Digital Commons Network^™

Can Engagement Be Compared? Measuring Academic Engagement For Comparison, Ling Tan, Xiaoxun Sun, Siek Toon Khoo

Dr Siek Toon Khoo

Student engagement is a reflection of active involvement in learning. In digital learning environment, research studies on engagement have been focused on detecting behavioral and psychological engagement indicators from the patterns of activities using feature engineering, but student engagement estimates were rarely compared across sessions or across domains of learning. This paper describes how this could be done by revisiting engagement instrument, diagnosing engagement indicators, estimating engagement parameters, and equating. This study illustrates how engagement reliability can be improved by refining engagement indictors. We demonstrated through DataShop data that student engagement levels can be compared across domains of learning.

Computer Aided Pronunciation Learning For Al-Jabari Method: A Review, Noor Jamaliah Ibrahim, Mohd Yamani Idna Idris, Zulkifli Mohd Yusoff

Noor Jamaliah Ibrahim

Speech processing for Quranic Arabic is an active field of research, since a few years ago. We propose in this paper, a review on the potential of automatic speech recognition (ASR) computer-based technology to support Quranic learning processes. Thus, the aspects of Computer-Aided Pronunciation Learning (CAPL) are discussed, focusing towards the implementation on Quranic learning through Al-Jabari method. We believe Al-Jabari method is fast and efficient, as well as a practical way of learning Al-Quran. The analysis of CAPL systems towards the implementation in Quranic learning through Al-Jabari method are discussed in details.

Diversity In Times Of Austerity: Documenting Resistance In The Academy, David Moscowitz, Terri Jett, Terri Carney, Tamara Leech, Ann M. Savage

Terri M. Carney

What happens to feminism in the university is parallel to what happens to feminism in other venues under economic restructuring: while the impoverished nation is forced to cut social services and thereby send women back to the hierarchy of the family, the academy likewise reduces its footprint in interdisciplinary structures and contains academic feminists back to the hierarchy of departments and disciplines. When the family and the department become powerful arbiters of cultural values, women and feminist academics by and large suffer: they either accept a diminished role or are pushed to compete in a system they recognize as antithetical …

Implementing A Qep In A Distributed University When Memories Are Short And Changes Are Necessary, Aaron Clevenger, Kelly Whealan George

Aaron D. Clevenger

"Research Tools": Tools For Supporting Research And Publications, Nader Ale Ebrahim

Nader Ale Ebrahim

“Research Tools” can be defined as vehicles that broadly facilitate research and related activities. “Research Tools” enable researchers to collect, organize, analyze, visualize and publicized research outputs. Dr. Nader has collected over 700 tools that enable students to follow the correct path in research and to ultimately produce high-quality research outputs with more accuracy and efficiency. It is assembled as an interactive Web-based mind map, titled “Research Tools”, which is updated periodically. “Research Tools” consists of a hierarchical set of nodes. It has four main nodes: (1) Searching the literature, (2) Writing a paper, (3) Targeting suitable journals, and (4) …

Improving Citations Of Published Articles, Balasubramanian Thiagarajan, Geetha Ramamoorthy

Balasubramanian Thiagarajan

Higher educational institutions are ranked according to the number of citations received for their published work. More the citations better is the ranking. Every researcher hence looks to improve the citation score for their published work. This article attempts to review the various options a researcher has in improving citations. Studies reveal that better the visibility greater is the citation score.

Optimize Your Article For Search Engine, Nader Ale Ebrahim

Nader Ale Ebrahim

This article provides guidelines on how to optimize scholarly literature for academic search engines like Google Scholar, in order to increase the article visibility and citations.

The Influence Of Students’ Racial And Ethnic Identity Development On Their Perceptions Of African American Faculty, Kathleen Neville, Tara L. Parker

Kathleen Neville

Where Is The Evidence? Realising The Value Of Grey Literature For Public Policy & Practice: A Discussion Paper, Amanda Lawrence, John Houghton, Julian Thomas, Paul R. Weldon

Dr Paul Weldon

The internet has profoundly changed how we produce, use and collect research and information for public policy and practice, with grey literature playing an increasingly important role. The authors argue that grey literature (i.e. material produced and published by organisations without recourse to the commercial or scholarly publishing industry) is a key part of the evidence produced and used for public policy and practice. Through surveys of users, producing organisations and collecting services a detailed picture is provided of the importance and economic value of grey literature. However, finding and accessing policy information is a time-consuming task made harder by …

Assessing Public Relations Student Learning And Performance In Real World Client Campaigns And Projects, Douglas J. Swanson Ed.D Apr

Douglas J. Swanson, Ed.D APR

Extensive research affirms the benefits of engaging public relations undergraduates in campaigns and projects for real world clients. At the same time, instructors often have difficulty evaluating student learning and performance in such work, for three reasons: (1.) In order for the work to truly be real world, instructors must allow students a high level of autonomy. (2.) Clients are often poor judges of appropriate public relations practice. (3.) Students often hesitate to inform instructors of strategic challenges or team member negligence or malfeasance. This poster session presents a brief overview of assessment concepts affirming why it is important to …

More Than Just Plain Old Technology Adoption: Understanding Variations In Teachers' Use Of An Online Planning Tool, Heather Leary, Victor R. Lee, Mimi Recker

Heather Leary, Ph.D.

This paper examines variability in teachers’ usage patterns as they interacted with an online teacher support tool, the Curriculum Customization Service (CCS), as part of their professional work. The CCS is a web application that supports teachers in planning, adapting, sequencing, and enacting differentiated instruction in Earth science education. By mining the usage log files of over 40 teachers who used the CCS over a yearlong period, we analyzed for variability using a framework developed in marketing research to characterize appropriation of technology. This analysis helped reveal different kinds of teachers’ patterns along two dimensions: frequency and variability of use. …

More Than Just Plain Old Technology Adoption: Understanding Variations In Teachers' Use Of An Online Planning Tool, Heather Leary, Victor R. Lee, Mimi Recker

Heather Leary, Ph.D.

This paper examines variability in teachers’ usage patterns as they interacted with an online teacher support tool, the Curriculum Customization Service (CCS), as part of their professional work. The CCS is a web application that supports teachers in planning, adapting, sequencing, and enacting differentiated instruction in Earth science education. By mining the usage log files of over 40 teachers who used the CCS over a yearlong period, we analyzed for variability using a framework developed in marketing research to characterize appropriation of technology. This analysis helped reveal different kinds of teachers’ patterns along two dimensions: frequency and variability of use. …

Explicit Form Focus Instruction: The Effects On Implicit And Explicit Knowledge Of Esl Learners, Mandana Rohollahzadeh Ebadi

Mandana Rohollahzadeh Ebadi

The study examines the effect of explicit form focus instruction and specifically metalinguistic information feedback on the development of both implicit and explicit knowledge of adult English as a Second Language (ESL) learners. Ninety-one subjects at the lower intermediate level were carefully selected through placement test at one of the selected education centre in Kuala Lumpur and randomly assigned into experimental and control groups by the researcher. A quantitative study was conducted over approximately four weeks in 16 sessions. Modal (can and have to), past tense with –ed, Present perfect (since and for), Comparatives, Unreal conditionals were chosen as the …

A Review Of Victoria’S Developmental Learning Framework For School Leaders, Lawrence Ingvarson

Dr Lawrence Ingvarson (Consultant)

The Department of Education and Training, Victoria launched the Developmental Learning Framework for School Leaders (DLF) in March 2007 as a central component of the 2003 Blueprint for Government Schools (DET, 2003). Six years later, a decision was made to review the DLF and seek advice on the extent to which it may need revision or redevelopment.In June 2013, the Bastow Institute of Educational Leadership commissioned the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to conduct an independent review of Framework for School Leaders (DLF). The brief was to conduct a critical assessment of the content, design, and usability of the …

A Socratic Café For Critical Inquiry, Jody Piro, Gina Anderson

Jody Piro

This presentation will explore the completed research inquiry that developed from our overt attempt to promote critical thinking in an online forum. The implications for advancing critical inquiry in online formats for interdisciplinary university content areas will be addressed. The objectives of this session are twofold: 1) to introduce participants to the nine intellectual standards (Elder & Paul, 2007) used to analyze the critical thinking and Socratic questioning in our research, and 2) to discuss the structuring of critical analysis in participants' own classrooms. Participants can expect to participate in a cooperative learning activity to practice the use of Intellectual …

Australian Medical Assessment Collaboration: From Proof Of Concept To Proof Of Sustainability: Final Report 2014, Daniel Edwards, David Wilkinson

Dr Daniel Edwards

This is the final report for AMAC-2, entitled Australian Medical Assessment Collaboration: from proof of concept to proof of sustainability (OLT project ID12-2482). This project advanced previous work funded by the ALTC and was undertaken from early 2013 to mid 2014. AMAC-2 took the proof of concept achieved through the initial AMAC project with the aim of building an ongoing, sustainable and successful collaboration between medical schools in Australia and New Zealand.

Implementing Common Assessment: Lessons And Models From Amac Developed By The Australian Medical Assessment Collaboration, Daniel Edwards

Dr Daniel Edwards

The aim of this document is to provide insight into the implementation of common assessments in higher education in order to assist in future work on conducting these kinds of projects. The discussion here draws heavily on the AMAC experience, attempting to broaden the learning from this project for use in future collaborations. The focus of this project has been on medical education, and as such, much of the detail is related to this field. However, it is hoped that the general ideas discussed here can be seen as informative for other fields and disciplines in higher education and at …

Standards For Educational, Edutainment, And Developmentally Beneficial Computer Games, R. Peterson, I. Verenikina, J. Herrington

I. Verenikina

The results of a comprehensive review of the body of research concerning the developmental and educational value of computer gaming for children is reported. Based on the review, design criteria are proposed for educational and edutainment computer games. In addition, a hierarchy of educational, edutainment, and entertainment game categories is introduced. It is argued that a standard educational labeling system is needed to assist parents and teachers with selecting computer games. A gap in the research is highlighted with regard to the affordances of computer games to facilitate the development of young children’s higher order thinking. It is recommended that …

Promoting Regional Education Services Integration: Apec University Associations Cross-Border Education Cooperation Workshop: Discussion Paper, Sarah Richardson, Ali Radloff

Dr Sarah Richardson

This discussion paper was prepared to inform the APEC workshop on Promoting Regional Education Services Integration: APEC University Associations Cross-Border Education Cooperation held in Kuala Lumpur from 20–22 May 2014. The workshop brings together university associations to support, pursue and work towards the achievement of the priorities outlined by APEC Economic Leaders. This includes the recognition of best practice in cross-border education (CBE), the identification of existing barriers to CBE, and an examination of ways to progress the priority areas identified. The paper highlights the key considerations for APEC economies in strengthening collaboration around CBE in the university sector and …

Evaluation Of Item Parameter Recovery Estimation By Acer Conquest Software, Luc T. Le, Ray Adams

Dr Luc Tu Le

ACER ConQuest (Adams, Wu, and Wilson, 2012) has been popularly used for analysing testing and assessment data. Two of the most common estimation methods for Rasch measurement models (Rasch, 1960/1980) are available in this software, marginal maximum likelihood estimation (MML) and joint maximum likelihood estimation (JML). This study is concerned with item parameter recovery for the dichotomous Rasch model. Our primary focus is on comparing JML and MML when the assumptions of MML are violated, that is the abilities are not sampled from the distribution that is assumed in the estimation.

How Have Music Student Teachers Done On The Edtpa So Far?, David W. Snyder

David W. Snyder

This article contains the results from a recent pilot study of the edTPA student teacher assessment to be used in Illinois startingn in 2015. Student scores on the edTPA were evaluated in order to reveal areas of weakness in student teacher preparation.

Economic Growth And Internet Usage Impact On Publication Productivity Among Asean’S And World’S Best Universities, Hossein Gholizadeh, Hadi Salehi, Mohamed Amin Embi, Mahmoud Danaee, Ali Ordi, Farid Habibi Tanha,, Nader Ale Ebrahim, Noor Azuan Abu Osman

Nader Ale Ebrahim

Measuring the number of papers which are published each year, publication productivity is the factor which shows the reputation of universities and countries. However, the effect of growing economy and using internet on the publication productivity in Asian countries has not been discovered yet. The present research is going to figure out the publication productivity among the elite universities in Asian countries and also ten top universities around the world in the last twenty years (from 1993 to 2012). Furthermore, the current research is aimed to study the relationship among publication, gross domestic product (GDP) and internet usage. It is …

Evaluation Of Item Parameter Recovery Estimation By Acer Conquest Software, Luc T. Le, Ray Adams

Professor Ray Adams

ACER ConQuest (Adams, Wu, and Wilson, 2012) has been popularly used for analysing testing and assessment data. Two of the most common estimation methods for Rasch measurement models (Rasch, 1960/1980) are available in this software, marginal maximum likelihood estimation (MML) and joint maximum likelihood estimation (JML). This study is concerned with item parameter recovery for the dichotomous Rasch model. Our primary focus is on comparing JML and MML when the assumptions of MML are violated, that is the abilities are not sampled from the distribution that is assumed in the estimation.

Effective Use Of Research & Publication Tools And Resources – Part 2, Nader Ale Ebrahim

Nader Ale Ebrahim

With the increasing use of information and communications technology (ICT), researchers are able to use computer software tools to find, organize, analyze, and share relevant information. However, there are hundreds of such tools to select from, for various research-related uses. Nader has collected over 700 tools that can help researchers do their work efficiently. It is assembled as an interactive Web-based mind map, titled “Research Tools”, which is updated periodically. “Research Tools” consists of a hierarchical set of nodes. It has four main nodes: (1) Searching the literature, (2) Writing a paper, (3) Targeting suitable journals, and (4) Enhancing visibility …

Effective Use Of Research & Publication Tools And Resources – Part 1, Nader Ale Ebrahim

Nader Ale Ebrahim

With the increasing use of information and communications technology (ICT), researchers are able to use computer software tools to find, organize, analyze, and share relevant information. However, there are hundreds of such tools to select from, for various research-related uses. Nader has collected over 700 tools that can help researchers do their work efficiently. It is assembled as an interactive Web-based mind map, titled “Research Tools”, which is updated periodically. “Research Tools” consists of a hierarchical set of nodes. It has four main nodes: (1) Searching the literature, (2) Writing a paper, (3) Targeting suitable journals, and (4) Enhancing visibility …

Promoting Regional Education Services Integration: Apec University Associations Cross-Border Education Cooperation Workshop: Discussion Paper, Sarah Richardson, Ali Radloff

Ali Radloff

This discussion paper was prepared to inform the APEC workshop on Promoting Regional Education Services Integration: APEC University Associations Cross-Border Education Cooperation held in Kuala Lumpur from 20–22 May 2014. The workshop brings together university associations to support, pursue and work towards the achievement of the priorities outlined by APEC Economic Leaders. This includes the recognition of best practice in cross-border education (CBE), the identification of existing barriers to CBE, and an examination of ways to progress the priority areas identified. The paper highlights the key considerations for APEC economies in strengthening collaboration around CBE in the university sector and …

Depicting Estimates Using The Intercept In Meta-Regression Models: The Moving Constant Technique, Blair T. Johnson Dr., Tania B. Huedo-Medina Dr.

Blair T. Johnson

In any scientific discipline, the ability to portray research patterns graphically often aids greatly in interpreting a phenomenon. In part to depict phenomena, the statistics and capabilities of meta-analytic models have grown increasingly sophisticated. Accordingly, this article details how to move the constant in weighted meta-analysis regression models (viz. “meta-regression”) to illuminate the patterns in such models across a range of complexities. Although it is commonly ignored in practice, the constant (or intercept) in such models can be indispensible when it is not relegated to its usual static role. The moving constant technique makes possible estimates and confidence intervals at …

Plenary 4 - Indigenous And Rural Students: Double Whammy Or Golden Opportunity? Evidence From South Australia And Around The World, Petra Lietz, I Gusti Ngurah Darmawan, Lester-Irabinna Rigney, R. John Halsey, Carol Aldous

Dr Petra Lietz

No abstract provided.

Session C - Learning Before The School Years: Benefits For Life, Joe Sparling, Susan Krieg, Marion Meiers

Marion Meiers (1941-2018)

Concurrent session

Equality Of Google Scholar With Web Of Science Citations: Case Of Malaysian Engineering Highly Cited Papers, Nader Ale Ebrahim, Hadi Salehi, Mohamed Amin Embi, Mahmoud Danaee, Marjan Mohammadjafari, Azam Zavvari, Masoud Shakiba, Masoomeh Shahbazi-Moghadam

Nader Ale Ebrahim

This study uses citation analysis from two citation tracking databases, Google Scholar (GS) and ISI Web of Science, in order to test the correlation between them and examine the effect of the number of paper versions on citations. The data were retrieved from the Essential Science Indicators and Google Scholar for 101 highly cited papers from Malaysia in the field of engineering. An equation for estimating the citation in ISI based on Google scholar is offered. The results show a significant and positive relationship between both citation in Google Scholar and ISI Web of Science with the number of versions. …