Establishing an online community of inquiry at the Distance Education Centre,Victoria

This pilot intervention focused on three courses that were redesigned to utilize the online environment to establish an online community of inquiry (CoI). The setting for this research study was the Distance Education Centre, Victoria (DECV), an Australian co-educational school with approximately 3000 students who, for a variety of reasons, are studying one or more subjects via distance education. Despite the availability of information and communications technology, many students at the DECV remain socially isolated from their peers. The DECV recognizes that online student collaboration has the potential to bridge this divide. Results of this study suggest that the adaptation of these courses had led to improvements in students’ perception of their educational experience. These findings may be of use to other P–12 education providers who are attempting to promote online collaboration and student connectedness.     

Images of school principals' information and communications technology leadership

This article describes a qualitative study designed to investigate information and communications technology (ICT) leadership by considering the lived experiences of principals in 10 carefully selected ICT-enriched schools in Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. To encourage further discussion regarding the impact of ICT on educational leadership practice, I have outlined a framework that suggests eight categories of ICT leadership. Although this study focussed on principals of ICT-enriched schools, the practical wisdom of the study participants has potential to assist other educational leaders who are expected to ensure that ICT becomes a tool to enhance learning, teaching, and leadership.     

Regression and reorganization of intonation between 6 and 23 months

The purpose of this study was to describe the pattern in which English-speaking children acquire intonation. A second goal was to account for emerging intonation from a theoretical perspective. Six groups of 10 children each between the ages of 6 and 23 months participated in individual play sessions with their mothers and an experimenter. Pitch contours were acoustically analyzed in monosyllabic utterances produced by each child. The observed nonlinear shape of intonation development suggested a linguistically based pattern of regression and reorganization. However, the precocious expression of intonation in the youngest infants also pointed to the role of physiological universals and emotional experience. It is concluded that children's early intonation reflects biological, affective, and linguistic influences.     

Multiple Measures: Alternative Design and Analysis Models

The use of multiple measures is emphasized by legislation regulating the distribution of Title I funding to states, as well as by professional and industry standards regarding the use of test scores in high-stakes decisions. There are a wide variety of methods with which multiple measures can be designed and analyzed, and these methods have different implications for conclusions that will be reached. Recognizing the complexities associated with the implementation of a multiple measures approach to system evaluation, this article provides an overview and discussion of alternative models that may be considered in an accountability system and their applicability relative to the goals of the system evaluation. The article concludes with an example of the use of multiple measures with regard to No Child Left Behind legislation.     

Minimizing the Influence of Item Parameter Estimation Errors in Test Development: A Comparison of Three Selection Procedures

In test development, item response theory (IRT) is a method to determine the amount of information that each item (i.e., item information function) and combination of items (i.e., test information function) provide in the estimation of an examinee's ability. Studies investigating the effects of item parameter estimation errors over a range of ability have demonstrated an overestimation of information when the most discriminating items are selected (i.e., item selection based on maximum information). In the present study, the authors examined the influence of item parameter estimation errors across 3 item selection methods—maximum no target, maximum target, and theta maximum—using the 2- and 3-parameter logistic IRT models. Tests created with the maximum no target and maximum target item selection procedures consistently overestimated the test information function. Conversely, tests created using the theta maximum item selection procedure yielded more consistent estimates of the test information function and, at times, underestimated the test information function. Implications for test development are discussed.     

“Standing in Terri Schiavo's Shoes”: The Role of Genre in End-of-Life Decision Making

This article reports the findings from analysis of end-of-life court cases and case files from one state public guardianship administrator as well as interviews with guardians or surrogates to identify how language and principles of the courts are operationalized in end-of-life decisions for those who are unable to make decisions for themselves. We found that physicians and guardians worked well within the requirements of the genre to ensure the best interests for those whom they represent.     

The Use of Collaboration,Authentic Learning,Linking Material to Personal Knowledge,and Technology in the Constructivist Classroom: Interviews with Community College Faculty Members

ABSTRACT

This study explored how faculty members implemented constructivist teaching methods after training. The student-centered teaching methods were interactions and collaborations, authentic learning and real-world experiences, linking material to previously learned information, and using technology in the classroom. Seven faculty members trained in student-centered teaching methods by the professional development department at a community college were interviewed. Interviews were supplemented with teacher-generated documents and classroom observations. All reported implementing the recommended practices in the classrooms, both online and in traditional face-to-face classrooms.     

Supervisors' conceptions of research and the implications for supervisor development

Teaching reform in higher education has frequently been informed by investigations into conceptions of learning held by students and by teachers. Such work has been extended into research education, with the study of experienced researchers' conceptions of research providing a basis for enquiry into the way research is experienced by the various participants in research education. This paper reports research designed to investigate research supervisors' conceptions of research as they were produced in focus group conversations. Using techniques of membership categorisation analysis, discourses are identified that privileged university‐based research and researchers over other forms of research and other ways of knowing, in particular over the interests of professional/practitioner researchers and over the legitimacy of research conducted in workplaces outside the university. It is argued that such discourses have the potential to be problematic for professional and industry‐based practitioner researchers as they seek to construct authoritative researcher identities. Further interrogation of the categorisation work that sustains these discourses offers the opportunity to make their assumptions explicit, which has implications for supervisors' reflective practice and professional development.