Information communication technologies and distance education in Sri Lanka: a case study of two universities

Sri Lanka's participation rates in higher education are low and have risen only slightly in the last few decades; the number of places for higher education in the state university system only caters for around 3% of the university entrant age cohort. The literature reveals that the highly competitive global knowledge economy increasingly favours workers with high levels of education who are also lifelong learners. This lack of access to higher education for a sizable proportion of the labour force is identified as a severe impediment to Sri Lanka‟s competitiveness in the global knowledge economy. The literature also suggests that Information and Communication Technologies are increasingly relied upon in many contexts in order to deliver flexible learning, to cater especially for the needs of lifelong learners in today‟s higher educational landscape. The government of Sri Lanka invested heavily in ICTs for distance education during the period 2003-2009 in a bid to increase access to higher education; but there has been little research into the impact of this. To address this lack, this study investigated the impact of ICTs on distance education in Sri Lanka with respect to increasing access to higher education. In order to achieve this aim, the research focused on Sri Lanka‟s effort from three perspectives: policy perspective, implementation perspective and user perspective. A multiple case study research using an ethnographic approach was conducted to observe Orange Valley University‟s and Yellow Fields University‟s (pseudonymous) implementation of distance education programmes using questionnaires, qualitative interviewing and document analysis. In total, data for the analysis was collected from 129 questionnaires, 33 individual interviews and 2 group interviews. The research revealed that ICTs have indeed increased opportunities for higher education; but mainly for people of affluent families from the Western Province. Issues identified were categorized under the themes: quality assurance, location, language, digital literacies and access to resources. Recommendations were offered to tackle the identified issues in accordance with the study findings. The study also revealed the strong presence of a multifaceted digital divide in the country. In conclusion, this research has shown that iii although ICT-enabled distance education has the potential to increase access to higher education the present implementation of the system in Sri Lanka has been less than successful.

The M curve and the performance of Spanish international new ventures

In this paper we address three challenges. First, we discuss how international new ventures (INVs) are probably not explained by the Uppsala model as there is no time for learning about foreign markets in newly born and small firms. Only in the longer term can INVs develop experiential learning to overcome the liability of foreignness as they expand abroad. Second, we advance theoretically on previous research demonstrating that the multinationality−performance relationship of INVs follows a traditional S-shaped relationship, but they first experience a ‘born global illusion’ which leads to a non-traditional M curve. Third, using a panel data analysis for the period 1994–2008 we find empirically that Spanish INVs follow an inverted U curve in the very short term, where no learning takes place, but that experience gained over time yields an M-curve relationship once learning takes place.

Typography for children with reading difficulties: preferences for type in reading books

For children with developmental dyslexia the already challenging task of learning to read is made harder by difficulties with phonological processing and perceptual distortions. As a result, these children may be less motivated to practise their literacy skills. This is problematic in that literacy can only be gained through constant and continued exposure to reading scenarios, and children who are unmotivated to practise are unlikely to develop into fluent readers. Children are active in choosing the books they read and it is therefore important to understand how the typography in those books influences their choice. Research with typically developing children has shown that they have clear opinions about the typography in their reading materials and that these opinions are likely to influence their motivation to read particular books. However, it cannot be assumed that children with reading difficulties read and respond to texts in the same way as children who do not struggle. Through case-studies of three children with reading difficulties, preferences for the typography in their reading books is examined. Looking at elements of typesetting such as spacing and size shows that this group of children is aware of differences in typography and that they have preferences for how their reading books are typeset. These children showed a preference for books that resembled those that their peers are reading rather than those that would, by typographic convention, be considered easier to read. This study is part of ongoing research into the development of alternative materials for teaching literacy skills to children with dyslexia.

A simple method for integrating a complex model into an ensemble data assimilation system using MPI

This paper details a strategy for modifying the source code of a complex model so that the model may be used in a data assimilation context, {and gives the standards for implementing a data assimilation code to use such a model}. The strategy relies on keeping the model separate from any data assimilation code, and coupling the two through the use of Message Passing Interface (MPI) {functionality}. This strategy limits the changes necessary to the model and as such is rapid to program, at the expense of ultimate performance. The implementation technique is applied in different models with state dimension up to $2.7 \times 10^8$. The overheads added by using this implementation strategy in a coupled ocean-atmosphere climate model are shown to be an order of magnitude smaller than the addition of correlated stochastic random errors necessary for some nonlinear data assimilation techniques.

The effects of strategy instruction on writing strategy use for students of different proficiency levels

Learners’ strategy use has been widely researched over the past few decades. However, studies which focus on the impact of strategy instruction on strategy use, and how far learners of different proficiency levels are able to use the strategies taught in an effective manner, are somewhat rare. The focus of this paper is the impact of writing strategy instruction on writing strategy use of a group of 12 second language learners learning to write in English for Academic Purposes classes. Stimulated recall was used to explore whether this impact differed according to the proficiency level of the students, and revealed that for both high and low proficiency learners’ strategy use developed as a result of the instruction. The implications of these findings for strategy instruction design are discussed

Providing extrinsic reward for test performance undermines long-term memory acquisition

Based on numerous studies showing that testing studied material can improve long-term retention more than restudying the same material, it is often suggested that the number of tests in education should be increased to enhance knowledge acquisition. However, testing in real-life educational settings often entails a high degree of extrinsic motivation of learners due to the common practice of placing important consequences on the outcome of a test. Such an effect on the motivation of learners may undermine the beneficial effects of testing on long-term memory because it has been shown that extrinsic motivation can reduce the quality of learning. To examine this issue, participants learned foreign language vocabulary words, followed by an immediate test in which one-third of the words were tested and one-third restudied. To manipulate extrinsic motivation during immediate testing, participants received either monetary reward contingent on test performance or no reward. After 1 week, memory for all words was tested. In the immediate test, reward reduced correct recall and increased commission errors, indicating that reward reduced the number of items that can benefit from successful retrieval. The results in the delayed test revealed that reward additionally reduced the gain received from successful retrieval because memory for initially successfully retrieved words was lower in the reward condition. However, testing was still more effective than restudying under reward conditions because reward undermined long-term memory for concurrently restudied material as well. These findings indicate that providing performance–contingent reward in a test can undermine long-term knowledge acquisition.

Undersökande arbetssätt i NO-undervisningen i grundskolans tidigare årskurser

This thesis deals with the use of inquiry-based approaches in primary school science. The aim is to investigate the goals and purposes that are constituted by the curriculum and by the teachers in interviews and through their teaching in the classroom. The results are used to develop conceptual tools that can be used by teachers’ in their work to support students’ learning of science when using an inquiry-based approach. The thesis is comprised of four papers. In paper one a comparative analysis is made of five Swedish national curricula for compulsory school regarding what students should learn about scientific inquiry. In paper two 20 teachers were interviewed about their own teaching using inquiry. Classroom interactions were filmed and analyzed in papers three and four, which examine how primary teachers use the various activities and purposes of the inquiry classroom to support learning progressions in science. The results of paper one show how the emphasis within and between the two goals of learning to carry out investigations and learning about the nature of science shifted and changed over time in the different curricula. Paper two describes the selective traditions and qualities that were emphasized in the teachers’ accounts of their own teaching. The results of papers three and four show how students need to be involved in the proximate and ultimate purposes of the teaching activities for progression to happen. The ultimate purposes are the scientific purposes for the lesson (as given by the teacher or by the curriculum), whereas the proximate purposes are the more student-centered purposes that through different activities should allow the students to relate their own experiences and language to the ultimate purpose. The results show the importance of proximate purposes working as ends-in-viewin the sense of John Dewey, meaning that the students see the goal of the activity and that they are able to relate to their experiences and familiar language.

Acumulação de capacidades tecnológicas e mecanismos de aprendizagem: um estudo comparativo em duas subsidiárias de empresas multinacionais do setor de tecnologias da informação e comunicação no Brasil

Esta dissertação examina o relacionamento entre o acúmulo de capacidades tecnológicas e os mecanismos de aprendizagem tecnológica em subsidiárias de empresas multinacionais inseridas em economias em desenvolvimento. Este relacionamento é analisado por meio de estudo de caso comparativo de duas subsidiárias do setor de tecnologia da informação e comunicação brasileiro, de diferente países de origem, para as tecnologias associadas ao acesso à internet em alta velocidade, no período de 2004 a 2009. A literatura referente ao desenvolvimento de capacidades tecnológicas em organizações inseridas em economias emergentes evoluiu consideravelmente nos últimos anos, descrevendo vários exemplos da evolução destas capacidades tecnológicas. Porém, ainda são raros os estudos que examinam este processo em subsidiárias de empresas multinacionais presentes em economias emergentes e,mais raros ainda, os estudos que examinam os relacionamentos entre estas trajetórias de acumulação e os seus mecanismos de aprendizado em duas subsidiárias. Com o objetivo de contribuir para o preenchimento dessa lacuna, esta pesquisa buscou enriquecer este debate baseando-se em evidências empíricas primárias e secundárias, para explorar este relacionamento com bastante profundidade e pôde verificar que: 1. Em ambas as subsidiárias pesquisadas houve acumulação de capacidades tecnológicas. Porém, houve uma forte distinção entre estas empresas estudadas em termos da natureza e velocidade de acumulação de capacidades tecnológicas. 2. Também pôde-se identificar um intenso uso de mecanismos intra-organizacionais de fontes internas e de interorganizacionais de fontes externas de aprendizagem tecnológica. Porém, esta característica também apresentou uma grande variabilidade de diversidade e intensidade do uso destes mecanismos, para acumulação de capacidades tecnológicas ao nível da subsidiária. E, a partir destas evidências, pode-se concluir que os diferentes mecanismos de aprendizado tecnológico utilizados pelas organizações inseridas em economias em desenvolvimento desempenham um papel de fundamental relevância não somente para a natureza das capacidades tecnológicas acumuladas, mas também para a intensidade de acumulação. Assim, desta conclusão pode-se interpretar que a Alcatel-Lucent, através de seus esforços de aprendizado tecnológico, está melhor preparada para um contexto competitivo caracterizado por inovações tecnológicas que a ZTE Corporation. Mas este contexto competitivo muitas vezes não se forma em economias emergentes, como a brasileira, que devido à baixa competição e uma crescente necessidade de resultados econômicos de curto prazo faz com que a opção por empresas com o enfoque de custos (ou capacidades operacionais) seja mais valorizada do que empresas com o enfoque de desenvolvimento de capacidades inovadoras capazes de produzir tecnologias. Logo, os resultados desta dissertação sugerem aos gestores destas empresas: (1) a necessidade de um contínuo engajamento em busca de novas fontes de aprendizado tecnológico interno e externo às suas respectivas organizações, de forma a sustentar e acumular novas capacidades tecnológicas operacionais e inovadoras, (2) a importância da qualidade e intensidade dos diversos tipos de relacionamentos e interações internos e externos a estas organizações, de forma a intensificar estes relacionamentos de aprendizado em tecnologias inexistentes nestas organizações. Os resultados desta dissertação também permitem apontar sugestões para gestores governamentais, visto que, no “Plano Nacional de Banda larga”, em desenvolvimento pelo governo federal brasileiro, (1) deve-se incentivar o fortalecimento das parcerias e interações entre as diversas organizações do setor, como as subsidiárias de EMN, as operadoras e centros tecnológicos e universidades locais, de forma a criar projetos mútuos de pesquisa e desenvolvimento de novas tecnologias no setor e, por conseqüência, um maior desenvolvimento tecnológico setorial e (2) buscar através da regulação do setor, que as empresas sejam incentivadas a buscar novos e melhores mecanismos de aprendizagem de forma a consolidar e evoluir as suas capacidades tecnológicas, visando o desenvolvimento tecnológico setorial.

Influência da composição do grupo (turma escolar), entre crianças da primeira serie do 1. grau, sobre a estrutura sócio-afetiva

Neste estudo discutem-se as influências da forma de composição do grupo (turma escolar), entre crianças da primeira série do 1º Grau, em função da maturidade necessária à aprendizagem da leitura e da escrita, relativamente à estrutura e mudança da estrutura sócio-afetiva. O problema teve origem no questionamento em torno do valor da prática e suas possíveis influências sobre o desenvolvimento social da criança que, por volta dos sete anos de idade - coincidindo com a entrada para a escola - é mais fortemente incrementado. O suporte teórico do estudo é dado pela Teoria de Campo de Kurt Lewin. O percentual de indicações positivas (PIP) , o percentual de indicações negativas (PIN) , o destaque da posição sociométrica (D), a qualidade do destaque (Qd) , e a mudança das posições sociométricas dos indivíduos nos grupos (MPS) , - constituiram-se em indicadores da variável composição do grupo. Do estudo realizado conclui-se que as formas homogênea e heterogênea de composição do grupo influenciaram de maneira não significativamente diferente em relação à estrutura e a mudança da estrutura sócio-afetiva do grupo, sendo, portanto, injustificada a prática da homogeneização das classes escolares em relação a estes aspectos.

Avaliando o avaliador: evidências de um experimento de campo sobre as auditorias da CGU

O Brasil praticamente alcançou a provisão universal dos serviços públicos de educação, saúde e assistência social nos últimos anos, mas a qualidade desses serviços ainda está bem atrás da maioria dos países desenvolvidos. As instituições de controle são atores relevantes nesse contexto, pois é seu dever avaliar a efetividade e a eficiência da provisão desses serviços públicos. Entretanto, pouco se sabe sobre a efetividade dessas instituições, especialmente no Brasil. Os artigos de Olken (2007), Reinikka e Svensson (2004) e Di Tella & Schargrodsky (2000) trazem alguns elementos para essa discussão, ao mostrar como e onde políticas de boas práticas podem funcionar em outros países. No Brasil, estudos empíricos sobre essas políticas são escassos. Nesta tese, meu principal objetivo é trazer evidências sobre a efetividade da auditoria pública no Brasil. Utilizando um experimento de campo, eu avalio a efetividade do trabalho de auditoria da Controladoria-Geral da União (CGU) no âmbito do Programa de Fiscalização a partir de Sorteios Públicos. Os principais tópicos discutidos aqui são relativos à gestão de programas em nível local e aos processos licitatórios a eles associados. Os municípios no grupo de tratamento são submetidos a um aumento na probabilidade de receber uma auditoria, enquanto os de controle permanecem com probabilidade inalterada. Os resultados sugerem que os gestores locais são sensíveis ao tratamento quando focamos as licitações, mas não quando a questão é a gestão de programas. Em seguida ao experimento, utilizo um modelo "Fora da Amostra" para sugerir um mecanismo de alocação de recursos financeiros e humanos, para melhorar os níveis de eficiência do trabalho de campo da CGU

Ernst Bloch: esperança e educação em tempos de niilismo

This work aims give evidence of that The hope principle, the philosophical system devised by the German philosopher Ernst Bloch, in which hope assumes an ontological character, offers cognitive support that allows overcoming the void imposed by nihilism today, especially in the field of education. But while it offers cognitive support, it also presents a need that is fulfilled by an educational proposal based on a not-yet-conscious being. An education based on hope has four essential pillars: learning to know, learning to do, learning to be, learning to live together and, most of all, immerging into in the seas of uncertainty. In times when school is a promoter of certainties at the expense of uncertainties, education must not forsake the notion of the unpredictable and immeasurable, nor the need to find ways to enable better understanding of aspect related to the not-yet-be. The employed theoretical and methodological elements in this work paint a corpus through an interactive process in which layers of additional texts are subjected to analysis

Autoconhecimento e práticas corporais: para uma educação transpessoal integradora do saber ao ser no processo de formação inicial dos alunos de educação física

This thesis deals with the self-knowledge importance and corporal practices and the contribution of the Transpersonal Education for the initial formation process of students of Physical Education. In this context, students are stimulated to come in contact with the bases of learning to know, to make, to live together and to be for the promotion of integral education. We give priority to holistic conception of educating based in Emergent Paradigm. In this conception, student in initial formation is led to get back the view of integral being, life and love as education basis. We had as starting point, the essential dimensions to the learning geared toward the embodiment integration, autopoiesis and trans-disciplinarity. This work presents tracks for the teacher formation of Physical Education. It deals with the unfolding of teaching experiences in 2006, in Graduation Course in Physical Education of Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, in subject of Corporal Conscience, offered to undergraduate students which can be characterized as an action-research. This process was chosen as knowledge and intervention method because it allowed knowing and acting at the same time, studying the conditions and results of accomplished experience. In shared meetings with reflected experiences, we appeal to the experiences of situations that had mobilized the corporal, emotional, mental and spiritual dimensions of participants. The data collected through observations, accounts, questionnaires and interviews of learning processes had been starting points for the beginning of dialogue along with students of Graduation Course in Physical Education. The findings had been interpreted through of hermeneutics and discourse analysis. In this research, participants are considered as protagonist and boosters of educative process. The theoretical basis was supported by Transpersonal Education which contributed for a peace culture and respectful relationship. In its initial formation process, this research protagonists had evidenced of the importance of transpersonal education, geared toward action and changing, new ways of being and living together, facing the daily conflicts from a human and rational perspective. The research emphasized the importance of a new look on the teacher formation of Physical Education to face the limits of fragmented formation. Thus, we recognize that through the teacher education process, the transpersonal education provided wide significant changes reported during research, extending and re-meaning different learning levels such as: cognitive, emotional, attitudinal, and behavioral geared toward the personal and transpersonal development, reiterating the relevance of self-knowledge for development and establishment of pedagogical practice which prioritizes the life direction. The necessity of integrating knowledge to being in the initial process of teaching formation was emphasized in all the transpersonal meetings

Educação escolar para crianças: o que dizem sujeitos deste direito?

The text aims to discuss the problems that this would be set: - What are the concepts of public school children about their right to primary education, as required step in the Basic Education? - What are conducted by children on the elementary school, in terms of its structure, teaching, and acquisitions provide for their users, especially when it comes to literacy? In order to answer these questions, we conducted within the qualitative a case study within twenty children of the early years of elementary public school, ten of the School Mauricio de Sousa and ten children of the School Monteiro Lobato. with construction procedures of data, we worked with observation, semi-directive interview, questionnaire and document analysis. In analyzing the data, two categories emerged: right to education and school for children. The first focuses on what children think about the legal guarantee to school, seeking to understand if they understand the educational area as a right and relate what the law says and the reality in which they participate. The category for school children, including their purposes, characteristics, space literacy and its relationship with the teacher. In this sense, we comment, taking as its founding, the speech of children in their schools, focusing on how they perceive the school in terms of its structure and functioning, relations with the knowledge and the other children. With regard to child rights, the appreciation of Brazilian children should be the basis of the struggle for a more just, democratic, nondiscriminatory. However, children show not recognize education as a right, but as one who deserves the credit, that is, those children who are always attentive, do not fight and do not complain. In interviews, children express a simple wish child that the school had toys. A school for children should be a place with its own characteristics: cheerful, lively, colorful, which included the same time, security and challenges. Children point to the hope that the course of action the teacher was guided by respect their differences in a more emotional, especially with regard to issues of authority and discipline of the group. The most important learning is for all subjects learning to read / write, differing in the idea of how to learn. Unfortunately, for some students, learning reading and writing appears as a difficult and enjoyable process is not perceived by some subjects up to recognize the instrumental writing. Finally, we point to the actors of the school to launch a more accurate to say that the children and how to outline your main locus of learning

A concepção de ensino sob medida na obra hygiene mental e educação (1927), de Luiz Antônio dos Santos Lima

This dissertation examines the concept of the personalized teaching proposed by the physician and educator from Rio Grande do Norte Luiz Antonio dos Santos Lima, in his doctoral thesis "Mental Hygiene and Education," published in 1927. To do so, we start from the assumption that this thinker appropriated part of the educational theory formulated by Èdouard Claparède - specifically, in the case of the teaching concepts of the personalized teaching and comprehensive education designed by the Swiss intellectual - and, considering the Brazilian social reality of early twentieth century, reframed these concepts, adapting them to the country context. To implement the proposed idea, the bibliographical study was the option chosen, and so was done through a theoretical research which had as a reference authors whose studies referred to the Brazilian historical moment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, our examined time frame. As for the understanding and the methodological analysis of discourse, seen as socially constructed, the Foucault postulations were studied under an analytical approach, in which the disciplinary society is analyzed from the relations of power and knowledge that exist in it. The main source of this research was the work of "Mental Hygiene and Education," published as a requirement to the obtainment of Luiz Antonio s medical degree by the Rio de Janeiro Medicine School. Thus, it was found that the conception of personalized learning to the comprehensive education of students, as proposed in the doctoral thesis of Luiz Antonio dos Santos Lima, was related to abnormalities of mental character that children could present. School education was thought in a way by the potiguar thinker that it could be applied as deep as the moral, intellectual and behavioral deviations of the individual were, making use of hygiene practices of the minds through a normalizing process towards a civilized and developed future of the Brazilian nation which would manage, watch and fix the thoughts of the school students