The Impact of Telegram on Syntactic Complexity of the Saudi Female EFL Undergraduates’ Argumentative, Classification, and Reaction Essays

The aim of this exploratory experimental quantitative is to investigate the impact of the learning environment and text types on the syntactic complexity of female Saudi students majoring in English language. Specifically, the study seeks to explore how and when the syntactic complexity of these students increases/decreases as a whole and across the fourteen measures of syntactic complexity (MLS, MLT.MLC.C/S, VP/T, C/T, DC/C, DC/T, T/S, CT/T, CP/T, CP/C, CN/T, CN/C) in two learning contexts: traditional learning context (TLC) and blended learning context (BLT) across three writing tasks (argumentative, classification ,and reaction). It purports, also, to find out when and which learning context leads to the most/least increase/decrease in the syntactic complexity (as a whole and across specific measures) of Saudi undergraduate in the three writing tasks. To answer such questions, 48 female Saudi EFL undergraduate students were recruited from the pool of level six students. The participants were randomly divided into the control and experimental groups. The control group consisted of 28 students; while the experimental group was comprised of 20 students. The 288 students’ writing productions were analyzed according to the fourteen measures of syntactic complex by using a paired t-test and an independent t test. For the first question, the results of this study show that there was no increase/decrease in syntactic complexity, either as a whole or partially across individual measures, for the control group for the three writing tasks (argumentation, classification, and reaction). This would suggest that traditional learning method does not reach to level to be significant to the participants in the control group. For the second research question, the t-tests showed that the syntactic complexity of the participants in the experimental group increased as a whole in both the classification and reaction essays. An increase in complexity was shown across the following measures for the classification essay: MLS, MLT, MLC, CN/T/VP/T, and CN/C. For the reaction essay, an increase in complexity was shown across MLS, MLT, MLC, and CN/T measures. Although the syntactic complexity of these participants did not increase/decrease as a whole for the argumentation essay, the CN/T measure did show some increase. Finally, the comparison between the results of the two groups revealed that, although the experimental group in this study showed more improvement in syntactic complexity than the control group, the degree of difference between the two groups was too small to draw any definite conclusion about the relative effectiveness of the two methods. This may be due to the comparatively short duration of the study: ten weeks. The findings of this research have significant implications for academic research and for Saudi EFL teachers at the university level.

Design and Validation of an Augmented Reality Teaching System for Primary Logic Programming Education

Programming is a skill that requires high levels of logical thinking and problem-solving abilities. According to the Curriculum Guidelines for the 12-Year Basic Education currently implemented in Taiwan, programming has been included in the mandatory courses of middle and high schools. Nevertheless, the guidelines simply recommend that elementary schools conduct fundamental instructions in related fields during alternative learning periods. This may result in the problem of a rough transition in programming learning for middle school freshmen. To alleviate this problem, this study proposes an augmented reality (AR) logic programming teaching system that combines AR technologies and game-based teaching material designs on the basis of the fundamental concepts for seventh-grade structured programming. This system can serve as an articulation curriculum for logic programming in primary education. Thus, students are able to develop basic programming logic concepts through AR technologies by performing simple command programming. This study conducted an experiment using the factor-based quasi-experimental research design and questionnaire survey method, with 42 fifth and sixth graders enrolled as the experimental subjects. The statistical analysis showed the following results: In terms of learning effectiveness, both AR-based and traditional learning groups displayed a significant performance. However, of the two groups, the former achieved more significant effectiveness in the posttest results. Regarding learning motivation, according to the evaluation results of the Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction (ARCS) motivation model, the AR-based learning group manifested significantly higher levels of learning motivation than the traditional learning group, with particularly significant differences observed in the dimension of Attention. Therefore, the experimental results validate that the proposed AR-based logic programming teaching system has significant positive effects on enhancing students’ learning effectiveness and motivation.

A Reflective Essay of a Conceptual Model for Self-Directed Learning for the Adult Learner

Of the many factors affecting our lives today, the ever-changing landscape of education is at the forefront. Learning is a complex behavior which involves cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. While pedagogy is the art and science of teaching children, andragogy is the art and science of teaching adults. The term pedagogy came into use in the seventh century. It wasn't until the 19th and 20th centuries that what we know as traditional learning theories—behaviorism, humanism, cognitivism, social cognitivism, and constructivism—were recognized. They were derived from the investigative tools of theorists—Pavlov, Skinner, Piaget, Freud, Maslow, Rogers, and Thorndike—to understand the nature of learning. In 1970, Malcolm Knowles promoted andragogy as a model of assumption that serves as a basis for an emergent theory. Today, the way of differentiating adult learners from children learners is through the process of andragogy.

Investigating the Impact of Gamification in Children Using GSR

This study aimed to investigate the impact of game-based learning on student performance. For this reason, an empirical study was conducted which comprises the comparison of traditional learning and game-based learning. The participants were lower primary school students of age group 6-8 years. GSR NUL-217 logger sensor was used to record the physiological signals of each participant in real time. An Android-based game intervention named “KidsZoneApp” was developed which included mathematics and English lesson plans according to the student's curriculum. The collected log data was used to calculate the changes in different dimensions of completing the task. ANOVA yielded a very significant difference between game-based learning and traditional learning groups. Overall, the results showed that game-based learning contributed to increased students' performance levels. Significantly, students under game-based learning completed the task in lesser time as compared to traditional learning.

Large Feature Mining With Ensemble Learning for Image Forgery Detection

The detection of different types of forgery manipulation including seam-carving in JPEG images is a hot spot in image forensics. Seam carving was originally designed for content-aware image resizing. It is also being used for forgery manipulation. It is still very challenging to effectively identify the seam carving forgery under recompression. To address the highly challenging detection problems, this chapter introduces an effective approach with large feature mining. Ensemble learning is used to deal with the high dimensionality and to avoid overfitting that may occur with some traditional learning classifier for the detection. The experimental results validate the efficacy of proposed approach to detecting JPEG double compression and exposing the seam-carving forgery while the JPEG recompression is proceeded at the same quality and a lower quality, which is generally much harder for traditional detection methods. The methodology introduced in this chapter provides a strategy and realistic approach to resolve the highly challenging problems in image forensics.

A Scrum-Based Classroom Model for Learning Project Management

Brazilian higher education uses traditional learning methods centered on the professor and lectures. However, active learning methodologies have recently been gaining ground, especially in courses in the health area, due to legal guidelines for their implementation in Brazil. At the same time, the use of active methodologies in engineering education to optimize learning results is already widespread in several countries. In this sense, this chapter aims to propose a structure that addresses the interface between the agile Scrum framework applied to education, known as EduScrum, and the active learning methodologies to develop a more applied and results-focused approach. Thus, the scope of this work includes a review of the literature and the structuring, application, and evaluation of a hybrid method adequate for training engineering students for modern technological advancements. Finally, the results obtained, as well as a roadmap, are presented to guide the application of the model in other learning contexts.

Blended Learning in HEIs in the Middle East

During the pandemic, many universities have different types of BL adoption and implementation guidance provided by individuals or organizations, but this does not include overall institutionalization. Without proper institutionalization, educational institutions will have inconsistent blended learning environments, and the research indicates that clear institutional guidance and policies are essential for a BL model to succeed. However, there are still debates on whether instructors who are enthusiastic about e-learning systems prefer traditional learning platforms to be successful, while they also support the idea that instead of replacement of conventional learning by online learning, it is better to combine these two. The current study analyzes the frameworks for BL adoption and implementation in higher educational institutions in the Middle East from the quality assurance perspective. The aim is to gain a better understanding of HEIs in the Middle East's overall blended learning framework.

Providing accessible distance learning for students with disabilities in Saudi Arabia

After the COVID-19 outbreak, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education transformed the education system from traditional learning to distance learning (DL). The aim of this study is to share the Saudi experience including plans, policies, and programs regarding the use of DL for students at various levels of education. This is the pioneer study from Saudi Arabia, which evaluates DL impact on special students and provides recommendations for such students regarding DL. The Saudi Ministry of Education released one of the most powerful and diverse electronic systems with fully interactive technology options through the following platforms: Madrasati School, the IEN National Education Portal, IEN educational television, and virtual kindergarten. The same platforms are accessible for students with disabilities and we have found that such students can equally benefit from them with some modifications. These modifications are on the individual needs of special students. This article presents the details of various tools and programs available for DL to students in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, we have analyzed the suitability of these programs for special students in our discussion. Finally, we have made our recommendation and provided future directions to improve the DL experience for students with disabilities.

Learners’ Perceptions towards Online Learning during the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Study at a Center of Foreign Languages in Vietnam

Online learning is a revolutionary trend of educational technology today. Particularly, online learning has become the donminent alternative to traditional learning during the Covid-19 pandemic and in the new normal. Various studies have shown that online learning has varying effectiveness at all levels and types of education; however, it is worth noting that many learners are still struggling to accept the mode of online learning, and learner retention has been suggested as one of the greatest weaknesses in online education. The current study used a questionnaire with open-ended questions to examine online learners’ perceptions of online learning as well as to understand reasons for their retention in online courses. The results revealed that most of the learners, especially young learners still preferred traditional face-to-face learning to online learning due to various problems they experienced while doing online learning, such as lack of facilities and necessary interactions. However, the retention rates are relatively modest, indicating the perceived quality of online programs at a center of foreign languages in Vietnam.