درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Open Soft Software brings about a powerful learning environment, and it transforms the learning and teaching process in which students deal with knowledge in an active and self-directed way. However, over-reliance on conventional methods, lack of awareness, skills, knowledge, among others, are factors militating against the adoption of OSS for learning. This study examines the self-efficacy in the use of open-source software for instruction among undergraduate pre-service teachers in Lagos State. The population for this study were pre-service teachers in all universities in Lagos State. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the universities from where the student samples were drawn based on public universities that are on campus. The instrument for data collection was an adapted questionnaire. Descriptive and Inferential statistics were used to answer the research question and test the stated hypothesis with the aid of stastistical product and service solution (SPSS) version 20.0 at 0.05 level of significant . The findings indicated that undergraduates have low self-efficacy in the use of open-source software for instruction. Also, significant difference exists between male and female pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy on OSS for instruction in Lagos State. This study concluded that most pre-service teachers in Lagos State did not have the skills necessary to use OSS for learning. Therefore, the study recommended that government should organise training for pre-service teachers on the use of OSS for learning. Key words: Self-efficacy, Open-Source Software, ICT, Gender and Constraints

In this chapter I review principles and practical aspects of language assessment in foreign language (FL) learning, more specifically with a focus on Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and other contexts in which computers are used as a means for distance learning and for language assessment (Computer-Aided Assessment - CAA). Assessment constitutes an essential dimension of learning experiences and it is an aspect of most formal processes of language teaching and learning. Language assessment may involve language testing, as well as other procedures and instruments such as observations, performance tasks, portfolios and self-evaluation, and by combining information from various sources of assessment one is able to obtain more valid and reliable results. I draw on the literature on CALL and on language assessment, and on data collected within the scope of the Teletandem Brazil Project: foreign languages for all (henceforth TBP), to support my position on principles that may or may not characterize language assessment in the context of teletandem interactions. CAA is defined as any type of activity in which computers are used to support a process of assessment apart from and beyond their simple function to store and transmit information. CAA helps faster assessment, increases the quality and quantity of information detected, and maximizes the provision of feedback about language assessment processes. In the TBP project, undergraduate students from a Brazilian university interacted with students from universities abroad, by means of computer programmes for synchronous communication, microphones and webcams. Besides the claims about CALL from the literature, I make reference to teletandem interactions in both EFL and Portuguese as a foreign language, considering occasions in which teletandem agents evaluate each other linguistic performances. I also analyse a questionnaire for evaluation in teletandem, which does not focus on language assessment but rather on the experience of interacting in the teletandem context and on the tools used for communication. No clear distinctions were found to exist between CAA and more traditional procedures for language assessment. Principles for CAA seem to combine traditional bases for language assessment and testing with a number of pedagogical principles that underpin distance learning.