Videos in Online Courses

Many instructors use videos to support their teaching in online courses to convey course content that would normally be taught in a traditional setting. Prior studies have shown some connection between utilizing online videos and student performance but do not always support their finding statistically or consider the nuance of the online videos, such as if the videos are required and how long the videos are. This article uses various quantitative analysis techniques to investigate the relationship between video length, student video viewing patterns, and grades. The findings indicate that videos should stay within a certain length to encourage student engagement with the videos and course assignments. Also, watching online videos is only positively related to grades when students are not required to watch, a result that is consistent across course-level and student-level models. Student viewing patterns also differ for courses that require watching videos versus those that do not. The article concludes by discussing the relevance of these results and how instructors can best utilize online videos in their courses.

Washoku Down Under: The Localisation of Japanese Food in New Zealand

<p>In this thesis I will examine the ways in which washoku (lit. Japanese food) has been adopted and adapted in New Zealand, by both New Zealand gastronomes and Japanese expatriates. The thesis will trace the history of well known Japanese dishes such as sushi, sashimi, and ramen, in both their “traditional”setting and their new antipodean home. Through a series of interviews with New Zealand and Japanese consumers of washoku, this thesis will challenge established notions of what Japanese food is, and by whom it is consumed. By examining New Zealand Japanese restaurants and their owners, the thesis will demonstrate how and why Japanese food has changed and evolved.</p>

Washoku Down Under: The Localisation of Japanese Food in New Zealand

<p>In this thesis I will examine the ways in which washoku (lit. Japanese food) has been adopted and adapted in New Zealand, by both New Zealand gastronomes and Japanese expatriates. The thesis will trace the history of well known Japanese dishes such as sushi, sashimi, and ramen, in both their “traditional”setting and their new antipodean home. Through a series of interviews with New Zealand and Japanese consumers of washoku, this thesis will challenge established notions of what Japanese food is, and by whom it is consumed. By examining New Zealand Japanese restaurants and their owners, the thesis will demonstrate how and why Japanese food has changed and evolved.</p>

A Pragma-Stylistic Approach to Analysing Proverbs: A Review of Some Selected Proverbs in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God

African artworks, to be specific, literature has for quite a long time now demonstrated African tradition and culture. One major African literary tool that has maintained its efficacy in the African cultural heritage is the use of proverbs. Proverbs have been diversely used to perform several functions in the African traditional setting. Among such functions are: confirming opinions, warning, showing regrets, doubts, justifications and many more. This paper seeks to examine some selected proverbs from Chinua Achebe’s novels – Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God. Significantly, one can conclude that the style of a writer can go a long way in determining the reception and authenticity of his works. Chinua Achebe has extensively employed proverbs in his works as a tool for setting out or revealing his characters, themes and many others. This study is a pragma-stylistic approach to the analysis of proverbs used by Achebe in the selected novels. The researchers focus primarily on the style, meaning and function of the proverbs used in the selected texts. A critical content analysis method is employed for this study to determine the functions of the proverbs within the context of the novel. This study brings to the fore the very nature of African proverbs, specifically the Igbo of Nigeria and reveals the various functions ascribed to these proverbs. This will provide readers with the necessary knowledge on the very reasons why some proverbs are used and will ignite the research impetus of some researchers to further investigate other approaches to proverbs. This study has contributed immensely to the existing literature on pragma-stylistic studies and the understanding of a pragma-stylistic approach as a theoretical concept with a unique focus on analysing African proverbs. Keywords: Achebe, Proverbs, Pragmatics, Pragma-stylistics, Stylistics

Diversity in Kemeny Rank Aggregation: A Parameterized Approach

In its most traditional setting, the main concern of optimization theory is the search for optimal solutions for instances of a given computational problem. A recent trend of research in artificial intelligence, called solution diversity, has focused on the development of notions of optimality that may be more appropriate in settings where subjectivity is essential. The idea is that instead of aiming at the development of algorithms that output a single optimal solution, the goal is to investigate algorithms that output a small set of sufficiently good solutions that are sufficiently diverse from one another. In this way, the user has the opportunity to choose the solution that is most appropriate to the context at hand. It also displays the richness of the solution space. When combined with techniques from parameterized complexity theory, the paradigm of diversity of solutions offers a powerful algorithmic framework to address problems of practical relevance. In this work, we investigate the impact of this combination in the field of Kemeny Rank Aggregation, a well-studied class of problems lying in the intersection of order theory and social choice theory and also in the field of order theory itself. In particular, we show that KRA is fixed-parameter tractable with respect to natural parameters providing natural formalizations of the notions of diversity and of the notion of a sufficiently good solution. Our main results work both when considering the traditional setting of aggregation over linearly ordered votes, and in the more general setting where votes are partially ordered.

Optimal Pathways for Technology Integration Towards Blended Learning

This case study offers an information technology perspective of a school's transition from a traditional learning environment to a blended learning environment in a non-traditional setting. The blended learning environment changes how a school utilizes technology and aligns the school goals to meet all students' individual needs. Specifically, the paper focuses on the technology integration pathways taken by this non-traditional school. It discusses the process of strategic planning, network infrastructure evaluation, implementation, and results.

Abigbo’s Identity in Music Making and Repertory of Songs: The Mbaise People’s Heritage

This paper directs attention to Abigbo, an outstanding traditional music of Mbaise people of Igbo south, east of the Niger. It gears to interrupt and challenge willful observations by western-oriented music lovers’ derogatory opinion, contrary to music in traditional setting such as ‘Abigbo’. To realize this objective and prove wrong the ill-informed critics, ‘Abigbo’s uniqueness in song rendition and peculiarity in music making is conspicuously examined here as a case study. The origin and development of Abigbo, its uses, and relationship with other aspects of Mbaise culture are discussed in this work. The musical challenges are highlighted with the dance formation, movements/steps and the ensembles costumed critically analyzed. All these are essentially adumbrated in association with music making trends in contemporary Mbaise. Equally reviewed where applicable are Abigbo’s relevance and inevitable roles in achieving the goal of societal well being. Song communication supported with body language and phonic emission via vocals are equally matters of great interest here. Methods employed in the data collection are library source of information obtained from associated printed materials documented in the library shelves. The researcher consulted relevant ones, read through them during desk work, and use their extracts as backup information to the subject of discourse which he initiated. Few of the procured print media materials are equally paraphrased as and when due. Datum is also secured through participant observation. At this juncture, the researcher’s sense of sight and aural perceptions are actively utilized along with retentive memory with the view to capturing the salient points needed for the paper. A few literature reviews that border round music making in rural culture are altogether, examined to guide and back up the thrust of this discourse. Abigbo has proved its worth beyond all reasonable doubt during its performance presentation in Mbaise social culture. The musicians’ close attention to the masses, particularly the zealous ones who are inclined to get at African tribes’ traditional music to subject them to western notation is a spring board to its fame. At this juncture, we resolve that for music making through song communication to logically reign supreme in Abigbo, its practice by interested artistes should be enhanced and encouraged even beyond the ensemble’s environmental origin. This done helps to secure indigenous interest akin to norms and values within the fabric of Mbaise society.

Assessing the use of e-business strategies by SMEs in Ghana during the Covid-19 pandemic

Purpose: The main purpose of this quantitative research was to assess various e-business strategies implored by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana during the Covid-19 pandemic. Research methodology: It made use of a descriptive design. Data was collected with the use of a structured questionnaire, analysed with excel and presented in tables and figures. Results: The study revealed that small business owners have knowledge of e-business models with the most popular e-business model used being the Business to Consumer (B2C) model, while the least used model was the Business to Government (B2G) model. While imploring the use of e-business models and strategies, SMEs were faced with the challenge of very limited knowledge on the use of e-business strategies. Limitations: The study was limited to businesses in the Tema Metropolitan Assembly of Ghana. Contribution: Most of the SMEs were established in the traditional setting of business operations therefore there was little or no plan for integrating the internet in their operations. However, the pandemic has shifted their attention to adopting some virtual traction to their businesses for the benefit it offers such as continuous sales and more visibility. Further research on how each of the various concepts was used by SMEs is highly recommended.