让所有哈佛学子在学校得到最可贵的东西：信心和方法;特色的本科生住宿制学院式生活方式,为本科生营造了良好的创新环境;典型的教学方法和模式,有效地培养了本科生独立思考问题、解决问题和决策的能力等。这些举措,对于我国当前高等院校大学生创新教育,都有一定的借鉴意义。     

漓江生态及环境补水目标流量的探讨

分析了漓江水文水资源情况及其存在的时间分布矛盾,回顾了漓江补水项目开展以来关于补水目标的主要争论.从满足生产生活用水、游船单向通航用水、双向通航用水、景观环境用水、生态环境用水、航道升级以及多目标综合用水等方面,探讨了漓江补水目标流量如何确定.     

高校教学方法的改革

教学方法和教学手段改革是教学改革的基础,是培养学生创新精神、实践能力和学习能力的有效途径,是提高教学质量的必要保障。主要介绍教学方法和教学手段改革方法,可以了解多种高校教学改革的方法。     

开封大学高职学生创新能力调查研究

高职院校不仅要强化岗位技能的训练,还应注重学生创新能力的培养。通过对开封大学12名教育改革创新工作者和1200名来自不同年级和专业的在校高职学生进行小组访谈和问卷调查,分析了高职学生创新能力培养中存在的问题,并从创新教育理念、建设创新型师资队伍、构建适应的教学体系、加强实习基地建设、构建多元评价体系6个方面提出了改革对策。     

固井质量综合评价方法探讨

介绍并分析了目前固井质量评价中存在的主要问题,探讨了客观评价固井质量的方法。目前国内大部分油田采用声幅测井(CBL)评价固井质量,虽然声波/变密度测井(VDL)技术也正在作为基本的固井评价手段加以推广和应用,但是仍显不足,比如受微环隙、快速地层等因素的影响,测井资料易出现多解,常造成对固井质量的误判。本文着重针对以上两个因素的影响,介绍了应用多种测井方法组合的综合评价方法,并通过实例证明,得到了较好的效果。