1.7.4 Use of academic language An important part of research is engaging in the discourse, i.e. communicating research ideas, processes, and results so that they may be scrutinised and discussed. Good communication relies on understanding the conventions of the community. Hence, one key skill is the demonstration of competent academic language. This includes: correct use of technical terms attention to detail in punctuation, grammar, etc. attention
Time Lapse of Plants Growing Time lapse of some bush beans growing from seeds. The video was shot over a 4 day period using a Canon GL2 video camera in time lapse mode.
Barker Family Greeting
President & Mrs. James F. Barker extend greetings and well wishes for the holiday season.
Twitter-based early warning and risk communication of the swine flu pandemic in 2009 (Knowledge Exch
Patty Kostkova discusses Twitter-based early warning and risk communication of the 2009 swine flu pandemic during a seminar on quantitative methods in social media research held at the OII on 26 September 2012. The need to improve global population monitoring and enhance surveillance of infectious diseases has never been more pressing. Factors such as air travel act as a catalyst in the spread of new and novel viruses. The unprecedented user-generated activity on social networks and online media
The Basic Concepts Lecture 10 (December 14, 2009)
science, physics, particle physics, quantum field theory, particle interactions, lagrangian, wave, momentum, energy, phase velocity, wave, quantum mechanics, velocity, momentum, relativity, quantum, mechanical, wave, particle movement, initial state, elec
Portrait of Agnes Taylor
Pomona College student Agnes Taylor. [Photograph of a photograph; original photograph taken by the studio of Hugo Schwichtenberg in Pomona.]
The Cognitive Transfer and the Tutor's Role in a CBL Environment
In this paper we report on a longitudinal study of a Leonardo da Vinci program regarding the application of a Computer Based Learning environment in three EU countries, Greece, Germany, and Holland. The `` Orestis''CD-ROM was a multimedia CBL environment aimed at teaching young offenders the basic and advanced skills for the use and maintenance of a photo-copy shop. The complete project consisted of three phases: construction of the CD-ROM, application of the instructional methodology in the par
Doors open (for green fingers) at the Centre for Plant Integrative Biology.
Monday 2nd July sees the official opening of the Centre for Plant Integrative Biology (CPIB) based at the University of Nottingham. In this podcast Professor Charlie Hodgman discusses the setting up and aims of CPIB.
CPIB is based at the University of Nottingham’s Sutton Bonnington campus and aims to create a virtual root which will serve as an exemplar for using Integrative Systems Biology. Systems
Professor Charlie Hodgman
Web Based Catalogue of Online Experiments
A knowledge base of online experiments was built. It is a kind of catalogue describing online experiments used for educational purposes. Metadata for describing this special kind of learning resources and analysis of experiments available in the catalogue (both virtual and remote) are presented in this paper. Examples of online lab experiments and exercises are developed by different European universities are also described.,Research report of the ProLearn Network of Excellence (IST 507310), Del
Requirements and Solutions for Personalized Adaptive Learning
In D1.1 we analyzed the available solutions. Current learning environments are typically web based, but they usually do not take into account heterogeneous needs of users and provide the same learning material to students with different knowledge, objectives, interests, and in different contexts. Currently there is no technical standard for the communication between the various personalized adaptive learning tools as well as no metadata standard for meaningful exchange of learner model and learn
Embedding Design Patterns in a Methodology for a Design Science of e-Learning
The discourse of research and practice in e-learning has been dominated by two extremes. On one hand, ethereal abstractions, which provide sound principles but do not lend themselves to implementation. On the other hand, detailed anecdotes which provide fascinating insights but pose a challenge to generalization. The void in between these two extremes calls for representations which capture transferable and modular elements of design knowledge.
Design patterns originated as a form for democrati
The pedagogical challenges to collaborative technologies
Collaborative technologies offer a range of new ways of supporting learning by enabling learners to share and exchange both ideas and their own digital products. This paper considers how best to exploit these opportunities from the perspective of learners' needs. New technologies invariably excite a creative explosion of new ideas for ways of doing teaching and learning, although the technologies themselves are rarely designed with teaching and learning in mind. To get the best from them for edu
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s New Strategic Concept
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is a politico-military alliance of countries from Europe and North America. It provides a unique link between these two continents for consultation and cooperation in the field of defence and security, and the conduct of multilateral crisis management operations. In his only public lecture in Australia, NATO's senior military commander, Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, will speak on NATO's new Strategic Concept, its relationships with allies, and operatio
Internet Scout Project
The homepage of the Bruns Lab at the University of California-Berkeley Department of Plant and Microbial Biology provides an excellent collection of online resources for mycologists. Offering much more than the usual faculty directory and research overview, this well-maintained Web site doubles as a gateway to mycology on the Web. Features include various primer maps, sequence alignment files, abstracts for recent publications from the Bruns Lab, a virtual tour of the lab that includes a terrifi
Using visualizations to teach problem-solving skills in mathematics: Which kind of visualization wor
In the experiment described in this paper we investigated the effects of different kinds of computer-based visualizations on the acquisition of problem-solving skills in the domain of probability theory. Learners received either purely text-based worked examples, text plus an instruction to mentally imagine the examplesÂ’ contents, or they could retrieve either static pictures or concrete animations that depicted the problem statement and the problem states achieved by applying a specific solut
Balancing situativity and formality: the importance of relating a formal language to interactive gra
A situated cognition theory is presented in which situated learning is viewed from a Vygotskian perspective: the developmental situativity theory. It is assumed that learning is basically a non-symbolic inductive process that is greatly enhanced by formal systems which act as tools. Instruction should provide students with an environment containing elements to allow for situated activity as well as with appropriate formal tools. Tarski's World, which is an instructional Interactive Graphical Rep
The impact of example comparisons on schema acquisition: Do learners really need multiple examples?
Comparing multiple examples within problem categories is usually considered a necessary prerequisite for schema acquisition. However, there is an evident lack of conclusive empirical evidence supporting this claim. Moreover, there are findings indicating that carefully designed one-example conditions may allow for profitable processes of example comparison as well. In line with this reasoning, we present an experiment - that builds up on a series of studies conducted by Quilici and Mayer (1996)
Cognitive tools for discovery learning
Cognitive tools, defined here as instruments that support or perform cognitive processes for learners in order to support learning, can bridge the difference between open learning environments, like discovery learning environments and traditional supportive instructional environments. This article discusses a definition of the concept of cognitive tool and its use in learning. Two examples of cognitive tools for discovery environments are presented, and it is made clear how these tools can serve
Problems and Opportunities of Learning together in a Virtual Learning Environment
This chapter explores new ways of collaborative learning in a virtual learning environment based on our acquisition of knowledge from previous experience. We identify both the problems faced in real collaborative learning practices and the ways these problems can be overcome and become opportunities for more efficient learning. These issues concern pedagogical, organisational and technical elements and constraints that influence the successful application of collaborative learning in distance ed
Grid and Peer-to-Peer middleware for Cooperative Learning Environments
This paper presents the work done by the research group of the Open University of Catalonia within the coordinated project towards the definition of adequate grid and peer-to-peer middleware for cooperative learning environments. The main results of our research consist in designing a layered framework for modelling online collaborative learning interactions which in turns leads to the development of a computational platform, called Collaborative Learning Purpose Library (CLPL), that can be used
