by Athanasios Drigas, Marios Pappas, International Journal of Online Engineering The last decade, researchers and educators have shown particular interest for the use of educational video games in mathematics education, in an effort to provide educational character to entertainment. In this paper we represent some of the most representative studies which evaluate the effects of video [...]

I created a video to help organizations fully understand the meaning of their smile sheets. You can also view this directly on YouTube: https://youtu.be/QucqCxM2qW4

In this paper, we draw on Actor-Network Theories (ANT) to explore how material components functioned to create gateways and barriers to a virtual learning network in the context of a professional development module in higher education. Students were practitioners engaged in family learning in different professional roles and contexts. The data comprised postings in the […]

This study used the technology acceptance model to explore undergraduate students’ perceptions of the virtual world of Second Life (SL) and their intention to use it to learn a chemistry concept. A total of 136 undergraduate students participated in the study by completing a learning task in SL and a self-report measure consisting of 6 […]

Fostering interaction in the online classroom is an important consideration in ensuring that students actively create their own knowledge and reach a high level of achievement in science courses. This study focuses on fostering interaction in an online introductory nutrition course offered in a public institution of higher education in Hawai‘i, USA. Interactive features included […]

There was a time, not long ago, when solar energy was science fiction. Now it is the fastest growing in the nation of renewable energy. Here’s why things will only promising for the booming industry. 1. Increased capacity Like most innovative products, the panels that convert sunlight into usable electricity took some time to catch ...

The 2015 6th International Conference on Distance Learning and Education (ICDLE 2015) will be held in Paris, France during October 12-13, 2015. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Jonathan Keane, freelance journalist, living in Ireland, covering business and technology writes, "Mexico needs new investment and competition to close its enormous digital divide" Photo: IDG Connect"Seemingly every nation wants to be known as a tech hub in one form or another. Efforts are rife throughout Central and South America but this isn’t possible without a tech-savvy population and the infrastructure to back it up. You need to be tech competent before becoming a tech hub."Mexico, one of the countries vying for a "techy" mantle, has identified the need for greater education for young children in a country where high school dropout rates are worryingly high.Digital divides are well documented. They can result in discrimination and leave certain communities in the dust when it comes to information and career opportunities. Mexico, with an internet penetration of about 43%, has lagged behind but it is now growing.Various schemes have emerged to get more people online but also to pursue technology careers.  The government-funded program Mexico Conectado [Spanish] runs initiatives to bring broadband to public areas and counts Cisco among its partners. Mexico Conectado already represents about 250,000 public spaces across the country, which mostly includes schools, hospitals, and libraries.The scheme is moving into the state of Hidalgo next, which will pose a couple of challenges where some towns and regions lack adequate electricity supply. Another investment is hoped to benefit 40,000 families in the town of Merida [in Yucatan]. Mexico Conectado also recently held a robotics contest for children between the ages of 8 and 13 in the hopes of stimulating their interest in technology. The free courses are available in most Mexican states. These efforts are intended to overall address the digital literacy gaps in Mexico and foster a tech-savvy future.How to get the internet into rural areasNarrowing such a digital divide demands a very long term view though. More than half of the population still isn’t online. A recurring theme in Latin America is the challenge of bringing the internet to remote rural areas. Naturally, urban centres with large populations attract investment from operators but it creates a staggering gap between urban dwellers and rural residents.While the majority of Mexico’s population live in urban areas, some 26 million still live in rural regions.Read more... Source: IDG Connect 

"‘Girls read more. They spend more time on homework, and usually spend less time online and playing video games. Boys think they’re too cool for school’." continues Irish Times.‘Girls read more for enjoyment than boys, PISA surveys have found, and in particular, girls read more fiction, which is associated with high performance.’’ Photograph: Getty ImagesGirls outperformed boys in 50 of 58 Leaving Cert papers across higher and ordinary level, according to a gender analysis of this year’s results. This is part of a recurring pattern - and not just in Ireland. But why is this the case?The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) surveys 15-year-old students across 70 economies every three years to evaluate education systems worldwide. It has consistently found girls outperform boys in school. report (PDF)There are several reasons for this, according to a report (PDF) earlier this year by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Girls read more. They spend more time on homework, and usually spend less time online and playing video games. Boys think they’re too cool for school, where girls are generally highly motivated to do well. Girls read more for enjoyment than boys, PISA surveys have found, and in particular, girls read more fiction, which is associated with high performance. They also found that on average, girls will spend five and a half hours on homework a week, against boys’ four and a half hours. In Ireland specifically, girls do eight hours’ homework on average, while boys spend an hour and a quarter less. Homework, unsurprisingly, has an impact on student performance, with students who spend more time on homework achieving better results.Various studies considered by the OECD suggest the difference in attitudes towards school between the genders is strongly related to our idea of what’s masculine and what’s feminine. For many boys, an interest in school or academic achievement isn’t cool. Across OECD countries, boys were eight per cent more likely than girls to say school is a waste of time. They were also five per cent less likely to agree or strongly agree that trying hard at school is important. Read more... Source: Irish Times

Top educators have defended Australian universities' move away from requiring mathematics as a prerequisite for science, engineering and commerce degrees in which mathematical knowledge plays a key part, writes Tim Dodd for Australian Financial Review. Easing the prerequisite for maths is one way of boosting student numbers, science dean Stephen Walker says. Photo: Australian Financial Review.The chair of the Australian Council of Engineering Deans, Moses Tade, who is also engineering dean at Curtin University, said universities were using "many innovative ways" to teach maths to engineering students who were not up to the necessary standard. He said his fellow engineering deans would "refute" the notion that "you can't do engineering without having done intermediate maths".  Figures released last week show that 41% of Australian universities which offer engineering do not require students to have studied intermediate maths in year 12. And, to the knowledge of the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute which produced the study, no university engineering faculties require students to have studied advanced maths in year 12, even though engineering courses are highly mathematical.  Full report on the Australian Financial Review siteSource: University World News