BackgroundThere has been an increasing interest in negative or ‘undermining’ motivations for reading. In this study, we aimed to strengthen knowledge on the validity of the distinction between affirming and undermining motivations. First, we examined whether the structure of a questionnaire based on this distinction could be confirmed. Second, we examined the predictive value of undermining motivations for reading comprehension. Third, we studied moderator effects of gender and age.MethodsWe administered a reading motivation questionnaire and a reading comprehension test to 324 low-achieving adolescents. The questionnaire included items on affirming and undermining motivations for school and leisure time reading: intrinsic motivation and avoidance, self-efficacy and perceived difficulty.ResultsConfirmatory factor analyses supported the assumed structure of the questionnaire. Undermining motivations, particularly perceived difficulty, explained unique variance in reading achievement. Gender and age did not moderate effects of motivational variables.ConclusionsEducators need to be aware of the role of undermining motivations. Future research should examine if interventions can lead to the reduction of such motivations.
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Research conducted by Henk van den Hurk shows that teachers’ knowledge of effective instructional behaviour is of limited influence on their actual performance in daily teaching. Observing teachers within their own educational practice and the subsequent feedback in teacher training college, however, has shown to be effective in improving teacher instructional practice. Van den Hurk studied the effects of the application of a cyclic model for data-feedback in initial teacher training as well as in a master course for teachers. In the applied model, teachers are observed with standardised observational instruments, while teaching their own classes. Back in teacher training college they are supported in formulating specific points of improvement for their own instructional behaviour. Subsequently, in their own classroom, the students practice the skills they further have to develop. After a short while another classroom observation is scheduled. The use of this model has proven to lead to a substantial improvement of teacher instructional behaviour. It is remarkable that advances in the quality of teacher instructional behaviour are reached in a limited time-span of only several weeks.
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Innovation is crucial for higher education to ensure high-quality curricula that address the changing needs of students, labor markets, and society as a whole. Substantial amounts of resources and enthusiasm are devoted to innovations, but often they do not yield the desired changes. This may be due to unworkable goals, too much complexity, and a lack of resources to institutionalize the innovation. In many cases, innovations end up being less sustainable than expected or hoped for. In the long term, the disappointing revenues of innovations hamper the ability of higher education to remain future proof. Against the background of this need to increase the success of educational innovations, our colleague Klaartje van Genugten has explored the literature on innovations to reveal mechanisms that contribute to the sustainability of innovations. Her findings are synthesized in this report. They are particularly meaningful for directors of education programs, curriculum committees, educational consultants, and policy makers, who are generally in charge of defining the scope and set up of innovations. Her report offers a comprehensive view and provides food for thought on how we can strive for future-proof and sustainable innovations. I therefore recommend reading this report.
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Reading and writing is modelled in CSP using actions containing the symbols ? and !. These reading actions and writing actions are synchronous, and there is a one-to-one relationship between occurrences of pairs of these actions. In the CPA conference 2017, we introduced the extended half-synchronous al- phabetised parallel operator X ⇕ Y , which disconnects the writing to and reading from a channel in time; the reading processes are divided into sets which are set-wise asynchronous, but intra-set-wise synchronous, giving full flexibility to the reads. In this paper, we allow multiple writers to write to the same channel set-wise asynchronously, but intra-set-wise synchronously and we study the impact on our (Extended) Vertex Removing Synchronised Product. The advantages we accomplish are that the extension of X ⇕ Y gives more flexibility by indexing the writing actions and the reading actions, leading to a straightforward majority vote design. Furthermore, the extension of X ⇕ Y preserves the advantages of the X ⇕ Y operator.
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Reading and writing is modelled in CSP using actions containing the symbols ? and !. These reading actions and writing actions are synchronous, and there is a one-to-one relationship between occurrences of pairs of these actions. In the CPA conference 2016, we introduced the half-synchronous alphabetised parallel operator X ⇓ Y , which disconnects the writing to and reading from a channel in time. We introduce in this paper an extension of X ⇓ Y , where the definition of X ⇓ Y is relaxed; the reading processes are divided into sets which are set-wise asynchronous, but intra-set-wise synchronous, giving full flexibility to the asynchronous writes and reads. Furthermore, we allow multiple writers to the same channel and we study the impact on a Vertex Removing Synchronised Product. The advantages we accomplish are that the extension of X ⇓ Y gives more flexibility by indexing the reading actions and allowing multiple write actions to the same channel. Furthermore, the extension of X ⇓Y reduces the end-to-end processing time of the processor or coprocessor in a distributed computing system. We show the effects of these advantages in a case study describing a Controlled Emergency Stop for a processor-coprocessor combination.
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The design of health game rewards for preadolescents Videogames are a promising strategy for child health interventions, but their impact can vary depending on the game mechanics used. This study investigated achievement-based ‘rewards’ and their design among preadolescents (8-12 years) to assess their effect and explain how they work. In a 2 (game reward achievement system: social vs. personal) x 2 (game reward context: in-game vs. out-game) between-subjects design, 178 children were randomly assigned to one of four conditions. Findings indicated that a ‘personal’ achievement system (showing one’s own high scores) led to more attention and less frustration than a ‘social’ achievement system (showing also high scores of others) which, in turn, increased children’s motivation to make healthy food choices. Furthermore, ‘out’-game rewards (tangible stickers allocated outside the game environment) were liked more than ‘in’-game rewards (virtual stickers allocated in the game environment), leading to greater satisfaction and, in turn, a higher motivation to make healthy food choices.
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Reading and writing is modelled in CSP using actions containing the sym- bols ? and !. These reading and writing actions are synchronous and there is a one- to-one relationship between occurrences of pairs of these actions. It is cumbersome to ease the restriction of synchronous execution of the read and write actions. For this reason we introduce the half-asynchronous parallel operator that acts on actions con- taining the symbols ¿ and ¡ and study the impact on a Vertex Removing Synchronised Product.
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We review the current body of academic literature concerning gamification of production and logistics. The findings indicate that production execution and control has been addressed most often in the current body of literature, which consists mostly of design research. Objectives and goals, points, achievements, multimedial feedback, metaphorical/fictional representations, and levels and progress are currently most often employed gamification affordances on this field. The research has focused on examining or considering motivation, enjoyment and flow as the main psychological outcomes of gamification in the given context, while individual performance and efficiency are the most commonly examined or suggested behavioral/organizational impacts. Future studies should employ more rigorous study designs and firmly ground the discussions in organization theory.
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