AI and Education Reborn

Baggio, Bobbe (United States)

ABSTRACT:
AI (Artificial Intelligence) will have enormous impacts on education, learning and talent development in K-12, higher Education and workplace learning. AIEd has barely scratched the surface. It will redefine the role of the teacher and support creative and human acts that provide ingenuity and empathy in support of learning. The gold is in the data. As AI interprets data, examines the role of the teacher or expert, supports classroom evolution and provides one on one tutoring, AIEd will be inextricably linked to the future of AI. AI comes with opportunities and many challenges. The adoption rate of new AI technologies seems to be on a path unprecedented in history. AI will need to provide insight in to learning and measure innate characteristics like curiosity and creativity. New pedagogies, research into existing learning sciences and learning contexts are needed.

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Certification of Students in Non-Technical Engineering Skills: What Do the Companies Think?

Lindholm, Christin; Nyberg, Christian (Sweden)

ABSTRACT:
To systematically address non-technical engineering skills (NTES), six mandatory “Engineering Days” (Ing-dagar) were introduced in two bachelor programmes. The students were also allowed to perform voluntary activities leading to a Certification of Non-technical Engineering Competences, a certificate the students can attach to their CVs. To be certified, the student must have performed activities in at least three of these five areas: entrepreneurship, ethics, sustainable development, international/ intercultural aspects, and professional role (defined as comprising leadership and teamwork). To investigate what skills the software industry thinks are important and whether a related certificate is regarded as advantageous when students seek employment, two surveys were administered to company representatives. The study clearly indicates that 85% of software company representatives thought that NTES certification would give an applicant an advantage if technical merits were equal to those of other applicants. Representatives of participating companies asked to rate the five NTES areas ranked professional role the highest and international/intercultural aspects the lowest.

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Coming Soon to a Device near You: A Policy Analysis of Mandatory Online Learning

Robertson, Lorayne; Muirhead, Bill (Canada)

ABSTRACT:
This paper provides analysis of a policy decision to mandate four online secondary school courses in one Canadian province. The critical policy analysis framework employed considers the different contexts within which technology-based policies are enacted, and examines policy elements such as text, actors, and the policy enactment process. The authors also consider policy alternatives and resistance, and ask who benefits or is marginalized by a policy that requires online credits for graduation. Furthermore, the authors examine research related to mandatory online courses, and undertake a detailed examination of the mandatory online learning policy in Ontario, Canada, with special attention to the policy’s potential impact on secondary school student populations.

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"Don't Answer That!" - Cell Phone Restrictions in Ontario Schools

Robertson, Lorayne; Muirhead, Bill; Corrigan, Laurie (Canada)

ABSTRACT:
This paper explores restrictions on cell phones in classrooms in general and specifically analyzes a recent educational policy announcement in Ontario, Canada restricting the use of cell phones and mobile devices in schools. A critical policy analysis framework, developed by the authors, investigates the efficacy of cellphones in education. The origins, intent and possible impact of the cell phone restriction policy are also examined. A cell phone ban, like any policy, should be examined in different contexts – the context where the policy is produced and pronounced (the Ministry of Education) differs from the context where the policy will be practiced (in school districts and schools). The authors examine the policy’s implications in light of published data on the increasing mobility of Internet access in society, as well as recent reported advances in m-learning and technology-enhanced learning in schools.

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Experiences with Certification of Computer Science Educators in Central Texas

Parr, Andi; Speegle, Greg (United States)

ABSTRACT:
CS4All is an international imperative to bring computer science education to everyone. Within the last few years, national initiatives have been launched by the White House and the NSF. In Texas, the effort is called WeTeach_CS, and is led by the Texas Education Agency. The WeTeach_CS initiative is focused on training current public school teachers to be certified computer science teachers. This will allow more schools to offer computer science courses and will increase the number of students learning computer science in Texas. Over the past two years, we have worked with two cohorts totalling 50 teachers to prepare them for the computer science certification exam. In this paper, we provide our curriculum, the hypothesis generated from our first year results, the changes to our curriculum based on those hypotheses and our results from the second year.

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Exploring Dynamic Managerial Capabilities for Digital Transformation in Global Grocery Retail: Walmart's Alliance with IBM

Čirjevskis, Andrejs (Latvia)

ABSTRACT:
Collaborative (co-opetitive partnerships and strategic alliances) or consolidative (mergers and acquisitions) strategies foster open innovation and deliver new customer value propositions. In recent years, collaborative and consolidation strategies have received great attention in strategic management literature. Scholars in strategic management argue that the performance outcomes of specific growth strategies are usually affected by dynamic capabilities. What is the research gap in the existing literature on dynamic capabilities and collaborative growth strategy in the form of a strategic alliance? There are very few research papers that applied the dynamic managerial capabilities framework as a tool of the business analysis to explore sub capabilities needed for a forceful alliances’ performance. The goal of this article is to understand the role of micro-foundations of dynamic managerial capabilities as drivers of digital transformation in grocery retail for successful alliance performance in the global grocery markets.

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Mathematics Education with Conjectures and Refutations

Arioli, Gianni (Italy)

ABSTRACT:
In this paper we discuss how Popper’s epistemology and Lakatos’ view on the development of mathematics may provide some interesting ideas to mathematics educators in both primary and secondary education. We present a teaching strategy which can complement more traditional approaches and we illustrate it with an example.

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Musical Interactions via Web Conferencing at the Undergraduate Degree in Distance Education from University of Brasília: A Look at the Instructor’s Planning

Jardim, Vanessa; Marins, Paulo (Brazil)

ABSTRACT:
This study presents a piece of a completed master's thesis, which sought to investigate how musical interactions occur via web conferencing at the distance education undergraduate degree program in music from the University of Brasilia (UnB). Therefore, a semi-structured interview is presented with an instructor of the program, in order to know how instructor’s planning occurs for the use of web conferencing in musical practices. The theoretical Foundation is based on the "systemic-relational approach" of the computer-mediated interaction. The research data indicates the importance of the instructor pedagogical performance in the online and synchronous environment, because in addition to the technical performance it is necessary to create a friendly virtual environment between the interactors. On the other hand, considering collaborative learning, the instructor plans the activities for the web conference with only 1 (one) day in advance for its realization. It can be inferred that this sort of planning can be satisfactory to meet the demands of the class and the course in question, since each class and the course has its particularities. However, by using this strategy there is a need for greater involvement, perception and creativity on the part of the instructor.

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Portfolio and Formative Assessment: Case Study of Perceptions of Assessment Criteria in Pre-Service Teacher Education

Bellin-Mularski, Nicole (Germany)

ABSTRACT:
The purpose of this qualitative/ quantitative study was to examine how pre-service teacher students perceive the assessment process in university contexts. Competence oriented teaching in higher education is described as an important objective for pre-service teachers. Therefore, assessment needs to focus on formative as well as on summative aspects of learning results. To examine the extent to which formative aspects of assessment are implemented in pre-service teacher training a document analysis was conducted to evaluate the different types of assessment. Using a questionnaire (N=220) pre-service teachers were asked about their perception of different assessment methods (e.g. feedback and portfolio work). This paper presents the first descriptive results of the document analysis, and of the questionnaire study on the frequency of assessment types as well as on the perception of per-service teacher students regarding portfolio work.

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Problems of On-Line Education in Modern Russia and Ways to Minimize Them

Barbashina, Evelina (Russian Federation)

ABSTRACT:
Having passed a long way of development, distance learning from the category of innovation is going to the one of common sight. The gap in space and (until modern phase) in time has been the intact sign of each stage of its development. Distance learning is also characterized by the presence of technology, dialogue between the learner and the trainer, a high proportion of self-study, formal organization. As it is demonstrated by our study, distance learning in higher education, has a number of problems. To solve them, we proposed the subject-centered approach, since there are always people behind all economic, political, legal, pedagogical, psychological problems of distance learning. After identifying the main difficulties, the ways to minimize them were proposed: permanent two-way communication between teachers and students, instructors and students, teachers and instructors; encouragement and support of communication between students, conducting face-to-face meetings between students and teachers; duplication of academic and organizational information; interaction of students with students-tutors.

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The Embodiment Dimension While Learning and Teaching in a Virtual World

Gadille, Martine; Impedovo, Maria Antonietta (France)

ABSTRACT:
The paper focuses on the features of embodiment configurations when using the virtual world in the classroom. The context is a secondary school (students aged 11-15) adopting an educational immersive 3D virtual world. We conducted participant observation, collecting video-audio records supported by a student focus group and teachers’ interviews. The analytical framework of this paper draws on the iterative interaction of the complex arrangement of bodies and objects in physical and virtual settings. Our results highlight the dynamic ways in which the arrangement of bodies and material acted as a mediational means between real and virtual settings.

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Training Based Change Management Problem for Social Innovation

Veresné, Mariann Somosi; Kocziszky, György; Nagy, Zoltán; Varga, Krisztina (Hungary)

ABSTRACT:
The geopolitical transformation in Eastern European countries has created greater social tensions than ever before, and resolving them is a constant challenge for the governments of the region. In this situation, researches on social innovation in support of economic development have become very important. The authors have been studying social innovation for nearly 8 years, with particular reference to the methodology for measuring and generating innovation potential at mezo level. One of the main directions of our research is the neuro-fuzzy model based on social learning, which defines possible social innovation solutions in a settlement-specific way. The other area of study is the change management process within which defining an appropriate training strategy and concept is one of the relevant issues in managing resistance in the operation and management of the settlement. This article presents a novel multi-level, value-driven training model that is based on special logic and can serve multiple target groups. Its applicability was tested in 52 settlements. We describe good practice implemented in a typical segregated community.

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Understanding College Student Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence

Jeffrey, Thomas (United States)

ABSTRACT:
Artificial intelligence (AI) is such a part our lives it seems to be changing us, or at least how we do life, without us being aware of its gradual omnipresence. Despite the push by business and government to develop AI, there is a concern about the real effects it is having on society. This study was designed to explore student perceptions of AI through quantitative statistical methods. The results of this study suggest that the general perception of AI is positive, but there exists some concern about the rapid development of AI and how it will affect humankind. In particular, being more informed about AI developments has a significant influence on both positive and negative perceptions of its impact on individuals and society. Furthermore, this paradox, along with the lack of understanding about AI, seems to add to a social tension arising from the inevitable advance of technology and the uncertainty of the effect of AI.

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Using Deep Learning to Finding Fraudulent Documents

Ahmad, Imran *; Alhayyan, Khalid N. ** (* Canada, ** Saudi Arabia)

ABSTRACT:
Using Machine Learning techniques to identify fraudulent documents is a comparatively new and challenging area of research. Researchers are exploring different ways to use the pattern recognition power of neural networks for this purpose. The technique presented in this paper uses a type of neural networks, called Siamese neural networks, which have two branches that share identical architectures and parameters. When a particular document needs to be verified for authenticity, we first classify the document based on its layout and type and then compare it against its expected template and pattern. If it deviates beyond a threshold, it is flagged as a fake document; otherwise, it is considered as an authentic or true document. For critical use cases, we can add the manual process for borderline cases where algorithm cannot conclusively classify a document as an authentic or fake. The contributions of this paper fall into two perspectives: theoretical and practical. The theoretical perspective is represented in the introduction of the algorithm and the methodology used for flagging fraudulent documents, and in the process of evaluating the outcomes of applying deep neural networks, while practically; the proposed algorithm can be extended to similar applications, such as discovering duplicates in a document repository, in order to achieve cost reduction, process optimization and scale gain.

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Views and Perceptions of Information System Administrators Regarding the Challenges and Solutions of Information Security Within Enterprise Systems at the Age of Big Data

Weinberger, Maor; Bouhnik, Dan (Israel)

ABSTRACT:
In this exploratory study we investigate professional views over the challenges and solutions of information security at the age of big data. The research was conducted using a mixed methodology of Exploratory Sequential Research, consisting of both a qualitative phase and a quantitative phase. The quantitative phase was conducted by using semi-structured interviews and the quantitative phase will make use of closed-ended questionnaires. We found a diversified opinion over the influence of big data on information security. This influence may reflect on the paradox described in the literature between big data utilization and information security protection that may deepen as big data technologies be further implemented within the organizational information systems. The study may bear significant contribution for the academic research in understanding various information security issues associated with the emerging technologies of big data. In addition, the data that will be collected may be used for the establishment of tools aim to bridge the gap between big data utilization and information security protection.

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