Rough set-based reasoning and pattern mining for information filtering

An information filtering (IF) system monitors an incoming document stream to find the documents that match the information needs specified by the user profiles. To learn to use the user profiles effectively is one of the most challenging tasks when developing an IF system. With the document selection criteria better defined based on the users’ needs, filtering large streams of information can be more efficient and effective. To learn the user profiles, term-based approaches have been widely used in the IF community because of their simplicity and directness. Term-based approaches are relatively well established. However, these approaches have problems when dealing with polysemy and synonymy, which often lead to an information overload problem. Recently, pattern-based approaches (or Pattern Taxonomy Models (PTM) [160]) have been proposed for IF by the data mining community. These approaches are better at capturing sematic information and have shown encouraging results for improving the effectiveness of the IF system. On the other hand, pattern discovery from large data streams is not computationally efficient. Also, these approaches had to deal with low frequency pattern issues. The measures used by the data mining technique (for example, “support” and “confidences”) to learn the profile have turned out to be not suitable for filtering. They can lead to a mismatch problem. This thesis uses the rough set-based reasoning (term-based) and pattern mining approach as a unified framework for information filtering to overcome the aforementioned problems. This system consists of two stages - topic filtering and pattern mining stages. The topic filtering stage is intended to minimize information overloading by filtering out the most likely irrelevant information based on the user profiles. A novel user-profiles learning method and a theoretical model of the threshold setting have been developed by using rough set decision theory. The second stage (pattern mining) aims at solving the problem of the information mismatch. This stage is precision-oriented. A new document-ranking function has been derived by exploiting the patterns in the pattern taxonomy. The most likely relevant documents were assigned higher scores by the ranking function. Because there is a relatively small amount of documents left after the first stage, the computational cost is markedly reduced; at the same time, pattern discoveries yield more accurate results. The overall performance of the system was improved significantly. The new two-stage information filtering model has been evaluated by extensive experiments. Tests were based on the well-known IR bench-marking processes, using the latest version of the Reuters dataset, namely, the Reuters Corpus Volume 1 (RCV1). The performance of the new two-stage model was compared with both the term-based and data mining-based IF models. The results demonstrate that the proposed information filtering system outperforms significantly the other IF systems, such as the traditional Rocchio IF model, the state-of-the-art term-based models, including the BM25, Support Vector Machines (SVM), and Pattern Taxonomy Model (PTM).

Internships : effective work integrated learning for law students

Work experience which is integrated into an undergraduate law degree has a vital role to play in assisting law students to develop the skills and attributes they need in order to be effective legal practitioners. Work integrated learning provides a context for students to develop their skills, to see the link between theory and practice and supports students in making the transition from university to practice. The literature in Australian legal education has given little consideration to the design of legal internship subjects (as distinct from legal clinic programs). Accordingly the design of internship subjects needs to be carefully considered to ensure alignment of learning objectives, learning tasks and assessment. This paper will examine the literature relating to internships, particularly in a legal context, and will propose some principles for the design of legal internships. These principles will be considered in light of an evaluation of a newly designed undergraduate legal internship subject.

Developing the descriptions of landmark teaching styles : a spectrum inventory

Mosston & Ashworth‟s Spectrum of Teaching styles was first published in 1966 and is potentially the longest surviving model of teaching within the field of physical education. Its longevity and influence is surely testament to its value and influence. Many tools have also been developed through the years based on The Spectrum of Teaching Styles. In 2005 as part of a doctoral study, this tool was developed by the author, Dr Edwards and Dr Ashworth for researchers and teachers to identify which teaching styles were being utilised from The Spectrum when teaching physical education. It could also be utilised for self-assessment of the teaching styles and individual uses, or those who work with Physical Education Teacher Education courses. The development of this tool took approximately 4 months, numerous emails and meetings. This presentation will outline this process, along with the reasons why such a tool was developed and the differences between it and others like it.

“Just try harder and you will shine” : a Study of 20 lazy children

Attributions of laziness, reflected in teacher comments such as “just try harder and you will shine” may mask specific cognitive, learning, attentional or emotional problems that could explain low motivation in some children. This paper reports findings from an investigation of 20 children, aged 7 to 10 years, who were regarded as lazy by their parents and teachers. Questionnaire measures provided evidence of low levels of motivation and classroom engagement. Psychometric assessments revealed the presence of a range of difficulties including phonologically-based learning disabilities and significant problems with attention in 17 of the 20 children. The paper concludes that the special needs of an unknown number of children may be overlooked because they are simply presumed to be lazy.

Personalized recommender systems integrating social tags and item taxonomy

The social tags in web 2.0 are becoming another important information source to profile users' interests and preferences to make personalized recommendations. To solve the problem of low information sharing caused by the free-style vocabulary of tags and the long tails of the distribution of tags and items, this paper proposes an approach to integrate the social tags given by users and the item taxonomy with standard vocabulary and hierarchical structure provided by experts to make personalized recommendations. The experimental results show that the proposed approach can effectively improve the information sharing and recommendation accuracy.

Conceptions of learning held by upper primary children in government schools in Brunei Darussalam

The current study examined the conceptions of learning held by upper primary children in government schools in Brunei. Previous studies have shown that the conceptions of learning held by students influence the ways in which they approach learning tasks and, in turn, impact on their learning outcomes. However, the majority of these studies were carried out with university and secondary school students, with little research involving primary school children. A phenomenographic research approach was used to describe the qualitatively different ways in which a group of sixteen upper primary children experienced learning in two government schools in Brunei. Data were gathered using scenariobased semi]structured interviews. Iterative cycles of analysis revealed three categories of description depicting three qualitatively different ways in which the children experienced the phenomenon. The three categories of description were: learning as acquiring information (Category 1), learning as remembering information (Category 2) and learning as doing hands]on activities (Category 3). These categories indicate a variation in the ways in which upper primary children experience learning in government schools in Brunei. The conceptions of learning held by the children provide a platform from which educators and policy]makers can consider possibilities for meaningful learning in government schools in Brunei.

Transforming Queensland VET : Challenges and Opportunities (volume 2)

This volume is the second in a series that addresses change and development in the delivery of vocational and education programs in Queensland. A similar volume was published in 2007. Considerable change was foreshadowed for TAFE Queensland by the release of The Queensland Skill Plan (QSP) in 2006. This volume addresses implementation issues for the Actions identified in the QSP. The chapters focus on a breadth of issues that relate to the changing landscape for teaching and learning in TAFE Institutes. The incorporation of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) and e-learning approaches into the delivery of training packages remain key foci for change, as was evident in the first volume of this series. The chapters also consider issues for some client groups in VET, as well as approaches to professional development to build the capabilities of staff for new teaching and learning environments. The chapter by Sandra Lawrence examines the professional development issues for staff across TAFE institutes in the implementation of the Learning Management System. Suzanne Walsh discusses the issues of new “learning spaces” and “Mode 2 learning in the re-development at Southbank Institute. The chapter by Angela Simpson focuses on VET in schools and school-to-work transition programs. Josie Drew, in her chapter, takes up the issues of embedding employability skills into the delivery of training packages through flexible delivery. The chapter by Colleen Hodgins focuses on the organisational challenges for Lead Institutes in relation to the professional development for TAFE educators in light of policy changes. Bradley Jones discusses the changing roles of libraries in VET contexts and their importance. He examines the adequacy of the VOCED database and reflects on the current nature, role, and practices of VET libraries. Finally, Piero Dametto discusses the pragmatics for TAFE educators in understanding the use of digital objects and learning objects within the LMS and LCMS systems that were presaged in the QSP. These papers were completed by the authors as a part of their postgraduate studies at QUT. The views reported are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Queensland Department of Education, Training and the Arts. Donna Berthelsen Faculty of Education Queensland University of Technology

Transforming Queensland VET : Challenges and Opportunities (Volume 3)

The volume is the third in a series that addresses change and development in the delivery of VET programs in Queensland. The chapters address a breadth of issues that relate to the changing landscape for teaching and learning in VET programs through e-learning. Organisational change is a key focus of this volume. James Waterson examines business and pedagogical perspectives for SkillsTech Australia to create teaching and learning environments that will enrich the learning experience for staff and students. Kerry Emerson explores the ways in which printing teachers might change current practices in order to deliver their training to apprentices and trainees – off-the-job, onthe- job and online, through e-learning. The chapter by Erik Dodwell takes up issues of user-friendly RPL interviews and the challenges to develop a model that may be applied consistently across all industry areas using conversational interviews. The chapters by Linda Roberston, Nina Woodrow, and Anushka Weerackody discuss teaching and learning for specific groups of students. Linda Roberston proposes a vision for learning support teachers in which the learner is encouraged to be a self-directed and autonomous learner who is capable of utilising e-learning resources and is information literate. Nina Woodrow presents a case for the diminished sense of occupational identity by adult literacy teachers and the implications of this loss of expertise across the VET sector. Constructive strategies for change are outlined. The chapter by Anushka Weerackody explores ideas to enhance the practices of ESL teachers in TAFE Queensland through an online community of practice. The issues of on-the-job training through e-learning for various trades is considered by Anne-Louise Johnston and the benefits and challenges for SkillsTech Australia in developing training partnerships with industry to deliver these changes. These papers were completed by the authors as a part of their postgraduate studies at QUT. The views reported are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Queensland Department of Education and Training. Donna Berthelsen and Lauren Vogel Faculty of Education Queensland University of Technology December 2009

Digital kids, analogue students : a mixed methods study of students' engagement with a school-based Web 2.0 learning innovation

The inquiry documented in this thesis is located at the nexus of technological innovation and traditional schooling. As we enter the second decade of a new century, few would argue against the increasingly urgent need to integrate digital literacies with traditional academic knowledge. Yet, despite substantial investments from governments and businesses, the adoption and diffusion of contemporary digital tools in formal schooling remain sluggish. To date, research on technology adoption in schools tends to take a deficit perspective of schools and teachers, with the lack of resources and teacher ‘technophobia’ most commonly cited as barriers to digital uptake. Corresponding interventions that focus on increasing funding and upskilling teachers, however, have made little difference to adoption trends in the last decade. Empirical evidence that explicates the cultural and pedagogical complexities of innovation diffusion within long-established conventions of mainstream schooling, particularly from the standpoint of students, is wanting. To address this knowledge gap, this thesis inquires into how students evaluate and account for the constraints and affordances of contemporary digital tools when they engage with them as part of their conventional schooling. It documents the attempted integration of a student-led Web 2.0 learning initiative, known as the Student Media Centre (SMC), into the schooling practices of a long-established, high-performing independent senior boys’ school in urban Australia. The study employed an ‘explanatory’ two-phase research design (Creswell, 2003) that combined complementary quantitative and qualitative methods to achieve both breadth of measurement and richness of characterisation. In the initial quantitative phase, a self-reported questionnaire was administered to the senior school student population to determine adoption trends and predictors of SMC usage (N=481). Measurement constructs included individual learning dispositions (learning and performance goals, cognitive playfulness and personal innovativeness), as well as social and technological variables (peer support, perceived usefulness and ease of use). Incremental predictive models of SMC usage were conducted using Classification and Regression Tree (CART) modelling: (i) individual-level predictors, (ii) individual and social predictors, and (iii) individual, social and technological predictors. Peer support emerged as the best predictor of SMC usage. Other salient predictors include perceived ease of use and usefulness, cognitive playfulness and learning goals. On the whole, an overwhelming proportion of students reported low usage levels, low perceived usefulness and a lack of peer support for engaging with the digital learning initiative. The small minority of frequent users reported having high levels of peer support and robust learning goal orientations, rather than being predominantly driven by performance goals. These findings indicate that tensions around social validation, digital learning and academic performance pressures influence students’ engagement with the Web 2.0 learning initiative. The qualitative phase that followed provided insights into these tensions by shifting the analytics from individual attitudes and behaviours to shared social and cultural reasoning practices that explain students’ engagement with the innovation. Six indepth focus groups, comprising 60 students with different levels of SMC usage, were conducted, audio-recorded and transcribed. Textual data were analysed using Membership Categorisation Analysis. Students’ accounts converged around a key proposition. The Web 2.0 learning initiative was useful-in-principle but useless-in-practice. While students endorsed the usefulness of the SMC for enhancing multimodal engagement, extending peer-topeer networks and acquiring real-world skills, they also called attention to a number of constraints that obfuscated the realisation of these design affordances in practice. These constraints were cast in terms of three binary formulations of social and cultural imperatives at play within the school: (i) ‘cool/uncool’, (ii) ‘dominant staff/compliant student’, and (iii) ‘digital learning/academic performance’. The first formulation foregrounds the social stigma of the SMC among peers and its resultant lack of positive network benefits. The second relates to students’ perception of the school culture as authoritarian and punitive with adverse effects on the very student agency required to drive the innovation. The third points to academic performance pressures in a crowded curriculum with tight timelines. Taken together, findings from both phases of the study provide the following key insights. First, students endorsed the learning affordances of contemporary digital tools such as the SMC for enhancing their current schooling practices. For the majority of students, however, these learning affordances were overshadowed by the performative demands of schooling, both social and academic. The student participants saw engagement with the SMC in-school as distinct from, even oppositional to, the conventional social and academic performance indicators of schooling, namely (i) being ‘cool’ (or at least ‘not uncool’), (ii) sufficiently ‘compliant’, and (iii) achieving good academic grades. Their reasoned response therefore, was simply to resist engagement with the digital learning innovation. Second, a small minority of students seemed dispositionally inclined to negotiate the learning affordances and performance constraints of digital learning and traditional schooling more effectively than others. These students were able to engage more frequently and meaningfully with the SMC in school. Their ability to adapt and traverse seemingly incommensurate social and institutional identities and norms is theorised as cultural agility – a dispositional construct that comprises personal innovativeness, cognitive playfulness and learning goals orientation. The logic then is ‘both and’ rather than ‘either or’ for these individuals with a capacity to accommodate both learning and performance in school, whether in terms of digital engagement and academic excellence, or successful brokerage across multiple social identities and institutional affiliations within the school. In sum, this study takes us beyond the familiar terrain of deficit discourses that tend to blame institutional conservatism, lack of resourcing and teacher resistance for low uptake of digital technologies in schools. It does so by providing an empirical base for the development of a ‘third way’ of theorising technological and pedagogical innovation in schools, one which is more informed by students as critical stakeholders and thus more relevant to the lived culture within the school, and its complex relationship to students’ lives outside of school. It is in this relationship that we find an explanation for how these individuals can, at the one time, be digital kids and analogue students.

Identifying the learning development of students who are refugees

Students who are refugees need understanding and support to settle successfully into mainstream Australian classrooms. Teachers not aware of students’ prior learning and the process of second language acquisition may have difficulty providing the most appropriate learning environments to meet these students’ needs. This study found that, with no coordination of information on students’ learning backgrounds nor of their learning needs and development, students were in danger of being identified as at-risk of having a learning disability, with little support to substantiate such claims.

Thai students' engagement with cooperative learning in mathematics classrooms

Over the past decade, Thai schools have been encouraged by the Thai Ministry of Education to introduce more student-centred pedagogies such as cooperative learning into their classrooms (Carter, 2006). However, prior research has indicated that the implementation of cooperative learning into Thai schools has been confounded by cultural traditions endemic within Thai schools (Deveney, 2005). The purpose of the study was to investigate how 32 Grade 3 and 32 Grade 4 students enrolled in a Thai school engaged with cooperative learning in mathematics classrooms after they had been taught cooperative learning strategies and skills. These strategies and skills were derived from a conceptual framework that was the outcome of an analysis and synthesis of social learning, behaviourist and socio-cognitive theories found in the research literature. The intervention began with a two week program during which the students were introduced to and engaged in practicing a set of cooperative learning strategies and skills (3 times a week). Then during the next four weeks (3 times a week), these cooperative learning strategies and skills were applied in the contexts of two units of mathematics lessons. A survey of student attitudes with respect to their engagement in cooperative learning was conducted at the conclusion of the six-week intervention. The results from the analysis of the survey data were triangulated with the results derived from the analysis of data from classroom observations and teacher interviews. The analysis of data identified four complementary processes that need to be considered by Thai teachers attempting to implement cooperative learning into their mathematics classrooms. The paper concludes with a set of criteria derived from the results of the study to guide Thai teachers intending to implement cooperative learning strategies and skills in their classrooms.

MiLK. Mobile Learning Kit

The Mobile Learning Kit is a new digital learning application that allows students and teachers to compose, publish, discuss and evaluate their own mobile learning games and events. The research field was interaction design in the context of mobile learning. The research methodology was primarily design-based supported by collaboration between participating disciplines of game design, education and information technology. As such, the resulting MiLK application is a synthesis of current pedagogical models and experimental interaction design techniques and technologies. MiLK is a dynamic learning resource for incorporating both formal and informal teaching and learning practices while exploiting mobile phones and contemporary digital social tools in innovative ways. MiLK explicitly addresses other predominant themes in educational scholarship that relate to current education innovation and reform such as personalised learning, life-long learning and new learning spaces. The success of this project is indicated through rigorous trials and actual uptake of MiLK by international participants in Australia, UK, US and South Africa. MiLK was awarded for excellence in the use of emerging technologies for improved learning and teaching as a finalist (top 3) in the Handheld Learning and Innovation Awards in the UK in 2008. MiLK was awarded funding from the Australasian CRC for Interaction Design in 2008 to prepare the MiLK application for development. MiLK has been awarded over $230,000 from ACID since 2006. The resulting application and research materials are now being commercialised by a new company, ‘ACID Services’.

Curriculum design innovation in flexible science teaching

In this paper you will be introduced to a number of principles which can be used to inform good teaching practice and rigorous curriculum design. Principles relate to: * Application of a common sequence of events for how learners learn; * Accommodating different learning styles; * Adopting a purposeful approach to teaching and learning; * Using assessment as a central driving force in the curriculum and as an organising structure leading to coherence of teaching and learning approach; and * The increasing emphasis that is being placed on the development of generic graduate competencies over and above discipline content knowledge. The principles are particularly significant in relation to adult learning. The paper will use three specific applications as illustrations to help you to learn how these principles can be applied. The illustrations are taken from a second year subject in supercomputing that uses scientific case studies. The subject has been developed (with support from Silicon Graphics Inc. and Intel) to be taught entirely via the Internet.

The 10% rule. Maximising learning through collaborative game design

This paper presents a retrospective view of a game design practice that recently switched from the development of complex learning games to the development of simple authoring tools for students to design their own learning games for each other. We introduce how our ‘10% Rule’, a premise that only 10% of what is learnt during a game design process is ultimately appreciated by the player, became a major contributor to the evolving practice. We use this rule primarily as an analytical and illustrative tool to discuss the learning involved in designing and playing learning games rather than as a scientifically and empirically proven rule. The 10% rule was promoted by our experience as designers and allows us to explore the often overlooked and valuable learning processes involved in designing learning games and mobile games in particular. This discussion highlights that in designing mobile learning games, students are not only reflecting on their own learning processes through setting up structures for others to enquire and investigate, they are also engaging in high-levels of independent inquiry and critical analysis in authentic learning settings. We conclude the paper with a discussion of the importance of these types of learning processes and skills of enquiry in 21st Century learning.

Scaffolding an EFL (English as a foreign language) ‘effective writing’ class in a hybrid learning community

This study sought to establish and develop innovative instructional procedures, in which scaffolding can be expanded and applied, in order to enhance learning of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing skills in an effective hybrid learning community (a combination of face-to-face and online modes of learning) at the university where the researcher is working. Many educational experts still believe that technology has not been harnessed to its potential to meet the new online characteristics and trends. There is also an urgency to reconsider the pedagogical perspectives involved in the utilisation of online learning systems in general and the social interactions within online courses in particular that have been neglected to date. An action research design, conducted in two cycles within a duration of four months, was utilised throughout this study. It was intended not only to achieve a paradigm shift from transmission-absorption to socio-constructivist teaching/learning methodologies but also to inform practice in these technology-rich environments. Five major findings emerged from the study. First, the scaffolding theory has been extended. Two new scaffolding types (i.e., quasi-transcendental scaffolding and transcendental scafolding), two scaffolding aspects (i.e., receptive and productive) and some scaffolding actions (e.g., providing a stimulus, awareness, reminder, or remedy) for EFL writing skills in an effective hybrid learning community have been identified and elaborated on. Second, the EFL ‘Effective Writing’ students used the scaffolds implemented in a hybrid environment to enhance and enrich their learning of writing of English essays. The online activities, conducted after the F2F sessions most of the time, gave students greater opportunities to both reinforce and expand the knowledge they had acquired in the F2F mode. Third, a variety of teaching techniques, different online tasks and discussion topics utilised in the two modes bolstered the students’ interests and engagement in their knowledge construction of how to compose English-language essays. Fourth, through the scaffolded activities, the students learned how to scaffold themselves and thus became independent learners in their future endeavours of constructing knowledge. Fifth, the scaffolding-to-scaffold activities provided the students with knowledge on how to effectively engage in transcendental scaffolding actions and facilitate the learning of English writing skills by less able peers within the learning community. Thus, the findings of this current study extended earlier understandings of scaffolding in an EFL hybrid learning environment and will contribute to the advancement of future ICT-mediated courses in terms of their scaffolding pedagogical aspects.