Rater Cognition: Implications for Validity

The scoring process is critical in the validation of tests that rely on constructed responses. Documenting that readers carry out the scoring in ways consistent with the construct and measurement goals is an important aspect of score validity. In this article, rater cognition is approached as a source of support for a validity argument for scores based on constructed responses, whether such scores are to be used on their own or as the basis for other scoring processes, for example, automated scoring.     

A Critical Review of Some Qualitative Research Methods Used to Explore Rater Cognition

Internationally, many assessment systems rely predominantly on human raters to score examinations. Arguably, this facilitates the assessment of multiple sophisticated educational constructs, strengthening assessment validity. It can introduce subjectivity into the scoring process, however, engendering threats to accuracy. The present objectives are to examine some key qualitative data collection methods used internationally to research this potential trade‐off, and to consider some theoretical contexts within which the methods are usable. Self‐report methods such as Kelly's Repertory Grid, think aloud, stimulated recall, and the NASA task load index have yielded important insights into the competencies needed for scoring expertise, as well as the sequences of mental activity that scoring typically involves. Examples of new data and of recent studies are used to illustrate these methods’ strengths and weaknesses. This investigation has significance for assessment designers, developers and administrators. It may inform decisions on the methods’ applicability in American and other rater cognition research contexts.     

虚拟团队的内涵及其研究的方向和方法问题探析

可以将虚拟团队理解为成员在跨越位置的、时间的和关系的界限进行工作时，在不同程度上使用技术以完成相互依赖任务的团队。近年来西方学者对虚拟团队研究兴趣大增，他们认识到更多的团队是进行虚拟工作的，一定程度的虚拟性是大多数团队的组成部分。学者们现在仅仅开始着手理解虚拟团队是怎样运转的，为了方便这种团队的设计和管理，还有许多工作要做。     

Biology Education Research: Lessons and Future Directions

This feature draws on a 2012 National Research Council report to highlight some of the insights that discipline-based education research in general—and biology education research in particular—have provided into the challenges of undergraduate science education. It identifies strategies for overcoming those challenges and future directions for biology education research.Biologists have long been concerned about the quality of undergraduate biology education. Indeed, some biology education journals, such as the American Biology Teacher, have been in existence since the 1930s. Early contributors to these journals addressed broad questions about science learning, such as whether collaborative or individual learning was more effective and the value of conceptualization over memorization. Over time, however, biology faculty members have begun to study increasingly sophisticated questions about teaching and learning in the discipline. These scholars, often called biology education researchers, are part of a growing field of inquiry called discipline-based education research (DBER).DBER investigates both fundamental and applied aspects of teaching and learning in a given discipline; our emphasis here is on several science disciplines and engineering. The distinguishing feature of DBER is deep disciplinary knowledge of what constitutes expertise and expert-like understanding in a discipline. This knowledge has the potential to guide research focused on the most important concepts in a discipline and offers a framework for interpreting findings about students’ learning and understanding in that discipline. While DBER investigates teaching and learning in a given discipline, it is informed by and complementary to general research on human learning and cognition and can build on findings from K–12 science education research.DBER is emerging as a field of inquiry from programs of research that have developed somewhat independently in various disciplines in the sciences and engineering. Although biology education research (BER) has emerged more recently than similar efforts in physics, chemistry, or engineering education research, it is making contributions to the understanding of how students learn and gain expertise in biology. These contributions, together with those that DBER has made in physics and astronomy, chemistry, engineering, and the geosciences, are the focus of a 2012 report by the National Research Council (NRC, 2012 ).1 For biologists who are interested in education research, the report is a useful reference, because it offers the first comprehensive synthesis of the emerging body of BER and highlights the ways in which BER findings are similar to those in other disciplines. In this essay, we draw on the NRC report to highlight some of the insights that DBER in general and BER in particular have provided into effective instructional practices and undergraduate learning, and to point to some directions for the future. The views in this essay are ours as editors of the report and do not represent the official views of the Committee on the Status, Contributions, and Future Directions of Discipline-Based Education Research; the NRC; or the National Science Foundation (NSF).     

Future Directions for Research on Online Technical Education

ABSTRACT

Most research on online learning in higher education has been focused on general education at four-year institutions. There is a need for more research that focuses on online and hybrid education at community colleges in technical education fields. This issue includes articles from eight National Science Foundation funded projects doing innovative work on the use of online and hybrid learning in technical education. Examination of these articles suggests several potential directions for future research in this area including the following: how to choose between fully online and hybrid course delivery; how technical education programs can successfully partner with industry; how to examine and select specific online educational strategies to enhance online technical education; how to sustain innovative online educational programs after grant funding is complete; and how to support nontraditional students in online or hybrid technical education programs.     

Situational Interest: A Review of the Literature and Directions for Future Research

This paper reviews theoretical and empirical research on situational interest. A distinction is made between situational and personal interest. The former is spontaneous and context-specific, whereas the latter is enduring and context-general. We summarize historical perspectives and recent empirical findings on situational interest. Five emergent themes are identified that focus on relationships among situational interest, information processing, and affective engagement. We also discuss important topics for future research.     

评分人培训的研究现状及展望

评分人培训是保证做事测试分数信、效度的重要方法,一直是国际语言测试界关注的重点。本文首先从理论框架、培训方法和培训效果等方面对评分人培训研究的现状进行了回顾,然后指出了当前研究中的两个问题:培训过程及内容不清楚,培训产生作用的机制不明确。最后,文章就下一步的研究进行了展望,希望能引起我国语言测试工作者对评分人培训的重视。     

An Investigation of Rater Cognition in the Assessment of Projects

In the United Kingdom, the majority of national assessments involve human raters. The processes by which raters determine the scores to award are central to the assessment process and affect the extent to which valid inferences can be made from assessment outcomes. Thus, understanding rater cognition has become a growing area of research in the United Kingdom. This study investigated rater cognition in the context of the assessment of school‐based project work for high‐stakes purposes. Thirteen teachers across three subjects were asked to “think aloud” whilst scoring example projects. Teachers also completed an internal standardization exercise. Nine professional raters across the same three subjects standardized a set of project scores whilst thinking aloud. The behaviors and features attended to were coded. The data provided insights into aspects of rater cognition such as reading strategies, emotional and social influences, evaluations of features of student work (which aligned with scoring criteria), and how overall judgments are reached. The findings can be related to existing theories of judgment. Based on the evidence collected, the cognition of teacher raters did not appear to be substantially different from that of professional raters.     

Teachers' Emotions and Teaching: A Review of the Literature and Directions for Future Research

The purpose of this study is to review the limited literature on the emotional aspects of teachers' lives. First, a multicomponential perspective on emotions is described, then the existing literature on teachers' positive and negative emotions is reviewed and critiqued. Next is a summary of the literature suggesting that teachers' emotions influence teachers' and students' cognitions, motivation, and behaviors. Four areas for future research are proposed: management and discipline, adoption and use of teaching strategies, learning to teach, and teachers' motivation. An overview of research methods used in a multicomponential perspective on emotions is provided. This review draws on a variety of research literatures: educational psychology, social and personality psychology, educational sociology, and research on teachers and teaching.     

Roots of Greatness: Future Directions

This article contains essential and contemporary information in the form of opinion statements written by past-presidents of ACES and serves to meet archival and proactive functions for those persons associated with the guidance and counseling movement. Fifteen leaders report their perceptions and suggest directions vital to future progress in facilitating the work of counselor education graduates. Without exception, the leaders set a mood for optimism with expressions of need for preparation standards of high quality in counselor education—a product of the delicate triangle linking faculty, graduates, and subject matter of the counseling field.     

Future Directions in Research on Mathematics-Related Teacher Identity

Mathematics education research has placed great emphasis on teacher identity, examining both pre- and in-service teachers, and within these cohorts, specialised mathematics teachers and non-specialists such as elementary teachers. Extensive research has already been done; hence, this paper discusses possible future directions for research on teacher identity in mathematics education. Among other issues, we highlight that general education research on identity has infrequently informed research on mathematics-related teacher identity. This not only limits the transfer of knowledge but also isolates mathematics education from general education research. We suggest that connecting these lines of research and their findings may not only strengthen mathematics education research and mathematics teaching and learning but also contribute to less isolation within the discipline as a whole.     

Current Themes and Future Directions in Epistemological Research: A Commentary

This article summarizes and comments upon recent research on epistemological beliefs (i.e., beliefs about knowledge and knowing). I identify four emergent themes, outline directions for future research, and draw links between current theory and educational practice. The four themes pertain to the number relationship among, development, and measurement of epistemological beliefs. I address conceptual and methodological issues in future research. I also identify four educational implications: understanding teachers' beliefs, understanding students' beliefs, promoting critical thinking, and attempting to change teachers' and students' beliefs.     

汉语修辞研究深化的空间

本文在对汉语修辞研究现状分析的基础上,提出了汉语修辞研究深化的两个方面,一是要加强词语和句式运用的研究,二是有关修辞格的研究不能停留在描写上, 需要进一步深入思考、分析,探究修辞格形成的机制,以及各种修辞格跟其他语言现象之间的联系.文章以实例对上述两方面进行了具体的论述和说明.     

Emerging Trends in Mathematics Education for People with Down Syndrome: Current Research and Future Directions

ABSTRACT

In September 2017, a group of researchers met for the first conference devoted to the singular purpose of exploring a neglected field – the learning of mathematics by individuals with Down syndrome. This special issue is a result of that first meeting and identifies three emerging trends in the mathematics education of learners with Down syndrome: the goals, content, and pedagogy. Education is central to the goal of improving an individual’s quality of life and only recently has the impact of mathematics been fully comprehended. Many researchers continue to explore the development of the concept of number and there is still much to learn. As a new development, we see that interest is now expanding to explore other areas of mathematics. We still have a long way to go to understand how best to open the doors of mathematics to all learners with Down syndrome. We conclude by offering six areas requiring immediate future research in the field of mathematics and Down syndrome.     

Gallery of the Future: New Directions in Arts Education

The arts at the end of the 20th Century are dynamic: they are playing an increasingly important role in the life of individuals and the structuring of society. But they are also changing dramatically. It is my argument that arts education will need to change practice to match. The aim here is to discuss some of the key changes and values that will require a response from schools. Where do we look for evidence of these changes? Can we say what they are? I believe that we can. There are specific themes or directions now current in the arts which are likely to continue into the future. In the main they stem from the dynamism created by the interaction between art, technology and social change.     

Valuing the Physically Active Life: Contemporary and Future Directions

This paper addresses the contextual interference hypothesis, which was originally formulated by Battig (1966) and later adapted to motor learning by Shea and Morgan (1979). The hypothesis has generated much research, and its application has been readily suggested to practitioners. According to the hypothesis, high contextual interference (random practice) impairs acquisition but enhances retention and transfer, whereas low contextual interference (blocked practice) has the opposite effects. The empirical basis for the hypothesis—from laboratory-oriented and field-based settings—is examined. The generalizability of the hypothesis is also assessed. Recommendations are made for practitioners for optimal use of the contextual interference effect.     

加拿大的高等教育研究:历史、新兴主题和未来方向

本文对加拿大高等教育作为一个研究领域的演变进行了大致的描述性分析,主要关注这一领域中学术成就的历史发展;其次聚焦于一些得到相当多关注的新兴主题和研究课题,包括公平、多样性和包容性,高等教育的本土化和非殖民化,国际化,以及学生经历;最后对未来的趋势发表了一些评论。