The instructor self-evaluation form: Development and validation of an ipsative forced-choice measure of self-perceived faculty performance

An ipsative forced-choice college faculty self-evaluation questionnaire was developed. The instrument was validated by comparing self-evaluation scores to student rating scores and by comparing superior and nonsuperior instructors on the basis of student ratings. Both analyses yielded positive, but modest, indications of validity. Implications are discussed relative to the questionnaire's utility in faculty development activities.     

Coordinating scaffolds for collaborative inquiry in a game-based learning environment

Collaborative inquiry learning affords educators a context within which to support understanding of scientific practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts. One approach to supporting collaborative science inquiry is through problem-based learning (PBL). However, there are two key challenges in scaffolding collaborative inquiry learning in technology rich environments. First, it is unclear how we might understand the impact of scaffolds that address multiple functions (e.g., to support inquiry and argumentation). Second, scaffolds take different forms, further complicating how to coordinate the forms and functions of scaffolds to support effective collaborative inquiry. To address these issues, we identify two functions that needed to be scaffolded, the PBL inquiry cycle and accountable talk. We then designed predefined hard scaffolds and just-in-time soft scaffolds that target the regulation of collaborative inquiry processes and accountable talk. Drawing on a mixed method approach, we examine how middle school students from a rural school engaged with Crystal Island: EcoJourneys for two weeks (N=45). Findings indicate that hard scaffolds targeting the PBL inquiry process and soft scaffolds that targeted accountable talk fostered engagement in these processes. Although the one-to-one mapping between form and function generated positive results, additional soft scaffolds were also needed for effective engagement in collaborative inquiry and that these soft scaffolds were often contingent on hard scaffolds. Our findings have implications for how we might design the form of scaffolds across multiple functions in game-based learning environments.     

A Comparison of the Effects of Fluency Training and Accuracy Training on Application and Retention

The effects of fluency training on the acquisition and retention of a composite skill were compared with those of training to accuracy only. Participants were 30 college students, and the task was a stimulus equivalence task, similar to the one used by Binder (1995) in earlier assessments. Participants learned associations between Hebrew symbols and nonsense syllables and between nonsense syllables and Arabic numerals. Immediately after training and every 2 or 4 weeks for 16 weeks, they were tested on a composite task that required both associations. Retention of the original component associations was also assessed after 4 months. With respect to the composite skill, fluency training resulted in: a) higher response rates immediately after training and across the 16 weeks; b) better accuracy 4 and 16 weeks after training; and c) less deterioration of accuracy after 16 weeks. Effects on the component skills were similar. The results document that for skilled adult learners, fluency training can aid the acquisition of a higher level skill and increase the retention of accuracy for both the component and composite skills.     

Technical Reliability Assessment of the Actigraph GT1M Accelerometer

The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of the Actigraph GT1M (Pensacola, FL, USA) accelerometer activity count and step functions. Fifty GT1M accelerometers were initialized to collect simultaneous acceleration counts and steps data using 15-sec epochs. All reliability testing was completed using a mechanical shaker plate to perform six different test conditions in Experiment 1 and 18 test conditions in Experiment 2. The overall intra- and inter-instrument reliability of the GT1M was CV_intra = 2.9% and CV_inter = 3.5% for counts and CV_intra = 1.1% and CV_inter = 1.2% for steps. No batch effects were evident in the 50 GT1Ms. The Actigraph GT1M accelerometer demonstrated good reliability for measuring both counts and steps. However, the ability of the GT1M to consistently detect acceleration at a given acceleration and frequency condition varied widely. Future studies clarifying the filtering limitations and the threshold necessary to detect the occurrence of movement are warranted.     

Responding to the technological imperative: the experience of an open and distance education institution

This paper examines the key impact that technology is having on shaping and, indeed, fusing the worlds of work both outside and inside tertiary institutions. The transformation of organisations by technology creates key challenges for tertiary institutions which are identified. One tertiary institution's attempts to engage with these challenges is illuminated through case study research. The institution in question, Deakin University, is a major open and distance education organisation in Australia. In grappling with the technological imperative, issues of leadership, management and organisational change come to the fore. Leadership in dynamically evolving organisations committed to the use of educational technologies in a range of diverse teaching‐learning contexts is an enormously complex and difficult task. The complexities, ambiguities and difficulties of leadership in such an environment are illuminated in this paper through the presentation of a set of eight interconnected issues which reveal some of the experiences of people within the University who are attempting to manage educational change and technological innovation.