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Following efforts to promote internationalization at academic institutions, the use of multiple languages on educational slides (e.g., PowerPoint) has gradually increased. Multilingualism in learning has its advantages, but having multiple languages on educational slides can lead to crowding and cognitive overload. To investigate how students perceive multilingual slides, evaluations were gathered from Japanese (N = 20) and Indonesian students (N = 20) during an eye-tracking experiment in which their visual attention distribution on the slides was assessed. The slides contained text in three languages (English, Japanese, and Bahasa Indonesia) and were varied according to their layout. One group watched slides with text separated in blocks, with one text block for each language, while the other group watched slides consisting of a single, mixed block with each sentence describing the same information in a different language. The students' evaluations showed that slides with a mixed layout were judged as more crowded and required more processing effort than slides with a separated-block layout. Furthermore, while the students dwelled their gaze significantly longer on text in their native language (either Bahasa Indonesia or Japanese) on separated-block slides, for slides with a mixed layout, the gaze patterns did not significantly differ between languages. The results of a comprehension quiz taken after the slide presentation, however, showed that students performed better after having watched the slides with the mixed layout. Thus, although judged as more crowded and requiring a wider attention distribution, slides with a mixed layout may be preferable in multilingual education.

The split-attention effect posits that learning outcomes are negatively impacted when interrelated text and graphics are spatially segregated rather than cohesively integrated. This study explored how the instructional material's presentation size influences the manifestation of the split-attention effect. Based on cognitive load theory and perceptual load theory, we hypothesized that elevated information density in a compact presentation format would attenuate the advantage of integrated text and graphics, thereby diminishing the salience of the split-attention effect relative to a more expansive presentation size. University students (n = 146) studied a split-attention format or integrated format in either large or small presentation size. Results on retention and comprehension tests and extraneous cognitive load ratings revealed no effects of instructional format, presentation size or their interaction. The present results call for a more nuanced understanding of the split-attention effect and suggest additional research to explore its cognitive foundations.

The virtual learning environment (VLE) is of great importance in Higher Education as a repository for course content, communication and student support. Students' satisfaction with the VLE may impact greatly on their engagement with the VLE itself, and, consequently, module content and learning more widely. In moving to a new VLE we wished to optimise its design for our students' needs by determining features that impact students' usage. As such, in this study we tested the satisfaction of psychology students with the layout used in our current VLE, Blackboard Learn (BbL). Using an online survey, students rated their satisfaction for each element of the BbL template on a 7-point Likert-type scale, from 1 ("extremely dissatisfied") to 7 ("extremely satisfied"). Eighty-seven students enrolled in the BSc Psychology (N = 68) and BSc Psychology (Sport, Health and Exercise) (N = 19) programmes completed the survey. Results showed that, overall, students were very satisfied with their BbL structure. Open-text comments indicated students appreciated the clear, organised structure, making it very easy to navigate. However, students suggested clearer labelling and greater consistency across modules would improve their learning. These findings will be used to inform the template of our new VLE.

Reports on a panel discussion held at LILAC 2022 on student academic reading during the COVID-19 pandemic. Draws on data from two surveys, but also discusses the implications of this research for teachers and information literacy (IL) practitioners. In summary, students carried out almost all their academic reading in electronic format, due to the restrictions in place. However, in common with research conducted prior to the pandemic, their preferences for reading in print format remained. Students also report doing less of their assigned readings, feeling more tired as well as reporting other negative health benefits from excess use of screens and devices. The study has implications for librarians, learning developers and for academic staff assigning course readings to students. Ongoing research in this area is recommended.

We develop the notions of "resistance" and "points of entry" in the context of alternative written textual formats used in physics teacher education. Studies point out that textbooks have played an important role in undergraduate physics courses, which can be part of the initial training of physics teachers. On the foundation of theories in the philosophy of science, it is possible to verify that there are philosophical reasons for the privileged use of this textual format in physics undergraduate courses. However, alongside the transformation of the educational field in terms of its theoretical-methodological approaches, there is a growing body of research and educational practices that highlights the importance and possibilities of incorporating others written textual formats in all levels of physics education. The notions of "resistance" and "points of entry" can enhance the awareness of these dynamics of physics education. To produce such an understanding, we put the philosophy of science in dialogue with the philosophy of action, which provides an overview of the interactions of life, including physics pedagogy - in which actions promote transformations.

Background: The judicious use of worksheets ought to contribute to the establishment of literacy, with a special significance for multilingual classrooms where neither teachers nor learners are mother tongue speakers of the instructional language. Disparity between the pedagogical intention of the worksheet and learners' interpretation of the message often creates instructional dissonance. Aim and setting: The aim of this nested study was to establish the quality, and (mis)use of worksheets as implemented by student teachers during their work-integrated learning stint in selected urban South African primary schools. Design and methodology: Using a self-designed grid, a qualitative document analysis underpinned by visual ethnography was conducted on 45 worksheets. These texts were prepared by the student teachers for literacy, numeracy and life skills lessons offered to 6- to 9-year-olds. Criteria used for the simple analysis included appropriateness for the age group, visual complexity, accuracy of language use, cultural compatibility, layout, clarity of instructions and alignment with expected learning outcomes. Findings: Findings suggested the hasty conceptualisation and creation, or inappropriate choice of worksheets used as learning support material. Apart from linguistic barriers because of poorly formulated tasks, the worksheets were generally culturally insensitive, and contained grammatical inaccuracies compounded by technical and design shortcomings. These lacunae defeated the pedagogical purpose of most worksheets and generated instructional dissonance. Conclusion and implications for teacher education: The careful crafting and implementation of worksheets coupled with sound content knowledge of language and literacy principles would alleviate learner bafflement and enhance the learning opportunity. We take the position that well-designed worksheets should serve a focused purpose and link directly to literacy and learning of the instructional language.

Aims: Since many Saudi ESL students studying abroad have limited vocabulary and grammar knowledge and poor reading comprehension skills, this article proposes the integration of linguistic landscapes (LLs) in teaching English to Saudi students studying abroad to supplement the English language courses and textbooks they study. Definition of LLs: LLs refer to the use of language in the environment, i.e., the words and images displayed in public spaces such as streets, airports, schools, government buildings, shopping centers, tourist attractions, and others. They contain announcements, directions, warnings, services, and commercial ads. They are characterized by brevity, use of authentic language, and specific structures such as commands and ellipted phrases. Materials, Tasks and Teaching Strategy: Since LLs differ in length and difficulty level, the English LLs selected for instruction should match the students' proficiency level. Instruction with LLs begins with selecting a Facebook page for posting LLs and discussions about them. The instructor introduces the LLs, gives pre-questions, and sets goals for working on them. The students practice LL text analysis. They predict the topic, pay attention to specific vocabulary and grammatical structures, and use contextual clues and their background knowledge to infer the overall meaning of an LL and the meanings of difficult words. At an advanced stage, students may identify the pragmatic, stylistic and sociocultural features of LLs. The students discuss their answers with the instructor, summarize, retell, or paraphrase an LL, discuss difficulties in vocabulary and grammatical structures. They can identify the number of directions given in a single sign, infer the intention and purpose of the sign, give the pragmatic reasons for the way the sign is worded and connect them with its design, pictures, colors and fonts used. Reflections and Recommendation: LL pedagogy was beneficial and fun. Use of a Facebook LL repository with explanations is recommended.

Despite its importance in the classroom, there has been limited research into the functional design of the syllabus as a means to motivate students to read and use it. This mixed methods study investigates student impressions of a 4-page full-length infographic-style visual syllabus. Identically formatted infographic syllabi were used in three courses with different student populations--a freshman seminar, a 300-level elective liberal arts course, and a 400-level minor elective course. Students completed a short questionnaire to capture their immediate reactions to the syllabus, followed by a longer questionnaire at the end of the semester. Across class standing, students strongly preferred an infographic syllabus and described it as easy to use, memorable, organized, and engaging. Students reported reading the infographic syllabus more completely, feeling less anxious about the course and more comfortable with its requirements due to the syllabus style. Recommendations for creating an engaging infographic-style visual syllabus are shared.

When learning from texts, it is not only important that learners remember and comprehend the content, but also that they monitor and accurately judge their memory and comprehension so as to efficiently regulate their learning. In the present experiment with 51 university students, we investigated to what extent headings within texts promote these processes. The results revealed that headings supported learners in comprehending the texts as well as in accurately judging their comprehension. The effects of headings on memory and judgment accuracy concerning memory were not significant. Moreover, headings affected learners' cognitive load. This study indicates the usefulness of including headings in texts to support learners' self-regulated learning from texts.

Positive experience can increase the likelihood of revisiting Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) site. Our interest focuses on effects of presentation formats on learner's experience in MOOC. In two empirical studies, participants viewed online course webpages that either contained an image of the instructor or not. We examined effects of presentation format adding social cues on learner's attention, emotion and learning outcome using questionnaire and the physical evidence provided by an eye tracker. The results obtained allow us to conclude that the instructor's image positively affects visual attention and learner's emotion, especially perceived usefulness from emotion factor, and has changed learner's browsing behaviour. Moreover, the results reveal learner's cognition mechanism in MOOC learning. The results significantly contribute to efforts to design of MOOC webpages and also provide a valuable reference when selecting presentation format for online learning.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce a conceptual framework as a six-stage guided implementation for educators to embed Canva (an online design tool) into their marketing subjects to encourage super-skills of the 21st century including stronger collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and communication which in turn increases a student's work readiness. Design/methodology/approach: The framework is designed from sociocultural and experiential approaches of learning and teaching. It is based on dialogic and social learning theories and guided by the 21st century skills, experience, student interactions and reflections. Findings: Based on the initial staff and student reflections and the author's extensive teaching experience, the implementation of Canva into marketing subjects suggests students are increasing their creativity, design, collaborative and critical thinking skills due to the unique features of the tool. This is suggestive that the implementation process developed through the conceptual framework of embedding Canva supported not only the students' learning experience but allowed for a more immersive experience for teaching staff as well. Originality/value: This paper provides a pedagogical and theoretically supported rationalisation for a staged approach to embed Canva into a classroom to assist educators in fostering students' critical thinking skills, communication, collaboration whilst encouraging higher quality and creativity of assessments. This paper may have a continued flow on effect to student's work readiness by equipping them with a needed marketing tool in their career pursuits.

Captioning of recorded videos is beneficial to many and a matter of compliance with accessibility regulations and guidelines. Like recorded captions, real-time captions can also be means to implement the Universal Design for Learning checkpoint to offer text-based alternatives to auditory information. A cost-effective solution to implement the checkpoint for live online presentations is to use speech recognition technologies to generate automated captions. In particular, "Microsoft PowerPoint Present Live" (MSPL) is an application that can be used to present with real-time automated captions and subtitles in multiple languages, allowing individuals to follow the presentation in their preferred language. The purpose of this study was to identify challenges that participants could encounter when using the MSPL feature of real-time automated captions/subtitles, and to determine what they describe as potential uses, challenges, and benefits of the feature. Participants were full-time faculty and administrators with a faculty appointment in a higher education institution. Data from five native English speakers and five native Spanish speakers were analyzed. Activities of remote usability testing and interviews were conducted to collect data. Overall, participants did not encounter challenges that they could not overcome and described MSPL as an easy-to-use and useful tool to present with captions/subtitles for teaching or training and to reach English and Spanish-speaking audiences. The themes that emerged as potential challenges were training, distraction, and technology. Findings are discussed and further research is recommended.

This study was qualitative content analysis that evaluated the quality of English for University Teaching (EUT), English for Specific Purposes (ESP), and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) textbooks through impressionistic and in-depth analysis. The participants were 9 EAP teachers and 15 EAP students from three universities in Surakarta, Indonesia. Instruments to collect data were checklist and interview guide. The checklist consisted of impressionistic analysis to see (1) cover, (2) content scope, (3) learning activities, (4) book organization, and (5) layout; and the indepth analysis, namely (1) aim and approach, (2) organization design, language and content, (3) language skills, and (4) practical consideration. Data were collected using checklist and Focus Group Discussion. Data were analyzed through summative content analysis with seven stages: transforming data into narrative text, determining unit of analysis, developing categories, coding, coding the entire text, checking consistency of coding, and drawing conclusion. Results show EUT and ESP have low quality based on the impressionistic evaluation, and fair quality of their in-depth evaluation. Both books are register and grammar oriented. EAP textbook is good in general, and very good in depth. EAP presents its contents in terms of genre reading, academic speaking, academic reading, academic writing and grammar.

This analysis investigates two differential "PowerPoint" slide designs--presentation and teleprompter--for multimedia learning. Eye tracking measures assessed differences in fixations. Participants demonstrated greater fixation counts for teleprompter slides, measures of aesthetic liking evidenced that slides incorporating imagery resulted in more pleasurable learning experiences, and visually-based slides influenced more reflective learning and greater activation of information processing. The results offer practical advice for instructors wishing to increase the slide design effectiveness for improved multimedia learning.

I analyzed student submissions from a photography-based assignment in introductory sociology. In this exploratory study, I discuss the patterns found in student submissions to uncover what sociological concepts students observed in their everyday lives. My primary research question, therefore, was what do introductory sociology students see when they are given few guidelines as to what they "should" see? The intent of this research was to focus on what concepts students identified, not my interpretation of students' meaning or to gauge the effectiveness of the assignment on learning outcomes. The goal of this research was to describe what students are actually identifying as sociological and how this does or does not reflect the goals of the assignment or the course. In turn, the results of systematically analyzing student submissions can inform future iterations of the assignment and my overall teaching strategies in introductory sociology. Results indicate that students used a range of concepts, yet tended to focus on broad (e.g., norms) rather than specific (e.g., folkways) or abstract (e.g., sociological imagination) concepts. By analyzing student submissions across semesters, I can illuminate how successful students were at applying sociological knowledge to their everyday lives. Moreover, this analysis demonstrates that students were superficially meeting the standards of the assignment, but it remains unclear whether students were demonstrating a grasp of sociological knowledge or simply relying on preexisting commonsense knowledge to complete the assignment.

This study investigated the effects of different types of captions on English as a Foreign Language Learners' (EFL) vocabulary learning and comprehension. Eighty students in a Chinese university participated. Students were divided into four groups with two classes of freshmen, one class of juniors, and one class of graduate students. Each group watched four video clips with four caption conditions: L1 Chinese, L2 English, dual (L1 and L2), and no captions. The order and caption conditions were counterbalanced. The purpose of the study was to find which caption condition is more effective for EFL learners. Four by four mixed ANOVAs were used to compare the differences among the four conditions and groups. Results indicated that students' performances were statistically significantly different across captions and class levels. In general, students in L1, L2, and dual captions statistically outperformed the no caption condition in vocabulary and comprehension. Results of the effects of L1, L2, and dual captions on vocabulary learning and comprehension were mixed. The pedagogical implications of using authentic TV series and multimedia captions were discussed.

The study evaluated the self-instructional materials of M.Ed level of Allama Iqbal Open University, considering eight parameters i.e. introduction, objectives, contents of units and its organizations, format, presentation style, visual materials, individualized learning, examples from daily life, summary at the end of unit and glossary. All over Pakistan 585 students, 70 tutors, 20 Unit writers and 8 Course coordinators constituted the population of the study which was taken as a sample i.e.100% sampling. Data were collected through four questionnaires. The major results of the study portrayed that introduction of units has been written clearly, provides the introductory summary of the course units and each unit objectives are relevant to M.Ed programme. The organization of contents is in a logical sequence and distance education philosophy is incorporated in the format, presentation style of materials. The enough visual materials are included in the content. The materials of distance education of AIOU facilitate individualized learning while the quoted examples in the material are not match with the daily life and local situation of the distance learners. However, there was no summary and glossary of unit.

Despite much attention given to visual rhetoric in Composition, there is evidence that most first-year writing instructors overlook document design, both in their instruction and in the documents they produce for their students. These instructors may be underestimating the role that visually informative prose (that uses document design features such as chunking and visual hierarchy) can play both in helping students understand assignment objectives and in establishing a student-centered ethos in their classrooms. To illustrate how visually informative prose helps shape student perceptions of instructors, 166 first-year undergraduates responded to two assignment prompts: a visually informative and a minimally designed prompt. Students perceived the instructor who wrote the visually informative prompt as more experienced, enthusiastic, and caring than the instructor who wrote the minimally designed prompt, and they found the task more interesting when it was presented in the visually informative prompt. These findings suggest that creating visually informative classroom materials is a relatively low-cost/high-payoff strategy that can positively shape students' perceptions of the instructor and assignments.

The present study set out to explore effective teaching techniques using PowerPoint for post-secondary students with disabilities by comparing their views to those of students without disabilities. 284 Canadian post-secondary social science students, 75 of whom self-reported a disability, were surveyed about what aspects of PowerPoint use helps them learn. The good news is that the results indicate many similarities between the views of students with and without disabilities. Although all students felt that having PowerPoint available online was highly desirable, for students with disabilities this was perceived as an important disability accommodation. All students preferred that PowerPoint slides be made available before class in both PowerPoint and PDF formats; however, this was particularly important to students with disabilities. All students preferred that professors walk around some of the time rather than simply stand beside the lectern, that they select slides with good contrast rather than an interesting but busy background template, that they write concepts in full sentences as opposed to key words only, and that PowerPoint images be accompanied by text rather than presenting images only. Overall, our findings show that well-designed PowerPoint slides which incorporate accessibility features (easily included by using the Accessibility Checker feature of PowerPoint) can benefit everyone. Notably, fewer than half (41%) of the students with disabilities had registered with the college to receive disability-related accommodations; therefore, it is important that PowerPoint, as used by professors, be accessible to this large segment of the population of students with disabilities. Informative slides with a clear template and good contrast, along with an engaging presentation style, are likely to benefit everyone. Our findings also show that, contrary to the fears of many educators, students are unlikely to miss class if slides are posted online. Moreover, this is equally true for academically stronger as well as weaker students.

The same-different task is a classic paradigm that requires participants to judge whether two successively presented stimuli are the same or different. While this task is simple, with results that have been replicated many times, response times (RTs) and accuracy for both same and different decisions remain difficult to model. The biggest obstacle in modeling the task lies within its effect referred to as the fast-same phenomenon whereby participants are much faster at responding "same" than "different," while most standard cognitive models predict the opposite. In this study, we investigated whether this effect is the result of identity priming activated by the first stimulus. We ran four variants of the same-different task in which identity priming is intended to be attenuated or cancelled in half of the trials. Results for all four variants show that a complete visual match between both stimuli is necessary to observe a fast-same effect and that hampering this relation attenuates same RTs while different RTs remained relatively unchanged.

Unlike alphabetic languages, Chinese text marks no word demarcation. Previous research inserted word-demarcating spaces into Chinese text but found inconsistent effects on reading efficiency. To address the potential trade-off effects of the additional length caused by inserted spaces, this study introduces color-and-font formatting as a word demarcation. A total of 41 first-language (L1) and English-speaking second-language (L2) Chinese speakers read Chinese text presented in conventional, interword spaced, nonword spaced, interword formatted, and nonword formatted conditions. Participants further answered comprehension questions and shared retrospective perceptions. The results suggest altered text presentations can facilitate reading for L2 Chinese learners in accordance with proficiency levels and learning objectives. Interword spaced text facilitated reading speed, especially for higher-level Chinese learners. Interword formatted text facilitated accuracy for all L2 Chinese learners. Nonword formatted text facilitated accuracy for lower-level Chinese learners. In addition, altered text presentations were generally acknowledged and welcomed by L2 Chinese learners.

Intermediary organizations play an increasingly important role in public policy related to higher education, particularly related to the completion agenda. This study addresses strategies employed by intermediary organizations to communicate to policymakers regarding college completion. Using rhetorical analysis, we examine 72 documents to deconstruct their arguments. Findings show that intermediaries employ the rhetorical elements of ethos, pathos, delivery, and idiom to present information and advocate preferred policy solutions. Importantly, organizations communicate messages differently based on their orientation toward the researcher or policymaker communities. Intermediary organizations aligned more closely with researchers rely more on empirical evidence and neutral tones, whereas organizations aligned more closely with policymakers utilize more idiomatic language, visually engaging document design, and nonempirical sources of evidence. Rhetorical analysis can enable researchers, intermediaries, and policymakers all to work more clearly and carefully in the higher education policy arena and, in so doing, strengthen the bridge between the two communities.

This study examined a relational analysis of the usability features of university library websites in Nigeria. Through a survey design, a sample of 187 undergraduate students enrolled in a course on Web Design and Management participated in the study. The findings revealed that the usability of a university library website is premised on factors such as navigation, interface design, page layout, information architecture, graphics, typography, color attractiveness, and interactivity. Eight variables explained 52.3% of the variance in the usability features of university library websites. Navigation contributed mostly to the prediction of usability perception of the library website, followed by interface design, page layout, information architecture, graphics, typography, color attraction, and interactivity.

The authors examine trends in how successful guided pathways colleges communicate transfer options to 4-year institutions via their institutional websites so that students--the ultimate benefactors of guided pathways initiatives--can discover and pursue the transfer partnership pathways. Institutions in the two states included in this review were selected based on nationally recognized exemplary practices and commitment to student success and outcomes. Three dimensions were explored in this website content analysis: How easy is it to find information (accessibility)? How is the information organized (presentation)? What relevant content is communicated (information)? The authors found that exemplary pathways institutions place pathways information prominently on their websites' home page, use similar language to describe pathways information and in multiple places on the website, and provide a connection to supportive transfer resources. The authors present the conclusions, discuss implications drawn from this study, and provide recommendations for practice.

Touted as a solution, dyslexia fonts have been growing in popularity during this era of increased political and state-wide attention to the reading and learning needs of students with dyslexia. This paper reviews the research literature on effectiveness of dyslexia fonts and offers evidence-based instructional recommendations for students with dyslexia.

Use of captioned video in classrooms has gained considerable attention in the second and foreign language learning. However, the effect of application of captioned video embedded with glosses on incidental vocabulary enhancement has not been explored. This study aims to examine the effect of video captions with glosses on EFL students' incidental business vocabulary acquisition; 50 students from a college of management served as participants. A pretest was adopted to ensure participants lacked familiarity with the target vocabulary. All participants watched three video clips presented in three modes (noncaptioned, captioned, and caption-gloss modes). After each mode session, all participants took an immediate posttest and a 3-week-delayed posttest. Following the final posttest, the participants completed a questionnaire. The findings revealed that the caption-gloss mode significantly outperformed the other 2 modes in both the immediate and 3-week-delayed posttests. Retention of the target business words did not significantly decline at the 3-week-delayed posttest. Therefore, glosses in the captioned video improved the participants' short- and long-term incidental business vocabulary retention. The participants also provided positive feedback regarding the efficacy of the caption-gloss mode for incidental business word acquisition. Pedagogical implications regarding use of captioned video with glosses for incidental professional vocabulary acquisition are discussed.

Introduction: The study describes the conditions for long-term preservation of the content of the institutional repositories of Swedish higher education institutions based on an investigation of how deposited files are managed with regards to file format and how representatives of the repositories describe the functions of the repositories. Method: The findings are based on answers to a questionnaire completed by thirty-four institutional repository representatives (97% response rate). Analysis: Questionnaire answers were analysed through descriptive statistics and qualitative coding. The concept of information infrastructures was used to analytically discuss repository work. Results: Visibility and access to content were considered to be the most important functions of the repositories, but long-term preservation was also considered important for publications and student theses. Whereas a majority of repositories had some form of guidelines for which file formats were accepted, very few considered whether or not file formats constitute open standards. This can have consequences for the long-term sustainability and access of the content deposited in the repositories. Conclusion: The study contributes to the discussion about the sustainability of research publications and data in the repositories by pointing to the potential difficulties involved for long-term preservation and access when there is little focus on and awareness of open file formats.

According to the principle of inverse effectiveness (PIE), weaker responses to information in one modality (i.e., unisensory) benefit more from additional information in a second modality (i.e., multisensory; Meredith & Stein, 1986). We suggest that the PIE may also inform whether perceptual fluency affects judgments of learning (JOLs). If JOLs follow the PIE, the differences in JOLs for multisensory and unisensory items should increase as the unisensory study items become harder to perceive. That is, an influence of perceptual fluency should prompt a similar, interactive pattern across perceptual responses and JOLs. In 3 experiments, we systematically varied the signal intensity or noise in 1 modality to examine how responses might change with the inclusion of information in a second modality. In Experiment 1, written words in several font sizes were sometimes accompanied by spoken equivalents. In Experiments 2 and 3, spoken words in various background noise levels were sometimes accompanied by visual speech articulations. Consistent with the PIE, the multisensory benefits in response time and/or correct identification increased as responses to unisensory information decreased. Also, the multisensory formats received higher JOLs than the unisensory formats; however, unlike the predictions from PIE, this difference did not increase as study items became harder to perceive. Experiment 3 extended this finding to participants' explicit beliefs. In multisensory settings, JOLs may rely more on theory- than data-driven processes. We suggest that broadly defined processing fluency may always contribute to JOLs, but, regarding perceptual information, JOLs appear to track perceptual attributes rather than perceptual fluency.

Dyslexia is one of the most common developmental disabilities; it is a disorder manifested by difficulty in learning to read despite conventional instruction, adequate intelligence, and sociocultural opportunity. The current study focuses on the potential benefits of the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to support children with dyslexia in reading. This paper addresses the need for dyslexia-friendly online text by introducing a dyslexia-friendly font for Arabic scripts called Arabolexia. An important question is asked which is 'Is Arabolexia font an effective reading aid for children with dyslexia?' In this work, the author presents the first study that measures the impact of a dyslexia-friendly font for Arabic scripts on reading performance of native Arabic speakers. Fifty-two students aging between 8 and 26 years old were participated in this study. Descriptive and deductive statistical analysis showed that Arabolexia font has an impact on the reading accuracy of children with dyslexia.

Subsequent recall is improved if students try to recall target material during study (self-testing) versus simply re-reading it. This effect is consistent with the notion of "desirable difficulties." If the learning experience involves difficulties that induce extra effort, then retention may be improved. Not all difficulties are desirable, however. Difficult-to-read ("disfluent") typefaces yield inconsistent results. A new disfluent font, Sans Forgetica, was developed and alleged to promote deeper processing and improve learning. Although it would be invaluable if changing the font could enhance learning, the few studies on Sans Forgetica have been inconsistent, and focused on short retention intervals (0-5 minutes). We investigated a 1-week interval to increase practical relevance and because some benefits only manifest after a delay. A testing-effect manipulation was also included. Students (N = 120) learned two passages via different methods (study then re-study vs. study then self-test). Half the students saw the passages in Times New Roman and half in Sans Forgetica. Recall test scores were higher for passages learned via self-testing than restudying, but the effect of font and the interaction were nonsignificant. We suggest that disfluency increases the local (orthographic) processing effort on each word but slowed reading might impair relational processing across words. In contrast, testing and generation effect manipulations often engage relational processing (question: answer; cue: target)--yielding subsequent benefits on cued-recall tests. We elaborate this suggestion to reconcile conflicting results across studies.

The replacement of Times New Roman (TNR--serif) with Calibri (sans serif) as default typeface on Microsoft Office Word reflects the growing prevalence of screen-based reading. The change also points to a festering conflict in the literature on the readability and legibility of serif and sans serif typefaces in print and computer-based platforms. The study examines preference of TNR and Calibri among Nigerian students whose universities prescribe TNR for all academic works. Studies show that learning institutions seldom consider the effects of typefaces on learners who also rarely contribute to institutional decisions on typeface choice. The study focuses on influence of text platform (screen or print) on reading speed, the effects of familiarity with typeface, and perceived importance of institutional requirements on typeface preference. Based on significant influences of text platform on reading speed and typeface preference, we make new propositions on how screen-based reading and type size may introduce new perspectives in perceptions of serifs as visual stimuli. We conclude therefore that the introduction of Calibri may resolve the persisting theoretical and empirical differences on the legibility and readability of serif and sans serif typefaces.

Reading in difficult or novel fonts results in slower and less efficient reading (Slattery & Rayner, 2010); however, these fonts may also lead to better learning and memory (Diemand-Yauman, Oppenheimer, & Vaughan, 2011). This effect is consistent with a desirable difficulty effect such that more effort during encoding results in better long term retention (Bjork, 1994). The effect is robust and found in many contexts; however, it has not yet been applied to the process of lexical acquisition. The purpose of the current study was to investigate whether readers would learn words better when presented in Sans Forgetica, a font designed to induce desirable difficulty. One hundred sixty participants were randomly assigned to one font type and read sentences with 15 very low-frequency English words presented in two different informative contexts while their eye movements were monitored. They completed a spelling skill assessment and tests of their orthographic and semantic acquisition of the words. Linear mixed effects analyses were conducted and indicate that high-skill spellers learned the spelling and meaning of words better in the desirable difficulty font, but low-skill spellers did not show the same benefit. This pattern highlights the importance of individual differences in learning such that a desirable difficulty for one reader may be an undesirable difficulty for another.

What reasons do applicants use to write résumés, and what reasons do employers use to evaluate them? This article advocates for teaching reasons as a way to empower writers to make more nuanced, adaptive résumé decisions. Drawing from a study of 63 students, 20 advisors, and 24 employers, the article touches on résumé format, sections, and items; then it moves beyond formal features to compare eight reasons that participants used as a framework in their decision making: relevance, recency, value, personality, fluff, unprofessionalism, discrimination, and applicant fit. It ends with pedagogical suggestions for teaching this framework alongside résumé formal features.

This study tests the effects of tutorial format (i.e. video vs. text) on student attitudes and performance in online computing education. A one-factor within-subjects experiment was conducted in an undergraduate Computer Information Systems course. Subjects were randomly assigned to complete two Excel exercises online: one with a video tutorial and one with a text tutorial. The instructions in the video tutorial and the text tutorial for the same exercise were identical--differing only in their presentation format. Following each tutorial, subjects completed a short test and a survey. Results suggest that tutorial format does not cause significant differences in student performance, time spent on tutorial, time spent on test, perceived time spent, perceived difficulty, perceived helpfulness, enjoyment, motivation, or likelihood to recommend the tutorial. Given this finding, educators and instructional designers are best advised to minimize the effort and cost involved in creating and implementing tutorials.

Closed-captioning technology has been available for decades and is often used by individuals with disabilities to access video-based information. Videos are routinely used by educators in higher education settings throughout the United States. It is unknown, however, if closed captions are educationally beneficial for all students. The purpose of this study was to examine the educational benefits of closed captioning among college students without disabilities and their associated attitudes toward the technology. The use of closed captions adheres to the principles of Universal Design that encourage stakeholders to build environments and products that are accessible to all individuals. However, more evidence-based research is needed on the utility of this technology in college classrooms. Two separate video-based studies were conducted at one university, and groups were randomly assigned to "caption" or "no-caption" conditions. It was hypothesized that exposure to closed captions would increase students' recall and understanding of video-based information and improve attitudes toward the technology. Results suggested that participants who were exposed to closed captions scored significantly higher on the subsequent assessment. Participants who already used closed captions in their daily lives had significantly more positive attitudes toward the technology. Recommendations for college-level educators and further study are provided.

Providing captions for videos used in online courses is an area of interest for institutions of higher education. There are legal and ethical ramifications as well as time constraints to consider. Captioning tools are available, but some universities rely on the auto-generated YouTube captions. This study looked at a particular type of video--the weekly informal news update created by individual professors for their online classes--to see if automatic captions (also known as subtitles) are sufficiently accurate to meet the needs of deaf students. A total of 68 minutes of video captions were analysed and 525 phrase-level errors were found. On average, therefore, there were 7.7 phrase errors per minute. Findings indicate that auto-generated captions are too inaccurate to be used exclusively. Additional studies are needed to determine whether they can provide a starting point for a process of captioning that reduces the preparation time.

Textual manipulation is a common pedagogic tool used to emphasize specific features of a second language (L2) text, thereby facilitating noticing and, ideally, second language development. Visual input enhancement has been used to investigate the effects of highlighting specific grammatical structures in a text. The current study uses a quasi-experimental design to determine the extent to which textual manipulation increase (a) learners' perception of targeted forms and (b) their knowledge of the forms. Input enhancement was used to highlight the Spanish preterit and imperfect verb forms and an eye tracker measured the frequency and duration of participants' fixation on the targeted items. In addition, pretests and posttests of the Spanish past tense provided information about participants' knowledge of the targeted forms. Results indicate that learners were aware of the highlighted grammatical forms in the text; however, there was no difference in the amount of attention between the enhanced and unenhanced groups. In addition, both groups improved in their knowledge of the L2 forms; however, again, there was no differential improvement between the two groups.

As the number of online course offerings expands and student retention and graduation metrics proliferate, colleges and universities are examining how to maximize student comprehension, meet the needs of a diverse student body, comply with accessibility regulations, and avoid litigation. One area of particular interest is the use of closed captioning in online course materials. The University of South Florida St. Petersburg Distance Learning Accessibility Committee and faculty contributors conducted an initial investigation to determine the benefits of providing captioned media for students with and without disabilities. Reported here are student outcome data from two online courses and the benefits of captioning for students and faculty are explored. In addition, this practice brief includes a discussion about how captioned videos employ principles of universal design to make course content accessible to students in online courses. A section of the article addresses the cost of captioning videos as well as alternate transcription options. The article concludes with the results and recommendations for further research.

This study aims to investigate the acceptance of ICT teachers pertaining to the use of Scratch as an Algorithm Visualization (AV) software in terms of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. An embedded mixed method research design was used in the study, in which qualitative data were embedded in quantitative ones and used to explain the results. The data were collected from 214 pre-service ICT teachers studying in four large public universities. Data was gathered through a questionnaire adapted from David's Technology Acceptance Survey (1989) and through open-ended questions. T-test and Pearson correlation, as well as descriptive statistics, were used to analyze quantitative data and constant analysis techniques were used to analyze qualitative data. Both kinds of data were mixed and are presented in the results section. The results show that pre-service ICT teachers mainly have positive and similar Scratch acceptance scores in terms of usefulness and ease of use. The factors explaining participants' perceived usefulness are identified as visual interface (37%), pedagogy (36%), and computational thinking (27%). The majority of the participants also found Scratch to be easy to use. Pre-service ICT teachers explained that what makes AV software easy to use is color separation (40%), drag and drop (30%), and familiar interface (30%). Additionally, no significant difference between the acceptance scores of the participants was found in terms of gender, years of programming experience, programming background, and the high school they graduated from as indicators of programming experience. Results congruent with previous studies regarding Scratch were found by the current study.

The article discusses the problem of mastering new vocabulary at the English language classes. The brief review of the bilingual English-Russian printed and electronic Dictionaries used at the practical classes of English for the students of the first and second courses of the Germanic Philology Department of Kazan Federal University. The method of compiling thematic dictionaries, its approbation and results are presented.