Courseware Material Research Articles

Significant Experiences of Grade 7 STE Students in Utilizing DOST Science Courseware

To determine the significant experiences of Grade 7-Science Technology and Engineering (STE) class in science learning regardless of profile in times of the COVID-19 pandemic, Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Science courseware was utilized in this study. Specifically, this study aimed to: (1) know the demographic profile of the students (2) identify the most essential learning competencies to be supplemented by the DOST Science courseware; and (3) document the significant experiences of Grade 7 STE students in utilizing DOST Courseware. This utilizes the descriptive research method and the purposive sampling method was also employed. In terms of statistical treatment, the researcher used qualitative analyses to gather insights from the data collected from the respondents. Content analysis was used to analyze the learning competencies suited for each of the mobile apps of the DOST Grade 7 Courseware. The researcher also used thematic analysis to determine the significant experiences of Grade 7-STE students after using the courseware materials. During this difficult time, it is vital to consider the demographic profile of students in selecting effective and efficient supplementary materials. The DOST Courseware selected is based on the Most Essential Learning Competencies and from that only three courseware were utilized. To gather data for the significant experiences digital technologies were used such as web surveys through Facebook messenger. The findings of the study suggest that most of the significant experiences of the students were found on the “visual-aided discussions” theme along with motivation; the “Presence of inquiry-based teaching features” theme along with interest; and the “Completing game-based tasks” theme along with satisfaction. Based on the results and conclusions posted in the study, the same evaluation may be conducted in all the remaining DOST Courseware and can be conducted in regular classes where technology is scarce and development is low. Keywords: Education and Teaching, Significant Experiences, Thematic Analysis, Philippines-Asia

EFFECTIVENESS OF DAISY COURSE WARE ON PSYCHO SOCIAL AND FAMILY ISSUES ON STUDENTS WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

Education is a service for every students and developing the achievements skills to reach the goals. The present study intends to provide the daisy courseware materials for student with visual impairment to use and learn about the psychosocial and family issues of students with visual impairment. A qualitative research of case study method was adopted. A semi structured interview method was used for individual interview. The B.Ed and M.Ed (Low vision and totally blind) prospective teachers served as a sample for the study. The result revealed that the prospective teachers found the learning daisy courseware on the course psycho social and family issues was useful. They studied the course with utmost clarity and independently. The daisy player promotes independence and the learners need not rely on helpers to read a particular content for them. The player serves as a savior for student with visual impairment. Finally, they concluded that the DAISY player made them to score good marks and encourage them to prepare for their competitive exams also through daisy courseware if prepared.

Sharing of Teaching Resources for English Majors Based on Ubiquitous Learning Resource Sharing Platform and Neural Network.

Teachers in traditional English education devote a great deal of time and effort to developing excellent English teaching courseware and other teaching materials. However, because the network's powerful sharing capability was not fully utilized, poor resource sharing hampered the school's overall teaching efficiency. The goal of this paper is to investigate how to use a ubiquitous learning resource sharing platform and a neural network to analyze the method of English major education resource sharing. Because the BP neural network algorithm has better classification and prediction functions, it was proposed because it can classify and predict information in the sharing of teaching resources for English majors. This allows for seamless sharing of teaching materials. According to the findings of this study, there were 562.13 million people learning English in China in 2015, accounting for 37% of the population. By 2018, 945.61 million people were learning English, accounting for 85 percent of the population. Almost every student is learning English, demonstrating the language's importance. As a result, the importance of English instruction is clear, and the sharing of teaching resources should be prioritized.

Navigating Design Options for Large-Scale Interprofessional Continuing Palliative Care Education: Pallium Canada's Experience.

To be effective, palliative care education interventions need to be informed, among others, by evidence and best practices related to curriculum development and design. Designing palliative care continuing professional development (CPD) courses for large-scale, national deployment requires decisions about various design elements, including competencies and learning objectives to be addressed, overall learning approaches, content, and courseware material. Designing for interprofessional education (IPE) adds additional design complexity. Several design elements present themselves in the form of polarities, resulting in educators having to make choices or compromises between the various options. This article describes the learning design decisions that underpin Pallium Canada's interprofessional Learning Essential Approaches to Palliative Care (LEAP) courses. Social constructivism provides a foundational starting point for LEAP course design, as it lends itself well to both CPD and IPE. We then explore design polarities that apply to the LEAP courseware development. These include, among others, which professions to target and how to best support interprofessional learning, class sizes, course length and content volume, courseware flexibility, regional adaptations, facilitator criteria, and learning methods. In some cases, compromises have had to be made between optimal perfect design and pragmatism.

INTERFACE DESIGN FOR DYSLEXIA: TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION ON TEXT PRESENTATION

The use of educational courseware and online materials for learning has the potential in helping dyslexic children in education and self-development. As reading is one of the dyslexic’s main problems, a guideline for making text in digital presentation is essential. We conducted a research to explore teachers’ perception on the criteria of text in designing online materials for dyslexic children. These features are based on user studies with a group of dyslexic students from four primary schools in Klang Valley. 50 teachers from four schools participated in this study. The data were analyzed using standard descriptive statistical methods. It is hoped that the result will give suggestion on the criteria of text in digital presentation for developing educational courseware or any online materials for dyslexic.

A New Approach of an Intelligent E-Learning System Based On Learners' Skill Level and Learners' Success Rate

Learners usually meet cognitive overload and disorientation problems when using e-learning system. At present, most of the studies in e-learning either concentrate on the technological aspect or focus on adapting learner's interests or browsing behaviors, while, learner's skill level and learners' success rate is usually neglected. In this paper, the authors propose an online course generation based not only on the difficulty level of a learning unit, but also the changing learning performance of the individual learner during the learning process. Therefore, considering learner's skill level and learners' success rate can promote personalized learning performance. Learners' skill level is obtained from pre-test result analysis, while learners' success rate is acquired through specific tests after completing a learning unit. After computing success rate of a learning unit, the system then modifies the difficulty level of the corresponding learning unit to update courseware material sequencing. Experiment results indicate that applying the proposed intelligent e-learning system can generate high quality learning paths, and help learners to learn more effectively.

Developing Adaptive and Intelligent Tutoring Systems (AITS)

Several adaptive and intelligent tutoring systems (AITS) have been developed with different variables. These variables were the cognitive traits, cognitive styles, and learning behavior. However, these systems neglect the importance of learner's multiple intelligences, learner's skill level and learner's feedback when implementing personalized mechanisms. In this paper, the authors propose AITS based not only on the learner's multiple intelligences, but also the changing learning performance of the individual learner during the learning process. Therefore, considering learner's skill level and learner's multiple intelligences can promote personalized learning performance. Learner's skill level is obtained from pre-test result analysis, while learner's multiple intelligences are obtained from the analysis of questionnaire. After computing learning success rate of an activity, the system then modifies the difficulty level or the presentation of the corresponding activity to update courseware material sequencing. Learning process in this system is as follows. First, the system determines learning style and characteristics of the learner by an MI-Test and then makes the model. After that it plans a pre-evaluation and then calculates the score. If the learner gets the required score, the activities will be trained. Then the learner will be evaluated by a post-evaluation. Finally the system offers guidance in learning other activities. The proposed system covers all important properties such as hypertext component, adaptive sequencing, problem- solving support, intelligent solution analysis and adaptive presentation while available systems have only some of them. It can significantly improve the learning result. In other words, it helps learners to study in “the best way.”

The Open Courseware Movement in Higher Education: Unmasking Power and Raising Questions about the Movement's Democratic Potential

AbstractIn this essay Robert Rhoads, Jennifer Berdan, and Brit Toven‐Lindsey examine some of the key literature related to the open courseware (OCW) movement (including the emergence and expansion of massive open online courses, or MOOCs), focusing particular attention on the movement's democratic potential. The discussion is organized around three central problems, all relating in some manner or form to issues of power: the problem of epistemology, the problem of pedagogy, and the problem of hegemony. More specifically, the authors raise issues related to the narrow notion of knowledge typically conveyed in the OCW movement, a limited understanding of what constitutes empowering pedagogy, and the lack of treatment of inequities associated with the production of courseware materials. The authors go on to argue that the lack of critical analysis of the OCW movement is tied to its relative alignment with educational reforms driven by neoliberal ideology and that such alignment serves to limit the movement's democratic possibilities.

Operating System from the Scratch: A Problem-based Learning Approach for the Emerging Demands on OS Development

In recent past history of computer systems industry, for decades, the hegemony of a few de facto standards dictated by major proprietary commercial products dominated the Operating Systems (OS) field. In such technological context, conso- nantly to this trend, the knowledge objective focused by academical and training courses on OS-related disciplines has often been addressed more from the stand point of essential theoretical background than of the technical skills for actuation on de- sign and development field. Emerging paradigms, nevertheless, have been rapidly changing this scenario. Among them, the establishment of Open Source concept is boosting the growing diversity of new operating systems; concomitantly, evolution of embedded hardware architectures has make it possible to run sophisticated operating systems where only bare rudimentary, ad hoc system-software were once practical. Aligned along this perspective, this paper introduces a new platform for teaching and training programs on OS development founded on a project-based approach which guides the student throughout the process of designing and programming a sufficiently simple, but yet realistic and fully functional, OS from the scratch. The differential of the present proposal regarding related works is that, instead of either merely inspecting example-code or experimenting with simulators, the apprentice is guided across the challenge of coding an entire new instance of a didactic system specification. A comparison of the companion OS-example with existing alternatives brings out a less complex implementation structure which maps conceptual modules with implementation blocks in an intuitive correspondence and with reduced function cou- pling. Moreover, the learning platform comes with a courseware material consistently linked to the laboratory practices, and aimed at the systemic comprehension of the many related multidisciplinary aspects.

Development of an adaptive and intelligent tutoring system by expert system

Learners usually meet cognitive overload and disorientation problems when using e–learning systems. At present, most of the studies on e–learning either concentrate on technological aspects or focus on adapting learners' interests or browsing behaviours, while, learners' skill level and learners' multiple intelligences are usually neglected. In this paper, an adaptive and intelligent tutoring system (AITS) by expert system based not only on the difficulty level of activities, but also the changing learning performance of the individual learner during the learning process is proposed. Therefore, considering learners' skill level and learners' multiple intelligences can promote personalised learning performance. Learners' skill level is obtained from pre–test result analysis, while learners' multiple intelligences are obtained from questionnaire analysis. After computing learning success rate, the system then modifies the difficulty level or the presentation of corresponding activity to update courseware material sequencing.

Personalized Learning Path of a Web-based Learning System

the growth of web learning system has stimulated the research on adaptive learning opportunity which is suitable to students' need and their preferences. One of those adaptation techniques is adaptive course material sequencing, in which the prerequisite for adaptive material sequencing is recognizing the students' knowledge level. The aim of this paper is to provide web learning system with relatively simple adaptive course material sequencing based on students' knowledge level and students' feedback of material difficulty level. Students' knowledge level is obtained from the analysis of pre-test result, while students' feedback is acquired through questionnaire after they finish a learning unit. After students give feedback, the system then modify the difficulty level of the corresponding learning unit to update courseware material sequencing. Findings of the experimental study showed that the students' effectiveness and achievements in personalized learning mode were higher, in comparison to the non-personalized learning mode.

Academics' use of courseware materials: a survey

Learning technology has yet to enter the mainstream of higher education. The UFC-funded Teaching and Learning Technology (TLT) programme is attempting to change this by sponsoring projects concerned with courseware production and delivery. These efforts could be thwarted if the Not Invented Here syndrome prevents the use of technology-based teaching and learning materials outside the originating departments. To gain a clearer understanding of why academics have been rejecting much existing courseware, and to establish the extent of the Not Invented Here syndrome, we carried out a survey of 800 academics in eight UK universities. The survey proved to be exceptionally revealing.DOI:10.1080/0968776930010102

`I want to go back to the text': Response strategies on the reading subtest of the new TOEFL®

This study describes the reading and test-taking strategies that test takers used on the `Reading' section of the LanguEdge Courseware (2002) materials developed to familiarize prospective respondents with the new TOEFL. The investigation focused on strategies used to respond to more traditional `single selection' multiple-choice formats (i.e., Basic Comprehension and Inferencing questions) and the new selected-response (multiple selection, drag-and-drop) Reading to Learn items. The latter were designed to simulate the academic skill of forming a comprehensive and coherent representation of an entire text, rather than focusing on discrete points in the text. Verbal report data were collected from 32 students, representing four language groups (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and `Other') doing the Reading section tasks from the LanguEdge Courseware materials. Students were randomly assigned to two of the six reading subtests, each consisting of a 600—700 word text with 12—13 items, and subjects' verbal reports accompanying items representing each of the ten item types were evaluated to determine strategy use. The findings provide insights into the response behaviors prompted by the reading tasks on the new TOEFL.

STRATEGIES IN RESPONDING TO THE NEW TOEFL READING TASKS

ABSTRACTThis study describes the reading and test‐taking strategies that test takers used in the Reading section of the LanguEdge courseware (ETS, 2002a). These materials were developed to familiarize prospective respondents with the new TOEFL®. The investigation focused on strategies used to respond to more traditional single selection multiple‐choice formats (i.e., Basic Comprehension and Inferencing questions) and the new selected‐response (multiple selection, drag and drop) Reading to Learn items. The latter were designed to simulate the academic task of forming a comprehensive and coherent representation of an entire text, rather than focusing on discrete points in the text. Verbal report data were collected from 32 students, representing four language groups (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Other) doing the Reading section tasks from the LanguEdge courseware materials. Students were randomly assigned to two of the six reading subtests, each consisting of a 600–700 word text with 12–13 items. Subjects' verbal report accompanying items representing each of the ten item types was evaluated to determine strategy use. The findings provide insights into the response behaviors prompted by the reading tasks on the new TOEFL.

University teachers’ experiences in courseware development

AbstractThe professoriate is increasingly expected to infuse computer technology in teaching. However, there is dearth of qualitative data to either support or disprove this belief. This study thus aims to describe the experiences of a select group of college teachers as they develop, implement and evaluate their courseware materials. Ten tenured faculty members who have developed, deployed and evaluated their courseware materials were the participants of this qualitative inquiry. Initially, the teachers were made to fill out robotfotos (in Dutch, a cartographic sketch) for purposes of profiling their baseline characteristics. Data gathered were carefully analysed and thematised on the basis of internal and external homogeneity. Guided by a semistructured audio‐taped interview, this study captured the experiences of the teachers whose instructional paradigms were facilitated and revolutionised by a learning management system (LMS), specifically the Blackboard (Bb) system. Findings show that generally, the professoriate considers the courseware materials developed as instructional adjuncts that complement their time‐tested teaching modalities. Having identified an LMS such as Bb as a user‐friendly system, issues relative to system’s accessibility, technical difficulties, systemic training programmes for teachers, attractive system of incentives and user readiness are key areas that ensure overall programme success and viability.

Health telematics education in Europe

This paper presents an overview of the two most important curriculum development projects in Europe. The IT EDUCTRA project develops courseware material in a horizontal way across health care informatics applications. The NIGHTINGALE project develops curriculum and courseware material in nursing informatics. Both projects provide implementation and validation of the courses in a number of sites across Europe.

CALScribe: a multimedia template ideal for CALL development

In spite of the increasing availability of highquality CALL material, it is a fact upported by Laurillardet al.'s (1993) survey of academics' use of courseware materials that many lecturers in higher education are more often put off rather than attracted by the completeness of the material available. They would prefer to have more control over both the orm and content of the CALL material they intro-duce into their own courses, courses hich are usually of their own design, sometimes based on research interests and which ave evolved from several years' refinement and fine tuning. The recent appearance of pecialised authoring templates such asThe Poetry Shell(Timbrell 1994), designed for tudying poems of up to 20,000 characters in length, and several authorable products from he TELL Consortium including an authoring shell for the translation packageTranslt-TIGER(Thompsonet al1997), seems to indicate a continuing, if not expanding role for institution-based CAL development.

Developing curriculum in nursing informatics in Europe

The NIGHTINGALE Project (NIGHTINGALE Project: HC1109 DGXIII Contract and Technical Annex, European Commission, December 1995) which started on the 1st of January, 1996, after the approval of the European Commission, has a 36 month duration. It is essential in planning and implementing a strategy in training the nursing profession in using and applying healthcare information systems. NIGHTINGALE contributes towards the appropriate use of the developed telematics infrastructure across Europe by educating and training nurses in a harmonious way across Europe in the upcoming field of nursing informatics. NIGHTINGALE develops courseware material based on the curriculum development process using multimedia technologies. Computer based training software packages in nursing informatics will be the basis of the training material and the corresponding courses. CD-ROM based training and reference material will also be provided in the courses whereas the traditional booklets, teaching material and textbooks can also play an adequate role in training. NIGHTINGALE will disseminate all information and courseware material freely to all interested parties through the publications of the proceedings of the conferences, through the establishment of the world wide web (WWW) server in nursing informatics for Europe (http://www.dn.uoa.gr/nightingale), which will become a depository of nursing information knowledge across Europe as well as a dissemination node of nursing informatics throughout the European members states for the benefit and welfare of the European citizen.

Why integrate? Reactions to Télé-Textes Author 2, a CALL multimedia package

As one branch of CALL research moves further into the analysis of software integration into second language courses, this paper deals with many of the issues involved in the successful integration of a piece of multimedia software into a language curriculum designed for non-specialist advanced undergraduate students of French. After discussing the background and context of the research, the paper describes the software used and the surrounding integration aspects as well as the future use and development of the software as adequate courseware and research material.

Cost effective multimedia courseware development

Multimedia technology offers considerable potential for education though the costs of production of courseware are prohibitive especially in a rapidly changing discipline such as computer science. This paper proposes a cost-effective technique which allows multimedia courseware to be developed quickly and economically. To illustrate this concept, courseware material for an undergraduate Data Communications subject has been implemented.