80 research outputs found
The effectiveness of synchronous massive online courses at The University of Texas at Austin
No full textIs online education an effective and viable alternative to face-to-face education? The purpose of this dissertation was to evaluate the effectiveness of online education at The University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin). The dissertation focused on Synchronous Massive Online Courses (SMOCs) at The University of Texas at Austin since 2012. This dissertation analyzed the extent to which course effectiveness varies as a function of lecture environment, comparing SMOCs to similar face-to-face (FTF) courses.
In total, 25,726 students across 53 courses at UT-Austin were included in analyses. Researchers compiled all relevant student and course data archived in university databases and merged that with course data compiled from archived course syllabi. Then, Hierarchical Linear Modeling was used to test how (a) final course grades vary as a function of lecture environment (SMOC or FTF), controlling for socioeconomic status, scholastic aptitude, and course exam frequency, (b) subsequent semester grades vary as a function of lecture environment (SMOC or FTF), controlling for socioeconomic status, scholastic aptitude, and course exam frequency, and (c) course completion rates vary as a function of lecture environment (SMOC or FTF), controlling for socioeconomic status, scholastic aptitude, and course exam frequency.
The primary goal of this project was to examine the effectiveness of SMOCs in comparison to FTFs. Course effectiveness was operationally defined with three objective outcomes: final course grades, subsequent semester GPAs, and course completions. Findings show that there were no significant differences between SMOCs and FTFs on any of these objective measures. That is, SMOCs neither outperform nor underperform FTFs in final grades, subsequent semester GPAs, or course completions.
Because previous studies propose that increasing exam frequency may reduce SES-based achievement gaps (e.g., Pennebaker, Gosling, & Ferrell, 2013), and there are some mixed results in the literature about the effectiveness of frequent testing (e.g., Bell, Simone, & Whitfield, 2015), a secondary goal of this dissertation focused on the interaction of SES and exam frequency in the context of course effectiveness outcomes. Exam frequency interacted with lecture environment; such that for FTFs, there was no substantial difference in final course grades by exam frequency; however, for SMOCs, students with more exams had higher final course grades than students with fewer exams. The highest final grades were earned by students in SMOCs that provided the highest exam frequencies (while accounting for control variables). Exam frequency also interacted with socioeconomic status (SES); such that for lower SES students, when exam frequencies are lower the probabilities of course completion are lower than when exam frequencies are higher; and when exam frequencies are higher, the probabilities of course completion are higher than when exam frequencies are lower. For higher SES students, the probabilities of course completion did not vary by exam frequency. Given these findings, increasing exam frequencies in course structures is recommended.
Looking across a wide range of course topics and courses, and large number of students, this dissertation provides evidence that SMOCs are as effective as FTFs on objective course outcomes, both short- and long-term. This includes final course grades, subsequent semester GPAs, and course completion rates as course effectiveness measures. Economically, SMOCs are able to reach thousands of students by relying on fewer faculty without the need for large classrooms. At the same time, it frees faculty to teach more and smaller upper division courses. Although the results of the SMOC and FTF courses were generally similar, the additional payoffs of the SMOCs make them a promising tool for the future of undergraduate education. If the high standard of educational course effectiveness is based in the traditional FTF course, then a comparable SMOC course meets that high standard.Psycholog
Career choicean analysis of the factors of wood technics students at Hartford Union High School
No full textIncludes bibliographical references
Archaeological and biological examination of “The Mystery Wreck” (8MO143) off Vaca Key, Monroe County, Florida: A Report Submitted to the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in Fulfillment of a NOAA Maritime Heritage Program Mini-grant
No full textDuring the summer of 2004, the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research Underwater Archaeology team undertook a project to relocate, assess, and record thirteen of the shipwrecks of the 1733 Spanish Plate Fleet in the Florida Keys. One source of background information that they used was a commercially available videotape entitled “Galleon Hunter,” produced by Don Ferguson. Aside from the 1733 wrecksites, the video features another site, locally known as “the Mystery Galleon,” that was shown to Ferguson by local diver Stefan Sykora. Using location numbers supplied in Ferguson’s video, Roger Smith, Della Scott-Ireton, and Dave McCampbell relocated the site in Hawk Channel, off the city of Marathon. Later, the site further was examined by Smith, Jennifer McKinnon, and Jason Raupp, who made initial sketches, still photos, and video recordings.ReportSubmitte
Monitoring computer-based training over computer networks
No full textAs time is becoming an ever more precious commodity in today's workplace, effective training is also taking on an increasingly important role, but finding the time to train today's workforce is becoming increasingly difficult. With employees in diverse locations across the country and across the world and some working from home, on the road or "hot-desking" we have to take a new approach to training.
Fortunately computer-based training can solve many of the traditional problems such as the need to bring all trainees together in the same location at the same time. With today's sophisticated
computer-based training applications motivated employees can train where they want, at home or
at work, and when they want, at lunchtime or after work.
However, there is also a basic legal and pedagogical requirement to record who has been trained and in what. This is very easy in a traditional training scenario, but much more difficult in today's training environments. This problem is currently the major obstacle to the widespread adoption of computer-based training, and looking for a solution to these problems was the aim of this research. This research began by investigating the processes used by multimedia developers when creating Computer Based Training (CBT) applications, identifying the current methodologies, techniques
and tools that they use. Very quickly it was easy to see that developers use a whole range of
development tools and that their expertise is primarily in the design of training applications, not in programming. Similarly the students want credit for the training that they undergo but do not want to be distracted by an intrusive monitoring system. The role of the Training Manager is equally important. He or she needs to be able to quickly assess the situation of an individual or a group of students and take remedial action where necessary. Balancing all of these needs in a single generic solution to the monitored training problem was the single biggest challenge. This research has addressed these important problems and has developed a solution that permits the monitoring of student training progress in any location and at any time in a way that is totally transparent to the user. The author integrates this additional functionality into a new or existing training through a drag-and-drop interface which is very easy to use, creating a monitoring experience which is totally transparent to the trainee and the Training Manager receives a summary database of student progress. Specifically the system uses a library of C++ functions that interface to Authorware, Director,
Toolbook or a C++ application. The functions permit an author to open a monitoring database at
the start of a training session and close it at the end. Whilst the database is open we can record any data that we require regarding student progress and performance. On closing the session the resulting database is sent to a central collation point using FTP. Students are identified
automatically through their IP address, from their network login or ask them to logon to the
training session manually. The system can write any database format that is required and if the
network is unavailable when the session ends the database will be saved locally until the next
training session. At the central collation point a specially written application takes the many
databases created by individual training sessions and collates them into one large database that can
be queried by the training manager. Small trials were initially performed with a prototype system at the collaborating company, CBL
Technology Ltd, which in turn led to larger trials at both Cable and Wireless Communication PLC and the University of Huddersfield. In these trials authors of CBT applications found the system extremely easy to integrate into their applications and the training managers and course leaders responsible for training outcomes, found the feedback on student performance, that the system provided, invaluable. This research had demonstrated that it is possible to create a generic monitored training solution that balances the needs of the trainee, the author and the Training Manager. Trainees can train at any time, anywhere in the world, over the Internet or from CDROM and a training manager can monitor their progress provided that at some time they connect to a computer network
The Tax Sensitivity of Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from Firm-Level Panel Data
No full textUnderstanding the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) is important for analyzing capital flows and the industrial organization of multinational firms. Most empirical studies of FDI, however, have focused on case studies of nontax factors in overseas investment decisions or on discerning reduced-form relationships between some measure of FDI and variables relating to nontax and tax aspects of the investment decision. In this paper, we examine the effects of taxation on FDI using previously unexplored (for this purpose) panel data on FDI by subsidiaries of U.S. multinational firms collected by Compustat's geographic segment file project. These firm- level data contain information on new capital investment overseas which enable us to measure tax influences on FDI more precisely and allow us to focus on structural models of subsidiaries' investment decision. Our empirical results cast significant doubt on the simplest notion that 'taxes don't matter' for U.S. firms' FDI decisions. Tax parameters influence FDI in precisely the way indicated by neoclassical models. Our results also lend support to the application of the 'tax capitalization' model to the study of dividend repatriation and foreign direct investment decisions.
Charity and Favoritism in the Field: Are Female Economists Nicer (to Each Other)?
No full textUsing a very large sample of matched author-referee pairs, we examine how the gender of referees and authors affects the former’s recommendations. Relying on changing matches of authors and referees, we find no evidence of gender differences among referees in charitableness toward authors; nor do we find any effect of the interaction between the referees’ and authors’ gender. With substantial research showing gender differences in fairness, the results suggest that an ethos of objectivity can overcome tendencies toward same-group favoritism/opposite-group discrimination.
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Using social network information in recommender systems
No full texttextRecommender Systems are used to select online information relevant
to a given user. Traditional (memory based) recommenders explore the user-item rating matrix and make recommendations based on users who have rated similarly or items that have been rated similarly. With the growing popularity of social networks, recommender systems can benefit from combining history of user preferences with information from the social/trust network of users. This thesis explores two techniques of combining user-item rating history with trust network information to make better user-item rating predictions. The first
approach (SCOAL [5]) simultaneously co-clusters and learns separate models
for each co-cluster. The co-clustering is based on the user features as well as
the rating history. This captures the intuition that certain groups of users have similar preferences for certain groups of items. The grouping of certain users is affected by the similarity in the rating behavior and the trust network.
The second graph-based label propagation approach (MAD [27]) works in a transductive setting and propagates ratings of user-item pairs directly on the
user social graph. We evaluate both approaches on two large public data-sets from Epinions.com and Flixster.com.
The thesis is amongst the first to explore the role of distrust in rating prediction. Since distrust is not as transitive as trust i.e. an enemy's enemy need not be an enemy or a friend, distrust can't directly replace trust in trust
propagation approaches. By using a low dimensional representation of the original trust network in SCOAL, we use distrust as it is and don't propagate it. Using SCOAL, we can pin-point the groups of users and the groups of
items that have the same preference model. Both SCOAL and MAD are able to seamlessly integrate side information such as item-subject and item-author
information into the trust based rating prediction model.Electrical and Computer Engineerin
Wholesale 101 : A guide to product Sourcing for entrepreneurs and small business owners
No full textLearn the Secrets to Succeeding in Global Trade
Wholesale 101 provides the tools and insight you need to launch a successful business by combining various platforms?B2B sites, trade shows, trading companies, and others--into a powerful product sourcing strategy.
Whether you\u27re looking to drop ship from wholesalers and manufacturers or import product direct to sell in your store, this unparalleled guide reveals inside information of an industry full of secrets.
"If you are looking for a one-stop shop that turns the complicated world of sourcing product into a road map for success, then I encourage you to buy this book." -- TOM MCELROY, VP, Marketing and e-Commerce, Genco Marketplace and NoBetterDeal.com
"Provides lots of concrete advice on how to profit from this new age of wholesaling." -- DON DAVIS, Editor in Chief, Internet Retailer
"For any entrepreneur looking to start a business or expand their business, Wholesale 101 is a must read." -- MARC JOSEPH, CEO and President, DollarDays International, and author of The Secrets of Retailing: Or, How to Beat Wal-Mart
"One of the most informative and useful books on Wholesale Sourcing I have laid eyes on in the past ten years." -- SKIP MCGRATH, Publisher, Online Seller\u27s Resource
"Very smart with a unique perspective on a variety of things important to our business, including global trade, international protocol, leveraging the Internet, and driving value for trade show participants." -- CHRISTOPHER MCCABE, Senior Vice President, Nielsen Expositions
"A must-have addition to any wholesalers library." -- CYRILL ELTSCHINGER, Strategic Advisor and author of Source Code Chin
Models of metal-poor stars with different initial abundances of C, N, O, Mg, and Si. I. Bolometric corrections derived from new MARCS synthetic spectra and their implications for observed colour-magnitude diagrams
No full text© 2020 by the author(s), PreprintNew, high-resolution MARCS synthetic spectra have been calculated for more than a dozen mixtures of the metals allowing, in turn, for variations in C:N:O, [CNO/Fe], and enhanced abundances of C, O, Mg, and Si. Bolometric corrections (BCs) for many of the broad-band filters currently in use have been generated from these spectra. Due to improved treatments of molecules that involve atoms of C, N, and O, the BCs for UV and blue passbands, in particular, differ substantially from those derived from previous MARCS models. These differences, and the effects on the BCs of varying the abundances of the metals, are shown in a number of instructive plots. Stellar evolutionary grids for −2.5 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤−0.5 have also been computed for the different mixtures. Isochrones based on these tracks are intercompared on the theoretical H–R diagram and on a few of the colour–magnitude diagrams that can be constructed from HST Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) F336W, F438W, F606W, F814W, F110W, and F160W observations. For the first application of these models, isochrones have been fitted to WFC3 photometry of the globular cluster NGC 6496 from the HST UV Legacy Survey, with very encouraging results
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