Technique for Evaluating Arithmetic Courses of Study

A graphic procedure for studying differential item functioning (DIF) designed to provide diagnostic information for psychometricians and educators is presented. Items from a certifying examination in a subspecialty of internal medicine are used as examples. The procedure provides a “signature” of each test item that may be used in conjunction with a summary statistic to flag items showing DIF. Advantages and limitations of the procedure are noted, as are additional areas for investigation.     

Situating Expertise in Practice: Domain-Based Data Management Training for Liaison Librarians

The research data management team at the University of California, Berkeley implemented a domain-based Librarian Training Program in order to upskill liaison librarians in research data management principles and create a community of practice among librarians providing research data support. The training program partnered with representatives from each subject division of the Library to integrate content from relevant disciplines. The training model emphasized scaffolding and concrete deliverables, teaching specific tools and concepts, and creating learning objects useful for instruction and outreach. Employing a situated, learning-based, pedagogical model, the program was more successful than previous attempts at library-wide research data management training at Berkeley. This analysis details the program management, curricular design, instruction, and outcomes that made the Library Training Program successful.     

The effects of an interactive instructional strategy for enhancing reading comprehension and content area learning for students with learning disabilities

This study investigated the effectiveness of an interactive vocabulary instructional strategy, semantic-feature analysis (SFA), on the content area text comprehension of adolescents with learning disabilities. Prior to reading a social studies text, students in resource classes either completed a relationship chart as part of the SFA condition or used the dictionary to write definitions and sentences as part of the contrast condition. Passage comprehension was measured on a multiple-choice test consisting of two types of items, vocabulary and conceptual. Comprehension was measured immediately following teaching and again 6 months after teaching. Prior knowledge for the content of the passage served as a covariate. Results indicated that students in the SFA instructional condition had significantly greater measured comprehension immediately following and 6 months after initial teaching. These results are discussed in relation to concept-driven, interactive strategies for teaching content and facilitating text comprehension.