Student and teacher response system : development of an interactive anonymous real-timeformative feedback system

This paper is focusing IT-supported real-time formative feedback in a classroom context. The development of a Student and Teacher Response System (STRS) is described. Since there are a number of obstacles for effective interaction in large classes IT can be used to support the teachers aim to find out if students understand the lecture and accordingly adjust the content and design of the lecture. The system can be used for formative assessment before, during, and after a lecture. It is also possible for students to initiate interaction during lectures by posing questions anonymously. The main contributions of the paper are a) the description of the interactive real-time system and b) the development process behind it.

Development of a Real-time Formative Feedback Student Response System

This paper is focusing IT-supported real-time formative feedback in a classroom context. The development of a Student and Teacher Response System (STRS) is described. Since there are a number of obstacles for effective interaction in large classes, IT can be used to support the teachers aim to find out if students understand the lecture and accordingly adjust the content and design of the lecture. The system can be used for formative assessment before, during, and after a lecture. It is also possible for students to initiate interaction during lectures by posing questions anonymously. The main contributions of the paper are a) the description of the interactive real-time system and b) the development process behind it.

Fan Culture as an Informal Learning Environment : Presentation of a NGL project

Fan culture is a subculture that has developed explosively on the internet over the last decades. Fans are creating their own films, translations, fiction, fan art, blogs, role play and also various forms that are all based on familiar popular culture creations like TV-series, bestsellers, anime, manga stories and games. In our project, we analyze two of these subculture genres, fan fiction and scanlation. Amateurs, and sometimes professional writers, create new stories by adapting and developing existing storylines and characters from the original. In this way, a "network" of texts occurs, and writers step into an intertextual dialogue with established writers such as JK Rowling (Harry Potter) and Stephanie Meyer (Twilight). Literary reception and creation then merge into a rich reciprocal creative activity which includes comments and feedback from the participators in the community. The critical attitude of the fans regarding quality and the frustration at waiting for the official translation of manga books led to the development of scanlation, which is an amateur translation of manga distributed on the internet.  Today, young internet users get involved in conceptual discussions of intertextuality and narrative structures through fan activity. In the case of scanlation, the scanlators practice the skills and techniques of translating in an informal environment. This phenomenon of participatory culture has been observed by scholars and it is concluded that they contribute to the development of a student’s literacy and foreign language skills. Furthermore, there is no doubt that the fandom related to Japanese cultural products such as manga, anime and videogames is one of the strong motives for foreign students to start learning Japanese. This is something to take into pedagogical consideration when we develop web-based courses. Fan fiction and fan culture make it ​​possible to have an intensive transcultural dialogue between participators throughout the world and is of great interest when studying the interaction between formal and informal learning that puts the student in focus

Feedback i matematikundervisning : En empirisk undersökning om hur sex lärare undervisande i årskurs 1-3 ger muntlig och skriftlig feedback på elevers lösningar av matematikuppgifter

I studien undersöks hur lärare ger elever muntlig och skriftlig feedback på uppgiftsnivå i matematikundervisningen. För att undersöka detta har observationer och intervjuer av kvalitativ karaktär utförts med sex lärare som undervisar i årskurs 1-3. Insamlade och avbildade dokument i form av elevers räkneböcker har också varit en del av datainsamlingsmetoden. För att på bästa sätt undersöka och besvara studiens frågeställning har grundad teori valts ut och använts som forskningsansats. Utifrån insamlad data och med substantiv och teoretisk kodning som verktyg har en teoretisk modell utvecklats. Modellen visar att muntlig och skriftlig feedback som ges från lärare till elev på uppgiftsnivå kan vara antingen direkt eller indirekt. Beroende på om feedbacken är muntlig eller skriftlig, direkt eller indirekt, kan den också vara bekräftande, uppmuntrande, upprepande, informerande, stöttande eller uppmanande. Detta resultat redovisas med hjälp av en så kallad "fyrfältare". Värt att notera är också att resultatet i studien visar att muntlig feedback ges i betydligt högre grad än skriftlig feedback. Ett par slutsatser som dras utifrån studiens resultat är att verkligheten skiljer sig från hur tidigare forskning förespråkar att feedback bör komma till uttryck i klassrummet och att elevernas ålder samt lärarnas tid spelar en avgörande roll för vilken sorts feedback som ges. En annan viktig slutsats som också dras utifrån studiens redovisade resultat är att vissa kategorier av feedback är mer effektiva för elevers lärande i matematik än andra.

Hur feedback på uppgiftsnivå och processnivå kan skilja elevers resonemang åt i matematik : En empirisk undersökning om hur elevers resonemang skiljer sig åt beroende på vilken feedback som ges

Denna studie undersöker hur feedback på uppgiftsnivå respektive processnivå kan utveckla elevers resonemang när eleverna arbetar med problemlösningsuppgifter inom matematiken. De typer av resonemang som undersöks är algoritmiska och kreativa matematiska resonemang. Åtta elevpar från årskurs 5 fick arbeta med problemlösningsuppgifter och fick efterhand de behövde feedback på uppgiftsnivå eller processnivå. Efter genomförandet analyserades vilken resonemangstyp eleverna använde före och efter feedback på uppgiftsnivå respektive processnivå getts. Resultaten visar att elever som får feedback på processnivå i större utsträckning utvecklar fullständiga kreativa matematiska resonemang jämfört med de elever som får feedback på uppgiftsnivå.

Semantic Distributed Messaging Middleware

Messaging middleware provides asynchronous communication between services in distributed environments. However, security, reliability and performance issues compel such middleware to be distributed, and distribution throws up its own problems such as identifying messaging channels which could then be subscribed to. In particular, interested parties need to identify channels defined in remote locations while not knowing details of how they are defined. A common vocabulary using semantic descriptions offers a solution to this problem. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of federated messaging middleware using semantic description of channels.

Chained Negotiation for Distributed Notification Services

Distributed notification services allow consumers and publishers of notifications to interact with different notification services. However, such a distributed infrastructure makes it difficult to share notifications between consumers when consumers are allowed to specify Quality of Service levels. In this paper, we present a chained negotiation engine, enabling distributed notification services to support negotiation and to reuse existing subscriptions. We demonstrate the benefit to the system as a whole by reducing load on service providers and enabling content to be shared.