Guy Ash's List: 2.5 Researching Credible Connections Assignment for DGL Class

"At present, the university foreign language teachers in China face the transition from the traditional classroom to the modernized classroom and the changes of the teaching models. Especially, a large amount of the daily teaching work of many university foreign language teachers involve acquiring and using information to solve problems, advance teaching knowledge, and so on. Yet enormous numbers of hours are wasted every day by the foreign language teachers who lack the sophisticated skills to get the right information when they need it and to use it effectively when they have it. This article discusses the definition of the concept information literacy, expounds the developmental background of the concept information literacy, and focuses on the importance of information literacy for the university foreign language teachers and the basic contents of information literacy skills and its basic requirements for the university foreign language teachers. Through the discussion, the author tries to encourage the university presidents to help cultivate information literacy for the university foreign language teachers in China.[ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]"

"Information unleashes our imagination and challenges our preconceptions and thereby provides us with a pathway to personal growth and fulfillment. In this information rich world, where the scope of available information appears limitless, there is a growing need for students to become critical users of information. For students, regardless of their discipline, information literacy skills enable them to master content and give them the confidence to proceed with investigation, be self reliant and have a sense of being in control of their learning. Information literacy is a global phenomenon today and the critical importance of the role of information literacy is gaining increased recognition Information literacy means knowing information about information. It refers to a constellation of skills revolving around information research and use. Dissemination of information alone is not sufficient instead the user of information should be taught to make the best use of the options provided to enhance their knowledge to perform a particular task. The present paper tries to assess the role of the faculty members in degree colleges located in rural areas consisting of students with least or no knowledge of information literacy, in disseminating and introducing to the students the usage and importance of information literacy in their academics. The burden of introducing information literacy to the students ultimately lies on the shoulders of the faculty members especially in the colleges located in rural areas where the students do not have adequate access to tools of information literacy and it is the right of every student coming from a rural background to be exposed to tools of information literacy."

"Agriculture including Crop husbandry, Animal husbandry, Fisheries, Forestry, Agro-forestry and Agro-industries provides livelihoods to over 70 per cent of rural Indian population. Developing appropriate ICTs for sustainable development and livelihood is, therefore, essential at grass roots level, i.e., at community level. A study was performed for determining the information needs of different communities and designing system for linking the groups to relevant information and training resources ultimately to enable rural people to have information access for rural development. Data of two years period from July 2001-2002 to July 2002-2003 were collected from the beneficiaries of multimedia village information centers established by Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University in India. The users of village information centers who accessed different information technology tools during the study period were classified as users of Electronic media, Audio media, Video media, Print media and others. 28.97 per cent of the beneficiaries were accessed the electronic media during the second year with an increase of 8.98 per cent when compared to the first year which was only 19.99 per cent. The 8.98 per cent increased access shows the awareness, knowledge gain towards the electronic media access and overall built up of computer literacy and capacity in accessing information and communication technologies for information access and development, sense of ownership and empowerment.[ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] "

"By: Kretzschmar, Franziska; Pleimling, Dominique; Hosemann, Jana; Füssel, Stephan; Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, Ina; Schlesewsky, Matthias. PLoS ONE. Feb2013, Vol. 8 Issue 2, p1-11. 11p. Abstract: In the rapidly changing circumstances of our increasingly digital world, reading is also becoming an increasingly digital experience: electronic books (e-books) are now outselling print books in the United States and the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, many readers still view e-books as less readable than print books. The present study thus used combined EEG and eyetracking measures in order to test whether reading from digital media requires higher cognitive effort than reading conventional books. Young and elderly adults read short texts on three different reading devices: a paper page, an e-reader and a tablet computer and answered comprehension questions about them while their eye movements and EEG were recorded. The results of a debriefing questionnaire replicated previous findings in that participants overwhelmingly chose the paper page over the two electronic devices as their preferred reading medium. Online measures, by contrast, showed shorter mean fixation durations and lower EEG theta band voltage density – known to covary with memory encoding and retrieval – for the older adults when reading from a tablet computer in comparison to the other two devices. Young adults showed comparable fixation durations and theta activity for all three devices. Comprehension accuracy did not differ across the three media for either group. We argue that these results can be explained in terms of the better text discriminability (higher contrast) produced by the backlit display of the tablet computer. Contrast sensitivity decreases with age and degraded contrast conditions lead to longer reading times, thus supporting the conclusion that older readers may benefit particularly from the enhanced contrast of the tablet. Our findings thus indicate that people's subjective evaluation of digital reading media must be dissociated from the cognitive and neural effort expended in online information processing while reading from such devices."

"This article focuses on the Dental Nutrition Project, a joint effort of faculty from the Dental Hygiene (DH), Dietetics, and Academic Computing departments. The objectives of the project were to produce model nutrition education streaming video files and dental nutrition support materials, which were linked to the DH program's Web page, and to train DH clinical faculty on the nutrition education process using the streaming video files and support materials. The final product provided an innovative instructional technique to the DH program and also supported faculty development. This project encouraged collaboration of faculty from 3 departments of the college. It can be used as a model for other health care disciplines that incorporate nutrition or health education in their programs."

"We have conducted an experiment to discover how we can co-teach the course 'Engineering Design Problem Formulation' simultaneously at the Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands) and at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU, Pittsburgh, USA). We have formed teams that involved students from both countries, and we have experimented with long distance collaboration. In doing so, students would learn to co-operate with people at another (time zone) location with a different cultural background and, in addition, they would help the teachers of the course to develop insights into long distance collaboration. CMU lectures have been recorded with a digital video camera, and a set of PowerPoint slides accompanied each of these lectures. The movies were used by the Delft teachers by running them in class along with the PowerPoint slides and stopping often to discuss the material as the movie progressed. We also made fourperson international student groups. The entire international group met once at the start of the course using video-conferencing. During the course, the groups communicated through phone calls, e-mails and chatting. In addition, everyone in the course used the web-accessible document management system LIRE' (developed at the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems, CMU) to capture, organize and share all documents anyone produced throughout the course. The tools used in the course and the collaboration experiences were evaluated through a questionnaire distributed among the students. The results are presented in this paper"

"Online Communication and Information Technology Education. By: Heinze, Aleksej; Procter, Chris. Journal of Information Technology Education. 2006, Vol. 5, p235-249. 15p. Abstract: Blended Learning, a learning facilitation that incorporates different modes of delivery, models of teaching, and learning styles, introduces multiple media to the dialog between the learner and the facilitator. This paper examines online communication as the link between established theory of learning and literature on e-learning in order to better understand the appropriate use of blended learning in an actual Information Technology course. First, previously defined theoretical constructs that utilize communication as a facilitator for learning are considered. Then, using the Interpretivist standpoint, we examine data gathered from focus groups and interviews to gauge the experience of staff and students who were participants in a Blended Learning course. There are four previously defined theoretical constructs of greatest relevance to blended learning. Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development highlights the importance of communication with capable peers who can provide stimuli and feedback to a learning individual. Wegner's Communities of Practice are groups of individuals who share a common practice interest and rely on a dialogue to facilitate learning. Laurillard's Conversational Framework includes a pragmatic 12-step model that teachers can use to structure their learning facilitation. Finally, Salmon's E-Moderation considers five stages of online communication in terms of how the moderator might facilitate dialogue among learners. These four theoretical models form the basis for understanding the implementation of blended learning discussed here. The course studied was a part-time Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology (IT), delivered using Blended Learning. Students were required to attend one evening per week and make substantial use of Web based learning over a period of five years. Students were mature, some already working in the IT field. Forty students in a first cohort and eighteen students in a second cohort were studied during the first year of their course. While students in the first cohort who succeeded in the course often found the discussion boards to be of considerable value in discussing assignments and sharing learning, the boards also could discourage those with less technical backgrounds. There is data to suggest that a high rate of dropouts and failures among the first cohort after just one year may have been influenced by discouragement felt by those who could not keep up with the technical level of the discussion board posts. As a result of this data, for the second cohort, the number of online communications was reduced to one assessed online discussion that was closely monitored. As a result, discussions were more on-topic; however students reported significantly less sense of community. Again, a high dropout rate resulted. Our results suggest that communication is both a challenge and an enabler for facilitating a successful blended learning course. Blended learning is not simply a matter of the combination of face-to-face and online instruction, but it has to have elements of social interaction. It appears to be important to allow students to bond together and to socialize. Knowing each other eases the communication barriers and reduces the fear of posting messages into an open forum. At its best, online communication can provide study help, social interaction, and a sense of community. We have evidence that when students are required more frequently to cooperate online, they share a common problem and on some level create their own "problem solving" community. However, our data from the first cohort indicates that unguided communication of a Community of Practice can lead to undesirable effects. At the same time, our data from the second cohort indicates that a very structured approach is also undesirable."

"Background: Online discussion boards may enhance critical analysis and reflection, and promote the acquisition of knowledge. Aims: To assess the effectiveness of online discussion board as a pedagogical tool in augmenting face-to-face teaching in dental education. Method: Data were collected from a discussion archive offered through the E-course website of the School of Dentistry, University of Birmingham, UK in 2008. A multi-component metric included; participation, social learning, cognitive processing, role of instructors, and quality of discussion. Messages were coded for 14 variables to evaluate these dimensions. Data were analyzed using content analysis methodology and a complete message was uses as the unit of analysis. Results: There were no significant difference in participation between students and instructors ( P < 0.05). Social interaction with peers appeared only through students posting messages with open questions (27/135 messages). The discussion board was mainly used by students to understand concepts (27/102 messages) and apply procedural knowledge (17/102 messages). Instructors were mainly replying to students' messages with (49/120 messages) or without (54/120 messages) proposing another action. Conclusions: Online discussion boards were found to be successful pedagogical tools in dental education. Further development of instructor-led discussion approach is needed to promote higher level learning and collaborative thinking.[ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]"

" Educators, supervisors and mentors strive for the 'eureka moment', the moment when someone, "gets it". As we move more of our lives into online interaction and collaboration, there has never been a more important time to 'get it' than now. Teamwork between humans has provided an advantage to groups and societies which profoundly affect their levels of achievement. Online collaboration opens avenues for people to leverage themselves. Those who fall behind will be disadvantaged. The theme of this paper is assisting the 'eureka moment' in a digital environment so that the power of online collaboration can successfully be unlocked. The collaborative power of Web 2.0 and the pervasiveness of the Digital World into all walks of life have increased the urgency for advancements in this area in order to capitalize on the rapid uptake of collaborative technology. How the revelation of core concepts, time, space, virtuality and trust, affects new participants in online collaboration is explored. There is also discussion on the impact of participant identity which requires a 'persona' to act as a lens in collaboration and how this leads to an 'anonymity paradox'. The dynamic nature of virtual collaborative projects is also considered; in particular the impact on group leaders. The paper concludes that in order to unlock the power of online collaboration it is necessary to change focus from current solutions aimed at symptoms such as 'rules and guidelines' towards solutions addressing the underlying conceptual causes which result from the Internet's virtual nature. Addressing these issues has the potential to profoundly change our thinking and will be beneficial to organizations and communities.[ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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" The analyses explore (1) potential differences of students’ perceptions between Internet-based and face-to-face learning environments and (2) potential differences in the three aspects in relation to learners’ attributes and the use of the Internet and enrollment in online courses. This study surveyed students in a higher education institute who had had experiences with Internet-based and face-to-face learning. The results showed that students perceived higher levels of collaboration (capability only), SRL (capability and experience) and IS (capability, interest, and experience) in Internet-based learning than in traditional learning environments. In terms of students’education level, graduate students perceived higher levels of capabilities and interests in some of the aspects, than undergraduate students. In addition, for Internet-based learning, significant differences in collaboration and SRL were found derived from time spent on the Internet related to learning; and students’ perceptions of collaboration, SRL, and IS were all positively correlated to students’online course-taking experience. Implications for online learning practices and instructor’s facilitation are discussed.[Copyright &y& Elsevier]"