Master of Engineering (Research) / Educational standards are having a significant impact on e-Learning. They allow for better exchange of information among different organizations and institutions. They simplify reusing and repurposing learning materials. They give teachers the possibility of personalizing them according to the student’s background and learning speed. Thanks to these standards, off-the-shelf content can be adapted to a particular student cohort’s context and learning needs. The same course content can be presented in different languages. Overall, all the parties involved in the learning-teaching process (students, teachers and institutions) can benefit from these standards and so online education can be improved. To materialize the benefits of standards, learning resources should be structured according to these standards. Unfortunately, there is the problem that a large number of existing e-Learning materials lack the intrinsic logical structure required, and further, when they have the structure, they are not encoded as required. These problems make it virtually impossible to share these materials. This thesis addresses the following research question: How to make the best use of existing open learning resources available on the Internet by taking advantage of educational standards and specifications and thus improving content reusability?In order to answer this question, I combine different technologies, techniques and standards that make the sharing of publicly available learning resources possible in innovative ways. I developed and implemented a three-stage tool to tackle the above problem. By applying information extraction techniques and open e-Learning standards to legacy learning resources the tool has proven to improve content reusability. In so doing, it contributes to the understanding of how these technologies can be used in real scenarios and shows how online education can benefit from them. In particular, three main components were created which enable the conversion process from unstructured educational content into a standard compliant form in a systematic and automatic way. An increasing number of repositories with educational resources are available, including Wikiversity and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology OpenCourseware. Wikivesity is an open repository containing over 6,000 learning resources in several disciplines and for all age groups [1]. I used the OpenCourseWare repository to evaluate the effectiveness of my software components and ideas. The results show that it is possible to create standard compliant learning objects from the publicly available web pages, improving their searchability, interoperability and reusability.

Bendrai nuotolinio švietimo sistemos analizei buvo naudojami norminių aktų, Lietuvos ir užsienio šalių mokslininkų darbų, publikuotų periodinėje spaudoje, ir įvairių Internetinių šaltinių, bibliotekinio tyrimo ir lyginamosios analizės metodai. Virtualioms mokymosi terpėms analizuoti buvo naudojami lyginamosios analizės ir eksperimentiniai tyrimo metodai. Virtualių universitetų koncepcijų tyrimui buvo taikoma sisteminė analizė, o virtualaus universiteto informacinei sistemai projektuoti, buvo naudotas koncepcinio modeliavimo metodas. Sistemos testavimui taikytas eksperimentinis metodas, o rezultatams apibendrinti – vertinamasis tyrimo metodas. / Modern Internet technologies have allowed new learning methods to appear for the realisation of which e-learning information technologies are created. While organizing distance learning the problems of selecting and integrating these technologies surface. That has motivated to conduct research on e-learning information technologies. It can be stated that the especially important task today is to create such infrastructure of the Virtual University that enables to merge both various distance learning methods and various learning environments used for creating distance courses as well as to conform to e-learning standards. This work introduces: • the formulation of the requirements for the distance education information system; • the concept of the distance education information system and selected technologies for its implementation have been designed; • the architecture of two different application servers that enables to use different information technologies in a single information system have been offered. It is scalable, it does not depend on the platform and has a unified identification mechanism; • the unified system that enables to manage education processes, educational programmes, e-courses created in various virtual learning media and other resources as well as to administer the activities of students and lecturers. The system created is open, multiplatform and adapted for various information technologies and different application servers, supports various... [to full text]

Modern Internet technologies have allowed new learning methods to appear for the realisation of which e-learning information technologies are created. While organizing distance learning the problems of selecting and integrating these technologies surface. That has motivated to conduct research on e-learning information technologies. It can be stated that the especially important task today is to create such infrastructure of the Virtual University that enables to merge both various distance learning methods and various learning environments used for creating distance courses as well as to conform to e-learning standards. This work introduces: · the formulation of the requirements for the distance education information system; · the concept of the distance education information system and selected technologies for its implementation have been designed; · the architecture of two different application servers that enables to use different information technologies in a single information system have been offered. It is scalable, it does not depend on the platform and has a unified identification mechanism; · the unified system that enables to manage education processes, educational programmes, e-courses created in various virtual learning media and other resources as well as to administer the activities of students and lecturers. The system created is open, multiplatform and adapted for various information technologies and different application servers, supports various... [to full text] / Šiuolaikinės internetinės technologijos leido atsirasti naujiems mokymo metodams, kurių realizavimui kuriamos e. mokymosi informacinė technologijos. Organizuojant nuotolines studijas, iškyla šių technologijų pasirinkimo ir derinimo problemos. Tai paskatino atlikti e. mokymosi informacinių technologijų tyrimą.

Master of Engineering (Research) / Educational standards are having a significant impact on e-Learning. They allow for better exchange of information among different organizations and institutions. They simplify reusing and repurposing learning materials. They give teachers the possibility of personalizing them according to the student’s background and learning speed. Thanks to these standards, off-the-shelf content can be adapted to a particular student cohort’s context and learning needs. The same course content can be presented in different languages. Overall, all the parties involved in the learning-teaching process (students, teachers and institutions) can benefit from these standards and so online education can be improved. To materialize the benefits of standards, learning resources should be structured according to these standards. Unfortunately, there is the problem that a large number of existing e-Learning materials lack the intrinsic logical structure required, and further, when they have the structure, they are not encoded as required. These problems make it virtually impossible to share these materials. This thesis addresses the following research question: How to make the best use of existing open learning resources available on the Internet by taking advantage of educational standards and specifications and thus improving content reusability?In order to answer this question, I combine different technologies, techniques and standards that make the sharing of publicly available learning resources possible in innovative ways. I developed and implemented a three-stage tool to tackle the above problem. By applying information extraction techniques and open e-Learning standards to legacy learning resources the tool has proven to improve content reusability. In so doing, it contributes to the understanding of how these technologies can be used in real scenarios and shows how online education can benefit from them. In particular, three main components were created which enable the conversion process from unstructured educational content into a standard compliant form in a systematic and automatic way. An increasing number of repositories with educational resources are available, including Wikiversity and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology OpenCourseware. Wikivesity is an open repository containing over 6,000 learning resources in several disciplines and for all age groups [1]. I used the OpenCourseWare repository to evaluate the effectiveness of my software components and ideas. The results show that it is possible to create standard compliant learning objects from the publicly available web pages, improving their searchability, interoperability and reusability.

The presence in state standards of the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Cognitive Domain (referred to Bloom 1 in this study) and A Taxonomy of Learning, Teaching, and Assessing (referred to as Bloom 2 in this study) was examined in this qualitative investigation. Standards for the English language arts eighth grade curriculum were chosen for examination in order to maximize the opportunity for all Bloom levels to appear; all states have language arts standards and eighth grade is the highest grade level at which NCLB testing is mandated. The standards documents of the 36 stated that have language arts standards unique to eighth grade comprised the analyzed data source and were accessed from state education websites. Descriptive narrations of cognitive levels, benchmarks, indicators, strands, sub-strands, writers of the standards, and any and all references to Bloom 1 and Bloom 2 were investigated. Inter-coder reliability was calculated to address the major research question regarding the clarity of reference to cognitive level of the standards. The qualitative content analysis research methodology chosen to answer the study's research questions culminated in the emergence of four major themes. 1) The extent to which the state standards were classifiable according to Bloom 1 or Bloom 2 depended largely upon consonance in assumptions made by the coders regarding a presumed conditions component for the standards; state standards lack condition components specifying what learners are presented with or have access to at the time the competency stated in the standard is demonstrated. 2) Eighth grade English language arts state standards incorporate cognitive learning levels of Bloom 1 and/or Bloom 2 through the range of Bloom levels. The verb "use" was noted as the most frequent taxonomic verb appearing in the standards. 3) Only five states directly referenced Bloom 1 or Bloom 2 in the documents' introduction/overview, table of contents, document guides, acknowledgements, appendices, and/or bibliography. 4) Of the 2,566 standard statements examined, 96 percent appear to be above the lowest Bloom 1 (Knowledge) and Bloom 2 (Remember) level, employing the researcher's assumed condition component. Overall, results showed that while some states incorporate Bloom 1 and/or Bloom 2, a majority of the standards appear to be written in the lower levels of the Bloom taxonomies. The researcher suggested strategies such as collaboration, consulting, training, and surveying students, parents, teachers, administrators, state committees, and agencies on knowledge of and inclusion of the Bloom taxonomic frameworks in order to improve the clarity of the intended cognitive levels set by the state standards.

No description available.

In 2010, Oregon Department of Education (ODE) developed a set of rubrics designed to score a state required performance assessment targeting Science Inquiry (SI) and Engineering Design (ED) skills. During the development of the rubrics, ODE invited six panels of teachers to provide feedback on an early draft of the rubrics. This case study analyzed the teachers' feedback and the revisions of the rubrics to identify the types of feedback teachers offered and how ODE used that feedback to develop the rubrics. The results showed the teachers' feedback focused on defining the skills students were asked to demonstrate and distinguishing levels of student performance. There was clear evidence that the teachers' feedback had a substantial impact on the development of the rubrics. These results suggest that teachers can add substantial value during the development of a state issued assessment tool.

No description available.

No description available.

本研究旨在建構國內適用之幼兒就學準備度評量「五歲幼兒就學準備度評量表（長題本）」，供幼兒園確保教育品質之用。研究者首先廣泛蒐集幼兒就學準備度相關文獻，包含：幼兒就學準備度內涵、幼兒學習標準與表現指標、幼兒就學準備度評量等部分，接著選取具有代表性、符合我國文化特性，以及出版日期較新之六篇重點文獻進行統整與比較，藉由文獻分析後所建立的國內外幼兒就學準備度內涵對照表，與了解幼兒學習標準與表現指標、幼兒就學準備度評量現況後的啟示，作為建構五歲幼兒就學準備度評量表（長題本）之參考。六篇重要文獻包含美國Head Start辦公室所發展的「幼兒學習成果架構」（Child Outcomes Framework）、High Scope基金會所發展的兒童行為觀察記錄表Child Observation Record (COR)、盧美貴（2003)「我國五歲幼兒基本能力與學力指標建構研究」、林秀錦與王天苗(2004)「幼兒入學準備能力之研究」、香港教育局（2003）的「兒童發展表現指標」、香港教育學院的「兒童發展評量表」（2007）。研究者以盧美貴（2003）「我國五歲幼兒基本能力與學力指標」與香港教育學院「兒童發展評量表」為藍本建構出評量表（長題本）之雛形，並透過問卷調查法與訪談調查法，進行五歲幼兒就學準備度評量表（長題本）的適用性檢視與修訂，最後完成我國適用之五歲幼兒就學準備度評量表（長題本）之建構。在調查研究的部分，為確立「長題本」的適用性，研究者以立意取樣，選取公私立幼兒園各2所，各1班，共計4班，每班2位教師，共8位老師，請教師評量班上的大班幼兒，求兩位教師評分結果的相關，建立評量表之信度，並根據訪談的意見與回饋進行評量表內容之修正。 我國適用之五歲幼兒就學準備度評量表（長題本）不僅可以在教學上使用亦可作為研究用。為進一步了解評量表（長題本）在相關研究之應用性，研究者透過預試及專家小組的討論篩選題目，建構五歲幼兒就學準備度評量表（短題本），探討教師與家長對幼兒就學準備度期望與現況之情形。研究者以便利取樣，抽取台北市公私立幼兒園的教師與家長，實施調查研究，共寄出525份問卷，回收425份，有效份數為400份，有效回收比例為76％，有效回收份數中，家長有178份，教師有222份。研究者將問卷所得之量化資料以SPSS 12.0中文版統計套裝軟體進行分析；綜合文獻分析、問卷調查與訪談調查，本研究之結論如下： 一、我國適用之五歲幼兒就學準備度評量表（長題本）具有良好的適用性。 二、我國適用之五歲幼兒就學準備度評量表（長題本）建構結果：包含「領域」、「重點」、「項目」與「行為指標」四個層次，分為健康與身體、情緒與社會、語言與溝通、認知及學習取向五個領域，共有24個重點、62個項目、177個行為指標。每個行為指標又分為三個水平，代表該能力發展的程度，由不熟悉至精熟。評量表以檢核表形式呈現，由熟悉幼兒的教師勾選，備註欄提供教師紀錄與該行為指標相關的軼事記錄、例證、評語、作品等，做為評量的依據與輔助說明。 三、家長與教師對幼兒就學準備度的期望有顯著差異，家長的期望高於教師的期望。 四、公私立幼兒園的家長背景變項在教育程度、職業類別、家庭每月總收入、與幼兒就讀幼兒園年數有顯著差異；公私立教師的背景變項在教師年齡、教學年資、大班教學年資、最高學歷、任教年級有顯著差異。五、公私立幼兒園家長背景變項、教師背景變項與幼兒就學準備度期望間部分有差異。 六、教師背景的最高學歷與語言與溝通領域的期望達顯著差異，教師年齡與情緒與社會領域、學習取向領域的期望達到顯著差異；家長背景的家長教育程度與健康與身體領域、情緒與社會領域、認知領域、學習取向領域、認知數理邏輯領域的期望達顯著差異，且事後比較發現學歷為研究所以上的家長期望較低。 七、家長對幼兒就學準備度期望與幼兒就學準備度表現現況有顯著差異，家長對幼兒就學準備度的期望顯著高於幼兒就學準備度表現的現況。 最後，研究者根據文獻分析、問卷調查及訪談調查的結果提出建議，期許對未來幼教的發展有所裨益。 / The main purpose of this study is to construct a reliable and valid five-year-old children school readiness assessment (long version) in order to ensure the quality of education in kindergartens. Through extensively collecting several relevant literatures as to Child Outcomes Framework (Head Start), Child Observation Record (COR), Readiness Skills Preparing for Better Earning and Adjustment in Elementary school (Shiu-Chin Lin & Tien-Miau Wang, 2004), Key Competency and Performance Indicators in Early Childhood Education (Mei-kuei Lu, 2003), Hong Kong Children's Development Performance Indicators (Hong Kong Government's Bureau, 2003), Hong Kong Child Development Scale (2007), the five-year-old children school readiness assessment (long version) is formed and revised after literature analysis, questionnaire survey and personal interview. This can not only be used for teaching but also for researching. The five-year-old children school readiness assessment (short version) is for understanding the expectation of kindergarten teachers and parents of school readiness. The results are analyzed by means, standard deviations, t-test and one-way ANOVA. Here are the results of this study: A. The five-year-old children school readiness assessment (long version) has good reliability and validity. B. The five-year-old children school readiness assessment (long version) is related to five domains (physical health and development domain, social and emotional domain, language and communicate domain, cognitive domain and approaches to learning domain), 24 points, 62 items and 177 indicators. Every indicator has three performance levels and a remarks column that can offer teachers to record related observations, reviews, children’s performances etc. C. The expectation of school readiness between kindergarten teachers’ and parents’ is significantly different. Parents’ expectation is higher than kindergarten teachers’ expectation. D. There are significantly different characters between public and private kindergartens. E. There are significantly different expectations of school readiness among the different background of families and kindergarten teachers. F. The parents’ expectation of school readiness and their children’s performance of school readiness is significant different. Parents’ expectation is higher than their children’s school readiness performance.