The Construction of Learning Object： Tools for the Teaching

The main objective of this work was the construction of a Multidisciplinary Learning Object as a tool for teaching, enabling the use of information and communication technologies for use by teachers acting in elementary school, based on Discourse Analysis, Theory Cybernetic-systemic, the Multiple Intelligences and Collaborative Learning. All of them are informed by Foucault, Pecheux, Bakhtin, Gardner, Levy, and others. The theoretical contribution is justified to the extent that the student is above all a being inserted into a user company tool created by it over time, to act on the world. Theoretical principles underlying the construction of learning objects as tools for teaching are related to teaching and learning. The developed learning object establishes the link between the fields of pedagogy and usability, the step by step construction of each of them and their purposes, characteristics, and all detailed in the development of research. The construction of the learning object follows the steps of a methodological construction for the development of a computerized product, followed by a systematic planning and the design and construction.

Teaching Locally, Engaging Globally to Enhance the Undergraduate Curriculum： A Social Science Research and Evaluation Perspective

The purpose of this project is to reach more students in food, agricultural, and environmental sciences with a globalized undergraduate curriculum, by providing contextually-rich reusable learning objects （RLOs） and authentic case studies that address multidisciplinary issues. Reusable learning objects （RLOs） are self--contained, digital learning activities that range in length from 2 to 15 minutes. RLOs can contain a wide array of media, including text, web sites, charts, maps, models, PowerPoint presentations, photos, case studies, simulations, video clips, audio clips, and assessments, Food and agricultural sciences faculty at the University of Florida, the University of Georgia, and Texas A＆M University have been selected to be part of a Faculty Learning Community that Will work together in curriculum and RLO development, and will participate in an international study experience funded by this project. For each experience, a group of approximately ten faculty and three project team members will spend roughly two weeks in a Latin American/Caribbean basin country. Various social science data collection processes and evaluation strategies will be the focus of the presentation. The use of preflective and reflective instruments to measure initial attitudes or beliefs about the context-rich multidisciplinary experience and expected gains from participating in the curricula development will be demonstrated.

Response of Slovene Informatics Teachers to the EUCIP On-line Course

In the paper, the authors present their experience and results related to the design and management of the on-line course ＂Development of e-learning resources based on the EUCIP （The European Certification of Informatics Professionals） certification scheme＂, which was organized under the auspices of the international Leonardo da Vinci project Sloop2desc （Sharing learning objects in an open perspective for development of European skills and competences）. The course was primarily aimed at teachers of informatics. Out of 64 participants that applied for the course, slightly less than 50% managed to reach the last course module. In line with other research, the authors＇ experience showed that in order to minimize participants＇ drop-out rate, a sustained communication flow between tutors and participants was necessary and specific assignments had to be provided by the tutors, along with guidance. The authors expect the participants who successfully finished the on-line course to become a some kind of ambassadors for the introduction of the EUCIP scheme in Slovenia.

Diagnosing Student Learning Problems in Object Oriented Programming

Students often face difficulties while taking basic programming courses due to several factors. In response, research has presented subjective assessments for diagnosing learning problems to improve the teaching of programming in higher education. In this paper, the authors propose an Object Oriented conceptual map model and organize this approach into three levels： constructing a Concept Effect Propagation Table, constructing Test Item-Concept Relationships and diagnosing Student Learning Problems with Matrix Composition. The authors＇ work is a modification of the approaches of Chert and Bai as well as Chu et al., as the authors use statistical methods, rather than fuzzy sets, for the authors＇ analysis. This paper includes a statistical summary, which has been tested on a small sample of students in King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, illustrating the learning problems in an Object Oriented course. The experimental results have demonstrated that this approach might aid learning and teaching in an effective way.

A Study on the Effects of Cooperative Learning in English Reading Class in Vocational Colleges

Since the late 1990s, the study on cooperative learning has been an educational fad in linguistic circle. The previous studies have shown that cooperative learning is a good method of learning. However, very few Chinese English teachers have really or commonly tried to apply the theory of cooperative learning in English reading class. On the basis of reading some related literatures, the author combine his teaching experience and the reality of the teaching subjects to put forward the following questions：l） Whether cooperative learning helps improve students＇ reading achievements？ 2） Whether cooperative learning can inspire students＇ motivation in learning English？ 3） Whether cooperative learning can improve students＇ English reading ability？ The results of the study show that cooperative learning used in the English reading class can not only stimulate students＇ learning interests, boost the students＇ motivation, but also raise their English language proficiency and reading ability.

The Practice Research of Task Driving Method in Basic Teaching of Information Technology

Purpose： It is used for judging the advantages and disadvantages of information technology foundation course teaching in health vocational colleges. Method： In teaching, it takes the two classes of 2012 grade nursing major as the experiment object. The comparison class adopts traditonal and speaking-practice combination teaching method and the experiment class adopts task-driving teaching method. When the semester finishes, it conducts testing andd questionnaire survey, collecting the relevant data, analyzing the changes of students in the aspects of performance, learning interest and attitude, autonomous learning consciousness and ability after experiment class adopting new teaching methods. Result： The exam performance of experiment class is obviously higher than the comparison class, and the experiment class has an obvious improvement in the aspects of learning interest, autonomous learning consciousness and ability, and the difference has statistical significance. Conclusion： The task driving teaching method is suitable for the status of information foundation teaching in health vocational colleges, which improves students＇ performance significantly and is good for students＇ learning interest and enthusiasm, obtaining good classroom effect. Also, it makes students＇ autonomous learning consciousness and ability improve greatly.