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To achieve adaptive learning, a dynamic assessment system equipped with a cognitive diagnosis was developed for this study, which adopts a three-stage model of diagnosis-intervention-assessment. To...

The development of students’ practical operation and their collaborative problem solving (CPS) ability are emphasized in higher education nowadays. Providing students a simulation learning tool and...

Blogs are useful interaction tools to promote learners’ knowledge construction and interaction in online teaching activities. On the other hand, although many studies show that mindtools facilitate learners’ cognitive process, little research focus on their effects on learners’ higher order cognitive thinking in blogs. This research developed a learning environment by using a mindtool-based blog to promote learners’ higher order cognitive thinking in their online discussions and to assess their learning effects. The participants were 276 senior high school students from an information ethics class. A quasi-experimental research design was adopted in this research. The control group used the ordinary blogs. The Experimental Group 1 used the basic mindtools in blogs, which means that learners can use all the mindtool functions except the Knowledge Compilation function. The Experimental Group 2 used the advanced mindtools in blogs, which means that they can use all the mindtool functions, including the Knowledge Compilation function. The results indicated that both experimental groups showed better learning effects and more higher order cognitive thinking than the control group. Moreover, the higher order cognitive thinking category Analyze was found more often in the Experimental Group 2 than in the Experimental Group 1.

Studies on teaching of reading strategies have found that summarizing is of tremendous help to reading comprehension. However grading students’ summary writings is laborious, but given the importance of summarizing, an effective summarizing learning module is important. This study developed an automatic summary assessment and feedback system based on Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) to provide score, concept and semantic feedback, and then investigated the effects of concept and semantic feedback on the writing of summaries by students in the sixth grade. The design involved two between-subject factors: semantic feedback (with, without) and concept feedback (with, without). 120 sixth-grade students from an elementary school were recruited for the study, and then were randomly assigned to each group. The overall results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed system in improving the summary writing skills of students. The effects of semantic feedback and concept feedback were also discussed.

Readability is referred to as the degree of difficulty to which an given text (article) can be understood by readers. When readers are reading a text with high readability, they will achieve better comprehension and learning retention. However, it has been a long-standing critical challenge to develop effective readability prediction models that can automatically and accurately assess the readability of a given text. When building readability prediction models for the Chinese language, word segmentation ambiguity is often a knotty problem that will inevitably happen in the pre-processing of texts. In view of this, we present in this paper a novel readability prediction approach for the Chinese language, building on a recently proposed, so-called Bidirectional Encoder Representation from Transformers (BERT) model that can capture both syntactic and semantic information of a text directly from its character-level representation. With the BERT-based readability prediction model that takes consecutive character-level representations as its input, we effectively assess the readability of a given text without the need of performing error-prone word segmentation. We empirically evaluate the performance of our BERT-based readability prediction model on a benchmark task, by comparing it with a strong baseline that utilizes a celebrated classification model (named fastText) in conjunction with word-level presentations. The results demonstrate that the BERT-based model with character-level representations can perform on par with the fastText-based model with word-level representations, yielding the accuracy of 78.45% on average. This finding also offers the promise of conducting readability assessment of a text in Chinese directly based on character-level representations.

Language learning has undergone rapid changes over the past several years, from computer-assisted learning to the more recent mobile-device-assisted learning. Although mobile devices have become valuable language-learning tools, the evident substantial contribution of mobile devices to language learning have not yet been investigated. The present meta-analysis of 44 peer-reviewed journal articles and doctoral dissertations that were written over a 20-year period (1993–2013), with 9154 participants, revealed that mobile-device-assisted language instruction has produced a meaningful improvement with an overall mean effect size of 0.55. Different effect sizes for moderator variables, such as learning stages, hardware use, software used, intervention settings, teaching methods, intervention durations, learning skills, target languages, and L1/L2, were also reported. The results are discussed, together with their implications for future research and practices on the use of mobile devices in language learning.

Textual analysis has been applied to various fields, such as discourse analysis, corpus studies, text leveling, and automated essay evaluation. Several tools have been developed for analyzing texts written in alphabetic languages such as English and Spanish. However, currently there is no tool available for analyzing Chinese-language texts. This article introduces a tool for the automated analysis of simplified and traditional Chinese texts, called the Chinese Readability Index Explorer (CRIE). Composed of four subsystems and incorporating 82 multilevel linguistic features, CRIE is able to conduct the major tasks of segmentation, syntactic parsing, and feature extraction. Furthermore, the integration of linguistic features with machine learning models enables CRIE to provide leveling and diagnostic information for texts in language arts, texts for learning Chinese as a foreign language, and texts with domain knowledge. The usage and validation of the functions provided by CRIE are also introduced.

Objective: Nowadays, technology plays an important role in learning; hence, it is important to explore the relationships between EFL learners’ usage of technology and their approaches to learning English. Method: This study involved 186 English department undergraduates in Taiwan and utilized two questionnaires to respectively survey EFL learners’ usage of technology and their approaches to learning English. In particular, the approaches to learning English survey used in this study is a newly designed questionnaire which includes eight factors: Intrinsic Interest, Commitment to Work, Relating Ideas, Understanding, Fear of Failure, Aim for Qualification, Minimizing Scope of Study, and Memorization. Results and findings: Exploratory factor analysis revealed adequate validity of the new questionnaire. The regression analyses indicated that EFL learners’ approaches to learning English were associated with their technology usage for learning English such as recommendation, usefulness, and ease of use. Discussion: This study will contribute to our understanding of EFL learners using technology for learning in the future.

The theory of spatial thinking is relevant to the learning and teaching of many academic domains. One promising method to facilitate learners' higher-order thinking is to utilize a web map mind tool to assist learners in applying spatial thinking to cooperative problem solving. In this study, an environment is designed based on the theory of spatial thinking and developed to help learners engage in project-based learning that utilizes the proposed web map mind tool for tour planning. The participants were 66 college students, and a quasi-experimental research design was employed. This study examined the differences in the learning performance and project performance between participants using the web map mind tool (the experimental group) and ordinary Internet search engines (the control group). The results indicate the experimental group performed significantly better than the control group in terms of both learning performance and project performance. In addition, we found that the students in the two groups held a positive learning attitude toward the project activity of tour planning. In terms of students' attitude toward the use of a mind tool, this study only conducted a survey for the experimental group. The results indicated that learners in the experimental group held a positive attitude toward the use of the web map mind tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simulation and manipulation play vital roles in teaching procedural knowledge in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. However, most studies in these fields have only focused on learning effectiveness rather than on students' collaborative problem-solving (CPS) processes and cognitive processing patterns in problem-solving activities. This paper aims to analyze learners' cognitive processing patterns in a CPS teaching activity that integrates Facebook discussion tools and simulation-based teaching software. The participants in this study included 45 students from the College of Management at a university in northern Taiwan. These students took an elective course titled “Introduction to the Network.” This study used a quantitative content analysis (QCA) to code the online discussions and to explore the represented cognitive levels. Next, a lag sequential analysis (LSA) was conducted to analyze the coding results of the QCA to assess the behavioral patterns during the discussion process. The results indicate that students' network troubleshooting abilities improved over the course of the study. The learners' discussion patterns and cognitive levels during the activity are analyzed and discussed here. Differences in sequential cognitive processing patterns were found between the “discussion-centered” and “manipulation-centered” groups. The findings of this research may serve as a reference for instructors of STEM classes when integrating social networking services (e.g., Facebook) and CPS when designing virtual learning activities to improve learning effectiveness and increase cognitive levels.

Multilevel linguistic features have been proposed for discourse analysis, but there have been few applications of multilevel linguistic features to readability models and also few validations of such models. Most traditional readability formulae are based on generalized linear models (GLMs; e.g., discriminant analysis and multiple regression), but these models have to comply with certain statistical assumptions about data properties and include all of the data in formulae construction without pruning the outliers in advance. The use of such readability formulae tends to produce a low text classification accuracy, while using a support vector machine (SVM) in machine learning can enhance the classification outcome. The present study constructed readability models by integrating multilevel linguistic features with SVM, which is more appropriate for text classification. Taking the Chinese language as an example, this study developed 31 linguistic features as the predicting variables at the word, semantic, syntax, and cohesion levels, with grade levels of texts as the criterion variable. The study compared four types of readability models by integrating unilevel and multilevel linguistic features with GLMs and an SVM. The results indicate that adopting a multilevel approach in readability analysis provides a better representation of the complexities of both texts and the reading comprehension process.

The primary purpose of this study is to explore the knowledge construction behaviour and cognitive patterns involved in students’ online discussion using online forum and Facebook (FB). This study employed quantitative content analysis and lag sequential analysis to examine the content and behavioural patterns of 50 students from a private university in Taiwan in their online discussion with a project-based learning activity. Results showed that FB, in contrast to online discussion forum, better facilitated students’ social interaction, as they exhibited more off-topic discussion and focusing on the subject of discussion in terms of behavioural continuity. Results also showed that students were primarily sharing knowledge and involving cognitive process of ‘understanding’ during discussion. Nonetheless, more advanced knowledge construction behaviour and cognitive process were not observed in this study. Accordingly, this study suggests that incorporating FB in learning with adequate guidance by the instru...

The present study builds on our previous study within the framework of Wyer and Collin's comprehension-elaboration theory of humor processing. In this study, an attempt is made to segregate the neural substrates of incongruity detection and incongruity resolution during the comprehension of verbal jokes. Although a number of fMRI studies have investigated the incongruity-resolution process, the differential neurological substrates of comprehension are still not fully understood. The present study utilized an event-related fMRI design incorporating three conditions (unfunny, nonsensical and funny) to examine distinct brain regions associated with the detection and resolution of incongruities. Stimuli in the unfunny condition contained no incongruities; stimuli in the nonsensical condition contained irresolvable incongruities; and stimuli in the funny condition contained resolvable incongruities. The results showed that the detection of incongruities was associated with greater activation in the right middle temporal gyrus and right medial frontal gyrus, and the resolution of incongruities with greater activation in the left superior frontal gyrus and left inferior parietal lobule. Further analysis based on participants' rating scores provided converging results. Our findings suggest a three-stage neural circuit model of verbal humor processing: incongruity detection and incongruity resolution during humor comprehension and inducement of the feeling of amusement during humor elaboration.

This study presents the development of a cost-effective high-precision bench machine tool prototype for machining multi-level micro aspheric lighting-lens molds. To achieve high-precision over a long lifetime of micromachining, the bench machine tool is designed using a small C-shaped framework to strengthen static rigidity and vibration resistance. The primary structures of the machine tool are constructed with tempered nodular graphite cast iron to obtain a high damping coefficient and high inherent resonant frequency. A multi-level aspheric curve generator is designed according to the multi-level aspheric curve equation to easily create an aspheric curve and then rotated into an aspheric surface form with a symmetrical optical axis. The verifications of the designed bench machine tool’s functions were conducted by machining the micro aspheric lighting-lens molds using high-speed micro milling. Experimental results demonstrate that form accuracy and surface roughness for the micro aspheric lightinglens mold of Rt 2.937 μm and Ra equal to 0.032 μm respectively could be simultaneously achieved. The developed cost-effective bench machine tool can supply high-quality and fast machining in the fabrication of micro optoelectronic molds such as those used for micro aspheric lighting-lenses.

Assuring e-learning quality is of interest worldwide. This paper introduces the methods of e-learning courseware quality assurance (a quality certification system) adopted by the eLQSC (e-Learning Quality Service Centre) in Taiwan. A sequential/explanatory design with a mixed methodology was used to gather research data and conduct data analyses. Sixty-seven e-learning courseware applications were evaluated using the e-Learning Courseware Quality Checklist (eLCQC). Analyses of item difficulty, item discrimination and generalizability indicated that the eLCQC provides high-quality evaluations. After participating in the certification process, the e-learning producers reported having more confidence in enhancing e-learning courseware quality. The certification experience also helped the producers to change their previous design concepts about e-learning courseware and to develop new concepts; further, their increased confidence about courseware design also enhanced their confidence in marketing courseware.

The article focuses on a content analysis of the use of blogs in knowledge sharing by educators. It states that blog use for teachers' professional development may improve teacher interaction. It states that the coding scheme of the study utilized Bloom's taxonomy with a focus on the knowledge aspect of teacher discussions. It comments that teachers did not utilize blogs solely for professional development and suggests that unofficial environments might play a role in promoting a climate conducive of knowledge sharing. It also suggests the development of an automatic interaction analysis module could be used to detect current behavioral and content patterns and limitations in knowledge sharing by teachers, including automatic data mining.

Museums provide important avenues for lifelong learning, and using information and communication technology to maximize a museum's lifelong learning potential is a recognized issue. This study proposed a human-computer-context interaction (HCCI) framework as a guide for designing a mobile electronic guidebook for a history museum. To fulfill the goals of the HCCI framework, two strategies, problem-based inquiry and historical-context-embedded visiting, were used to implement a HCCI guidebook. To evaluate the effects of the HCCI guidebook, this study conducted an experiment to compare three visiting modes: Visiting with the HCCI guidebook; visiting with a worksheet; and visiting without any supplementary tools. Sixty-two college students participated in the evaluation of the HCCI guidebook in the Tang dynasty tri-color glazed pottery exhibition at the National Museum of History. The results showed that the students with the HCCI guidebooks had, on average, a longer holding time with exhibits than either students with paper-based worksheets or students without supplementary materials. However, there were no significant differences in the knowledge gained about exhibits among the three modes.

The coming era of Web 2.0 focuses on users' active online participation and interaction. Among such interactive media, the blog is one representative tool of online knowledge construction. The purpose of this study is to explore the behavioral patterns and the depth of knowledge construction when using blogs for teachers' professional development. This research combines quantitative content analysis, sequential analysis, and qualitative protocol analysis. We studied how 470 teachers used blogs to conduct instructional knowledge interactions prior to the intervention of teacher educators and analyzed the teacher's behavioral patterns and the depth of knowledge construction. On the basis of the discovered behavioral patterns, we see that although blogs can serve as a channel for teachers to share teaching information, the aspect of knowledge construction is limited. We point out these limitations, and provide suggestions on how teacher educators can guide interactions during training. We also suggest how sy...

In this study, a multimedia learning software program named GeoCAL is described. It is based on van Hiele's geometric thinking level theory, which consists of four levels: recognition, visual association, description/analysis, and abstraction/relation. In addition to presenting the software design, this study also explores the learning effects of GeoCAL on each of the geometric thinking levels and on overall geometric thinking. The subjects of this study are second-grade elementary school students of an average age of eight who have not previously had formal lessons in geometry. The experimental results indicate that, with the exception of recognition ability, GeoCAL produces significant learning effects on visual association, description/analysis and abstraction/relation as well as overall geometric thinking.

Thirty-four undergraduates used Web-based self- and peer-assessment procedures for evaluating proposals in experimental psychology courses. Students presented their proposals and commented on the proposals of others on the Web. Results indicated that proposal observation and peer interaction enhanced the quality of students' proposals. These procedures also enhanced the interrater reliability of within-group members' proposal ratings.

This study proposes a web-based collaborative inquiry learning system. This system uses the World-wide web (WWW) as a source of knowledge exploration, and provides exploratory problems to guide students to think and explore. A concept map is used as a tool of anchoring and representing knowledge during inquiry process. In the process of learning, learners are allowed to exchange the evidence they have collected, their personal opinions, and the concept maps that they have built. In order to effectively integrate the inquiry learning, collaborative learning, and concept map in the system, this study proposes a collaborative inquiry learning model and related learning activities. Two studies were constructed based on the collaborative inquiry learning model to investigate students' learning processes in the collaborative inquiry learning on the web.

A Web/spl I.bar/Soc tutoring system for recursion concept learning is proposed. The system integrates different modes of learning, synchronous and asynchronous, collaborative and individualized, into a World Wide Web (WWW) environment. The paper proposes a collaborative learning protocol. Based on the protocol, the principles of the Socratic dialogue are applied to the collaborative learning of recursion concepts. In order to evaluate the effects on learning of the Web/spl I.bar/Soc system, an educational experiment was conducted. The results show that the effects from the Web/spl I.bar/Soc system were more obvious than merely studying articles.

Online reading is developing at an increasingly rapid rate, but the debate concerning whether learning is more effective when using hypertexts than when using traditional linear texts is still persistent. In addition, several researchers stated that online reading comprehension always starts with a question, but little empirical evidence has been gathered to investigate this claim. This study used eye-tracking technology and retrospective think aloud technique to examine online reading behaviors of fifth-graders (N = 50). The participants were asked to read four texts on the website. The present study employed a three-way mixed design: 2 (reading ability: high vs. low) × 2 (reading goals: with vs. without) × 2 (text types: hypertext vs. linear text). The dependent variables were eye-movement indices and the frequencies of using online reading strategy. The results show that fifth-graders, irrespective of their reading ability, found it difficult to navigate the non-linear structure of hypertexts when searching for and integrating information. When they read with goals, they adjusted their reading speed and the focus of their attention. Their offline reading ability also influenced their online reading performance. These results suggest that online reading skills and strategies have to be taught in order to enhance the online reading abilities of elementary-school students.

The study proposes a hierarchical hyper concept map (or HHCM) course system. A HHCM course consists of a navigation map, concept maps, and hypermedia documents. The navigation map is a guide to the course, illustrating how the course is composed of learning units. The concept map demonstrates the conceptual structure of each unit, and each node in the HHCM is linked to the hypermedia document, which has a more detailed illustration of the concept. Such a combination for the HHCM course can be viewed as a three-dimensional structure of course representation. The effects of HHCM as a course representation were empirically tested. The experimental results found that students who learn from the course represented by HHCM achieve better learning than those who learn from a linearly represented course. Moreover, students can learn more efficiently than those who learn from the course represented by navigation maps. These findings suggest that the HHCM has a good potential as a device for designing Web-based courses.

Concept mapping has been applied in a variety of fields, including instruction, learning, curriculum development, and assessment. Because many empirical studies have proven the validity of concept mapping, a computer-based concept mapping system has been developed. The system provides two learning environments. In the 'construct-by-self' environment, the system provides students with the evaluation results and corresponding hints for feedback. The students construct concept maps by themselves with only the assistance of the feedback. In the 'construct-on- scaffold' environment, in addition to the feedback, the students receive an incomplete concept map, within which some nodes and links were set as blanks for the scaffold. A study comparing the effectiveness of the 'construct-by-self', 'construct-on-scaffold', and 'construct by paper-and- pencil' concept mapping showed that the 'construct-on-scaffold' had better effect for learning on biology. Both of the two computer-based procedures are helpful for students in completing their concept maps.

A concept map, typically depicted as a connected graph, is composed of a collection of propositions. Each proposition forming a semantic unit consists of a small set of concept nodes interconnected to one another with relation links. Concept maps possess a number of appealing features which make them a promising tool for teaching, learning, evaluation, and curriculum planning. We extend concept maps by associating their concept nodes and relation links with attribute values which indicate the relative significance of concepts and relationships in knowledge representation. The resulting maps are called attributed concept maps (ACM). Assessing students will be conducted by matching their ACMs with those prebuilt by experts. The associated techniques are referred to as map matching techniques. The building of an expert ACM has in the past been done by only one specialist. We integrate a number of maps developed by separate experts into a single map, called the master map (MM), which will serve as a prototypical map in map matching. Both map integration and map matching are conceptualized in terms of fuzzy set discipline. Experimental results have shown that the proposed ideas of ACM, MM, fuzzy map integration, and fuzzy map matching are well suited for students with high performances and difficult subject materials.

The purpose of this research is to develop a programming learning system for beginners using the completion strategy. The completion strategy uses well-designed programs to let students engage in completing, modifying, and extending their programs. The completion strategy is a paradigm of learning by examples with learning enforcement. In this paper, learning theories of the completion strategy are investigated. A template technique is employed to realize the strategy. An educational experiment was made to show the learning impact of the proposed system. The experimental result shows that the completion strategy is benefit to the programming learning for beginners.

A testing-based diagnosing system is implemented. The system has a problem library that collects some suitable problems and associated answers. The answers of each problem are related to misconceptions. Problem selector in the system provides some problems to test student. Based on the student's answers, the diagnoser in the system will discriminate the student's misconceptions. The problem selector and the diagnoser are implemented with matrix operations. For evaluating the performance of the system, the topic of basic DC electricity is used as the subject domain. There are nine types of misconceptions found in basic electricity. Based on the experimental results, the system has the satisfactory diagnosis.

This study aimed at bridging CSL students’ learning both inside and outside the classroom. Mobile seamless learning technology was used to enhance their Mandarin performances. Forty-one overseas Chinese students participated in this study. The Mandarin Chinese performances was collected and analyzed to determine the effects of mobile seamless learning on Mandarin Chinese learning by overseas Chinese students. Analysis of the results showed that overseas Chinese students were benefited from connecting the gaps between inside and outside the classroom learning.

An unsupervised classification technique conceptualized in terms of neural and fuzzy disciplines for the segmentation of remotely sensed images is presented. The process consists of three major steps: 1) pattern transformation; 2) neural classification; 3) fuzzy grouping. In the first step, the multispectral patterns of image pixels are transformed into what we call coarse patterns. In the second step, a delicate classification of pixels is attained by applying an ART neural classifier to the transformed pixel patterns. Since the resultant clusters of pixels are usually too keen to be of practical significance, in the third step, a fuzzy clustering algorithm is invoked to integrate pixel clusters. A function for measuring clustering validity is defined with which the optimal number of classes can be automatically determined by the clustering algorithm. The proposed technique is applied to both synthetic and real images. High classification rates have been achieved for synthetic images. We also feel comfortable with the results of the real images because their spectral variances are even smaller than the spectral variances of the synthetic images examined.

This study aims to compare the effects of two different environments, i.e. Skype and face-to-face (F2F), on learners' speaking performance by assessing the frequency of errors (e.g. verb tense, verb form and sentence structure) occurring in the learners' oral productions during role playing. Fifty-two young adult English-as-a-foreign language (EFL) learners recruited from a business college were randomly and equally assigned into the experimental or the control group. Oral interviews were used as the pretest and post-test in this study. The participants were required to complete the given tasks in pairs after the instruction. The experimental group undertook the tasks via Skype and the control group performed the tasks in an F2F environment. Verbatim data from the students' recorded utterances in two environments were analysed. The results indicated that the experimental group showed more improvement than the control group in their oral performance.

Context-aware technology has been widely applied to every field of mobile learning. However, in the process of context-aware detection, mobile devices commonly produce extra barriers of risk or complexity. In the majority of educational activities, overly complex technology or procedures can have negative effects, preventing numerous technologies that use context awareness from improving learning results. On the contrary, they increase the burden of learners in recognition and operation, or are unable to be precisely operated in the course of ordinary activity because of the high requirements for resources of their complex operating systems. This study presents an innovative Streamlined View Port Strategy System (SVSS) architecture aimed at the problems caused by the use of complex technology in the majority of mobile learning activities in the hopes of improving upon the complexity and instability of past technology operation. Through empirical research and testing aimed at performance and usability, this study discovers that the architecture has the potential to effectively increase the satisfaction of learners at every age level with the smoothness and stability of context awareness systems, providing effective location and orientation methods.

The total initial cost of enterprise learning management system is very high on the infrastructure and software applications, so that enterprises start to adopt cloud computing to reduce expenditure on infrastructure, software and IT human resource. The paper provides a cost effective structure of hybrid cloud architecture that has been implemented the multi-tenant model for enterprise to support customization sharing among different virtualized applications in a tenant area. The schema-sharing and multi-tenant data storage architecture also supports the learning content delivery. The important basis for the design method of software development shall embed with the cost effective structure, such as using multithreads to compute background processing and unzip the content files to reduce brand width usage. Even the file sizes of learning content shall be zipped to the less small size and duplicate to different servers for cutting down the traffic flow of brand width. The detailed calculation of the all I/O computer processing and brand width become the crucial implementation way.

The problem of wiring a channel of movable terminals in a VLSI chip is presented. Two subproblems are addressed: maximum alignment and wireable placement. Maximum alignment is to reassign terminal positions in the channel in order to maximize the number of nets that can be implemented as straight connections. Wireable placement is to find an assignment of the movable terminals to the vertical tracks in the channel that eliminates the vertical conflicts between nets. A restriction is imposed on the number of unconnected terminals in the maximum alignment problem to ensure that the number of columns in the channel is not increased in the process. The two subproblems are solved using two heuristic algorithms. Some well-known examples, including Deutsch's difficult example, are used as test cases. The results show that both channel width and via usage are reduced significantly by using the procedures. >

This paper provides an overview of implementing self-directed learning by utilizing weblogs in elementary studentspsila independent study. The key feature of studentspsila independent study in Taiwanese elementary settings was used to teacher-directed learning. By utilizing weblogs in studentspsila science study, it is found that students seem to behave more self-directed learning behaviors and more active in pursuing their study goals because of the feedbacks and participation by the peer community.

This paper addresses a new problem of aligning two rows of movable terminals in order to minimize the channel width and via usage in the channel. The alignment problem of movable terminals is subject to the constraint that the number of vertical tracks used is not increased in the process. This constraint is not considerated in the paper referred to [6] which first considered the alignment problem of movable terminals. This problem is first shown to be NP‐complete, therefore, we present a heuristic algorithm. All examples presented in [2] including Deutsch's difficult example are used as the test routing problems. The programs were coded in C and implemented on SUN 3/110 workstation.

In this paper, we designed a wireless peer-assisted leaning system for early EFL reading to enhance online collaborative EFL reading and provide distributed EFL learners with an opportunity to teach and learn with each other. Compare with the control group, the result shows that wireless EFL reading is emerging as a flexible and portable solution to the pedagogical challenges exist in conventional EFL reading teaching instruction.

The paper constructed an online game for Creativity. The development of the game is based on the Cognitive Affective Interaction Model that was designed to help students develop the skills for divergent and creative thinking. First, we proposed a framework for designing creativity games. Then, an online game system is constructed with the strategies of teaching for creativity. We proved that the creativity of the learners can be improved by the proposed game-based learning system. Conclusively, game-based learning creates a new opportunity for creativity.

Mobile techniques make information transform more efficiently. Many learning strategies will become more effectively under the supporting of significant and real time information. Three kinds of information awareness mechanisms using mobile devices are proposed to assist students to promote learning performance of students. Mechanisms for improving learning status awareness, schedule awareness, and mentor awareness are developed to recommend students what should learn, what should do and who could be of help for a problem by transferring information through cell phone short message to students. Experiments have been performed and the results show that most students satisfy with system's recommendation and these awareness mechanisms have positive affect to students.

Concept maps have been widely put to educational uses. Concept maps in the past were limited in their assessment standards. Some only take concept nodes into consideration; other evaluation criteria use concept nodes as the basis, with relation links playing a minor role. To address this problem, this study proposes a new style of concept map, called weighted concept map, which assigns a weight to each proposition in a concept map to represent its importance. This study proposes a new assessment with qualitative comparison founded on a weighted concept map.

Three-dimensional (3D) modeling based on an ensemble of multilayer self-organizing (SO) neural networks is described. Our objective for 3D modeling is to construct a representation of a 3D object shape from sensed surface points acquired from the object. Current modeling techniques can be classified into two categories: the static and the dynamic approaches, where the former grounded in computational geometry, and the latter rooted in the mechanics of elastic materials. In this paper, a neural-based dynamic modeling approach is presented. The method used is proved to converge and experimental results are shown which support its applicability to real problems.

The purpose of this research is to develop a programming learning system using the completion strategy for beginners. The completion strategy was proved to have feasible result for beginners. Based on the previous works, most of programming tutors require students to write programs and then to evaluate and explain the program correctness. This “program generation” approach is not suitable to beginners. Therefore, the purpose of this research adopts the completion strategy to have beginners learn programming. The completion strategy is to utilize the well-designed programs to let students engage in completing, modifying, and extending their program. This research first investigates the programming learning theories; then initiates the system structure of the programming learning system. Template technique is used to implement the proposed system.

In a Web 2.0 e-learning context, the knowledge of teachers and learners is often shared via online discussion environments. In-depth exploring the online discussion behavioural patterns for teacher/learner communities with different interactive learning strategies via empirical observations and comparisons may provides important further references for community managers or system developers. In this paper, we summarise a series of our findings of three-empirical studies in Taiwan, and make in-depth comparison and discussions of the online discussion behavioural patterns of two-interactive strategies: peer-assessment and problem solving, then discuss the features and limitations of the strategies. The comparison and discussions may provide some important references for community management and system development in e-learning environments. In turn, we also propose suggestions regarding guiders’ intervention, strategy design and intelligent agent development.

The constrained via minimization problem in a multi-layer VLSflCB routing environment is the problem of determining which layers can be used for routin the wire segments in the interconnections of nets such that t t e number of vias is rmnimized. In this aper, a Segment-Crossing Graph model is introduced, then ageuristic algorithm is pro osed on the basis of this gra h model. The algonthrn is divldexinto two ste s: GLOBAL h&NIMIZATlON and LOCAL MINIMIZATI&. In addition, practical considerations, such as restricted terminals and adjacent limitation, are addressed in this paper. Finally, the algorithm is evaluated by some famous routin examples usin five layers. The results show that 45 percent 05 vias minime% are obtained on an average. In& Tern via minimization, layer assignment, VLSUPCB routing, NP-complete.

In response to the need to cultivate pre-service Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) teachers' information and communication technology (ICT) competency in online synchronous environments, this research adopted a three-stage cyclical model named cooperation-based cognition, action, and reflection (CoCAR). The model was implemented in an 18-week program to prepare pre-service CFL teachers for online synchronous teaching. A qualitative approach was adopted to analyse the collected data. The results demonstrate that the CoCAR model benefits the pedagogical growth of the pre-service CFL teachers, and helps them to make progress in online synchronous teaching activity design and tool usage. The proposed model also creates a positive climate for technological and pedagogic knowledge to overcome some common problems in conventional teacher training programs. The CoCAR model, which emphasises cognition, action, and reflection, is considered suitable for the training of online synchronous teaching skills among CFL teachers, and can be applied to general training programs to enhance the ICT capacity of teachers.