Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Informática e Computação. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2011

This case study examined the efficiency and precision of computer classification and adaptive testing to elicit responses from test coordinators on implementing a high-stakes computer-based testing. Test coordinators from five elementary schools located in a Georgia school district participated in the study. The school district administered state-made, high-stakes tests using paper and pencil; locally developed tests via the computer or paper and pencil. A post-hoc simulation program, Comprehensive Simulation of Computerized Adatpive Testing, used 586 student item responses to produce results with a variable termination point and classification termination point. Results from the simulation were analyzed and used in the case study to elicit interview responses from test coordinators. The photographs of computer-labs and test schedule documents were collected and analyzed to validate school test coordinators' responses. Test coordinators responded positively to the efficiency and precision of simulation results. Some test coordinators preferred the use of computer-adaptive tests for diagnostic purposes only. Test coordinators experiences focused on the security, the emotions, and the management of testing. The findings of this study will benefit those interested in implementing a high-stakes, computer-based testing program by recommending a simulation study be conducted and feedback by solicited from test coordinators prior to an operational test administration.

Instructional Design (ID) ontology can be used to formally represent knowledge about the teaching and learning process, which contributes to automatic construction of personalised eLearning experiences. While ID ontologies have been continuously improved and developed over recent years, there are concerns regarding what makes a quality ID ontology. This study proposes a framework for evaluating the quality of an ID ontology by synthesising the crucial elements considered in the ID ontologies developed to date. The framework would allow a more precise evaluation of different ID ontologies, by demonstrating the quality of each ontology with respect to the set of crucial elements that arise from the ontology. This study also gives an overview of the literature on ID ontology, as well as the implications for future research in this area.

Darbą atliko Jurgita Zenevičienė, VPU antro kurso politinės sociologijos magistrantė. Tyrimo tikslas:. išsiaiškinti kaip jaunimas vertina e-paslaugas, kokius teikia prioritetus, kokie veiksniai skatina naudotis jomis, kokie trukdo. Darbo uždaviniai: 1. Pateikti e-paslaugų sampratą ir raidą, pagrindinius bruožus; 2. Išanalizuoti e-paslaugas reglamentuojančią teisinę bazę Lietuvoje; 3. Apibendrinti e-paslaugas, jų pritaikomumą Lietuvoje Europos Sąjungos kontekste, naudojimosi e-paslaugų galimybes; 4. Išskirti e-paslaugų įvairovę bei veiksnius, skatinančius ir trukdančius jaunimui naudotis e-paslaugomis; 5. Remiantis VPU atliktu tyrimu, išanalizuoti kaip jaunimas vertina e-paslaugas, jų kokybę, kokie, jų nuomone, veiksniai skatina naudotis e-paslaugomis ir kokie trukdo. Tyrimo objektas: išsiaiškinti kaip jaunimas vertina e-paslaugas, kokius teikia prioritetus, kokie veiksniai skatina naudotis jomis, kokie trukdo. Tyrimo hipotezės: 1. Studentai, kurie mokykloje kreipė didesnį dėmesį į kompiuterinio raštingumo pamokas, lengviau naudojasi e-paslaugomis; 2. Dirbantys studentai žymiai daugiau naudojasi e-paslaugomis, negu tie studentai, kurie nedirba; 3. Tiksliuosius mokslus studijuojantys studentai daugiau naudojasi e-paslaugomis, negu studentai studijuojantys humanitarinius bei socialinius mokslus; 4. Vyrai yra labiau patenkinti teikiamų e-paslaugų kokybe nei moterys; 5. Viena iš perspektyviausių e-pasaugų jaunimas laiko pajamų ir turto deklaravimą. Tyrimo metodai: mokslinės... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The work was written by Jurgita Zenevičienė, student of Sociology and polithology cathedral of Social sciences faculty of Vilnius pedagogical university. The purpose of the investigation is to analyse the rendering of public e-services and its acceptability in youth view. Tasks of the work: 1. To represent the conception, evolution and the main features of the e-services; 2. To analyse the law basis that regulates e-services in Lithuania; 3. To summarize the e-services, their adaptability in Lithuania in the European Union context, the possibilities of using e-services; 4. To accentuate variety of e-services and factors that motivate and impede fr youth to use e-services; 5. With reference to the investigation made by VPU, to analyse how youth evaluate e-services, their quality, which of them, according to youth opinion, motivate to use e-services and which impede. The object of investigation: specialties of youth using public e-services. Hypotheses of the investigation: 1. Students that paid a lot of attention to the lessons of computer-based literacy, use e-services easier. 2. Working students use e-services much more than students that do not work 3. Students that study exact sciences use e-services more than students that study liberal arts and social sciences. 4. Men are more satisfied about e-services quality than women. 5. One of the most perspective e-services youth consider the declaration of incomes and capital. The work methods: the analysis of scientific and... [to full text]

Currently, many educators are focusing on the development of Web-based material and the quality of such material needs to be evaluated. Expert review, as a formative evaluation method, is an important method to evaluate the material prior to release. Other studies have described the use of Subject-Matter Experts (SMEs) and also domain students, with enough knowledge in the subject area, as a way of enhancing the quality of the reviewed material. In addition to the SMEs and domain students a lecturer and graduate student, both in the subject discipline area, were used to review Web-based lectures on Advanced Computer Architectures. Both additional reviewers had sufficient knowledge of the discipline. The research investigates three main hypotheses: I) whether a review conducted by domain reviewers (SME and domain student) or discipline reviewers improves the quality of material, 2) whether using discipline reviewers improves the quality of the material more than domain reviewers and 3) whether there are differences in the quality of the material resulting from students' and lecturers' review. Five versions of the material were developed and used as inputs to an experiment that was designed to test the hypotheses by using questionnaires and tests. In summary, the findings of the research were that: SME reviewer and discipline reviewers were effective in producing higher quality than the unreviewed material. However, rather interestingly, the domain student was shown to be the least effective in enhancing the material. The investigation also found that there was no significant difference in the quality of the material resulting from students' and lecturers' review. Furthermore, it was found that the media used to present the material was more useful when the quality of that media was perceived to be high. Finally 90% of the subjects were willing to study Web-based lectures as part of the course.

An investigation is conducted into the cognitive effects of using different computer based instructions media in acquisition of specific novel human skills. With recent rapid advances in computing and multimedia instructional delivery, several contemporary research have focussed on the best practices for training and learning delivered via computer based multimedia simulations. More often than not, the aim has been cost minimisation through an optimisation of the instructional delivery process for efficient knowledge acquisition. The outcome of such research effort in general have been largely divergent and inconclusive. The work reported in this thesis utilises a dual prong methodology to provide a novel perspective on the moderating effects of computer based instructional visualisations with a focus on the interaction of interface dynamism with target knowledge domains and trainee cognitive characteristics. The first part of the methodology involves a series of empirical experiments that incrementally measures/compares the cognitive benefits of different levels of instructional interface dynamism for efficient task representation and post-acquisition skilled performance. The first of these experiments utilised a mechanical disassembly task to investigate novel acquisition of procedural motor skills by comparing task comprehension and performance. The other experiments expanded the initial findings to other knowledge domains as well as controlled for potential confounding variables. The integral outcome of these experiments helped to define a novel framework for describing multimodal perception of different computer based instruction types and its moderating effect on post-learning task performance. A parallel computational cognitive modelling effort provided the complementary methodology to investigate cognitive processing associated with different instructional interfaces at a lower level of detail than possible through empirical observations. Novel circumventions of some existing limitations of the selected ACT-R 6.0 cognitive modelling architecture were proposed to achieve the precision required. The ACT-R modifications afforded the representation of human motor movements at an atomic level of detail and with a constant velocity profile as opposed to what is possible with the default manual module. Additional extensions to ACT-R 6.0 also allowed accurate representation of the noise inherent in the recall of spatial locations from declarative memory. The method used for this representation is potentially extendable for application to 3-D spatial representation in ACT-R. These novel propositions are piloted in a proof-of-concept effort followed by application to a more complete, naturally occurring task sequence. The modelling methodology is validated with established human data of skilled task performances. The combination of empirical observations and detailed cognitive modelling afforded novel insights to the hitherto controversial findings on the cognitive benefits of different multimodal instructional presentations. The outcome has implications for training research and development involving computer based simulations.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether varying levels of computer anxiety have an effect on computer-based testing of United States Air Force technical training students. The first chapter presents an overview of computer-based testing, defines key terms, and identifies questions addressed in the research. The rationale for conducting this study was that little research had been done in this area. The second chapter contains a review of the pertinent literature related to computer-based testing, computer anxiety, test reliability, validity, and gender differences in computer use. Due to the lack understanding concerning any effects of computer anxiety on computer-based testing, this has been a worthwhile topic to explore, and it makes a significant contribution to the training field. The third chapter describes the qualitative research methodology used to conduct the study. The primary methodology was an analysis of variance comparison for groups of individuals who displayed high or low computer anxiety to their respective mean computer-based or paper-based aircraft maintenance knowledge testing scores. The research population consisted of United States Air Force aircraft maintenance craftsmen students attending training at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. The fourth chapter details the findings of the study. The findings indicate that there was no significant difference between the groups of students rated with high computer anxiety and low computer anxiety while testing with computers. Additionally, no significant differences were detected while testing alternative hypotheses covering differences between groups of students rated with high computer anxiety and low computer anxiety testing by traditional paper-and pencil methods. Finally, a reference section identifying the literature used in the preparation of this dissertation is also included.

Depression är en global sjukdom och miljoner människor i världen är drabbade. Socialstyrelsen rekommenderar bland annat kognitiv beteende terapi (KBT) vid depressionsbehandling, och internetbaserad KBT (iKBT) blir allt mer vanligt. Fysisk aktivitet anges som möjlighet vid depressionsbehandling och forskning visar att fysisk aktivitet verkar både symtomreducerande och förebyggande mot depression. Målet med uppsatsen var att utforska upplevelsen av fysisk aktivitet som komplement i psykologisk behandling vid depression, motiverande respektive hindrande faktorer för ökning av fysisk aktivitet vid depression samt utveckla en modul i ett internetbehandlingsprogram och undersöka upplevelsen av denna. Tio semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med nio psykologer och en individ som genomgått depressionsbehandling via internet. Erfarenheten av depressionbehandling, fysisk aktivitet och internetbaserad behandling varierade inom gruppen. Genom en induktiv och deduktiv tematisk analys fastställdes fem huvudteman: Tilltro till fysisk aktivitet som komplement i behandling, Hinder för utförandet av fysisk aktivitet i allmänhet och vid depression, Faktorer för att öka sannolikheten till fysisk aktivitet vid depression, Modulens sätt att förmedla information och Modulens viktigaste faktorer. I studien framkom att fysisk aktivitet ses som ett viktigt komplement i behandling av depression, men att hinder kan begränsa utförandet av den. Det framkom även att motiverande faktorer är viktiga inslag i behandlingen för att öka aktiviteten och nå varaktig beteendeförändring. Modulen upplevdes som ett viktigt tillägg till Depressionshjälpen men bör revideras utifrån vissa faktorer. / Depression is a global illness and millions of people over the world are affected. Socialstyrelsen recommends Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for depression treatment, and computer based CBT (iCBT) is becoming more common. Physical activity is listed as one possibility for treatment of depression and research shows that it reduces symptoms as well as prevents depression. The aim of this study was to investigate the experience of physical activity as a complement to psychological treatment of depression, motivational and preventive factors for increase of physical activity for people with depression, and develop a module in a computer based treatment program and explore the experience of it. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine psychologists and one person who had undergone computer based depression treatment. The experience of depression treatment, physical activity and internet based treatment varied within the group. From both inductive and deductive thematic analyses five main themes were established: Confidence in physical activity as a complement in treatment, Obstacles for the execution of physical activity in general and during depression, Factors that could increase the likelihood of physical activity during depression, The module’s way to convey information and The module’s most important factors. The main results of the study showed that physical activity is an important complement in treatment for depression, but obstacles could reduce its execution. Motivational factors are important for increasing and maintaining physical activity. The module was experienced as an important addition to Depressionshjälpen but should be revised based on certain factors.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / Due to the rapid development of technology, many simple tasks can now be automated, leaving more difficult and cognitive tasks such as planning, decision making and design to teams. Technology also allows these teams to be distributed through time and space. While this is becoming more and more prevalent in the business world, distributed teams also exist in the military where the stresses are much different. One of the key factors associated with collaboration in military teams is situational awareness. This research used a commercial command and control type video game to investigate the issues of collaboration and situational awareness. The amount of information subjects had access to was varied to see if there was a significant impact upon their level of situational awareness which was measured by the accuracy of maps that the subjects drew. Results from this research may provide insight into how much information is needed by distributed teams and when they need it. Ideas for future research in this area have also been proposed. / Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy

This study investigated the use of computer-based instruction as a means of teaching Algebra I, compared to the teaching of the same topics using traditional methodologies. The achievement level of the two groups, and three aspects of attitude toward mathematics were considered. Achievement and attitude differences by gender were also analyzed.