A new intelligent tutoring system*

Early in 1984, Logica started an ICAI research contract with MoD (Procurement Executive), which was to be undertaken in collaboration with the technical authority at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment, Malvern. A prototype system, which has become known as TUTOR, was scheduled for delivery to the client later in 1985. Initially, and for evaluation purposes, the system ran on VAX 11/780 hardware under VMS. The target subject for TUTOR was the field of emergency procedures in flight safety regulations as taught to air traffic controllers. Initial development of TUTOR, however, has been aimed at the Highway Code, a domain which we, as well as the client and other observers, are familiar with. Evaluation of TUTOR would be based on both domains. Prolog was chosen as the implementation language because ICAI, as we shall see, makes use of rich data structures that can easily be expressed in Prolog.     

Young Children''s Understanding of Fact Beliefs versus Value Beliefs

Recent research on the development of children's knowledge about the mind has shown that young 3-year-olds have difficulty inferring that another person holds a false belief about a matter of verifiable fact, even when provided with considerable help. 4 studies tested the hypothesis that they would have less difficulty inferring that another person holds an odd, nonnormative belief about a matter of taste or value--one which, like the false fact belief, they themselves do not hold. On fact-belief tasks, an experimenter acted as if, or even explicitly stated that, she believed that the contents of a container were other than what the children knew to be the case. On value-belief tasks, she behaved as if she believed that a stimulus had a good or bad taste, smell, or appearance, whereas they thought it had the opposite. The results of all 4 studies confirmed the hypothesis.     

Avoiding the “Inexorable Push Toward Homogenization” in School Choice: Education Savings Accounts as Hedges Against Institutional Isomorphism

ABSTRACT

The assumption that rational choice dynamics will lead to diversity of school supply is at the heart of K–12 school choice arrangements. Yet as the field of school choice becomes more established, there will be the “inexorable push toward homogenization.” If vouchers, tuition tax credit scholarships, and education savings accounts become more significant players in the education market in the years to come, isomorphism, if it occurs, will limit the utility of school choice. Drawing on experiences from the charter sector and the Louisiana Scholarship Program, this article considers whether education savings accounts might encourage less isomorphism of practice among participating private schools than school choice options such as vouchers and tuition tax credit scholarships.     

From Assessment to Implementation: Using Qualitative Interviews to Inform Distance Learning Library Services

ABSTRACT

While broad assessment projects are often used to steer library strategic planning initiatives, this article will present the benefits of qualitative interviews with distance learning constituents as a framework for developing a focused vision and targeted services. This article will describe the planning and execution of an assessment project used to build a foundation for future library resources and services to target off-campus users. The benefits of this analysis will be detailed. Based on the data, implementation strategies were devised to strengthen and further develop the distance learning unit at Florida State University Libraries.     

Psychological Well-Being as a Function of Affectionate Communication and Emotional Intelligence

This study examined indicators of psychological well-being as a function of affectionate communication and emotional intelligence. Two hundred and seventeen college-aged students completed measures of expressed and received affection; mental health, happiness, self-esteem, depression, and stress; and emotional intelligence. Results indicated that expressed affection is negatively associated with stress; received affection is positively associated with mental health and self-esteem and negatively associated with depression and stress. Furthermore, results provided support for models in which emotional intelligence impacts psychological well-being after accounting for the variance explained by expressed and received affection.     

Using organisational theory in the promotion of evaluation — a case study

This paper discusses the use of organisational theory in a research and development project at the University of Queensland. It focuses on the introduction of a student evaluation of teaching scheme for feedback purpose and for use in annual appraisals, as well as for tenure and promotion decisions. It is a case study of planned change introduced into a traditional university within the framework of the literature on change, university systems and the academic profession. The paper demonstrates that organisational theory helps (a) to clarify the context and the conditions which facilitate introduction of change in a traditional university, and (b) to evaluate strategies to initiate and implement change. When the student evaluation of teaching system was developed and first promoted in Semester 2, 1982, 37 staff members had their teaching evaluated. Since then it has grown to a regular evaluation of teaching in over 300 class sessions, with 150–200 staff members participating each semester, and about 15,000 students returning questionnaires. This makes it a unique scheme in Australian universities.     

Using Kernel Equating to Assess Item Order Effects on Test Scores

This study explored the use of kernel equating for integrating and extending two procedures proposed for assessing item order effects in test forms that have been administered to randomly equivalent groups. When these procedures are used together, they can provide complementary information about the extent to which item order effects impact test scores, in overall score distributions and also at specific test scores. In addition to detecting item order effects, the integrated procedures also suggest the equating function that most adequately adjusts the scores to mitigate the effects. To demonstrate, the statistical equivalences of alternate versions of two large-volume advanced placement exams were assessed.     

University and Department Influences on Scientists’ Occupational Outcomes

Research in Higher Education - Over 50,000 Ph.D. degrees in Science and Engineering (S&E) are awarded annually by United States (U.S.) universities, but few studies have systematically...     

Ally,Advocate, Activist: Semester-long civic engagement in the basic communication course

Courses: Basic communication course.

Objectives: Using the Ally, Advocate, Activist framework in a basic communication course will help students apply course concepts to their lives and communities. This framework helps students practice civic engagement while mastering the skills that are typically tested for assessment purposes in the basic communication course.