This paper aims at presenting two case studies, with use of cell phones in Calculus I classes, in the first semester of 2011, at a federal institution. Devices belonged to the students, to identify, in real context, advantages and difficulties of such use. Methodology was based on guidelines set by M-learnMat, a pedagogical model to guide m-learning (mobile learning) activities in Mathematics. It was developed by the authors of this paper, based on Activity Theory, and focus on Higher Education. This paper begins by providing an overview of the Activity Theory, and presenting the M-learnMat. This is followed by descriptions of the application of the model, specifying the resources for cell phones used and methodological procedures adopted. The article closes with considerations on the experiment, describing advantages and difficulties of using cell phones. Despite the difficulties, the experience was positive.

New curriculum guidelines for FSL (2011) will most likely only be implemented starting September 2012. First discussed in 2009, the advocated new grammar approach and the heavy cultural content have subsequently created a number of reactions, the most recent required another set of consultation meetings. In addition the new assessment perspective, in line with the European Common framework of references for languages, although seen as favorable for learning meets with a set-in rigidity. Needless to say, some of the stakeholders foresee great expenditures associated with new recommendations because of teachers who will have to be given upgrading courses among other things. Also interesting is the fact that some of the recommendations, not yet voted in for implementation, are already receiving very positive feedback and have even been implemented in some school boards, for instance a Grade 9 Beginner French course (corresponds to the 9th year of schooling in Canada). It appears that audiences are receptive to formulations that fill identified learning gaps. We will also discuss how plans to implement best practices can meet with resistance. A study was conducted to investigate a number of aspects connected to the new implementations. Findings will be reported and recommendations made.

The purpose of this study is to explore practical courses that conform to industrial design, visual communication design and multimedia design. The methodology includes literature review, DACUM and interview for each design realm. The research results are as follows: (1)Industrial design: through analyzing existing courses and investigating design industry, then planning industrial design courses and amending the curriculum structure into four programs, which are including design technology program, design creation program, culture invention program and digital application program. Further, to cultivate students’ secondary specialty, encourage them to participate design competition and apply for patent. (2) Visual communication design: courses can be divided into three aspects which contain nine categories. Cognition aspect includes knowledge of professional, marketing, and technological, Sentiments aspect includes design thinking, art culture, and pre-professional planning, technique aspect includes basic design, integrated design, and digital design. And the future courses are recommended to intensify marketing and technological knowledge. (3)Multimedia design: courses can be divided into three aspects which contain seven categories. Cognition aspect includes humane cultivation, basic knowledge, and professional knowledge, sentiments aspect includes attitude and value judgment, technique aspect includes basic and advanced skill. The needs of digital design industry are information software system, marketing planning and project management, art and communication designs, business sales, and script writing.

Present paper is focused on the study of stability issues for some "traditional" models aimed at analysis of expert evaluations. It is demonstrated that estimation of the complex indicator true value for each student in the space of characteristics is dependent on the stable inverted transformation of the initial data matrix, and which is commonly regarded to be an ill-conditioned matrix: for obtaining of regularized solution it is considered a classical Tikhonov regularization method applying the traditional approaches to the optimal regularization parameter selection. There are shown the shortcomings of those traditional approaches, and proposed a principal new approach to determination of optimal regularization parameter. For finding the residual (as well as for the obtained optimal regularization parameter) between the normal pseudosolution and solution based on the developed method there are obtained the upper estimates, and based on the obtained evaluation it is proved both convergence property of the found regularized solution to the normal pseudosolution and the fact that proposed method is inducing the Tikhonov regularizing operator.

The purposes of this study were to describe pre-service science teachers’(PTs) perceptions and practices about using history of science(HOS) in their instructions and their experiences as in-service teachers(ITs) and to determine the relationship between PTs perceptions and practices about using HOS in their classrooms. The HOS Instructional Survey was administered to 68 PTs in two different universities in Turkey. After these students had graduated, some questions were asked about their views about practicing integrating the HOS in their instruction to the 19 ITs who started to work in schools. Findings revealed that PTs had favorable level of perceptions and practices about using HOS in their classrooms. Furthermore, PTs’ perceptions are highly correlated with their practices about using HOS in their classrooms. Interview results revealed that after PTs become ITs, in their teaching practices of history of science they emphasized mostly conceptual understanding and the least emphasis given to contextual understanding.

At the basis of all current theories of experiential learning, action-oriented learning, student activation and similarly related principles, lies one simple truth: Human beings learn better when they can act and discover new facts for themselves. The value of hands-on learning is no longer in any real doubt, and it is being increasingly implemented in various school types and grade levels. However, when it comes to teacher education, many countries still continue to educate overwhelmingly in the "academic" style -- students sitting in a lecture hall or seminar room and listening to (or, in the best case, discussing) ideas and theories of how to teach. Drawing on several small-scale studies of different school types and age groups in Germany, this paper will show the pressing need to implement hands-on learning during university teacher education. After all, we cannot expect teachers to teach what they do not know themselves.

The purposes of this study were first, to explore the faculty members’ self-motivation to pursue in-service education, second, to examine the relationship between their job satisfaction and commitment, third, to understand the degree of job satisfaction and organizational commitment of teacher who are participating in continuing education and those who completed this experience, and fourth, to investigate any difference of job satisfaction and commitment to school between who participate in continuing education and teachers who do not participate in continuing education. The statistical methods employed, on the basis of research questions, descriptive statistics, One-way ANOVA, Person correction, t test, and stepwise multiple regression using the statistical software SPSS 16.0. Research questions were by a reliable and valid instrument base upon the results of a content validity test and a pilot test. A total of 122 university faculty members completely participated in this study. This study revealed that: the motivation of the teacher who participated in in-service education was high. Extrinsic motivation was greater than intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation, such as “Go with trend” and “Incentive by school”, were main factors influencing teachers who are participation in in-service education. The level of job satisfaction did not reach significant difference with continuing in in-service education. The difference between organizational commitment and continuing in in-service education was not significant. This phenomena seemed imply that their in-service education might not really focus on or improve organizational commitment. The faculty possessed higher organization commitment score, while they held the higher the level of job satisfaction. Also, this study found those faculty finished their academic degrees possessed higher organizational commitment than those faculty were pursuing their continuing education.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of grade level on high school students’ attitudes toward chemistry as a school subject. Attitude Scale Toward Chemistry developed by Geban & Ertepınar (1994) was administered to collect data. The sample of the study was composed of 197 high school students from different grades that ranged from Grade 9 to 11. Principal component analyses revealed two dimensions of the scale for this data set and these dimensions were labeled as “enjoyment” and “importance”. Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of the scale was computed as .93. MANOVA results indicated that grade level had significant effects on high school students’ attitudes toward chemistry as a school subject in terms of both enjoyment and importance dimensions. Post Hoc analyses revealed that there is significant mean differences between Grade 9 and Grade 10 students’ attitudes toward chemistry as a school subject on both dimensions.

This study aimed to determine pre-service chemistry teachers’ anxiety levels in chemistry laboratory with respect to their grade level and gender and the relationship between pre-service chemistry teachers’ laboratory anxiety levels and their achievement in chemistry laboratory. The participants are pre-service chemistry teachers in a public university in Turkey. Chemistry Laboratory Anxiety Scale developed by Bowen (1999) was used to identify their anxiety levels. This scale adapted into Turkish by Azizoglu and Uzuntiryaki (2006) includes four subscales: using equipment and chemicals, working with other students, collecting data, and having adequate time. MANOVA was used to analyze the difference between pre-service chemistry teachers’ whole scores of chemistry laboratory anxiety scale and scores of each factor in this scale regarding gender and grade levels. In addition, the correlation coefficient was calculated to find the relationship between their anxiety and achievement levels. The results show that gender and grade level are not effective in laboratory anxiety levels. Furthermore, a significant relationship was found between both anxiety about using equipment and chemicals, and laboratory achievement, and anxiety about having adequate time and laboratory achievement. The study also presents some implications about the role of students’ anxiety levels in their achievement in chemistry.

Education information society in the 21st century requires new teaching approaches which will effectively promote the development of learning skills. The ability to find, analyse, critically evaluate and rationally use different information’s is one of the key pillars of learning competences for the future. If we want to make a difference in the educational system, which will be followed by the up to date society, we must also enforce and modify forms and methods of teaching work, teaching aids (ICT) as well as teachers' training courses. In the article we present some features of interactive whiteboards in geography lessons as it represents a relatively new technology in Slovenian schools. ICT education equipment in schools will be presented as well as opinions of Slovenian geography teachers about their strengths and weaknesses as well as problems which they face in teaching geography. Their diverse personal experiences are an important guideline in designing future geography teachers training courses.

The paper reports the findings of a study done to investigate the perceptions of 64 pre-service foreign language teachers on their experiences with digital video recording during the preparation of their microteachings to practice teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL). For two semesters and in two EFL Methodology courses participants worked in small groups to prepare their lesson plans and in-class microteachings and their group discussions were self-recorded. Main data collection instrument of the study was a survey which included multiple choice/short answer questions to gather demographic data and open-ended questions on participants’ perceptions about video-recordings. Data were analyzed both quantitative and qualitative means. Findings of the study illustrate that the use of digital video-recording in the preparation stage of micro-teachings may have both advantages and challenges, which are discussed in the paper in relation to the author’s suggestions for pre-service teacher education and the use of digital videos.

The topic of learning is one of the key factors leading to a competitive advantage in the contemporary globalized practice. The paper focuses on the issue of learning supported by ICT with a focus on innovative online teaching practices. Attention is mainly paid to the roles of social communication and social interaction in the process. The importance of the social interaction and communication is demonstrated by e-learning courses experience. A comparison of two different types of online courses based on blended learning, virtual teamwork and lecturing and its implications are presented there.

The Purpose of this study is to examine the social support perception of parents who have children with autism. Data was collected from 672 parents who have children with autism in Turkey. In the study, it was researched whether the social support resources, household income per month, household socioeconomic status(SES) group, gender of children with autism, labor status of mother and living area parameters are important predictor of social support perception of parents or not. For that purpose, firstly, descriptive statistics and correlation values of the related variables and then, the predictor analysis results are given. During the study, the predictor variables, gender of children, labor status of mother and living area, were counted in analysis by converting them to dummy variable, because of that they are categorical variables. Significance level is accepted as .05 for the study. Data of 26 people were omitted from the analysis because, their data was considered as extreme values due to their Mahalanobis distance values are higher than criteria value [x²(6)= 16.81, according to p=.01] in total 672 data sets thus, research group number are defined as 646. Predictor identification of social support perception of parents was done through ‘Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis’. According to the findings of study it was found that family social support and sub field perception of parents who have children with autism is on the average, while the highest perception is in emotional support sub field, and the lowest perception is in care support sub field. According to the predictor analysis findings of the study, it was found that the most important predictors of the social support perception were the social support resources formed by family, friends or significant other of. It was stated that the densest support resources amongst all is family. In study, it was found that household income per month is the secondary predictor of social support perceptions of parents, however, household SES group, gender of child with autism, labor status of mother and living area are not important predictors of social support perceptions of parents.

Innovativeness has become a major competitive factor for companies, networks and regions, and renewal is very important for any business. The purpose of this paper is to increase knowledge of how education can contribute to new kinds of innovative business competences. The paper analyses the design and implementation processes of the new Master’s degree programme in Service Innovation and Design targeted for practitioners. This is an action research based case study. The profound analysis of the case material and the participant observations during the four-year process show that the main issues related to the success of a new master’s degree programme tend to be (1) clear objectives, (2) extensive research on future competence needs, (3) a committed and strongly led development team, (4) comprehensive networks with the key players in the competence area, and (5) a thorough documentation of the whole process as a basis for continuous development.

We are currently witnessing the return to self-employment. The development of individual entrepreneurship is, among others, the result of transition to services and changes in the character and organization of work. This paper underscores the fact that the Polish vocational education system spares no efforts on adaptation to the existing conditions so that vocational school graduates could have better prospects for employment. Hence, transformations in the field of vocational education were also to be made in accordance with the following principle – vocational mobility, understood as the ability to look for employment not only in other companies, but also try to be self-employed. The problem of sole proprietorship has been analysed on basis of the results comprised in the following study: „The preparation of students to flexible forms of employment and work organization”.The study was financed with educational funds covering the years 2009 – 2010 as an academic research promoter project.

Student course registration is an important as well as a trivial process that may encounter unnecessary graduation delays. United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) is one such institution where students have faced problems depending on number of factors which may include, a lack of a proper advising system, understanding and experience of Advisers, students’ ability to seek good advice, etc. Students not advised fittingly may suffer with losing time in selecting unnecessary and wrong courses. Students usually suffer with problems which may include: course selection with time conflicts, missing out on specific courses for appropriate semesters, selecting department electives bypassing track restrictions, selecting too many or less courses, etc. A Student Advising & Planning Software (SAPS) is devised to guide students in selecting appropriate courses suitable to register online with the University Registration System. SAPS is developed using JAVA computer programming language. The outcome of the course selection is stored (semester-wise) to show a complete typical plan. The system is under test and has been used successively on many student cases. Three typical case studies included with their course plans and analysis is reported in the paper.

Teacher’s colleges located throughout Thailand have taken many inputs and outputs to achieve high academic performance. Since the teacher’s colleges have a variety of educational production, their efficiency is diversely different. Super-efficiency data envelopment analysis (SE-DEA) has a potential to assess technical efficiency of firms and Tobit regression specially uses to analyze an uncensored score. Therefore, this study adopted twostep approaches to evaluate the technical efficiency of 40 teacher’s colleges which collected cross-section data in 2011 from Office of the Higher Education Commission in Thailand. The super-efficiency DEA was initially assessed the efficient score followed by the Tobit regression employed to determine what factors affect the technical efficiency. Interestingly, number of graduate students, research and development, and intensity funds were considered into the Tobit regression. The results showed that the 40 colleges perform in technical efficiency differently. Moreover, those factors illustrate a different significance at various confidence levels.

The study aimed to investigate the humor styles of pre-service early childhood teachers. The population of the study was comprised of pre-service teachers being trained at the Department of Early Childhood Education of Afyon Kocatepe University. A total number of 214 pre-service early childhood teachers constituted the sample for this study. To gather data, a general information form and “Humor Styles Questionnaire” developed by Martin, Puhlik-Doris, Larsen, Gray and Weir (2003) and adapted to Turkish by Yerlikaya (2003) were utilized. Mann-Whitney U test was used in order to find out whether the participants’ humor styles differed according to their genders while Kruskall-Wallis H test was used in analyzing the data to detect any differences according to the participants’ academic years of study. At the end of the research, it was revealed that significant differences existed between the pre-service teachers’ humor styles and their genders together with their years of study.

General education, as an integral part of human education in general, provides a formative basis on which foundations human personality is entirely built. It can be acquired at various institutions and in different situations. However, the most organized forms of general education are obtained in primary schools, specially organized institutions of knowledge, experience and the like. The knowledge necessary to every human being is acquired in these institutions regardless of which specific occupations and avocation (profession) she or he deals with. It is “a passport for life” which allows people to choose what to do for a living, to take on a part of building a common future and to continue learning. It is, as such, a preparation for life and it should be organized in a way that it provides everyone without exceptions an opportunity to express their entire creative potential. The contents of contemporary general education are being changed with the development of human society. They follow changes, in a certain society, caused by the development of industry, engineering, technology, information technology, political structures and others. In order to be able to follow all these changes, we need a broad range of knowledge and skills in a field of human life and work and even beyond that, which we will study in this paper. The subject of interest in this paper will be contemporary primary education, the factors that affect it, the content structure of general education and their ultimate effects.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate to what extent there is a rhetorical variation (if there is any) between research article abstracts written by American academic writers and those written by Taiwanese, and Turkish academic writers in the area of social sciences. This study presents a contrastive analysis of 138 article abstracts (46 by American academic writers, 46 by Taiwanese academic writers, and 46 by Turkish academic writers) published in a refereed online journal ‘Social Behavior and Personality’. The purpose of the study was to ascertain whether these article abstracts, which focus on the same issue but written by authors from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds and addressing audiences from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, employed the same rhetorical strategies to introduce their works. For this purpose, the generic structures of these texts were analyzed. The analysis follows the Swalesian approach. The article abstracts seem to share a number of important rhetorical strategies. It appears that these abstracts conform closely to the M2–M3–M4 arrangement. On the whole, the rhetorical strategies shared by the groups in this section of the research articles outweigh the rhetorical strategies not so commonly employed. However, the abstracts written by Turkish speaking academic and Taiwanese speaking academic writers tend to underline their contribution to the field of study much further. Discussions and implications related to the findings will be presented in detail.