Measurement of teacher performance: A study in instrument development

The procedures used to produce a research-based teaching evaluation system, containing low-inference indicators of effective and ineffective teacher behavior, included instrument development, content validation, and field testing. An extensive reliability study produced estimates for three types of consistency: intercoder agreement (r = 0.85), stability across teaching situations r = 0.86, and discriminant reliability among teachers (r = 0.79). The norming component of the study conducted in 45 schools, generated over 1200 observations of current teacher practice at all grade levels and in various subject areas. The results indicated the substantially generic nature of these behaviors; only grade level and instructional method (interactive, lecture, and independent seatwork) produced meaningful differences among groups of teachers. In addition, the average teacher used most of the effective behaviors (70%), and a few of the ineffective behaviors (8%) during observation. These results support the instrument's value in teacher training, remediation, and evaluation.     

Analysis of non-urban end users' MEDLINE training.

The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) Library mailed a MEDLINE End User Practice Survey Form to 310 health professionals who had attended MEDLINE seminars supported by a two-year NLM grant. The survey sought to determine how many respondents had obtained NLM codes, reasons for not obtaining a code, searching time done since the seminar, differences in the use of information since taking the seminar, factors helpful in successful searching, and factors contributing to frustrations. The most prevalent reasons for not obtaining a code were lack of a microcomputer and modem, infrequent use of MEDLINE, cost, lack of time, complications, and ability to obtain free searches.     

Computer-aided searching of bibliographic data bases: Online estimation of the value of information

The study presents and synthesizes the results of a series of five experiments on human information-seeking behavior in three different information-seeking environments. The first three experiments utilized a highly-controlled, simulated information-seeking task developed to study human search strategies in citation networks. Emphasis in the fourth and fifth experiments was placed on assessing the value of information for humans in realistic search environments. Subjects search on a topic of their own choice in a data base of fiction in Experiment Four and a data base of technical literature in Experiment Five. After summarizing the experimental results, a conceptual model of how humans value information is presented. The model is then used as a basis for a broad interpretation of the empirical results. Implications of both the empirical and modeling results are considered for the areas of information retrieval logic, system flexibility, retrieval methods, types of aiding, online estimation of information value, and computerizing versus computer-aiding.     

Feedback complexity and corrective efficiency

College undergraduates read a 2400-word passage, responded to 16 multiple-choice questions, and received one of four types of feedback following their responses. Complexity of feedback was inversely related to both error correctability and criterion efficiency taken as a ratio of feedback study time to post-test corrects. The results were discussed in terms of depth of processing and instructional comprehension.