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Background Many researches on collaborative learning have shifted the focus from implementation to social construction with others. We propose learning attachment to explore students' interpersonal relationships in a collaborative learning environment. Learning attachment style is based on Bobby's model, which asserts that patterns reflect the working patterns of self and others. In this study, learning attachment among students, teaching assistants and teachers is considered to be a factor of individual differences, which may mediate the impact on learning performance, especially in the context of collaborative learning. It also studies the impact of students' anxiety on interpersonal relationships Subjects and Methods This study developed and verified the learning Attachment Scale (LAI) by synthesizing the theoretical model in the literature review, purifying the items in the expert focus group, and testing the reliability and validity of the learning attachment scale through statistical analysis. The four scales of learning attachment style are self-confidence, trust, dependence and avoidance. After developing the contents of 40 projects within the four dimensions, experts will explain and evaluate them, and then jointly decide and confirm whether the contents of these projects conform to their respective dimensions and whether the expression is appropriate. This study takes 504 undergraduates from 12 universities in Taiwan as the research object, and uses the validated learning attachment scale to evaluate them. All participants have experience in collaborative learning. Their ages ranged from 19 to 29, with an average age of 26.76. We use Kim's foreign language listening anxiety scale as the measurement scale, and use Likert scoring method to evaluate the scale. Pearson correlation, standard deviation and statistical significance are combined to illustrate the correlation. T-test of independent samples was used to verify the difference between high anxiety group and low anxiety group. According to the statistical value of anxiety, participants were divided into three groups: low, medium and high anxiety groups. The questionnaire includes two kinds of anxiety, namely debilitating anxiety and promoting anxiety. Through t-test, univariate and multivariate analysis of variance and regression analysis, we investigated the relationship between foreign language anxiety, self-efficacy and academic achievement of students of different genders. Results The results showed that the scale had sufficient internal consistency (overall Cronbach coefficient > 0.86), and the total variance explained was more than 58.06%. Finally, this study takes 504 undergraduates from 12 universities as the research object, and illustrates the evaluation of Lai through a case. The effective data collected from the survey were further analyzed, and the four identification types were clustered. Type 1 is one of the two main types, including students with the highest average value of learning dependence; The lowest average value of avoidance; He is gentle in confidence and trust. In a collaborative learning environment, they often rely on peer discussion or listening to others' opinions to complete tasks. Type 4 students showed the highest average value of avoidance and dependence and the lowest average value of trust. These students believe in themselves more than others and rely more on their peers when they complete tasks. These findings are very consistent with the cultural background and behavioral characteristics of Taiwanese students. At the same time, based on the foreign language listening anxiety scale designed by Kim, we studied the level of self-efficacy and anxiety, and found that compared with male college students, female college students' foreign language achievement and self-efficacy level are much higher. However, there is no significant difference in anxiety level between male and female college students. Conclusions Learning attachment style is one of the factors with great individual differences. In the collaborative learning environment, learning attachment style may have an impact on academic performance. The new learning Attachment Scale (LAI) was synthesized and validated as an effective tool. Using this scale, students are gathered together to distinguish the social interaction of work patterns in teams, which provides a new perspective for exploring the relationship between the factors affecting collaborative learning. Obviously, future research can test the relationship between learners' attachment styles and learning outcomes. Our results showed that although there was a positive correlation between promoting anxiety and English listening performance, it was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Among the students' psychological anxiety, debilitating anxiety dominated, and the results were statistically significant (P < 0.01). This means that debilitating anxiety can be used as an index to measure the anxiety level of college students. Our results show that there is a negative correlation between listening anxiety and listening performance. The Pearson correlation in the high anxiety group was significantly higher than that in the low anxiety group. This shows that students with poor English level are more likely to be anxious than students with good English level. Independent sample t-test verified that there was significant difference in debilitating anxiety between the two groups, P < 0.01, but there was no significant difference in promoting anxiety, P > 0.05.

The Delphi method is widely used in the fields of education, society, and medicine to achieve consensus and convergence of expert opinions. However, the Delphi method is limited in terms of the temporal and spatial issues to elicit the convergence of the experts’ views; therefore, many studies have aimed to modify its design to improve expert participation for decision convergence. This study proposes a theoretical framework for the synchronous Delphi method that integrates the interaction of the experts to ensure the convergence of the member function of decision making. A case study adopting the proposed method was conducted to synthesize the key factors needed for IT experts in Taiwan to use server virtualization technology. The Software Usability Measurement Inventory (SUMI) was used to analyze its usability. The result showed that the method’s scores in efficiency, affect, learnability and global (general satisfaction) were higher than 60, which was 10% higher than average. In addition, the scores for helpfulness and controllability were 7% higher than average.

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...

BACKGROUND Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurobehavioral disorder characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. It is a chronic disorder and often persists into adulthood. Long-term follow-up studies showed that children with ADHD were more impaired in psychosocial, educational, and neuropsychological functioning, and had higher risks for antisocial disorders, major depression, and anxiety disorders as adults. Proper and early diagnosis would save medical resources and assist policy making for ADHD. OBJECTIVE In this research, we developed a diagnosis decision model using machine learning approach to effectively screen the disorder potentials. The model is based on three machine learning algorithms: logistic regression, classification and regression tree (CART), and neural network. They were compared for analysis of the disorder diagnosis with receiver operating characteristic curve. METHODS There were 74 participants in the ADHD group, while 21 participants in non-ADHD control group. The performance of three algorithms is evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. RESULTS The results showed that the CART outperformed the other two, and the region values of receiver operating characteristic were in the following order: CART (0.848) > logistic regression model (0.826) > neural network (0.67). The sensitivity and specificity of the CART were 88% and 50%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS In the future, this model can also be used in other neuroscience fields, such as diagnosing Asperger Syndrome, Tourette Syndrome, and Dementia. Thereby, it can exert practical value and benefits of the research results.

Presently, e-Learning still keeps on attracting much attention from enterprises and universities. With more utilization of e-Learning systems in higher education, researchers’ assessment of the performance of these systems becomes highly critical. In the developing tendency toward e-learning systems, behavioral intention models (such as TAM, TPB, and UTAUT) appear to be especially useful in investigating the adoption of e-Learning technologies. A large number of studies have indicated several factors that would influence the usage of e-Learning; nevertheless, many of those have regarded individual differences as critical mediators. In the past decade, many researches have demonstrated diverse perspectives on individual differences focusing on demographic variables such as gender, education, age, and individual experience. However, the theoretical model of this study focused on cognitive-oriented individual differences in order to integrate relevant features between users and systems. The researche...

It has become a trend that worldwide enterprises and organizations apply new technologies to improve their operations; besides, it has higher cost and less flexibility to construct and manage traditional servers, therefore the current mainstream is to use server virtualization technology. However, from these new technology organizations will not necessarily get the expected benefits because each one has its own level of organizational complexity and abilities to accept changes. The researcher investigated key factors affecting the adoption of virtualization technology through two phases. In phase I, the researcher reviewed literature and then applied the dimensions of “Information Systems Success Model” (ISSM) to generalize the factors affecting the adoption of virtualization technology to be the preliminary theoretical framework and develop a questionnaire; in phase II, a three-round Delphi Method was used to integrate the opinions of experts from related fields which were then gradually converged in order to obtain a stable and objective questionnaire of key factors so that these results were expected to provide references for organizations’ adoption of server virtualization technology and future studies.

Since the global financial crisis in 2008 had caused the global economic depression, the public were commonly losing confidence in monetary system and international fund associations. Thus, the concept of untraditional currency exchange was developed. Nakamoto (2008) designed bitcoin, a decentralized digital currency which is launched and traded on the Internet. Bitcoin is being gradually accepted by the public, which is attributed to the feature of decentralization and anonymity. The exchange rate of bitcoin reached to the peak price at $4425.30 USD on August 16th, 2017. However, due to the concern of the security challenges such as being stolen, the public lost the confidence of bitcoin and had a conservative attitude toward bitcoin. It also shows that the relevant technical application and transaction model of bitcoin still need to be improved. This research attempted to investigate the key factors that prompt users to adopt bitcoin through a two-phase analysis. First, the literature and main social media data were reviewed to list out the key phrases. Second, OpView Social Listening Platform was adopted to collect data, and social network content mining method and the key phrases mentioned above were used to analyze the data from social media forum open to Taiwan. This explored the users' opinions and positive and negative emotional attitude about the latest bitcoin breaking news. This research is expected to provide references for the users when considering adopting bitcoin. It is expected to compare and analyze the data from other countries in the future.

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.

The advances of information technology have significantly changed ways of teaching and learning in education. Compared to Computer Aided Instruction (CAI), Computer Aided Learning (CAL) is student-centered and has become one of the popular ways in learning in different fields. As we all know, the Internet has been commonly used, and a variety of e-learning systems and materials have been designed and applied in schools. Researchers have applied theoretical models, such as TAM, TPB and UTAUT to explore individuals’ adoption and acceptance of technologies. In some researches, demographic individual difference has been proposed as an essential factor in adopting technologies. However, more studies have examined cognitiveoriented individual difference, especially Learning Style and Teaching Style, for users’ acceptance toward system usage. In this study, we explored how Perceived Teaching Style affects ESL/EFL (English as a Second/Foreign Language) students’ adoption of the Moodle Reader System by using a revised TAM. Our results indicated that the ways how Perceived Ease to Use (PE) relates to Perceived Usefulness (PU) from the two Perceived Teaching Style clusters are different. This is valuable information for English course designers or instructors when they consider incorporating e-learning projects into their curriculum. It is also useful for system designers for developing their new learning management systems. For future studies, both Learning Style and Teaching Style will be examined to find out the relationship between the two factors and how they influence system users’ acceptance toward the learning management platform.

An aging population has become a common structural problem for advanced countries worldwide. In the modern era of rapid IT (Information Technology) development, the adoption of technology products by senior citizens is an issue studied by many researchers. Demographic variables have been used as factors for investigating the individual differences in most of the research on IT acceptance; however, little research has actually examined the cognitive-oriented individual difference issues. Therefore, this study uses the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model as the basis for its research and integrates the Technology Life Style (TLS) as the cognitive-oriented individual difference factor to propose an extended model for investigating senior citizens acceptance of new technological products. In a sequence of studies based on this extended model, we will prepare questionnaires and a survey on Taiwans senior citizens using a strict research design procedure. The results can provide the government with suggestions for planning IT education for senior citizens and offers reference indexes of different dimensions for the developers of technology products to evaluate the appropriateness of IT auxiliary products for senior citizens.

Objectives The present study was to examine the relationship between exercise type and inhibitory function in older adults using neuroelectric indices. Design A cross-sectional design was employed in the present study. Method Sixty adults (M = 69.42 years) were categorized into open-skill, closed-skill, and irregular exercise groups according to their history of exercise participation. The participants conducted a flanker task while their behavioral performance and event-related brain potentials were assessed. Results The results indicated that regular exercisers, regardless of exercise type, exhibited a faster reaction time across conditions of the flanker task compared to irregular exercisers. For the P300 amplitude of the open-skill exerciser group, the peak amplitude was larger at the vertex site compared to the frontal site, whereas no site differences were observed in the closed-skill and irregular exerciser groups. Conclusions These findings extend current knowledge by suggesting that, for older adults, participation in physical exercise involving increased cognitive demand is associated with better neural efficiency in resource allocation for tasks that require interference control.

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...

With the advances in information systems and the Internet, universities have developed various e-learning platforms and blended courses that enable students to learn in a variety of ways. For system users, the acceptance and adoption of the system affects their learning processes and results. This research applied the United Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), proposed and validated by Venkatesh et al (2003), to explore factors that affect the acceptance of Moodle Reader, a system that supports English language learning. The results show that the constructs, performance expectancy and social influence have significant effects on behavioral intention, and facilitating conditions has a direct effect on user behavior and system usage. However, effort expectancy does not have an obvious effect on behavioral intention. Users intentions are dominant factors that consequently lead to gains in information systems performance. Furthermore, researchers classified students into different groups by gender, age and English learning experiences to study how individual differences affect adoption of the system. Multi-group analysis with PLS was used to examine the groups, and the results suggest that individual differences have no direct effect.

In recent years, social networking services (SNSs), for example, Facebook, have shown exponential growth in their number of users. Witnessing the popularity of these SNSs, educational researchers have also explored the potential educational value of using SNSs. Despite the few studies that have investigated learners' attitudes toward and the effects of incorporating SNSs in class, limited attention has been paid to examining learners' knowledge and cognitive processes involved in online discussions using SNSs. Although general public interest in life-long learning has been gradually increasing, relatively little attention has been devoted to exploring the application of SNSs in adult and continuing education programs. To promote a better understanding of using SNSs in learning, this study seeks to explore learners' online discussion behaviors in an art course that involved a project-based learning activity using a popular SNS, Facebook, to support students' asynchronous online discussions. The participants in our study included 62 students enrolled in the school of continuing education at a university in northern Taiwan. Adapting the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy as a coding scheme, this study employed a quantitative content analysis (QCA) and lag sequential analysis (LSA) to examine the content and behavioral patterns of students' discussions. The results indicate that the most prominent knowledge dimension in students' discussions is the meta-cognitive knowledge, while the cognitive process is primarily focused on understanding and comprehension. In addition, a moderate proportion of off-topic discussion was found in this study. Considering the different behaviors that may be exhibited by members of varied age and gender, a further analysis based on students' individual differences was conducted. The results showed that, in the context of online discussions, female and older learners are more likely to engage in off-topic discussions. Based on these findings, this study suggests that when conducting online discussion activities using SNSs, instructors should consider the characteristics of adult learners and their individual differences and design their teaching activities accordingly. Implications and limitations of this study are discussed, and pedagogical suggestions for adapting SNSs to teaching activities for adult and continuing education are proposed.

Enterprise architecture has evolved from an integrating tool to a strategic method for alignment between IT and business. The increasing demand for an understanding of architecture has implications for the expertise of IT professionals. Because higher education in Taiwan faces growing demands to reduce costs, increase agility, and standardize IT environments, there has been a surge of enterprise architecture activity. This study employs field research using the practical competence model to identify the core competences of enterprise architects in higher education. This paper incorporates rigorous qualitative methods into the Job Competency Analysis (JCA) method and integrates the existing literature with in-depth interviews from architectural experts and IT managers. The results allow us to create a practical competence model that identifies the core competences of one occupation or industry. Theoretically, this model not only establishes a foundation for further research on core competence but also guides decision making on human resource development.

E-learning has continued to gain attention in enterprises and universities. As higher education deploys more e-learning systems, it is important for researchers to evaluate the performance of these systems. With the growing trend toward web-based learning systems, behavioral intention models (such as TAM, TPB, TAM2, UTAUT) seem particularly helpful to examine whether and why people use e-learning technologies. Although a number of studies have presented factors that influence the adoption of e-learning, few studies have investigated the moderating effects of cognitive-oriented individual differences. Previous studies have presented various perspectives on individual difference that have focused on demographic variables, such as age, gender, education, and individual experience. Our theoretical model focuses on cognitive-oriented individual differences to synthesize relevant characteristics of users and systems. This study extends the TAM model, the most frequently adopted behavioral intention theory, by considering cognitive-oriented individual differences (e.g., learning and teaching styles) and presenting a new theoretical framework to examine the acceptance of e-learning technologies.

Teaching computer networking concepts is difficult for its abstract concepts and complex, dynamic process among various devices and protocols. To improve students’ understanding, instructors seek the facilitation of technology. Among computer-assisted pedagogical methods, simulation-based learning (SBL) tool is regarded as a highly flexible and effective computer instruction application. While most previous studies mainly addressed the functionalities and design pattern of SBL tools, little attention has been devoted in examining what learner’s perceptions of the SBL are and its relationships with learner’s individual differences. However, teaching is an interactive process, how learners perceive the novel instruction tools be may further influence their usage of instruction tool and learning outcome subsequently. This study seeks to fill the literature gap by investigating students’ perception toward the SBL and its relationships with students’ learning outcome. Data were gathered through a survey conducted in two classes of a university in Northern Taiwan. Results suggest that simulation tool’s appeals to student (positive perceptions) are highly associated with their learning outcome as well as sophisticated learning conception. Meanwhile, students with higher learning outcome tend to engage with simulation tool more and possess more cohesive learning conception than those with lower learning outcome do. Implications of results are also discussed in this study.

Content, evaluation, and applications of competence have been important issues in both academic and practical applications since the 1970s. On the one hand, studies on psychological assessment, human resources management and development have extensively discussed the definition and classification of competence; on the other hand, practical research on the competences of different occupations has attracted considerable attention. Previous studies have presented numerous analytical procedures and research methods. Further elaborating these methods can derive higher quality competency models based on different perspectives. This investigation incorporated the notion of adaptive theory into the Job Competence Analysis (JCA) method. Through rigid qualitative data analysis, this study integrated the existing literature with in-depth interviews conducted with managers and experts. This yielded a practical competence model that indentified the core competences of an occupation or industry. Taking IT professionals as an example, this study carried out field research that followed the practical model and clarified the core competencies of IT professionals in the business service sector in Taiwan. Theoretically, this model can not only establish a foundation for further research on core competence, but can also guide decision making on human resource management and development. Practically, by identifying core competences in the business services this investigation significantly helps the development of practical training programs.