Investigating the Cognitive complerrity of Science Assessments

How can knowledge of the development of expertise in a subject area inform the development of assessments in that area? How can one examine the relationship between what is anticipated from a performance assessment and what is actually seen?     

A Collaborative Final Examination for the Basic Public Speaking Course

Objective: To enact a model of collaborative communication, demonstrate communication as coordinated management of meaning, to require active listening during the final, and to help students think through a complex social issue

Course: Introduction to Public-Speaking     

Rhetorical criticism of interpersonal discourse: An exploratory study

This study demonstrates how rhetorical criticism can be utilized to clarify the rhetorical nature of interpersonal discourse. Bitzer's situational theory, Bormann's fantasy theme analysis, and Arnold's criticism of oral rhetoric are synthesized to explain the nature and form of selected portions of taped and transcribed interpersonal dialogue.     

Psychological maltreatment: maltreatment of the mind: a catalyst for advancing child protection toward proactive primary prevention and promotion of personal well-being

Objective

Child protection, as primarily applied toward narrow corrective intervention, has been judged to be inadequate in dealing with the wide variety of forms and levels of physical, psychological and sexual violence to which children are subjected throughout the world. Concern about this state of affairs has grown as a part of a global increase in commitments and expectations for nations and their societies to be accountable to and for children, particularly in association with the requirements of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. A reconstruction of child protection is needed.

Method

Recently, a child rights approach to child protection has been gathering support to drive a transformation of child protection toward primary prevention capable of securing and promoting the rights, safety, well-being, health and development of children. This vision has been given concrete form by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child through its recently adopted guide (General Comment 13) to fulfilling national obligations to the right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence.

Results/Conclusions

Here, it is argued that the desired transformation of child protection can be greatly facilitated by appreciation and application of knowledge about the psychological domain, in particular, psychological maltreatment, by promotion of an enlightened public health approach, and by giving high priority to determining the origins of violence and to establishing widespread commitment to full development of the uniqueness of each person.     

Branching Out: Communication and Collaboration Among Librarians at Multi-Campus Institutions

ABSTRACT

Communication and collaboration are vital aspects of 21st century librarianship, particularly for librarians in branch and regional settings who are often separated from their system colleagues by both physical distance and administrative structures. For this study, the authors conducted an exploratory survey to examine collaboration, communication, networking behaviors, and perceptions among librarians in multi-campus academic library systems. Results of this investigative study will lead to better understanding of these issues within the profession, suggest possible approaches and solutions for better models of communication and collaboration, and lay the groundwork for future research on these topics.     

Criterion-Referenced Tests: Part I. origins

Where were you in 1963, when this article was first published? What are the two kinds of information you can get from achievement tests? What is a‘triterion level?”     

Teenage dropouts and drug use: Does the specification of peer group structure matter?

Four alternative structures of peer groups are compared in an empirical analysis of teenage dropouts and recent drug use. In general, individual-specific covariates remain robust regardless of group structure specification in dropout models, but lose significance in models of drug-use. Estimates of correlated school effects depend on the specification of group structure. Contextual group effects have no influence on the probability that an individual uses drugs, but demonstrate some statistical significance, albeit ambiguous and strongly dependent on the specification of group structure. Endogenous peer effects do not influence the probability of dropping-out of school, but exhibit positive complementarities with respect to recent drug-use. Modeling the probabilities of leaving school and recent drug-use within a jointly distributed empirical framework indicates that unobserved attributes bridging the two types of behavior demonstrate positive correlation.     

Organizational communication effectiveness: The view of corporate administrators

Dimensions of organizational communication effectiveness have been described differently in the management, superior‐subordinate, and competence literature. This study compares previous findings to the results of interviews with 48 Northwest corporate administrators. Interview team members content‐analyzed interview notes to find six major dimensions of effectiveness: (1) Coaching and motivating employees; (2) Encouraging worker involvement and participation; (3) Self‐motivation; (4) Problem Solving Ability; (5) Direct and Adaptive Interpersonal Style; and (6) Listening Skills.     

Designing computer-based learning contents: influence of digital zoom on attention

In the present study, we investigated the role of digital zoom as a tool for directing attention while looking at visual learning material. In particular, we analyzed whether minimal digital zoom functions similarly to a rhetorical device by cueing mental zooming of attention accordingly. Participants were presented either static film clips, film clips with minimal zoom-ins, or film clips with minimal zoom-outs while eye movements were recorded. We hypothesized that minimal zoom-ins should lead to more gaze coherence, to longer dwell times as an indicator of more elaborative processing, and to fewer transitions as an indicator of less mental integration. Zoom-outs, on the other hand, were expected to have opposite effects. Results showed that zoom-ins increase gaze coherence and dwell times on the center parts of the depictions while decreasing transitions of pictorial elements from the center and the context areas. In contrast, patterns of results from zoom-outs and static presentations were similar to a large degree, indicating that zoom-ins and zoom-outs do not operate in a complementary fashion. Theoretical and practical implications of the present results are discussed.