Attitudes of Japanese Learners of English Towards English Users in ELT Textbooks

Through a combination of questionnaires, focus groups, and class interviews, this study investigated the attitudes of Japanese secondary school students towards the representations of English users and English-language communications appearing in English language textbooks. The results showed a congruence of student preferences for inner-circle (IC) (Kachru, 1985) orientations with the IC-oriented features most commonly found in English textbooks approved and used in Japanese secondary schools. They also revealed how student familiarity with textbooks influences preferences for the ways English users and English-language communications are represented in them. 本研究では、質問紙、フォーカス・グループ、クラス・インタビューを用いて、日本の中学・高校生の英語教科書の中の英語使用者と英語コミュニケーションの描写に対する態度を調査した。調査の結果、生徒の英語圏（inner-circle内心円）(Kachru, 1985) を好む傾向と、日本の中等学校で使用されている文部科学省検定英語教科書に最もよく見られる、英語圏主流を示す特徴に、一致が見られた。また、調査結果は、生徒の教科書に対する慣れや親しみが、生徒の教科書中の英語使用者と英語コミュニケーションの描写方法についての嗜好に、どのように影響を与えるかについても明らかにした。

JARET: A Human Assistive A.I. Agent for Goal Review and Time Management

Many students do not set goals or plan their time weekly (due to lack of ability, perceived difficulty, and other reasons) resulting in procrastination, stress, and lower academic performance. This paper presents the design methodology and considerations for a human assistive AI agent that helps students review and plan for study goals, reducing a large abstract problem into a set of simpler review tasks. J.A.R.E.T. (Just A Recommender Engine for Time) uses key principles from Self-Regulated Learning and Cognitive Load Theory in an interactive system that guides students through focused goal review and planning tasks, then uses a constraint satisfaction AI agent to assemble a proposed calendar schedule designed to help achieve the student’s goals. The AI agent uses hard and soft constraints with a value function designed and searches for a best fit that follows constraints while trying to also fit student preferences. Results show that the design is able to reliably build recommended solutions when constraints and preferences are reasonable and not overly restrictive.

PREFERENSI DAN PENGALAMAN MAHASISWA DALAM MENGGUNAKAN MEDIA PEMBELAJARAN ONLINE DI MASA PANDEMI

Student involvement in online learning is strongly influenced by learning motivation and preferences for learning mode and media. Therefore, this study was to describe student preferences for using online learning media and student experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic. A total of 133 students from two faculties participated as research respondents. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistical methods while qualitative data were analyzed using NVivo 12 application. The results of this study indicates that students tend to prefer applications compared to other media for online lectures during the Covid-19 pandemic, namely WhatsApp, Zoom, and Google Classroom. In addition, students taking online lectures consider internet network as the most significant obstacle in accessing learning material, submitting assignments, participating in class discussion and collaborating with other students. Students also thought that the network factor caused lecturers unable not teach effectively. Keterlibatan mahasiswa dalam perkuliahan online sangat dipengaruhi oleh motivasi belajar dan preferensi terhadap modus dan media pembelajaran. Oleh karena itu, penelitian ini dilaksanakan untuk mengetahui preferensi mahasiswa dalam menggunakan media pembelajaran online dan untuk mengungkap pengalaman mahasiswa sebagai pengguna media pembelajaran online di masa pandemi Covid-19. Sebanyak 133 orang mahasiswa dari dua fakultas berpartisipasi sebagai responden penelitian. Data kuantitatif dianalisis dengan metode statistik deskriptif sedangkan data kualitatif dianalisis menggunakan bantuan aplikasi NVivo 12. Hasil penelitian ini menemukan bahwa mahasiswa cenderung menyukai tiga jenis aplikasi dibanding media-media lainnya untuk pembelajaran online di masa pandemi Covid-19, yaitu WhatsApp, Zoom dan Google Classroom. Selain itu, dapat disimpulkan bahwa mahasiswa dalam mengikuti kuliah online menganggap jaringan sebagai kendala yang paling utama. Jaringan mengakibatkan mereka kesulitan dalam mengakses materi, mengirimkan tugas, berpartisipasi dan berkolaborasi dengan mahasiswa lain. Mahasiswa juga percaya bahwa faktor jaringan ini pula yang mengakibatkan dosen tidak mengajar secara efektif.

Positioning universities based on the preference network of economics department students

The research aims to determine the positioning of universities according to the preferences of university students based on the perceptions of stakeholders receiving service. In the study, the number of preferences for each university included in the YKS preference lists of all students placed in the Department of Economics at universities in Turkey in 2019 were evaluated using the integer method. The data were collected separately from the preference pages of each university through the "Higher Education Program Atlas". In the study, "Modularity Based Community Analysis" was applied with the Gephi program. In the research, the universities with the most critical position in terms of the Economics department were determined. In the preference network, it has been determined that clusters are generally formed based on physical proximity in Istanbul, Izmir, and Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia. The study also showed that the positioning of universities in student preferences might be effective in different criteria such as research potential of universities apart from geographical reasons. Since there is no similar research in the literature regarding obtaining the data and the technique used, it is expected that the study will contribute to the studies in this field.

Acceptable and Unacceptable Uses of Academic Library Search Data: An Interpretive Description of Undergraduate Student Perspectives

Objective – This article presents findings about undergraduate student attitudes regarding search data privacy in academic libraries. Although the library literature includes many articles about librarian perceptions on this matter, this paper adds rich, qualitative evidence to the limited research available about student preferences for how libraries should handle information about what they search for, borrow, and download. This paper covers acceptable and unacceptable uses of student search data based on American undergraduate student perspectives. This is an important area of study due to the increasingly data-driven nature of evaluation, accountability, and improvement in higher education, which relies on individual-level student data for learning analytics. These practices are sometimes at odds with libraries’ longstanding commitment to user privacy, which has historically limited the amount of data collected about student use of materials. However, libraries’ use of student search data is increasing. Methods – This qualitative study was approached through interpretive description, a rigorous qualitative framework for answering practical research questions in an applied setting or discipline. I employed the constant comparative method of data collection and analysis to conduct semi-structured interviews with 27 undergraduate students at a large, American, urban public research institution. Interviews included questions as well as vignettes: short scenarios designed to elicit response. Through inductive coding, I organized the data into interpretive themes and subthemes to describe student attitudes. Results – Participants viewed academic library search data as less personally revealing than internet search data. As a result, students were generally comfortable with libraries collecting search data so long as it is used for their benefit. They were comfortable with data being used to improve library collections and services, but were more ambivalent about use of search data for personalized search results and for learning analytics-based assessment. Students had mixed feelings about using search data in investigations related to criminal activity or national security. Most students expressed a desire for de-identification and user control of data. Students who were not comfortable with their search data being collected or used often held their convictions more strongly than those who found the practice acceptable, and their concerns were often related to how data might be used in ways that harm members of vulnerable groups. Conclusion – The results of this study suggested that librarians should further explore student perspectives about search data collection in academic libraries to consider how and if they might adjust their data collection practices to be respectful of student preferences for privacy, while still meeting evaluation and improvement objectives. This study also introduces the qualitative framework of interpretive description to the library and information science literature, promoting use of this applied qualitative approach, which is well-suited to the practical questions often asked in library research studies.

Informal Learning Spaces in Higher Education: Student Preferences and Activities

Informal learning spaces play a significant role in enriching student experiences in learning environments. Such spaces are becoming more common, resulting in a change to the spatial configuration of built environments in higher education. However, previous research lacks methods to evaluate the influence of the spatial design characteristics of informal learning spaces on student preferences and their activities within. This paper aims to tease out the spatial design characteristics of informal learning spaces to examine how they shape students’ preferences in terms of their use of the spaces and what they do within them. The two case studies selected for this study, both in the UK, are the Diamond at the University of Sheffield, and the Newton at Nottingham Trent University. A mixed-methods study is applied, including questionnaires, observation, interviews, and focus groups. Six significant design characteristics (comfort, flexibility, functionality, spatial hierarchy, openness, and other support facilities) that influence student use of informal learning environments are identified. These can be used to inform future design strategies for other informal learning spaces in higher education.