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From Classic Evangelicalism to Orthodoxy

In this encore presentation of The Illumined Heart, hear the story of John Maddex who, along with his wife Tonya, found the Orthodox Church after nearly 40 years in Evangelical Christian radio.




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A Car Wreck, Mercy Meals, a Cooking Class, and a Wedding

Martha is back, and she recounts what she has been doing since her last episode, including experiencing a car crash, preparing mercy meals, and celebrating a wedding.




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Master Class and Choral Workshop with Vladimir Gorbik

Bobby Maddex interviews Dr. Vladimir Morosan, the founder and president of Musica Russica, about an unprecedented Master Class and Choral Workshop that will be led by Vladimir Gorbik at St. Vladimir's Seminary from June 25 through 29, 2012.




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The Classical Learning Resource Center

Matthew Gallatin interviews Anne Van Fossen about the Classical Learning Resource Center, an online classroom with instruction in Greek, Latin, mythology, philosophy, and critical thinking.




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Classical Learning Resource Center

Bobby Maddex interviews Anne Van Fossen, cofounder of the Classical Learning Resource Center, an online Orthodox classical education program.




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Classical Learning Resource Center

Bobby Maddex welcomes back to the program Anne Van Fossen, one of the founders of the Classical Learning Resource Center, to discuss some of the exciting new developments that are taking place at the center.




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Classical Learning Resource Center

Bobby Maddex welcomes back to the program Anne Van Fossen, one of the founders of the Classical Learning Resource Center, to discuss some of the exciting new developments that are taking place at the online school.




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Classical Learning Resource Center

Bobby Maddex interviews Anne Van Fossen, one of the founders of the Classical Learning Resource Center, about the growing slate of educational offerings at the CLRC.




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Classical Learning Resource Center 2015-2016

Bobby Maddex interviews Anne Van Fossen of the Classical Learning Resource Center (CLRC). Use the coupon code AFRDiscount10 to receive a 10% discount off the CLRC's Christian Study Courses.




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Hagia Sophia Classical Academy

Bobby Maddex interviews Fr. David Wey and Dean Theodore Nottingham of the Hagia Sophia Classical Academy, located in Indianapolis, Indiana.




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Classical Learning Resource Center (CLRC)

Bobby Maddex interviews Anne Van Fossen and Bryan Smith. Anne is the chief academic officer of the Classical Learning Resource Center, or CLRC, and Bryan is the school’s Chief Operations Officer. The CLRC is offering a 10% discount off any CLRC Christian Studies class for AFR listeners for the next two weeks. The coupon code is AFRDiscount10.




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Classical Learning Resource Center (CLRC)

Bobby Maddex interviews Anne Van Fossen, the Chief Academic Officer of The Classical Learning Resource Center. Together they discuss some exciting new developments at the CLRC, including a new online academy!




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Hagia Sophia Orthodox Classical Academy Interview

Bobby Maddex, Director of Digital Media for Ancient Faith Ministries interviews Zachary Waltz, the headmaster of Hagia Sophia Orthodox Classical Academy located in Indianapolis, Indiana. As well as Fr. David Wey, the rector of the Academy. Please visit https://www.hagiasophiaclassical.com for more information about the academy




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Dear Class of 2020 (w/ Christina Andresen)

Graduation ceremonies across the country have been cancelled. The Church is here to honor you! But we're not simply honoring your grades or extracurriculars. Steve is joined by Christina Andresen (Director of Ministries for Orthodox Christian Fellowship) to explore how Pentecost can shape our graduation celebration. Because you are called to be the hands of God in a world that needs healing. And you've received the gift of the Holy Spirit to prepare you to be a prophetic voice in the world. Have you been struggling with changes to your life the last few months? We've prepared a "Healthy Human" Journal with guided questions to help you stay healthy: mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Get your free "Healthy Human" PDF here: https://mailchi.mp/goarch/be_the_bee_144




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Takeda wins Japan Classic after six-hole play-off

Japan's Rio Takeda wins her first LPGA title after a six-hole play-off.




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'Pure class!' - Farnworth muscles through to score try

Herbie Farnworth scores a "brilliant" try to extend England's lead to 26-12 in the second Test against Samoa at Headingley Stadium.




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'Now we are candidates' - classy Liverpool take early title control

Liverpool have taken early control of the Premier League title race, but Alexis Mac Allister says he didn't think they would be contenders at the start of the season.




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Digital skills class aims to end exclusion

The cost of broadband and devices can be a barrier to getting online, the Doncaster charity says.




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Stay classy, Rescue Industry

In the cutthroat world of filmmaking it must be hard to get noticed. Some make their names by honing their craft over years or even decades, learning the business from the ground up, and keeping their egos in check. Others sleep their way to the top. But that's kind of lame. Why make good films or suck off a decent producer when you can hop on the concern-porn cause of the week and gain tasty, tasty attention that way?

Enter 'Balkans the Movie', a yet-to-be-made film that aims to expose the seedy underside of human trafficking by, er, cobbling together a lot of ethnic stereotypes and asking NGOs for funding. Nice work if you can get it. Certainly seems to have worked out for Nefarious: Merchant of Souls (which, incidentally, is so my next character if I ever take up RPGs again. Or alternatively my thrash metal band's debut album).




The Balkans site is looking to cast such no-doubt sensitively and intelligently written characters as "Big Mama" (a large cockney lady married to a Jamaican) and "Fats" (a Kosovan by way of New Orleans). Cast extras include "10 Prostitutes," whose roles are not entirely clear apart from the fact there will be a "porn scene" and an "auction". Don't worry about the lack of scripts, though, ladies: the director assures you "I shall ask you to improvise on the day." Is your asshole-ometer up in the red yet? No, nor mine. Not. At. All.

The site also makes clear that not only is the film gritty with potentially crude sex portrayed, it's also unpaid. Yes that's right, if you're lucky enough to get this gig you'll be pulling down not union rates or even minimum wage, but you will score a complimentary DVD. With profits to go to "anti-trafficking charities". The film will however be sent to "top industry contacts" who no doubt will dispatch it directly to the circular file. So basically you get to re-enact "harrowing scenes of torture" for free!

Executive Summary: We're going to stick it to those horrible people exploiting young women by, er, exploiting young women.


There isn't a mainstream porn studio in the world that could get away with this shit.

If the concept of the film hasn't made you roll off your chair yet then get a load of the script. What there is of it, anyway, since most of the film will go all Mike Leigh on our asses and depend on the actors' improvisation skills. We experience the story through the eyes of Joe, who is "Unstoppable, determined, curious, witty, vulnerable and a good liar ... educated at Cambridge ... Joe's heritage enables him to infiltrate this group as his father is from Eastern Europe." 


So far, so Misha Glenny. Minus the credibility.

"Joe is one of the remaining few journalists committed to the ethos of investigative journalism – to uncover the truth using all methods in spite of the risks."
As long as "all methods" means "getting handjobs," yeah? Has someone alerted Leveson yet?

Our Joe may be green, but by gum, he knows a good story when he sees it.
"I'm onto a new story with the break-in thing--absolute page one stuff-- ... It's gonna be bigger than Watergate!"
All the President's Men this ain't but please, tell me more, maybe I've missed what's so exciting here...
"Guys get into arguments over nothing and before you know it, one of them is dead. They're shooting each other all the time."
Oh. Never mind then.

More dialogue WTF: 

"Fats had killed a made man, elite Mafioso."
Now, I may be no expert - I'm only half-Eastern European and half-Sicilian, so what the hell do I know? I'm pretty sure - not 100% certain, but pretty sure - that Eastern European gangsters are not, kind of by definition, "mafiosi". 

Enter Natasha. Nats here is our hooker with a heart of gold. You can tell because she's giving Joe a rubdown and guided tour of her singing ability by page 2. She sounds all sorts of awesome:
"Natasha left her country in Eastern Europe to find a rich man in the West. Unfortunately she was conned and is now serving as a prostitute."
Serving as a prostitute? Bitch, I'm a sergeant in the Hooker Corps!

On a more serious note, though, sounds to me she found exactly what she was looking for and needs to reframe this new arrangement not as a problem but as a solution. A rich man in the West. Only, you know, an hour at a time. Why put up with a guy full-time when you can get cash in hand and have the odd evening to yourself? Hell to the yes.

The best part about Natasha is she speaks like a minor character from Isaac Bashevis Singer:

"When I was 15, my parents married me, against my will, to a man aged 35, whom I did not love. So started my miseries."
Feel free to imagine the sad violin here. Or alternatively some jaunty squeezebox à la Gypsy Weddings. Your call.

But wait! There's more. So much more:

"Smart Nick is Downtown Joey's son and a possible successor to him but first he must learn the business. "
Unlike the writer, this may entail more work for Smart Nick than merely watching The Wire with the sound turned off. I like this Nick fellow, not least because
"He has developed an upper class Oxford accent..."
I didn't know the university had its own accent! Learn something new every day. Smart Nick deploys his hard-won knowledge of Received Oxford Pronunciation on such gems as: "Next to him dancing with sexy girl is Jim Whip, number 2 top porno star in UK."

If
Mark-Francis Vandelli doesn't get this role it will be a crime against Thespis.

Oh wait, there is an Italian in the film! His name is 'Sammy Cigar'. We Italians are all called things like that, you know. We're also orange puppets made of sponge who sit around eating Dolmio every Saturday night with Mamma. He owns a nightclub too? You could have knocked me over with a feather.


The there's Leo, the Obligatory American.
"Leo was born into music, although his family were not in the industry he managed to make the right connections,  is in his early forties and is American. His break came when he graduated from Harvard in Art History and dated the daughter of the Chairman of Warner Music. He has managed huge acts, is a millionaire, loves young women (18+) and sometimes dabbles in cocaine."
The actual Chairman of Warner Music, Lyor Cohen, has a daughter all right. She turns 10 this year. Way to score, Leo!

The film's website helpfully informs us that 
This story is fictional and is not intended to be racist or to offend anyone. 
It's not intended to be racist. Like, I didn't intend to steal that cupcake, it just ended up stuffed in my gob unpaid for, officer. (For what it's worth I'm not offended. I'm more bemused and slightly mystified but not actually offended. Kosovan gangsters from Louisiana may feel differently.) Also:
All characters are fictional and any resemblance to any person/event or situation whether present or in the past is coincidental.
Don't worry, hon. There is absolutely no danger anyone is going to mistake these characters for real people.

Do you know what the script reminds me of? This date I had years ago. I met up with a guy from Guardian Soulmates who told me he was an aspiring novelist who eschewed a career as a postdoc chemist for two (yes! two!) masters' courses in writing. He then proceeded to tell me in much detail about this amazing book of his that was mysteriously unpublished. It involved a super-secret society at Oxford whose bitch-queen was a virginal descendant of the real Royal Family (whoever they are) and gets deflowered by her super-secret fraternity at the end. He saw Emily Blunt in the lead role for the film adaptation. There wasn't a second date.
 

I could go on. But I won't. Because I'm not even past page 12 yet and you probably have other things to do today. Suffice it to say that I actually hope a rubbish trafficking hype film with characters like "Detective Inkling" and "Chinese Man" gets made. If only so I can MST-3K the shit out of it. And let's be honest, if I had no conscience and no qualms about not paying the talent I would be kicking myself right now for not coming up with this lucrative wheeze first.

In fact I actually hope this is the product of some some hard-eyed cynic grabbing what cash he can out of the system before the whole trafficking panic collapses in a heap of invented moral scares and bullshit statistics. In which case, mate, I owe you an apology and a drink.




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News roundup: 11-11-11! insertAdjacentHTML, classes in JavaScript?, twilight of Flash and Silverlight, Yahoo! Cocktails

Listen to the podcast for November 11, 2011 insertAdjacentHTML Mozilla has a nice overview of insertAdjacentHTML, a DOM function that's intended to supplement innerHTML. It's a bit less destructive and plays nicely with content that's already in the DOM. For instance, whereas innerHTML completely blows away whatever is inside the ...




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Omar Youssef Souleimane : « Ce que j’ai entendu dans des classes de banlieue »

L'ecrivain d'origine syrienne a anime dans des colleges franciliens des ateliers organises pour lutter contre la radicalisation et promouvoir la laicite. Il temoigne.




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Choice of Classifiers in Hierarchical Recognition of Online Handwritten Kannada and Tamil Aksharas

In this paper, we propose a novel dexterous technique for fast and accurate recognition of online handwritten Kannada and Tamil characters. Based on the primary classifier output and prior knowledge, the best classifier is chosen from set of three classifiers for second stage classification. Prior knowledge is obtained through analysis of the confusion matrix of primary classifier which helped in identifying the multiple sets of confused characters. Further, studies were carried out to check the performance of secondary classifiers in disambiguating among the confusion sets. Using this technique we have achieved an average accuracy of 92.6% for Kannada characters on the MILE lab dataset and 90.2% for Tamil characters on the HP Labs dataset.




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Enhancement of Collaborative Learning Activities using Portable Devices in the Classroom

Computer Supported Collaborative Learning could highly impact education around the world if the proper Collaborative Learning tools are set in place. In this paper we describe the design of a collaborative learning activity for teaching Chemistry to Chilean students. We describe a PDA-based software tool that allows teachers to create workgroups in their classrooms in order to work on the activity. The developed software tool has three modules: one module for teachers, which runs on a PC and lets them create the required pedagogical material; second, there is a PDA module for students which lets them execute the activity; finally, a third module allows the teacher set workgroups and monitor each workgroup during the activity.




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The Synthesis of LSE Classifiers: From Representation to Evaluation

This work presents a first approach to the synthesis of Spanish Sign Language's (LSE) Classifier Constructions (CCs). All current attempts at the automatic synthesis of LSE simply create the animations corresponding to sequences of signs. This work, however, includes the synthesis of the LSE classification phenomena, defining more complex elements than simple signs, such as Classifier Predicates, Inflective CCs and Affixal classifiers. The intelligibility of our synthetic messages was evaluated by LSE natives, who reported a recognition rate of 93% correct answers.




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Hierarchical Graph-Grammar Model for Secure and Efficient Handwritten Signatures Classification

One important subject associated with personal authentication capabilities is the analysis of handwritten signatures. Among the many known techniques, algorithms based on linguistic formalisms are also possible. However, such techniques require a number of algorithms for intelligent image analysis to be applied, allowing the development of new solutions in the field of personal authentication and building modern security systems based on the advanced recognition of such patterns. The article presents the approach based on the usage of syntactic methods for the static analysis of handwritten signatures. The graph linguistic formalisms applied, such as the IE graph and ETPL(k) grammar, are characterised by considerable descriptive strength and a polynomial membership problem of the syntactic analysis. For the purposes of representing the analysed handwritten signatures, new hierarchical (two-layer) HIE graph structures based on IE graphs have been defined. The two-layer graph description makes it possible to take into consideration both local and global features of the signature. The usage of attributed graphs enables the storage of additional semantic information describing the properties of individual signature strokes. The verification and recognition of a signature consists in analysing the affiliation of its graph description to the language describing the specimen database. Initial assessments display a precision of the method at a average level of under 75%.




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Towards Classification of Web Ontologies for the Emerging Semantic Web

The massive growth in ontology development has opened new research challenges such as ontology management, search and retrieval for the entire semantic web community. These results in many recent developments, like OntoKhoj, Swoogle, OntoSearch2, that facilitate tasks user have to perform. These semantic web portals mainly treat ontologies as plain texts and use the traditional text classification algorithms for classifying ontologies in directories and assigning predefined labels rather than using the semantic knowledge hidden within the ontologies. These approaches suffer from many types of classification problems and lack of accuracy, especially in the case of overlapping ontologies that share common vocabularies. In this paper, we define an ontology classification problem and categorize it into many sub-problems. We present a new ontological methodology for the classification of web ontologies, which has been guided by the requirements of the emerging Semantic Web applications and by the lessons learnt from previous systems. The proposed framework, OntClassifire, is tested on 34 ontologies with a certain degree of overlapping domain, and effectiveness of the ontological mechanism is verified. It benefits the construction, maintenance or expansion of ontology directories on the semantic web that help to focus on the crawling and improving the quality of search for the software agents and people. We conclude that the use of a context specific knowledge hidden in the structure of ontologies gives more accurate results for the ontology classification.




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On reparle des classes populaires, des péri-urbains, partis politiques... (billet de Mai 2011 )

L'actualité aidant, une personne sur twitter a exhumé un vieux billet que j'avais écrit en Mai 2011. A l'époque, je parlais du Parti Socialiste... sans fausse modestie, j'avais vu plutôt juste... Aujourd'hui, on peut déjà parler d'un autre "parti" mais...




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Intelligence Artificielle : vers le grand déclassement des Classes Moyennes ?

Depuis quelques années, la théorie du grand remplacement, popularisée par Michel Houellbecq dans Soumissions ou par un Eric Zemmour, a fait son chemin dans les arcanes les moins visibles du Net. Pourtant, le danger n’est pas là, loin s’en faut, il est...




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Tensions à l'Université Lyon-3 : la classe politique condamne les attaques contre Yaël Braun-Pivet

Tensions à l'Université Lyon-3 : la classe politique condamne les attaques contre Yaël Braun-Pivet




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Thomas repeint en Sky la trilogie classique

Dans la douzième étape, entre Bourg-Saint-Maurice et l’Alpe d’Huez (175,5 km), nouvelle victoire du maillot jaune Geraint Thomas (Sky), qui se comporte de plus en plus en leader. Il s’agissait de la plus belle étape de montagne, avec trois grands cols hors catégorie.

Alpe d’Huez (Isère), envoyé spécial.
Tout de nerfs et de cernes, le peloton s’étirait déjà en lambeaux et nous voyions clairement à travers depuis un moment. Devant, derrière, un peu partout, un dialogue spumescent et ...




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An intelligent approach to classify and detection of image forgery attack (scaling and cropping) using transfer learning

Image forgery detection techniques refer to the process of detecting manipulated or altered images, which can be used for various purposes, including malicious intent or misinformation. Image forgery detection is a crucial task in digital image forensics, where researchers have developed various techniques to detect image forgery. These techniques can be broadly categorised into active, passive, machine learning-based and hybrid. Active approaches involve embedding digital watermarks or signatures into the image during the creation process, which can later be used to detect any tampering. On the other hand, passive approaches rely on analysing the statistical properties of the image to detect any inconsistencies or irregularities that may indicate forgery. In this paper for the detection of scaling and cropping attack a deep learning method has been proposed using ResNet. The proposed method (Res-Net-Adam-Adam) is able to achieve highest amount of accuracy of 99.14% (0.9914) while detecting fake and real images.




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Emotion recognition method for multimedia teaching classroom based on convolutional neural network

In order to further improve the teaching quality of multimedia teaching in school daily teaching, a classroom facial expression emotion recognition model is proposed based on convolutional neural network. VGGNet and CliqueNet are used as the basic expression emotion recognition methods, and the two recognition models are fused while the attention module CBAM is added. Simulation results show that the designed classroom face expression emotion recognition model based on V-CNet has high recognition accuracy, and the recognition accuracy on the test set reaches 93.11%, which can be applied to actual teaching scenarios and improve the quality of classroom teaching.




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Studios, Mini-lectures, Project Presentations, Class Blog and Wiki: A New Approach to Teaching Web Technologies




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Real World Project: Integrating the Classroom, External Business Partnerships and Professional Organizations




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Effective Adoption of Tablets in Post-Secondary Education: Recommendations Based on a Trial of iPads in University Classes




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Enhancing Classroom Learning Experience by Providing Structures to Microblogging-based Activities




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Implementing a Robotics Curriculum in an Early Childhood Montessori Classroom




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Using Technology in Gifted and Talented Education Classrooms: The Teachers’ Perspective

Technology skills are assumed to be a necessity for college and career success, but technology is constantly evolving. Thus, development of students’ technology skills is an on-going and persistent issue. Standards from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and the International Society for Technology in Education encourage educators to teach skills that help students adapt to changing working environments. These skills resemble the National Association for Gifted Children’s program and teacher preparation standards. Descriptive research about what is already occurring in classrooms has been done, but the information is frequently limited to a list of activities. A qualitative multi-case phenomenological study of six Alabama teachers of the gifted examined how they use and shape technology experiences with students, and promote student learning of 21st century skills. The teachers were chosen for the case study due to their reputation as teachers skilled in using technology with students. Lesson plans, interviews, and observations were used to discover themes between the teachers. Findings from the research indicate that educational technology use with students is shaped by factors such as teacher attitudes and expertise, available equipment and support, pedagogical decisions related to working with technology, and the particular student group participating in the technology use.




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An Instructional Design Framework to Improve Student Learning in a First-Year Engineering Class

Increasingly, numerous universities have identified benefits of flipped learning environments and have been encouraging instructors to adapt such methodologies in their respective classrooms, at a time when departments are facing significant budget constraints. This article proposes an instructional design framework utilized to strategically enhance traditional flipped methodologies in a first-year engineering course, by using low-cost technology aids and proven pedagogical techniques to enhance student learning. Implemented in a first-year engineering course, this modified flipped model demonstrated an improved student awareness of essential engineering concepts and improved academic performance through collaborative and active learning activities, including flipped learning methodologies, without the need for expensive, formal active learning spaces. These findings have been validated through two studies and have shown similar results confirming that student learning is improved by the implementation of multi-pedagogical strategies in-formed by the use of an instructional design in a traditional classroom setting.




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Students’ Attention when Using Touchscreens and Pen Tablets in a Mathematics Classroom

Aim/Purpose: The present study investigated and compared students’ attention in terms of time-on-task and number of distractors between using a touchscreen and a pen tablet in mathematical problem-solving activities with virtual manipulatives. Background: Although there is an increasing use of these input devices in educational practice, little research has focused on assessing student attention while using touchscreens or pen tablets in a mathematics classroom. Methodology: A qualitative exploration was conducted in a public elementary school in New Taipei, Taiwan. Six fifth-grade students participated in the activities. Video recordings of the activities and the students’ actions were analyzed. Findings: The results showed that students in the activity using touchscreens maintained greater attention and, thus, had more time-on-task and fewer distractors than those in the activity using pen tablets. Recommendations for Practitioners: School teachers could employ touchscreens in mathematics classrooms to support activities that focus on students’ manipulations in relation to the attention paid to the learning content. Recommendation for Researchers: The findings enhance our understanding of the input devices used in educational practice and provide a basis for further research. Impact on Society: The findings may also shed light on the human-technology interaction process involved in using pen and touch technology conditions. Future Research: Activities similar to those reported here should be conducted using more participants. In addition, it is important to understand how students with different levels of mathematics achievement use the devices in the activities.




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An Investigation of the Use of the ‘Flipped Classroom’ Pedagogy in Secondary English Language Classrooms

Aim/Purpose : To examine the use of a flipped classroom in the English Language subject in secondary classrooms in Hong Kong. Background: The research questions addressed were: (1) What are teachers’ perceptions towards the flipped classroom pedagogy? (2) How can teachers transfer their flipped classroom experiences to teaching other classes/subjects? (3) What are students’ perceptions towards the flipped classroom pedagogy? (4) How can students transfer their flipped classroom experiences to studying other subjects? (5) Will students have significant gain in the knowledge of the lesson topic trialled in this study? Methodology: A total of 57 students from two Secondary 2 classes in a Band 3 secondary school together with two teachers teaching these two classes were involved in this study. Both quantitative and quantitative data analyses were conducted. Contribution: Regarding whether the flipped classroom pedagogy can help students gain significantly in their knowledge of a lesson topic, only one class of students gained statistically significantly in the subject knowledge but not for another class. Findings: Students in general were positive about the flipped classroom. On the other hand, although the teachers considered that the flipped classroom pedagogy was creative, they thought it may only be useful for teaching English grammar. Recommendations for Practitioners: Teachers thought that flipping a classroom may only be useful for more motivated students, and the extra workload of finding or making suitable pre-lesson online videos is the main concern for teachers. Recommendations for Researchers: Both quantitative and qualitative analyses should be conducted to investigate the effectiveness of a flipped classroom on students’ language learning. Impact on Society : Teachers and students can transfer their flipped classroom experiences in English Language to teaching and studying other subjects. Future Research: More classes should be involved and a longer period of time should be spent on trial teaching in which a flipped classroom can be implemented in different lesson topics, not only teaching grammar. Teachers also need to determine if students can use the target language item in a task.




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Advantages and Disadvantages of an Innovative Tablet Technology Learning Activity: A Ten Year Case Study in Small Tertiary Mathematics Classrooms

Aim/Purpose: To identify positive and negative aspects for learning of interactive tablet technology learning activities that promote student engagement and learning. Background: Engaging students in mathematics classes is an on-going challenge for teachers. In 2008 we were offered the opportunity to run interactive activities with a class set of tablet PCs that had just been released on to the market. Since then, we have run these interactive activities continuously with mathematics classes for computing students, albeit with two changes in hardware. Methodology: In the interactive activities, students submit full worked solutions to various problem types (classified as table, text, open or multi-choice) which can then be displayed to the class anonymously, discussed and annotated by the teacher. We surveyed student and staff perceptions and monitored academic performance. Contribution: We have over 10 years of results, observations, and experience from 2008, when tablet technologies were new and expensive, to the current time, when modern tablets with styli are now affordable. Findings: There was a significant increase in higher grades although pass rates did not increase significantly. Over the ten year period of the study, perceptions of students and staff about how this technology impacted on student learning were consistently positive. The majority of students found all problem types useful for learning even those they rated “too hard” or “too easy”. Benefits included increased feedback, peer learning and engagement. Recommendations for Practitioners: We recommend using tablet learning activities to engage students and teachers and to contribute to learning. Impact on Society: This study shows how using tablet technologies for interactive classroom activities can enable and enhance known pedagogies of feedback, peer instruction, and student engagement for mathematics classes. Future Research: We recommend extending this study to include larger classes, and other technical subjects that use symbols and diagrams. In addition, we suggest considering control groups.




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Enhancing Student Learning in Cybersecurity Education using an Out-of-class Learning Approach

Aim/Purpose: In this study, the researchers investigated whether the out-of-class learning approach could help the students to attain any valuable learning outcomes for cybersecurity learning and could enhance the perceived value of cybersecurity education among the students. Background: Cybersecurity learning poses challenges for its students to learn a complicated subject matter and the students may be intimidated by the challenging courses in cybersecurity programs. Therefore, it is essential for the faculty members to devise some mechanisms to promote cybersecurity learning to increase its student retention. The mechanism suggested by this study was the out-of-class learning approach. Methodology: The researchers in this study employed a content analysis and adopted a semiotic method to analyze qualitative data. The researchers also conducted crosstabulation analyses using chi-square tests to detect the significant differences in the emerging learning outcomes from the two different out-of-class learning activities investigated in this study. Contribution: This study addressed the difficulty of cybersecurity education and proposed a viable mechanism to promote the student learning in such a complicated subject matter. Findings: For cybersecurity education, the out-of-class learning approach is a viable pedagogical mechanism that could lead the students to several learning outcomes, including connecting them to the real-life scenarios related to the cybersecurity profession, guiding them to their career choices and development, stimulating their intellectual growth, creating their justification of learning, and raising their cybersecurity awareness. Recommendations for Practitioners: The instructors of any cybersecurity programs should incorporate some out-of-class learning activities into the courses in their programs, especially the introductory-level courses. Additionally, it is important to coordinate the out-of-class learning activities with the in-class lessons to enable the students to justify what they have learned in their classrooms and motivate them to learn more. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers could look beyond in-class learning and laboratory learning to investigate the impacts of out-of-class learning activities on cybersecurity education to help the students to attain better learning outcomes. Impact on Society: By promoting cybersecurity education, universities and colleges could attain a higher retention rate of the students in their cybersecurity programs. The higher retention rate of the students in cybersecurity programs would help to ease the critical shortage of cybersecurity talent. Future Research: Future research could explore the impacts of other out-of-class learning activities on cybersecurity learning; for example: job shadowing, attending cybersecurity conferences, internship, developing cybersecurity systems or tools for actual customers, working on cybersecurity research with faculty members. Additionally, future studies could investigate the effects of the out-of-class learning approach on promoting other academic programs that are characterized by intensely complex and technical nature, similar to cybersecurity programs.




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Incorporating Kinesthetic Learning into University Classrooms: An Example from Management Information Systems

Aim/Purpose: Students tend to learn best when an array of learning styles is used by instructors. The purpose of this paper is to add, to introduce, and to apply the concepts of kinesthetic learning and learning structures to university and STEM education. Background: The study applies the concept of kinesthetic learning and a learning structure called Think-Pair-Share to an experiential exercise about Moore’s Law in an introductory MIS classroom. The paper details the exercise and each of its components. Methodology: Students in two classes were asked to complete a short survey about their conceptual understanding of the course material before and after the experiential exercise. Contribution: The paper details the benefits of kinesthetic learning and learning structures and discusses how to apply these concepts through an experiential exercise used in an introductory MIS course. Findings: Results indicate that the kinesthetic learning activity had a positive impact on student learning outcomes. Recommendations for Practitioners: University educators can use this example to structure several other learning activities that apply kinesthetic learning principles. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers can use this paper to study more about how to incorporate kinesthetic learning into education, and about teaching technology concepts to undergraduate students through kinesthetic learning. Impact on Society: The results of this study may be extremely beneficial for the university and STEM community and overall academic business community. Future Research: Researchers should consider longitudinal studies and other ways to incorporate kinesthetic learning activities into education.




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Implementing Team-Based Learning: Findings From a Database Class

Aim/Purpose: The complexity of today’s organizational databases highlights the importance of hard technical skills as well as soft skills including teamwork, communication, and problem-solving. Therefore, when teaching students about databases it follows that using a team approach would be useful. Background: Team-based learning (TBL) has been developed and tested as an instructional strategy that leverages learning in small groups in order to achieve increased overall effectiveness. This research studies the impact of utilizing team-based learning strategies in an undergraduate Database Management course in order to determine if the methodology is effective for student learning related to database technology concepts in addition to student preparation for working in database teams. Methodology: In this study, a team-based learning strategy is implemented in an undergraduate Database Management course over the course of two semesters. Students were assessed both individually and in teams in order to see if students were able to effectively learn and apply course concepts on their own and in collaboration with their team. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected and analyzed in order to determine if the team approach improved learning effectiveness and allowed for soft skills development. The results from this study are compared to previous semesters when team-based learning was not adopted. Additionally, student perceptions and feedback are captured. Contribution: This research contributes to the literature on database education and team-based learning and presents a team-based learning process for faculty looking to adopt this methodology in their database courses. This research contributes by showing how the collaborative assessment aspect of team-based learning can provide a solution for the conceptual and collaborative needs of database education. Findings: Findings related to student learning and perceptions are presented illustrating that team-based learning can lead to improvements in performance and provides a solution for the conceptual and collaborative needs of database education. Specifically, the findings do show that team scores were significantly higher than individual scores when completing class assessments. Student perceptions of both their team members and the team-based learning process were overall positive with a notable difference related to the perception of team preparedness based on gender. Recommendations for Practitioners: Educational implications highlight the challenges of team-based learning for assessment (e.g., gender differences in perceptions of team preparedness), as well as the benefits (e.g., development of soft skills including teamwork and communication). Recommendation for Researchers: This study provides research implications supporting the study of team assessment techniques for learning and engagement in the context of database education. Impact on Society: Faculty looking to develop student skills in relation to database concepts and application as well as in relation to teamwork and communication may find value in this approach, ultimately benefiting students, employers, and society. Future Research: Future research may examine the methodology from this study in different contexts as well as explore different strategies for group assignments, room layout, and the impact of an online environment.




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A data classification method for innovation and entrepreneurship in applied universities based on nearest neighbour criterion

Aiming to improve the accuracy, recall, and F1 value of data classification, this paper proposes an applied university innovation and entrepreneurship data classification method based on the nearest neighbour criterion. Firstly, the decision tree algorithm is used to mine innovation and entrepreneurship data from applied universities. Then, dynamic weight is introduced to improve the similarity calculation method based on edit distance, and the improved method is used to realise data de-duplication to avoid data over fitting. Finally, the nearest neighbour criterion method is used to classify applied university innovation and entrepreneurship data, and cosine similarity is used to calculate the similarity between the samples to be classified and each sample in the training data, achieving data classification. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves a maximum accuracy of 96.5% and an average F1 score of 0.91. These findings indicate a high level of accuracy, recall, and F1 value for data classification using the proposed method.




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An evaluation of English distance information teaching quality based on decision tree classification algorithm

In order to overcome the problems of low evaluation accuracy and long evaluation time in traditional teaching quality evaluation methods, a method of English distance information teaching quality evaluation based on decision tree classification algorithm is proposed. Firstly, construct teaching quality evaluation indicators under different roles. Secondly, the information gain theory in decision tree classification algorithm is used to divide the attributes of teaching resources. Finally, the rough set theory is used to calculate the index weight and establish the risk evaluation index factor set. The result of teaching quality evaluation is obtained through fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. The experimental results show that the accuracy rate of the teaching quality evaluation of this method can reach 99.2%, the recall rate of the English information teaching quality evaluation is 99%, and the time used for the English distance information teaching quality evaluation of this method is only 8.9 seconds.




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Student's classroom behaviour recognition method based on abstract hidden Markov model

In order to improve the standardisation of mutual information index, accuracy rate and recall rate of student classroom behaviour recognition method, this paper proposes a student's classroom behaviour recognition method based on abstract hidden Markov model (HMM). After cleaning the students' classroom behaviour data, improve the data quality through interpolation and standardisation, and then divide the types of students' classroom behaviour. Then, in support vector machine, abstract HMM is used to calculate the output probability density of support vector machine. Finally, according to the characteristic interval of classroom behaviour, we can judge the category of behaviour characteristics. The experiment shows that normalised mutual information (NMI) index of this method is closer to one, and the maximum AUC-PR index can reach 0.82, which shows that this method can identify students' classroom behaviour more effectively and reliably.




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Performance improvement in inventory classification using the expectation-maximisation algorithm

Multi-criteria inventory classification (MCIC) is popularly used to aid managers in categorising the inventory. Researchers have used numerous mathematical models and approaches, but few resorted to unsupervised machine-learning techniques to address MCIC. This study uses the expectation-maximisation (EM) algorithm to estimate the parameters of the Gaussian mixture model (GMM), a popular unsupervised machine learning algorithm, for ABC inventory classification. The EM-GMM algorithm is sensitive to initialisation, which in turn affects the results. To address this issue, two different initialisation procedures have been proposed for the EM-GMM algorithm. Inventory classification outcomes from 14 existing MCIC models have been given as inputs to study the significance of the two proposed initialisation procedures of the EM-GMM algorithm. The effectiveness of these initialisation procedures corresponding to various inputs has been analysed toward inventory management performance measures, i.e., fill rate, total relevant cost, and inventory turnover ratio.




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Use of a Class Exercise to Maximize Student Interest in an Introductory MIS Course