In this paper, we propose a visual saliency algorithm for automatically finding the topic transition points in an educational video. First, we propose a method for assigning a saliency score to each word extracted from an educational video. We design several mid-level features that are indicative of visual saliency. The optimal feature combination…

Chulalongkorn University collaboratively worked with the Office of Basic Education, and Department of Highways, with support from a Corporate Social Responsibility Unit (CSR) of Toyota motor Thailand in a Road Safety Project. The project was aimed at cultivating a social awareness, "from a school to a community", using a set of…

Educational games have received increasing attention as one teaching technique for individualizing instruction. The use of games for education was borrowed from the business community, which in turn had borrowed the idea from the military. Educational games include several distinct types--simulations, role playing, games and simulation games. Two…

The document describes the use of weather maps and data in teaching introductory college courses in synoptic meteorology. Students examine weather changes at three-hour intervals from data obtained from the "Monthly Summary of Local Climatological Data." Weather variables in the local summary include sky cover, air temperature, dew point, relative…

This paper discusses an approach to teaching composition using a student-recorded cassette tape. A general outline is given for using the cassette tape in the classroom to help students improve their reading, punctuation, written dialogue, and sentence patterns. Cassette tapes can also help students to avoid stilted and awkward repetition and to…

Originally part of a symposium on educational media for the deaf, the paper discusses the use of the balloon captioning (expansion of successive portions of a captioned word in synchronization with the audio) of song lyrics for the reinforcement of speech with the deaf. (PHR)

Three writing classes at the University of Missouri (freshman, sophomore, and senior) spent much or most of the semester on the virtual campus of the Diversity University (DU) MOO (multi-user object oriented). The freshman class wrote one paper on Internet exploration, another on their favorite Internet destination, and for the third were given a…

The relationship between teacher burnout and the use of various media in teaching was examined with data collected from 545 elementary and secondary teachers in the Fort Worth, Texas public school system. Subscales measured factors indicating teacher burnout, including teachers' perceptions of the degree of administrative support received, career…

An overview of a symposium on research and utilization of educational media for teaching the deaf, "Educational Technology for the 80s" is presented. Among developments reviewed are the video cassette, the video disc, and a "closed captioning" system for television sets in which only those sets with a special adaptor will produce captions. (PHR)

In a review of research on computer assisted instruction (CAI) related to reading, evidence collected provides tentative conclusions about CAI effectiveness. CAI was effective as an instructional medium in the surveyed studies. In a number of instances, CAI groups achieved higher scores than the control groups. Some studies indicated that CAI…

An interactive simulation program was developed for use in teaching students how to handle public relations problems. The program user is placed in the role of assistant newsletter editor, facing a series of decision-making situations. Each choice the user makes affects the subsequent reality created by the program, which is designed to provide…

This presentation, by an invited speaker at the 46th annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, describes simulation techniques used in the medical education program at the University of Illinois. Medical students interact with simulated patients and acquire problem-solving competencies for use in working with…

The Association for Educational Communications and Technology defines Instructional Technology as the "theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning" (Seels & Richley, 1994). From the above definition, it can be seen that Instructional Technology can be…

This paper suggests ways in which video can be used in teaching college literature and cinema courses in order to promote audiovisual literacy. The method proposed presupposes an approach to narrative through narratology, the discipline that examines texts of narrative fiction as narratives, irrespective of their mode of manifestation (verbal,…

This paper summarizes and evaluates published research examining the use of simulation games in educational settings. Findings regarding the effects of simulation games on interest, attitudes, feeling of efficacy, knowledge, and intellectual skills are reviewed. Research shows that interest is usually aroused by the games themselves, but not…