196,269 research outputs found
Reading with new tools: An evaluation of Personal Digital Assistants as tools for reading course materials
No full textLightweight, palmtop devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) can now be used for reading electronic text, opening up their potential as learning tools. This paper reports a study that evaluated the use of PDAs for reading course materials by students on an Open University master's course. The research is grounded in activity theory, which provides a useful framework for examining how the introduction of a new tool changes an existing activity. Student perceptions of the possibilities and constraints of the PDA, as determined by questionnaires and interviews, reveal the impact the new tool had upon reading. The PDA constrained reading with limitations such as the small screen size, new requirements for navigating through the text and awkward methods for taking notes. These conditions made it difficult for students to skim‐read the text, to move back and forth within the document and to interact with the text as easily as they could with paper. Nevertheless, students welcomed the opportunity to have the course materials on a portable, lightweight device that could be used at any time and in any place. This made it easier to fit the reading activity around the various other activities in which students were involved In addition, the PDA was used in conjunction with existing tools, such as the printed version of the course materials and the desktop computer. Therefore, it was not seen to replace paper but rather to extend and complement it. The findings are discussed using concepts from activity theory to interpret how the new tool modified the reading activity
Coastal carbon opportunities: summary report on changes in the distribution of mangrove and saltmarsh across South Australia (1987-2015
No full textAlice R. Jones, Nicole Foster, Michelle Waycott and Bronwyn M. Gillander
Coastal carbon opportunities: summary report on the ecosystem services provided by blue carbon habitats in South Australia
No full textBronwyn M. Gillanders, Milena Fernandes, Sam Gaylard, Harpinder Sandhu, Michelle Waycott, Tim Cavagnaro, Alice R. Jone
Goyder Institute blue carbon research projects: synthesis report
No full textAlice R. Jones, Sabine Dittmann, Luke Mosley, Michelle Clanahan, Kieren Beaumont, Michelle Waycott, Bronwyn M. Gillander
Coastal carbon opportunities: Summary report on using drones to measure mangrove above-ground biomass
No full textAlice R. Jones, Ramesh Raja Segaran, Michelle Waycott, Bronwyn Gillander
A phylogeny of the tribe Caraganeae (Fabaceae) based on DNA sequence data from ITS
No full textA new subtribal classification of the Fabaceae-Caraganeae is presented informed by phylogenetic reconstruction using the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) for 17 genera belonging to tribes Caraganeae, Galegeae and Astragaleae. Based on these results we propose to erect a new subtribe Chesneyinae Ranjbar, F. Hajmoradi and Waycott including Chesneya Lindl. ex Endl. and Guelden- staedtia Fisch. and revise the membership of subtribe Caraganinae as comprising Caragana Fabr., Calophaca Fisch. and Halimodendron Fisch. ex DC. Subtribe Caraganinae is characterised by the shrub habit and paripinnate leaves whereas the herbaceous habit and imparipinnate leaves are characteristic of subtribe Chesneyinae.Massoud Ranjbar, Fatemeh Hajmoradi, Michelle Waycott, Kor-jent Van Dij
Assessing connectivity in South Australia's Marine Parks Network
No full textAlice Jones, Michelle Waycott, Simon Bryars, Alison Wright and Bronwyn Gillander
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Investigating mobile science learning in workplace settings
No full textThe potential of technological developments in the form of handheld mobile devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) to augment and improve the experience of science for the learner has been well documented (see, e.g. Scanlon et al., 2005), as has their use to augment and improve performance in workplace settings (Waycott and Kulkulska-Hume, 2003; Waycott et al., 2003). These devices also have the potential to provide new ways for teachers and learners to engage with mixed media science learning materials. Working with the Open University’s Practice-based Professional Learning (PBPL) Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL), we will address these questions by investigating how science teachers studying the Masters-level course Contemporary issues in science learning use mobile technologies in their workplace settings. In particular, we hope to better understand the ways in which PDAs influence the use of OU course material in workplace contexts, and investigate how the link between knowledge about science communication, education and practice can be influenced by the use of PDAs. In this paper we will report on the first phase of the project, documenting the experiences of revising existing mixed media materials for use on PDAs, and the development and trialling of familiarisation activities and data collection techniques. We used a range of data collection methods to record student and tutor use of the PDAs, including weekly audio diaries and a web-based surveying infrastructure that can be programmed to automatically invite users to submit online questionnaires as they complete course-related activities on their PDAs. The results of the first phase will iteratively be developed to document the use of these materials in workplace settings. Our evaluation is based on the activity theory approach developed by Scanlon and Issroff (2005) and the tool appropriation model developed by Waycott et al. (2003).
References
Scanlon, E., Jones, A. and Waycott, J. (2005). Mobile technologies: prospects for their use in learning in informal science settings, Journal of Interactive Media in Education 21(5), pp. 1-17.
Scanlon, E. and Issroff, K. (2005). Activity Theory and Higher Education: evaluating learning technologies, Journal of Computers and Learning, 21 (6), pp. 430-439.
Waycott, J. and Kukulska-Hulme, A. (2003). Students’ experiences with PDAs for reading course materials, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing 7(1), pp. 30-43.
Waycott, J., Scanlon, E. and Jones, A. (2003). Using PDAs as learning and workplace tools: An Activity theory perspective. In S. Anastopoulu, M. Sharples and G. Vavoula (Eds.), M-Learn 2002: European Workshop on Mobile and Contextual Learning, Birmingham, England
Environmental change and human health: Can environmental proxies inform the biodiversity hypothesis for protective microbial-human contact?
No full textMicrobiota from environmental sources overlap and interact with human microbiota, contribute to human microbial diversity, and provide beneficial immunomodulatory stimuli. Meanwhile, reduced diversity in human microbiota and immune dysregulation have been associated with a range of diseases. Emerging evidence suggests landscape-scale drivers of microbial diversity may influence our health, but the area remains understudied because of its multidisciplinary nature. Here, we attempt to widen the view on this subject by offering an environmental researcher's viewpoint, proposing a unifying conceptual framework to stimulate multidisciplinary interest. To focus research in this challenging area, we propose greater emphasis on multiscale ecological links and that landscape-scale proxies for potential underlying microbial mechanisms be investigated to identify key environmental attributes and health relationships worthy of subsequent detailed examination. Wherever possible, ecological epidemiological studies should account for the temporal nature of environmental microbiota exposures, especially with respect to the early development of the human commensal microbiota.Craig Liddicoat, Michelle Waycott, and Philip Weinstei
Dr. Duane M. Jackson, Morehouse College, July 2011
No full textThis video is a conversation with Dr. Duane M. Jackson. Dr. Jackson talks about his paper, "Recall and the Serial Position Effect: The Role of Primacy and Recency on Accounting Students' Performance." Jackie Daniel, AUC Woodruff Library, is the interviewer
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