Willingness to pay and experienced utility as measures of affective value of information objects: Users’ accounts

The article discusses two instant measures of affective value of information objects: Willingness-to-Pay (WTP) and Experienced Utility (EU). The potential utility of these measures for information retrieval research is positioned within a broader discussion of distinctions between instant utility and remembered utility and their relationship to immediate as opposed to retrospective subjective evaluations. The paper describes an approach for obtaining instant WTP and EU ratings in document evaluation in contexts of information search and thereafter reports results from a usability study of its implementation. Participants encountered no difficulties in use of the design format and in rating documents using WTP and EU measures. Although two measures were found statistically significantly correlated with each other, participants in the usability study offered different reasons for the ratings of WTP and EU made for the same document.     

College student and dropout problem: A qualitative dynamic simulation

A dynamic computer simulation of the four year college student has been conducted using the methods of system dynamics. Major aims of the study have been: (1) the development of an approach to the simulation of a behavioral system having neither well-defined structure nor easily quantifiable variables and parameters; (2) a better understanding of the mechanisms which control the student's performance in college and the developments leading to a decision to drop out; and (3) the development of a tool for testing the effects of alternative educational and administrative policies on the student.Major variables of the model are the academic performance of the student, his gradepoint average, grade pressure, motivation, frustration, educational achievement, extracurricular education, and the financial situation of the student. Some of the parameters are the quality of the institution, (perceived) relevance of the curriculum, intellectual stimulation both within and without the prescribed curriculum, ability of the student, and his personal goals. The simulation was programmed in DYNAMO. Some results of the simulation are presented. The possible value and validity of qualitative simulation are discussed.This research was conducted while the author was Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The author is indebted to Dr. John W. Snyder, Vice-Chancellor of the University of California at Santa Barbara for his suggestion of the research topic, and to Alexander Bocast for assistance in the first stages of model formulation.     

ECVET and ECTS credit equivalency in higher education – A bridge too far?

The implementation within Europe of a credit system for vocational education and training known as ECVET is a European Commission priority. The potential for permeability between the ECVET and European Credit Transfer and accumulation System (ECTS) was foreseen in the Recommendation to establish ECVET in 2009, while the Bruges Communique of 2010 called for the promotion of flexible links between vocational and higher education and increased coherence between ECVET and ECTS. To this end a significant number of EU-funded projects were undertaken to explore compatibility between ECVET and ECTS. This article reviews the findings of these projects and reflects on their success in terms of achieving this policy goal. These bridging projects identified several points of compatibility between the two credit systems and produced valuable tools and frameworks to facilitate such permeability. Achieving credit equivalency between ECVET and ECTS does not appear feasible, rather the evidence points to using a learning outcomes-based equivalency framework. However, this article calls into question the sustainability of these project results with regard to the lack of success in translating these findings into practice and the lack of co-ordinated efforts to implement these findings at a national or pan European level.     

A derived grid-based model for simulation of pedestrian flow

We present a derived grid-based model for the simulation of pedestrian flow. Interactions among pedestrians are considered as the result of forces within a certain neighbourhood. Unlike the social force model, the forces here, as in Newtonian physics, are proportional to the inverse of the square of the distance. Despite the notion ofneighbourhood and the underlying grid, this model differs from the existing cellular automaton （CA） models in that the pedestrians are treated as individuals. Bresenham＇s algorithm for line rastering is applied in the step calculation.