Emerging Technologies for Education

At present, there is an increasing trend in the shift from the use of traditional technologies such as a desktop computer towards the use of mobile technologies such as a mobile phone. Nearly all students nowadays own a mobile device and about half of them own more than one. Therefore, students are well equipped for mobile learning. The purpose of this article is to firstly explore the use of mobile learning and its use in English language teaching. Secondly, on the basis of students’ needs, the authors aim to exploit and describe a mobile application aimed at learning English vocabulary and phrases among students of Management of Tourism in their third year of study. Finally, on the basis of the results from the final tests, they attempt to analyze and evaluate to what extent the mobile application is effective in their learning of English vocabulary and phrases. The results show that the use of mobile app contributes to the improvement of students’ learning, in this case of English vocabulary and phrases relevant to their needs. In addition, the findings also confirm that professional and careful guidance of learning via a mobile app can lead to independent learning, i.e. students’ self-study.

Innovative education big data can help improve the current learning system framework and implement the analysis and mining mechanism of learning based on the data flow. It is rather hard make accurate analysis possible in the past. The Quantified Self Learning Algorithm (QSLA) will be the key to analyze education big data and realize adaptive learning. The learning process of foreign language writing is a complex system. It is influenced by many factors, such as teachers, textbooks, environments and students. Based on adaptive learning and adaptive control theory, this paper designs and implements adaptive learning system for foreign language writing. This has some theoretical and practical significance to realize personalized and intelligent learning and improve improvement of learning effect.

Assessment for learning is assessment that helps both, learner and teacher assess the skills the learner has at present, set objectives for where learning should be directed, and identify ways to gain the educational aim. A cohort of students took a Professional English language course taught by the same instructor in two consecutive semesters. The course instruction uploaded in the university Blackboard LMS made extensive use of blended learning and a variety of other techniques designed to address a broad spectrum of learning styles. This paper describes the performance of the cohort in the English for Tourism course, and examines performance and attitudes in the experimental cohort. The experimental group improved its performance after being provided frequent opportunities to find out about their progress and future targets, where not all AfL assessments need be formal: instructor continually assesses and provides feedback on the progress of students as a matter of course.

Peer assessment functionalities are provided in several Learning Management Systems; data coming from the peer evaluation sessions could be used for automated or semi-automated grading, for the management of student modeling, and for providing the teacher with feedback about the learners. Various models for the representation of peer assessment data have been proposed in the literature. In this paper we build on the availability of such a model based on Bayesian Networks, and introduce: (1) a web service capable of representing data coming from peer evaluation sessions, in which student modeling is based on learners’ Competence and Assessment capability features; (2) a protocol of communication, and the design of a related API, making the service available, i.e., allowing the exchange of data between the web service and the LMS supporting the peer assessment sessions; (3) a working example of using this API in the Moodle LMS, by means of enhancing the existing Workshop plugin.

Intercultural business communication courses have become a must in today’s world and they have already been implemented into university curricula. However, due to their novelty, they still lack detailed methodology how to introduce them to the students using modern communication technologies. The presented paper focuses on hands-on experience of web-based learning in an intercultural business communication course at the Faculty of Information Technology and Management, University of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic. The course itself was introduced in 2014, as an academic effort to improve intercultural competence of the students of business and IT. However, after a few years, the tutor realised that the standard ways of transferring information were not sufficient and tried to create a supporting online (web-based) course for the participants to help them develop intercultural awareness in a modern interactive way. The students follow classic educational patterns of university curriculum and also they have an opportunity to use the online course with additional materials to enhance their learning experience. The conducted comparative research clearly proved that the students benefited from the introduction of technology enhanced learning experience significantly. The results of the research will thus be very important for curricula makers and for the tutors themselves as well.

The competency gap between the teamwork skills of undergraduate students and that, which is required by employers, has caused many undergraduate programmes within a faculty at an urban University in South Africa to introduce learning outcomes, which focus specifically on teamwork skills and student participation within teams. Despite the provision of well-designed rubrics, module lecturers and support staff reported to still have limited control over team dynamics and outcomes of peer assessments. The educational consultant at this University identified the iPeer tool for formative assessment of teamwork participation within the official LMS of the institution. The paper illustrates that iPeer provides module lecturers with the opportunity to utilise technology for assessment ‘as learning’. An iPeer research collaborative team was established and some module lecturers opted to pilot the tool as part of their large group projects.

The purpose of this paper is to share with other academics the lessons learned from implementing the iPeer tool to create an awareness of the online technology available to assist with peer participation evaluation challenges. This is done by reporting on the insights gained from the pilot projects, with the aim of sharing assessment possibilities that could influence individual behaviour in teams and as a result contribute to improved teamwork skills such as communication, collaboration and the ability to meet team deadlines. The learning is based on peer feedback which is readily available to all team members.

In today’s rapidly changing world, information technology is transforming the higher education (HE) domain through an increase in accessibility of fast, multimedia-capable computers and broadband access. HE institutions are adopting new ways of enhancing their traditional ways of teaching, resulting in the emergence of seamless learning scenarios with a consequential need for flexible tools able to support experiences across various dimensions in such seamless learning environments. Learning Management Systems (LMS) in turn have fulfilled this requirement for enablement, however, technology alone is not sufficient as the potential it offers in order to be able to use it effectively in redesigning their educational scenarios, are often not understood or implemented. In order to achieve seamless learning while optimizing capital investment in learning management systems, this paper focuses on LMS feature implementation by applying the diffusion of innovations theory as a guideline. This paper presents two real-world examples that illustrate the proposed steps taken for LMS feature implementation and presents a number of lessons learned in doing so. It was established that there was synergy between the lessons learned for HE and industry and that HE could draw on the findings from industry.

Infographics, have emerged as an appealing academic tool. Supplementing traditional learning material such as textbooks, or PowerPoint slides, infographics allow for summarised versions of the same material.

Millennials want access to relevant information literally at the click of a button. As educators, we have to find a way of engaging these students with new teaching practices and new learning styles. The researchers commenced on a quest to see how they could engage these students, not only by teaching them the relevant knowledge, but also by allowing these students to use a simple infographic, which covers an entire study theme, and testing the students’ perception of the use of infographics as a substitute for or even to replace “traditional” PowerPoint slides. The infographic was guided based on the 5 principles of the Gestalt theory.

The study was conducted on 210 student participants, with limited prior experience of infographics.

The infographic was perceived as a great tool and of good quality, which they would prefer to use as a study method over PowerPoint slides.

As educators, we need to find ways in which to incorporate infographics as a learning approach, to enhance the learning experience of students.

It is recommended that educators explore visual tools to enhance the learning experience and to retain the knowledge to which our students have been exposed. It is further recommended that infographics should be evaluated based on the five principles of Gestalt to not only improve designs, but also student experience.

The collaborative form of education places on students the following requirements in particular: distribution of social roles, planning of their own activities, division of partial tasks, learning to consult and help, controlling each other, solving partial conflicts, combining partial results into a whole, evaluating the contribution of individual members. Many models of collaborative learning such as The Structural Approach to Cooperative Learning (Spencer Kagan), have been tested at universities. Collaborative learning (CL) is directly linked to information and communication technologies (ICT) that seem to be the best environment for this form of learning. This review article seeks to define the structures of the CL model in the higher education environment, the basic elements of it and the strengths and weaknesses and to give examples of good practice.

Geocaching is being used as a medium for identification of new places and for dwelling in nature, which might influence even the proper selection of a target destination. Its feature is not only regional. The basic principle is to seek and look for and eventually find that secret hiding device called cache. There stands an individual or a group of people on one side, who made the box. They had hidden it at an interesting place and had registered it on the internet with accurate coordinates. We have tried to retell the state among Czech cachers. We wanted to know how they can cope with foreign language listing. As a very suitable it seem to appear students’ presentations in foreign language on interesting finds both home and abroad. Students love to show those findings, which achievement was not so simple. Students may also create their own Geocaching dictionaries; seek for new expressions and their translations into mother tongue. Finally they can try to translate listings both to mother tongue and foreign language. Students understand that they need good knowledge of foreign language for their future job: for contacts with foreign travel agencies, tour operators, business partners, visitors, tourists etc.

In order to explore the integration of business knowledge and English language in Business English teaching, all the writing samples from three Business English writing textbooks were collected to construct a corpus; a Business English terminology database was constructed; and a computer program was coded to automatically annotate and analyze business terms in the corpus. The results show that the corpus covers all ten disciplines of business terms under study but the distribution is obviously different. Therefore, Business English teaching text does reflect the integration of business knowledge and English language to some extent, but it mainly relates to the simple business knowledge and needs to expand substantially for Business English writing teaching.

Implementing a learning organisation model enables organisations to obtain a strategic advantage. This paper deals with implementing an organisational learning model in organisations in the IT sector in the Czech Republic. The Czech version of the questionnaire “Dimension of a Learning Organisation” is used to evaluate the organisations. The rating of most dimensions is balanced (3.527–4.454). From the seven dimensions of the learning organisation, Dimension 4 – Create systems to capture and share learning is the lowest score while Dimension 1 – Create continuous learning opportunities has the highest score. The assessment of dimensions reflects the respondent’s position. The difference between senior and line staff assessment is statistically significant (p = 0.002). In the future, it would be appropriate to conduct this research on a larger number of respondents and interdisciplinary compare the obtained results.

The paper focuses on two areas: on employee’s skills in the use of modern technologies and on economic aspects of corporation training. National statistics shows that the use of modern technologies has a steadily increasing trend. Individuals in the Czech Republic use most often the Internet. A text processor followed by a table processor and a presentation software are most frequently used office tools. Indicators from the Network readiness index that are evaluated by World Economic Forum are used to gain a global ranking view. Results that relate to network readiness index correspond to results on the computer skills and usage of technologies by individuals in the Czech Republic.

Utilization of information technologies by employed people in the Czech Republic and development of their computer skills within hybrid learning concept are discussed in this paper. Individuals use modern technologies as a main trendy communication tool in various fields, including educational purposes. Companies incorporate into their portfolio various kinds of training materials in the electronic form. These materials are offered in off-line version, on-line version, in LMS, within web-portals or within groups in social networks. Factors influencing the issue of education in the business environment and ways of its financing are described.

This study aims to follow an argument-based approach to validation of using automated essay evaluation (AWE) system with the example of Pigai, a Chinese AWE program, in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing assessment in China. First, an interpretive argument was developed for its use in the course of College English. Second, three sub-studies were conducted to seek evidence of claims related to score evaluation, score generalization, score explanation, score extrapolation and feedback utilization. Major findings are: (1) Pigai yields scores that are accurate indicators of the quality of a test performance sample; (2) its scores are consistent across tasks in the same form; (3) its scoring features represent the construct of interest to some extent, yet problems of construct under-representation and construct-irrelevant features still exist; (4) its scores are consistent with teachers’ judgments of students’ writing ability; (5) its feedback has a positive impact on students’ development of writing ability, but to some extent. These results reveal that AWE can only be used as a supplement to human evaluation, but can never replace the latter.

Results of research on students’ assessment preferences reflecting their learning styles are presented in the article. The research was conducted at the Faculty of Informatics and Management, University of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic. Totally, 203 students enrolled in Applied Informatics, Information Management, Financial Management and Tourism Management study programmes participated in the research. The main objective was to discover whether there exist correlations between the preferred assessment format and student’s learning style. The latest version of LMS Blackboard was exploited to enhance the process of learning English which was conducted via Content and Language Integrated Learning and English as Medium of Instruction approaches. Totally 18 assessment formats were considered by the students; special attention was paid to those enhanced by technologies. Two research tools were exploited to reach the objective: Learning Combination Inventory and Assessment Format Questionnaire. Collected data were processed by multiple regression and ANOVA analyses. Statistically significant correlations between the preferred format of assessment and individual learning style were discovered in two assessment formats: essay writing on the pre-defined topic and group discussion on the problem using the critical analysis, evaluation, application of students’ previous knowledge and experience. Results close to significance were found in several other assessment formats. Finally, the results were discussed in relation to findings published within the world context.

English language is becoming more and more important in the 21st century while the trend of globalization is getting increasingly obvious in the worldwide. Since one of the essential missions of education is to cultivate qualified professionals and satisfy the talent demand from the economic market, many universities and technical schools have taken English as their compulsory course in the curricula. However, due to the gap of language assessment between universities and industrial companies, English language teaching and learning in higher education has not reached its goal to provide satisfying human resources for the employers. Therefore, our research takes the effort to contribute in proposing a preliminary unified assessment framework for English Language Proficiency (ELP), which fills the gaps among the higher education sectors, industrial companies and talent seeking platforms by examining heterogeneous data sources from various talent seeking platforms. Then we will apply the model in the context of Pearl River Delta Region to guide fresh graduates when they are looking for jobs. This framework can assist different stakeholders including students, companies and educational institutions in developing talent for the society.

In a technology-rich society, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can have a great influence on the educational system. Numerous studies have indicated that ICT can benefit the outcome of teaching and learning. Many schools and universities have been equipped with ICT tools such as the Internet, computers, projectors, multimedia players, etc. This creates a need for a new type of teacher competence. This study focuses on future English Foreign Language teachers’ ICT competence and its development in the context of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. We employ documentary analysis (curriculum analysis of future English Foreign Language teachers), questionnaires and semi-structure interviews to collect data. Respondents are college and university teachers, future English Foreign Language teachers in university, lower secondary school English Foreign Language teachers. Gaining information about the current ICT competence of future English Foreign Language teachers will provide information to teaching faculties and education policy-makers for their efforts to design a training program designed to develop stronger ICT competence in these future teachers. The findings in the study will also show implications for future study of the professional development of English Foreign Language teachers.

The integration of technology into language learning has demonstrated great success and drawn much attention from academia in recent years. Using publications retrieved from Web of Science, this study reveals the research status and development trend of the field from a bibliometric and systematic perspective. The analysis is conducted from publication statistical characteristics, geographical distribution, and collaboration relations. Analysis techniques include a bibliometric method, a geographic visualization method, and a social network analysis method. This analysis of the technology enhanced language learning field presents a global view on the research evolution over time, current research interests, and potential opportunities and challenges.

As a new collaborating teaching approach, cooperative learning has attracted more and more educational research interests. In this study, taking the teaching characteristics of graduate course of natural language processing into consideration, we apply cooperative learning based on Blackboard platform to improve the conventional graduate teaching. Through two years of teaching practice, we evaluate the effect of cooperative learning in the learning of course content and project development. The evaluation results show that cooperative learning approach improves the teaching effectiveness on course contents. Especially, this approach improves the cooperation among students in the project development effectively.

Protein complex plays an essential role in cellular functions and is an important named entity in the biomedical field. Since protein complex –relevant experimental results are usually published in scientific articles, recognizing protein complex mentions from literature is a crucial step of discovering protein complex-related information from existing scientific research studies. In this paper, we propose a method for protein complex mention recognition, which applies knowledge automatically learned from PubMed. Evaluation shows our method achieves a F1-score of 81%, demonstrating its effectiveness in the protein complex recognition task.

This paper endeavors to build a knowledge management model for translation learning with special reference to an on-line translation teaching platform. The Platform features a computable network of inter-related and hierarchically distributed conceptual representations of the knowledge in this field. The representation utilizes “tag-words” as the knowledge nodes to form a roadmap of navigation and also as the keywords to introduce theory-informed annotations. This knowledge management system of tag-words aims to advance our understanding of how the knowledge of language and use of language can be modeled in the source language context and remodeled in different settings of the target language context. With the help of this knowledge management system, we may explore the ontological representations of translation and provide a navigation roadmap capable of generating effective learning pathways for learners. Facilitated by the platform, learning activities may be designed to investigate the behavioral patterns of knowledge construction in specific translation learning tasks.

An effective translation class relies on both clear and accurate instruction from the teacher as well as motivated and guided self-discovery by the learner. Various emerging technologies have made education as such possible and feasible. Taking the translation of reporting clauses as a case in point, this paper introduces the design and teaching procedure of a translation class which combines the adoption of an online platform for teaching and self-learning of English-Chinese translation and an online English-Chinese Parallel Corpus to facilitate effective teaching and learning. A platform-facilitated and corpus-assisted translation class as such demonstrates a new approach to translator training relying on emerging technologies. It not only enhances overall comprehension and digestion of knowledge but also encourages and inspires exploration spirit in learners.

This study is based on mobile-assisted language learning APPs and specifically focuses on users’ stickiness to them. Several popular vocabulary learning mobile APPs in China are chosen for the study: Baicizhan, Shanbei, Kaixincichang, Zhimi, etc. The participants for the study are from three different age groups: 19 junior high students, 22 senior high students and 33 college students. The survey results indicate that the users’ stickiness to the APPs declines with age growing. Major reasons for stopping using the APPs are: the lack of intrinsic motivation, no interests after using it for a period of time, no time for it, easily forgetting about it. Three suggestions to optimize the vocabulary learning mobile APPs and to help users learn efficiently and wisely are proposed: offering a highly matched task-based reading plan for vocabulary leaning; recommending a personalized learning group for learners of similar language proficiency to join; developing specific course book-oriented vocabulary learning functions to coordinate with in-class teaching.

In German or in other language disciplines except English discipline of Chinese universities and colleges, literature teaching is now on the edge. More and more trained students in German discipline have no idea about the German literature. The author has tried to teach the Chinese students in German discipline, how to read and understand the literary texts in the courses in the first academic year, with the help of website. In this paper, the author does carry out the real situations and views of the students on literary texts at the beginning of their study. With the help of a questionnaire survey, the author does think: the students do not refuse literature, with the help of Internet, and they can learn more about the literary texts than in the textbooks. In the survey, we find that the reading of literary texts depends more on the education of the parents of the students, the kinds of Intelligentsia have found more enjoy on the reading of literary texts. What the teachers have to change is not the curriculum, but their positions, ideas and the methods to the teaching of literary texts.

The paper proposes a new electronic portfolio for translation teaching to College English students in China to contribute to formative assessment. With the self-assessment grid aligned with the translation ability module of China’s Standards of English Language Ability and the distinction between the process portfolio and the product portfolio, it can serve both diagnostic and pedagogical purposes. This e-portfolio builds upon the existing Moodle course center of Fudan University and is complemented by local and cloud storage devices to facilitate the functionalities of learner corpora. A pedagogical design for the implementation of the e-portfolio is also proposed, incorporating the use of corpus tools as well as online resources, and stressing the need for self-assessment, feedback, learner diaries and peer revision. It is envisaged that such an e-portfolio will be well customized to the needs of College English students, making them active learners who understand their own pace of progress and march proactively towards their own objectives.