TITLE: Assessing metacognitive knowledge in web-based CALL: a neural network approach
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VCJ-4BRB62C-2&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=c06412ffae45effe15a7f73cc44cfcd6)
SUMMARY:
The assessment of learners’ metacognitive knowledge level is crucial when developing computer-assisted language learning systems. Currently, many systems assess learners’ metacognitive knowledge level with pre-instructional questionnaires or metacognitive interviews. However, learners with limited language proficiency may be at a disadvantage in responding to verbal-report interview or questionnaire probes. The goal of this study is to present a neural network model that assesses automatically the learner’s metacognitive knowledge level by observing his/her online browsing behavior. The model is implemented through a multi-layer feed forward neural network. An experiment was conducted to examine the suitability of this model in different Web page structures. One hundred and forty-six college students were categorized into three groups according to three Web page structures: networked, hierarchical, and linear. The experiment results verified the suitability of the proposed model, and the MSEs of assessment of the three groups showed no significant differences with respect to the Web page structures.
FEEDBACK:
In this 21st century, people are racing towards the highest level of information technology such as E-bay, E-learning, E-mail and so forth. However, I still prefer reading books. I admit that online reading might be fun and beneficial but there are still something lacking inside. I love to flip through the pages of books instead of scrolling down pages with a mouse. I love the smell of those frill, old pages of a book instead of the monitor. I enjoy developing and wander into wild imagination instead of staring hard at the eye-hurting screen. How can a forwarded e-mail convey better feelings and messages than a hand written letter? Of course, this is just my perspective and others might think the other way. What do you think?
Saturday, March 28, 2009
4TH POSTING (PART 2)-1ST ARTICLE
ARTICLE 1-ICTS: A catalyst for enriching the learning process and library services in India
www.elsevier.com/locate/iilr
Summary : The advances in ICTs have decisively changed the library and learning environment. On the one hand, ICTs have enhanced the variety and accessibility to library collections and services to break the barriers of location and time. On the other, the e-Learning has emerged as an additional medium for imparting education in many disciplines to overcome the constraint of physical capacity associated with the traditional classroom methods. For a vast developing country like India, this provides an immense opportunity to provide even higher education to remote places besides extending the library services through networking. Thanks to the recent
initiatives by the public and private institutions in this direction, a few web-based instruction courses are now running in the country. This paper reviews different aspects of e-Learning and emerging learning landscapes. It further presents the library scene and new opportunities for its participation in the e-Learning process. How these ICTs driven advances can contribute to the comprehensive learning process in India is highlighted.
www.elsevier.com/locate/iilr
Summary : The advances in ICTs have decisively changed the library and learning environment. On the one hand, ICTs have enhanced the variety and accessibility to library collections and services to break the barriers of location and time. On the other, the e-Learning has emerged as an additional medium for imparting education in many disciplines to overcome the constraint of physical capacity associated with the traditional classroom methods. For a vast developing country like India, this provides an immense opportunity to provide even higher education to remote places besides extending the library services through networking. Thanks to the recent
initiatives by the public and private institutions in this direction, a few web-based instruction courses are now running in the country. This paper reviews different aspects of e-Learning and emerging learning landscapes. It further presents the library scene and new opportunities for its participation in the e-Learning process. How these ICTs driven advances can contribute to the comprehensive learning process in India is highlighted.
FEEDBACK-India is always regarded as a poor country in the past with its low quality of living atmosphere and over population has been an obstacle for the realm to prosper. However, there are tonnes of educated citizens who have continuously working to produce a better living ambience to the people. ICT Learning is one of the gigantic project to enable and enhance peoplee from all stages to involve in the cyber world. In my opinion, this plan will allow India to take a major step forward towards a developed country.
4TH POSTING (PART 1-SOME OF THE ONLINE DATABASES PROVIDED BY TSL LIBRARY)
EBSCOhost is a subscription-based service provided by EBSCO Publishing. It is widely-accessible via private and public databases in libraries and schools. EBSCOhost is an umbrella term for various other databases which provide full text searches and abstracts of magazines, newspapers and reference books in a variety of subject areas, updated on a daily basis. Libraries and other institutions subscribe to EBSCOhost, and optionally choose one or more of the offered databases as part of their subscription. Customers can then search all of the subscribed databases, or focus their search on a subset. Some databases have overlapping information, and are targeted to different sectors of the market, such as libraries, K-12 schools, corporations, government institutions, universities, or medical institutions. As of 2008, over 200 possible databases are available.
LISAnet (http://www.nla.gov.au/pathways/jnls/newsite/view/805.html) is a web version of Library & Information Science Abstracts (LISA). It contents abstracts and indexes over 550 library & information science journals in 65 countries. There are three links to search for information which are Quick Search, Advanced Search or Search Tools. In order to make things easier for consumers, this site provides search tips, technology search area and a date range of the information that the user wants to find.
DOA-Dissertation online (what is dissertation) also called thesis or disquisition is a document that presents the author's research and findings and is submitted in support of candidature for a degree or professional qualification.
LISAnet (http://www.nla.gov.au/pathways/jnls/newsite/view/805.html) is a web version of Library & Information Science Abstracts (LISA). It contents abstracts and indexes over 550 library & information science journals in 65 countries. There are three links to search for information which are Quick Search, Advanced Search or Search Tools. In order to make things easier for consumers, this site provides search tips, technology search area and a date range of the information that the user wants to find.
DOA-Dissertation online (what is dissertation) also called thesis or disquisition is a document that presents the author's research and findings and is submitted in support of candidature for a degree or professional qualification.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
3RD POSTING-PART II (DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITY BETWEEN 4 SEARCH ENGINES)
Google Scholar | Yahoo! | Eric digests | Mamma | |
1 | More thoughtful and strategic | Flamboyant and more reactive | - | - |
2 | Concentrates on value added solutions rather than presentation | Concentrates on superb presentation followed by value creation | - | - |
3 | Strongly associated with simplicity, usefulness and pages that load fast | Connected with rich interfaces, complex designs, pages that load slowly | - | - |
4 | Provides a way for searching thesis, abstracts and articles ; and other scholarly organizations | - | Functions like a library | - |
5 | - | Provides various info; ranging from educational to entertainment and socialization | Provides only information on education | Provides various info; ranging from educational to entertainment and socialization |
6 | Common search engine | Common search engine | Common search engine | Metasearch engine |
7 | - | Will only display a result gathered from sources registered under yahoo.com | - | Functions as a link to information that located not only in one search engine but also in other search engines |
8 | Used to find academic tools | Used to find academic tools | Used to find academic tools | Used to find academic tools |
3RD POSTING-PART III (FEEDBACK)
Feedback
From my perspective, Google Scholar is the most beneficial search engine for students and teachers as it provides links to other relevant articles on any issues. I have been using Yahoo! but only for the purpose of electronic mails. For me, it is a convenient search engine too but I have never used it as an academic tool before. On the other hand, Mamma.com and Eric Digests are two new search engine and I need more time to be exposed and more familiar to them so that I will have more options in the future with the help of more scholastic tools.
From my perspective, Google Scholar is the most beneficial search engine for students and teachers as it provides links to other relevant articles on any issues. I have been using Yahoo! but only for the purpose of electronic mails. For me, it is a convenient search engine too but I have never used it as an academic tool before. On the other hand, Mamma.com and Eric Digests are two new search engine and I need more time to be exposed and more familiar to them so that I will have more options in the future with the help of more scholastic tools.
3rd posting- Search Engines
Brief summary on 4 search engines
1. Google Scholar
This is a freely-accessible Web search engine. It includes most peer-reviewed online journals of the world’s largest scientific publishers. It also comprises the metadata required for identifying specific articles in explicit issues. It allows effortless access to published articles without the difficulties that are encountered in some of the most expensive commercial databases.
2. Yahoo!
It provides Internet services worldwide. It is best known for its web portal, search engine, Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, news and social media websites and services. It is the second most visited website in the U.S., and in the world. Yahoo! formed partnerships with telecommunications and Internet providers to create content-rich broadband services.
3. Mamma.com
Mamma.com Inc. was renamed Copernic Inc. Along with the name change came a new stock symbol (CNIC)(June 14, 2007) and a new corporate website. Prior to the name change, its slogan was "The Mother Of All Search Engines".
4. ERIC Digests.org
It offers a large variety of topics covered including teaching, learning, libraries, charter schools, special education, higher education, home schooling, and many more. It is specifically for teachers, administrators, policymakers, and other practitioners, but generally useful to the broad educational community. It is designed to provide an overview of information on a given topic, plus references to items providing more detailed information.
Monday, March 9, 2009
2nd posting-How blogging can assist language learners to improve and enhance their writing skill?
One of my favourite metablogs, Skelliewag, recently published a post saying that, in blogging, your writing style is not as important as your ability to get your ideas across, and that traditional print writing style can be a hindrance in blogging.
I think Skellie is half right. Blog writing style is different to the various print writing styles - it’s usually shorter for a start. If you’re writing an informative post, it is more important to be informative, than it is to have great style. Blogging is about communicating first and foremost, and to get started communicating you only need to get your idea across.
On the other hand, if you want to be remembered, in part you need to be distinctive. You need to better than every other mediocre writer with good ideas. You need to find your own voice. And some of the great writing advice you can get will help you find yourself - cutting out the excess and leaving the worthy.
I’m probably the last person to tell you how to write. I don’t think I have a great writing style. I’m not a natural writer. I haven’t taken classes in writing - in fact my last English lesson was when I was 16 years old, and I’ve no intention of starting that up again. But I am making an effort to improve my writing.
I think that my ideas are good, and I want them to be enhanced, not hindered, by my use of language.
The great thing about blogging, is that you tend to do it little and often. Most blogs that are read widely are updated at least once a week. In a given year, you’ve got at least 52 opportunities to incrementally improve your writing skills.
I think the best way of taking advantage of your blogging schedule to improve your writing skills, is to write your post and then edit it. Writing on it’s own, won’t improve your skills, it will only display them as they are. Improving your writing skills, I think, means improving your editing and rewriting skills. Once the ideas are in place, improving and rewriting your language to better communicate those ideas just takes practice.
Although I notice good writing whilst I’m reading, I am not skilled at deconstructing it to find out why the writing style works so well. Although I’m sure that anyone can absorb good writing style by reading widely and reading well, my best resource for trying to improve my own writing is On Writing Well by William Zinsser. This book is pretty much an instruction manual for developing non-fiction writing skills. It explains what works, and why.
One of the features and selling points of my personal finance blog, is that I’m British and part of a small and growing band of non-American personal finance bloggers. I can help maintain this difference, regardless of my topic, by using a British English writing idiom. For this reason, On Writing Well is particularly helpful for me. Even though it’s an American book, it doesn’t rely too heavily on the idioms, style and taste of American English but instead focuses more on the general attributes of good English not peculiar to one country.
Writing is a skill that you need to cultivate to improve your blog, just as you need to cultivate SEO skills, or design skills, or coding skills. Certainly, you can be successful whilst being mediocre at any or all of them if you have great ideas, but you probably wouldn’t be reading Blogthority if you didn’t want to improve your writing skill.
Links to my favourite articles
Links to blog which I enjoy reading
Feedback: I love to read articles on Stephen King and Sidney Sheldon because they are my favourite writers. Their unique style of writing and ideas really captivate my mind. Their books can keep me awake from the 1st page and I will be in an addicted state till the end. 'lameleftygirl2' is a close friend of mine-Maureen Chua. She has a good sense of producing high quality writing and she is able to possess or express her ideas, loud and clear. Her words have certain impact and catch others' attention. Reading articles online and blogs give me a wider idea and develop my idea-building system thus improving my writing skill. Besides, I get to learn how citizens from different age level and status think nowadays.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
1st posting- Reading for instruction
http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content2/guidelines.computers.htmlGuidelines For Computers and Reading
1. Computer instruction in reading should focus on meaning and stress reading comprehension.*Learners should have opportunities to work with whole, meaningful texts. Programs that offer learners a chance to process large chunks of related text, rather than bits and pieces of unrelated language fragments, allow students to use and extend what they know about reading comprehension.*Learners should have opportunities to work with word-recognition programs that stress the use of word meanings in conjunction with phonics and structural analysis. Care must be taken to make sure that, when programs feature the study of individual words and phrases, they are offered within a contextual framework that help them make sense to the learner. Assessment programs for teachers should also be provided in meaningful context.*Learners should have the opportunities to apply the skills being taught in some meaningful way. Programs that deny the learner an opportunity to make use of what is being "taught" are merely assessment tools and do little to further the learner's growth.*Learners should have the opportunity to work with computer materials that use content and language that are within the range of their conceptual development. Tasks should be challenging but not frustrating. Student interests, previous experiences, and purpose play a role in determining whether or not a computer task is comprehensible and worthwhile.
1. Computer instruction in reading should focus on meaning and stress reading comprehension.*Learners should have opportunities to work with whole, meaningful texts. Programs that offer learners a chance to process large chunks of related text, rather than bits and pieces of unrelated language fragments, allow students to use and extend what they know about reading comprehension.*Learners should have opportunities to work with word-recognition programs that stress the use of word meanings in conjunction with phonics and structural analysis. Care must be taken to make sure that, when programs feature the study of individual words and phrases, they are offered within a contextual framework that help them make sense to the learner. Assessment programs for teachers should also be provided in meaningful context.*Learners should have the opportunities to apply the skills being taught in some meaningful way. Programs that deny the learner an opportunity to make use of what is being "taught" are merely assessment tools and do little to further the learner's growth.*Learners should have the opportunity to work with computer materials that use content and language that are within the range of their conceptual development. Tasks should be challenging but not frustrating. Student interests, previous experiences, and purpose play a role in determining whether or not a computer task is comprehensible and worthwhile.
2. Computer instruction in reading should foster active involvement and stimulate thinking.*Learners should have opportunities to discuss the purpose of the computer task or program as well as its nature. They should be aware not only of what they are supposed to do but also of why doing it is important.*Learners should have opportunities to make decisions that control or influence the computer task. Programs that build in opportunities for students to make choices and test predictions help them learn to think and act on their own rather than merely react to someone else's thinking.*Learners should have opportunities to monitor their own learning. Tasks that offer students opportunities to self-check and correct their own errors support the development of independent learners.
3. Computer instruction in reading should support and extend students' knowledge of text structures.*Learners should have opportunities to encounter a wide variety of text structures upon which to apply and refine their comprehension skill. A variety of narrative and expository structures should be provided. Commercially prepared, teacher-authored, and student-authored materials should also be included. Reading instruction can take place through all kinds of computer-based materials, not merely those designated specifically for that purpose.*Learners should have opportunities to experiment with text in creative ways to suit their purposes. When students reorganize a story or an informational piece on the computer, they are employing and strengthening what they know about the structure of texts.
4. Computer instruction in reading should make use of content from a wide range of subject areas.*Learners should have opportunities to use the computer as a means of applying reading strategies to all areas of the curriculum. Programs related to science, social studies, and math require the use of strategies for reading comprehension.Unless students are being helped to use what they know about reading comprehension under these circumstances, they are not progressing as competent readers.*Learners should have opportunities to use the computer in conjunction with other modes of instruction. The computer should not operate as a separate and isolated means of learning. Its use should be integrated with that of books and other learning materials. Students need to think of the computer as one additional means of sharing and retrieving information and practicing skills in interesting and meaningful ways.
5. Computer instruction in reading should link reading and writing. *Learners should have opportunities to create text with the computer for sharing and use by others. When students enter information into the computer for someone else to retrieve and use, they must compose with the reader in mind. This frequently involves making explicit use of what they know about what makes a text comprehensible. Revision and proofreading strategies clearly involve the combined application or reading and writing skills.
Feedback:
The article above is regarding reading for instruction. I choose this article because it is relevant to the Bahasa dan Teknologi Maklumat course. The passage above guides me to obtain a more effective way to learn and extract important information in a flash. Besides that, I also gain more knowledge about online reading. I would love to recommend this article to all my friends as I am affirmative it would be a great benefit for learners of all stages.
3. Computer instruction in reading should support and extend students' knowledge of text structures.*Learners should have opportunities to encounter a wide variety of text structures upon which to apply and refine their comprehension skill. A variety of narrative and expository structures should be provided. Commercially prepared, teacher-authored, and student-authored materials should also be included. Reading instruction can take place through all kinds of computer-based materials, not merely those designated specifically for that purpose.*Learners should have opportunities to experiment with text in creative ways to suit their purposes. When students reorganize a story or an informational piece on the computer, they are employing and strengthening what they know about the structure of texts.
4. Computer instruction in reading should make use of content from a wide range of subject areas.*Learners should have opportunities to use the computer as a means of applying reading strategies to all areas of the curriculum. Programs related to science, social studies, and math require the use of strategies for reading comprehension.Unless students are being helped to use what they know about reading comprehension under these circumstances, they are not progressing as competent readers.*Learners should have opportunities to use the computer in conjunction with other modes of instruction. The computer should not operate as a separate and isolated means of learning. Its use should be integrated with that of books and other learning materials. Students need to think of the computer as one additional means of sharing and retrieving information and practicing skills in interesting and meaningful ways.
5. Computer instruction in reading should link reading and writing. *Learners should have opportunities to create text with the computer for sharing and use by others. When students enter information into the computer for someone else to retrieve and use, they must compose with the reader in mind. This frequently involves making explicit use of what they know about what makes a text comprehensible. Revision and proofreading strategies clearly involve the combined application or reading and writing skills.
Feedback:
The article above is regarding reading for instruction. I choose this article because it is relevant to the Bahasa dan Teknologi Maklumat course. The passage above guides me to obtain a more effective way to learn and extract important information in a flash. Besides that, I also gain more knowledge about online reading. I would love to recommend this article to all my friends as I am affirmative it would be a great benefit for learners of all stages.
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