Search

Quizzing can be beneficial as a tool for learning and practice instead of its traditional use as an assessment. Specifically, the use of low stakes quizzing (LSQ) can aid in: (1) retention; (2) subsequent learning; (3) corrective feedback; (4) improved metacognition; and (5) study habits. Best practices for utilizing quizzes are discussed, including introducing forgetting and rehearsal strategies. [For the complete volume, "American Association for Adult and Continuing Education Inaugural 2020 Conference Proceedings (Online, October 27-30, 2020)," see ED611534.]

Multiple Choice Questions come with the correct answer. Examinees have various reasons for selecting their answer, other than knowing it to be correct. Yet MCQs are common as summative assessments in the education of Computer Science and Information Systems students. To what extent can MCQs be answered correctly without knowing the answer; and can alternatives such as constructed response questions offer more reliable assessment while maintaining objectivity and automation? This study sought to establish whether MCQs can be relied upon to assess knowledge and understanding. It presents a critical review of existing research on MCQs, then reports on an experimental study in which two objective tests were set for an introductory undergraduate course on bitmap graphics: one using MCQs, the other constructed responses, to establish whether and to what extent MCQs can be answered correctly without knowing the answer. Even though the experiment design meant that students had more learning opportunity prior to taking the constructed response test, student marks were higher in the MCQ test, and most students who excelled in the MCQ test did not do so in the constructed response test. The study concludes that students who selected the correct answer from a list of four options, did not necessarily know the correct answer. While not all subjects lend themselves to objectively testable constructive response questions, the study further indicates that MCQs by definition can overestimate student understanding. It concludes that while MCQs have a role in formative assessment, they should not be used in summative assessments. [For the complete proceedings, see ED590269.]

This speech, presented at the 1977 meeting of the World Organization of Preschool Education (OMEP), proposes that the preschool linguistic environment determines language facility, which affects later school and work success. The normal course of communicative ability is traced. It is proposed that although most children, in and out of preschool, learn to speak effortlessly and naturally, the preschool is able to favorably affect the type of linguistic environment and therefore the child's facility with the language. Research on children's use of language is examined, specifically, the child's role in language development. Findings are discussed in terms of language learning programs. (SB)

Karen Horney's critique of Freud's theory of female development suggests that much theory and research in psychology is androcentric, and calls for the elimination of biases. This point is questioned, and the posit that scientific knowledge does not answer the question of what makes a person either female or male is explored. Biological, psychological, and sociological differences overlap genders, and the inconsistencies are discussed. The biological attempts at differentiation of sex are unsuccessful, whether through hormones, chromosomes, sexual organs, or whatever. The constancy of gender identity is evident in the discussion of transexualism. The example of biological attribution of gender is considered, while the "ultimate" criteria remains elusive. Gender, in all of its manifestations, including the physical, must be seen as a social construction. (LS)

To discover what variables are involved in the production of text coherence, and how cohesion and coherence are different, a study collected 30 papers randomly selected from over 200 papers written by incoming freshmen college students at a local community college. The papers were rated by 21 state conference participants. Raters were in-service language arts or reading teachers, with teaching experience ranging from 5 to 20 years. All raters had participated in a Colorado Writing Assessment Project, and had prior training and experience with holistic rating of essays. Each rater received a packet including a copy of one of seven scales, 30 papers for rating, and training notes. Each of the 30 papers was read three times for each of the seven scales. Bamberg's scale for coherency was the dependent variable. Six scales, the independent variables of coherence, consisted of: cohesion; context; focus; grammar; intent; and structure. Results indicated interdependency between intent, focus, structure, and context. Intent was a significantly stronger predictor of text coherency than was cohesion or grammar. Results also indicated that if the variables of intent, structure, focus, and cohesion were highly present in a text, then a lack of grammar and context did not greatly affect the text's coherency level. It was further demonstrated that an author's apparent intent in writing a text was a strong predictor for the coherency of the text. (Three tables of data are included.) (MM)

The benefits of family level intervention programs for parents of young handicapped or "at-risk" children are pointed out. Fundamental prerequisites for the success of such programs are outlined, findings of research regarding the setting up of family level intervention programs are listed, and a framework for such a program is offered. Techniques for dealing with parents attitudes are explored. (SBH)

This paper reports on a computer simulation of cloze retrieval tasks. It first outlines the ideas that were assembled and translated into the model used to compose the simulation and describes the method used in developing the simulation. It then reports on a comparison of the time required by a computer and by human subjects in responding to cloze items of one, two, and three semantic constraints. Results indicated that the computer responses showed a similar relation between time and constraint to that noted in human responses. The paper includes an illustration of the theoretical model of the cloze procedure and graphs of computer and human response time for cloze retrieval tasks. (GW)

This paper reports on the investigation of the operation of the Teacher of the Year Award program in 28 states. It focuses on the method of selection for recipients of this award, and explores the nature of the judging process used in selecting candidates at both the state and national levels. Specific objectives are: (1) to determine the criteria and procedures used for selection of award recipients; (2) to document how judges are selected and to describe the training these judges receive; and (3) to compare the selection and training procedures for judges of the Teacher of the Year Award with procedures used in other disciplines. The study indicates that judges of livestock and dog competitions receive more training and experience than those who select the teacher of the year. Data from this study suggest that the conceptions of teaching and its evaluation which are reflected by this award, if not inaccurate, are disconcerting. Classroom behaviors, application of verified teaching strategies, and effects upon students are included in the selection criteria utilized by only two of the 28 states in the sample. A number of policy implications are explored in this analysis. (Author/MDE)

Meaningful and useful evaluations of teaching and teachers must not only identify and define all the mitigating contexts, but must also account for their influences, both constructive and negative. Among the contextual factors that need to be considered in planning teacher evaluations are: student characteristics; goals, objectives and curriculum mandates; inservice opportunities and human support services; materials, media, and facilities; and organizational structures and processes. The influences of leadership, decision-making power, and the climate of professional worth must also be defined. The major purpose of teacher evaluation is assumed to be improvement of instruction to provide students with the broadest possible range of knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors. The context for this purpose includes characteristics of the community and their effect on a teacher's ability to demonstrate proficiency. (Author/CM)

The dynamic (and often unobservable) features of political power pose major methodological challenges for social movement scholars. Yet the rise of anti-democratic and authoritarian regimes--and scholars' relative inability to account for their resurgence--makes addressing these technical questions more urgent. This article outlines an approach to studying a strategic action field in motion. It permits identification of the mechanisms by which groups of people with varied ideologies, strategies, and degrees of organization influence concrete political outcomes. The method is elaborated using a prospective case study of Brazil's political parties and the movements, associations, and interest groups in its orbit. Prior to observing key outcome variables, this article specifies the patterns of evidence that would help assess three seminal theories of political action: (1) the social movement literature's dynamic contention (political process) model; (2) neo-Gramscian theories of political articulation; and (3) a political economy perspective that emphasizes the determinative role of capitalist power and investor blocs. The paper operationalizes strategic action field theory and offers an alternative to post hoc explanations of how state and non-state actors interact, exercise power, and influence observed political outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this reflection paper is to explore emerging potentials for the use of correlation, in combination with a case study design, as a hybrid approach to identifying and understanding patterns and relationships in smart cities. A review of the research literature is provided for perspectives on correlation, the application of correlation in urban environments, and emerging approaches to the use of correlation in relation to smart cities. Focusing on people and their experience of urban spaces, elements, and digital interactions, the relationship of openness and connectedness is explored. Using multiple methods of data collection including survey and in-depth interviews, a combination of content analysis and explanatory correlational design is used in the analysis of data. Findings shed light on the relationship between openness and connectedness in smart cities. This paper is significant in that it contributes to the research literature on smart cities; advances the innovating of methodologies for the study of smart cities by combining case study and correlational design; sheds additional light on the connected dimension of smart cities; and highlights the importance of why correlation matters in smart cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a research paper about child abuse and satanic ritual abuse (SRA). It cites the definition of SRA which is an organized process containing Satanic symbols, rituals, chants, bizarre and unbelievable tortures, and sacrifices that are performed to instill fear into the victim, to indoctrinate and program him/her to come under the control of Satanists. It highlights some survivors of sexual abuse and SRA.

Tax expenditures account for between a quarter and a third of all federal benefits for individuals in the U.S. Some scholars propose that such heavy reliance on the tax code for meeting social welfare goals is at its core a reflection of American individualism. A longitudinal case study of federal policy-making for program and tax expenditures for child care reveals more significant institutional and exogenous factors that have steered child care subsidy policy toward its current incarnation. The paper explores the background of two key decisions. First is the enactment of the child care deduction in 1954. Second is the simultaneous veto of a federally-funded network of child care centers and expansion of the tax deduction in 1971. Contingent events certainly shaped these decisions. As path dependence scholars seek out functional reasons for stability, they would do well to consider the extent to which new institutions are functional not so much for the participants and implementers, but for the policy-makers who devise them. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian public servants face a work anomaly: their institutions publicly promote work / life balance (WLB) as a desired state for their staff while, at the same time, having them comply with the unwritten expectation of extended working hours (EWH) necessary for work delivery. These expectations pervade D/discourse. The result is cognitive dissonance concerning the incommensurability of EWH and WLB co-existing in the same institutional discourse. This dissonance is felt and expressed in the discourses of these managers in day-to-day practice of their work as they try to reconcile unwritten expectations of EWH with their individual sense of obligation to their organisation, which is a party to this anomaly. What results are shifting states of compromise, avoidance, self-justification, and confusion as these managers negotiate their claims of choice and control in their own lives. In larger terms, the rationale of institutional expectation is incommensurable with the implied reciprocal obligation of individual managers, whose agency is thus threatened. In contemporary work where increasing EWH are its common sense, particularly for management, its practitioners face negative ramifications for their health and well-being, with an associated detriment to their families, and the communities in which they live. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing popularity of the citizen jury and other deliberative democratic approaches to public participation, there is no agreement on the method for evaluating them, nor even agreement on where evaluation should be applied, inputs, outputs or process. To evaluate its efficacy, this study convened a citizen jury to deliberate on waste management issues in a provincial Australian city. After considering the theory of deliberative democracy, the paper identifies six criteria and applies relevant anlytical methods. The primary form of analysis is a sample of transcripts of jury deliberations used to examine the micro processes of the deliberative processes. This was supplemented by pre- and post-jury surveys as well participant observation. The outcomes reveal that the micro-processes of jury deliberation were often characterised by unequal forms of interaction, poor focus on outcomes, and limited use fo available knowledge. Nonetheless, the paper argues that deliberative processes do have a role to play in contemporary democracies. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a computer-assisted content analysis, this study analyzes a 32,000 word corpus drawn from media-ted political statements made in response to the July 2005 London bombing. This grounded research led to a focus on the deontic nature of these statements, and also revealed a relative absence of condoling. Although condemnatory, statements did not specifically attribute the “evil” to particular people. Particularly mindful of Widdowson’s distinction between analysis (text) and research (interpretation), the paper first identifies the textual features, but then “hermeneutically” interprets their meaning within a wider context of international political discourse. The paper concludes that the statements performed a positive epideictic purpose, although it tended to occlude the compassionate element of public grieving. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia's aggressive foreign policy stance, particularly on the refugee / illegal immigrant issue has been politically successful. This paper attributes this success to a two-part strategy. The first, using the theories of Said and Barthes, is to create a "ubiquitous semiotic" that plugs into Australia's invasion myth. Founded on fear and ignorance it demonizes a recognisable "other", the "oriental" refugee demonised as a queue jumper. The second part of the strategy responds to the daily news and public affairs programs, which scrutinize government actions, but also provide the locus of contesting political discourses.The paper deals cursorily with the first part, the ubiquitous semiotic. The tactic of technologizing the inhumane is examined using sociolinguistic analysis of a television interview involving the Australian Immigration Minister. From this, it becomes evident how the process of classification into "other" allow the logic of technocratic processes to treat people inhumanely. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that with team projects ubiquitous in organizations and thus increasingly common in business and engineering education, college students have many more opportunities to work in teams than in the past. To support these team efforts, business and technical communication textbooks increasingly provide chapters, and even sections, focusing on teamwork and collaboration. Nonetheless, students frequently find team project work to be frustrating and unfair.