Measuring the quality of governmental websites in a controlled versus an online setting with the ‘Website Evaluation Questionnaire’

The quality of governmental websites is often measured with questionnaires that ask users for their opinions on various aspects of the website. This article presents the Website Evaluation Questionnaire (WEQ), which was specifically designed for the evaluation of governmental websites. The multidimensional structure of the WEQ was tested in a controlled laboratory setting and in an online real-life setting. In two studies we analyzed the underlying factor structure, the stability and reliability of this structure, and the sensitivity of the WEQ to quality differences between websites. The WEQ proved to be a valid and reliable instrument with seven clearly distinct dimensions. In the online setting higher correlations were found between the seven dimensions than in the laboratory setting, and the WEQ was less sensitive to differences between websites. Two possible explanations for this result are the divergent activities of online users on the website and the less attentive way in which these users filled out the questionnaire. We advise to relate online survey evaluations more strongly to the actual behavior of website users, for example, by including server log data in the analysis.     

An Open Government Maturity Model for social media-based public engagement

Social media has opened up unprecedented new possibilities of engaging the public in government work. In response to the Open Government Directive, U.S. federal agencies developed their open government plan and launched numerous social media-based public engagement initiatives. However, we find that many of these initiatives do not deliver the intended outcomes due to various organizational, technological, and financial challenges. We propose an Open Government Maturity Model based on our field studies with U.S. federal healthcare administration agencies. This model is specifically developed to assess and guide open government initiatives which focus on transparent, interactive, participatory, collaborative public engagement that are largely enabled by emerging technologies such as social media. The model consists of five maturity levels: initial conditions (Level 1), data transparency (Level 2), open participation (Level 3), open collaboration (Level 4), and ubiquitous engagement (Level 5). We argue that there is a logical sequence for increasing social media-based public engagement and agencies should focus on achieving one maturity level at a time. The Open Government Maturity Model helps government agencies implement their open government initiatives effectively by building organizational and technological capabilities in an orderly manner. We discuss challenges and best practices for each maturity level and conclude by presenting recommendations.     

The Relation Between Breakfast Skipping and School Performance in Adolescents

Breakfast skipping is common in adolescents, but research on the effects of breakfast skipping on school performance is scarce. This current cross‐sectional survey study of 605 adolescents aged 11–18 years investigated whether adolescents who habitually skip breakfast have lower end‐of‐term grades than adolescents who eat breakfast daily. Additionally, the roles of sleep behavior, namely chronotype, and attention were explored. Results showed that breakfast skippers performed lower at school than breakfast eaters. The findings were similar for younger and older adolescents and for boys and girls. Adolescents with an evening chronotype were more likely to skip breakfast, but chronotype was unrelated to school performance. Furthermore, attention problems partially mediated the relation between breakfast skipping and school performance. This large‐scale study emphasizes the importance of breakfast as a determinant for school performance. The results give reason to investigate the mechanisms underlying the relation between skipping breakfast, attention, and school performance in more detail.     

Online activities of urban Malaysian adolescents: report of a pilot study

The literacy practices of many communities today show new ways of meaning making in the contemporary, technological and digital culture. A number of Malaysian adolescents belong to this culture. This pilot study reports the preliminary findings of a larger study aimed at describing the online activities of Malaysian adolescents. Fifty‐four participants from an urban secondary school in Penang took part in this study. One finding showed that the percentages of language use on the Internet were: 80.6 per cent in English, 10.6 per cent in Bahasa Malaysia and 8.8 per cent in Chinese. In addition, the study also revealed some common websites that these adolescents frequented. The findings point to the need to investigate the extent of these online literacy practices beyond school among the adolescent population in Malaysia and to look into the implications for ESL education.     

Affordances of Computational Models for English Learners in Science Instruction: Conceptual Foundation and Initial Inquiry

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Computational models are increasingly being used in K-12 science classrooms to engage students in developing and testing explanations of phenomena....     

Learning design to support student-AI collaboration: perspectives of leading teachers for AI in education

Education and Information Technologies - Preparing students to collaborate with AI remains a challenging goal. As AI technologies are new to K-12 schools, there is a lack of studies that inform how...     

Giving feedback on peers’ concept maps as a learning experience: does quality of reviewed concept maps matter?

Learning Environments Research - Giving feedback to peers can be a powerful learning tool because of the feedback provider’s active cognitive involvement with the products to be reviewed. The...     

Exploring informal science education responses to COVID-19 global pandemic: learning from the case of the Gwacheon National Science Museum in Korea

Cultural Studies of Science Education - Science museums have long been heralded as important informal science education sites where people can engage in voluntary and experiential science learning....     

Help me help myself: examining an electronic mental health self-monitoring system in college students

Higher Education - The high prevalence of mental illness in college students results in adverse consequences that have led to developing prevention programs, with the potential of self-monitoring...     

A Phenomenological Study of Malaysian Counsellors’ Experiences in Managing Countertransference

International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling - Processing and managing countertransference are part of the responsibilities of counsellors to fulfil their ethical obligation. The...