This study examines how incorporating different electronic feedback devices (i.e., clickers versus web-based polling) may affect specific types of student engagement (i.e., behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement), whether students' self-efficacy for learning and performance may differ between courses that have integrated clickers and…

Nowadays, the dissemination and exploitation of three-dimensional (3D) multi-user virtual worlds in higher education have been disclosed from their widespread acceptance as candidate learning platforms. However, it is still lacking a theoretical cybernetic macro-script to elaborate the coordination of multiple complex interactions among…

The Personal Learning Environment (PLE) has been presented in a number of guises over a period of 10 years as an intervention which seeks the reorganisation of educational technology through shifting the "locus of control" of technology towards the learner. In the intervening period to the present, a number of initiatives have attempted…

The dissertation deals with clustering algorithms and transforming regression problems into classification problems. The main contributions of the dissertation are twofold; first, to improve (speed up) the clustering algorithms and second, to develop a strict learning environment for solving regression problems as classification tasks by using…

There is an expressed desire across academic disciplines to move beyond the limitations of linear, reductionist epistemologies and infuse teaching and learning with a greater recognition of relational interdependence, circular causality, patterns of connection, and generally what Gregory Bateson (1972) called the "ecology of mind" (p. xxiii). This…

Challenging the argument that liberal humanism faces extinction in the face of ubiquitous digital technologies, my dissertation analyzes the ways in which consumer electronics reinscribe the human subject as a privileged category in the information age. Through spaces like the Matrix, Windows 7, or even the single row of play controls on a…

Conventional monuments are concrete manifestations of memories without the capacity to reflect individual interpretations of history. In an increasingly digital society, however, there is a need for configurable monuments reflecting our contemporary, open and complex community. "Monumental-IT" reflects the dynamic and inclusive character of our…

This study examines the use of Internet polling at schools to gain student input for the improvement of learning conditions to assist in the continuous improvement planning. The study consists of 2006 respondents and three different schools containing the middle school child. The grades included in the study were 5, 6, 7, and 8. Although two…

This article is about developing school-based self-assessing recursive pedagogies and case/action research practices and/or approaches in schools, and teachers, teacher researchers and researchers simultaneously producing and theorising their own practices using second-order cybernetics as a thinking tool. It is a move towards pragmatic…

This quantitative, nonexperimental study used survey research design and nonparametric statistics to investigate Birnbaum's (1988) theory that there is a relationship between the constructs of leadership and organization, as depicted in his five higher education models of organizational functioning: bureaucratic, collegial, political,…

This article follows the culmination of the scientific thought of the neurobiologist Christfried Jakob (1866-1956) during the later part of his career, based on publications from 1930 to 1949, when he was between 64 and 83 years of age. Jakob emphasized the necessity of bridging philosophy to the biological sciences, neurobiology in particular.…

The current study attempts to integrate parts of program theory and systems-based procedures in educational program evaluation. The educational program that was implemented, called the "Early Steps" project, proposed that physical education can contribute to various educational goals apart from the usual motor skills improvement. Basic elements of…

Purpose: Sustainability is, in itself, the idea of a harmonic answer to the dual nature of the most pressing problem for global society. Most of the problems dealing with sustainability concern its dual and contradictory nature. That paradoxical reality is in no way a unique feature of sustainability; its universal pervasiveness is demonstrated by…

Purpose: This Special Issue is intended to heighten awareness of the importance of organizational learning in addressing the demands of organizational sustainability, and in particular triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability. A definition of TBL sustainability is provided, together with an exploration of the practical issues relevant to adopting…

This essay uses the recent victory of an IBM computer (Watson) in the TV game, "Jeopardy," to speculate on the abilities Watson would need, in addition to those it has, to be human. The essay's basic premise is that to be human is to behave as humans behave and to function in society as humans function. Alternatives to this premise are considered…