Digital competences,computer skills and information literacy in secondary education: mapping and visualization of trends and concepts

Digital competences, computer skills, information literacy and related abilities represent a crucial element in ICT education (Information and Communication Technologies). They are less frequently investigated in the frame of secondary education than in higher education. We assess these contexts in secondary education through science mapping and visualizing techniques, examining publishing patterns and trends. Databases Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus are used. Publishing exhibits logarithmic inverse relationship between rank and frequency (power laws). Only a few chief publications among hundreds account for an important share of all published research. WOS-based visualizations (VOSviewer software) of concepts used in titles, abstracts and keywords show several clusters of research: computer-, information-, as well as digital-related. Further analysis reveals that the major terms which define these clusters predominate in different periods. Computer-related are earlier terms, followed by information-related, and now digital-related. As some concepts mature terminology embraces more trendy novel concepts. Clusters of co-citing and co-cited sources shows differences among publications. Proceedings play an important role as sources of co-citations but are cited more weakly. Both co-citing and co-cited sources exhibit well defined clusters with little convergence between Library and Information Science on one side and Education and Educational Research, and Computer Science on the other even though the respective publications employ similar terminological concepts. The lack of exchange between these research domains calls for more co-operation in order to boost synergy in these critical twenty-first century skills.

     

An approach to studying scale for students in higher education: a Rasch measurement model analysis

A questionnaire comprising 80 self-report items was designed to measure student Approaches to Studying in a higher education context. The items were conceptualized and designed from five learning orientations: a Deep Approach, a Surface Approach, a Strategic Approach, Clarity of Direction and Academic Self-Confidence, to include 40 attitude items and 40 corresponding behavior items. The study aimed to create a scale and investigate its psychometric properties using a Rasch measurement model. The convenience sample consisted of 350 students at an Australian university in 1998. The analysis supported the conceptual structure of the Scale as involving studying attitudes and behaviors towards five orientations to learning. Attitudes are mostly easier than behaviors, in line with the theory. Sixty-eight items fit the model and have good psychometric properties. The proportion of observed variance considered true is 92% and the Scale is well-targeted against the students. Some harder items are needed to improve the targeting and some further testing work needs to be done on the Surface Approach. In the Surface Approach and Clarity of Direction in Studying, attitudes make a lesser contribution than behaviors to the variable, Approaches to Studying.     

An interdisciplinary and systems-based evaluation of academic programs: Bovine mastitis-related veterinary research, education and outreach

An interdisciplinary and systems-oriented approach for evaluation of academic programs was explored in veterinary research, education and extension in the context of prevention of bovine mastitis. Bibliometric-based document analysis and observation methods were used to assess disciplinary contents of veterinary research and graduate education theses, and New York State dairy farmers' adoption rate of selected veterinary recommendations (bacteriological testing of raw milk, “closed herds”, and three hygiene-related practices). Findings indicated that: a) the veterinary extension literature was lower in output and less differentiated in disciplinary content than that of the agricultural counterpart; b) three disciplines accounted for 85% of all theses major contents; and c) 39.7% of New York dairies requested bacteriological testing, 50% of investigated dairies had “closed herds” and at least 9.4% of those did not adopt all the hygiene-related practices. Context-specific recommendations are proposed. It is concluded that this evaluation approach may facilitate policy analysis, program development and may be applicable to other academic settings.     

Participation of the higher educational institutions in developing standardization and measurement technology

Measurement Techniques -     

Singaporean students in British higher education: the statistics ofsuccess

Increasing numbers of students from Singapore are choosing British Universities for their higher education. Most academics would describe these students as hard working, polite and having high expectations both of themselves and also of their teachers. The authors examine the performance of a group of well over 100 Singaporean students who have taken degrees in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Surrey over the past six years. The remarkable success of these students is analysed with worrying messages for the effectiveness of post-16 education in Britain     

制定中文新闻信息技术标准实现全球中文新闻信息资源共享和应用

“中文新闻信息技术标准”是科技部2003年11月立项的国家“十五”重大科技攻关专项,包括“中文新闻信息置标语言”(简称CNML)和“中文新闻信息分类与代码”(简称《分类标准》)两个标准。CNML是基于XML技术制定的,既要参照国际上相关的通行标准,又要体现我国国情和中文特点,并兼有跨媒体、简洁灵活、扩展性好的优点《。分类标准》是在深入研究和博采众长的基础上制定的,既借鉴国际新闻同行的经验,又汇集国内各新闻单位的成果,具有涵盖面广、新闻特点明显、扩展性好、易于推广的特点《。分类标准》还是制定CNML中的元数据和受控词表所依…     

Artificial intelligence in dance education: Dance for students with special educational needs

Participation in inclusive dance can have positive results for different groups of people with special needs, including those with mobility impairments. The purpose of study is to analyze the level of physical development and psychomotor skills of students with developmental disorders of the musculoskeletal system at different stages of inclusive dance classes. A model of a teacher using a Bayesian network has been developed to assess the level of physical fitness at different stages of training. The study involved 30 participants. There were two groups of students aged 17–19. Group 1included students engaged in inclusive dance classes for six months while Group 2 consisted of students having attended 2–3 classes before the study. The students were interviewed. In terms of the level of physical fitness, significant differences were revealed between Group 1 and Group 2 in favor of Group 1. Regular inclusive dance classes help to improve students' physical fitness and, consequently, their overall coordination of movements. Improvement in overall physical health should be explored more deeply in further research.     

Building information modeling and its impact on users in the lifeworld: a mediation perspective

Building information modeling (BIM) is expected to have a large impact on users in the lifeworlds in a construction supply chain. The impact of BIM on users in their lifeworlds is explored using the concepts of Heidegger, Habermas, and Ihde from the perspective of technical mediation. This impact is explored by a case study. BIM mediates and shapes the relationship between users and their lifeworlds and can be characterized as either a hermeneutic or an alterity relationship. BIM conflicts with existing work practices in a ready-to-hand work environment. For users that cannot work with BIM, the work environment remains present-at-hand. The many heterogeneous BIM applications and systems used by the various parties involved result in interoperability problems that are a major barrier to enframing the supply chain by BIM. Although invitation and inhibition of certain actions by BIM may stimulate the rationalization of the lifeworlds, the lack of intrinsic motivation and mutual background knowledge inhibits an alignment of BIM and working practices.     

Challenges in providing technical information for societal use: Examples from the gas resource assessment community

Assessments of likely sources of natural gas incorporate scientific, social, and cultural elements, and illustrate the complex interactions of economics, science, engineering, and social factors in the perception of natural resources. Two groups produce assessments of the potential natural gas resources of the United States: the private sector Potential Gas Agency and the public sector US Geological Survey and Minerals Management Service, which produce joint national reports. Both groups use similar technical methods but have adopted different operational structures that reflect different practices and norms in the public and private sectors. Both groups have encountered difficulties in communicating their technical information to the non-technical community, leading to legal and political interventions. These applied science programs meet the criteria for scientific success, but have room for improvement in meeting the needs of society.     

National and Scottish vocational qualifications: the implicationsfor engineering institutions and higher education

In recognition of the need to enhance the competence of the UK workforce, new national vocational qualifications (NVQs), and occupational standards on which they are based, are being developed. The paper describes the role of the Engineering Occupations Standards Groups and its four Industry Standing Conferences in the engineering sector and proposes the need for the participation of engineering institutions and further and higher education in assembling NVQs and SVQs from the standards and in the process of identifying the knowledge and understanding that is required to underpin them     

Quality assurance in higher education: a coat of many colours

This paper gives a short overview of the various methodologies currently used to assure quality in higher education institutions. It then outlines the various activities involved in each, discusses some of the reasons for the development of the current situation, makes some critical and comparative comments on the key methodologies, and concludes with a discussion of the role of BS EN ISO 9000 and university charters     

Embracing complexity: a sociotechnical systems approach for the design and evaluation of higher education learning environments

ABSTRACT

Higher education institutions (HEI) have undergone fundamental changes driven by ICT developments, globalisation, and the advent of socio-constructivist pedagogic approaches. As a result, within the UK, capital investment in new and retrofitted facilities has reached a record expenditure. Recent research on user-related evaluations of facilities, particularly in HEI learning spaces, highlights the prevalence of evaluations dominated by reductionist approaches focused on measuring outcomes, on users, such as satisfaction, learning outcomes or engagement. These approaches have a major pitfall, neglecting the complexity of the dynamic relationships between people, spaces, technology, institutional structure and pedagogic practices. In response, this paper aims to propose a shift on current approaches by exploring the application of sociotechnical systems theory to learning space design and evaluation. Amid these, it is argued that Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) offers promising alternatives to inform design and management of higher education learning spaces. Finally, within the paper, three CWA interventions are proposed and discussed, focusing on how these address previously identified shortcomings of predominant approaches used in HEI learning space design and evaluation.     

A reassessment of Asian pacific excellence programs in higher education: the Taiwan experience

With the growth of competition between nations in our knowledge-based world economy, excellence programs are becoming a national agenda item in developing as well as developed Asian countries. The main purpose of this paper is to compare the goals, funding policies and selection criteria of excellence programs in China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan and to analyze the academic achievement of their top ranked universities in three areas: research output, internationalization, and excellence, by using data from the Shanghai Jiao Tong, QS, and HEEACT rankings. The effectiveness of Taiwan??s ??Development Plan for World Class Universities and Research Centers of Excellence?? was assessed as a case study in the paper via a survey targeting on 138 top administrators from 11 Taiwan??s universities and 30 reviewers. The study found that more funding nations had, the more outputs and outcomes they would gain, for example China. The Taiwan case demonstrates that world-class universities and research centers are needed in Asian nations despite the concerns for inequality which they raise.     

Preliminary analysis of COVID-19 academic information patterns: a call for open science in the times of closed borders

Scientometrics - The Pandemic of COVID-19, an infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 motivated the scientific community to work together in order to gather, organize, process and distribute data...     

Efficiency in university-industry collaboration: an analysis of UK higher education institutions

Scientometrics - We examine the determinants of university involvement in knowledge transfer activities, focusing on the value of external services provided by higher education institutions. Data...     

Research trends in gender differences in higher education and science: a co-word analysis

The aim of this study is to map and analyze the structure and evolution of the scientific literature on gender differences in higher education and science, focusing on factors related to differences between 1991 and 2012. Co-word analysis was applied to identify the main concepts addressed in this research field. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to cluster the keywords and a strategic diagram was created to analyze trends. The data set comprised a corpus containing 652 articles and reviews published between 1991 and 2012, extracted from the Thomson Reuters Web of Science database. In order to see how the results changed over time, documents were grouped into three different periods: 1991–2001, 2002–2007, and 2008–2012. The results showed that the number of themes has increased significantly over the years and that gender differences in higher education and science have been considered by specific research disciplines, suggesting important research-field-specific variations. Overall, the study helps to identify the major research topics in this domain, as well as highlighting issues to be addressed or strengthened in further work.     

Research and innovation in higher education: empirical evidence from research and patenting in Brazil

Scientometrics - The encyclicals, also known as papal letters, are documents that have a profound influence on the Catholic Church and, as a result, on the West. This research seeks to explore the...